Self-publishing company FastPencil will begin pitching some of its authors’ books to Barnes & Noble buyers, which could give them a better chance of ending up in stores or in promotions of Nook e-readers. But it’s not a guarantee that self-published titles will end up on shelves. Read more at paidContent »
Remember when Friendster was the hot social network, publishers doubted that ebooks would ever sell, and Netflix thought DVDs in red envelopes was the future? We do — that was that state of digital media when paidContent launched in 2002. Read more »
This weekly feature examines certain ebooks’ paths to bestseller-dom, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: Flappers, chaperones and the power of the Kindle Daily Deal. Read more at paidContent »
Three authors are filing a class-action suit against romance publisher Harlequin for the deprivation of royalties on ebooks. Read more at paidContent »
Thirty states have bagged $52 million from publishers as part of a price fixing investigation involving Apple. More money is on the way. While state leaders say the money is for overcharged consumers, legal and antirust experts say the arrangement is unusual. Read more at paidContent »
Print books still dominate, but a new report reveals that in 2011, ebooks made up 15 percent of all trade book sales. In addition, digital is now the most popular format for adult fiction. Despite the massive growth of digital, though, bricks-and-mortar stores are still the largest sales channel for publishers. Read more at paidContent »
Popular blogger and Brazen Careerist founder Penelope Trunk has a new book, “The New American Dream,” and she’s gotten a lot of attention because of a post that she wrote about that book last week. This attention, she said, surprises her. Read more at paidContent »
Digital publisher Open Road is partnering with Good Books, the publisher of series like the bestselling “Fix-It and Forget-It” cookbooks and Linda Byler’s Amish romances. The partnership will digitize many Good Books titles for the first time. Read more at paidContent »
This weekly column examines certain ebooks’ paths to bestseller-dom, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: Self-published young adult romance takes off again. Read more at paidContent »
New York-based startup Open Air Publishing, which sells original books for iPad, has raised $800,000 in seed funding and is expanding to the iPhone. Read more at paidContent »
Women’s online writing network She Writes, which has about 20,000 members including well-known authors like Roxana Robinson and Francine Prose, is now a book publisher, too. The company has launched She Writes Press, which it calls a hybrid between self-publishing and traditional publishing models. Read more at paidContent »
The Department of Justice was supposed to publish all of the letters it has received about the ebook pricing settlement by June 25. Its failure to do so violates the Tunney Act, attorney Bob Kohn tells the judge presiding over the case in a letter. Read more at paidContent »
Judy Blume’s Forever, which was originally published in 1975 and tells the story of two teenagers having sex for the first time, is also now an ebook for the first time. Simon & Schuster is running a social media campaign, “Do you remember your first time?” Read more at paidContent »
Simon & Schuster is adding QR codes to the back jackets of all its hardcover and trade paperback titles starting this fall. The publisher hopes to use the the codes to build direct-to-consumer relationships, but will readers actually scan them? Read more at paidContent »
Troubled Boston-based publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which restructured and emerged from bankruptcy last month, is apparently back and ready to make its books available on all devices, including those that are not available yet. Is that a smart strategy? Read more at paidContent »
Good way for a book to become a NYT bestseller: Have Jeff Bezos write about it on Amazon’s homepage. That’s what happened to Jessica Park, whose self-pubbed “Flat-Out Love” got a Bezos shoutout on June 18. This week, it hits the NYT ebook list at #25. Read more at paidContent »
Fittingly for a company that is now owned by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, Kobo is officially launching its e-reader and digital bookstore in Japan in July. The Kobo Touch e-reader will be available for pre-order July 2, and a full digital bookstore opens July 19. Read more at paidContent »
Innovative publisher O’Reilly, which already sells DRM-free ebooks that can be read across devices, is taking the concept of ebooks everywhere one step further with Dropbox sync. Read more at paidContent »
Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other e-reader companies are collecting data about your e-book reading habits, but they’re keeping their most interesting findings close to the vest. Read more at paidContent »
Califa, California’s largest library network, is about to strike an ebook deal with self-publishing site Smashwords. The partnership would bring about 10,000 self-published ebooks into California’s libraries. Read more at paidContent »
Google announced a major deal in France that clears the way for the sale of millions of e-books that have been caught in legal limbo until now. The deal could spur digital publishing in Europe and shape control of the continent’s fledgling e-book market. Read more at paidContent »
When it comes to selling e-books, the Harry Potter franchise is far from conventional: Pottermore has been selling JK Rowling’s Harry Potter e-books without digital rights protection. Why? Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne answers that and more in a paidContent 2012 interview with Laura Hazard Owen. Read more at paidContent »
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo frets that Amazon’s approach is holding new authors back, while its “predatory” behavior on various fronts is damaging bookstores like the one his daughter Emily owns and publishing overall. That and more in this video of his interview with Jeff Roberts at paidContent 2012. Read more at paidContent »
Microsoft and Barnes & Noble are teaming up to take on Amazon and Apple. The $300 million investment in the Nook subsidiary of Barnes & Noble gives Microsoft about 17.6% ownership of this business unit and values it at about about $1.7 billion, more than Barnes & Noble itself. Read more »
Some e-book buyers embrace a little friction, says Joe Esposito at The Scholarly Kitchen. Read more at paidContent »
Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne joins us at paidContent 2012: At The Crossroads.for a look at what it takes to take a beloved brand digital — and the DRM strategy for J.K. Rowling’s insanely popular Harry Potter collection. Read more at paidContent »
Sales of e-books may have already overtaken those of hardback in 2011 by volume, but it will take until 2014 for actual sales revenue to catch up, according to one forecaster. Read more at paidContent »
Some traditional media entities seem to be hoping for a single magic bullet that will cure their revenue problems, but it is more likely success will come from making a number of smaller bets. Unfortunately, large media players don’t tend to be good at that. Read more »
New tools like the Kindle have led to an explosion of self-published books, but that has meant more competition for existing authors. How do they make money now? Writer Seth Godin says they first have to give up the idea that they deserve to be paid. Read more »
Apple is holding an event in New York next week, in which the company is planning to make “an education announcement.” Many are connecting the event with comments Steve Jobs made to his biographer and expecting Apple to announce a digital textbook initiative through the iBookstore. Read more »
Barnes & Noble is looking at separating its Nook business in what it calls an attempt to capitalize on the growth of digital content. The company said there’s no time-table for such a move nor any guarantee it will happen. Read more »
New transmedia publishing company Chafie Creative Group is trying to breathe life into fiction novels with a new iPad app called Immersedition, which will showcase the written word and storytelling while enhancing it with an array of interactive elements like maps, character profiles and videos. Read more »
European antitrust regulators have announced the launch of a formal investigation into the relationship between Apple and five of the world’s largest publishers, in a move that could reshape the digital book market. Read more »
In today’s crowded media marketplace, presidential candidates (and their media consultants) have an almost mind-boggling number of mediums in which to get a message across. From TV to talk radio to the printed word and all the permutations in between, there’s no doubt that a mastery […] Read more »
This week’s audio podcast is all about the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet: our likes, dislikes, tweaks and who should (or shouldn’t buy) one of the two new low-priced e-reading tablets. Plus: a secret on how Amazon built their interface atop Google Android! Read more »
If Kindle Fire is a disappointment as a tablet, then Kindle Touch is the epitome of e-book reading experience It’s simple, elegant, easy, lightweight and just great at what it’s supposed to do: offer up reading pleasure. I was impressed in the first couple of hours. Read more »
Apple loves giving Starbucks customers free stuff. This week it introduced an ebook Pick of the Week to go along with the free song and app of the week programs it already has in place. Book codes from Starbucks can be redeemed through Apple iBookstore. Read more »
The Nook Color gains new magazines with enhanced interactivity, along with performance updates, in a software update today. At $249, many iPad competitors could learn from the “tablet that’s not a tablet” approach: Focus on key features at a reasonable price and customers will see value. Read more »
Amazon’s new browser-based version of its Kindle e-book app is designed to get around Apple’s restrictions on in-app purchasing, but it is also a great example of how media companies should be looking beyond the world of apps to the future of the browser-based web. Read more »
Apple no longer allows e-book sellers to link out to their stores, which is likely why Amazon introduced a new web-based app that works outside of Apple’s official software distribution channel on Wednesday. Here’s a look at the new Kindle Cloud Reader, and its integrated store. Read more »
