BMW drives into audio book podcastsBy Amanda Andrews, Media Business Correspondent
The advertising and publishing industries have collaborated in a landmark deal to create a series of podcast books featuring product placement.
Leading authors at the publisher Random House, including the bestselling crime writer Karin Slaughter and the Californian writer Don Winslow, have written 45-minute audio books. Each audio book features a different BMW car.
Jonathan Hill, head of innovation at WCRS, the advertising agency behind the 118 118 and BMW Mini campaigns, said that the creation of BMW Audio Books, which will be available only as free downloads, was a new approach to advertising in the UK.
The popularity of MP3 players had led to an increased demand for podcasts and this form of advertising could soon become more commonplace, he said.
The books are intended to be the length of the average car journey. The first podcast, Don Winslow’s The Beautiful Ride, was made available yesterday on a specially designed website, www.bmwaudiobooks.com.
A new tale will be available every two weeks, including Karin Slaughter’s Cold Cold Heart. Other featured authors are James Flint and Simon Kernick.
Media news, Times Online
The facts. Don't give me the facts
After James Frey, Kenneth J. Harvey opens a campaign for real fiction AFTER READING JOHN BANVILLE’S Man Booker prize-winning The Sea, a slim volume trumpeted as fiction, I was startled to discover, upon perusing my hefty atlas, that this supposedly fantastical place named Ireland was an actual island. While reading, I thought it sounded familiar, yet I let it slide, not wanting niggling particulars to ruin the experience.
Stunned by my discovery, I was unsettled by other suspicions: What if the main character, this Max Morden, was an actual person. I explored the phone book and came up with four individuals bearing the name Maxwell Morden. Feeling more greatly duped, I telephoned the first three and demanded to know on what ground each stood. Yet despite repeated harassment, none would concede to being fictional.
To read the rest:
Books - reviews and literary news from The Times and The Sunday Timeswith thanks to Kenneth J. Harvey for sending this link
R.I.P. the James Frey FiascoJames Frey and his publisher have written notes that will be included in all future printings of
A Million Little Pieces.
Author's NotePublisher's NoteInterestingly, copies of the notes are being sent to booksellers to insert into copies of the book already in stock. However, no mention was made of all the copies in libraries - will they be receiving these notes to add to their copies? And what about the sequel,
My Friend Leonard? Will Riverhead Press (a different publisher) look into the truthiness* of that book?
And most importantly, does anyone really care anymore?
*thank you, Steven Colbert, for that fabulous new word
