The overall message — or attitude — was pretty consistent throughout the day at a lively and informative Publishers Launch Kids conference kicking off Digital Book World on Tuesday. With a robust traditional market for children’s books of all kinds, “it’s a much more interesting place than it was a few years ago,” as Random […]
Children's
Amazon Refreshes Kindle eReaders and Tablets, Adding Kids Tablet
After some leaks at their international stores, on Wednesday evening Amazon announced new ereaders and tablets, all set to ship in October. The new basic Kindle is thinner, adds a touchscreen, and sells for $79, with ads. (That’s $10 more than the previous basic model, or 15 percent higher. So the people who fight to control pricing because “e-books can and should […]
Inkling Closes Consumer Business to Focus on Enterprise Side; Lays Off 25 Percent of Staff
Inkling is officially closing its consumer retail business and has laid off something close to 25 percent of staff as a result. (CEO Matt MacInnis confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch, indicating that 25 percent “was a little high.”) The company will focus on the enterprise/platform side, licensing their technology to publishers and large companies creating […]
Google Play for Education Expands In K-12 with Houghton Books and More Devices
Google is rolling out an expansion of their education initiative (Google Play for Education) in the K-12 market with a number of announcements and new partnerships, timed in conjunction with the Florida Education and Technology Conference (FETC). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will “provide access to a broad range” their K-12 education content to Google’s content store, and […]
A New Children’s Subscription
There is a new entrant in field offering ebook subscriptions for kids, Epic!, which targets kids 12 and under with an app that offers unlimited reading for $9.99 a month (starting with a one-month free trial). They stream the books rather than download them, and the company says participating publishers include Simon & Schuster, Open Road, […]
New Ventures and Partners: Filmmakers Publish Mezrich, Random Buys Figment, Match Book Launches
RatPac Entertainment, run by media mogul/heir James Packer and film director/producer Brett Ratner, is creating a book imprint, RatPac Press, designed “to bring more Hollywood related projects to market in both non-fiction and fiction genres.” Their first announced project is author of Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House Ben Mezrich‘s new novel SEVEN WONDERS. […]