Twitter is quite the medium. An endless source of looping GIFs, "viral" videos, and, sadly, bad advertising. Most of the latter category is quickly dismissed by the block and report spam features of Twitter, but the occasional spambot elevates its "craft" to a level of surreal bliss which begs attention. "horse_ebooks" is perhaps Twitter's best example of that phenomenon, offering indecipherable (and delightful) missives that are heavily retweeted and always nonsensical. "How to get the best bargains in satellite," for instance. Sadly, it looks like we've all been had. What many (ourselves included) thought to be an accidentally hilarious spam account for a low-rent eBook publishing firm is actually a long-running art installation by Jacon Bakkila (a 29-year-old Buzzfeed employee). Bakkila outed the ruse this morning in an exhibit at New York City's FitzRoy Gallery named "Horse_ebooks 2," where Bakkila himself and two friends are answering phones all day (from 10AM to 9PM ET) and giving users a verbal taste of the content you'd normally read on...well, the horse_ebooks Twitter account (the phone number is 213-444-0102 if you'd like to call). It's unclear if the account will continue from here. It sounds like a no, though, as Bakkila tells The New York Times that, "The goal was not to appropriate the account but to become the account," referencing the account's previous Russian owner and its original use (to sell eBooks). Gawker's got a walkthrough of the art gallery... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2013-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has paid a high six figure sum for world rights in a memoir about saving horses in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 03/11/2011 - 16:14 Amazon and W H Smith are HarperCollins' strongest players in bookselling, its c.e.o. has claimed. Victoria Barnsley was speaking after the publisher's parent NewsCorp reported its third quarter results, for the three months to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers Weekly now has more than 200,000 Twitter followers, passing that mark last week and as of today has more that 203,000 following the magazine via @PublishersWkly. Eileen Gardner, a self-professed pop culture junkie and aspiring author, was the 200,000th PW follower. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter has become part of the daily routine for almost every editor, but are you using it as effectively as you can? Here, four very different editors offer their advice for engaging and growing readership via Twitter. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 28/09/2011 - 08:39 Pan Macmillan will be holding the world's first live Twitter book signing to launch Lord Alan Sugar's book The Way I See It: Rants, Revelations and Rules for Life. The signing will be held over www.lordsugar.tv at 1pm... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter has become part of the daily routine for almost every editor, but are you using it as effectively as you can? Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 23/09/2011 - 08:40 The White Horse Bookshop in Marlborough, Wiltshire, has been named Vintage Independent Bookshop of the Year, with two London shops finishing in second and third place. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On Tuesday Twitter announced that it's launching a new analytics tool that will initially be available to a select group of partners as a pilot program, but will be made available to everyone in the "next few weeks." Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 26/07/2011 - 11:52 Arts Council England (ACE) has confirmed it is withholding the Poetry Society's quarterly grant payment of almost £78,500, in the wake of the major internal row and resignations. The payment was due to the Poetry Society at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 14/07/2011 - 10:05 The Arts Council has given the first indication of how it intends to approach its forthcoming responsibility for libraries by publishing a review of its strategic goals. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 05/07/2011 - 09:59 Nicola Morgan is to be the libraries director at the Arts Council. Morgan is currently programme manager, sector improvement at the Museums, Libraries and Archives council, which winds up this autumn. She will take up her new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Self-publishing an ebook to Amazon.com is so easy anyone can do it, and that has drawn in a lot of spammers Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It's been two years since PW took the first snapshot of the publishing world on Twitter. In May 2009 we looked at the followings 16 imprints and publishers had on the social networking site. At the time, a lot of imprints weren't even on Twitter, and we thought the word "twittering" was an... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 25/05/2011 - 09:52 Author Alan Bennett trended on UK Twitter last night following a BBC2 Newsnight interview in which he reiterated his previously expressed view that closing libraries constitutes child abuse. Bennett told the programme that... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Wed, 06/04/2011 - 09:37 Children's poetry is among the biggest losers in the children's literature sector following the recent cuts in Arts Council funding, it has emerged. As well as the Poetry Book Society (PBS) which has seen 100% of its funding... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 09:16 The Arts Council has defended its funding cut to the Poetry Book Society (PBS), claiming its "reach and distribution was not as wide or effective as other applicants'". In a letter to the Times, Antonia Byatt, director of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Wed, 09/03/2011 - 14:40 Faber and Guardian Books have acquired a title by columnist and author Grace Dent about social networking phenomenon Twitter. Guardian Books publisher Lisa Darnell and Faber publishing director for non-fiction Julian Loose jointly acquired world rights... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 10/02/2011 - 08:01 Viking has acquired world rights to a modern art title by BBC arts editor Will Gompertz. Editor Ben Brusey bought What Are You Looking At?: The Surprising Story of Modern Art directly from the author, with Viking to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Fri, 04/02/2011 - 08:51 Thames & Hudson is to steer art aficionados through the museums and galleries of great cities in a new series of illustrated travel guides. The Art Guide series will begin this spring with two titles focusing on New York and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pearson, the publisher of the Financial Times, said it expects its headline company operating profits to balloon by around 20% in 2010, helped by the performance of its flagship business newspaper. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2011-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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