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 […]
eNews
eNews: Smashwords Projects Gross Sales of $12M This Year; Faber Condenses Book Extracts into “Faber Forty-Fives”; and More
Smashwords ceo Mark Coker told Forbes that the company expects to double their gross revenues in 2012, to $12 million. They keep roughly 15 percent of that gross, and the company expects pre-tax profit “approaching $1 million.” Coker indicates that romance novels and erotica comprise nearly 40 percent of sales. This week Faber & Faber launched a six-title series, Faber Forty-Fives, of ebook-only extracts priced at £1.99 taken from books on the publisher’s Pop list by Simon Reynolds, Rob Chapman, Nick Kent, and others. Editor Dave Watkins said on Faber’s blog the publisher had been “toying with the idea for a […]
Some IPG Publishers Go DRM-Free
When IPG-distributed ebooks were inactive at Amazon.com for three months as the two companies renegotiated selling terms, some observers suggested that IPG clients would be in stronger position if their titles were available DRM-free–and could be read on Kindle devices even without being sold in the Kindle store. Tuesday the distributor announced that Chicago Review Press (owned by the same parent company) as well as clients ECW Press, Medallion Press and Triumph Books are removing DRM and selling their 1,100 or so ebooks without it. IPG says they are now offering all clients the option to sell their ebooks without DRM. […]
Kobo Formally Announces Self-Publishing Portal “Writing Life”
As promised over the past six months or so, Kobo has finally entered the self-publishing realm with Writing Life, which the company formally announced Tuesday morning. As with similar direct-publishing programs offered by other ebookstore platforms, Writing Life will be free to use, and Kobo claims the service will offer “10 percent higher royalties on sales in many growing international markets and allows authors much more freedom on pricing.” They also will allow authors to give their ebooks away for free “at any time without restrictive exclusive agreements,” and they make clear on their site that they do not seek […]
Sony Announces First Potter Product, Wonderbook: Book of Spells, Combining Reading and Gaming
Sony announced their first production collaboration with JK Rowling’s Pottermore, BOOK OF SPELLS, to run on their new PlayStation3 peripheral, called Wonderbook. The new product, releasing in November in Europe and December in North America, is called “the next step in reading and augmented reality gaming. Book of Spells will feature “new and original writing” from Rowling that lets player/readers cast spells with their PS motion controller, “which becomes your own magic wand.” Rowling says in the release, “Wonderbook: Book of Spells is the closest a Muggle can come to a real spellbook. I’ve loved working with Sony’s creative team […]
Tor to Launch DRM-Free eBookstore; F+W Adds Digital Romance Imprint and Zondervan Starts Digital Imprint, Too
In a lively presentation at Publishers Launch BEA on Monday, Macmillan evp digital publishing Fritz Foy announced that Tor/Forge will launch a DRM-free ebookstore this July. It will sell all 2,000+ ebooks from which the company is lifting DRM, and “eventually, offerings from other publishers as well.” While the company announced the decision to remove DRM in late April, Foy said it was “a decision we had been grappling with for four years,” ever since they promoted the launch of Tor.com books by giving away books from 24 authors DRM-free. Foy noted that readers have wanted the company to start […]