With an opaque TOC Frankfurt appearance and vague press release, founder of struggling social-reader-and-more company ReThink Books Jason Illian announced his expanded BookShout! site from Frankfurt. Yes, it still has social reading (even though iniatives for broad social reading outside the major platforms have had almost no consumer uptake); yes, he wants to be an ebookseller (with only about 100,000 titles or now, and of course no device line); plus BookShout! also aims to be a third-party universal book locker where consumers can access ebooks they bought from multiple sellers (readable via iOs and Android apps, which means usable on […]
Features/Offers
More from Amazon: Merging the Digital/Audio Reading Experience, Kindle Serials
Amazon’s new device launch on Wednesday garnered the most media attention, but the company also introduced some intriguing new features that merge or break apart reading experiences — while potentially raising rights-related questions. People have long speculated that it would be great to “sync” ebooks and digital audio recordings so you can go back and forth between reading and listening without losing your place, and Amazon has built that with what they call Whispersync for Voice. It offers what they call a “continuous reading experience” between digital and audio editions, in which a customer can start reading one edition and continue in […]
eNews: First Kobo Announces New eReader and Tablet Devices; Amazon Product Launch Rumor Mill
As is now their custom, Kobo took the unassuming route of announcing its latest line of ereaders and tablets by press release on Wednesday morning, a few hours before Amazon is set to launch their newest devices in Santa Monica at a press conference (at 1:30 Eastern). Clearly glo(w)ing ereaders will be abundant this fall, following Nook’s successful launch of their GlowLight model and an authentic-seeming leak of the Kindle Paperwhite: Kobo will ship the $129 Glo (eInk reader with frontlit screen) and $80 Mini (smaller 5″ touchscreen) on October 1, with the 7″ Arc tablet, priced at $199 (8GB) and […]
People: Jones Takes Over at Bookseller
At the UK’s The Bookseller, deputy editor Philip Jones has been promoted to be editor, taking over from editor-in-chief Neill Denny who “is leaving to follow new opportunities but will remain an integral part” of the magazine’s editorial team, including writing a new column starting in September. To file under “etc.” or enews, Weinstein Books has a promotional twist for an ebook giveaway. Their ebook of You Changed My Life: A Memoir, by Abdel Sellou, the man whose life story is the basis of the Weinstein movie The Intouchables, is available free between July 27 and August 3. Moviegoers will receive a […]
From the Cloud, Hachette Announces Three Services for Other Publishers
At today’s Publishers Launch Conference on Book Publishing In the Cloud, Hachette Book Group chief operating officer Ken Michaels announced three software-as-a-service offerings that the publisher developed for their own use and will now make available for license by other publishers, “allowing the industry to take advantage of our innovations.” BookRadar, developed with and now marketed by CoEnterprise, lets publishers automatically monitor how their digital titles are displayed on key retailer sites. It highlights discrepancies (or compliance) in pricing as well on sale availability and release dates–compared to the publisher’s own ONIX data–and creates vendor performance scorecards. Separately, it also […]
eNews: Kobo to Launch Italian Platform With Mondadori; eBook Sales and Expectations Up in Germany
As previously promised, Kobo will officially enter the Italian market “this fall”–the news is that they will do so through a partnership with Mondadori, “Italy’s leading retailer, and publisher of books and magazines.” Mondadori will sell the Kobo Touch online and through 400 stores at 99 Euros and promises to offer over 30,000 ebooks in Italian. Kobo will join Amazon’s Kindle, Google Play and the iBookstore, all of which have started selling ebooks in Italy over the past year. For Kobo, it will be the fifth store in a language other than English, joining operations in France, Germany, Holland and […]