Artificial intelligence and the art of reader-driven publishing
thebookseller.com – Monday July 25, 2016
In March a novel co-authored by an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm moved into the second round of submissions for a national literary contest in Japan. What may have seemed like momentary buzz suddenly gave the publishing industry pause. Is technology capable of replicating the human process involved in creating something as powerful as the written word?
While a world where robots rank on the New York Times bestseller list is still light years away, the industry is starting to acknowledge the impact that AI is having on publishing.
Booktrack’s Days are Numbered
goodereader.com – Sunday July 24, 2016
Booktrack is a company that develops soundtracks to books. It started in 2011 and has raised around three million dollars to stay in business. Their technology didn’t seem to take off with consumers and the only way to listen to them is with their proprietary app. I fear Booktrack’s days are numbered.
Booktrack took advantage of most of the hype surrounding the enhanced e-book phenomenon of 2010 to 2012. This is when EPUB 3, Kindle Format 8, iBooks Author and various initiatives were highly touted as the next big thing in digital publishing. Major publishers have failed to embrace audio, video and interactive elements in their e-books because customers have not embraced it. Most of the e-books that do leverage their technology are only available in a few apps and have limited content. The only segment to actually make interactive elements a viable business model is education.
firstwriter.magazine Issue 29: Summer 2016
firstwriter.com – Thursday July 21, 2016
The latest issue of firstwriter.magazine has just been released, featuring quality fiction and poetry submitted from around the world, plus your first chance to see not just the winning poem from our Fourteenth International Poetry Competition, but also all the Special Commendations. To view the magazine click here. To enter your work in our Fifteenth International Poetry Competition click here.
Madeleine Milburn Agency launches writing competition
thebookseller.com – Thursday July 21, 2016
The Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency will tomorrow (22nd July) launch a competition to find unpublished authors.
The theme of this year’s ‘Madeleine Milburn Summer Writing Competition’ is ‘make us scared’, and entrants can send any genre of writing as long as it fits the brief. Writers from anywhere in the world that are un-agented and unpublished are eligible, although their manuscripts must be in English.
Here's Why E-Book Sales From Major Publishers Are Plummeting
fortune.com – Monday July 11, 2016
But growing sales of self-published e-books may offset the drop.
Book publishers are winning in their quixotic war against their own electronic books as sales dropped 11% last year, according to a new report from the industry’s leading trade group.
Startup of the week: RedDoor
thebookseller.com – Saturday July 2, 2016
Bridging the gap between traditional and self-publishing, RedDoor Publishing aims to provide a credible platform for authors who are "slipping through the net as traditional publishers become increasingly (and understandably) risk averse." It operates in the same way as a traditional publishing house, except its authors pay for pre-production and first print run of their book.
'In stressed times, we can take comfort in wildlife': why nature-writing is 'exploding'
firstwriter.com – Thursday June 30, 2016
Now in its third year, the Wainwright nature-writing prize has announced its shortlist, spotlighting what one judge called an “exploding” field, as more and more writers and readers are turning to this genre as a balm for the woes of modern life.
Lionsgate UK, Idris Elba Launch Writing Competition; ‘King’s Speech’ Producer Boards Jamie Vardy Biopic – Global Briefs
deadline.com – Wednesday June 29, 2016
Lionsgate UK and Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures are partnering to launch the Write To Green Light competition, designed to discover new creative voices for television in the returnable drama space. Lionsgate’s Zygi Kamasa and Elba will judge the entries alongside a panel of industry experts.
Publishers need to help foster a love of reading
thebookseller.com – Tuesday June 28, 2016
Publishers need to work harder at creating the need for books as a product, rather than focusing on their brands, delegates to The Bookseller’s Marketing and Publicity Conference have heard.
Speaking during a panel entitled ‘Is our business like show business?: What we should (and shouldn’t!) learn from other industries', Chris McCrudden (pictured), strategy director at Golin PR, said that publishers should “create the need for product before they create the need for brand”, adding that at the moment that there are “lots and lots and lots of little campaigns trying to get you to buy a particular book, but nothing trying to get consumers to buy books in general”.
Former Orion editor Silk becomes literary agent
thebookseller.com – Thursday June 23, 2016
Former Orion editor Julia Silk is forging a new career path as a literary agent in association with MBA Literary Agents.
Silk, who has worked as an editor for 15 years, most recently with Orion, will be building her own client list with a focus on commercial fiction, crime and thrillers, extending to accessible literary fiction "if a voice really grabbed me".
She is also open to proposals for "platform-driven non-fiction", in the areas of parenting and lifestyle, fashion, style and beauty, as well as narrative non-fiction and memoir.
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