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 ]
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The Herald Sun, Australia´s favorite daily newspaper – read by 1.3 million Victorians every weekday – has selected WoodWing´s multi-channel publishing system Enterprise and its Digital Publishing ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House has reprinted its record-busting Fifty Shades trilogy a further three times... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Palgrave Macmillan's new digital publishing initiative Palgrave Pivot will launch its first... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebury's new science-fiction and fantasy imprint, Del Rey, which shares its name with the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kobo will launch in Japan later this month, selling the Kobo Touch for ¥7,980 (£65).... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon has partnered with Co-operative Food to install collection-lockers in some of its stores... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Guinness World Records is launching its first digital-only title next week, Totally Bonkers... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google took a cue from Amazon's Kindle Fire announcing the Nexus 7 tablet optimized for content from Google Play including books, games, TV shows, movies, apps, and magazines. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2012-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It didn't land in the Marketplace yesterday as announced, but Amazon's Audible audio book app for Windows Phone 7.5 is now available for download. This Metro-fied version of the app is free to install (including some short samples to get you started), and signing in with your Amazon account lets... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Academic press Sage has launched an e-bookstore, part of its online social science platform Sage... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new subscription-based digital audiobook service has launched with ambitions to double the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster has launched new microsite The Dark Pages, intended to be an online crime... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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All seven Harry Potter books are now available in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, marking the series' first availability outside the Pottermore store. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fancy dipping back into the world of Quidditch and Dumbledore? Or maybe you shunned the whole Pottermania thing until now. Either way, if you own a Kindle, you can finally get up to speed without paying a spellbinding price -- thanks to Amazon's Kindle Owners Lending Library. All seven eBook... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After Rodney King's unexpected death this weekend at the age of 47, his recent book began climbing the charts. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon on Thursday released updates to the Kindle app for iOS, along with the Kindle Cloud Reader Web app. The updates add in support for children's books. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2012-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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IDG Enterprise looks to better serve their advertisers with the launch of its Premium Data Services, a portfolio of products that will integrate both first and third party data for ad clients looking to more deeply understand their target audiences. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Today Amazon announced that it's improving the code behind its Kindle app for iOS and Android to allow support for graphic novels and children's illustrated comics. The iOS app is also being polished to alow better searches of your library of downloaded titles and to better fit the iPad's... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary agents Caroline Hardman and Joanna Swainson, former colleagues at Christopher Little,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury has launched a new imprint, Rouleur Books, in partnership with specialist cycling... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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