sci-fi

Go Read This | E-Reads Enters Joint Venture with Gollancz for UK Publication of 400 SF E-Book Titles | Publishing In the 21st Century

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

Fascinating and excellent move!

E-Reads has signed a deal with UK publisher Gollancz to publish e-book editions in the UK and Commonwealth of almost 400 science fiction and fantasy titles as part of Gollancz’s Gateway initiative.

Orion deputy CEO and publisher Malcolm Edwards and Gollancz digital publisher Darren Nash negotiated the deal, which includes works by more than 50 authors, with E-Reads founder and president Richard Curtis and agent Danny Baror of Baror International.Titles by authors such as Greg Bear, Harlan Ellison, James Gunn, Fritz Leiber and George Zebrowski will be published in Gateway editions in 2011.

via E-Reads Enters Joint Venture with Gollancz for UK Publication of 400 SF E-Book Titles | Publishing In the 21st Century.

Some App Love: Osprey’s Military History Quiz

~ Eoin Purcell ~ 1 Comment

I downloaded the free version of Osprey’s The Military History Quiz App last week and I just wanted to give it a quick word of praise*.

Simply put, it’s excellent. It combines some excellent design with great questions and a very clever in-App purchase set of options.

First the design which is smooth and consistent and looks good throughout the app. It has a sufficiently martial theme to keep the military-history nerd in me happy.

The questions are tough enough, even in the free section, to challenge both the novice and the knowledgeable history buff. As they progress though they sure do get harder!

And it’s that progression that makes the in-App buying options so smart. For only €0.79 you can upgrade the levels to reach 1 Star General status. After that it’s €2.39 a level OR you can choose to pay €5.99 for every level in one go (the levels go to 4 Star General) including the first one.

I have to admit, the App punctured many of my illusions about my knowledge base when it comes to military history, but I guess that’s a small downside when you learn so much along the way!

It’s a fine piece of work, it works smoothly and I hope it generates huge sales for Osprey who have a real can-do, will-do, try-anything spirit that’s hard not to admire in the modern publishing environment.

I’m sure they are working on the Sci-Fi & Fantasy version of the quiz too (Osprey also owns Angry Robot, a relatively new Sci-Fi & Fantasy imprint).

Eoin

*It’s probably fair to note that I know one or two of the folks that work at Osprey well enough to have a chat at the odd Book Fair or over Twitter, but I’ve never worked for the company. I’ve written about them before a few times though.

Quick Link | News « Quercus Books

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

Wow, big move this. I’ve a sense that Sci-Fi and Fantasy will be a hotbed of new things for some time to come!

Quercus Publishing is delighted to announce that Jo Fletcher is joining the company in January 2011 to launch a new fiction imprint, Jo Fletcher Books.

The new imprint will enhance Quercus’ award-winning fiction programme and is expected to quickly become a leader in the field of SF, fantasy and horror. Jo Fletcher is Associate Publisher of Gollancz, the fantasy and science fiction imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, where her authors include Sir Terry Pratchett, the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Charlaine Harris, Stephen Donaldson, Robert Rankin, Ursula K. Le Guin, Joe Hill, and Polish superstar Andrzej Sapkowski.

via News « Quercus Books.

Go Read This | E-book sales begin to cannibalise print | theBookseller.com

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

This was, in some senses, bound to happen. If it proves to be true it is the start of the erosion of the print business model, the one that sees publishers forced to cut print runs, reduce their benefits of scale in print and perhaps encourage them to begin converting print readers to digital ones.

The growth in e-book sales in genres such as romance and science-fiction is leading to a cannibalisation in sales of printed books, according to Nielsen BookScan data.

Sales of printed romance books have fallen for the first time since records began at a time when e-book sales have more than doubled.

The data, released as part of a seminar held yesterday with Enders Analysis, ‘Digital Seminar: e-books and their impact on the market’, showed genres such as science fiction and romance are “overperforming” thanks to the tastes of early adopters of e-books. For example, the e-book market share of the science fiction and fantasy sector globally for the 10 weeks since June was 10%, more than treble the genre’s market share of print book sales. The share taken by romance and saga books was 14%, seven times its print market share.

via E-book sales begin to cannibalise print | theBookseller.com.

Go Read This | Speculative Horizons: Fantasy trappings – is less more?

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

If you are into sci-fi & fantasy, this is a great discussion

I can’t deny that many of my favourite fantasy series have moderate to minor fantastical elements: Martin’s own A Song of Ice and Fire, David Gemmell’s Drenai novels, John Marco’s Tyrants and Kings trilogy, J. V. Jones’s Sword of Shadows, and most recently Daniel Abraham’s The Long Price quartet.

The reason I like these various series so much is because the focus is almost entirely on the characters; the fantastical elements add texture and depth, but aren’t overbearing. These are fantasies that retain a very strong human element.

via Speculative Horizons: Fantasy trappings – is less more?.