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: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 01/03/2011 - 15:52 The Campaign for the Book has launched a legal challenge over the widespread library closures, claiming culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has failed to comply with his duties under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AT&T is the current broadband network used by the Amazon reader. The Kindle 3G can hold up to 3,500 books and is sold at the retail price of $189. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Beginning Tuesday, Random House will join other major book publishers in selling its ebooks using the so-called agency model, setting its own prices for ebooks while the retailer takes a commission. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Online publishers like CBS and Forbes are selling the tiny ads on their Web sites, rather than letting a third-party network promote teeth whitening and herbal remedies. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 24/02/2011 - 15:30 Simon & Schuster is repackaging three of Jackie Collins backlist titles ahead of her latest novel, Goddess of Vengeance. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Wed, 23/02/2011 - 14:20 Walker Books is launching marketing campaigns to support its picture book publishing and teen fiction ranges. Undercover, promoting a range of YA titles, will launch in March and a separate picture book campaign, Picture Book... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 23/02/2011 - 15:33 A High Court challenge is being launched over library closures in Gloucestershire and Somerset, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind. A challenge to the coalition government's "vague" Big Society concept,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Forbes is launching an ad platform that combines the Forbes Media Network with a new audience segmentation effort called FAST and offers custom units that blend advertising with content according to user preferences. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 21/02/2011 - 15:59 Quartet Books is launching a new imprint by veteran American broadcast journalist Charles Glass. The imprint, called Charles Glass Books, will focus on investigative journalism, war, world politics and corporate and political... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 18/02/2011 - 08:20 Orion has launched a new imprint, Swordfish, publishing a wide range of commercial non-fiction as well as a small selection of fiction. Non-fiction publishing director Rowland White will take on the role of publisher. Six... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 15/02/2011 - 09:39 Indie publisher Salt has launched a digital imprint, Embrace Books, comprising four series of erotica and romance titles. Red Velvet is billed as "sexy, sophisticated romance", while After Dark is an "intense,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 15/02/2011 - 09:57 read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 14/02/2011 - 15:25 Accent Press imprint Xcite Books is launching a "one-stop shop" for romantic and erotic ebooks and audio formats. The site, www.erotica-romance-ebooks.com, will launch on 1st March and replaces Xcite's three current sites... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At a press conference this morning, Time Inc. announced it is launching an "all access" digital subscription plan in an effort to offer their brands to readers on any platform. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 10/02/2011 - 07:56 Amazon.com has launched a free Kindle app for webOS to use with the new HP TouchPad. The app allows customers to "buy once, read everywhere" across other devices such as Kindle, iPad, iPod touch, Blackberry and iPhone. Dorothy... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-10 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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