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 Foyle family investment vehicle Noved Investment Holdings is selling the leasehold to the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If showrooming wasnt part of the industry lexicon before last week, it is now, thanks to Amazons price check app that gives customers up to $15 in discounts to those who scan prices of products at different stores. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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I love reading, and I love books. I don't care much about the medium--paper or digital, it's all the same to me, for the most part. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As the e-commerce craze gets hotter, publishers looking to get into the game are faced with many questions. Some of these include how the business model of the e-commerce operation will operate; how it integrates seamlessly into editorial while avoiding advertising influence; and perhaps most... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Constable & Robinson is to launch Canvas, a new commercial fiction list headed by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Crime Writers Association (CWA) is to launch a new initiative, the Crime Readers... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Asda will begin selling the Kobo wireless e-reader for £67 this Friday (9th December). The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The number of children who do not own a book is increasing, the National Literacy Trust has said... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury is to offer online services to help unpublished authors learn about the publishing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Waterstone's m.d. Tim Coates is to launch Bilbary (www.bilbary.com), an international... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of cheaply priced classics are surging, with publisher Wordsworth Editions seeing sales of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon has launched the Kindle Store in Spain and Italy, as well as its first Spanish-language... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins Children's Books has produced a new app for classic picturebook Paddington,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Good Housekeeping has launched a £25,000 competition for budding novelists in association... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When Penguin announced last week that it was disabling library ebook lending on the Kindle and pulling its latest ebook titles from all library lending platforms, libraries and readers took the hit, but to some observers they were collateral damage in a fight between publishers and Amazon about... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Germanys Catholic Church has announced this week its intention to sell Weltbild, one of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin US will restore its supply of backlist titles for ebook lending to Amazon until the end... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 23/11/2011 - 08:30 W H Smith has launched a colour WiFi Kobo e-reader, priced £169.99 and with a multimedia touch screen and social media tie-in. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 17/11/2011 - 12:18 Sci-fi and fantasy specialist Angry Robot is setting up a YA imprint, Strange Chemistry, with genre blogger Amanda Rutter appointed editor. The imprint will launch in September 2012, with five titles to be published... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 15/11/2011 - 09:40 Dawson Books has begun consulting with employees after announcing major head office departments will move to Bertrams site in Norwich. Dawson recently merged with the Norwich-based book wholesaler after Bertrams parent... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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