Fantasy author accuses the online giant of using its market dominance ‘to control what we write and what we read’The grande dame of fantasy Ursula K Le Guin has weighed in forcefully to the debate about Amazon’s role in publishing. In a blogpost on the site Book View Cafe, entitled “Up the Amazon with the BS Machine, or Why I Keep Asking You Not to Buy Books from Amazon”, the American author has spoken out against what she describes as the company’s increasing influence not only on the bookselling market but also on which books get published, promoted and read. Her fierce conclusion is: “Every book purchase made from Amazon is a vote for a culture without content and without contentment.”After an analysis of how the “Best Seller Machine” has worked in the last decades, Le Guin writes that the online retailer is changing the culture of publishing. The Amazon model, she writes, is “easy salability, heavy marketing, super-competitive pricing, then trash and replace”. The ideal book, under this template, is “a safe commodity, a commercial product written to the specifications of the current market, that will hit the BS list, get to the top, and vanish. Sell it fast, sell it cheap, dump it, sell the next thing.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#online retailer
#current market
Amazon lowered the price of its Japanese Kindle Paperwhite to 100 dollars, matching the price of the recently announced Kobo Glo, while Sony's ebookstore is again on iOS. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Haymarket Network are launching an app of The John Lennon Letters... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#weidenfeld nicolson
European Union regulators are to end a US antitrust probe into ebook prices by accepting an offer by Apple and four publishers to ease price restrictions on Amazon, two sources said on Tuesday. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2012-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#antitrust probe
#ebook prices
Amazon Prime's trifecta of two-day shipping, instant media streaming and monthly Kindle book rentals just became a little more consumer friendly at a slightly higher price. As a Hacking Netflix reader recently noticed, Amazon is now inviting users to buy into Prime for $7.99 a month, bringing... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#inviting users
#yearly fee
#full year
#good deal
#holiday season
First Barnes & Noble, then Indigo Books and Music and Books-A-Million – now some indie bookstores are choosing not to add Amazon-published titles to their bookshelves. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#barnes noble
#indigo books
#indie bookstores
A consumer campaign targeting Amazon for “abusing” its power as a market leader is... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Kobo is to launch in South Africa in partnership with Pick n Pay hyperstores and supermarkets.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#south africa
The Reading Agency and Pan Macmillan are launching a new scheme to introduce library users to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#reading agency
#pan macmillan
Dallas-based startup Bookshout is looking to disrupt the current ebook ecosystem with its new offering of Apple and Android mobile apps. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Amazon reported a loss of $274million (£170m) in its third quarter, blaming an unfavourable... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon reported
As the Kindle goes on sale at Waterstones stores, MD James Daunt has been defending the highly criticized decision, insisting it is to his company's advantage. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon kindle
#waterstones stores
#good idea
Hearst Magazines UK's Esquire is to publish the first edition of The Big Black Book, a biannual style guide, in March next year. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2012-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Waterstones has begun promoting the Amazon Kindle devices that will be on sale in stores from... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Australia's first major literary prize for women's writing, the Stella Prize, said to be... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#stella prize
UK book wholesaler Bertrams is teaming up with former Book Depository IT director Will Jones to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book depository
Amazon is forcing publishers to start negotiations over ebook prices exclusive of the full 20%... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ebook vat
#forcing publishers
Books published by Amazon like the Penny Marshall memoir 'My Mother Was Nuts' have not seen strong sales. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bestseller charts
#strong sales
Amazon is said to be negotiating to acquire Saraiva, Brazil's dominant bookseller, with 102 stores. Is it realistic? We break down the facts and scenarios. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Collins has launched a new Atlas app for iPhones and iPads, allowing users to explore the world... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#allowing users
Individual Kindle users already have Whispernet, and Amazon has now announced another free service designed to make Kindles easier to manage for large organizations. Dubbed Whispercast, the service will let schools, businesses and other groups both distribute and manage the Kindles themselves... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#distribute content
#kindle content
#large organizations
#source link