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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With iPad 3 rumored to be on the way—possibly boasting a sharper screen and talking personal assistant Siri—Apple CEO Tim Cook may drop the price of the iPad 2 so he can go after the cheaper tablet market now dominated by Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook. Analysts figure a $200 to... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2012-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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NME is to launch a monthly print edition in India later this year, after IPC Media agreed to license the brand to local publisher Pilot Ventures. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2012-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AD TRENDS ON SOLID GROUND In the fourth quarter of 2011, most ad pages declined—but not in the Financial and Real Estate category. Ad pages for this sector were up 23% to 1,683 pages, from 1,372 pages the year before. The biggest... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2012-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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US digital textbook rental service CourseSmart has soft-launched in the UK, with industry... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media content group Chorion has sold its 64% stake in the Agatha Christie estate to US media... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Interactive learning company Mindshapes is to launch Magic Town, a virtual world for picture... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As an element of a marketer’s branding strategy, social media is huge. Some publishers are finding ways to leverage their social graph as a part of their overall marketing package offers to advertising clients. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After months of planning, PARADE Magazine is rolling out a mobile app to cultivate advertisers and enhance the content offerings to its existing reader base. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Niche Media founder Jason Binn has teamed up with e-commerce site Gilt Groupe and Hudson News founder James Cohen to create a magazine brand targeting the wealthiest Americans. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan has snapped up UK and Commonwealth rights to Amazon’s self-publishing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury is selling its German subsidiary Bloomsbury Verlag GmbH to a subsidiary of Swedish... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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US publisher Educational Development Corporation (EDC) is withdrawing the sale of its Usborne... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's gearing up a Brazilian launch for the Kindle this summer. Their strategy? Sell their product for far cheaper than the local competition, take a hit in import duties, and watch the profits roll in.The Amazon Kindle is an ubiquitous piece of tech in the United States, Canada, and Europe.... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When the Independent Publishers Group couldn't come to terms with Amazon, the bookselling giant took 5,000 IPG titles out of their Kindle ebook store. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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UK publishers have expressed concern Amazon’s use of “power” to remove the e-... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jeremy Lin has inspired a lot of rabid fans, magazine features, and six-figure book deal offers. But he's also fueled a new breed of lightning-fast ebook authors. Alan Goldsher, author of "Linsanity: The Improbable Rise of Jeremy Lin," is one of the fastest (and slickest). In the days before... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Profit at US bookseller Barnes & Noble sank 12% in the third quarter, despite both physical... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In early summer 2011, Nature Publishing Group's Educational branch debuted its "born digital" textbook Principles of Biology, which would cost the student only $49 and contribute to the movement to democratize higher education with technology. Nature's approach was so different that it basically... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2012-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors including Peter James and Helen Rappaport have joined a launch line-up of public figures... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After seeing Samsung's spirited swing at Apple users, Amazon's continuing anti-Apple pandering just feels weak. The new ad for the Kindle Fire pits a dorky, single iPad user against a Kindle-reading mom in a bikini—the same ice queen from the 2010 spot, though now she's warmed up a bit and seems... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2012-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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