In Germany, von Holtzbrinck and Verlagsgruppe Random House are backing a new ebook subscription venture, Skoobe, where customers pay 9.99 euros a month to borrow 2 ebooks in that 30-day period (with unlimited access to all content only between now and March 1, 2013.) Publishers supplying content so far include Droemer, DVA, Fischer, Goldmann, Heyne, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Lübbe, Luchterhand and Rowohlt. The Skoobe app is available for free for iOS devices, with an Android version to come at a later date. Penguin and the Economist (both owned by Pearson) are joining forces to publish a collection of reports entitled […]
Features/Offers
eNews: Open Source Textbooks from Rice University; Author Solutions Adds eBook Distribution Service; Hocking’s Market Share, and More
Rice University has launched OpenStax College, which will offer free, open-source course materials for five common introductory classes in biology, astronomy, and physiology. OpenStax is funded by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the 20 Million Minds Foundation and the Maxfield Foundation, and the program hopes to capture 10 percent of the textbook market that, in turn, would save students $90 million over the next five years. Inside Higher Ed reports that “In the past, open-source materials have failed to gain traction among some professors; their accuracy could be difficult to confirm […]
eNews: Thomas Allen Offer Digital Shorts Through Indie Websites; Judy Blume Classics in Digital Format; and More
Thomas Allen and Cormorant Books have partnered for a new digital short story initiative called cStories, ePub files that can be bought through independent booksellers’ websites for $1.99. Transcontinental Media will manage downloads and digital warehousing, taking a 10 percent share of revenues. (Thomas Allen & Cormorant will take 50 percent, while 40 per cent will go to booksellers.) “This is our way of helping independent booksellers be involved in digital retailing,” Thomas Allen marketing manager David Glover told Quill & Quire. “We know if people begin to read these stories, they’ll want more.” In other eNews, Penguin Children’s is […]
Barnes & Noble Offers Exclusive Patterson Holiday Novella Promotion In Stores; Can Bundle Print and eBooks Through Store Cash Registers
Barnes & Noble has secured a significant in-store “exclusive” for the holidays: a novella from James Patterson, MERRY CHRISTMAS, ALEX CROSS. The bookseller will give a free copy–either printed, or digital–to customers who buy Patterson’s just-released KILL ALEX CROSS in hardcover and one other Patterson title in any format from a Barnes & Noble Store. Perhaps as important as the exclusive offer, designed to help drive store traffic, is that Barnes & Noble says they have developed a “cashiering system [that] will allow retail customers to seamlessly combine a Nook Book purchase with the purchase of the new hardcover title […]
eNews: WSJ Adds eBook Bestseller List, Compiled By Nielsen; Amazon in Talks for Kindle in China; and More
Starting tomorrow, the WSJ’s Weekend edition will feature their own ebook bestseller lists. Like the NYT lists, the Journal will present both ebook-only lists for fiction and nonfiction, as well as combined print and ebook lists in both categories. All titles are eligible–self-published, children’s, backlist, etc.–as long as they have a minimum price of 99 cents or higher. Nielsen BookScan is aggregating the data for the WSJ, drawing on what the release calls “all major retailers,” said to include Amazon, Nook, iBookstore, Sony and Google eBooks among others. Like the other WSJ charts, the new lists will be positional only, […]
eNews: iBookstore Quick Reads; Odyl for Facebook Campaigns; BN Partners With Appcelerator; and More
Apple’s iBookstore has joined Kindle Singles in providing a store-within-the-store for short-form digital book content with Quick Reads, a compendium of short stories, longer pieces of journalism and manuals priced between 99 cents and $4.99. MacWorld To help publishers and authors maximize their interaction on Facebook, Odyl is officially rolling out a platform that will help them do so on a much larger scale. Aside from pulling reviews from Goodreads, administering galley giveaways and making book excerpts available to users who “like” Facebook pages, Odyl says its platform “collects rich audience data specific to titles and readers, providing an invaluable […]