| With the summer now upon us, a slew of conventions will be heading our way. Whether it's the small anime con held at your local university or the day-long journey to Comic Con, everyone tries to make it out to at least one. But while cons may be the highlight of the summer to some, there are always those who find it an unpleasant experience. I've certainly heard my fair share of people complaining about cons. As someone who has always had a good time at cons, I've started thinking about ways you can make it better. So for everyone who's had a bad experience – and for those who might be attending their first con this summer – here are five steps you can take to ensure your next convention is a great one. 1: Be Prepared Yes, I'm throwing the Girl Guide motto at you first off. It's gotten me far in life. There are lots of practical things you may forget in the hectic preparation. Not all cons will let you bring water or snacks, but look it up beforehand. If you are allowed to bring in a water bottle, definitely do that, and if not, buy one immediately. Cons can get hot, and it's easy to get dehydrated. You'll also want to make sure your money is in a safe place, along with any ID or important documents. A bag may not go with your outfit, but no one's going to complain about it. If your bag has a cool print, if anything you'll be complimented. Although this first tidbit may see like a buzzkill, it will prevent you from that stressful realisation of "Gah! I forgot something!" later in the day. 2: Cosplay Some people may balk at the idea, but it is much less complicated than you think. If you're already an avid cosplayer, and have a beautiful, well-crafted outfit, that's great. But if you don't have the time, resources, or courage, it isn't hard to throw on a football jersey and cosplay Eyeshield 21. In the words of a cosplaying friend of mine, "it doesn't matter how you look, if it's big or small, if you look like the character or not. What matters is how you feel." Cosplays are great icebreakers, conversational topics, and give you a guaranteed compliment that will boost your morale for the day. 3: Study Beforehand It may seem a little boring and tedious, but knowing what you're up against can take away half the stress for you. Beforehand knowledge of who's going to be there, when, and what kind of events are going can help avoid awkward conversations such as, "So…what do you want to do?" If you meet a cool person, instead of standing around trying to keep a conversation going, ask if they'll join you for such-and-such. And having a semi-solid plan of how you'll spend your day is a great method to make sure you don't waste your time. Much like planning a vacation! Another helpful tip: when you first receive the official brochure, take a moment to sit and study it. Put a star beside the things you want to do. If you want, you can even track your estimated path around the con, the way you would the rides at an amusement park! 4: Social Events While a lot of us, myself included, are more introverted and don't enjoy social functions, there's never any harm in simply scoping them out. There's more than one kind of event at cons. Dances, speed dating, walk-offs, and glomp-games name a few memorable things you can do. Even if all you do is awkwardly stand off to the side, after a time you'll gather up the courage to join in. And even if you don't, no one will give you two looks about it. After all, half the people there are just as awkward as you. 5: Have Fun! This may seem like the cheesiest possible thing to say, but in all honesty, a con is what you make of it. If you go in with a negative attitude, complain about every little thing that goes wrong, and pay attention to the worst things only, you will leave feeling dissatisfied. This is a really simple fix – just be happy and see the bright side of everything! Going alone? Make new friends, always easy when surrounded by people who like the same things you do. Stuck in a long line? Chat with those around you and take pictures of all the cool costumes passing by. The special guest you really wanted to see couldn't make it? Look at what else is going on. You may end up finding something new that interests you, something you may not have known about before. A con should be a fun experience you look back on fondly. Follow these steps and see if your next con is more fun than you thought it would be. How to Get Ready for Anime Conventions is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
How to Get Ready for Anime Conventions
Glose Expands to Android
| Glose is a digital reading service where eBooks become a collective experience where you can read other peoples notes on any given passage or see popular phrases that were highlighted. The company has just announced a brand new Android app that can downloaded today from Google Play and the Good e-Reader App Store. Just like an online book club, Glose creates communities of like-minded readers to share opinions, ideas, knowledge, and stories through the books they read. Books become more engaging, fun and interesting – TechCrunch has called it, "reading on steroids. Glose's premium catalog of ebooks range from literary classics and influential nonfiction works to new releases, bestsellers, and books featured on The New York Times and Time Magazine best-books-of-all-time lists. The entire collection features elegant, custom-designed covers with re-formatted text. Many feature beautiful animated covers, which honor these timeless, culturally significant literary masterpieces. "Our mission is to allow people to discover new books, find the ones they have been wanting to read, and engage in great discussions about these books with other like-minded readers," says Glose CEO Nicolas Princen. "People can now begin reading any book of their choice with no payment upfront—and that changes the whole user experience." "We are really excited to build communities of readers and spread the written word on the hundreds of millions of Android smartphones and tablets. Glose Expands to Android is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The Best Websites to Discover New Books
| Casual readers often face challenges when new books come out by authors they love. Sure you can visit the local bookstore every few weeks and check out what is new and notable. Today we look at the best websites that focus on e-book discovery, finding a great new read or simply getting notified when a new book comes out. Some of these companies have been around for a decade, others have just come out in a the last few years. All of these sites are heavily endorsed by millions of readers who depend on them for their day to day reading needs. Fictfact – Designed to track books in series – existing back lists, new additions, & your personal reading stats within each series. FictionDB – Complete book lists for over 250,000 authors and the service comprises of over 750,000 unique titles. They allow you to establish reading lists and search plots, synopses, time periods, dates, subgenres and much more. Author Alerts – This service allows you to establish authors you want to be notified about and then sends you a ping whenever a new title is released. Library Thing – Users add books to their catalog by entering titles, authors, or ISBN numbers. LibraryThing then searches the Library of Congress, all five national Amazon sites, and over 700 world libraries, and returns with precise book data. Users can then edit the books in their catalog, tag their books with their own subjects, and use the Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal systems to organize their collections. Fantastic Fiction – This service keeps track of all new book releases. It also has proper bibliographies for over 30,000 authors and information on over 350,000 books. Shelfari – This site launched in 2006 and was acquired by Amazon in 2008. It is one of the oldest and most respected book communities. Shelfari makes it incredibly simple to recommend books because the most valuable book recommendations come from your friends and people you trust. Great recommendations can also come from people with similar book collections, so Shelfari highlights these users and directs you to their shelves where you can discover what you have in common and books you might enjoy. GoodReads – Likely one of the largest social book communities where people follow authors they like and get notified when new books come out. The site staff also have excellent curated reading lists, so you can discover new authors. You can think of GoodReads as a large bookclub. Leafmarks – Leafmarks is a place where you can keep track of what you’ve read, review books, organize your books in shelves, express yourself openly and creatively, and engage in group discussions with other readers. Through challenges and “Leaves” that you can unlock by reading and reviewing books, the site hopes to foster an even greater love of reading and inspire a new generation of readers to see it as something fun and rewarding. This is a new site, so its populated with tons of data yet. Which Book: This website has a delightful new way of generating book suggestions. The site gives you a number of scales to use to determine what type of a book you are looking for. You can choose a set point between unpredictable and expected, beautiful or disgusting, conventional or unusual, optimistic or bleak and many more. Then, the site generates book suggestions that fit your request. Loads of fun to play with the different options and you're guaranteed a book that fits your mood perfectly. Your Next Read: What attracted me most about Your Next Read was the visual layout. Enter a book you've enjoyed, and a graphic is created that connects it with other, related books. A lot of the recommendations I got were similar from what I saw elsewhere, but were for the most part books I was very interested in reading. My only caveat: the blurb about the book is just from Amazon, so it doesn't give much real information about the quality of the book. The Staff Recommends: You know those little cards at bookstores and libraries that share staff picks? This site captures that idea by carefully choosing a handful of books to highlight at a time. Each book has an awesome explanation on why it made the list. The site is simple and enticing, making it a pleasure to use unlike so many of the other recommendation sites which barrage you with book choices. What Should I Read Next?: This site aims to answer that very question without bells and whistles. The search site is ultra-simple and produces suggestions based upon the books you’ve already read and rated. No login is required, but users can save favorite books once registered. Novelry: Novelry allows users to search not just by genres, but also by more specified subjects and themes. For example, a search term of “steampunk zombies that battle werewolves” can bring back results specific to the theme, the titles, and character components. The Best Websites to Discover New Books is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Ant-Man: Micro-Tech Challenge
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Were you born to build with tiny tech; do you rave about robotics; are your parts and processors pocket-sized, and your artwork actuated? Have you ever wanted to inspire other young girls to share your passion? Then Marvel’s Ant-Man: Micro-Tech Challenge is for you! Along with Marvel, we’re looking throughout the United States for girls ages 14-18 in grades 9-12 to create and share micro-technology-based DIY projects they have built using readily accessible and found materials. Upon completion of the contest, build instructions for the winning projects will be provided to a STEM-based girls program in the winners' home community. Each winner will have the opportunity to lead a workshop in building her project for the selected program in her community. Each Marvel’s Ant-Man: Micro-Tech Challenge applicant will design and build a DIY project using at least one inexpensive and readily available micro-technology component of her choosing. Projects can be utilitarian, artistic, or just plain fun. After completing their projects, applicants will be asked to submit a short video demonstrating them and explaining how the projects will inspire other girls to pursue interests in science, technology, engineering, or math. Micro-technology, such as a Raspberry Pi, can enable tinkerers, makers, builders, and future Imagineers to execute big ideas with an inexpensive base component that fits in a girl's pocket. Each winner will:
Winners of Marvel's Ant-Man: Micro-Tech Challenge will be notified by Tuesday, June 16, 2015. Winners and one legal guardian will travel to Los Angeles, California on Sunday, June 28, 2015. Please visit http://www.ant-manchallenge.com/ to see the official rules for full eligibility and entry requirements, prize description, conditions, and limitations. The post Ant-Man: Micro-Tech Challenge appeared first on Raspberry Pi. |
Monday, June 1, 2015
June is Audiobook Month
| Every June the Audiobook Publisher Association coordinates an massive event called audiobook month. This year a number of major retailers are organizing curated lists and deals to get people aware of the medium. Good e-Reader has been covering audiobooks for the last few years. We have analyzed how libraries have been embracing digital audio editions and have written very detailed reports on the state of the industry, challenges and what the future may hold. The audiobook industry overall has really grown in the last few years. In 2007 a paltry 3,073 audiobook titles were produced and this figure rose exponentially to over 12,000 published in 2011. In 2013 many industry experts proclaimed that over 20,000 audiobooks were now available and in 2014 over 35,000 were released by major publishers and companies like Audible. In terms of promotion in the month of June, not many deals have been announced yet. Audiobooks.com is giving a free audiobook away every single day. They have ironed out promotions with over a dozen publishers to offer titles from Maya Banks, Jane Green, Rick Riordan, Jonathan Maberry, T.C. Boyle, Gary Chapman, Maggie Stiefvater and more. The selection will feature romance, horror, thriller, non-fiction, and classic titles for adults, teens, and children. You need to download their official app for Android or iOS to listen. I will be updating this post when I hear about new deals, if any of you dear readers are aware of any, drop a comment below. June is Audiobook Month is a post from: Good e-Reader |
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EL James To Release 50 Shades Book from Christian Grey’s Prospective
| The first book in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy was released in March 2012 and by the end of 2014 it had sold over 140 million copies. Bookstores all over North America and the United Kingdom all reported dramatic profits with each new installment of the book. Even University and College bookstores jumped into the fray, pushing textbooks out of the way and setting up kinky display sections. Things have tapered down and the publishing industry is always looking for the “next” 50 Shades of Grey book. They have got their wish, as EL James a new book, titled Grey, will be published on June 18, Christian’s birthday. Greywill be published in paperback and as an eBook by Vintage Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House. Major bookstores such as Chapters/Indigo are already taking pre-orders. Author EL James said “Christian is a complex character, and readers have always been fascinated by his desires and motivations and his troubled past. Also, as anyone who has ever been in a relationship knows, there are two sides to every story. It’s been a great pleasure to return to my happy place — writing, being with Christian and Ana in their universe, and working with the fantastic team at Vintage.” The entire book selling industry will me clambering to promote this book and to secure as many pre-orders as possible. The new Grey title was only announced today and you can expect in the next week Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and others will be hyping this book to no end. EL James To Release 50 Shades Book from Christian Grey’s Prospective is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The Best Audiobooks of 2014 – The Audie Awards
| The Audie Awards recognizes distinction in audiobooks and spoken word entertainment and is sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association. This event has been ongoing for over 20 years and is a very good indication on what is selling. There are few resources that track audiobook sales and what constitutes the best of the bunch. The big winners this year was MANDELA: AN AUDIO HISTORY that won Audiobook of the Year and Best Original Work. Neil Gaimon also won three awards, cementing himself as one of the most successful audiobook adopters. If you want to get a sense of the most popular audiobooks of 2014, the comprehensive winners list below should satiate you. Audio Drama THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES Audiobook of the Year/Original Work MANDELA: AN AUDIO HISTORY Autobiography/Memoir/Narration by the Author or Authors NOT MY FATHER’S SON Business/Educational A MORE BEAUTIFUL QUESTION Children’s Titles – Ages 8-12/DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION/Multi-Voiced Performance THE GRAVEYARD BOOK Children’s Titles – Ages Up to 8 H.O.R.S.E. Classic THE NEW YORK STORIES Erotica ALPHA Fantasy WORDS OF RADIANCE Fiction ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE History/Biography THE BULLY PULPIT Humor YES PLEASE Literary Fiction EUPHORIAMystery THE SILKWORM Non-Fiction FURIOUS COOL Paranormal THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS Inspirational/Faith-Based Fiction THE AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE Inspirational/Faith-Based Non-Fiction BEFORE AMEN Judges Award: Science & Technology THE SECOND MACHINE AGE Package Design THE LIGHT AT THE END Personal Development WHAT I KNOW FOR SURE Romance THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY Science Fiction THE MARTIAN Short Stories/Collections THE ASSASSINATION OF MARGARET THATCHER Solo Narration – Female YELLOW CROCUS Solo Narration – Male THE HERO’S GUIDE TO BEING AN OUTLAW Teens EGG & SPOON Thriller/Suspense THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD The Best Audiobooks of 2014 – The Audie Awards is a post from: Good e-Reader |
This Book Grows Into a Tree When you Bury It
| A new children’s picture book by a Buenos Aires publisher grows into a tree when planted in the ground. This brings a new meaning to being environmentally conscious. Each page of the book is printed with nontoxic inks is laced with seeds from the jacaranda tree. Once the book has been read, kids water the cover to help the seeds germinate, and leave it in a sunny spot indoors. Once the seeds have sprouted, the book can be planted in the garden. “It’s a tree that provides excellent shade and offers a lot of oxygen to the environment,” says Raquel Franco, editorial director of Pequeno Editor. This is the first book of its kind that actually gives back to the environment after being read, instead of sitting forever on a dusty bookshelf.
This Book Grows Into a Tree When you Bury It is a post from: Good e-Reader |
“Shonen Jump” Features Chapters from “Jump+” Spin-offs
| Weekly Shonen Jump’s June 1st 2015 edition, issue 27 Japanese edition, has a great gift for readers that will feature familiar Jump series’ spin offs from the digital Jump+ platform to start running in the main print magazine. A few of these series’ include Magical Pâtissier Kosaki-chan, a magical girl take on Nisekoi by Taishi Tsuitsui, Ishirou Takahashi Kuroko’s Basketball- Replace Plus, Retsu’s gag Let’s! Haikyu!? And Michiko Itou and Taiki Astoki’s Food Wars Shokugeki no Soma L’etoile, which follows Kojirō Shinomiya’s return to France. Magical Pâtissier Kosaki-chan and the first volume of Replace Plus are being collected on June 4th. On top of all that, this issue is also celebrating the 2nd anniversary of World Trigger with a colour and lead colour page. Shonen Jump+ started just last year and is a digital publication that overs 30 manga every month for free. Some times previously ran in the Shuiesha’s Jump Live app or in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine itself. You can view the site via web, on your Apple device or in the Google Playstore for Android! “Shonen Jump” Features Chapters from “Jump+” Spin-offs is a post from: Good e-Reader |
IndieReader, Melissa Foster Announce 2015 IRDA Winners at BEA
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Sponsored in part by the Association of Independent Authors, CreateSpace, and Kirkus, this year’s IRDAs were presented at BookExpo America by IndieReader president Amy Edelman and bestselling author Melissa Foster. Foster, whose thirty-plus indie books have sold over one million copies and have landed on both the New York Times and USA Today bestsellers’ lists, is also the founder of two sites for indie authors, World Literary Cafe and Fostering Success. “While writing a great book is the first step, getting it in front of the right people—be they readers or agents or traditional publishers—is also a critical part of making an indie book a success,” Edelman explained in a release on this year’s presentation. “To that end, judges on the IRDA panel included publishers, PR professionals, top industry bloggers and more. Top winners will have their titles submitted to top New York literary agents Dystal & Goderich for representation consideration. Judging was based on the quality of writing and the originality of the story.” One of the increasingly frustrating aspects of the current publishing revolution is also the very thing that provides authors with a satisfying writing and publishing experience, and that’s the need for the once-rigid rules of genre and categories to be thrown out. To that end, the IRDA awards offer a wide range of categorical subsets in the judging and presentations. “There is a first, second and third place winner in each of the fiction and non-fiction categories, in addition to 27 titles in 24 sub-categories. Each book has received at least a 4-5 star rating (out of 5 stars) to earn the IRDA win.” The first place title for fiction went to Finding Flipper Frank by Patrick M. Garry, while the first place non-fiction title was Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach by Lisa Quast. Melt: There’s No Place Like Home by Selene Castrovilla and Deadly Lies by Chris Patchell earned second and third place for fiction, respectively, while Saving Mona Lisa by Gerri Channel and The Angkor Guidebook by Andrew Booth earned second and third place for non-fiction, respectively. For a complete list of this year’s winning titles, check out the IndieReader announcement of this year’s honorees.
IndieReader, Melissa Foster Announce 2015 IRDA Winners at BEA is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Using OverDrive Samples to promote engagement and discovery
| Awareness has always been crucial to the success of a library. The materials and resources available could be the best in the community but if no one is aware of them, they won't get used. To that end, OverDrive strives to provide the best marketing materials and training resources available to help ensure the success of the library's digital collections.
One of the most successful tools we provide is the OverDrive Readbox samples. OverDrive samples allow users to discover and begin reading embedded eBook samples from your digital collection and provides a direct link to borrow the title. Libraries use OverDrive Readbox samples to help their communities learn about their digital collections, something Vancouver Public Library understands very well. VPL created a marketing campaign around Canadian Library Month last year that heavily focused on using OverDrive samples. What follows is their story of how Readboxes helped increase engagement and even library card sign-ups:
How did you use Readbox samples with your #GetBooked campaign in your marketing for Canadian Library Month? Our #GetBooked campaign used transit advertising to drive awareness of VPL's digital collections. During the month of October we ran ads on Skytrain station platforms, at bus shelters and on trains. These ads encouraged users to explore our eBook and eAudio collection with a link to the #GetBooked website. On the website they were offered a choice of five personas linked to genres, as well as a Staff Picks option. Personas included Super Sleuth, Escape Artist, Bad#ss, Don Juan(ita) and Soul Searcher. Clicking on a persona took them to a Readbox sample from the genre in question, with an invitation to explore the rest of the collection or sign up for a library card at the end of the sample. We thought transit advertising was perfect for a campaign like this because we could reach people waiting for a bus or for their stop on a train, likely with phone in hand, and capture their interest with the promise of a free read to help pass the time.
What was the reaction from your users? Extremely positive. We received many comments about how much people liked the series of genre personas, and from patrons who hadn't realized the extent of our digital collections before they visited the website. The campaign as a whole generated a lot of very positive attention on social media, which was a great tool for spreading awareness.
Did you see an increase in eBook usage? We saw an increase in holds on the titles that were used as samples in Readbox. We managed this by switching up the titles each morning so that holds lists on individual books didn't get out of hand. Interestingly, the other big increase we saw was in online library card signup that was driven by the link at the end of the Readbox sample. This jumped by 195% year-on-year!
How did you come up with the genres you used? The personas came from our fabulous and creative Marketing & Communications team, who developed them to represent genres that we knew would have popular appeal. We then worked with Reader's Advisory experts from our Information Services staff to create the lists of titles for each genre.
Are you planning to use our Readbox samples again in the future? We've been discussing how we might revisit #GetBooked in a new way when National Library Month comes around this year, which would include using Readbox samples again. They provide an ideal opportunity to try out the eReading experience without barriers to access like a login or download process.
Anything else you would like to share about your program in general? We were really pleased that Staff Picks proved to be by far the most popular of the collections. It speaks to the value patrons place on recommendations by reading experts at the library.
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10 Free Kindle eBooks for Monday, June 1st
| It’s time for another weekly roundup of 10 free Kindle ebooks. All these books are highly-rated and are very popular with readers. Owning a Kindle is not required to read them; you can use a Kindle reading app for iPad, iPhone, and Android devices, or use a computer or web browser. The free ebooks listed […] |
When is the Kobo Touch 2.0 Getting Released?
| One month ago today on the 1st of May, Kobo officially released the Kobo Glo HD. But that’s not the only new ebook reader that Kobo has up their sleeve. Kobo is expected to release a new updated version of the Kobo Touch as well. There’s been no official word of its potential existence yet, […] |
The MagPi Issue 24 – out now!
| Welcome to another edition of the official Raspberry Pi magazine! As always, The MagPi is free to download, and comes brimming with project ideas, tutorials, news, and much, much more. My favourites this month? The clock hack, the 0.25 scale, Pi-powered racing car (that gets up to 150kmph despite its adorable teenyness), and best of all, Mike’s Safari Park Challenge, in which Mike Cook has you building a mathematical puzzle that makes zebra noises. With lots of material for everybody from raw beginners to Pi veterans, what are you waiting for? Head over to the MagPi page to download this month’s issue.
The post The MagPi Issue 24 – out now! appeared first on Raspberry Pi. |
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Top 10 Android Apps of the Week – May 25 to May 31st 2015
| Every week thousands of new apps hit various Android App Stores and today we take a look at the best of the bunch. Google released a new Photography cloud storage app at the Google I/O developer conference and there are plenty of new games too. All of these apps are available to download for free from the Good e-Reader Android App Store. There is no registration and you can download it directly from the web. If you have a smartphone or tablet, download our official app. Jurassic World – Return to Isla Nublar with the creators of the smash hit Jurassic Park Builder for your next adventure: Jurassic World: The Game, the official mobile game based on this summer's epic action-adventure. Bring to life more than 50 colossal dinosaurs from the new film and challenge your opponents in earth-shaking battles. Construct the theme park of tomorrow in this unrivaled build-and-battle dinosaur experience. Google Photos – This is a new app that stores your photos in the cloud, similar to iCloud from Apple. Not only is it available for Android, but iOS too. You can save and edit not only photos, but movies as well. This helps free up space and is better then syncing your phone to your computer. Lara Croft: Relic Run -This game is an endless runner adventure for nostalgic Lara Croft fans. When a shadowy conspiracy threatens the world, only Lara Croft is equipped to unearth the truth. Collect clues to uncover ancient relics. Run, swing, drive, and swan dive your way through beautiful and challenging environments. There's no time to waste, but how long can you survive? Office Lens – Office Lens trims, enhances, and makes pictures of whiteboards and docs readable. You can use Office Lens to convert images to PDF, Word and PowerPoint files, and you can even save images to OneNote or OneDrive. This app is actually very underrated for people who are students in class or are in meetings. Periscope – Periscope lets you broadcast live video to the world. Going live will instantly notify your followers, who can join, comment and send you hearts in real time. The more hearts you get, the higher they flutter on the screen. This app is from the owners of Twitter, so it is getting lots of media attention. The battle right now for on the go streaming video recording is Periscope and Meerkat. Yallo – The Future is Calling – Yallo is a start-up with a big and bold vision: to reinvent the phone call so people can fall in love with it again. We've all seen the innovation in messaging, photography and video—from WhatsApps and SnapChat to Instagram and Meerkat. But the phone call hasn’t changed in decades. Until now. Aeroplan (Beta) – This is a new app that allows Canadians to access your account summary, including mileage levels, Distinction and Air Canada Altitude status. It also allows you to use your card virtually, much akin to flashing the Stackbucks app to pay for coffee. Shazam – Not a new app, but the music recognition service is in the process of reinventing themselves. They have added the ability to scan QR codes and play music, audio or video. Shazam has just signed agreements with some major publishers for author interviews. TORONTO 2015 Pan Am Games – Bring the Games to your mobile device with this powerful and simple-to-use app, presented by CIBC. Whether you're on your way to a Games venue or planning your Games experience well in advance, the app is the best tool for building your personalized TORONTO 2015 Pan Am / Parapan Am Games guide that brings you venue details, Games maps, Torch Relay maps, ticketing information, spectator services and features connected to the TORONTO 2015 sport program, official celebrations and cultural program. It's the most convenient way to engage with the Games and bring the Games with you wherever you go. COOKING MAMA Let’s Cook – The original Cooking Mama game for the Nintendo WII was the first game I ever played on that console. I was working in the video game industry at the time at a production studio. This game enamoured us all and sold very well. A DS game was made of it and now it arrives for Android. Its zany and wacky and you cook things, whats not to love? Top 10 Android Apps of the Week – May 25 to May 31st 2015 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Digital Audiobooks are Cannibalizing Physical Audio
| The global audiobook industry is currently worth 2.6 billion dollars and part of the reason why we have seen a dramatic increase in profitability is due to digital. The overall success of the digital audiobook is primarily attributed to companies such as Audible, Findaway World and Recorded Books who are the industry leaders. With any digital medium, the affects are starting to be quite evident with the decline of physical audio. Depending on who you talk to, tapes and CD sales are falling at a rapid clip or barely growing at all. The unilateral consensus is that physical audio overall accounted for 19% of of all audio purchases in 2014, falling from 31% in 2013. This year is looking even worse, as physical audio sales have fallen by 18%. Most of this data has come from Nielsen BookScan, who said unit sales of physical audio barely moved the needle with a paltry 0.2% growth in 2014. Things look a bit bleaker according to the Association of American Publisher who said CD sales fell 7.7% in 2014. Have tangible audiobook sales really fallen so profoundly in the last year? Some of the largest companies do have some problems with the data provided by Nielsen and the APP. The Senior VP of Content and Aquisitions at Recorded Books said that those figures are not wholly representative of industry activity. "Indie publishers don't report, and a number of larger companies are outsourcing CD production with print-on-demand agreements, so the numbers don’t get picked up.”" The primary problem as the spokesman from Recorded Books pointed out is that Indie authors never invest in a proper ISBN number. Not investing in a proper ISBN number is basically relegating your title to the shadow realm. Additionally, it is near impossible to accurately track print on demand titles due to the sheer amount of companies participating in this space and not contributing any meaningful data to the companies that track global sales. I think one of the big reasons why tangible audio has fallen is due to the high cost of unabridged retail copies. The average CD costs $25 and it is not surprising to pay $40.00 for a bestseller such as Memory Man by David Baldacci. Digital editions cost less than a tangible edition, but not by much. The average cost is between $21 and $30 on iTunes or Audible. Why are audiobooks so overpriced to begin with? It all comes down to concept called billable hours. Each audiobook is on average around 12 hours, which costs on average $300 and $400 an hour for a production studio and narrator. They also have to account for multiple takes and editing. The finished product after its all said and done is normally $5,000 to $6,000 to make the audiobbook. Some companies ride on the back of star power to draw attention to audiobooks and use them for marketing purposes. World War Z hired 21 different voice actors, such as Simon Pegg, Common and Martin Scorsese. Even hiring just one famous person to narrate the book, drives the production costs up exponentially. The average cost dramatically increases to $1,000 to $1,500 per book hour and the final product costs the publisher $17,000. I don’t know anyone that has a Walkman, Diskman or a CD player in their homes anymore. Everyone is streaming movies from an Apple TV or listening to the radio via dedicated apps for Android or iOS. It is no surprise that tape and CD sales have plummeted to such a large degree. Digital Audiobooks are Cannibalizing Physical Audio is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The Top Selling e-Books of 2014
| The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene was first published in 2012. The book though quickly rose to #1 on the Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble bestseller lists months before it was even released, because every pre-order would be hand-signed by the author. Due to the runaway success of the film and the blitz marketing campaign Fault in our Stars was the top selling e-book of 2014. How can we be sure that Fault in our Stars was the true number one bestseller of 2014? The information comes from PubTrack Digital, a unit of Nielsen BookScan. Unlike the point-of-sale system used by BookScan to track sales of physical books, PubTrack Digital aggregates e-book unit sales supplied by publishers. According to Nielsen, publishers send data on their confirmed e-book sales made through about 40 major e-book retailers. Nielsen then aggregates the data to develop an e-book sales tracking tool. Participating publishers include more than 30 of the largest trade houses, including all the Big Five. What were the other top selling e-books of 2014? PubTrack Digital released the following list last week. If you are looking for a read and haven’t bought into the hype train yet, all of these books sold very well.
The Top Selling e-Books of 2014 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Losing the Signal Book Review – The Blackberry Story
| Losing the Signal – The Spectacular Rise and Fall of BlackBerry came out on Tuesday and this was a book I eagerly anticipating. It tells the tale of engineer Mike Lazaridis and businessman Jim Balsillie from their early years in highschool to the formation of RIM, whose first office was above a bagel shop. This book was written by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff. They are staff reporters at the Globe and Mail and have been following Blackberry since the very beginning. They got direct access to the two former CEO’s who haven’t done anything in the media since they left the company. Do you know why they left? It primarily had to do with the failings of the Blackberry Storm, post-dating shares to get maximum value and the ensuing legal drama. Getting sued by NXP over wireless patents also drove Balsillie to be a manic depressant. Speaking of Balsillie, he revered The Art of War as a kind of spiritual guidebook for a small Ontarian company facing ruthless global competitors. “It is not a friendly world out there,” says Balsillie. Sun Tzu,taught him that “you can’t panic. You have to stay focused. You go into a state. Emotionally you become formidable. You go into a warrior state.” What I found especially compelling were the early years of Research and Motion and how US Robotics and other companies tried to withhold paying for orders to financially hurt the company. Another interesting fact was that Blackberry has a brand grew fairly organically. Businessman would be glued to their device during meetings and people asked what it was. It grew exponentially from there. When RIM first taking online orders, their first customer was Michael Dell, of Dell Computers. You get a strong sense from reading this book on how telecom carriers were totally unprepared for the data revolution. Canada, the US and UK were all using EDGE and 2G data connections when RIM first starting releasing phones. They actually told them that their internet browser had to be very bones because their networks could not handle the amount of data. Vodaphone and others actually bucked about paying Blackberry the service fee for each phone sold, because Blackberry had their own servers to handle pushed email. Things all changed with the advent of the iPhone, and carriers started investing billions in expanded networks. RIM was caught off guard by the iPhone and was pressured by Verizon into releasing the Blackberry Storm, a critical flop. Losing the Signal is not a cultural analysis of BlackBerry's effect on the ways we think or behave. Instead it primarily delivers a thorough account of the business maneuverings that allowed a small Canadian company to become a global player. This book is the first truly comprehensive account of the history of Blackberry and a very solid read. Likely the best book I have read since The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone. Losing the Signal Book Review – The Blackberry Story is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Barnes and Noble Nook Press is Bad for Authors
| Barnes and Noble operates a self-publishing program called Nook Press. The second generation platform launched in early 2013 and focuses on getting indie authors to submit their books for inclusion into the Nook bookstore. It is my belief that Nook Press is bad for authors and solely exists to financially gauge them at every opportunity. Last year, the former General Manager of Nook Press and VP of Content Acquisitions Theresa Horner wanted to devise a way for the self-publishing platform to make some serious money. She opened up a dialog with Author Solutions and deal was struck in October. One month later she was fired from Barnes and Noble. The Author Solutions deal finally allowed Barnes and Noble to make a lot of money from their cadre of self-published authors. This includes a $999 package to get e-book cover art and formatting done or a $2,100 package that includes “Expert Editorial Assessment”, which basically informs the author what they are doing wrong and how B&N can fix it. There is also an illustration option starting at $275 or 3 different tiers for book editing. Basically if there is a way to gauge an author to pay money for something from e-book formatting to an ISBN number, they are doing it. Many aspiring authors are unaware that it is not Barnes and Noble that is conducting these services, but instead everything is outsourced to Author Solutions. Whenever an author is sent over to the 3rd party company, B&N earns a hefty commission. Author Solutions has a terrible reputation in the writing community for the deceptive methods it uses to ensnare authors, its sub-standard and over-priced services, and its high-pressure sales tactics aimed at selling completely ineffective (and ridiculously expensive) marketing packages. The company is also being sued by many different authors who claim they exist as predatory monsters, who see authors only as profit. Things are so bad right now that even the Authors Guild has severed ties with them. The fleecing of indie authors does not begin and end with Author Solutions. Last week at Book Expo America Blublish has announced a free two month trial for Nook Press authors and after the term is up will automatically be upgraded to a $99 a year package. Lots of people have said that Blublish is basically the equivalent of installing Google Analytics on your website. In reality it’s basically the paid version of hosting a WordPress website. “I applaud any new platform that can legitimately prove a resource for self-publishers, and this one looks quite professional.” Said author R.E. McDermott, “I have a pretty simplistic way of evaluating things. This is touted as a marketing site, so I had a look at the authors offering testimonials as to how Bublish had helped their sales. The problem is, if you look at them on Amazon, NONE of them are selling very many books. That's not a put down of either the authors or their work, for all I know, they might all be wonderful. But if this is a MARKETING site, showcasing authors who aren't selling.” Barnes and Noble Nook Press is obsessed with charging authors for everything they can. Have whack cover art? You can pay for that. Need assistance with Word to EPUB conversions? You can certainly pay for that too. Not sure what you need done? You can pay for that knowledge and then pay for whatever they recommend. All along the way you can expect emails, newsletters and telephone calls trying to get you to upgrade your existing package. All for the good of your book of course. Nook Press is bad for authors. The platform is considered second rate by the publishing industry. You would be better off going with Kindle Direct Publishing. They give you a free author page where you can promote yourself and empower you with knowledge, so you can understand the marketing process, instead of mindlessly paying Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble Nook Press is Bad for Authors is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Top 5 Streaming Anime Shows – June 2015
| There is plenty of excellent anime that started in the early Spring and is currently ongoing. Crunchyroll and Funimation both have the bulk of the content and each have their own license to stream specific franchises. Want to discover some excellently written shows or zany circumstances? Our top 5 list will cure all of your ills. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? – The story follows the exploits of Bell Cranel, a 14-year-old solo adventurer under the goddess Hestia. As the only member of the Hestia Familia, Bell works hard every day in the dungeon to make ends meet while seeking to improve himself. Bell looks up to Aiz Wallenstein, a famous and powerful swordswoman who once saved his life, and with whom he fell in love. Bell is unaware that several other girls, deities and mortals also develop affections towards him; most notably Hestia herself. Seraph of the End – In 2012, the world allegedly comes to an end at the hands of a human-made virus, ravaging the global populace and leaving only children untouched. It is at this time that vampires emerge from the recesses of the earth, likely followed by age-old horrors of the dark thought only to be myth. The vampires sweep the earth and claim it in a single violent stroke, subjugating the remnants of humanity and leading them beneath the surface to safety. The show is about heroes, wielding cursed weapons imbued by demons to fight the vampires. Plastic Memories– Plastic Memories takes place in a city in the near future, in which humans live alongside androids that look exactly like humans and have human emotion and memory. SAI Corp, the leading android production company, has introduced the Giftia, a new android model with the most human-like qualities of any model. The lifetime of a Giftia is 81,920 hours (roughly nine years and four months), and if they pass their expiration date, it causes personality disintegration and memory loss. As a result, the employees of the Terminal Service (responsible for retrieving androids who are close to reaching the end of their service lives and erasing the androids’ memories) must go to the owner of the Giftia and collect it. Those assigned to the Terminal Service work in teams consisting of a human (called a “spotter”) and a Giftia (called a “marksman”). The story follows protagonist Tsukasa Mizugaki and a Giftia named Isla, both of whom work in SAI Corp’s Terminal Service No. 1 office. You can think of this as an Android romantic comedy. Assassination Classroom – The Earth is threatened by a powerful creature who destroyed 70% of the Moon with its power, rendering into the shape of a crescent moon forever. The creature claims that within a year, Earth will also be destroyed by him, but he offers mankind a chance to avert this fate. In class 3-E at Kunugigaoka Junior High School, he starts working as a homeroom teacher where he teaches his students not only regular subjects, but the ways of assassination. The Japanese government promises a reward of ¥10 billion (i.e. 100 million USD) to whomever among the students succeeds in killing the teacher, whom they have named “Koro-sensei”. However, this has proven to be an almost impossible task, as not only does he have several superpowers at his disposal, including the capacity of moving at Mach 20, but he is also the best teacher they’ve ever had. I really like this one, its comedy gold and each episode stands up well on its own. Ultimate Otaku Teacher – The story follows Jun’ichirō Kagami, whose sister Suzune is angry at him because of his complete disinterest in the real world. As Jun’ichirō is interested in nothing but anime, manga and games, Suzune forces him to go on a job as a physics teacher substitute at the same high school from which he graduated. Jun’ichirō proves himself a capable and hardworking teacher who comes with unorthodox methods based on the seemingly useless knowledge he obtained as an otaku to teach and motivate his students. Top 5 Streaming Anime Shows – June 2015 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
