A new audiobook subscription service, Bardowl, has launched in Europe and will provide unlimited access to audiobooks for £9.99 a month for those with iOS devices. Among the publishers who have signed on to provide audiobooks to Bardowl are Penguin, Macmillan, AudioGo, Wiley, and specialist audio publishers Summersdale and Creative Content. Release Months after announcing LeVar Burton and his company RRKidz announced their intention to revive Reading Rainbow, the long-running PBS children’s show that ended in 2009, as an iPad app, the service is now live in the iTunes store, available at an introductory price of $9.99 a month or […]
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Forthcoming: Deluxe Edition of Paolini’s INHERITANCE; Godin’s THE ICARUS DECEPTION, Funded by Kickstarter
Christopher Paolini finished his Inheritance trilogy which turned into a four-book “cycle,” but Knopf Children’s still has more volumes on the way. They will publish a deluxe edition of the final book INHERITANCE on October 23, priced at $29.99 in hardcover and $15.99 in ebook formats. The deluxe edition will include “never-before-seen artwork by Christopher Paolini; an exclusive, full-color foldout poster by award-winning artist John Jude Palencar; a letter from Jeod, one of Eragon’s confidantes, summarizing life after the final scene of the series; a letter from Paolini to fans reflecting on the series, and a new scene within the text.” […]
Auletta Revisits Agency, With Mix of Interviews and Confusion
In this week’s New Yorker, Ken Auletta looks at the agency ebook cases. The piece draws on interviews with John Sargent and the leadership of Hachette Book Group, so now we know that when Sargent decided to go with the agency model at 4 in the morning on his exercise bike, Auletta tells us he was “pedalling furiously.” Lagardere Publishing chief executive Arnaud Nourry says, “I would have liked to convince DOJ we did not misbehave.” But “it’s a waste of time and a diversion for management. We’re a small company compared to the big guys, like Apple and Amazon.” […]
Microsoft Tablet Announcement Expected Today; Nook’s Role Is Unclear
Microsoft is convening “a major announcement” in Los Angeles at 3:30 local time (or 6:30 Eastern) at a location that will not be unveiled to invited press until some time this morning. (Preliminary invitations went out only last Thursday.) They are expected to announce a Windows tablet of some kind, and presumably the LA-venue is telling for a strong emphasis on entertainment. Barnes & Noble’s Nook–in which Microsoft now owns a minority stake–will undoubtedly have at least a presence on a Microsoft tablet. From there the extent of the involvement is currently unconfirmed, with some rumors indicating the new tablet […]
Children’s Sales Keep March Numbers Stable, As eBooks Moderate to 22% Overall
After two strong months of sales reports, the AAP numbers for March show a flatter overall trade market, with children’s sales (powered by the Hunger Games) registering big gains that almost kept pace with the decline in adult sales (which do not incorporate the 50 Shades phenomenon yet). Net trade sales from reporting publishers totaled $477.5 million for the month, $200,000 ahead of the revised total for March 2011. Net children’s and young adult sales jumped from $95.9 million a year ago to $140 million this year. eBook sales seem to be following their pattern of peaking at the beginning […]
Google Launches eBooks In Both Germany and Spain
Google has rolled out Google Play storefronts in both Germany and Spain this week, with ebooks featured in both offerings. Those store openings have come quickly after their first non-English ebookstore in Italy, which debuted in early May. Particularly after their settlement of lawsuits related to the Google Books scanning project in France earlier this month, a French ebookstore is expected to follow soon.