| Welcome to another Good e-Reader Comparison Video! Today we compare reading PDF files and ePub books with the Tolino Vision and Onyx Lynx T68. As an added bonus we also will check out how the front-lit displays do in a side by side nighttime reading test. The Tolino vision has e-Ink Carta going for it, which is brand new e-paper technology give you higher resolution text and less page refreshing on the page turns. Side by side with the Onyx e-reader the Tolino reigned supreme when reading ePub files. The Onyx reader has a bit larger of a screen with 6.8 inches and has the benefit of being very much akin to a tablet. It has access to Google Play and allows users to install any app they want. When it comes to e-reading, the Tolino was more responsive in opening menus and books. Even large PDF files opened way quicker, although they both struggled with the overall experience. The Vision has a weird rendering engine which makes text ultra blurry and discombobulating. The Onyx T68 had a bit better of a time, but the steps to optimize the file involves many steps. Modern day e-readers tend to have a front-lit display that allows you to control the brightness level to read in the dark. The main benefit about this technology is the light is on the bottom of the bezel and evenly distributes the light access the screen. Tablets and smartphones have lights shining in your eyes from behind the screen, which is why people struggle to read for long sessions. The Onyx has a superior front-lit display, which really gives the Kindle Paperwhite 2 a run for its money. The Vision had light spillage on the bottom of the screen and was not as bright and clearly defined.
Tolino Vision VS Onyx Lynx T68 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Tolino Vision VS Onyx Lynx T68
Friday, July 4, 2014
Angry Birds Heads to South Hamerica
| The world’s most popular physics-based puzzle game has received another update, and this time the stars of Angry Birds Seasons are headed to South Hamerica: it’s fun, festive, tropical (with a hint of Aztec), and features 24 new main levels (along with 3 additional bonus ones). If you are one of the many who can’t get enough bird-slinging, consider how enjoyable it will be to navigate high up in the mountains amidst shaky rope bridges and swinging relics. Part of what makes Angry Birds so addictive and enjoyable is that there are a variety of scenarios and environments to play in: the jungles of South Hamerica let you take advantage of new traps that bring piggy-destruction to all that they encounter. If you are an existing player, you can grab this update using the ‘My Apps’ section from the Play Store on your device. If you haven’t yet tried the ever-evolving Angry Birds Seasons, download it for free now.
Angry Birds Heads to South Hamerica is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Get Your Kids Reading this Summer with e-Reading Apps
| Kids these days have either their own smartphone or tablet, or have access to one. Summertime normally involves frolicking in the sun and goofing off with friends, but parents may want to get their child reading instead. Children are simply reading less these days. The American Time Use Survey recently issued a report that will be quite startling for parents. It proclaims that teenagers 15 to 19 only read for around 4 minutes a day. Most kids say the only books they read are books that are apart of the schools remedial English program. Obviously this is all very distressing, but parents can play an active role in reading this summer. This first app to check out is from Scholastic, which harkens back to the days of the school book fair, but in a digital version. The Scholastic Storia App for Android offers highly-curated titles, from vibrant picture eBooks for younger readers to the hottest new series for older readers, including fiction and nonfiction titles by both new and established authors. There are thousands of books on the platform and 4 free eBooks that are offered for free. The public library is often a refuge to satiate children’s literary thirst year round. This summer why not install the Overdrive app on their device. Using your normal library card you can tap into the customized children and teens reading lists. Hundreds of libraries are participating in the program, you can check out an example from the Sarasota County library. iStorytime is a rising force in the digital realm of eBooks. Their parent company Zukka has been winning lots of awards for enhanced kids books. There are hundreds of titles that are based on officially licensed properties, such as Shrek, Madagascar, Rise of the Guardians, Kung Fu Panda and The Smurfs. There are a bunch of titles available for free. Reading eBooks is not the only thing that kids can read this summer but what about magazines and newspapers? Often they can carry these right on their smartphone and read it while on the bus or during commutes. Zinio offers thousands of magazines and can be purchased individually or download as many as you want per month on their Z-Pass system. Next Issue is a new service for digital magazines that is getting lots of press. It seems every day they run television commercials promoting it in the US and Canada. They have a 30 day promotion to enjoy their entire catalog, which is basically half the summer. I think its the parents responsibility to install the love of reading on your child. They often learn by imitation and if the parents are aren’t reading, they often won’t. Get Your Kids Reading this Summer with e-Reading Apps is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Onyx Boox T68 Lynx vs Kobo Aura
| The Kobo Aura has been around for around six months and continues to be one of the top sellers for the Canadian based company. The Onyx Boox Lynx is .8 inches larger, but uses a little more dated e-paper. Today, we compare the two side by side to see if there is a clear cut winner. The Lynx e-reader is very much akin to the Kobo Aura HD, in terms of specs. It features a 6.8 e-Ink capacitive Ultra HD EPD display screen and a resolution of 1440×1080 pixels. Underneath the hood is a Freescale i.MX Cortex A9 1.0GHz processor and 512MB of RAM. Books are stored on the device and has 4GB of internal storage with the option to increase it via the Microsd Card up to 64GB. The Kobo Aura maintains the standard six-inch approach that the company made famous with their entire product line. It currently has a super high resolution e-Ink "Clarity Screen" with 212 DPI and sixteen levels of grey. Really, the resolution is the exact same on the Glo, and has not broken any barriers on using a next generation e-Ink display. This e-Reader has the exact same front-lite technology that was found on the original Kobo Aura HD. This will allow readers to adjust the brightness settings to suit their environment. Currently, Kobo has the best front-lit screen in the business and has surpassed Amazon in terms of quality. To turn the screen light on, there is a button at the very top and then a virtual slider bar to control the brightness. It is powered by the quintessential Freescale i.MX507 1 GHZ processor and has 1GB of RAM. There are 4GB of internal memory, which can be enhanced via the Micro SD Card. It seems that Kobo e-Readers still have expandable memory, which makes adding books to your collection fairly easy and painless. It also has over two months of battery life, which is ideal. In the video below, we document the core e-reading experience on EPUB and PDF files on both devices. You will get a sense on how they perform with page-turns, form and function.
Onyx Boox T68 Lynx vs Kobo Aura is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Indie Author Tools to Self-Publish Audiobooks
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However, producing an audiobook, even with the tools that ACX provides, isn’t a simple process. The author essentially morphs into a producer, for all practical purposes, and even authors who have the drive to produce their audio editions can find the task is a little beyond their capabilities. A separate option, audiobook production company Common Mode, is now broadening its model from its early days of producing ebooks for the traditional publishing industry into serving the needs of indie authors and small presses. Common Mode’s Paul Fowlie spoke with Good e-Reader about how the audio industry is adapting almost as quickly as the publishing industry as a whole, and has grown to include indie authors. “We’ve been in it from the beginning working with all the big publishers, and we’re looking to expand to working with independent authors to be part of the revolution of authors who’ve been taking things into their own hands. If authors can self-publish their audio, they can potentially make enough money to live on in order to support their writing careers.” Fowlie was speaking to the fact that audiobooks continue to have a much higher price point than both ebooks and print books, and that audiobooks tend to sell well given the low volume of content available to audiobook fans. Coupled with the format adaptations that let audiobook readers enjoy their titles from mobile devices, authors who produce their own content can actually stand to benefit quit well. “Audiobooks have been at a higher price point typically, but I don’t know if that’s going to continue as the business expands further and further, but right now I feel that’s where the most revenue is made in terms of book sales versus an ebook. And we’re looking to work with authors.” One aspect to Amazon’s ACX that has made it so popular is the royalty share option in which the author doesn’t pay the narrator or the production costs upfront, but rather agrees to earn a significantly smaller royalty. That’s an enticing option for authors who don’t have the ability to invest the kind of expense that an audiobook requires. While Common Mode has yet to explore that structure with its clients, the company has supported two crowdfunding campaigns, one on Kickstarter and one on Pubslush, in order to help authors fund the cost of production. “Our first preference is to be hired by the author to produce the audiobook, but we understand that most authors aren’t able to take that risk.” Whichever route authors choose to take to create the audio format for their titles, one thing is for certain: there is a real need for content in audio format, as opposed to the so-called “glut” of content coming from self-published authors in the ebook space.
Indie Author Tools to Self-Publish Audiobooks is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Amazon Fire TV Review – International Edition
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Hardware The Fire TV box is running on a heavily customized version of Google Android OS and features a very solid 1.7 GHz quad-core Snapdragon CPU with 2GB RAM, Bluetooth, 8GB internal storage. It has the same dual-antenna wireless internet that the latest generation Kindle Fire tablets have. It connects to your television via HDMI to give you full 1080p video and Dolby digital surround sound. I have the Apple TV as my goto streaming video device and the Fire TV blows it out of the water in terms of speed and overall robustness. Navigation, menus and loading up content takes only a few seconds. The remove control of the Fire TV is fairly standard. The only really unique aspect of it is the voice control system. You can mention an actor or directors name and it will open up all of the movies Amazon sells or rents that they have produced or performed in. This is useful to find out movies you might not have seen. Gaming is one aspect of the Fire TV that works internationally. If you purchase the $59 game controller you can use it to play all of the games that have been optimized for the Fire TV. It is important to note that not all apps listed in the Amazon app store have Fire TV certification and there is barely a few hundred titles available to download or install. If you have Amazon Coins in your account, you can use them to pay for apps. In the end, on a hardware level the remote, box and game controller are very elegant and solid. Amazon preety well as the best media box in terms of performance. Software If you live outside of the US, you won’t have access to 80% of all the content available on the Fire TV. You would figure that Netflix would work, because in Canada we can signup, pay and view the service on our computers, or alternative streaming boxes such as Apple TV. The Fire TV runs the US version of Netflix, so you can login, but can’t actually watch anything. Most of the apps listed in the Amazon Store for Fire TV simply won’t work. WWE Network, iHeartradio, HULU+ and many other free apps are incompatible outside the US. Normally people would say, you can simply install a VPN or DNS Service, but there is no way to sideload in your own apps or configure it to read a different DNS. The only way you will be able to stream content or use apps, such as Netflix on the Fire TV is if you use the Second Screen feature on your Amazon Kindle HDX. The current generation of Kindle tablets allow you to load in your own apps and this would allow you to sideload in VPN or DNS services from websites other than Amazon. This would allow you to use Netflix or WWE network, but still won’t allow you to buy or rent movies from Amazon. In the past, we have tried to get this to work, but B&N and Amazon both use geolocation in their products for their core-services. The Fire TV has a fairly intuitive menu system to find your apps, games, videos, movies and pictures. They are really putting a priority on app discovery with bright and bubbly icons and featured images. This is one of the few media boxes that allow you to install apps, something their competitors don’t. Wrap Up The Average user will simply find the Fire TV totally unviable outside the US. Even if you purchased content from Amazon in the past, they won’t even allow you to stream stuff you own. It is a shame that even Netflix, which works with everything, won’t work. A streaming box with only Watch ESPN, Flixor and TuneIN radio working is a kick in the pants. I would avoid this at all costs, unless you simply want an Android gaming console with a great controller. One of the saddest things about Fire TV is the inability to tap into any of the reading content that has made Kindle so popular. There are no newspaper, magazine or eBook apps available for you to read to entertain your kids with. To be honest, we normally write super comprehensive reviews on any e-reader, phone or tablet we do. What can I possibly say about the Fire TV from a Canadian point of view? The UI looks really nice, its responsive as hell but the only thing you can do is play games. DUDD.
Amazon Fire TV Review – International Edition is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Onyx Boox T68 Lynx PDF Review (Video)
| PDF is a popular format, and there’s always a number of people that want to know how well E Ink ebook readers handle PDFs. Tablets like the iPad are among the best options for PDFs, but there are some E Ink ebook readers that do a fair job. And since most people don’t have $1200 […] |
Reading Rainbow Funded with $6M Kickstarter Campaign
| Because we love reading, we watched the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter campaign very closely –so the news that the campaign surpassed their original goal of $1 million, rounded their revised aim of $5 million, and then grabbed the full $1 million in matching funding from Seth MacFarlane is especially exciting for us! Plans for the considerable funding include bringing Reading Rainbow to the web, Android, consoles and OTT boxes; plus over 7500 subscriptions for classrooms in need so they might access the considerable literacy resources included in the program. Were you meaning to donate (cleverly described by LeVar Burton as ‘engaging your compassion subroutine’), but didn’t get in before the deadline? It isn’t too late to pledge your financial support to this project and grab some of the great rewards they still have available.
Reading Rainbow Funded with $6M Kickstarter Campaign is a post from: Good e-Reader |
PiGrrl
| Adafruit’s 3D Thursday series is getting us terribly excited every time they roll out a new project with a Pi in it. Yesterday’s was a doozy: so much so that the engineering team stood around my desk and made puppy-dog eyes and sighing sounds at me until I agreed to email LadyAda and beg a demo sample of the project from them. (She says she’s sending the pink one, Gordon, just to punish you for being so demanding.) Meet the extraordinary PiGrrl, a home-baked Raspberry Pi clone of the Game Boy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPTp6WSrC6c If you don’t think that’s the best thing ever, you’re dead inside. As always with Adafruit projects, the PiGrrl is documented minutely; you can find a complete tutorial on their website, along with files for the 3d printer at Thingiverse. This is one of the more complicated builds we’ve featured, but we think the results speak for themselves;. LadyAda says: “Woohoo!” After careful consideration, so do we. |
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Onyx Boox T68 Lynx Vs Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2
| The Onyx Boox Lynx is the latest generation e-reader and was just released in the last few weeks. This device pioneers the concept of open Android and has Google Play preloaded on it. Today, we compare the core reading experience between the T68 and the Kindle Paperwhite 2. The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2 features a six inch e-Ink display screen with a resolution of 1024×768. The front-lit display has received a small upgrade and gives a better illumination experience then the previous model. One of the neat little features is a software enhancement called "Max" which instantly brings the brightness level to the maximum. Underneath the hood is a 1GHZ processor and 256 MB of RAM. There is 2 GB of internal storage and the majority of your content will be held in the cloud The Lynx e-reader is very much akin to the Kobo Aura HD, in terms of specs. It features a 6.8 e-Ink capacitive Ultra HD EPD display screen and a resolution of 1440×1080 pixels. Underneath the hood is a Freescale i.MX Cortex A9 1.0GHz processor and 512MB of RAM. Books are stored on the device and has 4GB of internal storage with the option to increase it via the Micro SD Card up to 64GB. In the following video review we look at the e-reading experience, main menu and everything that makes these devices unique. If you are in the market for the latest generation eBook Reader, you don’t want to miss this.
Onyx Boox T68 Lynx Vs Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Global Crackdown on Pirate Textbooks Continues
| There is a global crackdown on organized crime manufacturing illegal student textbooks. A few weeks ago police raided a few locations in Madrid and Seville, seizing 10 professional book scanning machines and arresting three. Authorities in Uganda have raided 29 bookstores participating in a scheme that saw unsuspending students buying textbooks worth $686,000 US. Towards the end of June Ugandan authorities carried out a massive string operation in Kampala, Masaka and Mbarara districts. Executive director of the Uganda Reproduction Rights Organisation (URRO), Charles Batambuze, said the pirates have been replicating books that are already in publication and selling them to unsuspecting customers. "Most of these thugs are connive with private schools, who then buy the books from them, some not knowing that they are buying fakes." The books were seized from close to 29 bookshops and street vendors. According to Copyright Inspector Philly Jjemba, the traders initially claimed they did not know that their books were pirated, before revealing their suppliers. "These people just don’t deal in any book; they sell school texts which are on high demand as well as church prayer books, to unsuspecting buyers," Jjemba said. URRO Chairman Martin Okia explained "Occasionally we get calls from the schools complaining about missing pages or unclear texts, indeed sometimes you find that in these books the pages are upside down. We are telling them those books are actually pirated and we cannot vouch for the authenticity of the contents of the book," Okia added. Global Crackdown on Pirate Textbooks Continues is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Authors Rally Behind Amazon in Publisher Dispute
 Photo courtesy of ebookbotics.com Despite the letter circulated by some well-known authors that urged Amazon to behave itself in its ongoing dispute with Hachette, a new open letter and petition has surfaced. This time, nearly thirty indie authors signed the letter thanking Amazon for its service to the reading public and to authors in particular. The authors include the usual suspects, such as Joe Konrath, Hugh Howey, and more, people who’ve been quite vocal about the good that Amazon has done in disrupting the status quo in the publishing industry. In fact, the authors outline so much good that Amazon comes across as a veritable saint for self-published authors, and if all things are taken into consideration, it’s easy to understand why Amazon is so beloved in the eyes of self-published authors. While the full text of the petition can be found HERE, this quote sums it up quite nicely: “Much is being said these days about changes in the book world, but not nearly enough is being said about the most important people in our industry. “You. The readers. Without you there wouldn't be a book industry. “We owe you so much, and we are forever in your debt. Thank you for reading late into the night. Thank you for reading to your children. Thank you for missing that subway stop, for your word of mouth, your reviews, and your fan emails.” It’s quite telling that traditionally published authors sent a “letter” to Amazon, whereas self-published authors initiated a petition on change.org to let readers sign their support for the company. This is simply indicative of the publishing industry as a whole, where the tiny handful of millionaire bestsellers don’t have to connect with their audiences in the way that self-published success stories do. Rather than pen the traditionally published self-centered thoughts and issue them as a command to resolve their differences in order to continue funding the twelve-bathroom mansions that some of them own, the self-published authors opened the door to discussion and inclusion, much like Amazon has done for them. “New York Publishing once controlled the book industry. They decided which stories you were allowed to read. They decided which authors were allowed to publish. They charged high prices while withholding less expensive formats. They paid authors as little as possible, usually between 2% and 12.5% of the list price of a book. “Amazon, in contrast, trusts you to decide what to read, and they strive to keep the price you pay low. They allow all writers to publish on their platform, and they pay authors between 35% and 70% of the list price of the book. “You probably aren't aware of this, but the majority of your favorite authors can't make a living off their book sales alone. Very few authors could when New York Publishing was in charge. That is changing now that Amazon and other online retailers are paying authors a fair wage.” The crux of the authors’ point comes down to the fact that the retail industry for all forms of media has changed, but that the Old Guard somehow want books to be exempt from that, as though they have a different innate worth than music or movie downloads. The real issue is control, though, and as the petition points out, no one has given this much control and income to authors before or since Amazon.
Authors Rally Behind Amazon in Publisher Dispute is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Google Play Books App Review on Onyx Boox T68 (Video)
| I’ve been testing a bunch of different Android reading apps on the Onyx Boox T68 Lynx. The Play Books app is up for review this time around. At first the app seemed to work okay, but the more I use it the more it continues to crash. Too bad because all the Play Books’ features […] |
BiblioTech Digital Library Opens in Texas
| The BiblioTech digital library in Bexar County Texas has officially opened their doors to the public. Patrons will be able to access to over 10,000 eBooks and residents will be able checkout 600 E-readers, 9 laptops and 40 tablets to read them on. BiblioTech branch manager Catarina Velasquez said if compared it to any other library, you’ll find one major difference. “The biggest difference that you are going to find is that you’re not going to see rows and rows of books. Instead, you’re going to see rows and rows of computers,” said Velasquez. “We have all of our content digital and online.” Good e-Reader spoke to Laura Cole, Special Projects Coordinator of BiblioTech who mentioned "Buxer County has never run a library before and all of the surrounding county's are limited to being established within city limits. We have been looking at ways to enhance the library services for people that normally don't have access. How could we address this in a cost effective manor? In the past five years the expansion of digital books and their availability to libraries is significant." She went on to say "We have a county owned facility that featured 4800 sq.ft that wasn’t even being used! This particular location is ideal, it's a underserved area of San Antonio. It features many schools nearby and a seniors center across the street." Residents at Bexar County will be able to access the eBooks from their own device, using their library card and the 3M Cloud Library app. The BiblioTech will be open from 12 to 8 Monday through Friday, and 10 to 6 Saturday and Sunday. If you live in the area, the address is 3505 Pleasanton Road, San Antonio, TX 78221, (210) 631-0180. BiblioTech Digital Library Opens in Texas is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Weekly eHighlights: Adult Edition
Click here to view the Marketplace cart of these titles and more. Fiction Jeff Abbott – Inside Man Sam Capra's friend has been murdered, and Sam goes undercover inside one of Miami's most prominent Mafia families. Abbott is a three-time nominee for the Edgar Award. LJ PrePub Alert.
Sally Beauman – The Visitors The NY Times bestselling author tells the story of Lord Carnarvon's discovery of King Tut's tomb through the eyes of two young girls, one of them the daughter of an archaeologist. LJ PrePub Alert.
Chris Bohjalian – Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands Emily ran away by herself when a power plant in Vermont had a meltdown and both her parents were killed. Her father was in charge of the plant, and there are rumors that he was drunk when the accident happened. 150,000 print run.
Terry Brooks – The High Druid's Blade Legend has it that Paxon Leah is descended from the royals and warriors who once ruled the Highlands and waged war with magic weapons. But they are long gone and he leads a quiet life running his family's modest shipping business. But when a stranger abducts his sister, he grabs the only weapon available, the antique sword hanging above the mantel, and a powerful magic is unleashed. 100,000 print run.
Marcia Clark – The Competition LA District Attorney Rachel Knight deals with a high school massacre, but two of the students picked as killers may actually be victims. LJ PrePub Alert. Clark's Guilt by Association, also featuring character Rachel Knight, has been optioned by TNT for a series.
Jude Deveraux – For All Time According to legend, the woman who can distinguish the heir to the throne from his twin means that she is his true love. Alas, he is already promised to someone else. Nantucket Brides trilogy, Book 2. 100,000 print run.
Ian Doescher – William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return Return to the galaxy far away as the brooding young hero and a power-mad emperor and their jesting droids match wits and soliloquize in impeccable iambic pentameter.
Jennifer Estep – Poison Promise Reading this, Number 11 in the Elemental Assassin series, doesn't really require having read the other ten. This is an action-packed urban fantasy.
Janet Evanovich – Top Secret Twenty-One Stephanie Plum is back for the 21st time, and Stephanie is still a bounty hunter looking for a used car dealer who has jumped bail. 1,000,000 print run. An Amazon Best Mystery, Thriller and Suspense Book of the Month.
Jane Feather – Trapped at the Altar Jane Feather has more than 10 million copies of her sensual historical romances in print. Romantic Times has called her a "consummate storyteller."
Robert Galbraith – The Silkworm Galbraith (J. K. Rowling) uses the second book starring private eye Cormoran Strike to have fun with the publishing industry. Don't miss this one. 400,000 print run. An Amazon Best Mystery, Thriller and Suspense Book of the Month.
Yasmine Galenorn – Night's End Urban fantasy star Galenorn received the 2011 Career Achievement Award given by Romantic Times Magazine, and her titles are always mass market bestsellers. This is the conclusion to her Addictive series.
Conn Iggulden – Wars of the Roses: Stormbird The first in a new series by the bestselling author. This one begins in 1437 when the Lancaster king Henry VI ascends the throne of England. Try it with fans of Game of Thrones, which is based loosely on the War of the Roses. LJ PrePub Alert.
Erika Johansen – The Queen of the Tearling This one will be a bestseller. A 19-year-old princess has been raised in the woods by an elderly couple, but has now come of age and must return to the land of her birth and claim the throne. The Queen's Guard comes to escort her, but she doesn't know who to trust, and the adjoining country's queen is set to invade. First in a trilogy. 500,000 print run. Booklist starred review. The Warner Bros. film will star Emma Watson.
Stephen King – Mr. Mercedes King's first hardboiled detective novel. 800,000 print run. An Amazon Best Mystery, Thriller and Suspense Book of the Month.
Dean Koontz – The City Koontz continues to push the envelope, refusing to write what is expected. This is the first person narrative of an African-American boy growing up in a musical family in urban America during the 1960s. 400,000 print run.
Mary Lawson – Road Ends Lawson's writing has been compared to Elizabeth Strout, Richard Ford, and Rick Bass. Twenty-one-year-old Megan has never been outside of Struan, Ontario. She's the caregiver, housekeeper, and linchpin of the family, but she decides it's time to have a life of her own and heads to London (England, not Ontario).
Laura L. McNeal – Dollbaby A big-hearted coming of age debut set in civil rights era New Orleans. When Ibby's father dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1964, she is deposited with her eccentric grandmother Fannie in the Garden District. Fortunately, Fannie's black cook Queenie, and her smart-mouthed daughter Dollbaby, take her under their wings.
Jojo Moyes – One Plus One Single mom Jess, Goth teen Nicky, his sister Tanzie, their 80-pound dog, and a technology millionaire who volunteers his "top of the line" car with himself for driver, travel from the English shore to Aberdeen, Scotland where Tanzie is competing in a high stakes math competition. High jinks ensue. Moyes is the two-time winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association of the UK. 150,000 print run. USA Today: Hot Books of Summer. Booklist starred review.
Marcia Muller – The Night Searchers Sharon McCone Mystery number 30. PI Sharon McCone is dubious when a couple comes to her about a devil worshipers performing human sacrifices in San Francisco. LJ PrePub Alert.
Celeste Ng – Everything I Never Told You Lydia's mother wants her to become a doctor, and her father wants her to be popular. Now she's dead at the bottom of the lake. LJ PrePub Alert. Ng won the Hopwood Award from the University of Michigan, which was also won by Arthur Miller, Mary Gaitskill, Jesmyn War and other well-known writers.
James Patterson & David Ellis – Invisible Emmy Dockery takes leave from her FBI job to pursue a hunch that hundreds of rapes, kidnappings and murders across the nation are the work of one man. 999,000 print run.
Rebecca Rotert – Last Night at the Blue Angel Not many first novels get a 100,000 print run, but this one did. Set in early 1960s Chicago when the jazz scene was thriving. Naomi, a jazz singer who has sung at the Blue Angel club for years. LJ PrePub Alert.
Anthony Ryan – Tower Lord Ryan is one of the self-publishing success stories, having moved up to a Big 5 publisher. His first book Blood Song set out a fascinating world of conflicting religions and wars fought over them. This book continues the tale in an epic fantasy for fans of Robert Jordan or George R. R. Martin. Best Fantasy Books Blog: Most Anticipated Books of 2014.
Rachel Seiffert – The Walk Home An Irish family that has lived in Glasgow for decades after fleeing the Troubles, are threatened when he father marches in a parade that brings those troubles back in a real way. From a Booker Prize finalist named one of Granta's 20 Best of the Young British Novelists. The Guardian: Books for 2014.
Anne Rivers Siddons – The Girls of August The bestselling author is back with the story of four women who have vacationed together at the beach from the time that their husbands were in medical school. 150,000 print run. LJ PrePub Alert calls it "classic beach reading."
Lauraine Snelling – Heaven Sent Rain Dinah Taylor has an orderly life that is just the way she likes it, but then a seven-year-old boy shows up in front of her office building with his dog. After she buys him breakfast, he shows up the next day, and the next.
Rufi Thorpe – The Girls from Corona del Mar A debut novel that is grabbing some attention. Lorrie Ann has always been a sweet girl, protected by her family, while Mia is tough, having had to content with a drinking mother, her troublesome younger brothers, and a pregnancy at age 15. But when tragedy strikes Lorrie Ann she becomes a different person and Mia can't seem to help her. LJ PrePub Alert.
John Verdon – Peter Pan Must Die A mystery pulls former NYPD officer Dave Gurney out of retirement to investigate. Who killed a prominent real estate developer planning to run for office? Was it really his adulterous wife? LJ PrePub Alert.
Jennifer Weiner – All Fall Down The bestselling Weiner is back with a story that addresses the topic of addiction to painkillers. Allison Weiss's husband resents that she makes more money as a blogger than he does as a newspaper reporter. They live in a house they can't afford. They're fighting all the time, and Allison turns to pills. Booklist starred review.
Jacqueline Winspear – The Care and Management of Lies Winspear's well-known Maisie Dobbs series stars a heroine who was a nurse in WWI. This historical novel takes place a month before the war breaks out and concentrates on the women left at home to manage their lives and the family business. 100,000 print run.
Nonfiction
Patrick Buchanan – The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Roe from Defeat to Create the New Majority Buchanan was a Nixon advisor and tells the story of Nixon's resurrection after his stinging defeats in the 1960 Presidential election against JFK, and the 1962 California governor's race, to become President in 1969. 125,000 print run.
Hilary Clinton – Hard Choices 600,000 print run. The Atlantic: Books to Read in 2014. In the Capital: Best Political Books of 2014. An Amazon Best Biography & Memoirs Book of the Month.
Elizabeth Drew – Washington Journal: Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixon's Downfall Forty years after Watergate, Drew, the legendary reporter has a new edition of her bestselling work that includes new insight into Nixon's efforts to regain respectability after his downfall and new information not available at the time. Every library needs to have this one.
Michael Farquhar – Secret Lives of the Tsars: Three Centuries of Autocracy, Debauchery, Betrayal, Murder, and Madness… It is said that Michael Farquhar writes history as if he were Doris Kearns Goodwin's smart-ass, reprobate kid brother. Here he collects the best, most captivating and shocking true tales of Romanov iniquity.
Lee Grant – I Said Yes to Everything: A Memoir Lee Grant, an Academy Award winning actress tells the story of being blacklisted during the McCarthy era and her 12-year fight to exonerate herself. LJ PrePub.
Sally Hogshead – How the World Sees You: Discover Your Highest Value through the Science of Fascination To become more successful, you don't have to change who you are—you have to become more of who you are. This book reveals who you are at your best so you can create better relationships.
Joshua Horwitz – War of the Whales: A True Story A crusading attorney and a marine biologist stumble onto one of the US Navy's best kept secrets—a submarine detection system that flood entire ocean basins with high intensity sounds that drive whales onto beaches. Science writer Horwitz has turned this true story into a page turner. USA Today Hot Summer Books.
Jenna McCarthy – I've Still Got It…I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It "Awkwardly true tales from the far side of forty" tackling everything from cosmetic surgery to skinny jeans and the meaning of life by the former radio personality.
Abby Lee Miller – Everything I Learned about Life, I Learned in Dance Class By the star of Lifetime's Dance Moms. Miller turns kids into stars, but she has more general advice on life success in this book. 100,000 print run.
Marja Mills – The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, rarely gives interviews, but Mills moved next door to Lee and her sister Alice, and spent eighteen months getting to know the Lees and their circle of friends.
Amanda Petrusich – Do Not Sell At any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78 rpm Records Acclaimed music writer Petrusich tells the untold story of a quirky and important subculture—the world of 78 rpm records and those who celebrate them.
Joan Rivers – Diary of a Mad Diva Anais Nin, Anne Frank and Sylvia Plath wrote the world's most famous diaries. And where are they today? Dead. But the world's OTHER great diarist, Joan Rivers, is alive and kicking. And complaining.
Ja Rule – Unruly: The Highs and Lows of Becoming a Man Ja Rule has sold 30 million records worldwide. His story is riveting and funny as he shares tales of his coming of age—from renting $30,000-a-month mansions to scrubbing his own prison cell, to traveling the world and falling head over heels in love with his junior high school sweetheart and going on to make her his wife and the mother of his children. 50,000 print run.
Robert L. Snow – Killers in the Family: Inside a Real Family of Criminals Bound by Blood A rash of murders in Indianapolis in 2008 brought attention to a robber and murderer named Brian Reese. Turns out he learned his life of crime at home. His father was the lookout man and his mother was the getaway driver. He and his three brothers had more than three dozen convictions among them. But the family secrets were even darker than that.
Tim Spector – Identically Different: Why We Can Change Our Genes Even real life "clones" with the same upbringing turn out to be very different. The answer is in the genes.
Click here to view the Marketplace cart of these titles and more. *Geographical rights may vary by title.  |
Fireworks for your long weekend
| The 4th of July is here, and luckily, this year it falls on a Friday… for those of you in the U.S., that means a long weekend! Firecrackers shouldn't be the only spark in your life this weekend. We've put together a list of spicy eBooks to go with your Independence Day brats. Whether you're relaxing at a lake house or just lounging in a hammock, check out our steamy new titles from Kensington, Harlequin, and the like. For those of you celebrating in the U.S., have a safe and happy holiday weekend!   |
Onyx Book T68 Lynx Kobo App Review
| As far as third party reading apps go, the Kobo Android app fairs better than most on the Onyx Boox T68. The number one thing is there’s no animated page transitions like with the Kindle and Google Play Books apps. This results in much smother and faster page turns. Ghosting and afterimages are less of […] |
Walter Dean Myers: The Loss of a Book Hero
 Courtesy of gaithersburgbookfestival.com The literary world is a little darker this week after the passing of one of the greatest and most prolific modern writers of books for young people. Walter Dean Myers, a force who arguably changed the face of children’s literature with powerful and gritty story lines, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 76. Myers was one of the most highly decorated authors of this era. According to a press release from publisher HarperCollins, “Walter Dean Myers wrote more than 100 books for children of all ages. His impressive body of work includes two Newbery Honor Books, three National Book Award Finalists, and six Coretta Scott King Award/Honor-winning books. He was the winner of the first-ever Michael L. Printz Award, the first recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, and a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. In 2010, Walter was the United States nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and in 2012 he was appointed the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, serving a two-year tenure in the position. Also in 2012, Walter was recognized as an inaugural NYC Literary Honoree, an honor given by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for his substantial lifetime accomplishments and contribution to children's literature.” More important than the expanse of his body of work, though, was the author’s willingness to bring difficult subjects to young people. His themes have included inner city life, the horrors of war, criminal activity and the resulting conviction to correctional institutions, and much more. One of his titles explored the rise of gangs from their early days as neighborhood “social clubs,” expressed through both text and pen-and-ink illustrations crafted by his son, Christopher. Authors like Myers brought reality to readers in such a way that it wasn’t so much like gawking from the sidelines as it was experiencing aspects of life that most readers will never see firsthand. He often painted a dark picture of life while focusing on the beauty and history of the setting and telling the story through the eyes of people you really wish you knew in person. His ability to make microcosmic stories speak to a vast audience of readers is something that literature won’t repeat soon. "Walter Dean Myers was a compassionate, wonderful, and brilliant man. He wrote about children who needed a voice and their stories told. His work will live on for generations to come. It was an honor to work with him for so many years," said Miriam Altshuler, Walter's literary agent. Fortunately for fans of Myers’ work, three new titles were already in production and will be released soon. “His upcoming books include Juba!, (HarperCollins, April 2015) a novel for teens based on the life of a young African American dancer, and On a Clear Day (Crown/Random House Books for Young Readers, September 2014). A graphic novel adaptation of Monster (HarperCollins) is also forthcoming.”
Walter Dean Myers: The Loss of a Book Hero is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Debunking Amazon’s 70% Royalty for Indie Authors and Publishers
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One of the misunderstandings authors have about the sale of ebooks abroad is that customers in countries that do not have their own dedicated Amazon stores are still often able to use a “neighboring” Amazon. The announcement brings the list of countries where readers can buy ebooks up to 28, and still give authors a 70% royalty. That’s not to say readers in even more countries cannot purchase ebooks, they just don’t come with the 70% option. However, some of the countries on the list require authors to place their ebooks in KDP Select, Amazon’s exclusive sales program, in order to earn 70% in that country. This is frustrating for some authors, but stems from licensing and retailing agreements. Unfortunately, far too many authors translate this into thinking their books are required to be enrolled in KDP Select in order to have the 70% royalty anywhere, and that is simply not the case. There are some requirements to listing a book for the 70% royalty, however. One of them is quite well-known and understood by authors, but the other one isn’t quite as widely known. First, 70% is available for any title whose price is between $2.99 and $9.99. The lower end of that range is because the retailer has to make its fee as well, and providing authors with almost seventy cents on a 99-cent ebook leaves them making little to nothing on the sale of an ebook. The top end of the range prevents authors and publishers from listing their ebooks at overly inflated prices, since Amazon wants to make sure there is enough content available for its millions of Kindle fans, all at an enticing price point. Again, an author is free to price the book as he sees fit, but he will forfeit the 70% royalty. The other variable, though, is the difference between the author’s list price for the print book and the price of the ebook. The ebook must be at least 20% cheaper than the print book in order to be eligible for a 70% royalty. Again, this is to encourage authors and publishers to price their content in enticing ways, and prevents certain publishers from listing their ebooks at ridiculously high prices without the ability to discount. One thing that Amazon is notorious for is changing its setup from time to time. New markets open up, new experiments get tried, new opportunities may come and go. It’s a very malleable market, and the retailer is working to keep things moving forward in the best interests of its customers. If there’s an opportunity to help authors along the way, then that’s just an added layer of bonus for the industry.
Debunking Amazon’s 70% Royalty for Indie Authors and Publishers is a post from: Good e-Reader |
5 Reasons to Consider Switching to Android
Unsure whether to switch to Android? Here are some reasons why you might want to. |