| Ingram Spark is a new digital publishing solution aimed at small and boutique publishers. This new service is aimed primarily at publishers who expressed dissatisfaction with Ingram Lightning Source. Spark, has a very simple user interface that can be used to convert your word document or PDF file into a proper eBook and then distribute them to Kobo, Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble. Not only can your book be offered digitally, but you can opt into physical distribution to bookstores, and when the book is ordered from the catalog, Ingram will print and ship it for you, at no cost. The entire backbone of Ingram Spark comes from Ingram Lightning Source. This is a very well developed platform that many large publishers use to distribute content digitally or to physical bookstores. The main complaint that we have heard over the years is that it was inaccessible to small and medium sized publishing companies due to the bulky and advanced interface. There are a few key features to Ingram Spark that are worth mentioning. They have a conversion service that will take your PDF, Word or other document and convert it to a proper eBook. Most of the time, eBooks and tangible books require an ISBN number and customers will be diverted to Bowker to complete the transaction. You can track your sales on a unified portal that tracks all of the important metrics. Every 24 hours the data is repopulated, so most of your data will remain current. Speaking of sales, you can establish different prices, depending on the markets you want to target. Right now on the beta version we saw, it only supports USA, Canada, European Union, and Australia. You can establish a publication date on when you want the book to be live, which aids publishers in adding their entire catalog in advance. When it comes to getting paid you can attach your bank account to the portal and set a threshold limit on when the direct deposit will be made. The most compelling feature on Spark, is the ability to bundle your digital and physical version at the same time. There is plenty of advanced options to setup the tangible copy of the book, before its ever shipped. You can setup the interior type to be Black and White, standard color or premium color. There are even options to establish the binding type such as; Case Laminate, Cloth Bound, Perfect Bound, and Saddle Stitch. Finally, you can even tweak the Paper Type and Laminate type. Ingram is one of the largest distribution companies in the world and handle millions of book titles being shipped to bookstores all over the world. They are responsible for actually shipping the Kobo brand of e-Readers all over the world and many others. The far reach they provide actually make doing business with them in the best interest of any small, medium or large publishing house. So obviously, Ingram Spark is not free, if you want to have your eBook and Print on Demand edition available it will cost $49.00 fee per title. If you want to distribute the electronic version only, it will cost $25.00. No matter how many titles you have on Spark, there is an annual $12.00 fee to be continuously listed in their catalogs. Ingram Spark is tentatively set to launch this July, but final release date may change as the system undergoes refinement. Once this has a full launch, I would seriously recommend this to most small and boutique publishers who are looking for further distribution than what Kindle Direct Publishing and Create Space can offer.
New Ingram Spark Publishing Program Revealed is a post from: E-Reader News |
Friday, May 31, 2013
New Ingram Spark Publishing Program Revealed
Steve Potash shows off New Overdrive Media Station
| Overdrive is currently the largest company that facilitates the digital lending of books from libraries all over the world. Today at Book Expo American 2013, the company unveiled their new Media Station. This is a new solution for libraries, bookstores and retail shops to sell eBooks and garner a 30% commission on every sale. The Overdrive Media Station is a HTML5 driven solution that allows customers to read samples and make purchases. Over one million eBooks, audiobooks and videos are available to be purchased. The underlying technology being employed for this software driven solution is Overdrive Drive. This is the same front-end interface currently being employed for the majority of libraries to read eBooks in the cloud. Overdrive supplies eBooks to WH Smith, Books-A-Million and many other companies. They buy them at wholesale and this allows bookstores or libraries that buy into the system to charge what they want and only pay for the titles that are sold. For example, if you are an indie bookstore you can offer over one million titles, earn 30% commission on every sale and the rest goes to Overdrive and the Publisher. One of the exciting factors about the Overdrive Media Station is that it is a white label solution. You can customize the name of the service and theme to suit your individual branding. The platform is also hardware agnostic, so you can buy an ‘all in one PC’, as demonstrated in this video, or setup tablets in your shop or even just offer an online bookstore. How much does it cost to deploy this ecosystem into your shop? It varies, there are no set in stone price points, and Overdrive will custom tailor the price, depending on the size and scale of your business. Steve Potash shows off New Overdrive Media Station is a post from: E-Reader News |
Zoological Society of London: saving rhinos with the Pi
| We’ve been talking a bit about London Zoo’s efforts with the camera board to set affordable camera traps in Kenya, looking not only for wild animals, but also for poachers. This is incredibly important work; rhinos, elephants and other terribly endangered animals are targeted for their body parts, which fetch large sums in some markets. This project is one of several up for a £500,000 grant from Google, but to get that grant, they need your help: please go and vote for them this evening on the Google Global Impact Challenge website. You’ve only got a few hours left to vote, so please get clicking! |
Kindle Fire Update Adds Battery % Meter and Breaks Wallpapers on Alt Launchers
| While Barnes and Noble is making their Nook HD tablets more appealing by adding support for Google Play, Amazon is taking the opposite approach by locking down their Kindle Fire tablets even more from outside influences and forcing people to use the custom Kindle interface to keep the cycle of spending more money at Amazon [...] |
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Simon & Schuster Opens up New Publishing Division in Canada
| Simon & Schuster has a print and distribution center in Canada, that sends print and eBooks to the various stores and retail chains. In the past, if you were a Canadian author you actually had to publish with S&S in the US or via one of their imprints. This is no longer the case! Canadian authors can now publish directly with Simon & Schuster in Canada. Kevin Hanson, president of S&S Canada, said: “This will give Canadian authors more opportunities to be published in Canada, discovered by Canadian readers and made known abroad through Simon & Schuster’s global publishing platform. We look forward to making our own contribution to Canada’s vibrant literary scene.” More details surrounding the logistics of the new publishing program in Canada should surface in the coming weeks. Already, book agents and authors are celebrating this decision. "I see this as extremely good news for Canadian writers, and for Canadian culture and ideas," said literary agent Jackie Kaiser. "It's a welcome counterpoint to the corporate mergers and increasing commercial pressures of the book business and will simply add to the overall diversity of editorial perspective and taste, something that will inevitably lead to a healthier general publishing climate. There are more than a few important, successful books that were initially rejected by all but a single editor who saw something the others could not, and anything that increases the likelihood that good work will see the light of day is a very good thing in my books." I think this is a great move for one of the largest publishing companies. It gives them the ability to tap into an extensive Canadian base of authors and fast track them into bookstores and libraries. Since this is such a new project you can bet the first crop of authors will receive a ton of media attention and be cited in newspapers across the country. One of the biggest concerns most libraries have voiced at their annual meetings is lack of Canadian titles from major publishers. They want to support regional and local writers, but find it very difficult to stock relevant titles. Most Canadian writers are forced to publish in the USA in order to reach a wider audience. Once published in the US, it often takes a copious amount of time to transfer the book rights back over to Canada and market it correctly. Of course, there is always small presses, but their overall reach is poor and often does not include the digital editions or marketing. Simon & Schuster Opens up New Publishing Division in Canada is a post from: E-Reader News |
New Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Cover Art Revealed
| Scholastic announced earlier in the year that the company was going to release brand new editions of the entire Harry Potter saga that are poised to hit the store shelves in August. The company has been generating significant buzz surrounding the cover art created by award winning artist Kazu Kibuishi. Today at Book Expo America, the artist and Ellie Berger, President of Scholastic Trade Publishing, Arthur A. Levine unveiled the new cover art. The new cover for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets features the flying car that Harry and Ron rode to Hogwarts. In the background is the Weasley family home and many people are considering this art to be the best ever done for the franchise. Subsequent cover art will be revealed during the next few months for the remainder of the books. The entire Harry Potter book franchise is thought to have garnered over $7,743,000,000 in sales as of late 2012. The launch of Pottermore last year has finally given people the ability to download the digital ebook editions. Scholastic has informed us that the new cover art would only be applicable to the North American Trade versions and the ebook art will not change. New Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Cover Art Revealed is a post from: E-Reader News |
EPUB3 Still Not Ready for the Prime Time
| Every year, as a precursor to Book Expo America, the IDPF holds its annual two day conference. It brings all of the movers and shakers of the digital world to hold panels and talk about the current state of affairs of digital ebooks and future formats. The Daisy Consortium, IDPF, and W3C all talked extensively about how EPUB 3 was doing and the speakers were all trying hard to convince publishers to gravitate towards this format. Although progress has been made, the format is not ready to be deployed in earnest. Almost every publisher we talked to expressed reservations about getting involved in the next generation of the EPUB3 ebook format. If you are unfamiliar with this format, it borrows heavy elements from HTML5, and allows for audio, video, and the ability to change the language on the fly. It is certainly appealing on a fundamental level for anyone wanting to do interactive content, kids books, cook books, and other media-centric activities. The main problem is none of the best features are standardized yet and the format is likely to never be fully completed. For example, dictionaries are still being developed and are not fully integrated. This means if you want to have patrons look up words in English, French, or a myriad of other languages, they have to code it themselves. We heard that dictionaries won’t even be functional until the end of the year. Also, you currently can’t share your notes, highlights, or annotations with other users. An independent body within the W3c is working on this issue, but there is no estimated delivery date. If you want to restrict your users to only access your content in a specific market, geolocation is also not currently available. The BBC, Microsoft, Google, and many other companies are currently lobbying for this structure to protect their content and make sure domestic publishing rights are maintained. Any publishing company experimenting with EPUB3 is likely familiar with the Readium open sourced software. This is a tool that people can use to test their enhanced ebooks and get a sense on how they look on Kobo and Sony. Currently, the entire Readium project is undergoing a huge enhancement that is due out in August. It will include a public SDK, that companies can use to develop their own e-reading apps for Android and iOS. It will include features like fixed page layout, dynamic pagination, embedded fonts, and more! When this new version of Readium comes out, the old Chrome plugin will be discontinued and be officially depreciated. As much as the new EPUB3 format is tossed around, the majority of the industry still uses EPUB2. We talked to Dark Horse after one of the sessions and the comics publishing company was surprised to learn that the new format is backwards compatible with the old format. Many companies still think that if they implement the EPUB3 framework, they will have to edit all of their old files, books, comics, and so forth. This is not the case, as it is all backwards compatible. If you want to learn more about EPUB3, HTML5, and dedicated apps, and how they would fit into your publishing pipeline, we wrote an epic three part series that talked to some of the leading publishers, companies, and the bodies actually trying to standardize the format. You can read PART 1, PART 2, and PART 3, to get a sense on the perception people have on the various formats. EPUB3 Still Not Ready for the Prime Time is a post from: E-Reader News |
Aberystwyth Sailbot
| SailBot 2013 International Robotic Sailing Regatta is a robotic sailing competition in which the goal is to create an unmanned sailboat that navigates through a variety of challenges with limited, if any, human control. We met the Aberystwyth Sailbot team at the recent Cambridge Raspberry Jam. Their Sailbot uses a Raspberry Pi to make sure its tiny little crew make their way safely back home and we liked it so much that we are proud to be sponsoring them. Daniel Clark from the team tells us more: We’re a team of students from Aberystwyth University. In October last year, we all knew we had an interest in robotics, and we were given the opportunity to build and program an autonomous boat, so we decided to start work and later enter it as a team in the Sailbot competition, this year held near Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in June 2013.  The Aber Sailbot underway Our entry’s control system is based off of a Raspberry Pi for all the major logic (written in Python and Java) and an Arduino Uno for interfacing with most of our sensors. We chose the Raspberry Pi to put at the heart of our control system because we knew it was small, robust and it would run code written in any language we wanted. Another key thing it had was networking so we could use Git as our version control system, as well as being able to SSH into the Pi remotely and make any last-minute adjustments. Also it had USB, which was needed for us to connect to the Arduino.  One last time: these are *small*, but the ones out there are *far away* Our 1.2m long boat has two servos (one for the rudder and one for the sail), a GPS, a wind direction sensor and a compass. We also have a backup RC remote which, when turned on, automatically takes priority over the on-board control system, so that we can manually avoid collisions during the fleet races. If Sailbot2013 goes well we also plan to enter it into this year’s World Robotic Sailing Championships held in Brest, France, this September, and will continue to perfect it and hopefully enter it into next year’s Sailbot as well.  The Aber Sailbot Team Preliminary tests using RC can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4_vbwNeGM Take a look our website for more information follow us on Twitter @AberSailbot and like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/Abersailbot
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Disney Digital Explains Development Cycle and eBook Creation
| Disney Digital is responsible for all of the apps, games, and ebooks that you consume on your tablet and PC. The company is heavily invested in what the company is calling StoryTelling 2.0, but it might as well be called transmedia storytelling 2.0. This is a new breed of content the company is pushing to build synergy between tangible and digital products. Disney is in the perfect position to go this route, without devaluing the other products. The new Monsters U movie and game for iOS came out at around the same time. When you purchase the app and select merchandise, you will unlock new costumes and levels in the game. Lyle Underkoffler, the VP of digital media said that it is working on new forms of digital content, where if you buy the physical book, you will unlock the digital ebook or unlock other characters in other Disney properties. This encourages you to become invested in either a specific IP or encourage kids to check out totally new characters that are only available in the form of apps. StoryTelling 2.0 also comprises of a similar technology that Barnes and Noble employs on its children’s titles. There is a read aloud feature, read by yourself, and even narrate your own story. Disney is also pushing out more apps that will allow kids to assemble their own movies, featuring characters and environmental art from Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Marvel, and other properties to create their own movies. You can simply drop in the characters you want, pick the environment, props, and rotate everything around on the fly. In various test groups, parents and kids both responded positively on movies produced by children and and even narrated by the young whippersnappers, too. Disney Digital has a 50 person team and a 3-6 month development cycle on their apps and games. The time it takes to produce new IP’s or established franchises takes a lot less time than other companies, because Disney as an entity shares art assets. The digital division can get 3D character models from Pixar and give it to their own in-house animator to customize. Like any studios, it is often the big movie tie-ins that get the priority treatment, while sometimes the smaller homegrown stuff gets put on the back-burner. Finally, we were also told that we can expect a bunch of new Star Wars games to come out later this year, alongside some really hot new things. Disney Digital Explains Development Cycle and eBook Creation is a post from: E-Reader News |
Listen up: SYNC audiobooks for summer are here!
| For several years now, audiobook publishers have partnered with SYNC to provide free audiobooks downloads each week throughout summer. The SYNC program pairs a current young adult title with a classic or required summer reading title. Each SYNC audiobook will be available for download for a period of 7 days, and once downloaded can be listened to at any time.  Click through to save full size image to use in an email blast to your community.
OverDrive is providing distribution services for all the SYNC audiobooks. The titles are all in MP3 format and can be downloaded via OverDrive Media Console for Windows, Mac and most mobile devices.
To help promote SYNC, we've created an email template for you to use. All you have to do is paste this image into the body of an email, add a hyperlink to http://www.audiobooksync.com , and send to your patron email list. Additional promotional materials available in the SYNC tool kit.
The SYNC program is a great way to introduce teens to audiobooks, and in turn those audiobook fans will look to your library as a source for more great audiobooks. Keep a lookout on our blog for ways to promote audiobooks in June in honor of Audiobook Month.
Cassie Renner is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive  |
Meet the Staff: Bill
Meet one our newest writers, Bill, as we talk about beards, Classics degrees, and the Chicago Cubs. |
Join us for a live Community Outreach webinar
| Looking for ways to promote your digital collection this summer? Join us for a live Community Outreach webinar next Thursday, June 6 at 2:00 PM ET (Click here to convert it to your time zone, if you're not in Eastern Time). Register now to save your spot!
We will share best practices for promotion and highlight some of the wonderful, free, marketing resources available in the Marketing & Outreach section of our Partner Portal.
Take advantage of this opportunity to chat with OverDrive Marketing Specialists about ways to promote your digital collection. If you can't make it next week, you can view a recording of the Community Outreach webinar on demand in our Learning Center.
Additionally, don’t forget our Digital Library Champions contest wraps up Tuesday June 11, 2013, so there is still time to get those entries in! Spending just a few minutes compiling all your outreach efforts over the past year and filling out an entry form is all it takes to win your library a collection credit and a device!
Cassie Renner is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.  |
3M Publisher Portal Provides Data to Publishers
| In all of the criticisms and debate surrounding the current state of library ebook lending, the publishers are often painted as the bad guys. Some major publishing houses don’t allow lending for their titles at all, while others impose hefty price increases for libraries. Others restrict how many times an ebook can be checked out before the library must purchase a new digital copy. What many critics fail to accept is the publishers’ claims that they are in uncharted territory when it comes to digital lending. Conceivably, every library need only purchase one copy of a book, as that file will never become lost or damaged. At the same time, publishers insist that piracy remains a very real concern, no matter the restrictions that can be put in place. A number of initiatives have come about recently in order to show publishers that yes, this concept can work. OverDrive and Sourcebooks are working on their collaborative Big Read project, which allowed simultaneous users in over 3,500 libraries to all borrow the same Sourcebooks title, which early reports now say has been downloaded at least 24,000 times. At BookExpo this week, 3M Library Systems will unveil its publisher portal, allowing publishers to stop by the booth and test drive the level of feedback that they can receive whenever their titles have activity through partner libraries. Several strategic publishers assisted 3M in the development of this portal, which is being demonstrated now. "We know publishers can find great value in the metrics generated through libraries," said Matt Tempelis, global business manager, 3M Cloud Library, in a statement. "Sharing data with publishing partners not only strengthens relationships, but it also shows the importance of selling eBooks to the library market." In these instances, the success of these pilot programs and experiments have had a unifying factor: publisher cooperation. In order for ebook lending to move forward on a broader scale, forward-thinking publishers will have to continue to reexamine their long-held beliefs about their products and be willing to look at the data that so far has clearly shown that ebook lending benefits readers, consumers, authors, and publishers.
3M Publisher Portal Provides Data to Publishers is a post from: E-Reader News |
CourseSmart, Metrodigi Collaborate on Digital Textbooks
| Digital academic platform CourseSmart and ebook publisher Metrodigi announced their new partnership project at BookExpo America this week. Together, the two companies plan to offer academic publishers an even more efficient, streamlined process for creating interactive digital textbooks. This content will be available in the ePub3 standard for greater adoption and compatibility, while still allowing publishers to work in the digital interactive direction in a more affordable way. "Interactive, visual and engaging digital content is the future of learning materials and we are excited to form a partnership that will dramatically drive down the cost tocreate this content," said CourseSmart CEO Sean Devine, in a statement. "We anticipate a growing catalog of the interactive content available in our new InteractiveReader and are eager to support the positive impacts on student engagement and learning." The cost of developing this kind of digital content has often prevented publishers from pursuing interactive materials, but Metrodigi’s Chaucer platform brings that cost down to a more manageable level, especially for publishers with a smaller catalog of titles or who develop materials for a limited segment of students. "We are continually expanding our network of publishers and are excited Chaucer is enabling our partners to create more compelling and interactive content," continued Steven McKinney, Metrodigi CEO. "By combining our experience creating digital materials in other areas, including comics, art books, children's books and cookbooks, with CourseSmart's expertise in higher education, we have the ability to create incredibly compelling, cross-platform content for the education sector." This collaboration will add to CourseSmart’s existing catalog of more than 40,000 academic titles from sixty different educational publishers. The CourseSmart catalog includes around ninety percent of the educational textbook titles available today.
CourseSmart, Metrodigi Collaborate on Digital Textbooks is a post from: E-Reader News |
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
HarperCollins Launches eInsider Program for Free eBooks
| When authors do promotional tours or want to send copies of their eBooks to online reviewers or friends, things get difficult. Often, these promotional ARC editions do not have DRM, which make it fairly easy to pirate. HarperCollins has revealed a new program, that simplifies the process. The new eInsider program is a new initiative by HarperCollins that will allow authors to send out samples, or the full edition of the book. Authors belonging to the publishing label will get a set of unique codes that can be redeemed for the entire eBook and can only be used once, before they expire. This puts a bit more power into the authors hands, to share their digital edition with whomever they want. The eBook they share, is fully encrypted with Digital-Rights-Management, which prevents other users from being able to view the book. "Until now, providing secure digital copies of ebooks directly to authors was difficult," HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray said in a statement. "The eInsider program and platform allows us to distribute secure ebooks to authors, reviewers, bloggers or any other influential readers in the same way we have always distributed promotional print books at industry fairs and author events." In order to redeem the full copy of the eBook you have to visit e.hc.com and follow the instructions on how to get the digital edition. The books themselves are in EPUB format, and should be compatible with every Adobe certified e-Reader or on your PC. I think this is a great move, and really gives authors the ability to assist with their own promotion, without needing to rely on the publisher or agent to distribute review copies of their books to fellow authors, journalists or their favorite book review website. HarperCollins Launches eInsider Program for Free eBooks is a post from: E-Reader News |
Amazon Launches Universal Login System
| Amazon has just unveiled a new universal login system that will appeal to website, app or gaming developers. It basically draws parallels to Facebook or Twitter connect to make an account and instead uses Amazon’s API technology and servers. It allows end-users to feel a bit more safer and secure to use their existing account and rest easy an app or website won’t be spamming your social media accounts on your behalf. According to a 2012 Harris Interactive study, over half of all American Internet users have five or more unique passwords to remember. Login with Amazon reduces sign-in friction by eliminating the need for users to create an account and password, and instead allows them to sign-in using their existing Amazon account information. Amazon customers can choose to share certain attributes of their account profile with apps, games, and websites by using Login with Amazon. I can really see this new program appealing to most app developers who need their customers to login to their app to unlock all of the functionality. It also will make webmasters lives a bit easier to not have to create an account on a proprietary system, like WordPress. Amazon Launches Universal Login System is a post from: E-Reader News |
Amanda Hocking Publishes Graphic Novel as Digital-First Comic
| Amanda Hocking is a digital publishing phenomenon: She self-published her first nine books as e-books and sold over a million copies, making her a millionaire twice over. Conventional publishers took notice, and Hocking’s paranormal romance novels are now published by St. Martin’s Press. Her prose novels, that is: Hocking’s newest work is a graphic novel, titled The Hollows: A Hollowland Graphic Novel, and it is being published as a digital-first comic by Dynamite. The graphic novel is based on Hocking’s The Hollowland, the story of a girl looking for her lost brother during a zombie apocalypse. In an interview with Calvin Reid of Publishers Weekly, Dynamite publisher Nick Barrucci said that the book would be released as ten chapters, then collected late this year or early next year as a print graphic novel. The chapters will not be sold as individual issues. The first issue of The Hollows is free, so I went ahead and downloaded it. It’s basically setup, introducing us to the characters in the story: The girl and her brother; a rock star whose band disintegrates after the zombie plague strikes during one of their concerts; a doctor who feels he is ethically bound to treat those afflicted by the plague even though the government has declared that infected people are legally dead. Frankly, zombies are pretty passe these days, but Hocking has managed to stock her story with characters that are solid enough to be interesting anyway. Steve Uy’s art serves the story well; it’s black and white with a subtle manga feel. The second issue was also released this week, and subsequent issues will come out every two weeks and will be priced at $1.99. While I bought it on comiXology, the book is also available on Kindle, and on Dark Horse Digital. Amanda Hocking Publishes Graphic Novel as Digital-First Comic is a post from: E-Reader News |
Random House Launches BookScout Mobile App
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Since BookScout's launch this January, the number the people using the app has more than doubled to over 6,000, primarily in the United States and as far as Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and India. BookScout continues to see a high engagement rate with over 80,000 actions taken in the app, creating 1.3 million stories shared on Facebook. The app currently includes over three million titles across all publishers. "People love to talk about books at any time and in any place. With this in mind, we made BookScout accessible everywhere and on every device," says Amanda Close, Random House’s Senior Vice President, Digital Marketplace Development. "Now that BookScout is fully mobile accessible, our focus will turn to creating fun, fresh ways to share book recommendations and help connect readers. This includes new reading recommendations from our editors across all publishers, and additional social-sharing features within the app." Random House Launches BookScout Mobile App is a post from: E-Reader News |
Random House has spent the last five months, developing their new eBook discovery engine, BookScout. One of the most notable features of the service is that it does not put an emphasis on titles issued by Random House, but all publishers. Today, Random House announced that it has issued a new mobile version of their Facebook App and it actually works fairly solid.Hybrid Authors Weigh in on a Myriad of Issues
| The publishing world has ushered in a new classification of authors that straddle two worlds, hybrid authors. This term applies towards traditionally published authors, that end up branching out into the realm of self-publishing. It also applies to the digitally self-published authors who end up getting a traditional publishing deal. Hybrid authors often have many reasons why they switch up their mediums and we have some insightful data courtesy of Phill Sexton of Writers Digest on some of them. He surveyed almost 4,000 authors who would be considered hybrids and gives an indication on their thoughts and overall mentality. Overwhelming creative control over their eBooks are one of the biggest factors in self-publishing. Often, in the traditional publishing world, there are trends that publishers will immediately dismiss. For example, According to Sylvia Day “Paranormal Romance novels are on the decline, and you would be hard-pressed to have a New York based publisher accept your new novel. Unless you have an established name, like Cassandra Claire. Being able to digitally self-publish insures you could buckle some declining trends and put a fresh new spin on it.” Hybrid authors not only flex more creative control, but they tend to write on their own terms, without deadlines. One of the largest barriers that aspiring writers face, is being able to cope with a dedicated writing schedule. When you traditionally publish, you have the publisher, agent and editor all lobbying for due dates. This actually helps authors publish digitally and succeed, because they have a good work ethic. On the flip side, authors who publish digitally often find they receive more help and a further reach with marketing and book-tours being organized on their behalf. Finally, hybrid authors actually earn more revenue on average than dedicated disciples of each singular discipline. On average, hybrid authors earn $38,000 for each title, whereas traditional authors earn $27,000 and self-published ones $7,000. Hybrid Authors Weigh in on a Myriad of Issues is a post from: E-Reader News |
First eBook in Overdrive’s Big Library Read Program Downloaded 24,000 Times
| Overdrive announced a new pilot project that allowed all participating libraries to opt into give an eBook away for free, with no strings attached. The Four Corners of the Sky by Michael Malone was donated by Sourcebooks and apparently resonated with readers, as it was downloaded over 24,000 times from May 15th through May 23rd. One of the big questions I had about this program was how could a publisher and Overdrive artificially create a bestseller. This is actually a fairly huge question and could have reverberating effects on the future of Big Library Read. In the week this eBook was featured on Overdrive, it also climbed the Amazon's Sales Rank charts moving up more than 50,000 spots from 67,198 to 16,798. The Big Library Read project was featured in 7,500 public, academic, military, and school libraries. Overdrive has verified it has excessive interest from other libraries in their network and also other publishers. This will ensure that the pilot project turns into a regular one. First eBook in Overdrive’s Big Library Read Program Downloaded 24,000 Times is a post from: E-Reader News |
Microsoft to Launch Surface Pro in Japan on June 7, New 256 GB Model on Offer
| Microsoft is all set to unleash its Surface Pro device in Japan on June 7th. It is a late debut, considering it reached markets on the other side of the Pacific in February. However, there is a new enhanced model that Microsoft has developed. The enhancement is restricted to the internal storage of the device, which has been doubled to 256 GB. The extra bit of storage does make a lot of sense, considering the Surface Pro is aimed at the enterprise sector that often requires storing huge amounts of data. The operating system itself will be using a sizeable 48 GB of the above mentioned storage, another reason why the beefed up internal memory is always welcome. Everything else with the Surface Pro remains the same, with the 10.6 inch 1920 x 1080 pixel display, an Intel Core i5 chip, and a 4 GB RAM. All of the above with 128 GB of storage will cost 99,800 yen or about $975. The same with 256 GB will set you back by a cool 119,800 yen or $1,175. There are a few other designer accessories thrown in as well, which includes a touch cover that costs an additional for 9,980 yen or $100. A tactile key type cover will come for 10,980 yen or $110. The package also includes a pressure sensitive pen, and the Surface Pro will come bundled with the Office 2013 suite. However, it remains to be seen if the Surface Pro sales will get a sales boost due to the extra storage offered. It’s no secret that demand for the Surface Pro, as well as its RT counterpart, has been tapering off recently, which can be attributed to the cross-segment position Microsoft attempted with the device. It’s a bit too heavy to be classified a proper tablet, and it has a unique cover ensuring it can be used as a traditional notebook device. It’s an excellent device, no doubt, though it ended up not being a true performer either as a tablet or a notebook.
Microsoft to Launch Surface Pro in Japan on June 7, New 256 GB Model on Offer is a post from: E-Reader News |
Rumor: Apple Developing a Cheaper iPad Mini
| Apple is believed to be developing a new iPad Mini variant that would be cheaper than the current version. Of course, there is no official confirmation, though it does fit with the California based company’s newfound penchant to drive down the price in order to pick up sales. A report from Citi Research is claiming Apple might indeed be doing this, as information from the company's Asia based supply chain network reveals such a possibility. The lowest priced iPad Mini now costs $329, while the low cost Android tablet brigade is flourishing in the $200 – $250 price bracket. The iPad Mini is still selling in millions and is more in demand than its bigger cousin. Apple is already believed to be in advanced stages of building a low cost version of the iPhone to ensure it remains competitive against renewed competition from manufacturers, such as Samsung. An announcement towards this is expected in the fall, which is when Apple is likely to launch the new iPhone 5S, the budget iPhone, as well as new variants of the iPad and iPad Mini. This isn’t the first time we have come across reports of Apple developing a budget priced iPad Mini as rumblings on this were heard back in April. Keep watching!
Rumor: Apple Developing a Cheaper iPad Mini is a post from: E-Reader News |
OnTheRoadAudio – For your commute listening pleasure
| How much time do we spend traveling every day? An hour? Two hours or more? That time is likely spent in a car in traffic or on public transit, but how many of us actually enjoy the commute? With summer officially underway, many families and friends are kicking off the summer road trip season. Why not make both the daily commute or family road trip enjoyable experiences by listening to an audiobook? For the month of June, OverDrive has a great selection of audiobooks on sale for 30% off! To simplify the purchasing process, check out the list OnTheRoadAudio available in Content Reserve. Here are a few of our favorites:
The Forgotten, the latest thriller from suspense master David Baldacci
"John Puller is called out on another case—and this time, it’s close to home. His Aunt Betsy has been found dead in her Florida apartment, drowned in her backyard pool. The local police have ruled the death an accident, but Puller isn’t so sure. Before she died, Betsy mailed a letter to Puller’s father, telling him she was afraid…but wouldn’t say what, exactly, she was frightened of."
"Tina Fey, one of the most powerful and beloved women in entertainment, brings sharp wit and uncanny observational skill to everything she does, from television to major motion pictures. She’s managed to be known as both the thinking man’s sex symbol, and every woman’s alter-ego/imaginary best friend. Now, for the first time, Fey takes her writing talent off-screen and into the pages of an audiobook."
Guilty Wives, a saucy summer beach read by James Patterson
"Only minutes after Abbie Elliot and her three best friends step off of a private helicopter, they enter the most luxurious, sumptuous, sensually pampering hotel they have ever been to. Their lavish presidential suite overlooks Monte Carlo, and they surrender: to the sun and pool, to the sashimi and sake, to the Bruno Paillard champagne. In the morning’s harsh light, Abbie awakens on a yacht, surrounded by police. Something awful has happened—something impossible, unthinkable…"
The list also includes classics you always meant to read but never quite got around to such as Fahrenheit 451, The Hobbit, The Maltese Falcon, Anna Karenina, and many more.
Indulge the kids on your summer road trip with these children's and YA selections:
"In the first book of the Hex Hall series, Rachel Hawkins introduces teenage witch Sophie Mercer, who is exiled to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward witches, faeries, and shape shifters."
Jepp Who Defied the Stars, by Paul Michael Garcia, Katherine Marsh
"Fate—is it written in the stars from the moment we are born, or is it a bendable thing that we can shape with our own hands? Jepp of Astraveld needs to know. He left his countryside home on the empty promise of a stranger, only to become a captive in the strange, luxurious prison that is Coudenberg Palace, the royal court of the Spanish infanta."
Or children's classics like Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and Little Women just to name a few.
We all spend countless hours traveling in some fashion. Why not actually enjoy that time by listening to an audiobook? OverDrive makes it even easier with the OverDrive Media Console app that can be downloaded to your smartphone for free. Just plug in, download, and go. Enjoy the silence in the backseat. Enjoy the drive. Most importantly, enjoy a new world with an audiobook.
Kate Seivertson is a Collection Development Analyst with OverDrive  |
Join OverDrive at BookExpo America for a demonstration of OverDrive Media Station
| This week team OverDrive will be at BookExpo America (BEA) offering hands on demonstrations of OverDrive Media Station at booth #1438. In addition to in-library use, OverDrive Media Station is designed to merchandise and sell eBooks in retail stores. OverDrive Media Station is a digital touchscreen eBook station that can be customized with a retailer's brand for in-store engagement with readers. It displays top-selling titles and provides access to one million eBook and MP3 audiobook titles in every genre.
"Publishers and authors are very excited to support retail booksellers to supplement their print book sales by enabling them to sell eBooks to customers in their stores," said Erica Lazzaro, Director of Publisher Relations at OverDrive. "It's one more way to broaden digital content discovery and bring publishers and retailers closer together, which ultimately creates a richer experience for readers."
OverDrive Media Station will provide an affordable option for independent and large brick-and-mortar booksellers to offer one million eBook and audiobook titles for direct sale to customers and is ideal for discovery and sampling. Using wall-mounted or free-standing touchscreen stations, customers will have the ability to browse and instantly sample eBooks and audiobooks compatible with hundreds of popular devices including tablets and smartphones. The ability for readers to instantly sample the first chapters from nearly one million titles provides the same previewing experience that hardcopy books do.
In addition to previewing its new eBook station at BEA, OverDrive will focus on how publishers and retailers can create a branded reading experience, such as PulseIt.com, Simon & Schuster's branded teen community, as well as early results of the worldwide Big Library Read event that began May 15 and concludes June 1. The first event of its kind, the Big Library Read invites millions of library patrons around the world to simultaneously access and read The Four Corners of the Sky, by Michael Malone. More than 7,500 libraries around the world are participating in the Big Library Read, which was organized to demonstrate the importance of libraries as a discovery channel.
For more information about OverDrive Media Station use for retail stores, contact retail@overdrive.com.
Adam Sockel is a Marketing Communications Specialist at OverDrive  |
Chinese Kindle Reportedly Coming June 7th
| According to an article by Catherine Shu for TechCrunch, a long-awaited Kindle for the Chinese ebook market may finally be a reality. While the Amazon China store has been an operational site for some time, and the Kindle store–compatible only with the Kindle app–launched in December, kiosks have already sprung up to sell the Kindle as early as next week. Prices for the devices, including the Kindle Fire HD, are somewhat comparable to US prices for the e-readers and tablet, and are slated to be available in Suning’s Tesco stores. Some of the lag in rolling out the ebook sales to what is reported to be the second largest ebook market in the world have been caused by slow adoption by China’s regulatory commissions over censorship concerns. Amazon China is not approved to sell ebooks, and instead partnered with an approved third party to sell digital editions to customers, something that the General Administration of Press and Publication has stated violates the law. Shu’s piece on the Kindle rollout does bring up a very interesting question, namely, will Amazon actually make any money on this venture? If the site is paying a third party vendor for ebooks and is competing with the existing ebook storefronts, how can the online retailer plan to come out ahead on devices that typically sell in the US for cost? An article from Doug Young for Forbes predicts that Amazon’s strong brand recognition could easily result in a 20% market share of the digital book scape, assuming the consumers respond.
Chinese Kindle Reportedly Coming June 7th is a post from: E-Reader News |
Wired UK – in shops on Thursday
| We’re getting back to the UK late on Thursday. First stop: a Heathrow branch of WH Smith. I shall forestall the obvious question: it’s a Pibow in Toxic, by Pimoroni. |
Tech-Savvy Parents Still Choosing Print for Their Kids
| a few years ago, preschool-aged children were the demographic least likely to be given ebooks to read, while teens were reported to be the least likely age group to choose ebooks for themselves. At the time, it seemed that the device was the issue; teens viewed their portable devices as social or entertainment tools, and parents of younger children were shy about handing a toddler an expensive tablet. That dynamic has changed to some extent, notably with the advent of tablets and smartphones becoming more widespread and less expensive. But now, a Pew Internet study demonstrates that parents are still choosing print books for their children in order to connect with the nostalgia of enjoying a book in the way that they did as kids. According to a write-up of the report by Kathryn Zickuhr, “More than nine in ten parents of minor children say it is important to them that their children read print books—eighty-one percent say it is ‘very important,’ and an additional 13% say it is ‘somewhat important.’ Very few say having their children read print books is ‘not too important’ (3%) or ‘not important at all’ (3%).” While the research survey itself didn’t explain why parents felt that it was important for their children to experience print reading despite the increased numbers of Americans over age sixteen who now own e-readers or tablets, there was some information from focus groups that provided a little insight. Some parents felt that reading a print book–for both their children and themselves–modeled good reading behavior. While reading on an electronic device, especially a tablet, kids can’t know that the parents are reading rather than playing on social media. Other parents wanted to pass on the childhood memories that the print book experience brought with it. For many parents, print reading may actually result from a more intentional “power down” mentality. With the abundance of devices available, concerned parents are actually making intentional headway into getting their children to pursue other activities with portions of their time.
Tech-Savvy Parents Still Choosing Print for Their Kids is a post from: E-Reader News |
Sales and Deals on eBook Readers, Tablets and eBooks
| There are some good deals to be had on ebook readers and tablets as we approach the end of May. The Nooks are on sale again at Walmart, and you can snag an older Android tablet for as little as $55 new from eBay. And there are some discount codes if you like shopping for [...] |
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Amazon Publishing Launches New Website
| Amazon Publishing recently merged their east and west coast operations and now runs it out of New York, spearheaded by Larry Kirshbaum. It basically takes all of their imprints and houses them under one roof, making the entire process less fragmented and easy to manage. Today, Amazon unveiled a new website devoted to all of their imprints and you can visit it HERE. Amazon originally launched their publishing program in 2012 and has seen great success with luring established authors to publish books with them. Often, these books get the audio and eBook treatment, alongside their printed counterparts, which are sold in retail stores. In the last few months they launched two new imprints, that fill a gap in the publishing industry. Little A, is centered around literary fiction and provides a home for works that have previously just been considered Amazon Publishing titles. The second is digital-only Day One, which functions as a launchpad for debut authors to publish, but will also host a much-needed home for short story authors. While long form journalism and e-novellas have taken off thanks in large part to digital publishing, short story authors are still feeling the frustration of being relegated to anthologies or trying to swim their titles in the sea of other 99cent-ebooks without a platform for discovery. These two new imprints join Montlake for romance, Thomas & Mercer for mysteries, Encore for reintroduced out-of-print titles, Crossing for internationally translated works, and 47 North for science fiction, fantasy, and horror titles. The new website Amazon has unveiled basically is a centralized portal that allows bookstores, authors, writers and the media to gain a deeper understanding of what their publishing program is all about, and what differentiates it from CreateSpace, Kindle Singles and Kindle Direct Publishing. Amazon Publishing Launches New Website is a post from: E-Reader News |
