| Amazon Kindle China has officially been open for one full year and currently a number of e-readers and eBooks are being sold. Today, we look at some of the progress that is being made and how the content distribution system has evolved since the original launch. When Amazon China first opened their doors to sell digital books, the company had a paltry 2,000 titles available. The ecosystem has grown and there is close to 6,200 available right now from over 300 partner publishing house. There is also a number of digital only content starting to come out on a monthly basis. For instance, collections of selected Q&As on Quora-like Chinese site Zhihu.com, travel guides on travel sharing site Qyer.com, and essays on news and opinion site Huxiu.com are available to purchase. The average title in the store is around .80 US. The Amazon bookstore has been available in China since December 2012, but customers did not have the ability to buy the e-readers or tablets. People who wanted the dedicated hardware had to look at the grey market or download the official app on any Android or iOS device. When June 2013 rolled around, Amazon decided to get in the hardware game launched the Paperwhite for 849 yuan ($138), the Kindle Fire priced at 1499 yuan ($244) for the 16GB edition and 1799 yuan ($293) for 32GB. According to Technode, ”Online reading and, more recently, mobile reading have been widely consumed in China. The China mobile reading market in 2012 was about RMB 5.6 billion ($900-ish million), with a 30% growth, Amazon China introduced citing research results from Imedia Research Group. Of the 290 million Chinese mobile reading users, 67% read e-books or online literature, 59% read online news and 29% read blogs or articles on online forums. Amazon China found that the top two categories Chinese Kindle book readers purchased are literature and economics books.” Amazon Kindle China Celebrates 1 Year Anniversary is a post from: E-Reader News |
Friday, December 13, 2013
Amazon Kindle China Celebrates 1 Year Anniversary
HP Launches Windows 8.1 Based Educational Hub Titled ‘The Buzz’
| Here is some good news for those who might have been facing trouble getting started with Windows 8. HP has come up with an educational hub christened ‘The Buzz’ that is aimed at deciphering the intricacies of the latest iteration of Windows. The new site is designed to act as a single window mode of delivering all that one needs to have a low down of Windows 8 and all that the new operating system has to deliver. To make thing even more simple and easy to navigate, the site has been categorized into four sections: New Features, The Experience, Available Apps, and Tips & Tools. “The site is presented in a free-flowing layout reminiscent of the Live Tiles interface in Windows 8 with the articles sort of jumbled up, so you’ll have to check off categories in a filtering box for the content you’d like to see,” mentioned PCmag. Among the things that make up the educations hub are how-to videos, articles written in a free flowing manner, as well as ways to make the most out of the new advanced search feature that Windows 8.1 boasts of. However, what has also to be kept in mind is that the entire ‘Buzz’ concept has been an HP endeavor. The reasons are all too obvious too as many of what has been mentioned in ‘The Buzz’ is closely related with HP’s own products based on the latest version of Windows. Needless to say all of this is aimed at generating some buzz around HP's own product base though there is no stopping others wishing to brush up their knowledge of Windows 8.1 from having a peek of HP's ‘The Buzz’.
HP Launches Windows 8.1 Based Educational Hub Titled ‘The Buzz’ is a post from: E-Reader News |
Book Riot Readers Select Their Favorite Books of 2013
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The breakdown of the top twenty-four reader favorites and the number of votes each title received is as follows: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (73 votes) It is unfortunate the none of the nominees on this list is a self-published title, but as this list was reader-generated, it may be a telling sign of both how consumers perceive self-publishing, as well as how indie authors still have their work cut out for them in terms of viable promotion opportunities to help readers know about their work. After all, readers can’t vote for books if they never discover them. The list of all books that received votes is posted on the Book Riot website, but as the company posed to its readers, the question remains: is this list accurate, and are your favorites on it? What books were overlooked this year?
Book Riot Readers Select Their Favorite Books of 2013 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Turkey Enacts Law to Lower VAT on eBooks
| One of the initial debates about the recent growth of digital publishing was in the way that ebooks were viewed by consumers and by the publishing industry. Some governments, like Germany’s, initially went so far as to treat ebooks as though they were two separate entities, both a book and a piece of software. This issue caused major concern in Germany where the tax structure created havoc for booksellers and consumers alike. The government treated ebooks as though they were books, meaning they feel victim to the national law that stated all books had to be sold at an identical price throughout the country, but yet ebooks were also treated as software downloads, and therefore taxes at 19% instead of the 7% tax rate for print books. Obviously, this kept digital reading from taking off initially, as consumers had to pay the same price for the ebook that they would have paid for the print, while paying more than double the tax rate. Although that issue has largely been resolved as digital publishing continues to take a stronghold in the book economy, Turkey only this month became one of the more recent companies to finalize legislation lower its VAT tax percentage rate from eighteen percent to only eight percent. According to a statement from IPA Secretary General Jens Bammel, he congratulated Turkey for "joining the small but growing number of states that have recognised that that both paper and digital books should have the same VAT rate. Otherwise, government is interfering with the reader’s choice to move to digital books." The new tax rate went into effect earlier this month, and hopefully other markets (including states in the US who still tax books) will see the benefits of making book purchasing–either in print or in ebook–a more lucrative choice for consumers.
Turkey Enacts Law to Lower VAT on eBooks is a post from: E-Reader News |
FanFiction Gets a Boost from New Publisher’s Kickstarter Campaign
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Sites like Amazon’s Kindle Worlds have actually allowed authors to earn royalties on their fan fiction by letting them publish and sell works based on pre-approved books, television shows, or movies. In this instance, pre-approved refers to the licensing and cooperation of the rights’ holder of the original content that sparked the fan fiction. “We write it because we love these vampires, Doctor Who companions, or demon hunters so much that we can’t stand not knowing what happened in those missing scenes,” explained The Naughty List anthology author McCrary Golden, “or giving them the chance to make a different or better choice. We want them to have that last love scene, to redeem themselves, to not get killed off. These characters make our lives better–even if it’s just for a short time. Fanfic, to me, just returns the favor.” As part of GalleyCat’s efforts to promote crowdfunding campaigns that pertain to books and publishing, the industry site has posted news of a new publisher who is at work on a Kickstarter campaign to get off the ground. This publisher, Big Bang Press, is dedicated to giving fan fiction authors a platform to publish and sell their work.
FanFiction Gets a Boost from New Publisher’s Kickstarter Campaign is a post from: E-Reader News |
Jack the (DVD) Ripper
| The shelves in my living room are groaning under the weight of DVD boxed sets – and I just can’t bring myself to sit down and rip them all. All that waiting around! And it’s impossible to remember that you’re going to have to swap discs to and from a drive every hour or so. So the pile of boxed sets grows, and grows, and grows, and soon I will have enough be able to start building a new house to keep the DVDs in out of the packaging. So I was extremely pleased to be introduced to Jack the (DVD) Ripper, a 3d printed, Raspberry Pi-powered device that pulls a DVD from a stack, drops it into a drive, and, when the drive opens after ripping is finished, picks it up again and puts it in another pile. The whole system runs autonomously, so you can go and get on with whatever it is you do when you aren’t ripping DVDs. Andy Ayre, who built the project, has made a five-part tutorial available, with an introduction and parts list, mechanics, electronics, software and troubleshooting tips. Datasheets, documentation, software and everything else you’ll need are available on GitHub. We love it – you get to save a ton of time and have some fun with 3d printing and motors, all at once. |
Penguin eBooks are now available for Canadian Libraries
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 OverDrive is excited to announce that more than 15,000 Penguin Group (USA) eBooks are now live and available for purchase by Canadian libraries. The catalog is available in OverDrive Marketplace for Canadian public and college libraries, including consortia, under the one copy/one user lending model for a one-year term. The Penguin Group (USA) catalog features titles from numerous best-selling authors, including Tom Clancy, Lee Child, Nora Roberts, Charlaine Harris, Ken Follett, Junot Diaz, Khaled Hosseini, John Greene, Harlen Coben, W.E.B. Griffin and many others. The OverDrive Collection Development team has created special collections for easy shopping. Click here to view our list of recommended titles. Individual public libraries and consortia can shop the Penguin eBook catalog now on the Marketplace home page (if catalogs are merged), or the “Metered Access” section in OverDrive Marketplace. You can also search for the content in Basic or Advanced Search under Publisher Account: Penguin Group (USA), Inc. OverDrive Collection Development Specialists are also available to assist you with the addition of Penguin titles to your catalog; email collectionteam@overdrive.com for more information.
Rachel Somerville is a Collection Development Analyst at OverDrive.
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Amazon Introduces New Installment Plan for Kindle HDX
| The latest line of Amazon Kindle tablets got a lot of fanfare when they first came out and the lack of major retail distribution partners is hurting sales. Amazon had a resort to a series of popup stores in California just to build demand for them and today introduced a new plan to try and sell more units. Amazon has just unveiled a new installment plan program that works with the Kindle HDX and HDX 8.9 Android tablets. You simply make your first payment at checkout to get your new gadget and then pay the remaining balance in three equal installments every 90 days. The first payment is 25% of the purchase price, which gives people a chance to buy it as a gift and then pay it off in installments. This new promotion comes at a very interesting time. Amazon really likes to hype up their Q4 financial figures and garner mass media headlines by proclaiming they sold more Kindles this year than ever before. Likely, that is what this program is all about, less about the customer and more hype, quintessential Amazon. Amazon Introduces New Installment Plan for Kindle HDX is a post from: E-Reader News |
Penguin eBooks are now available for Canadian Libraries
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OverDrive is excited to announce that more than 15,000 Penguin Group (USA) eBooks are now live and available for purchase by Canadian libraries. The catalog is available in OverDrive Marketplace for Canadian public and college libraries, including consortia, under the one copy/one user lending model for a one-year term.
The Penguin Group (USA) catalog features titles from numerous best-selling authors, including Tom Clancy, Lee Child, Nora Roberts, Charlaine Harris, Ken Follett, Junot Diaz, Khaled Hosseini, John Greene, Harlen Coben, W.E.B. Griffin and many others.
The OverDrive Collection Development team has created special collections for easy shopping. Click here to view our list of recommended titles.
Individual public libraries and consortia can shop the Penguin eBook catalog now on the Marketplace home page (if catalogs are merged), or the “Metered Access” section in OverDrive Marketplace. You can also search for the content in Basic or Advanced Search under Publisher Account: Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
OverDrive Collection Development Specialists are also available to assist you with the addition of Penguin titles to your catalog; email collectionteam@overdrive.com for more information.
Rachel Somerville is a Collection Development Analyst at OverDrive.
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Google Holds First Player’s Choice Award, Lists Best Apps and Games
| Google is for the first time holding the Player's Choice Awards citing the apps and games that its users have liked the most all through the year. Never a bad idea for introducing some competition among app makers while this should also provide users with an idea of apps that are most sought after. The games section comprises of three categories: Most Addictive Game, Best Franchise Game, and Best Game Based on a Movie. Coming to the games that have topped the list include, Knights & Dragons that has emerged as the most addictive games while Bejeweled Blitz has been voted as the best franchise game. Similarly, The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth has emerged as the best games that is based on a movie. The game has already raked in more than $100 million in revenue since it was about 13 months ago. As for apps that have come out on top include Duolingo, an application to help learn languages for free has been voted as the best app in 'enhancing the everyday' category. Flixster which lists film reviews while also allowing users to purchase tickets has been voted as the best app for 'booking and buying' while it is the popular video sharing site YouTube that has emerged winner in the 'Best Google app'.
Google Holds First Player’s Choice Award, Lists Best Apps and Games is a post from: E-Reader News |
