At Apple's iPad Mini launch event in San Francisco on Tuesday, the company also announced updates to its e-reading platform, iBooks. In addition, Apple is reportedly expanding the iBookstore to 18 more countries, including many in Latin America.…
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In self-publishing push, Amazon expands Kindle Owners’ Lending Library to Europe
Amazon is expanding the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, which allows Kindle-owning Prime members to borrow one ebook for free each month, to the United Kingdom, Germany and France. The move comes at a time when Amazon is heavily promoting its self-publishing program in Europe.…
Read MoreKobo acquires French digital software company Aquafadas
E-reading company Kobo has acquired French digital software company Aquafadas in an effort to develop more digital illustrated content like comic books and magazines. Separately, the company announced new partnerships with New Zealand booksellers.…
Read MoreSmashwords gets more self-published ebooks into libraries
Digital self-publishing site Smashwords is making it easier for self-published authors to get their ebooks into libraries. The site is allowing certain libraries to buy Smashwords titles in bulk, and is also adding custom library pricing options for its authors.…
Read MoreSelf-publishing company FastPencil gives some authors more access to Barnes & Noble
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 MorePenguin buys self-publishing service Author Solutions for $116m
Book publisher Penguin is embracing self-publishing with its acquisition of Author Solutions for $116 million. The acquisition lets Penguin "gain skills in customer acquisition and data analytics that will be vital to our future," said Penguin CEO John Makinson in a statement.…
Read MorePenelope Trunk: Publishers’ revenue model “assumes authors are going to flake”
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 MoreWomen’s writing site She Writes launches book publishing division
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 MoreCalifornia libraries close to ebooks deal with self-pub site Smashwords
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 MoreFive digital lessons from BookExpo America 2012
This week, the book industry gathered at the ugly, cavernous Javits Center in Manhattan for the largest book trade event in the United States. ("I feel like I'm in Costco," actress-author Molly Ringwald told the AP.) Here are five digital lessons from the week.…
Read MoreKobo launches e-book self-publishing platform, “Writing Life”
Digital reading company Kobo is launching a competitor to Amazon's KDP and Barnes & Noble's PubIt: Kobo Writing Life, a free self-publishing platform for independent authors and publishers.…
Read MoreAmazon now lets self-published authors sell print books in Europe
Many self-published authors are still turning to literary agents to sell foreign rights to their books. In a move that could cut some agents out, Amazon now allows those authors to distribute their print books through European Amazon sites for free.…
Read MoreFox, Ridley Scott nab film rights to self-published sci-fi series
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 MoreFor self-published romance titles, some quality assurance
Eleven romance authors of both traditionally published and self-published tittles are banding together to show their commitment to "bringing high standards and professional quality to their self-published works."…
Read MoreLarry Kirshbaum shares many more details on how Amazon Publishing will work
Here are the most interesting things that Amazon publisher Larry Kirshbaum said in an interview with Daniel Menaker last week.…
Read MoreMemo to publishers: Remind us why you exist again?
As more authors choose to do an end-run around the traditional book industry, publishers are going to have to try harder to defend their continued existence -- self-published author J.A. Konrath says that most are tied to a "broken, outdated and increasingly irrelevant business model."…
Read MoreDid Self-Publishing Hype Hit Its Peak In 2011?
The average price of a self-published Kindle top-100 bestseller continues to drop, but a new look at these titles' performance in 2011 sugge……
Read MoreWhat happens when video gets democratized?
Today, TV might be where people go to be entertained. But make no mistake about it: New entrants are building audiences without being burdened by the cost structure of the traditional TV ecosystem, making them more nimble and a potential threat to bigger media players.…
Read MoreSelf-Published Authors Debate Amazon's KDP Select
When Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) launched the Kindle Owners' Lending Library last month, it contained around 5,000 traditionally published titles. J……
Read MoreWhat purpose do book publishers serve?
The traditional publishing industry has been taking a beating lately from Amazon and the rise of self-publishing, but one writer says working with a publisher has a lot of benefits that self-publishing doesn't. If publishers have any weapons against Amazon, they are on this list.…
Read MoreSelf-Published Authors Sharply Criticize Penguin's Book Country
Many popular self-published authors are coming down hard on the self-publishing services that Penguin added to community writing site Book C……
Read MorePerseus Will Help Literary Agency Clients Self-Publish E-Books
In recent months, several major literary agencies have added e-book publishing services for their clients--the largest so far being Trident……
Read MoreUnbound’s struggle to build crowdfunding for books
Two months after it launched, British book crowdfunding website Unbound has only managed to push one project to the finishing line. So what’s wrong? Is donation-based publishing a dead end, or did the service misunderstand the reasons behind Kickstarter’s success?…
Read MoreThousands of scientific papers uploaded to the Pirate Bay
Two days after Aaron Swartz was indicted for allegedly trying to copy thousands of documents from a scientific archive, a torrent with close to 19,000 documents has found its way to the Pirate Bay. The leak is accompanied by a scathing critique of scientific publishing.…
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