Amazon Publishing is launching Kindle Worlds, a publishing platform that lets authors sell fan fiction based on properties like Gossip Girl. Amazon Publishing retains the rights to the works and will set the prices. So much for those 50 Shades problems.
The backlash to the backlash to one of Amazon's comedy pilots is proving how letting fans on the Internet choose what they want to watch can backfire for the creative minds behind projects.
The Wall Street Journal says that Amazon is expanding its hardware offerings with a whole new line of gadgets, including a lame-sounding "audio streaming device" and a pair of next gen smartphones.
A battle royale is brewing on Capitol Hill after a bipartisan coalition in the Senate handily passed the Marketplace Fairness Act, the controversial bill that would impose a sales tax on Internet purchases.
In the high-stakes race to commoditize the new couch potato, other online networks-in-the-making are working overtime. Can Netflix keep you binging across both ends of the entertainment spectrum? Or is there a funny sleeper hit in the works from the Internet, where two-minute clips are true kings, and 22-minute series are usually, well, really bad?
Rumor has it that Amazon will release a streaming TV box, which will take Amazon's streaming video offerings and funnel them through a television — something a bunch of other streaming TV boxes already do.
An overwhelming majority of Senators just voted to cut the debate short and get a final vote on a controversial bill that will impose sales tax on purchases made on the Internet.
Tech companies are always buying up smaller tech companies for what sounds like a lot of money, but it's hard to know how much money is really a lot of money without some everyday context. That's why we built the handy new Atlantic Wire Startup Acquisition Calculator.
Amazon announced Thursday that it is acquiring Goodreads, the book-based social network founded by Otis Chandler in 2006. The purchase price was undisclosed, and the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2013.
In light of todays $99 Kindle Fire HD tablet rumor, would it even make financial sense for Amazon to put out a $99 tablet—how low can Amazon go? Let's investigate.
The just-approved marriage between Penguin and Random House holds that beleaguered publishers will now be able to stand up to bookselling goliath Amazon. But a publishing consolidation might be exactly what Amazon wants.
Gail Collins on preschool promises, Isaac Chotiner on Jonah Lehrer's profitable apology, Stan Chu Ilo on why the next pope should be African, Meghan Daum on Amazon's algorithms of love, and Jonathan Rue on what the U.S. owes its soldiers.
It may be time to declare today the Day of the Internet Not Working Properly: First Twitter sputtered, and this afternoon Amazon is experiencing technical difficulties.
Amazon's earnings were filled with all sorts of misses, including a 45 percent decline in profits, and yet the stock is up around 10 percent in after-hours trading because of one good metric.
As Amazon and Barnes & Noble are quickly discovering this year, the highbrow ideal all too often gives way to the mass-market realities. From tablets to TV shows and everything in between, the most high-minded of ideas for cultural consumption always seem to devolve toward mindless entertainment.
The service is now back after going down last night, during arguably one of the worst possible times ever, when many people stuck at home with their families would hope to seek a little refuge in some streaming movies.
Don't get too used to the instant online shopping gratification that abounds this holiday season, as super-quick deliveries might prove too expensive for companies like Walmart, eBay, and Amazon to keep going for much longer.
The era of big multinational corporations like Google, Amazon and Starbucks skirting around their tax liabilities is coming to a close. In the United Kingdom, it is, anyways.
You know how Amazon has that "Super Saver" option that promises free shipping on pretty much anything you buy if you're willing to wait, like, six weeks for it to arrive? They're not kidding.
Netflix CEO Reid Hastings says that Amazon loses between $500 and $1 million a year on streaming video, which, if true, doesn't quite make sense given Amazon's stated business model.
Today in books: Publishing is sort of kind of dead?; the best books of 2012 are already being crowned; Amazon somehow forgot to pay European taxes; Herman Wouk is still at it.
A Parliamentary committee will grill top executives from Amazon, Google and Starbucks on Monday about exactly how and why the companies have managed to pay appallingly low tax rates in the UK.
Today in books and publishing: Philip Roth confirms his retirement; Amazon's mysteriously vanishing buy buttons; Kobo expands to Italy, Kindle considers China; cities in literature.
Amazon has launched an over the Internet wine sales operation, but don't get too excited yet, most states still don't allow shipping of alcohol to one's front door.
Today in books and publishing: Apple and publishers settle with EU anti-trust regulators; Nate Silver gets a book sales bump; R.I.P. Patrick O'Connor; hallucinating with Oliver Sacks.
Today in books and publishing: Bertelsmann buys full stake in Random House Mondadori; taking advantage of Amazon's new monthly subscriptions; overdue fees waived for canned goods; Macmillan ceases printing dictionaries.
Today in books and publishing: Booksellers turn away Amazon-published books; James Franco releases a chapbook; R.I.P. Han Suyin; Pippa fights for her right to party.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
Today in books and publishing: DFW's greetings from Los Angeles; Amazon takes down author reviews; kids' books sales rise; critics pan Pippa's book.
Following in the steps of Amazon and Wal-Mart, Google has launched same day delivery, just for certain San Francisco dwellers for now, reports The New York Times's Clair Cain Miller.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
In line with the waning of the daily deals craze, Amazon has blamed its poor earnings report on its investment in Living Social.
Today in books and publishing: Reviews are in on Franzen-adapting play; closing Amazon's tax loopholes; only Harry Potter can save Bloomsbury now; telling designers what to read.
Glitches in Amazon's hosting service took down websites like Reddit, Imgur, GitHub, and a bunch of others today, much to the chagrin of homebodies everywhere. But one commenter took the blackout as a blessing, noting Mother Nature's splendor today.
Earlier today a bunch of sites, including the front page of the Internet itself, weren't working because Amazon's Elastic Cloud Compute service, or EC2, which hosts many websites sites, was down.
Today in books and publishing: Conflicting takes on Why I Left Goldman Sachs; Amazon "are not pleasant people to do business with"; the genre markings of literary fiction; Animal Farm to be filmed.
Today in books and publishing: Herman Melville has his day online; a Colombian prostitute hired by the Secret Service has a book deal; Amazon coming after our children; the Asian Literary Prize loses its Man.
Today in books and publishing: E-book buyers notified about refunds; de Sade ban struck down in South Korea; California high school bans Stephen King; Ian McEwan likes his books short and sweet.
Today in books and publishing: Bezos confirms Kindles are a loss-leader; critics and publishers respond to Yan's Nobel; Ferlinghetti turns down Hungarian prize; Rich Dad author bankrupt.
Today in books and publishing: The woman at the center of the Polanski trial has a book deal; National Book Award finalists are announced; Dennis Lehane corrects a reviewer on a character's race; Amazon ranks authors.
If Walmart's same-day shipping experiment goes well, the discount retailer could be the go-to place for shoppers' immediate online purchasing needs across the country.
Today in books and publishing: Girls creator has inked a huge deal; Wikileaks founder has a book deal; and uncertainty over Penguin's future ownership.
Google, the search engine company that also happens to do 35 other things, is expanding its horizons once again with a new financial services division.
Today in books and publishing: Figures keep climbing in Dunham deal speculation; Fifty Shades spoof targeted; McNally Robinson stores change hands; Amazon keeps adaptations in-house.
Today in books and publishing: Total Recall doesn't recall scandals; Amazon-affiliated book appears on B&N shelves; Günter Grass angers Israel again; the year's most challenged books.
When the press embargo for the Kindle Paperwhite lifted on Sunday night, practically everyone in the tech blogosphere seemed to sing its praises in unison.
Today in books and publishing: Emma Thompson hurls Michel Houellebecq across the room; Books-A-Million exec says he was wrongly fired; out-of-print books are an untapped e-goldmine.
Before its official release date this Friday, reviewers have gotten their hands on the updated 7-inch Kindle Fire, which they like, but not as much as Amazon would like.
Today in books and publishing: E.L. James' husband isn't a dom; Cosmopolis reconsidered; NYPD called in for Junot Díaz reading; Pussy Riot to storm e-readers.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
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