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Book News
Philip M. Parker uses algorithm to generate hundreds of thousands of ebooks
This story isn’t entirely new, but as computing power increases we’re likely to see such things happening more frequently: thanks to a system that algorithmically compiles data into book format, a professor from the INSEAD business school has created hundreds of thousands of ebooks that can be purchased from Amazon. Philip M. Parker has been … Continue reading
Psy’s Gangnam Style shows that copyright infringement can be a boost
A lot of people knew this already, but the recent success of Psy’s Gangnam Style video has arguably demonstrated yet again that copyright infringement can actually boost the performance of a media product. As Techdirt notes, Psy has enjoyed huge success – and raked in a lot of money – thanks, in part, to his … Continue reading
Amazon launches Chinese Kindle store, but faces possible regulatory problems
Amazon has finally launched its long-awaited Chinese Kindle store, but there’s a catch: the store isn’t actually selling physical Kindles, but instead encourages Chinese users to download customized iOS and Android apps. The store apparently has roughly 22,000 Chinese-language Kindle titles, with no sign so far that indie Kindle books are on the way. The … Continue reading
Borrows worth $1.90 for KDP Select authors in November
The KDP Select borrow rate for November 2012 was $1.90, according to Amazon. That’s the lowest figure since January, with the rate having hovered a little over the $2 mark for the rest of the year. Given the size of the ‘pot’ made available to cover borrows, that suggests there was a rise in the … Continue reading
Are dead people ‘liking’ Facebook pages?
While many authors and brand managers are keen to amass as many ‘likes’ as possible on Facebook, ReadWrite has an interesting story in which it’s claimed that a dead user was allegedly ‘liking’ pages several months after his passing! The gist of the story is that a Facebook user alleges that one of his friends … Continue reading
Amazon launches Canadian Kindle store
Amazon has launched a Canadian Kindle store, offering Kindle ebooks direct to Canadian customers for the first time (rather than making them go through the .com site). The move hasn’t yet been mentioned in a press release, but the new store seems to have gone live some time in the past twenty-four hours. Kindles aren’t … Continue reading
Nancy Huston wins Literary Review’s Bad Sex award
Nancy Huston has won this year’s Bad Sex award, for her novel Infrared. Only the third woman to win the prize in its twenty-year history, and she has the disadvantage (or advantage?) of writing primarily in French and then translating her work into English. Although she was unable to attend the prize-giving ceremony in person, … Continue reading
Amazon launches new ‘all you can eat’ Kindle FreeTime Unlimited services for families
Amazon has launched a new service called Kindle FreeTime Unlimited that offers a kind of ‘all you can eat’ selection for families. Subscribers pay a monthly fee in return for unlimited access to more than a thousand selected ebooks, movies, TV shows, apps and games aimed specifically at kids aged between 3 and 8. You … Continue reading
Woman sued over online review
An American woman has been sued after posting a scathing online review of a building contractor. While the story obviously isn’t directly related to ebooks, it does serve as a reminder that reviews can be seen as a form of libel if the reviewer makes false claims. How long before a reviewer on Amazon faces … Continue reading
Amazon and Google launch eBookstores in Brazil
Amazon and Google have both launched ebookstores in Brazil. The amazon.com.br site has been rumoured for a while, and has now launched (albeit so far without much fanfare) with the usual offerings including pre-orders for Kindle devices and a range of titles from Brazilian and international publishers. Google has also launched Google Play in Brazil, … Continue reading
