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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Advertising Age's new eBook collection is informative, practical and easy to read. These guides, available on Amazon's Kindle, expertly cover current marketing topics and are designed to be a resource for marketers at every level, in any business.In "Winning with Facebook Advertising," readers... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2013-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The San Diego Reader is mining gold from its rich archives and releasing the treasures as a collection of six eBooks, the first installment of a series that will showcase the literary quality and historic value of a collection spanning more than 40 y ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sainsbury’s has launched a month-long promotion offering ebooks for 99p each. The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The real problem with ebooks is that they're more 'e' than book, so an entirely different set of rules govern what someone can and can't do with them compared to physical books, especially when it comes to pricing. The collusion in pricing has been a public issue for a while, but we need to talk... Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Many of us associate Scribd with embedded documents on websites, but the company has been quietly building an ebook platform -- first by selling content and later by soft-launching a subscription service. The company is now making its strategy clear by formally launching the ebook service and... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scribd formally launched ebook subscriptions today and the company CEO said he believes the service could eventually produce $1 billion in annual revenue. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Irish writer William Trevor has been named winner of the inaugural Charleston & Chichester... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cornerstone has signed a six-figure deal for a début novel about a Mormon family in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google has expanded Play ebook sales to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and New Zealand. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Mexico City librarians from Colombia, Mexico and Spain agreed there remained numerous challenges to libraries offering digital content and lending ebooks. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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@Horse_ebooks is the Twitter account that, until today, spewed frequent bouts of eerily poetic nonsense to more than 213,000 followers: @Horse_ebooks was widely believed to be a Twitter bot whose tweets were sent out by a robot that scraped text from obscure parts of the Internet. That is, until... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter is quite the medium. An endless source of looping GIFs, "viral" videos, and, sadly, bad advertising. Most of the latter category is quickly dismissed by the block and report spam features of Twitter, but the occasional spambot elevates its "craft" to a level of surreal bliss which begs... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Bill Bryson calls on publishers to give away ebooks with printed copies in order to tempt readers back to buying physical books. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2013-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An Ofcom study into consumers' digital consumption has found that Amazon has a dominant 79%... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It's the last week to pitch your stories and book advertising in our printed Frankfurt Book Fair Show Daily issues running October 8-11. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Ether for Authors, Porter Anderson looks at the Oyster ebook subscription service, at a CONTEC session ahead in Frankfurt, at book marketing, and more. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The federal judge presiding over the U.S. electronic books case against Apple has barred the company from striking deals that would ensure that it could undercut prices of other retailers in the ebook market.(macworld.com) Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Netflix did it with movies. Spotify did it with music. And now a New York start-up hopes to do the same with ebooks. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple must pay for an independent antitrust monitor as part of a permanent injunction handed down on Friday by a federal court in New York. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A US judge imposes restrictions on the agreements technology giant Apple, after a court ruled it conspired with five publishers to control ebook prices. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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