On Tuesday, the Penguin Press released all seven previous novels and one story collection by Thomas Pynchon in ebook editions for the first time. At least some of those titles–such as THE CRYING OF LOT 49–are still issued in print by other publishers (such as HarperCollins). The Penguin Press acquired the ebook rights in a deal with Pynchon’s agent Melanie Jackson. Also newly available as ebooks are the early novels by the late Michael Crichton, including JURASSIC PARK and THE RISING SUN from Ballantine, and THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, CONGO, EATERS OF THE DEAD, THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, SPHERE, THE TERMINAL […]
eNews
eNews: State Department May Spend Up to $16.5 Million for Kindles and eBooks
The most talked-about story for much of Monday afternoon was a report from NextGov on a pending no-bid State Department contract for Amazon to fill “an immediate need for approximately 2,500 ereaders and 50 titles of content” with Kindle Touch 3G units to be “used as a classroom tool for English language programs globally.” State’s acquisition managers claimed they had “identified the Amazon Kindle as the only e-Reader on the market that meets the Government’s needs, and Amazon as the only company possessing the essential capabilities required by the Government.” Under scrutiny the story changed several times (as evident by paidContent’s report, rewritten […]
Sainsbury’s Relieves HMV of Anobii
UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has taken HMV’s 45 percent stake in ebook social network site Anobii off of their hands for a mighty £1. They are making an additional, unspecified “investment in the future” of Anobii that will provide them a total controlling share of what is “anticipated” as a 64 percent stake. HarperCollins, Penguin and Random House UK will remain as minority partners, presumably with some dilution as the result of Sainsbury’s additional investment. HMV paid $3.25 million for their Anobii holding in early 2011, and recorded a £1 million loss in the most recent year on Anobii and another […]
Ingram Shows What’s Selling Well At Indie Stores; Codex Addresses the “Discovery Gap”
Last Monday’s Publishers Launch BEA conference was a packed day of data, insights and news (like the announcement of Tor’s DRM-free ebookstore) worth sharing, and now we have a chance to catch up a bit. At the PLC site we have posted slides from five of the presentations so far, open to all, and we’ll have some audio on the way later as well. One presentation of widespread interest was Ingram chief content officer Phil Ollila‘s new data–commissioned by Publishers Launch–analyzing how the rise of ebooks affects what is sold in physical bookstores. Ollila’s primary focus was to identify opportunities […]
Google Settles French Scanning Lawsuits; Creates Commercial Model for Out-of-Print Access
Google Books has achieved in France what the company has been unable to do in the US: They have settled the remaining lawsuits over their book scanning with the French Publishers Association (Syndicat national de l’édition) and the French Author’s Association (Société des gens de lettres) and instituted a commercial arrangement for selling access to out-of-print books that Google has scanned. Strategic Partner Development Manager of Google Books France Philippe Colombet says the new “partnerships…will put France ahead of the rest of the world in bringing long lost out-of-print works back to life. From now, publishers will promote and commercialize […]
Bradbury Backlist Will Be Digitized
William Morrow editor Jennifer Brehl tells Paid Content that the publisher has been at work on the “huge undertaking” of making the late Ray Bradbury’s backlist available as ebooks. “He knew we were going to do this” and had “agreed to it,” she says, adding, “I don’t want people to think he was this dinosaur because he had some opinions” about ebooks that changed late in his life. One of Bradbury’s concerns–library availability–never changed, and she pledges that the Bradbury ebooks will be available for library lending. Apparently part of his agreement reached last year to allow an ebook edition […]