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: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 10/02/2011 - 16:03 Amazon has appointed three staff to roles in the UK team. John Gahagan will head up Amazons UK Books business, with both the UK Books and print on demand teams reporting to him. Amy Worth will now lead the UK Kindle content... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Tue, 08/02/2011 - 08:55 The Man Booker Foundation is to award a special prize to the late author Beryl Bainbridge, who was shortlisted five times for the accolade but never won. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The David Chang journal and app that was announced last week is just the first of a new imprint literary publisher McSweeneys Books is launching later this spring. Inspired by the very encouraging response to the food section in a one-off newspaper prototype McSweeneys published in December... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For many publishers, "e-commerce" means dabbling in sales of intellectual property, such as work plans (August Home Publishing, Hanley Wood). Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Amazon.co.uk has reiterated its opposition to agency pricing as it revealed its top-selling ebook authors are not governed by the model. Last week Amazon.com announced ebooks had begun to outsell paperbacks in the US for the first time, with 115 ebooks bought for every... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Over the last few months the tech industry has been inching toward ebook nirvana. For one thing, gadget makers keep improving e-readers while slashing prices. (I'm going to renew my bet that Amazon will begin selling the Kindle for less than $100 by the end of the year.) The bigger story,... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple kept mum on its highly anticipated digital subscription plan during a press conference today at the Guggenheim in New York City announcing News Corp.'s new tablet publication The Daily (which is available in the App Store as of noon Eastern), but News Corp. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams The Office of Fair Trading has announced an enquiry into the ebook agency model, following what it described as a "significant number of complaints". The OFT said the investigation is "into whether arrangements that certain publishers have put in place with some... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple has moved to block third party app developers from selling content, such as ebooks, outside of the app store, leading to speculation that it wants a cut of digital purchases, even when they are made via apps such as the Kindle app. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The ebook sales milestone "has come even sooner than we expected," CEO Bezos says. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Kindle ebooks have overtaken paperback sales at Amazon.com, as the internet retailer revealed sales topped $10bn for the first time in its latest trading quarter. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Online retailer reports sales of its digital ebooks has outstripped those of traditional paperbacks. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell A children's book written by Jo Nesbo is among the choices in Richard and Judys Childrens Book Club, which launched in W H Smith today [27th January]. The husband-and wife television presenting team are working alongside the charity Booktrust, to encourage more... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Tim Conneally, Betanews Wednesday, Web retailer Amazon launched its Kindle Singles line of literature designed specifically for consumption on e-readers. The works, priced between $1.00 and $3.00, include original works of prose, essays and theses, and the the first TEDBooks.Last October,... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple caused a stir last week when it announced that it sold 7.3 million iPads in the quarter ended December 25, bringing the number of devices it has sold since it released the iPad last April to nearly 15 million. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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