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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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 05/05/2011 - 09:08 Amazon.com has launched its fourth imprint, focusing on romance, as it continues to hire across its publishing business. Montlake Romance will be available to North American readers in digital and physical formats and will... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon.com Inc. is expanding its fast-growing publishing business with a new line of romance books, its latest quest for original content to distinguish its print and digital bookselling services. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 04/05/2011 - 15:43 Granta magazine is to launch an Italian language edition, published through Rizzoli, on 14th May. The development means the magazine will now be available in three European languages aside from English. Granta Italia's first... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 03/05/2011 - 08:30 High street retailer Argos intends to increase its online book range from 500 to 5,000 titles over the next month. The chain store, known for stocking a large range of non-food products, launched its books category on its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Tue, 03/05/2011 - 08:00 Waterstone's has launched its second Picture This illustration competition, partnering with HarperCollins, the Daily Telegraph and children's author Michael Morpurgo. The competition was launched in the Daily Telegraph Review and on Waterstones.com on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Joining the line of publishers who are entering the e-commerce space is New York magazine and NY.com; theyve announced a New York City-specific online deals program that is set to launch in May. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Push Pop Press, a digital book publishing platform, went live with its first title this week, Al Gore's "Our Choice," available as an iOS app for $4.99. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 28/04/2011 - 15:15 Hodder Faith publishing director Wendy Grisham is moving to the US to launch new Hachette imprint Jericho Books. The imprint will be part of Faith Words, with Grisham appointed as publisher and vice-president reporting to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon has tweaked its Kindle for Android app to run optimally on tablets running Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Wed, 20/04/2011 - 09:22 Editis has sold its Brussels-based educational, scientific and academic publishing subsidiary Groupe De Boeck to Ergon Capital Partners III SA for an undisclosed sum. The sale will enable Frances second largest publisher... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon just eliminated one of the biggest differences between the Kindle and competing e-readers. It said today it will be rolling out the Kindle Library Lending feature later this year, allowing customers to borrow books for free from more than 11,000 libraries in the U.S. Other e-readers and... Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The 99-cents a week-service looks like the kind of thing that could drive the New York Times and the Associated Press batty. Instead, they've signed on for a piece of the action. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 15:44 Police intelligence analyst Elizabeth Haynes has won the first Amazon Rising Stars award of 2011. The mother-of-one, who lives in Kent, came top in a consumer-review poll asking readers which one of four Amazon-selected... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 14:57 Bold block colours and striking symbols define a new series of Icon books designed to reach young professionals intent on self-improvement. The guides aim to present weighty subjects in such areas as cognitive behavioural... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 14:57 Bold block colours and striking symbols define a new series of Icon books designed to reach young professionals intent on self-improvement. The guides aim to present weighty subjects in such areas as cognitive behavioural... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Thu, 14/04/2011 - 09:15 German travel publisher MairDumont is to launch into the English-language market, with a new subsidiary to be based in the UK. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) launched a strategy consulting practice today. The goal of the practice is to assist companies of all walks in creation of original content strategies that will be beneficial to their overall business. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon is dropping the price of its Kindle e-reader to $114 as it faces increasing competition from Apple, Barnes & Noble and other tablets. The new price point represents a $25 price cut on the Wi-Fi version, but it comes with one major trade-off: ads. The e-reader will be sold by Amazon,... Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penton Media today announced its new Marketing Services Group, a unit that will offer custom content, research and digital and sales optimization services to customers in 17 vertical markets. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With Russia the market focus country at the Fair, Russian publishers will be at Earls Court in force and there will be many associated literary and cultural events. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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