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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Under the auspices of its Vintage Crime/Black Lizard imprint, Vintage Books is launching the Weekly Lizard, a mobile-optimized online site devoted to news and feature content about crime and mystery writing. While the Weekly Lizard is designed to attract readers interested in crime, mystery and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 21/06/2011 - 08:46 Waterstone's has joined forces with Grazia magazine to launch a book club featuring 10 titles. One Grazia Book Club title will feature in the magazine every week from the next issue, allowing readers to claim 50% off the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In France, bestselling author Fred Vargas landed at #1 with a new Commissaire Adamsberg mystery, The Furious Army. Penguin will release a paperback edition of an earlier Adamsberg novel, An Uncertain Plan, in the U.S. in October, but has not yet acquired rights to the newest title. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Mon, 20/06/2011 - 12:30 John le Carré has been awarded a Goethe Medal, an honour given each year by the Goethe Institute in London for "outstanding service to the German language and international cultural dialogue". The award was made to Le Carré... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As awesome as Kindle Direct Publishing is, it will be crushed by spam if Amazon doesn't take some action to control the amount of junk titles being dumped on it. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Neill Denny Publication Date: Fri, 17/06/2011 - 08:18 We Love This Book, The Bookseller's sister consumer magazine and website, launches next week with a circulation of 100,000. The free quarterly magazine is designed to alert readers to exciting new books and to provide a platform... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google has launched an affiliate program for its eBooks service, offering to pay commissions to Web publishers who promote titles on their sites and send buyers... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Financial Times has decided to go another way for their digital subscription offering, opting out of the Apple sub model and creating an app through HTML 5, allowing users to get the app experience through their Web browser. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Thu, 16/06/2011 - 09:21 Harry Potter fans have been reacting with excitement to a mysterious website launched by J K Rowling. Pottermore.com features a pink holding page with the description "coming soon" and Rowlings signature underneath. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 15/06/2011 - 08:07 Random House Children's Books has released its first four-colour picture ebooks, marking the start of its ebook publishing programme for picture books. Digital editions will from now on be released alongside the physical... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 14/06/2011 - 08:27 Pop singer turned TV star Peter Andre is joining the ranks of the champions of children's literacy by fronting the launch of a new London scheme. Andre joins London's mayor Boris Johnson at the Botwell Green library and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams and Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 14/06/2011 - 15:19 Irish book chain and stationers Eason has launched a daily offers site, EasonOffers.com, with the website offering a large discount on one item at a time each day, with free delivery to anywhere in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 14/06/2011 - 08:50 Intellectual property agency 1454 has developed a new interactive children's adventure series that will be published exclusively on the Kindle worldwide. It is thought to be the first time a children's series has been produced... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 14/06/2011 - 09:00 Intellectual property agency 1454 has developed a new interactive children's adventure series that will be published exclusively on the Kindle worldwide. It is thought to be the first time a children's series has been produced... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 09/06/2011 - 15:17 Publishing Scotland has launched its Company Development Project, calling for applications from small- and medium-sized publishing companies. The initiative, hosted by Publishing Scotland and partly funded by Creative... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 07/06/2011 - 11:40 Amazon.co.uk has announced that Orange Prize shortlisted author Emma Donoghues Room (Picador) is leading sales on the website ahead of rival contenders for the award. The Orange Prize for Fiction is revealed tomorrow (8th... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 07/06/2011 - 16:18 Conville & Walsh is to launch a speakers agency later this month, with 40 of the literary agency's authors, including Helen Castor, Gavin Pretor-Pinney and Tom Holland, already on its books. Hire Intelligence will... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Richard Desmond is in talks with US media giant Time Warner about the possible sale of the US edition of celebrity OK! magazine, sources have confirmed. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2011-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 02/06/2011 - 12:39 Ottakar's founder James Heneage has launched the inaugural Chalke Valley History Festival, with the likes of Michelle Paver, Patrick Bishop and Peter Snow due to make appearances. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 01/06/2011 - 14:45 Consumer-facing books website Hive has launched today (1st June), with around 350 independent bookshops signed up as members. The site, which can be visited at http://www.hive.co.uk, went live just hours ago in a soft launch... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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