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In celebration of Canada Day (Today!), we wanted to spotlight some of the extraordinary literature being produced by our neighbors up north. Here are ten exceptional titles by Canadian authors—a very small sampling of all the CanLit available in OverDrive Marketplace—from some of Canada's best-known writers as well as a few up-and-coming literary stars.
The Antagonist by Lynn Coady
Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith by Andrew Preston
Journey with No Maps by Sandra Djwa
Time Lord by Clark Blaise
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje
Dear Life by Alice Munro
Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler
The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Carrie Smith is a Technical Writer at OverDrive.
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Sunday, June 30, 2013
Ten Titles to Celebrate Canadian Literature
Deal Alert: Kobo Glo for $99, Kindle Fire HD $169
| Kobo is running an unadvertised sale on the Kobo Glo through July 2nd at midnight. Instead of having to pay the usual $129, you can get it for $99 with promo code GL625 when ordered from Kobo.com. The catch is it is for US residents only (if you live in Canada you can still get [...] |
Moon+ Reader Pro is Free Today Only via AppGratis
| There’s a special edition of the popular ereading app for Android called Moon+ Reader Pro that is available for free today only thanks to a promotion over at AppGratis, which gives away free paid apps everyday. Normally Moon+ Reader Pro sells for $4.99, so this is a good time to get it even if you’re [...] |
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Shop e-Readers and Okanagan College Deliver Amazon e-Readers to Students
| Shop e-Readers has announced today that it has reached a new agreement with the Okanagan College to carry e-readers in its campus bookstore. Starting immediately, at the main branch in Kelowna, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Kindle e-Reader will be available for students to purchase. The new e-reader demo area will provide diligent young scholars with the ability to play with the devices and get information to aid in a buying decision. Carla Macfarlane, General Merchandise Buyer, OC Campus Store, said, “Okanagan College Campus Store is excited to partner with Shop e-Readers, to provide students and staff with e-readers and tablets and digital content for them. We are looking forward to a successful relationship and expanding our line in the near future!” Eric Johnson, Sales Director at Shop e-Readers, said, “We are very excited to offer students the latest generation Kindle tablets and e-readers at Okanagan College. It is important that Canadian students have access to the most cutting edge technology to enhance their education.” Shop e-Readers currently deals with a number of universities and campus bookstores all over Canada. Okanagan College joins the University of British Columbia, Langara, University of Victoria, and Simon Fraser University in offering e-readers and tablets to the general student body. Shop e-Readers and Okanagan College Deliver Amazon e-Readers to Students is a post from: E-Reader News |
BookOS Accused of eBook Piracy
| The issue of ebook piracy, or digital piracy in any form, is the topic of many debates all over the world. Within these discussions, it is generally concluded that those aiding in piracy are considered equal partners in the crime. One such site that does not have a clean record is BookOS.org, which many accuse of having a large number of pirated ebooks in its collection. The site, which claims itself to be the largest ebook library in the world, is also reported to have been down once, though it seems it’s back to business as usual. Needless to say, the author community is up in arms against the site and they have a valid reason to do so. If their works are pirated and sold or doled out for free, the authors are deprived of their livelihood. Authors typically are paid a percentage (which can be up to 40%) of the sale from their ebook or agree to a flat fee from the publisher which will remain fixed regardless of the number of books sold. The latter is generally applicable to the more renowned authors, and while they are less prone to suffer from piracy as far as their livelihood is concerned, those that depend on royalties are the ones that suffer losses if their works end up being pirated. Now imagine their surprise as authors discover their ebooks listed at bookos.org without their knowledge or consent. Bookos.org does have a provision for authors to have the links to their books removed, if they report it, although there have been many instances of ebooks coming back online again. A Facebook campaign called “Shut BookOS Down“ is also underway, though it only has a paltry 62 likes. The Facebook crusade seems to be working, however, due to constant pestering, which has forced BookOS to vastly limit its Facebook presence. In any case, BookOS still has managed to garner over 18k likes. As for the users, they don't have anything to complain as long as they have their books delivered completely free. It can be hard to remain ethical, especially when it can be about saving a few hundred dollars. Opinions are divided throughout, and some believe it's only a book that is priced too high that runs the risk of being pirated. Tor Books UK, a publisher of science fiction and fantasy, ran an experiment in which they stripped all copy protection from their books for a year. They claim this did not lead to any remarkable increase in piracy for any of their titles. However, in the end, what must kept in mind is that the author community runs the risk of being eroded in the digital age, where piracy is widely accepted. When a pirate website has more Likes than the site trying to shut it down, we have problems. When it comes to the success of BookOS, who is responsible for shutting it down? The publishers? Authors? Users? Pirate websites like this thrive when users refuse to pay for content, and in the end, authors suffer the most.
BookOS Accused of eBook Piracy is a post from: E-Reader News |
Judge Dredd Megazine Comes to the iPad
| The British publisher 2000AD has upped their game by adding Judge Dredd Megazine to their iOS Newsstand app, along with a major revamp that makes their comics easier to find and sort. When I first took a look at the app, last November, I found it to be “pretty basic”—really, just a grid of comics that you can buy, arranged in numerical order, and a subscription page. The new app is a bit more sophisticated, with a store page that sorts the comics by title and publication year. You still can’t preview individual comics, but there are two good-sized freebies, a 69-page sampler issue and a 12-page prequel to the Judge Dredd movie. The update also brings in two features that have become fairly standard in digital comics apps: Bookmarking and panel zoom. (Since the app is available for the iPhone as well as iPad, the latter feature is really not optional.) The biggest change, though, is the addition of Judge Dredd Megazine, a monthly magazine that is a thicker, richer version of 2000AD. The mix of stories usually includes some old and new Judge Dredd, creator interviews and other feature content, and a complete 64-page graphic novel drawn from the 2000AD archives. I have been a fan of 2000AD since I jumped on with their Prog 1824, which featured four new stories. 2000AD is a great action comic that presents interesting characters in extreme situations without falling into the two greatest pitfalls of American superhero comics, sexism and overly complicated continuity and crossovers. The women in the comics I have read have all been sexy, but they are also smart, fully rounded characters who really move the story forward, and the stories themselves tend to be fairly short and self-contained. It’s easy to start reading 2000AD, but it’s not so easy to stop. The app solves the biggest problem with these two comics, which has been distribution—the fan base has been limited for years by the fact that the print comics tend to show up irregularly in brick-and-mortar shops weeks after their UK publication date. The digital issues come out the same week as the UK versions, and at $2.99 for an issue of 2000AD (which is a weekly) and $7.99 for the much thicker Megazine, the prices are reasonable, although they can add up. The subscription shaves a bit off the cover price and also includes some back issues. Judge Dredd Megazine Comes to the iPad is a post from: E-Reader News |
Restrictions on In-Flight Devices May Soon Be Relaxed
| Travelers who have spent much time in this air can probably recite the intercom warnings verbatim, reminding passengers that it is against Federal Aviation Association restrictions to use portable electronic devices during certain portions of the flight, namely during take-off and landing. Some airlines’ announcements go so far as to list specific products by name, such as Kindles, Nooks, or iPads, in an effort to make guarantee that passengers were aware of precisely which devices are in question. Interestingly, travelers are informed that the devices must be physically stowed in the carry-on bag and not left in the seat pocket, presumably because the device–which incidentally is the same size or smaller than the stash of magazines and catalogs in that very same seat pocket–can be ejected from the pocket and injure someone. For Senator Claire McCaskill (D), this isn’t good enough. And in her role as chairman of Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, which presides over both aviation and communications policy, it is her job to be kept well-informed of the safety policies for airline travel and their justifications. Only there hasn’t been a justification. McCaskill has been arguing with various agencies for several years now about the restrictions on portable device use during air travel, not in an attempt to brush aside the potential dangers caused by any interference with the aircraft’s finely tuned controls, but because no one has come forward with any evidence that such interference even exists. This week, McCaskill’s office released a statement announcing that the FAA may soon lift much of the current restrictions on in-flight device use, and the Senator had following statement for the announcement: "It's good to see the FAA may be on the verge of acknowledging what the traveling public has suspected for years—that current rules are arbitrary and lack real justification. In the meantime, I'll continue my effort to have these regulations rigorously examined until scientific evidence has been presented to justify them, or the rules are altered." In her capacity as chairman, McCaskill has maintained that restrictions to protect consumers should be in place if the evidence supports the cautionary measures, but no evidence has been provided that tablets, e-readers, or cell phones are potential threats to passenger safety.
Restrictions on In-Flight Devices May Soon Be Relaxed is a post from: E-Reader News |
Friday, June 21, 2013
Apple Reveals Pie Chart Showing iOS Usage
| One of the reasons many believe the Android Key Lime Pie release is being pushed back is to allow manufacturers more time to upgrade to the latest iteration of Android Jelly Bean. However, in some cases, even previous versions of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich or Gingerbread, are still being in used. The precise figures are illustrated in a pie chart released by Google. Now Apple has now joined the ranks and has come up with a pie chart of its own, which shows the usage pattern of different iOS versions. What is immediately apparent is the overall simplicity of it. Revealed at the WWDC event, it depicts just three versions, with iOS 6 overwhelming being used by 93% of devices. A minuscule 6% have still remained faithful to iOS 5, which was released in 2011, while an even smaller fraction of 1% have kept to versions 4 and older. This basically shows that Apple users do not have a major issue with updating to the latest and greatest operating system updates. Unfortunately, Android reports a vast majority, 36.5% of their users, are still stuck with Gingerbread, the version Google had launched more than 2 years ago. What is evident is that about two-thirds of Android users are lagging behind Jelly Bean, which is still being used by 33%. One main factor that Google charts don’t dive into is taking into account the devices that don’t have access to Google Play. Tablets such as the Kindle Fire and many devices originating from China are not officially licensed.
Apple Reveals Pie Chart Showing iOS Usage is a post from: E-Reader News |
Good e-Reader Radio Show – with Jeremy Greenfield of Digital Book World
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Today, we talk about the Justice Department case against Apple and how it will all play out. We also discuss Barnes and Noble, in regards to their latest slashing of hardware prices in the UK and US. Kobo has also lowered the entry level price on the Kobo Mini. A firestorm erupted this week with the recent commentary on Good e-Reader on self-publishing and eBook discovery. Jeremy contributes his unique perspective and makes some excellent suggestions. Finally, Digital Book World recently had a Women in Publishing event in New York, he sums up what exactly transpired. This is a great show as always, so check it out. Good e-Reader Radio Show – with Jeremy Greenfield of Digital Book World is a post from: E-Reader News |
ABNA Winner Rysa Walker on her Publishing Journey
| The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards got a bit of a facelift this year, with one winner being selected from each of the separate categories, a new feature for the awards. Following the selection of each winner, one grand prize winner was also selected. This year’s grand prize winner, young adult category top author Rysa Walker, spoke to GoodEReader about her publishing journey and what this year’s round of awards meant to her and potentially to authors everywhere. “This has been an incredible year. I entered hoping I would get to the point where I just got the Publisher’s Weekly review. I didn’t think about much beyond that,” explained Walker of the entry process. “The contest came by at a wonderful time.” Walker’s young adult book, Timebound, was originally self-published last year and will now go on to be overseen by a team of people who will work to re-release the book this fall, along with the books written by Walker’s fellow category winners. “I self-published because the traditional publishing industry wasn’t working for me. I tried for a year to get attention from an agent and in almost every case I didn’t even get an email back from them saying why they weren’t interested or even that they’d gotten my email with the attached file.” Walker attributes this lack of attention from the fact that the agents would often reply wanting more information about her background, and discover that she had published non-fiction in her field and feared that pigeon-holing her as an author might be behind the lack of notice. “I feel like I’m putting my baby in the competent hands of a nurturing nanny, leaving me more time to continue to write,” said Walker of the process by which her book will now be published by Amazon Publishing’s Skyscape imprint, addressing one of the reasons other hybrid authors have given for accepting a traditional publishing deal that does result in relinquishing a significant portion of the royalties to the publisher. Walker’s advance, won as result of the ABNA awards, will afford her the opportunity to focus more on the planned novella and subsequent sequel. Walker spoke about the benefits of this year’s updated format for the awards event this year, indicating that this was the first year that all of the winners were brought together at a ceremony in Seattle for the announcement of the grand prize winner. Each of the category winners was awarded a $15,000 advance and a publishing contract with the correct imprint from Amazon Publishing. “I’m so glad that it was this year that I entered, because I could look out at the people that I had just had dinner with and know that everyone was leaving a winner. Any one of their books could do just as well as or better than mine, because their books are going to be out there and they’re going to have a chance to actually succeed.”
ABNA Winner Rysa Walker on her Publishing Journey is a post from: E-Reader News |
E FUN Launches 7″ Nextbook Tablet for $69, 8″ for $99, Both with Google Play
| The prices of Android tablets just keeps falling lower and lower all the time. Getting a 7-inch tablet for $99 used to be a good deal, but not anymore. E FUN is taking it to a new level of cheapness with the Nextbook Premium 7SE-8GP, which sells at Walmart for $69. It basically has the [...] |
Monday, June 10, 2013
Penguin Book Truck Takes Off on US Road Trip
| It’s big, it’s orange, and it’s on the move. Branded with the iconic Penguin logo and orange color scheme, a food truck-sized vehicle is making its way around the country, selling books and promoting the Penguin family of titles. “The Penguin Book Truck was inspired by several things,” said John Fagan, Vice President & Director of Marketing at Penguin, in a blog post announcing the launch of the vehicle. “Back in 2010 when we celebrated the 75th Anniversary of Penguin Books, we acquired and designed the Penguin Car, a Mini-Cooper, painted Penguin Orange, with our famous brand all over it. The car was a great hit, visiting some of our most prominent authors in their hometowns across the U.S., and hosting anniversary celebrations at their local bookstores.” The Book Truck made its debut at the recent BookExpo America conference, and from there will go on a national tour to cities such as Chicago for the ALA Conference, Hartford, Connecticut, for Tom Sawyer Day, and more. The truck will also be on the road to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Grapes of Wrath by traveling from Oklahoma to California on the same route that carried the historically famous Okie migrants during the Dust Bowl era. Other stops on the book truck tour will Sallisaw, OK; Oklahoma City, OK; Canyon, TX; Albuquerque, NM; Flagstaff, AZ; Bakersfield, CA. For a complete look at the cities and the planned dates, as well as updates from the Book Truck’s travels, follow the truck on Twitter at @PenguinBkTruck.
Penguin Book Truck Takes Off on US Road Trip is a post from: E-Reader News |
Book Stacking Techniques Taking Japan by Storm
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In Japan, book stacking is taking the country by storm. With all of the manga and comic shops, it takes a fair bit to get noticed. This has prompted the industry to try and outdo each other with solid book display designs. People are flocking to the bookstores in record numbers to check out the new ways artists are stacking books. The trend of stacking books is going viral on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. A movement is taking shape with who can take the best pictures of the displays, and often are buying the physical book as keep sake. Book Display art is something that never took root in North America, as ergonomic design and the scientific approach, takes precedence over artistic sensibilities ability. Sure the odd boutique fashion store, goes the extra mile to really do up their front window, but bookstores themselves are static and uninspiring.
Book Stacking Techniques Taking Japan by Storm is a post from: E-Reader News |
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Sign Up for Amazon’s Comics Newsletter, Get a Free Superman Comic for Your Kindle
| The Amazon folks want you to subscribe to their Amazon Delivers Comics Newsletter, and they are willing to offer a small bribe: A free copy of Superman #1. I’m not kidding about it being a small bribe, as the comic currently retails for 99 cents, but it’s a good read, and free is free. The offer is good through July 21. Here’s what you do: 1) Click the button on the linked page to sign up for the newsletter. That’s a lot of steps, and I was a bit worried the discount wouldn’t come through at the end, but everything worked just like they said it would. I’m actually looking forward to the newsletter. But what about the comic? Superman #1, by George Perez and Jesus Marino, came out in November 2011, and it was part of the New 52, a relaunch of all the characters in the DC Universe. That means you don’t need to know any backstory or continuity to read this comic, although it helps if you have read Superman or seen a Superman cartoon in the past. The comic deftly weaves several storylines: On the evening the Daily Planet changes hands, going to a Rupert Murdoch-type owner, a fire monster attacks Metropolis. As the gala evening event turns into a scramble to cover the breaking story, Superman battles the fire monster high in the sky. It’s absolutely classic Superman, made even more so by the heavy use of text boxes, which seem like a newsreel narrator announcing what is happening in each panel. The art is standard superhero-modern, hard-edged and overly detailed, but it’s very dramatic and the action scenes are handled deftly. And it’s not all Superman battling the monster, either—Lois Lane plays a prominent role, and there is a bit about her and Clark’s relationship at the end. I read the comic on the Kindle app on my iPad 3, which has a retina display. The problem with reading comics on Kindle is that the page size is too small, even on an iPad. The comic is considerably smaller than the screen size, with a big white border all the way around. By contrast, the Comics by comiXology reader shows the page at a larger size, bringing it all the way to the top and bottom of the screen. This particular comic has a lot of small panels and word balloons, so reading it at the smaller size, even on a retina display, is a challenge. The Kindle app does allow the reader to enlarge each panel with a double tap, then swipe from panel to panel, but this particular comic may not have been the best choice, as the busy layouts don’t really lend themselves to panel by panel view. Still, if you’re a Superman fan, this is a classic story, and it’s free. Amazon sells digital comics for Kindle, available the same day as print, and if you want to keep all your reading on the same platform, and you don’t mind the smaller page size, it’s worth considering. Sign Up for Amazon’s Comics Newsletter, Get a Free Superman Comic for Your Kindle is a post from: E-Reader News |
Archie Comics Transitioning into a Feature Film
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“The idea for this is to capture a very truthful, authentic coming-of-age story with these kids that includes heartache, that includes pain, that will obviously temper the fun and the hijinks,” said Aguirre-Sacasa. “It’s going to be a fun — hopefully — summer movie, but we’re not shying away from the truth and the awkwardness and the growing pains of being a teenager.” The plans for the new Archie movie is to paint a different picture of the idealistic small town of Riverdale and to focus real issues. Many people in the movie camp want to make the movie less wholesome and have darker overtones. These sentiments are echoed by the internet community who have commonly said, “The teens of today want Riverdale High to be edgy and contemporary. They don't want to see a cliched version of Riverdale.” The Archie franchise has not had a feature length movie before, but has had a number of animated television shows in the 1970′s. In the early 1990′s there was an abysmal television special. In the last few years, Archie has undergone in a resurgence in popularity due to its digital distribution deal with Comixology. A new generation of readers are being introduced to the franchise on their smartphones and tablets. Recently, Archie started a Facebook Store, leveraging their 120,000 fans into buying content via Graphicly. Close to 30 issues are released every single month, and overall sales were pegged at 40 million in 2012. Archie is staying current with younger readers with the very popular series where the gang meets the cast of Glee. "We’re thrilled with the team that Warner Bros, Dan and Roy have put together here," said Archie Comics publisher/co-CEO Jon Goldwater. "Roberto has become a prolific comics writer for us, and having Jason Moore is the icing on the cake as Pitch Perfect is one of my favorite movies." How, in the digital age, has a 72-year-old wholesome comic franchise inspired by the Andy Hardy movies managed to stay relevant? "Archie has remained extremely competitive enough to be a trendsetter in contemporary comic books," Goldwater said. "We were the first to introduce a gay character into the storyline, and that was an incredible success. We’ve had different comics where Archie was married to Betty in one and Veronica in another. But the core, the characters and Riverdale, remains part of the fabric of classic Americana." Archie Comics Transitioning into a Feature Film is a post from: E-Reader News |
Nook Father’s Day Sale: Nook HD+ $149, Nook HD $129
| Barnes and Noble is running yet another sale on the Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets, and it’s the best deal yet, especially now that they come with access to Google Play. The Nook HD starts at only $129 for the 8GB model and the Nook HD+ is $149 for the 16GB model. Those are [...] |
Digital Magazine Advertising to Hit 3.8 Billion by 2017
| Magazine companies have been one of the most successful segments of publishing to take advantage of the digital space. Very early on they have been able to leverage their strong brands across a wide spectrum, including paywalls, dedicated apps, and inclusion into Zinio. Advertisers are increasingly spending more money on digital properties, and by 2017 analysts expect almost 3.8 billion dollars will be spent. The big news coming out of the annual Price Waterhouse and Cooper report on digital advertising, has overall spending to dramatically increase to $3.8 billion in 2017, when it will represent a quarter of overall advertising, from $2.4 billion in 2012. Customers who actually purchase the digital content will also increase from $275 million in 2012 to $1.4 billion in 2017. North America and Britain are poised to generate 20% of their overall revenue from digital properties. This mainly stems from their investment in a proper dedicated infrastructure, while the rest of Europe will only see a modest 10% increase by 2017. Westerners have had a proven track record of expressing a willingness to pay for digital content, whether it be accessing the HTML5 edition or taking out a subscription on the Apple Newsstand. The shift to digital advertising is almost proportionate to the rate the decline of the print industry. In 2008, a record 9.8 billion was spent and then fell to $7.9 billion in 2012, and it is expected to diminish further to $6.4 billion in 2017. Statistically younger people tend to embrace digital media over the printed editions, due to the versatility of being connected to your smartphone or tablet. This demographic represents the core buyers of tomorrow and they in turn influence their own children within twenty years. Companies such as Glossi are spearheading the next generation of magazines, who are adopting a DIY approach. Anyone can take pictures, generate internet content, or write their own articles and offer them to any social or website platform. Currently, magazine companies do not operate their digital properties as autonomous entities and they are heavily reliant on their printed editions for their articles. Likely this trend in the industry will not change by 2017, due to the failures of The Daily. One of the largest barriers of digital advertising in magazines is the lack of a unified standard. This applies not only to metrics, with being able to monitor your data, but also the wide array of platforms. There are different requirements to deliver your media to Blackberry, Android, iOS, Windows 8, HTML5, Zinio, PressReader, Apple Newsstand, or any other 3rd party. All of these options have the entire industry in a state of confusion over what ecosystem to support and where the money is best spent. Do you continue with online advertising on their main website? Do you invest with Amazon, Google and Apple to spread your message via in-app advertising? Do you continue to spend money on the printed edition? There are many options to consider, with no definitive status quo. Digital Magazine Advertising to Hit 3.8 Billion by 2017 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Saturday, June 8, 2013
How Will you Celebrate Audiobook Month?
| Besides also being the month that plays host to National Donut Day, June is audiobook month, a campaign that was originally created by the Audio Publishers Association to make more readers aware of the joy of listening to audiobooks. A number organizations have joined in on the campaign to reach a broader reaching audience with narrated books. But do we really need to raise awareness of audio? In an interview last week with Amazon’s audiobook creation platform ACX, vice president Jason Ojalvo shared a staggering statistic, that only around five percent of “professionally” published books ever even make it to the audiobook market. At the same time, some reports indicate that as many as one in five households consumes audiobooks. If both of those statistics are accurate, that demonstrates an under-appreciation for the industry as a whole. Check out some of the organizations below and their offerings for the month of June: Spoken Freely and Going Public are sharing a month-long offering of audio works. Lightspeed magazine and Skyboat Media are hosting a daily series of podcasts of audio narration from authors such as Hugh Howey and Karen Joy Howler. Big Happy Family Audio has a comprehensive list of ways to celebrate the month, including ways to spread the news. Additionally, June 17th through 21st has been designated as Audiobook Week, which will contain its own events and promotions to spread the news about voice-over reading. Visit the Audiobook Publishers Association website for news on various aspects of the campaign.
How Will you Celebrate Audiobook Month? is a post from: E-Reader News |
Amazon Storyteller Offers Tools to Screenplay Writers
| In an effort to be an all-encompassing option for writers of any type of media, Amazon Studios announced the beta launch of its new application, Amazon Storyteller. Aimed at screenwriters, Storyteller lets the writer create panels of storyboards, complete with characters, props, background settings, and more. The tool works on two levels, the first affording the writer the ability to see the material played out complete with camera pans and zooms. The second feature is the opportunity to publish something tangible and professional-looking to present to studios, presumably Amazon’s own program. “Amazon Storyteller is a new application from Amazon Studios that lets you turn a movie script into a storyboard,” explained the company’s website. “You choose the backgrounds, characters, and props to visually tell a story. A successful storyboard can tell the full story of a script, or capture its essence in short form, like a trailer. Either approach can be a great way to build an audience for your story and see how people respond to it.” As part of the agreement for using Amazon Storyteller, only scripts that have been made available exclusively through Amazon Studios are eligible to use the Storyteller feature, and while others can create the storyboards for a given script, only the owner of the script can give the permission to publish the completed storyboards on Amazon. One of the limitations that will hopefully evolve as Storyteller undergoes a full launch later on is the single-user aspect. As of right now, only one user can work on a storyboard, meaning collaboration isn’t possible yet. Amazon didn’t indicate when that collaboration will be possible, if ever, but as screenplays are often a partnership, that could potentially be a source of frustration for screenwriters. A complete explanation and lengthy list of FAQs can be found HERE.
Amazon Storyteller Offers Tools to Screenplay Writers is a post from: E-Reader News |
Friday, June 7, 2013
Microsoft Previews Windows 8.1 at Computex 2013
| With Microsoft set to launch the Windows 8.1 preview on June 26, it is quite natural for the company to have it showcased at the Computex event, which is the last big event before the official launch. The new updates and design changes are the highlight of the sneak peek provided at Computex 2013, with the biggest feature being the return of the start button. In fact, no other single factor symbolizes the Windows experience more than the start button, something that has been conspicuously missing in Windows 8. The start button is less than even half the story, as its functionality is vastly reduced this time, according to the video the company released to showcase the new Windows 8.1. All it does is return the user to the Metro UI and nothing more, a far cry from the start button of yore that led to the interiors of the device by allowing the user to deal with files as well as launching programs. Interestingly, the button is still at the same bottom left corner. Another of the biggest changes brought about to Window 8.1 would be the extensive enhancements introduced to make the operating system equally appealing to sub-10 inch sized tablet devices. "We did some work at the device interface level around edge detection and things like that to make it easier to have smaller bezels on these devices so that OEMs and folks who build devices like this could build exactly the kinds of devices they want, and Windows 8.1 will be great on them," stated Antoine Lebond, Microsoft's Windows corporate vice president of program management. This is of critical importance to Microsoft at it struggles to gain traction in the mobile computing devices segment, and the sub-10 inch segment here is attracting the maximum attention. Also, with tablets projected to emerge as the future of personal computing, it is turning out to be a litmus test for Microsoft's Windows OS, something that could even determine the company's existence in the long run. Towards this, Microsoft is also seen including its Office 2013 suite in all 7 and 8 inch tablets, complete with Excel, Word, OneNote, and Power Point. The new improved Bing based search feature is also a highlight of the new Windows 8.1. The real attraction is not just the way a search term is treated by pulling up data from both the device as well as the web, but also the way the search result is actually displayed. Here different content types are displayed in a different color schemes for easy recognition. Thumbnails of websites will also be displayed if those match the search term, with the option of exploring them further. With Windows 8.1, the lock screen is turned into a digital photo frame with images pulled from the device as well as the SkyDrive account. Image orientations change automatically to allow for optimum viewing. Other features to look forward to in Windows 8.1 include the ability to open two windows simultaneously, introduction of the latest IE 11, or better customization options for the home screen. As for the other contentious issue of reducing licensing fees to push further adoption of the platform, particularly in the small tablet segment, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of OEM division, Nick Parker, evaded a direct response but said Microsoft is offering its Small Screen Touch Program to the tablet makers, enabling them to include the Office software suite on their devices. So far, the Acer Iconia W3 is the only tablet running Windows 8 that offers a 8 inch display. Also interestingly, it was at Computex 2012 that Microsoft had previewed Windows 8 before its eventual release in October. Meanwhile, here is a video that highlights the new features of Windows 8.1. Microsoft Previews Windows 8.1 at Computex 2013 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Authorgraph Big Data Illuminates Trends in Digital Publishing
| Authorgraph is an innovative service that allows authors to personally autograph Kindle and EPUB eBooks. The community has over 7,000 authors that are very engaged in the community and sign a copious amount of digital eBooks every day. The company is starting to mine into its big data and is able to tap into popular trends of hot genres, authors and a myriad of other factors. For the month of May the hottest genres were: “Romance”, “Teens (YA)”, and “Science Fiction”. We talked to various authors at Book Expo America, including bestselling author Sylvia Day. She mentioned that Paranormal Romance in general is getting harder to break into, due to the inundation of titles. Authorgraph has continued to see this sub-set of eBooks to be the most popular in their network of authors and people wanting autographs. Over the course of May, the most popular authors on the service that had the most autographs fulfilled was Sylvain Reynard, E.L. James, Raine Miller, Abbi Glines and Sylvia Day. This leads to further credence that Romance and Erotica are the hottest genre in all of publishing. The month of May had the following interesting trends, compared to April. Travel was up 83%, Health, Fitness, & Dieting: up 78%, Gay & Lesbian: up 76%, Sports & Outdoors: up 73% and Religion & Spirituality: down 57%. The CEO of Authograph, founder and CEO Evan Jacobs remarked “Many of these trends appear to be seasonal but I’m not sure what to make of the decline in Religion & Spirituality or the rise in Gay & Lesbian.” Next month, Authorgraph intends on monitoring the big data trends and will begin a predictive analysis of emerging authors and the genres that are on the rise. This type of data is useful to publishers and indie authors struggling to find their niche in the industry. Authorgraph Big Data Illuminates Trends in Digital Publishing is a post from: E-Reader News |
PressReader Makes Digital Newspapers Social
| NewsPaperDirect has brought new social functionality to its seminal PressReader application for iOS today. Digital subscribers can now comment on newspaper articles and interact with each other. Traditional newspapers are mainly a quiet, solitary experience, and if you really want to make your viewpoint known, you have to write an editorial. No longer, as you can easily comment on any one of the company’s 1,000 newspapers that carry and make your viewpoint known. Not only has PressReader introduced new social commenting, but it also implemented a support and oppose button to each article. You can let people know how you feel about a particular story or even oppose someone’s comment. Finally, it has enhanced the ability to search for a specific newspaper publication, instead of having to manually browse for your particular publication. There is also the ability to search for newspapers based on particular keywords, which is useful if you are traveling abroad and want to see what’s happening in the city you are visiting. For example, I can search for New York, and see all the local papers that are available from that particular city. I think the ability to bring more social interactions to thousands of newspapers to be fairly compelling. Sure, some existing digital editions like The Guardian allow you to do this on their website, PressReader brings it to thousands that would normally never allow people to comment on their various articles. Regrettably, all of these new features are only on the iPad and iPhone right now, but hopefully they are pushed to Android and other platforms soon. PressReader Makes Digital Newspapers Social is a post from: E-Reader News |
DC Delays Price Drop on Its Digital Comics
| For a couple of years now, comics fans have had the option of getting new comics from Marvel and DC (and a variety of other publishers) digitally the same day they are released in print. While the Big Two were willing to make that leap, they were not willing to give any discount: When the comic is fresh, the digital edition costs the same as print. That’s $2.99 or $3.99 per comic. For those who are willing to wait a bit to save a buck, though, DC has had a policy of dropping the price by a dollar 30 days after the release date. Until now. DC is now delaying the price drop for two months, as Kiel Phegley of Comic Book Resources learned when he followed up on a tip from a reader. Here’s what an apparently nameless DC Entertainment spokesperson told CBR “Digital comics is still a very young business and as such we are constantly evaluating the best business models and pricing strategies. Moving forward, all same-day digital books released on May 1 or later will drop in price by $1 two months after the initial release date. We will continue to offer an extensive back catalog of titles at a discounted rate, and all of our digital-first titles are available for $.99 per weekly issue. Unlike many of our competitors, we still offer a policy of discounting across our entire line.” A little defensive toward the end, no? In fact, delaying the discount may make perfect sense for DC, if not their readers. Let’s talk about comiXology, the main digital outlet for single-issue superhero comics. When I spoke to comiXology CEO David Steinberger in January 2012, I asked him specifically if comics get any sort of sales bump when the price goes down. His reply: “Not as much as much as you might expect, but sure.” That’s a rather anemic response. Later that year, comiXology inaugurated a “Recently Reduced” section so readers could easily track those discounted comics. It seems to have disappeared. So, what can we conclude from this? That any sales bump those comics got when the price dropped wasn’t enough to cancel out the price difference. That’s just a guess, but since DC is in business to make money, I’d say it’s a good one. There’s an interesting debate about whether digital comics cost DC more than print in the comments to the CBR article, but that misses the point. (If you’re curious anyway, Jim Zubkavich lays out the costs of digital on his blog.) The question is not “How much does it cost DC to produce?” The question is “How much are customers willing to pay?” At the moment, the answer seems to be full price. Take a look at the image at the top of this post—it’s a screenshot of the best-selling comics on comiXology as of this writing. All are this week’s releases; all are full price (the two 99 cent comics are digital-first issues). And DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson just revealed that over 1 million DC comics are downloaded each month. Given the overwhelming acceptance of full-price digital comics by the core consumer, it makes sense for DC to kick the discount further down the road. It’s a bit tough on their readers, but it’s safe to say that if sales dropped off drastically, that decision would be revisited. DC Delays Price Drop on Its Digital Comics is a post from: E-Reader News |
Barnes and Noble’s Q4 Earnings Call to Occur on June 25th
| Barnes and Noble has announced today that its fourth quarter earnings call will occur on June 25th, 2013 at 10 AM EST. This will give us a clear indication on how the Nook Media unit is doing and if it continues to follow the trend of being a loss leader. Currently, Barnes and Noble is supporting the Get London Reading Campaign and has been doing brisk business in the United Kingdom with price slashes on its E Ink line of devices. In the USA, Walmart and Target are giving massive discounts on the hardware. Many new customers are buying into the Nook brand for the first time with the inclusion of Google Play on the Nook HD and HD+. This call is being webcast by Thomson/CCBN and can be accessed at Barnes & Noble, Inc.’s corporate website at www.barnesandnobleinc.com/webcasts. The webcast of this call will be archived and available at www.earnings.com. Barnes and Noble’s Q4 Earnings Call to Occur on June 25th is a post from: E-Reader News |
Amazon Begins Selling e-Readers and Tablets in China
| Amazon opened up its Kindle store in China last December and also updated its popular reading apps to support complex Chinese characters at the same time. Amazon really wanted to put its e-readers and tablets on sale around the same time, but various regulatory bodies put the kibosh on it. The online giant has worked with the government of China and is now officially selling the Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Paperwhite on its main Chinese website. The popular E Ink driven Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-Reader is now available for ¥849 (USD $138), and the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD is ¥1499 (USD $244) for the 16 GB version, and ¥1799 (USD $293) for the 32 GB version. Customers now have the ability to purchase these directly, instead of importing them from abroad. The Chinese Amazon Kindle Store now offers 47,000 ebook titles available in local languages. A number of major publishers have signed up with the service, and now that the hardware is available, it should attract even more to the distribution platform. The e-reader itself will be available online, but Amazon also struck a distribution deal with Suning and Tesco Shi to have the e-reader available in the retail environment. Customers will be able to purchase them directly in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, and Chengdu. The Amazon Chinese site claims that the Kindle hardware is optional to read ebooks. This is primarily due to the fact that most tablets purchased in that country tend to be lower-end Android devices. It will be interesting to see if Amazon can be successful at selling ebooks in that market, which is often plagued by online piracy. Amazon Begins Selling e-Readers and Tablets in China is a post from: E-Reader News |
Amazon Launches Indie Gaming Store
| Amazon's Digital Video Game Store has a new interesting category, the Indie Game Store. This section will host games developed by independent developers who have never experienced much exposure. The developers will also benefit from the “Indie Spotlight,” along with a host of other features, all aimed at ensuring the developers get noticed. These include Q&A sessions, interviews, and biographies of the game developers on a weekly basis. "It's hard to get noticed, though. If you’re an indie game developer, it’s usually a headache to get your game in front of people, both gamers and reviewers. Amazon recognizes this. As part of our commitment to independently developed games, Amazon is launching the Indie Games Store, a new category on Amazon in the Digital Video Games Store, designed specifically to address this problem," said Amazon's Peter Heinrich. Amazon also plans to offer deals called “Indie Bundles” to keep consumer interest going. These special bundles will cost just $9.99 and can include up to 10 games. Users will also be provided with free games with the purchase of another. The special deal can be purchased from now until July 17th. Indie Games is also entirely developer oriented, in that all of the proceeds from the sales go to the game makers. However, the games are only compatible for Windows right now, though more platforms are expected to be included at a later date. Amazon also intends to involve the users in a big way, as they get to say which game gets the focus for a specified amount of time as part of the Indie Gamer's Choice program. Two games will be pitted against each other and the users’ votes will decide which game gets featured at the store. Currently, the store can still be considered to be at a nascent stage with just about 200 titles to choose from. However, the numbers will go up soon, though the indie developers will have to get their games approved to get featured at Amazon. All in all, a nice development which will pit the online retailer against the likes of Steam and Humble Bundle, two of the biggest names in the field of online gaming.
Amazon Launches Indie Gaming Store is a post from: E-Reader News |
Self-Published eBooks Account for 12% of the Entire Digital Market
| Bowker Market Research is reporting today that self-published eBooks now account for 12% of the entire digital publishing market. In some cases, the number actually rises to a very respectable 20%, but is fairly genre specific to crime, science fiction and fantasy, romance and humor. Indie authors, much like the entire book industry is all about market data and trends to determine what the hot segments are. If you live in New York, you would be very hard pressed to have a new Paranormal Romance book approved, because the whole genre is cold. For example, self-published authors are struggling with graphic novels, food and drink, and children’s non-fiction eBooks. All of these segments combined only account for 5% of volume sales. The figures also show that heavy readers are more likely to buy self-published books, with 61% of people who buy self-published books likely to read every day compared to 37% of all book buyers. 36% of self-published book buyers are females over 45, who make up 24% of all book buyers. Bowker reports can be taken with a grain of salt, as they are not indicative to the entire eBook industry. They tend to only talk to 3,000 companies and authors for their research and many of the leading eBook sellers do not publicly divulge their eBook sales. So reports like this, aren’t the snapshot of the industry that everyone hopes they are. Barnes and Noble continuously hypes that their self-published titles via Nook Press account for 25% of their overall digital sales, while Amazon is thought to be around 15-30% and finally, Kobo Writing Life titles account for 10%. Self-Published eBooks Account for 12% of the Entire Digital Market is a post from: E-Reader News |
B&N Mysteriously Removes Nook for PC and Nook for Mac for Download
| Yesterday a reader tipped me about some strange goings-on at Barnes and Noble that is leaving people wondering what direction B&N is headed with their reading apps. For some reason unknown Barnes and Noble has taken down the Nook for PC and Nook for Mac ereading programs from their website. The only program that remains [...] |
Liz is poorly
| Liz has spent most of this week suffering from an affliction picked up in Tokyo. We’re assuming this is flu, as even the worst sake hangover doesn’t usually last this long. I’ve sent her to bed to rest up; normal service will be resumed when she’s feeling better, hopefully early next week. |
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Barnes and Noble Nook Tablets Get Discounts at Walmart and Target
| Barnes and Noble is experiencing severe discounts on its entire Nook Tablet line in the USA. Target and Walmart are all offering very solid savings and it might be a good investment with the recent addition of Google Play on the entire line of devices. Walmart and Target are both offering the Nook HD 8GGB for $129 and the Nook HD+ 16GB for $149 and the Nook HD+ 32GB for $179. Target might be the best deal in town if you have the REDcard, which saves you a further 5%. I have received many emails from people who said most retail locations are sold out and they had to call EVERYONE in their area to find at least one or two units laying around. Barnes and Noble’s tablet future is full of uncertainty, with many sources claiming the nation’s largest bookstore chain might be getting out of the tablet business altogether. Tablets have very slim profit margins, and the US and is very competitive. Likely, we are seeing these discounts spread across the entire distribution network because new hardware is coming down the pipe. Barnes and Noble Nook Tablets Get Discounts at Walmart and Target is a post from: E-Reader News |
HarperCollins Unveils BookSmash Challenge for eBook Discovery
| Giving books a chance and being able to find the right read for you is something the entire publishing industry is very focused on. The process of ebook discovery is prompting thousands of new companies to simplify the process and create a Wild West free for all. HarperCollins is all too aware of this problem and it has prompted the company to initiate the BookSmash Challenge. This new program invites software developers to “unleash the book” in a $25,000 software competition for the best reading/book discovery apps. The BookSmash challenge is a four-month-long contest that encourages developers to create new digital products that "break the binding" and re-imagine the book. HarperCollins is providing full access to its API for a number of authors participating in the program, which includes copyrighted books, covers, and complete metadata. "Developers who wish to innovate around book products often find challenges in gaining access to authors' content, as well as understanding rights, distribution, and legal issues," said Chantal Restivo-Alessi, HarperCollins Chief Digital Officer. "We hope to bridge this gap by making content and guidance available, and encouraging participants to think outside the box about the reading experience as a whole." From the eligible submissions, there will be four prizes awarded: Grand Prize, Runner-Up, Popular Choice, and the HarperCollins Recognition Award. A group of judges, including entrepreneur and author of Curation Nation Steve Rosenbaum; entertainment industry veteran Paul Vidich; co-founder of N3TWORK and former Apple Executive Erik Lammerding; CEO of LiveDeal, Inc. Mike Edelhart; and HarperCollins Chief Digital Officer Chantal Restivo- Alessi will review the entries and select the Grand Prize and Runner-Up winners. Additionally, the projects will be posted to the ChallengePost online gallery this fall, where members of the public will be able to vote for their favorite submission for the Popular Choice category. Lastly, the HarperCollins Recognition Award, a non-cash prize, will be awarded to a participating large organization. A total of $25,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to the creators of the winning projects. If you have the fortitude to tap into the HarperCollins ebook API and design a new ebook discovery engine, this may be the contest for you! Apps will be accepted from June 6 to September 5, 2013 at http://booksmash.challengepost.com/ HarperCollins Unveils BookSmash Challenge for eBook Discovery is a post from: E-Reader News |
Barnes and Noble Announces New Short Fiction Program – Nook Snaps
| Barnes and Noble is taking advantage of the publishing industries growing trend of short fiction. The company has announced Nook Snaps program, which features high-quality short fiction and narrative non-fiction handpicked by Nook editors offering fresh perspectives on modern life. The program offers 3 to 5 new Nook Snaps selections of at least 5,000 words every other month for only $1.99 each. Guardian Shorts, Kindle Singles, Atavist, and many other companies have entered the short fiction space, to take advantage of people wanting shorter reads. It is basically books too short to be a novel and too long to be the cover story in a magazine. How do authors submit their works to Nook Snaps? A Barnes and Noble representative told us that “Nook Snaps is an editorially driven program, and we are selectively adding content to the program for the immediate future. Authors may submit titles via a submission box we are setting up now. We will be posting submission guidelines to our website shortly, and we will accept submissions through our email box.” "We believe our collection of bite-sized Nook Snaps, refreshed bimonthly and offered at a great price, provides a wonderful new way for our readers to connect with some of today's most compelling voices," said Theresa Horner, Vice President of Digital Content at Nook Media. "Nook Snaps are sure to delight readers with their smart, incisive and provocative points of view told through wonderfully crafted stories. It's an editorially driven program that reflects our ongoing commitment to high-quality short content delivered on our innovative Nook platform." There are four debut titles in the collection that should appeal to a wide audience. High-Status Characters: How The Upright Citizens Brigade Stormed a City, Started a Scene, and Changed Comedy Forever by Brian Raftery. Also, How to be a Playgirl by Jessanne Collins and Willing to be Lucky by Mickey Rapkin. The last title is The Insurrectionist by Michael Dahlie. The Nook Snaps page is now online, but seems to put the focus on Barnes and Noble’s entire catalog. The various sections are tending to put the emphasis on the popularity of the author and the word count of the entire book. There are short reads and novellas on the front-page by Karin Slaughter, Jeff Kinney, and Diane Chamberlain. Barnes and Noble Announces New Short Fiction Program – Nook Snaps is a post from: E-Reader News |
Three Tips for Beautiful PowerPoint Presentations
Tired of giving boring presentations? Make your PowerPoint slides shine with these tips. |
Video of Onyx’s Android E Ink eBook Readers and Smartphone
| Charbax from ARMdevices.net is at Computex 2013 this week and once again posted an interesting video that shows off some of Onyx International’s new Android-powered E Ink ebook readers as well as their 4.3″ E Ink Android smartphone. Unfortunately Onyx has virtually no presence in the United States so unless you follow the field of [...] |
Podcast: New and Featured Content for June
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Are you looking to enrich your digital collection with the newest titles in Content Reserve? Interested in saving a bundle during sales? Want to be the first to know which publishers' titles will be available for purchase? Then don't miss our collection highlights podcast series, which brings you all this and more every month.
Our short June podcast is now live on OverDrive's Learning Center. Tune in to learn all about the wealth of content that's newly available in Content Reserve, including TED books from the same folks who bring you these famous talks, bestsellers from Hachette and Hachette Audio, Spanish language classics, horizon-expanding content for kids, and much more. We'll also share news about June's many discounts and promotions, along with our recommended reads for the month—all in under 15 minutes.
June's podcast is available all month. Enjoy, and make sure to check back in July for the next installment of this monthly series.
Carrie Smith is a Technical Writer at OverDrive.  |
