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09 Feb ' 00:35
Mike Shatzkin: Bookstores’ decision not to carry Amazon books could be wise move February 9, 2012 | 12:52 am
Are Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, and Indigo making a wise move by not carrying the books from Amazon’s publishing arm, or are they cutting off their noses to spite their faces? This is the question that Mike Shatzkin addresses in his latest column. He notes that a reporter contacted him, undoubtedly expecting the same sort of attacks on the move posted by some major media outlets, and was rather surprised when Shatzkin said that, from a self-interested point of view, the decision made perfect sense. Shatzkin recapitulates the recent history between Amazon, the Big Six publishers, and...Robert X. Cringely to repost book Accidental Empires to blog February 9, 2012 | 12:22 am
Technology writer and blogger Robert X. Cringely (the one behind the 1996 TV miniseries Triumph of the Nerds, not the InfoWorld columnists) has announced he is going to be rebooting his written-in-1989, updated-in-1996 history of Silicon Valley, Accidental Empires for the modern Internet age: he is going to blog it. Over the next few months, Cringely will be reposting the entire book to a blog, and inviting reader participation to help him update it for the final e-book form. Like most blogs, this new one will allow reader comments. And it’s those comments I’ll use...0 2 4 - ""She will “always choose a ‘proper’ book” for reading at home." Yawwwwwn.... ..." "I can't say I feel the same. In over 2 years since I got my first Kindle, I've only read 2 physical books, one was ..." "Hi, I have downloaded your dictionary and put it on my kindle 4, my kindle currently has 2 English dictionaries, one Spanish dictionary and your bi-lingual ..."
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08 Feb ' 18:45
13 11 - "I have to say, this is one of the silliest posts I've seen lately about the publishing industry. The major publishers can't just decide not ..."Peter Turner"Amazon vs. Big Publishing: 800 lbs vs. 798 lbs."This ploy could work if (and only if) they sell .mobi format books DRM-free. Kindle owners will not run out to get a Nook, Kobo or ..." "Whatever the outcome, important principles will have been illuminated against the new backdrop of the digital age. The judge used precisely the right word, ..." "Amazon isn't "anti-competitive" at all. They've embraced and understand ebooks & ebook readers in a way that the Big 6 haven't. Those publishers ..."Susan Umpleby"Amazon vs. Big Publishing: 800 lbs vs. 798 lbs."It seems clear to me that snotty nosed 'literary' types view the world basically through a pin hole, leaving no room except for people like ..."Howard
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08 Feb ' 12:43
An e-smart family literacy approach for Rockford, Illinois? Back to the future? February 8, 2012 | 3:16 pm
Could children be better readers if we went “back to the future,” even in the era of e-books and calls for massive budget calls? I’ll share thoughts.
But first let’s hear from Andy Strong, a children’s librarian at the library in Rockford, Illinois, during the 1990s:
“When the library cut its hours, it drastically reduced storytime programming. In fact, service to parents and young children is a shadow of what it once was.
“In its heyday, mothers and children would leave the library with armloads and tote bags full of books. Head Start would routinely bring busloads of children to dedicated storytimes weekly, introducing new families...Writer Adele Parks: Who cares how people read as long as they are? February 8, 2012 | 3:15 pm
The Sun has an op-ed by “chick-lit writer” Adele Parks—another one of those conversion stories about e-book doubters who become e-book evangelists. In Parks’s case, she became curious enough to buy a Kindle after learning she was selling a huge number of e-books. After buying the Kindle, she discovered she liked it so much she has used it it constantly ever since—though mostly for travel and commuting, where a slim device that can replace a ton of books is most useful. She will “always choose a ‘proper’ book” for reading at home. Parks does not have an...Why Kindle Select might be bad for self-published authors February 8, 2012 | 2:15 pm
A couple of weeks ago I blogged a post by author Will Entrekin about why he felt Amazon’s Kindle Select program (in which authors give Amazon exclusivity over their work in return for getting paid for Kindle Prime subscriber e-library checkouts) was a very good deal. Now I see another post, by Christopher Wright on Eviscerati.org, about why self-publishing authors might want to stay far away. Wright compares Kindle Select to Michael Roberts’s MP3.com independent music distribution site, which allowed independent musicians (such as Wright) to upload mp3 tracks to catch the attention of the Internet audience. ...3 The question of e-books in pre-e-book contracts February 8, 2012 | 12:51 pm
Apropos of the HarperCollins v. Open Road lawsuit over the backlist e-book title Julie of the Wolves, legal blogger Passive Guy (aka contract lawyer David Vandagriff) has written a fairly lengthy post looking at the question of whether e-book rights are covered in pre-e-book contracts. Passive Guy writes: A fundamental legal question involved in construing a contract is what the parties intended at the time the contract was made. The intent must be manifest in some form in the written agreement. A secret intent by one party that the word tomato also includes avocado won’t bring...10 10 - "I agree with the above comment by Perry that KDP Select is a mixed bag. For one thing, I have noticed that my books are ..." "I have mixed feelings about KDP select. I think an author should consider giving it a try - it's not forever it's only for 90 ..." "Mainstream fiction is for readers whose vision of the world begins and ends with people like them. ..."Jon Jermey"Thanks for this, Paul. I've been thinking about Kindle Select and this has decided me. Exclusivity for ebooks is not in anyone's interests, even Amazon's. ..." "DensityDuck: Lonesome Dove and Blood Meridian? Westerns. Slaughterhouse Five, 1984 and A Clockwork Orange? Science Fiction The Lord of the Rings? Fantasy War and Peace? Historical Fiction I ..."MarylandBill
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08 Feb ' 07:34
François Truffaut interviews Alfred Hitchcock February 8, 2012 | 10:06 am
Not ebook related, but this is so interesting that I just had to post it. From Open Culture:
The great French filmmaker François Truffaut would have turned 80 today, and to celebrate, we’re bringing back a wonderful series of audio recordings — Truffaut’s lengthy interview with another legendary director, Alfred Hitchcock.
Back in 1962, François Truffaut, the inspiration behind French New Wave cinema, met with Hitchcock. And, assisted by a helpful translator, the two directors talked through Hitchcock’s life and vast filmography, moving from his early films shot it Britain (Blackmail, The 39 Steps, Secret Agent), to his later Hollywood productions – North by Northwest, Psycho and Vertigo....Amazon vs. Big Publishing: 800 lbs vs. 798 lbs. February 8, 2012 | 9:31 am
Last week’s issue of Bloomberg’s Businessweek included an article titled Amazon’s Hitman. If you haven’t read it, you should. It is enlightening.
The gist of the article is that Amazon is gearing up to challenge the publishing world on its own turf: the signing of and creation of big-name authors who sell hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of books. And this assault worries the Big 6 publishers — Hachette, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Random House, and Harper-Collins – with good reason: Amazon has more market value and disposable cash than they do combined.
The article discusses the history of the relationship between...1 Video: Preservation Status of e-Resources: A Potential Crisis in Electronic Journal Preservation February 8, 2012 | 9:24 am
The video was recorded during the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) Fall 2011 Membership Meeting.
Title: “Preservation Status of e-Resources: A Potential Crisis in Electronic Journal Preservation”
Direct to Video (59 minutes)
Direct to Slides (.ppt)
Presenters:
Oya Y. Rieger
Associate University Librarian
Digital Scholarship Services
Cornell University
Robert Wolven
Associate University Librarian
Bibliographic Services
and Collection Development
Columbia University
E-journals have replaced the majority of titles formerly produced in paper format. Academic libraries are increasingly dependent on commercially produced, born-digital content that is purchased or licensed. The purpose of this presentation is to share the findings of a 2CUL study that assesses the role of LOCKSS and PORTICO in preserving each institution’s...Copia goes for innovative social media project – ask the author February 8, 2012 | 9:17 am
From the press release:
Copia, the interactive eBookstore, announced that music critic Will Hermes will answer reader questions inside his book, the acclaimed Love Goes to Buildings on Fire.
Starting today, anyone who purchases a copy of Hermes's much-lauded book from Copia can use the site's free eReader app to post questions to the author in the margins of the eBook. Hermes will respond to the questions through Feb. 21, 2012.
While users have always been able to create and share notes on any eBook purchased from Copia, thanks to the platform's app,...Self-published authors take spots 1 and 5 on the Kindle bestsellers in the UK February 8, 2012 | 9:13 am
From The Bookseller:
Self-published crime writer Kerry Wilkinson claimed the top spot in the UK Kindle bestseller chart for the last quarter of 2011, Amazon has revealed, as speculation mounts that the online retailer is planning to open its own physical store to push its exclusive book sales.
Wilkinson, from Lancashire, published his novel Locked In, one of a series featuring detective Jessica Daniel, using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing tool, and sold “hundred of thousands of copies” of it in the three months before Christmas, according to Amazon. The e-book is currently selling for 98p and...2 4 - "I doubt if total book sales by category have changed much as a result of the introduction of ebooks. The percentage of total sales that ..." "Amazon accounts for a huge amount more ebook sales than the Kobo store or B&N. I agree it would be a good solution, and something ..."chrxr"Amazon vs. Big Publishing: 800 lbs vs. 798 lbs. - Posted on February 8, 2012"That's weird. I clicked on it and I'm pretty sure I got the usual search results. ..."Nate"Much ado about Google’s Dickens doodle - Posted on February 8, 2012"What Ms. Senior needs to remember is only a dilettante actively seeks to write "literature" for its own sake. Everyone else wants to ..."Cerebus"Genre fiction makes the e-world go ‘round - Posted on February 8, 2012"I am sure that if Dickens were in a position to voice an opinion, he would prefer that people read his own words rather than ..."carmen webster buxton"Much ado about Google’s Dickens doodle - Posted on February 8, 2012
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08 Feb ' 02:34
Much ado about Google’s Dickens doodle February 8, 2012 | 1:40 am
Some blogs are making a big deal out of how the recent 200th-birthday Charles Dickens Google Doodle linked, not to a general Google search for its subject as other such doodles have in the past, but rather to the Google Books search for Charles Dickens. CNet’s Chris Matyszczyk (rather smarmily) calls it a “pure, straight-up piece of commercial communication.” You might not see today's Google Books-pointing doodle as a moneymaking effort. After all, these Dickens e-books are free. And yet, surely, the aim is gravitate your mind and habits over to the Google eBookstore, where money...Genre fiction makes the e-world go ‘round February 8, 2012 | 1:05 am
Genre fiction represents a weird dichotomy. On the one hand, literary critics absolutely abhor the stuff. On the other hand, the public eats it up. This is why the Guardian piece observing how much of e-book sales genre-fiction makes up is really hilarious from a genre fan’s point of view: snooty Guardian writer Antonia Senior confronts the fact that “downmarket genre fiction” is driving e-book sales. For example: The ebook world is driven by so-called genre fiction, categories such as horror or romance. It's not future classics that push digital sales, but more...StoryBundle.com brings Humble Bundle model to e-books February 8, 2012 | 12:24 am
Remember the Humble Indie Bundle, the Humble Indie Bundle 2, and various successors? They applied the pay-what-you-want model to selling sets of popular independently-developed computer games, and have reportedly made a lot of money for the developers, as well as for the charities that they also support. Now a new site, StoryBundle.com, has sprung up that promises to do for e-books what the Humble Bundle does for games: select a few quality independent e-books and allow people to set their own price for the DRM-free bundle. It still seems to be in the planning stages—the site is taking the...0 - "iPad + google = better ROI ..."MarkChan"How about a tablet for chefs? - Posted on February 8, 2012
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07 Feb ' 21:17
- "Whatever. There were issues in Revelation, the first novel by Drew K. It contains a description of the volus that does not match ..."
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07 Feb ' 16:58
- "I think Altucher has the right idea! My company offers a six-week online class geared at entrepreneurs and experts who want to publish non-fiction/self-help/business books. ..."
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07 Feb ' 12:34
Raspberry Pi $35 Linux computer to be available by end of month February 7, 2012 | 1:18 pm
Raspberry Pi has announced that its first batch of $35 computers will be finished manufacturing as of February 20th, and they will be airfreighted to the UK immediately after that; they should be available for purchase by the end of the month. It has also gotten Broadcom to make available a datasheet about the ARM peripherals in the Pi’s CPU chip—useful for those who want to port other operating systems to the device, or are just interested in the tech specs. As I’ve said before, this device could be quite useful in education and for Internet access in places...Judge finds ReDigi does not have to shut down pending EMI’s lawsuit February 7, 2012 | 1:00 pm
Good news for “used digital music” reseller ReDigi: the district court judge handling the case has denied EMI’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the company, which would have shut it down during the trial. Citing the “fascinating” technological and legal issues involved, U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan said he is inclined to let the case go to trial. "We are grateful for the judge's decision in our favor," said John Ossenmacher, ReDigi's CEO, said in a statement. The company added that "ReDigi is breaking down the barriers that have kept consumers from enjoying their intrinsic...How about a tablet for chefs? February 7, 2012 | 10:19 am
From a Chip Chick post.
The QOOQ tablet really shines with a subscription to QOOQ’s services, though. A subscription will net users 3,500 interactive recipes from some of the world’s top chefs, 1,200 of which include video instructions. Those recipes are accompanied by a comprehensive and detailed wine list and suggestions for each meal. There are also 100 featured chefs that offer up video tutorials for individual cooking techniques, in addition to whole recipes. That by itself isn’t overwhelmingly impressive – those kinds of resources can be found with a little poking around the Internet. The QOOQ tablet does have some...Rice University develops free peer-reviewed textbooks February 7, 2012 | 9:50 am
From Inside Higher Ed:
Cost-conscious students can of course save money with used or online books and recoup some of their cash come buyback time. Still, it’s a steep price for most 18-year-olds.
But soon, introductory physics texts will have a new competitor, developed at Rice University. A free online physics book, peer-reviewed and designed to compete with major publishers’ offerings, will debut next month through the non-profit publisher OpenStax College.
Using Rice’s Connexions platform, OpenStax will offer free course materials for five common introductory classes. The textbooks are open to classes anywhere and organizers ...2 - "I find this a very disappointing and poorly focussed piece. If it is simply intended as a cheerleader piece for promoting the role of editors then ..."Howard"It's not as if it hasn't been done before. For instance, consider Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. ..."Chris Meadows"I'm not really sure if I like the idea of "new versions" being something that comes to the written-media world. It's already become accepted ..."DensityDuck"BioWare pledges to fix Mass Effect: Deception novel; fix could be easy for e-book version"So, this is a very informative. I enjoy reading as I also experienced some difficulties in installing blue reader in my kindle fire. http://kindlecheap.org/kindle-3g-vs-wifi/ ..."Scott"ultimately, that's what it comes down to -- if you're looking for a netbook that's all about Jolicloud, the Jolibook and its crazy lid will ..."online backup service"OS review: Jolicloud - Posted on February 7, 2012
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07 Feb ' 06:35
How to create your own textbook – with or without Apple February 7, 2012 | 9:00 am
That's the title of an article in KQED Mind/Shift. It contains a lot of information and links. Here's a snippet:
Apple’s announcement last week about its new iBooks2 and authoring app created big waves in education circles. But smart educators don’t necessarily need Apple’s slick devices and software to create their own books. How educators think of content curation in the classroom is enough to change their reliance on print textbooks.
As the open education movement continues to grow and become an even more rich trove of resources, teachers can use the content to make their own...39% of U. S. public libraries without ebooks, by Sue Polanka February 7, 2012 | 8:44 am
I missed this report when it was released back in December, 2011 by COSLA, the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies. According to a survey of state libraries from the summer of 2011, 39% of public libraries reported offering no downloadable media service – no ebooks, no audiobooks, and no videos.
Here is more from the press release:
The Chief Officers of State Library agencies recently surveyed their membership to determine the extent to which U.S. public libraries are offering downloadable ebooks, audiobooks and videos for use on portable devices like e-readers and smartphones.
The results of the survey, conducted this summer, showed that 39%...Take the Taleist self-publishing survey February 7, 2012 | 8:39 am
From the Taleist site. It would be great if they got enough respndenets to be statistically significant. (Blockquotes omitted)
How are you doing as a self-publisher? It’s a hard question to answer isn’t it? What are you measuring against?
We're taking a professional snapshot of the self-publishing industry
There are self-publishing authors like JA Konrath, Amanda Hocking, John Locke and (on a smaller but perfectly formed scale) Joanna Penn who are generous with their figures but they’re selling books from the tens of thousands to the millions. So does that mean you’re a failure if your figures are more modest? Or are you actually...Dickens and Victorian London apps and ebooks February 7, 2012 | 8:35 am
That's the title of an article in The Literary Platform. Here's a snippet:
2012 marks the bicentenary year of the birth of Charles Dickens, one of the greatest writers of the Victorian age. Thanks to a recent flurry of apps and ebooks, Dickens’ life and work has been thoroughly brought into the digital age; whether you’re looking for a quick-fix of biographical information or want to find out what life was really like on the mean streets of Victorian London.
1. Dickens: History In An Hour
If you love your history, you may already be familiar with the History In An Hour ebook...The book industry’s “Moneyball”, by Ted Striphas February 7, 2012 | 8:15 am
Some folks have asked me how I came to the idea of algorithmic culture, the subject of my next book as well as many of my blog posts of late. I usually respond by pointing them in the direction of chapter three of The Late Age of Print, which focuses on Amazon.com, product coding, and the rise digital communications in business.
It occurs to me, though, that Amazon wasn’t exactly what inspired me to begin writing about algorithms, computational processes, and the broader application of principles of scientific reason to the book world. My real inspiration came from someone you’ve probably...Worldreader – Loving our volunteers February 7, 2012 | 8:08 am
From the Worldreader blog. Worldreader aims to put a library of books in the hands of families worldwide, using e-reader technology. They have a post on their blog thanking volunteer for his efforts. Here is part of it:
Here are a few things that have us in awe with Carl back in our Barcelona office and excerpts from his blog:
1. His knack for trouble-shooting and encouraging kids to use built-in features on their Kindles:
“I suggested they tried out the ‘text to speech feature’ one day, a function of the Kindle Keyboard, which reads out a book’s content with a computer voice....The editor and his importance, especially now February 7, 2012 | 7:54 am
From The Literary Platform comes this post about the importance of the editor as publishing moves to the digital platform. Its by Jeff Norton, founder of Awesome:
...
Whenever any industry goes through a paradigm shift of disintermediation, one has to ask what is the function of the intermediary and can it really be eliminated or replaced by someone else in the value chain, or is the function of the intermediary so critical to the entire experience that to disintermediate it would do the end consumer a disservice?
In the case of publishing, I’ve heard publishing execs boast about how only they can...Mac book publisher TidBits develops Mac Epub reader February 7, 2012 | 7:45 am
From the TidBits blog:
We’ve long thought Apple would add EPUB reading capabilities to Preview or Safari in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, but it hasn’t yet happened. While we have no plans to switch away from PDF as the primary format for our Take Control ebooks, it’s clear that EPUB is the future. Unfortunately, we haven’t been happy with the best-known EPUB readers for the Mac, such as Calibre, which is cross-platform ugly beyond belief; Stanza, the Mac version of which strips all formatting and graphics and is now obsolete; and EPUBReader, which requires Firefox and isn’t Mac-like.
So rather than...0 Dzanc Books publishes authors older works in electronic format February 7, 2012 | 7:40 am
From and article in Publishing Perspectives:
And so about three years ago Gillis and Wickett drew up a list of authors whose work they admired and began contacting them to see if they would be interested in having Dzanc publish their older work in digital format:
Dzanc co-founder Steven Gillis (Photo: Ann Arbor Chronicle)
“We contacted scores and scores of people, everyone we had respect for. [NBA nominee] Noy Holland and [NEA Fellowship winner] Stephen Graham Jones came quickly. Some authors had to check their contracts. The easiest were those authors who owned the rights and said ‘here you go’ or told their...0 Read2Go Accessible e-Book Reader App February 7, 2012 | 7:34 am
If you have a reading disability and are qualified to use Bookshare, then there is a new ereader app available. Here is part of the review of it from TechLearning:
Quality and Effectiveness
Bookshare materials are available in several formats, including HTML, Text, Braille and DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System). Recently Bookshare released Read2Go, an iPad app combining the features of a DAISY reader with the accessibility tools and functionality available in the Apple iOS. The advantage of using the dedicated Read2Go rather than just Apple's iBooks with VoiceOver is that qualifying students with Bookshare memberships can connect directly to Bookshare's online...0 - "Publishers probably don't want to talk about editors, because they are one of the things they have been increasingly getting rid of as an expense. ..."Greg Weeks"The editor and his importance, especially now - Posted on February 7, 2012"The positive side to this is that copies of the digital editions can be made cheaply and distributed to students. A huge plus for literacy. ..."Patrick in Cebu"Ebooks in the Philippines - Posted on February 7, 2012"Argh this thoroughly sucks. I bought the ebook (kindle version) as a preorder due to the previous three books by Drew Karpyshyn. I did notice ..."Markus Krogh"BioWare pledges to fix Mass Effect: Deception novel; fix could be easy for e-book version - Posted on February 7, 2012
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07 Feb ' 01:17
Amazon soon to open boutique store in Seattle, say anonymous sources February 7, 2012 | 12:58 am
Remember that Amazon retail store rumor from a few days ago? Well, Good E-Reader has heard more from anonymous “Amazon sources close to the situation.” According to their sources, Amazon is going to roll out a retail store in Seattle within the next few months to test the waters and see if a chain of such stores could be profitable. “They intend on going with the small boutique route with the main emphasis on books from their growing line of Amazon Exclusives and selling their e-readers and tablets,” Good E-Reader’s Michael Kozlowski writes. As a small boutique,...BioWare pledges to fix Mass Effect: Deception novel; fix could be easy for e-book version February 7, 2012 | 12:32 am
A trio of articles from our sister blog Gamertell bring up an interesting situation with at least a bit of relevance to e-books. The popular BioWare video game series Mass Effect has had a series of spinoff novels, depicting events that take place elsewhere in the game universe simultaneously with the games. The first three of those novels were written by one of the games’ writers, Drew Karpyshyn. I’ve read them, and they told some very interesting stories, part of which formed backstory that was brought up in the first game. But for whatever reason, the most recent...4 - "Felix you are right. We should do that. Been very busy lately. ..."Micah Bowers"How to install Bluefire Reader on your Kindle Fire - Posted on February 7, 2012
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