Peter James's Host, published on two disks, was an early example – but exactly where the medium started life is surprisingly tricky to identifyWhat was the first ebook? Debate rages … When Peter James published his thriller Host on two floppy disks, in 1993, it was billed as the "world's first electronic novel", and attacked as a harbinger of the apocalypse which would destroy literature as we knew it. Now it has been accepted into the Science Museum's collection as one of the earliest examples of the form, as the spotlight of academia begins to shine on the history of digital publishing."I got absolutely pilloried," says James. "I was on Today accused of killing the novel, I was a front-page headline on papers in Italy – 99% of the press was negative … one journalist even took his computer on a wheelbarrow to the beach, along with a generator, to read Host in his deckchair."The digital version of the novel (it was also published physically) went on to sell 12,000 copies, according to James, and two years later, he was speaking on a panel on the future of the novel at the University of Southern California, together with Apple founder Steve Jobs. "I said ebooks would catch on when they became more convenient to read than the printed novel," said James. "It was astonishing the amount of outrage it caused."And Host – about a scientist who downloads his brain into a computer and has his body frozen – has now become a historical artefact, accepted into the Science Museum's... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebooks accounted for 22.55 percent, or nearly a quarter, of U.S. book publishers’ sales in 2012, according to a full-year report released by the Association of American Publishers Thursday. That’s up from 17 percent of sales in 20 ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Line, the popular messaging platform based in Japan, is challenging ebook vendors like Amazon and Rakuten with a new service to download and view manga, or Japanese comic books. The company has launched "Line Manga," a mobile app for Android and iOS phones. Line's initial offering consists of... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Houston-based Kbuuk is one of the latest in a long line of file conversion and self-publishing ebook platforms to emerge in the wake of the digital explosion. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Slicebooks offers tools for producing re-mixable ebooks. But the implications of this go far beyond generating more sales, explains co-founder Jill Tomich. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By the end of last summer, I was worn out. It seemed like every week brought a new, awful incident of plagiarism or fabrication at news organizations large and small. My job was to write about all of them, to try and get more information about wh ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An old cliché goes: You can have it good, fast or cheap, pick any two. But all three? When it comes to ebooks, new tools might be able to deliver all three. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Library e-lending pilot schemes could be in place by the end of the summer, following the release... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new report on the ebook market in 2012 shows the continuing dominance of fiction, with fiction... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Discussions at this year's Leipzig Book Fair proved that ebooks and self publishing are gaining wider acceptance in Germany, and readers are more open to digitization. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Despite budget cuts and insufficient bilingual staffing, United States libraries continue to invest money expanding Spanish-language children’s and YA collections. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Weidenfeld & Nicolson's deputy publishing director Arzu Tahsin has bought rights to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pulitzer Prize-winner Junot Díaz has won the £30,000 Sunday Times Short Story Award... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It's only March, but 2013's already proving to be quite the wild ride for music distribution trailblazer, eMusic. A month after eschewing its long time subscription-only model by adding direct music purchases, the site has merged with Ray Kurzweil-founded ebook distributor, K-NFB Reading Inc.... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Doubleday has announced that free copies of Dan Brown's famous 'The Da Vinci Code will be available as a promotion for Brown's new novel 'Inferno.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's Little A imprint will release novels, memoirs, and story collections, while Day One will focus on short stories and new writers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Doubleday has announced that it will be giving away free ebooks of Dan Brown's international bestseller "The Da Vinci Code" this week. Doubleday has announced that it will be giving away free ebooks of Dan Brown's international bestseller "The Da Vinci Code" this week. The free digital download... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin imprint Hamish Hamilton will publish a new short story by Zadie Smith later this year.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter is being used as a "commissioning channel", Random House digital publisher Dan... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Telegraph has claimed niche authors are being unfairly hit by Amazon’s self-publishing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple CEO Tim Cook could be deposed in the US government's lawsuit against the company over alleged price-setting in the ebook market. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2013-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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