| Love is in the air and for those who'd like to convey the feelings with something that is more tangible (read tablet devices), there are some nice lucrative deals for the Kindle Fire HDX to consider this Valentines Day. Discounts being offered range from just $15 for the 7 inch Kindle Fire HD to a massive $80 for the Kindle Fire HD 8.9. In between, the latest Kindle tablet versions too benefit from a price cut of $30 for the 7 inch Kindle Fire HDX while its bigger cousin, the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is getting a price cut of $40. Overall, the entire Kindle Fire range including even the HD version continues to amaze us with its brilliant display and performance, all of it is backed by an equally impressive tablet ecosystem. Or to put it in other words, it's the best time to invest in a Kindle Fire device, particularly the bigger screened version to make the most of the discounts on offer. The price structure for the entire Kindle Fire range valid till the Valentine's Day is as follows: Kindle Fire HD 7 – $124 ($139) Kindle Fire HDX 7 – $199 ($229) Kindle Fire HD 8.9 – $339 ($379) Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 – $189 ($269)
Amazon Discounts Kindle Fire For Valentines Day is a post from: E-Reader News |
Monday, February 10, 2014
Amazon Discounts Kindle Fire For Valentines Day
Our Love Affair with the e-Reader Continues
| The e-Reader continues to enjoy modest growth and peoples love affair with reading on the go, continues. Anyone who has ever ravenously devoured a trilogy of books, one after the other can attest, e-readers are far easier on the eyes than a tablet. When it comes to e-readers, people have fonder memories of their experiences, than any other device. e-Reader sales peaked in 2011 when Sony, Nook, Kobo and Amazon were heavily competing against each other in a very hot sector. At the end of 2011 28 million e-readers were sold and sales have been sliding ever since. Only 15 million devices were sold in 2013 and 19.9 million units in 2012. Research firms are optimistic about 2014 sales, due to a bunch of new markets opening. Honestly though, e-Readers are very mature now, with only a handful of top players that make money doing it. When it comes right down to it, e-readers are one of the few tech devices on the market that are future-proof. Many people have a Kindle 2 or Kindle 3 and are quite happy with their purchases. I personally know about a hundred people that are enamored with their PRS 650, which is about four years old now. New e-Reader models often have barely noticeable differences between the previous generation and the current one. We often see faster page turns, a faster processor and more RAM. Aside from the front-lit technology that came out a few years ago, there is seldom a compelling reason to buy another e-reader. We asked the question what your favorite e-reader memory was, on a recent Facebook entry. Here is what we got; Julie Semple Stam mentioned “It was when I knew for sure that I preferred e-books over paper ones. I was stuck reading a paper book and touched a word and couldn’t figure out why the definition didn’t pop up. I started laughing and had to explain to the others in our lunchroom what I had just done.” Ruth Soukup said “When the Kindle first came out several years ago, I turned up my nose. After all, I was a purist. I love real books, I insisted. I want to feel them in my hands while I'm reading and see them on my shelf when I'm done. I liked the visual reminder of what I've read, liked the experience of reading a BOOK, not some silly electronic gizmo. But then, about three years ago, I was doing some research on a particular topic and the only books I could find on the subject were Kindle books. After hemming and hawing for a while, then searching around some more and still finding nothing, I finally broke down and ordered the cheapest Kindle option I could get (only $69!) To say it changed my life is not an exaggeration. To my utter surprise, I absolutely loved reading books on my Kindle. In the years since, I have ordered two more Kindles for my own family, and have given them as graduation gifts to three of my college-bound nieces and nephews. I went from wondering how anyone could give up real books to wondering how I ever lived without one. After giving it some serious thought, I realized there are seven main reasons I now love reading my Kindle even more than regular books” Michele Friedman provided an amusing antidote “Rolling over on my first Kindle in the middle of the night and breaking it which forced me to immediately get out of bed at 3 am and call Amazon to see how I could either fix it or get another one ASAP. They sold me a new one at a huge discount and had it to me within a day or two and sent me prepaid labels to send my old one back to them. I can’t live without my Kindle.” Sanket Dhingra weighed in “Haven’t got to do this myself even though I have a Kindle, but experienced someone else doing it. This dates back 2 years when Kindle wasn’t even being sold in India at brick and mortar stores. A guy actually brought one to Delhi Metro tube and many asked him what sort of tablet is that. He was amazed when I told him I like Kindle too and am planning to get one. He was relieved to finally find someone he didn’t have to explain.” Friend of Good e-Reader, Ryno Bones had a bit different of an experience ” One of my friends gave me a Kindle 2 about four years ago. Had a couple of mediocre books on it so I immediately connected it to Amazon to spend a few bucks on books I knew I couldn’t live without. Nothing happened. Kept getting errors. Finally called Amazon’s tech support about it. Turned out the dang thing was stolen. To save face I bought a Kindle 3.” Our Love Affair with the e-Reader Continues is a post from: E-Reader News |
Microsoft Developing Windows 8 e-Reading App
| Microsoft is developing an XBox e-Reading App for Windows 8 that will be able to read eBooks, comics and magazines. This news stems from a recent job posting that Microsoft posted today. The Job post basically summarizes that “As an SDE, you will be on the team building a groundbreaking interactive reading app on Windows, which incorporates books, magazines, and comics. In this position you will be expected to drive, design, and deliver the features that you work on. The ideal candidate will have strong technical skills, the ability to work in a fast-paced and collaborative, cross-discipline team environment, and a passion for digital entertainment.” Windows 8 already ships with a reading app, but it is limited to PDF, XPS and TIFF files, but this new app seems to be much more than that. This new e-reading app might be fetching digital content directly from Barnes and Noble, as Microsoft invested $300 million into Nook Media and has assisted them in international distribution. Microsoft Developing Windows 8 e-Reading App is a post from: E-Reader News |
Open Road Acquires eBook Publisher E-Reads
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"E-Reads has proven to be as successful as I envisioned when I founded the company in 1999," said Richard Curtis in a statement. "However, as I recently surveyed the state of the industry, it became apparent that it was time to seek an alliance with a company with greater resources, particularly in the all-important area of marketing. I am confident that Open Road will afford all of our books the best opportunity to realize their full potential in a competitive, ever-changing, and increasingly crowded marketplace, and I look forward to playing a role in the integration of these two great firms." It’s interesting that Curtis points to marketing as one of the major issues facing his company, a factor that has frustrated authors and publishers alike, especially now in the era of open book publication. As the sea of titles continues to swell daily, even established names in the industry are finding book discovery to be a bit of a challenge. "E-Reads is one of the publishing industry's pioneering companies, and it shares Open Road's passion for the digital future," continued Open Road cofounder and CEO Jane Friedman. "Richard Curtis has built an incredible catalog filled with beloved and bestselling authors, and we are excited to welcome them to the Open Road family as we bring all of our resources to connecting them with readers around the world." The acquisition will be finalized in spring 2014, with E-Reads’ founder helping with the transition. Once complete, Curtis will continue to operate his successful literary agency, and the E-Reads’ titles will be available from Open Road’s website and major retailers.
Open Road Acquires eBook Publisher E-Reads is a post from: E-Reader News |
Barnes and Noble Making Massive Changes at Nook
| Barnes and Noble has fired most of their hardware engineering division last Thursday, according to one source. This follows Barnes & Noble dismissing the VP of Hardware, Bill Saperstein in January. The head of Nook Accessories, Jacqueline Corso, was also let go last week. It looks like B&N is initiating the Clean Sweep protocol, as new CEO Michael Huseby is likely appointing his own cabinet into the upper echelons of management. The Barnes and Noble portfolio of e-Readers and Tablets have seen cumitive loses each financial quarter in 2013. The entire hardware division was down 32.2% on a year-over-year basis. Most of the Nook management team mentioned that the bookstore chain should just axe it. One of the last proclamations that former CEO William Lynch made, was that the company was getting out of hardware, only to flip flop and say they were going to continue to make e-readers. Barnes and Noble is expanding on their Nook Study platform and the entire program is undergoing a revision. They have brought over Roger Bishoff, formerly of Microsoft, into the role of Engineering Manager. He will be spearheading the entire digital Nook Education endeavor. Likely, the College and University bookstore chain of B&N will promote the digital aspect as early as the Fall. Many of the new hires for B&N educational unit are actually based in the Seattle area. They are actively seeking new candidates to work in Redmond, which is a firm indication that Microsoft might be playing a role in this whole program. The vast majority of Barnes and Nobles programs are in serious jeopardy. Their App market has been relegated into obscurity with the inclusion of Google Play and their self-publishing platform, Nook Press has not made any announcements since it originally launched last year. Barnes and Noble Making Massive Changes at Nook is a post from: E-Reader News |
Samsung Galaxy Tab Round Design Concept Revealed
| Whether there have been enough takers for the Samsung Galaxy Round smartphone can be a topic of debate though it seems there is quite some clamor for the tablet version of the same. Now designer Jermaine Smit has come up with some interesting design concepts to whet out appetite that much more. To begin with, the tablets showcased differ from its smartphone brethren in it bending along the central horizontal mid-line, which is where it shares a similar design theme with the LG G2 Flex. In contrast, the Galaxy Round incorporates a design theme that bends along the vertical central line. Further, the Galaxy Tab Round sports super thin bezels that are quite similar to what we have come to expect of smartphone devices. The tablet also comes with its own stand which bears some resemblance with the recently launched Lenovo Yoga tablet. Overall, it's a whole new design concept that has been put forward, one that looks excellent and sleek. It's quite unlike anything we have seen so far in the tablet sphere though before we start getting too excited, let's be reminded all over again these are just conceptual designs and may not bear any direct or indirect resemblance with a tablet which again no one is sure Samsung is going to come out with. Smit also seems to have an idea of what the internals of the tablet will be like. These include a Snapdragon 805 chip that works together with a 4 GB RAM, and 32 GB of internal storage. The tablet being shown here comes with a 2K 10.1 inch display. Further, the tablet will have a twin camera set up, with a 13 megapixel camera along the rear and a 3.2 megapixel unit along the front. Meanwhile, there also is a video pasted below that will let us have a better idea of it.
Samsung Galaxy Tab Round Design Concept Revealed is a post from: E-Reader News |
Monthly Marketing Tip: eBooks for all seasons
| February marks Black History Month in the United States and Canada. This is a great time to diversify your digital collection and focus your marketing efforts around a holiday or event. Last week in the Collection Development blog, we shared some suggested titles to build up your digital collection in honor of Black History Month. We now have marketing materials available in the Partner Portal, including a print-ready flyer and a web graphic that can be used on your library website or shared on your Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest accounts. When posting the graphic, make sure to link it to your digital collection and if possible, include a description about your eBooks with the appropriate URL. On social media, many libraries have found success by highlighting specific titles through an eBook of the day or a featured title of the week board on Pinterest, or regular posts on Facebook and Twitter. Spotlighting books that correlate with holidays or events is an easy way to show the variety of titles available. And remember, Black History Month isn't the only celebration in February. Valentine's Day is quickly approaching as well. Hopeless romantics will be drawn to your love stories, but you can also feature some of your nonfiction self-help content with relationship advice. In the Partner Portal, we have a series of Seasonal Promotion marketing kits. Just visit http://partners.overdrive.com, click on “Marketing & Outreach,”choose your platform and select “Promotional Resources.” You'll find the updated “Seasonal Promotion” kits featuring a variety of print-ready materials and web graphics for holidays and events throughout the year. Each kit is divided by season and month (as determined by the U.S. calendar). Find materials for February in the Winter Promo Pack or start planning for the next few months by browsing what we have available in the Spring Promo Pack. We will be updating each kit over the next few months to expand upon what is currently available. If you would like a custom marketing item or have any questions, please let us know! You can leave a comment here on the blog or directly contact your Account Specialist. Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive.
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Q&A with Gordon Hollingworth our Director of Software
| Matthew Timmons-Brown, aka The Raspberry Pi Guy, was in the office recently and nailed down the elusive Gordon Hollingworth for an interview. It contains top secret stuff. Which obviously isn’t so secret any more but is very interesting. Enjoy! |
Daily Deals & Freebies – February 10
| Kindle Daily Deals The Wrong Hostage by Elizabeth Lowell Orphaned at thirteen, Grace Silva clawed her way out of poverty and violence to become one of the most respected judges on the federal bench. Grace believes in the rule of law — lives it, breathes it. She has always been buttoned up and buttoned down. […] |
DreamWorks Animation to Hold Its Own Children’s eBook Imprint
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DreamWorks Animation SKG, the creators of arguably most of the top-grossing children’s movies on the market alongside Disney’s Pixar studios, has announced that it will form its own children’s ebook imprint to release novelizations of its line of films. Some of the films include names like Madagascar, Shrek, and many more. To date, DreamWorks’ films have been adapted for iOS and more recently Android devices by the award-winning iStoryTime group, owned by zuuka. iStoryTime, which began with enhanced ebooks of its own original in-house content, began creating the dynamic, full-featured adaptations for DreamWorks several years ago, even releasing some titles to coincide with the film launches. While iStoryTime titles were initially stand-alone apps of the popular children’s books, the company evolved into offering a bookstore within its main app that let parents purchase titles for their children’s shelves. These titles, which featured full color animation, bonus learning games, and full audio narration with the ability to read aloud or read silently, were also available through an innovative ad-based feature that let parents earn additional titles for their children’s accounts by interacting with advertising outside of the book.
DreamWorks Animation to Hold Its Own Children’s eBook Imprint is a post from: E-Reader News |
Podcast: Week in Review – Feb 10th 2014
| Welcome to the Good e-Reader Radio Show, week in review. Today, Michael Kozlowski of Good e-Reader flies solo, talking about the biggest stories of last week. Canadians will soon get lower eBook prices, due to a new agreement with major publishers. Sony and Kobo are become strange bedfellows, with Sony customers being transferred to Kobo in March. LJ Smith, is well known for writing the Vampire Diaries that has undergone a renaissance. She was let go by her publisher and decided to write Fan-Fic of her own franchise via Kindle Worlds. Lots more stories and some new tunes, a great show as always, so check it out. Podcast: Week in Review – Feb 10th 2014 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Don’t forget your teachers! Professional development goes digital
| Students aren't the only ones that love the digital library. So, why not entice even more of your faculty with a collection of digital professional development titles? With sweeping changes in curriculum standards (that's you, Common Core!) and the possibilities of using technology in the classroom, more educators than ever are looking for guidance. OverDrive carries many respected Professional Development publishers, including: Corwin (SAGE Publications), ASCD, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Wiley, and many more. We've put together a selection of our most popular K-12 Professional Development titles. Some of our favorites:
As an added bonus, teachers that use the digital library themselves are even more likely to remind students of the digital options at your school!  Bailey Hotujac is a Collection Development Specialist at OverDrive.
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Sunday, February 9, 2014
Digital Comics Best-Sellers for February 9, 2014
| Three of the four charts are oddly skewed this week, with Hawkeye, DC comics, and The Walking Dead each taking over a different top ten. 1. Forever Evil #5 Marvel dominates the comiXology top ten this week, taking eight of the ten slots; they had two #1 issues, including the much-hyped appearance of Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel, and 99-cent sale on Hawkeye helps as well. 1. Hyperbole and a Half The Kindle top ten is always an interesting mix; Hyperbole and a Half continues to dominate, and below that there’s a mix of genres and formats—The Walking Dead in collected and single-issue form, two Game of Thrones tie-ins, two issues of the second season of Tom Taylor’s Injustice… Kindle readers are nothing if not eclectic. 1. Naruto, vol. 64 After weeks of stasis, the Nook chart has moved quite a bit. It’s dominated by 99-cent single-issue DC comics, at least one of which (Mad Magazine #1) used to be free, so it may be that its position on the chart reflects a lot of free downloads. iBooks 1. The Walking Dead #120 Down at the iBookstore, it looks like The Walking Dead have taken over; gone are the multiple issues of My Little Pony that usually share the space. It’s interesting that while the first volume of The Walking Dead charts reliably on the Kindle and Nook platforms, only in iBooks do the more recent volumes pop up. It looks like they are up to date on Injustice Year Two as well, but that issue #3 is a pre-order. Digital Comics Best-Sellers for February 9, 2014 is a post from: E-Reader News |
Flappy Bird for Android Still Available on Good e-Reader
| Flappy Bird has been one of the breakout success stories of 2014, with it rising to the top of the app charts for iOS or Android. The Vietnamese developer was making close to $50,000 per day in advertising revenue from the apps. Many news outlets and media have been petitioning Dong Nguyen about interviews. Unable to cope with the fame and the growing tide of people who said the art assets have been ripped off from Nintendo games, the app has been pulled down. If you want to Download Flappy Bird, you can still download it for free from the Good e-Reader App Store. It is currently available for both Blackberry 10 and Android.
Flappy Bird for Android Still Available on Good e-Reader is a post from: E-Reader News |
Vampire Diaries Author Publishes Her Own FanFic of the Work
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What may also come as a surprise to fans–even a shock, to some–is that author LJ Smith was cut out of the series by the publisher after the fourth book, even though she had already written the fifth book in the series. At the time that she was expecting to receive remarks from her editor at the publishing house, she instead received a letter telling her they were going with a ghostwriter to finish the series. A very in-depth and authoritative post on the subject can be found HERE. Now, in a move that Good e-Reader has suggested for authors like JK Rowling, among others, Smith has found a home for her work on her series in Amazon’s Kindle Worlds fan fiction site, allowing even the original creator of the characters and story line to have fun and success at the same time while breathing new life into the title. Smith, whose work has joined the more than three hundred stories that have already been published through the licensing agreements set up by Kindle Worlds, currently holds the top spot for her continuation of the Vampire Diaries. Even more interesting, readers can pick up book three in the series (traditionally published), and then choose to either go with the publisher’s concept in book four, or Smith’s newly revised version of what should happen in book four. Once relegated to the iffy realm of overzealous fans who just couldn’t let go, fan fiction has taken on a sudden literary acceptance the likes of which the industry hasn’t seen since self-publishing first became acceptable. While some fanfic writers still spurn publishing of the genre for profit by saying it essentially strips away the reason for writing it, others have found success and even critical acclaim for their work. Still others have even garnered the praise and support of the author who originally created with world these newcomers are crafting for. Regardless of the processes involved in creating a book–whether entirely one’s own concept or a building of another’s prior work–digital publishing has allowed fan fiction writers to reach broader audiences with their stories, and to enjoy the same successes that other authors can.
Vampire Diaries Author Publishes Her Own FanFic of the Work is a post from: E-Reader News |
Daily Deals & Freebies – February 9
| Kindle Daily Deals The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead St. Vladimir's Academy isn't just any boarding school—it's a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They've been […] |
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Adobe Announces it Will Continue to Support old eBook Formats
| Adobe has announced that it will continue to support the older DRM encryption formats for PDF and EPUB eBooks. This flip-flopping on this specific matter was due to the firestorm that erupted due to our recent post on Adobe killing the e-reader industry. We had so much feedback, that Adobe themselves commented on our original story and announced that they will continue to support the old formats indefinitely. Last week, Adobe stated that they were upgrading the security of their eBook encryption systems. They mandated that they would start petitioning the greater eBook industry starting in March and would prevent older e-readers from reading new eBooks. Basically, if you have an old device, and buy a new eBook, you would not be able to read it, unless the company who made the e-reader updated the firmware. Needless to say there is a ton of older models on the market and perfectly good devices in service, that would never receive the firmware update. "Adobe does not plan to stop support for ACS 4 or RMSDK 9. ACS 5 books will be delivered to the older RMSDK 9 based readers", according to Shameer Ayyappan, Senior Product Manager at Adobe. "We will let our resellers and publishers decide when they wish to set the DRM flag on ACS 5, thus enforcing the need for RMSDK 10 based readers." In other words, ACS and RMSDK customers can migrate to the new hardened DRM that provides a higher degree of security to EPUB & PDF content and prevents unauthorized viewing of content now and in the future in a timeframe that makes sense for them. Although Adobe will not cut old e-readers off, they still won’t be able to read the new eBook formats, once more companies start adopting them. One silver lining, was that Sony was the largest company that used the stock Adobe DRM, but they have since abandoned their bookstore in the USA and Canada. Kobo has picked up their customers and all the old books, and Kobo uses their own offshoot of Adobe DRM. Adobe may not have the clout in North America that they used to, but still have a major presence in the international digital scene. Thalia, txtr and many other companies use their stock encryption, but all of these stores only account for 4% of the global eBook market. Adobe Announces it Will Continue to Support old eBook Formats is a post from: E-Reader News |
Poorly Translated Public Domain Titles Removed from Amazon
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A number of books uploaded by an individual going by “M Angelo” were nothing more than Google translate-style quick jobs of well-known classics of literature, muddled together in a variety of foreign languages, prompting Amazon to remove the ebooks after complaints about the books barely being readable, let alone offering a quality translation. Before anyone expresses concern that Amazon is now stripping books from its retail website due to simply not thinking they are worthy, the terms of service for using KDP have always allowed the retailer to do so, a right they have exercised in the past in regard to immoral, pornographic, and pirated works. Even more compelling, though, is the fact that the terms of service don’t allow any author to charge for a public domain work, even one that was sloppily translated. This recent uproar in the world of self-publishing is a demonstration of what many critics fear most about the ability to flood the book market with garbage. An unscrupulous individual saw an outlet for making quick money–even while listing himself alongside the author and charging only 99 cents for each language’s edition of these works–and dealt another blow to the credibility of authors who do put forth incredible amounts of time, talent, effort, and even financial resources to ensure that their works are well-received and worthy reads. Hopefully, this get-rich-quick scheme does not become another notch in the yard stick by which consumers measure self-publishing.
Poorly Translated Public Domain Titles Removed from Amazon is a post from: E-Reader News |
Daily Deals & Freebies – February 8
| Kindle Daily Deals Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward Winner of the 2011 National Book Award. A hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch’s father is growing concerned. A hard drinker, largely absent, he doesn’t show concern for much else. Esch and her three […] |
Friday, February 7, 2014
How to Load Android Apps on the Blackberry Z10 and Z30
| Blackberry has released a firmware update for their current generation line of touchscreen smartphones. The Z10 and Z30 now has the ability to load and install APK Files, which makes life easier, compared to the old methodology. Today, Good e-Reader will show you exactly what you need to do on your phone to install apps. If you wanted to load in your own apps on the Blackberry Z10 or Z30 until today, there was some extensive work to be done. You first had to find an Android file you wanted and then use the APK to BAR Convertor to bring it over to a Blackberry compatible format. Next, you needed DDPB or the Google Chrome plugin to install and test the app on your device. Most apps did not work and the entire process was an exercise in patience. The new method to install Android apps does not involve development mode or plugging your phone into the computer. From now on, you can simply use your phones internet browser to find and load in apps. In the video below, we walk you through the entire process. I recommend the first app you should install is the Good e-Reader Android App Store. We currently have over 100,000 apps and you can install everything in one button click. There is no registration or any kind of barriers to prevent you from discovering content and installing it. The very fact that Blackberry has added the ability to load in APK files is a game changer. It suddenly makes their phones relevant and you can easily play Simpsons Tapped Out, Flappy Birds and thousands of other games that never made it into Blackberry World.
How to Load Android Apps on the Blackberry Z10 and Z30 is a post from: E-Reader News |
