amazon
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Crowdsourcing Publishing
As if upending the publishing industry with its ongoing battle with Hachette wasn’t enough, now Amazon wants to cut out publishers entirely. Amazon is launching a new program called Kindle Scout, a system where customers will read excerpts and vote on…
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Amazon’s Competition
At Salon, Emily Gould responds to Matt Yglesias’s Vox piece on Amazon, emphasizing his weakest point (“Amazon faces lots of competition”), while also acknowledging that his criticism of the publishing industry isn’t entirely off-base.
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The Market Decides
In the midst of debate over Amazon’s place in the publishing industry, Margo Howard raises questions about the authority of its consumer-based literary criticism. When it comes to art, the retail giant’s capitalist-populist approach may do more harm than good:…
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The Orwellian Blunders of Amazon
For Melville House, Alex Shephard examines Amazon’s fraught relationship with George Orwell’s publisher Hachette, criticizing the online shopping hub for misappropriating Orwell’s views on paperback publishing: In context, Orwell not only contradicts Amazon’s argument about paperbacks, he contradicts their entire business…
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For Whom Amazon Tolls
As the Amazon versus Hachette dispute drags on into its fifth month, Alex Shepard, over at Melville House, examines the conflict, and what it means for publishers and authors: Traditional publishers can’t do what Amazon does; Amazon can’t do what traditional…
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The Freedom of Self-Publishing
Self-publishing has never been easier for writers with digital technology, particularly ebooks, allowing for new titles with little to no capital costs. Poets, after all, have a long history of self-publishing, explains Sarah Gonnet over at Luna Luna, in part…
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Indie Bookstores On the Rise
A few years ago it seemed Amazon was about to send independent bookstores the way of Blockbuster Video. Now more than ever though, we’re living in a new Renaissance of independent bookstores. Slate explains why: Independent bookstores never had to answer…
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An Author Defends Amazon
As the Amazon-Hachette war rages on, it seems that not many writers have any kind words for Amazon. But in Slate, author Neal Pollack can’t seem to say enough nice things.
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Win Or Lose, Amazon War Means Change
No matter how the dispute between publisher Hachette and online mage-retailer Amazon resolves itself, the one thing that can be assured is that the publishing industry is changing. Amazon might hope to accelerate and seize control of the changes through…
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Cover Prices
Printing pricing information on book covers has long been a standard practice to help track inventory. The suggested pricing also helps increase the perceived value of books. The internet, especially Amazon, has changed that perception of value leading some booksellers…
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Book Hunting
Future generations may never understand the simply joy of searching a used bookstore for a long-coveted title. While online megastores allow readers access to virtually any book, typing a title into a search box is much less satisfying than sleuthing…
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The Bookstores Will Survive
A bright spot in the midst of all the back-and-forth in the Amazon battle—Kate Brittain, at The Morning News, writes about the state of independent bookstores: I began my search in a nervous mood. But as I entered name after name into…