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
It's no secret that Borders was hemorrhaging money long before it sought chapter bankruptcy protection five months ago. Because of the company's shaky finances, most publishers began transitioning sales to other outlets long before the bankruptcy filing. Even so, the crippled chain moved a lot... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#months ago
Hearst-owned magazines is treading on to Groupon's territory with the launch of group-buying discounts, starting off with Road & Track and Car and Driver. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#road track
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 18/07/2011 - 15:22 Amazon.com is giving students the ability to rent textbooks on Kindle e-readers. The company said students can save up to 80% off textbook prices with the new initiative, which launched today. Kindle Textbook Rental will also... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon offers
#kindle e-readers
#launched today
#academic publishers
Egmont Publishing Group is to buck the trend in the teen media market with the launch of We Love Pop, a new monthly pop magazine aimed at teen girls, more than five years after Smash Hits folded. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2011-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#love pop
#teen girls
Amazon, which dominates the ebook market, has stayed out of the electronic textbook market. Until now: The company has opened up a textbook store for its Kindle platform, where it is renting "tens of thousands" of titles for the upcoming school year. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#kindle platform
#textbook rentals
#ebook market
Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 14/07/2011 - 09:14 Sony is to launch a range of upgraded e-readers in the US to challenge Amazon's Kindle. The range of Sony Readers, priced from $180-$300 (£112-£186), looks set to launch in August, prior to the electronics giant's release... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#challenge amazon
#electronics giant
#tablet computers
Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 13/07/2011 - 09:37 Kobo has begun selling ebooks in Germany, including offering 80,000 titles in the German language, and 2.4 million ebooks in total. The ebookseller is also promising that its devices will be sold in a major consumer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#german language
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 13/07/2011 - 15:32 Amazon.com has dropped the price of its advertising-heavy Amazon 3G Kindle to $139 (£86.91). Telecoms company AT&T is sponsoring the Kindle with Special Offers, which will include campaigns for customers and sponsored... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#special offers
#jeff bezos
Hearst staple Cosmopolitan is entering new territory in the digital realm with Cosmo For Guys, an exclusively digital offering available on the iPad August 1. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#digital realm
Hachette Filipacchi is expanding its Elle brand onto the mobile platform with the launch of a magazine iPhone app. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2011-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#hachette filipacchi
#elle brand
#mobile platform
Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Tue, 12/07/2011 - 08:30 Google has launched a branded e-reader, the first device to be integrated with the Google ebooks platform. The internet giant teamed up with manufacturer iriver to produce the iriver Story HD, which goes on sale at Target on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#google launches
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 11/07/2011 - 08:45 Amazon.co.uk is creating 900 jobs by opening its seventh fulfilment centre in Rugeley, Staffordshire. The 700,000 square foot centre will begin fulfilling orders from September and aims to employ more than 900 permanent and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fulfilment centre
#temporary workers
Drive up and down the 101 Freeway in Silicon Valley, or cast your gaze north toward Seattle, and media companies, which expect to book over $20 billion in advertising in 2011, appear to be everywhere. But visit the biggest of these companies and ask them to define themselves, and youll be... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#big thing
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 08/07/2011 - 08:27 HarperCollins has bought four books by Louise Voss and Mark Edwards, whose self-published novels have been Amazon bestsellers, in a six-figure, pre-empt deal. Commissioning editor Kate Bradley bought world rights from agent Sam... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#louise voss
#mark edwards
#self-published novels
#pre-empt deal
#coleridge white
#physical edition
Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 08/07/2011 - 08:36 A blogging site that aims to boost authors' independent ebook sales has been created by writers Katherine Roberts and Susan Price in response to a significant contraction in many authors' earnings. Roberts said: "The whole of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ebooks offer
#longer term
Sometimes keeping up with the Internet can seem like an endless assignment. The tweets and Facebook posts scroll infinitely, the email piles up, and news sites and blogs publish around the clock. That's why Summify seems so different. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#news sites
#iphone app
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 07/07/2011 - 09:06 The Booksellers Association has announced it will formally oppose the merger of Amazon and The Book Depository, with the BA saying that Amazon already had a "de facto monopoly". Meanwhile, the PA is actively considering... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#booksellers association
#formally oppose
#book depository
Cinchcast, whose technology has been used by BlogTalkRadio since 2006, released a cloud-based audio solution for digital publishers. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#digital publishers
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 07/07/2011 - 09:06 The Booksellers Association has announced it will formally oppose the merger of Amazon and The Book Depository, saying that Amazon already had a "de facto monopoly". read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#booksellers association
#formally oppose
#book depository
Utne Reader, a magazine that highlights the best of independent and alternative presses, has launched Alt Wire, a socially curated digital magazine. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |