Amazon’s latest announcement has two interesting aspects: They are bundling digital children’s content across media into a combined “library” or subscription, and they are broadly selling that subscription to all customers, not just Prime “members.” Called Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, the all-in-one subscription service works on any Kindle Fire device and will be available as part of an automatic OS software update “in the coming weeks.” The package features books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows focused on children ages 3-8. Amazon Prime members get preferred pricing–$2.99/month per individual child (or $6.99 per family)–but others can subscribe for $4.99/month (or $9.99 […]
eNews
eNews: Digital Romance Imprints from Cosmopolitan, Random House Australia
Cosmopolitan is partnering with Harlequin on Cosmo Red Hot Reads, a digital line that will publish two original ebooks every month starting in May 2013. The ebook romance novels, which will run approximately 30,000 words (to “appeal to readers on a variety of platforms, including mobile devices”), will bear both the Cosmopolitan and Harlequin logos on their covers. At least some will be written “by some of Harlequin’s bestselling authors.” “We are very excited to be Cosmopolitan’s partner in publishing and believe these stories will prove popular with women everywhere, especially new adult fiction readers,” Harlequin publisher and ceo Donna Hayes said […]
Amazon Contest Drops Penguin, Boosts Top Prize; Curtis Brown UK to Launch Hundreds of Titles As KDP Exclusives
Amazon’s “breakthrough novel” contest returns for the sixth year, this time dropping the unlikely partnership with Penguin Group for a “new publisher”: “Amazon Publishing is the official publishing sponsor for 2013 — which means a faster publishing timeline, higher royalties, ability to launch the books in multiple formats (print, audio, ebook) and worldwide distribution.” The grand prize advance has been raised to $50,000. Given all the success that Amazon’s self-publishing programs and house imprints have brought to some authors, it’s surprising that the contest winners have such a consistently modest track record. (The fiction winners have been The Beautiful Land […]
August AAP Sales Rise, As eBooks Continue to Moderate
The AAP reported sales for August from the nearly 1,200 publishers they track, with overall trade sales of $562.1 million up 10.4 percent versus $509.1 million. This time both adult and children’s sales rose, and both sectors had higher shipments as well. In adult books, the growth came from trade paperbacks (e.g. 50 Shades) and ebooks. Consistent with Barnes & Noble’s recent report and the trend we have been underscoring all year, however, ebook sales continue to grow at a far slower rate: Adult ebook sales of $118.6 million were up 34 percent from a year ago, and children’s ebooks […]
RHPG Adds More Digital-Only Genre Imprints: Alibi, Hydra, Flirt
A year after reviving Loveswept as a digital-only romance imprint, the Random House Publishing Group announced three additional genre-focused digital imprints: Alibi, for mystery/thriller/suspense; Hydra, for science fiction & fantasy, and Flirt, for New Adult (i.e “targeting women in their twenties and thirties.”) Each imprint will publish original short content (ranging between 10,000 and 30,000 words) and short books (40,000-60,000 words) as well as previously published books for which author controls all print and digital rights. The new imprints will be overseen by vp, digital publishing director Allison Dobson working with svp, publisher of digital content Scott Shannon and vp, […]
eNews: Kobo Has A Date In Brazil; Nook App Updates; Amazon Sells Bonds (and Kindles)
Kobo will officially launch in Brazil under their previously-announced partnership with bookseller Livraria Cultura on December 5. The Brazilian version of the Kobo Touch device went on sale for pre-orders starting today at R$399 (or roughly $190 US). Nook has updated their iOS and Android apps in a variety of ways. Like the recently-added support to the Nook hardware for reading aloud books, the new version of their iOS app supports Apple’s VoiceOver technology (which also reads aloud to aid the visually-impaired). The Nook apps now support French, Italian, German, Spanish and British English, and they are available for download […]