Random Articles - RAW 160521

Great to see you here! I've put together a few articles about books and reading which I hope you'll find as interesting as I did. This week we are reminded that the fads we see in the publishing industry are not a new development but have been with us for hundreds of years and that statics can be interpreted anyway you want.

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter as I'm trying something new with these post that I collect.  Most of the time I have so many articles that I want to share I can't use them all, so I'm going to Tweet them through out the week.

So sit back with your favourite beverage, enjoy reading this weekend and feel free to contact me via Twitter and let me know what you think.

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Authors Condemn Book Copyright and Import Proposal as Massive Own Goal

The Australian book industry awards night heard proposals would reduce authors’ control of copyright and flood market with cheap overseas editions. Magda Szubanski said she would consider leaving the country and called for writers to go on strike. Richard Flanagan called for the resignation of arts minister, Mitch Fifield. Tim Winton said the Turnbull government was about to kick a “massive own goal”. Read more...

Publishing Industry Fads Have Been Happening for Nearly 300 Years

If you thought that the way the publishing industry jumps on the latest werehamster/interurban fantasy/cyclops detective/moody vampire/hipster zombie* fad is a new development, you would be wrong.  Read more...

Are Physical Books Back After “A Bad Attack of Technodazzle”?

The book hasn’t had an easy time of it recently. Here, there and everywhere, headlines have alleged that the death of traditional print publishing is inevitable, and to date, these doom-laden declarations have been borne out by sales data that does indeed demonstrate a decline in the appetites of physical book buyers. But last week, a study by the Publishers Association revealed something surprising: that “sales of print books are rising, while digital sales are down for the first time since the invention of the e-reader.” Read more...

e-Readers vs Paper: Which Do You Prefer?

E-readers, and the ebooks that populate them currently make up 15-20% of all U.S. trade book sales. But research suggests that reading on paper still boasts unique advantages. Since the 1980s researchers in many fields, including psychology, computer engineering, and library and information science, have investigated and researched the differences between reading on-screen and on paper. Over a hundred studies have been published and the findings have been intriguing.  Read more...

Amazon Just Opened a College Store that Sells Nothing

On Friday Amazon just opened up a new college bookstore at the University of Pennsylvania. This 3,500 square-foot space does not have any shelves or sell anything. Instead, it operates as a pickup location for packages that students order and the staff are pushing Amazon Prime Student membership packages.  Read more...

If The Borrowers are 'Unviable', What About Other Children's Classics?

A shocking new report claims that Mary Norton’s miniature people would struggle to survive in real life, casting doubt on many other much-loved characters from childhood reading. Read more...

Trek Bluetooth Speakers

These Bluetooth speakers are the first offerings in a new series of Star Trek character speakers based on the characters from the original series. See more...

These look awesome... I want some.

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