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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Hachette Livre has sold its ebook distribution platform Numilog to its founder and c.e.o. Denis... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Fifty Shades of Grey' by E.L. James and sequels are an ebook and paperback phenomenon that is also causing a sales spike in sex shops. How did it all happen?The staff of the Pleasure Chest, a high-end West Hollywood sex shop, were first tipped to the "Fifty Shades of Grey" phenomenon by their... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Unresolved conflicts among publishers, sellers, libraries, and the U.S. Justice Department cloud the future of the publishing industry. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2012-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In February, the Educational Development Corporation said it would remove all its titles from Amazon, more evidence of the tumult over who gets to decide how much a book costs. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An antitrust suit may provide short-term price reductions on ebooks, but once the competition is flattened, Amazon is likely to resume its monopolistic ways. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Macmillan Children’s Books is launching a £10,000 literary prize to be judged by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book production company Imago is to launch a new digital consultancy tasked with helping... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple shot back at critics and the Justice Department late Thursday, denying claims that it colluded with publishers to keep the price of ebooks artificially high. Even more interesting? The Cupertino, Calif. company took a veiled shot at Amazon, saying its actions were necessary to break up the... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2012-04-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble wants you to take your e-reader to bed. The latest iteration of the Nook, revealed by the book retailer Thursday, is a black-and-white device with a softly glowing backlit screen. It is designed to solve a common problem that co ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple responds to antitrust charges: "The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry." Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2012-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Morning Business Memo: Amazon is the big winner in the government’s decision to go after Apple and major publishers over alleged ebook price fixing. Amazon might decide to slash the price of many bestsellers from $14.99 to $9.99. The Justice Department and 15 states sued... Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2012-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Usborne Publishing will be launching a foreign-language publishing operation in Germany this... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Moving forward with an expanded focus on digital media, Time Out New York (TONY) has integrated e-commerce and daily deals into its website and newly-launched apps. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hearst Magazines UK has launched a quarterly magazine called Good Ideas, aimed at 35- to 50-year-old women. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2012-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Days after it told one publisher it had indefinitely suspended the programme to approve its Kindle newspaper edition submission, Amazon has suddenly relented. Last week, Scotland’s Herald & Times Group grumbled publicly that, after tw ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google will end its Google eBooks reseller program which allowed independent bookstores to sell ebooks through Google's platform. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's tax arrangements are in the spotlight this morning after national newspapers... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Last April Fools' Day, publishers from Time Inc. to the Washington Post Company sent fast-growing startup Zite an aggressive cease-and-desist letter. The publishers weren't joking, accusing Zite's app, a personalized news reader for the iPad and iPhone, of copyright infringement and calling it... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London’s Tate Group has launched a new e-commerce site selling books and other items... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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To coincide with its one-year anniversary on April 18, the Los Angeles Review of Books is re-launching its website in a multimedia platform that will include video, drop-down menus, and new feature articles. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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