Friday, April 18, 2014

New Watch Dogs //n/Dark Clouds eBook Out Soon

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Watch Dogs is one of the most eagerly anticipated video games in years. Ubisoft Studios has been working on a cyberpunk themed game that brings back memories Shadowrun. The company is going to be releasing a new eBook soon entitled Watch Dogs //n/Dark Clouds.

The upcoming eBook is written by John Shirley, the storyline picks up where the Watch Dogs video game leaves off, allowing fans to further explore the world of Watch Dogs. The ebook is a first for Ubisoft, as it was conceived in-house and will be released exclusively via digital channels.

“Working on Watch Dogs was enormously interesting to me because its world offers the convergence of cyberpunk and the edgy tech reality of our times; it all plays out with action and energy against the inner city backdrop that I thrive in” said John Shirley. “With hack tech in one hand and gun in the other, Aiden Pearce is a believable fusion of hacker and action hero who deliberately slips between the cracks of society to relentlessly pursue his agenda. The novel introduces Mick Wolfe, an ex-military, who get caught in a dangerous game in Chicago’s hyper connected and violent underground. Working with Thomas Geffroyd and Kevin Shortt at Ubisoft to develop the book was a rocking experience – Ubisoft is right out there on the frontier of videogame development. I couldn’t ask for more inspiration”.

Watch_Dogs //n/Dark Clouds will be available in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish at the game’s release on May 27, 2014. It will be available in two digital formats: an upgraded e-book version with interactive elements including videos and image and a classic e-book. For more information, click here.

New Watch Dogs //n/Dark Clouds eBook Out Soon is a post from: Good e-Reader

The new OverDrive.com: Connecting readers with libraries

We've made some changes to the OverDrive websites to make it easier for your users to learn about your digital collection through OverDrive. On April 15, we split OverDrive.com into two websites – one for users, and one corporate website with OverDrive’s company information. This reorganization is to help serve you and your users better.

The majority of visitors to overdrive.com are end users, so we are tailoring this website to them, providing a simple way to find their local library, search for titles to borrow, download the OverDrive app and find help articles. All of the information about OverDrive is still available for you – we just moved it over to company.overdrive.com. All partner resources can still be found at partners.overdrive.com.

The new OverDrive.com allows users the chance to sign up for an OverDrive account, which provides many great features to ensure a positive experience using your digital library. Users are able to search the entire OverDrive catalog on OverDrive.com and filter the results by their saved libraries, as well as save their favorite searches to use time and again. The OverDrive account is optional, and enables users to save an Adobe ID to sync across all devices running the OverDrive app (v3.1) on Android and iOS platforms (Windows 8 is forthcoming as well). This means they only have to enter their Adobe ID once, and then can sync it to all of their devices using the OverDrive app. The app also has added enhancements including a custom embedded streaming video player and a built-in iOS dictionary on iOS devices. This creates a more streamlined experience for your users.

Feel free to give it a try. If you have any questions, please contact your Account Specialist or submit a request to Support via OverDrive Marketplace.

Amazon Gives Samsung Custom Kindle App with Free Monthly eBooks

Amazon and Samsung have announced an interesting new partnership that has resulted in a co-branded Kindle reading app called Kindle for Samsung. The new app includes some exclusive features, notably access to Samsung Book Deals, a service just launched that provides access to 12 free ebooks a year to all Kindle for Samsung users. The […]

Goodreads Adds New Feature to Add Amazon Books to Shelves

Last year when Amazon acquired Goodreads, an online book community where people review and discuss books as well as find new books to read, we knew it was just a matter of time before Amazon started making use of Goodreads’ resources. Amazon has already integrated Goodreads into their Kindle Paperwhite ebook readers and Kindle Fire […]

Pubslush Announces Contest for Children’s Book Week

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With its focus on helping authors meet the financial needs of publishing books, Pubslush does more than just create a platform for book preorders. Yesterday, vice president and co-founder Amanda Barbara spoke to Good e-Reader about a contest the site is hosting through their company, the Little Reader Snapshot Contest.

In conjunction with the Children’s Book Council and timed to coincide with the annual Children’s Book Week (May 12-18, 2014), Pubslush’s contest encourages parents to upload snapshots of their children reading their favorite books. The contest, aimed at readers ages twelve and under, includes a prize package worth $500 in books, with varies titles made available for different ages.

Now in its 95th year, Children’s Book Week is the longest running literacy initiative in the US. The work of promoting the event every year falls under the non-profit organization Every Child A Reader. Organizations like schools, libraries, and citizen groups will host various events at the local level in conjunction with Book Week.

For Pubslush’s contest, participants upload a photo of their children to one of four different age categories; a category for classroom readers is also open. The photos will be voted on through Pubslush’s Facebook page, and the winner in each category with the most votes will be awarded a book bundle to continue the reading fun. Entrants may promote their readers’ photos on Twitter under the hashtags #littlereader and #CBW14. The contest is open now through May 18th, and a winner will be announced on May 20th.

Pubslush Announces Contest for Children’s Book Week is a post from: Good e-Reader

Digital Publishing Startups Vying for $10,000 at BEA

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Book Expo America sponsored the first official Hackathon next year, which saw a few notable young startups pitch angle investors and the industry at large. Things are getting a little bit more serious for the upcoming publishing event in New York.

For the first time ever, there will be a Startup Alley at BEA, bringing together the best of Silicon Alley and the book publishing industry on Thursday, May 29th, 2014. Startups will compete to appear before the judges that will decide prizewinners and potential investment candidates on the spot. The first prize of $10,000, is sponsored by ICG Ventures Inc., an Ingram Content Group company. The second prize, $5,000, is sponsored by Sourcebooks. All Startups at the event are eligible for consideration. A select few will have the opportunity to make their case to the judges at this year’s event.

“Last year at BEA, we brought the tech community and the book publishing industry together for the first publishing hackathon and we saw the great kind of innovation that comes out of bringing these communities together,” said Joanna Stone, CEO of Librify. “This year we are continuing that tradition by creating a place at BEA for the growing book publishing startup community to gain access to traditional publishers and top venture capital and investment professionals.”

The judges will include well-known names from venture capital and publishing including David Roland, Chief Venture Capital Officer, ICG Ventures Inc., Brian Cohen, Chairman of NY Angels, Jordan Bettman, Bain Capital Ventures, Dawn Barber, co-founder of NY Tech Meetup, Dominique Raccah, Publisher of Sourcebooks, and more. BookExpo Startup Challenge will be accepting applicant startups at bookexpochallenge.com , where they can submit their pitch for our judges.

“BookExpo Startup Challenge is poised to be a fantastic event for BEA and the industry that will put a spotlight on innovation and technology at BEA, an important component of the publishing ecosystem,” said Steven Rosato, Event Director for BookExpo America, Reed Exhibitions. “We expect this event to attract wide media coverage and to bring in solid venture capitalists looking for unique opportunities.”

Librify and BookExpo America have made a limited number of entry-level registration packages available for qualifying startups. All registered startups will have access to additional benefits including interactions with executives from major publishing houses (including the Big 5), access to coaching and strategic advice from investment industry professionals, coaching from NY Tech Meetup founder Dawn Barber, and much more.

Startups seeking to participate in the BookExpo Startup Challenge should visit bookexpochallenge.com to apply. Others seeking more information regarding this year’s BookExpo America at the Javits Center should visit www.bookexpoamerica.com.

Digital Publishing Startups Vying for $10,000 at BEA is a post from: Good e-Reader