Google eBooks has added a “doodle mode” to a select collection of children’s activities books (from the “Everything Kids” series) that lets readers use a computer mouse as an electronic “crayon” to write in enabled ebooks. The feature works in all “modern browsers,” a category that apparently does not include Internet Explorer. Also, HarperCollins is highlighting their enhanced ebooks with a giveaway of enhanced versions of Jane Leavy’s THE LAST BOY and Bernard Cornwell’s THE FORT through select etailers, through June 22 (e.g. not on Kindle). Publisher of Harper Media Ana Maria Allessi says the titles “are a demonstration of […]
Features/Offers
Thoughts from Makinson, Meacham
The WSJ interviews Penguin CEO John Makinson. On self-published Kindle bestsellers priced at $2.99 or less, Makinson says, “This is a new market that can’t exist economically in print. You can’t manufacture, ship and store a book at those prices. But we as publishers probably need to participate. We’ll look at new content that maybe we can popularize in different ways. We’ll also look at our backlist. Maybe there are customers for westerns at $1.99. What we need to be really careful of is ensuring that this new market doesn’t compromise the sales of Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy, Patricia Cornwell […]
Amazon API Returns to Lendle; Inkling Gets Investment From McGraw-Hill and Pearson; and More eNews
After what turned out to be a brief hiccup, Amazon has now reinstated access to its API access for ebook lending service Lendle. The problem turned out to be Lendle’s BookSync feature, which syncs a user’s Kindle books with their Lendle account and which Amazon said violated its terms of service. Lendle has now disabled what it termed a “very useful, but non-essential feature” and added “we need to work towards a Lendle product that does not rely on APIs provided by Amazon or any other third party.” Lendle statement Interactive textbook company Inkling secured “significant minority investment” from […]
Announcements: Russia at BEA, Harper Offers “Book Perks”
BEA will host Russia as guest of honor in their Global Market Forum program in 2012. Russia holds a similar role at this year’s London Book Fair. BEA organizers say that “Russia plans to have 50 Russian writers plus another 50 editors and publishing executives coming to New York for these events, which will include both a cultural and a professional component.” HarperCollins has officially launched a groupon-esque site, BookPerk.com. They carry–and push out–a series of offers for signed and deluxe editions of books and other “extras” like movie tie-in tickets along with contests (like a “perk of the day” […]
Briefs: Amazon to Close Distribution Center; E-Book Bundling; New Indies In Old Chain Locations; and More
Amazon announced it will close its distribution center in Irving, TX on April 12 and scuttle plans to hire 1,000 more people for the facility, which opened in 2006. The move came in response to an ongoing tax dispute with the State of Texas, which seeks to collect $269 million in revenue from the retailer. “Despite much hard work and the support of other Texas officials, we’ve been unable to come to a resolution with the Texas comptroller’s office,” VP operations Dave Clark said in a letter to employees obtained by the Dallas Morning News. “Closing this fulfillment [distribution] center […]
Amazon to Borrow Nook’s Lending Feature; Company Discloses $269 Million Sales Tax Bill from Texas, and a Patent Lawsuit
On Friday Amazon announced on their Kindle forums that “later this year” they will borrow Nook’s “Lend Me” feature and make ebooks available for limited lending, using the same basic rule set: “Each book can be lent once for a loan period of 14-days and the lender cannot read the book during the loan period. Additionally, not all e-books will be lendable – this is solely up to the publisher or rights holder, who determines which titles are enabled for lending.” Everyone’s having lots of fun citing Jeff Bezos’s remarks on Nook’s Lend Me feature to Deborah Solomon in the […]