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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Written By: Michael Fitzpatrick Publication Date: Tue, 23/08/2011 - 08:26 A confusing maze of ebook stores, a difficulty in rendering text and high costs of purchase are dissuading Japanese customers from buying into ebooks. The chaotic melee now taking place in Japan, as publishing makes room... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Smiths News, the newspaper and magazine wholesaler, has completed the purchase of the remaining assets of Dawson Holdings, which include its ebook unit and its newspaper and magazine airline distribution business. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2011-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Tue, 23/08/2011 - 09:10 Several US law firms have now filed lawsuits against Apple and major US publishers alleging what one described as a "horizontal conspiracy" to fix and increase the price of ebooks in the US. One firm also now moved for the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Mon, 22/08/2011 - 09:21 American crime writer Karin Slaughter has written a digital-only short story exclusive to Amazon, with all the proceeds going to benefit libraries. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 22/08/2011 - 15:00 Simon & Schuster US has signed a deal to publish the physical editions of John Locke's Donovan Creed novels in North America. In June, Locke became the first self-published author to sell more than one million ebooks... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 19/08/2011 - 10:20 Weidenfeld & Nicolson has acquired a collection of stories by Nathan Englander, one of the New Yorker's "20 Writers for the 21st Century", whose previous works have been published by Faber. Editorial director Arzu... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 15:22 Aurum is publishing a memoir by the late actress Elisabeth Sladen, best known for her tole as Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who. Aurum editor Sam Harrison had approached Sladen directly, buying world rights to the book directly... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 19/08/2011 - 08:50 High street stalwart Argos is planning to launch ebooks on its website in a bid to grow its recently launched book offer. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 15:01 Hodder has today (18th August) released an enhanced film tie-in ebook of David Nicholls' One Day, titled One Day Plus. The ebook is priced £5.49 and features footage from Nicholls' appearance at the iTunes Festival this... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oh boy, do I have a contest for you long-winded Facebookers and personal bloggers. It's called, "Your Life: The Reader's Digest Version." The venerable magazine is willing to shell out $25,000 if you can keep The Story of You to a crisp and compelling 150 words (words, not charactersthis isn't... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Booker Prize winning author Graham Swift believes digital publishing could threaten the livelihood of authors in the future because they are being paid too little. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2011-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If the Bible is the dairy section of religion publishing, then Bible stories for children are milk cartons sized for kid consumption. Childrens religion publishing sells a lot of those cartons, but it also offers a wide variety of books on topics beyond the Bible, such as good manners,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 11/08/2011 - 09:10 HarperCollins ebook sales now comprise 11% of its total revenue, the company has said following parent NewsCorp's latest results. As has now become customary, figures for HarperCollins were not stripped out. There was no... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 04/08/2011 - 09:20 The Society of Authors, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain and actors' union Equity have jointly sent letters to both BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten and director general Mark Thompson, asking them to stop the BBC Radio 4... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Wed, 03/08/2011 - 09:14 Facebook has bought the innovative ebook publisher Push Pop Press but will not use the company to publish ebooks. The giant social networking website will instead use PPP's platform and technology to give "people even richer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 28/07/2011 - 08:37 BBC Radio 4 seems to have performed a partial u-turn on its decision to cut the number of short stories it airs from three to one per week, with a compromise of two weekly broadcasts. Listeners, authors and celebrities such as... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 27/07/2011 - 07:20 The Society of Authors' petition against the cuts to BBC Radio 4's short story programming has now amassed over 5,000 signatures. SoA general secretary Nicola Solomon and assistant general secretary Jo McCrum will present... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 20/07/2011 - 15:00 Thousands of out of print science-fiction titles will be available digitally, after Gollancz launched the world's largest science-fiction and fantasy library, the SF Gateway. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Tue, 19/07/2011 - 15:43 The Society of Authors has said it would be a "great shame" if the BBC goes ahead with its planned cuts to short story coverage on BBC Radio 4 and pleaded with the broadcaster to reconsider. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 15/07/2011 - 14:37 Publishers are preparing for the first big UK ebook summer with a mix of excitement and anxiety as they look forward to strong digital sales but wait to see the effect on print numbers. Nielsen BookScans Top 5,000 figures... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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