Back in April, Barnes & Noble one-upped Amazon by introducing the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, taking e-ink reading out of the dark. So how did Barnes & Noble get light evenly across the display? It’s not just technology magic, but science that makes it work. Read more »
As the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Apple and five big publishers for allegedly colluding to fix e-book prices moves forward, the public has the chance to respond. Here are some of the most interesting letters sent to the DOJ so far. Read more at paidContent »
The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In a new pushback over its role in an ongoing e-book controversy, Apple said that Steve Jobs’ widely reported quotes on Amazon and book publishers “will speak for themselves.” The company also denied again that it conspired to fix e-book prices. Read more at paidContent »
Reports are coming from Japan that Amazon is forming an MVNO. If true, it would be an interesting experiment for Amazon, expanding its mobile business beyond selling devices, apps and e-books to selling connectivity itself. But I suspect this is nothing more than an experiment. Read more »
Pan Macmillan Australia’s digital-only imprint Momentum will remove DRM from all its titles by August, the company announced today. Last month, Macmillan sci-fi/fantasy imprint Tor/Forge announced it will drop DRM by early July. Read more at paidContent »
Three months after Amazon yanked book distributor IPG’s 5,000 titles from the Kindle store in a fight over terms, the two companies have come to an agreement and Amazon has restored the titles. IPG’s letter to clients is below. Read more at paidContent »
This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: The next “50 Shades of Grey”? Read more at paidContent »
It’s all about the platform — except when it isn’t: Speakers at paidContent 2012 spoke about the opportunities, challenges and constraints of creating digital content. Read more at paidContent »
“If you buy a digital book you should be able to read it on anything you want to read it on”, said Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne at paidContent 2012. Read more at paidContent »
In the latest court filing in the ongoing Justice Department e-books price-fixing suit, Apple says it did not conspire to fix the prices of digital books to hurt competitors and its business strategy around pricing was “perfectly proper,” according to a Reuters report. Read more »
Amazon is a “predator,” Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo said at paidContent 2012 this afternoon, and he believes that young undiscovered writers are at particular risk. Read more at paidContent »
Big-six publisher Hachette Book Group is making free chapters of upcoming books from bestselling authors like James Patterson and Michael Connelly available through a new Facebook app. Read more at paidContent »
The biggest challenge for a media company like Meredith is shifting focus to consumer engagement across platforms, Meredith’s Liz Schimel said at paidContent 2012. Part of that means making the brands available on the right platforms, but not all platforms. Read more at paidContent »
In this busy new world of multiple social networks and recommendations tools, the discovery process itself is being disrupted by innovation and by the changing ways in which consumers now interact online. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Big data is an intimidating concept for publishers who don’t collect much info about their customers already. A first step is to think about “data-driven decision making,” and little data, says bitly’s Hilary Mason. Read more at paidContent »
UK bookstore chain Waterstones is partnering with Amazon to sell the Kindle in its 294 stores starting this fall. The deal is bad news for Barnes & Noble. But it may not be so great for Waterstones, either. Here’s why. Read more at paidContent »
Hachette, which has not made e-books available to libraries since 2010, is reconsidering the idea. In a pilot program starting this spring, the publisher is working with two e-book distributors to bring a “selection of HBG’s recent bestselling e-books to 7 million library patrons.” Read more at paidContent »
As part of paidContent 2012: At The Crossroads on May 23 in New York, I’ll be talking with venture capitalist Fred Wilson about the future of media and with Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo and Vivian Schiller of NBC News about real-time politics. Read more »
This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: Crashing a book about the financial crash. Read more at paidContent »
Pottermore has partnered with Kobo to make the Harry Potter e-books available on Kobo devices. Pottermore has similar arrangements with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony and Google (but not Apple yet). Read more at paidContent »
iPad textbook publisher Inkling is partnering with college bookstore provider Follett. Starting this fall, Follett will sell hundreds of Inkling titles in its over 900 college bookstores — including Stanford and UC Berkeley — and on its website. Read more at paidContent »
As traditional book publishers are increasingly signing self-published authors, Hollywood studios are also looking to self-published books for their next blockbuster. Last month, Universal acquired the film rights to “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Now Fox and Ridley Scott have acquired the rights to sci-fi series “Wool.” Read more at paidContent »
Nokia is launching its Reading app and e-bookstore for the Lumia Windows Phone in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the UK. In doing so, the company hopes to bring more local-language e-books to countries where e-readers haven’t yet taken off. Read more at paidContent »
This new weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: A book that plays itself on TV. Read more at paidContent »
Amazon will make all seven Harry Potter e-books available in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. “It’s a commercial deal that makes sense even with a level of cannibalization of sales,” Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne tells paidContent, “but I believe it will actually drive greater sales.” Read more at paidContent »
Just about a year after it hired publishing industry vet Larry Kirshbaum to launch a New York-based imprint, Amazon is announcing a new high-profile hire: Sara Nelson, the former books editor for Oprah’s “O” magazine and, before that, editor-in-chief of trade mag “Publishers Weekly.” Read more at paidContent »
Google has started selling e-books in Italy through Google Play. It’s the company’s first foray into foreign-language e-books, and Google will be competing against Amazon’s Italian Kindle Store. Read more at paidContent »
A new deal between independent e-bookstore Diesel eBooks and rewards points company Koinz Media lets people redeem their bank and hotel rewards points and airline miles for e-books. But Kindle e-reader owners won’t benefit. Read more at paidContent »
New stats from the Association of American Publishers show that kids’ and young adult e-book sales grew by triple digits in February, while adult e-book sales appeared to flatten. But that’s partly because so many adults are reading YA e-books like the “Hunger Games” trilogy. Read more at paidContent »
Harry Potter website Pottermore sold nearly $5 million worth of e-books in its first month — that works out to around 525,000 books — and has nearly 7 million unique users, CEO Charlie Redmayne says. Sales of the Harry Potter print books have increased, too. Read more at paidContent »
This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling better in digital than in print. This week: Marriage to a billionaire. Read more at paidContent »
Book publishers are trying hard to argue that e-books cost almost as much to produce as printed ones, and therefore prices for e-books should be higher — but the bottom line is that consumers don’t care what a publisher’s costs are, nor should they. Read more »
More than a year after Judge Denny Chin blew up an epic settlement agreement, Google and the Authors Guild are back in court today. Read more at paidContent »
Publishers Hachette and Harper Collins slipped further away from the class action lawyer who wants them to pay over an alleged e-book price-fixing conspiracy. Read more at paidContent »
Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch says that the company plans to embed NFC (near field communication) chips into its Nooks. Users could take their Nook into a Barnes & Noble store and scan a print book to get info on it or buy it. Read more »
Inkling, which started out as an iPad textbook publisher and recently launched an interactive e-book publishing platform called Habitat, is moving further into the consumer realm with a new series of Frommer’s interactive digital travel guides. Read more at paidContent »
Before Barnes & Noble debuted the Nook with GlowLight last week, I had already bought a Kindle Touch even though it didn’t work in the dark. Now it does, thanks to the Amazon Kindle Touch lighted case. Does this solution work for e-ink? See for yourself. Read more »
Although Microsoft invested $300 million in a Barnes & Noble spin-off on Monday, this isn’t the first time Microsoft played the e-book game. Typical for the company, it often has great ideas, but it errs on the timing: Microsoft debuted e-book software back in 2000! Read more »
Buzz Bissinger should have been excited when Starbucks selected his Byliner e-single, “After Friday Night Lights,” as its free “pick of the week.” But then Amazon responded. Turns out being a Starbucks Pick of the Week is a mixed blessing for authors and publishers. Read more at paidContent »
