Random House will release a number of backlist ebook editions by two of the company’s flagship authors, John Updike and Judy Blume. With respect to Updike, who died in 2009, “the entire backlist” will appear soon in digital format, the majority for the first time. (You may recall that Updike’s Rabbit Angstrom tetralogy appeared briefly as ebooks under the Odyssey Editions banner, the fledgling ebook company launched in 2010 by the Wylie Agency, and the Random House took over ebook publication.) Meanwhile, Random House Children’s will release ebook editions in North America of 10 of Blume’s books for children and […]
eNews
Google eBooks Are Merged Into New Google Play App and Entertainment Store
Google launched their new online digital entertainment supersite Google Play on Tuesday, featuring online movie rentals, digital music, apps, and yes, ebooks all in one store. The new site has subsumed the previous standalone Google eBooks, which is now apparently known as Books on Google Play. (In an interesting stylistic decision, most of the time digital reading files are simply called “books” though occasionally they slip up and call them ebooks.) Within the ebook vertical, a slicker interface and more aggressive promotions include a “25-cent Play of the Day,” promoting Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, with Google […]
Gabriel Garcia Marquez eBooks Available Through Co-Venture Between Leer-e and Random House Mondadori
On the eve of his 85th birthday Tuesday, Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s international bestseller 100 YEARS OF SOLITUDE is now available in ebook format in multiple Spanish-speaking countries thanks to a co-publishing arrangement between Garcia Marquez’s longtime print publisher Random House Mondadori and Spanish ebook company Leer-e. It’s the fourth book by Garcia Marquez to be published in a digital edition, as CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD, LIVING TO TELL THE TALE, and THE STORY OF A SHIPWRECKED SAILOR were previously released in November 2010. (The digital list price for SOLITUDE is 5.82 euros before tax, and is available […]
Scholastic Unveils Beta of Kids eReading Platform
Scholastic’s long-expected ebook reading platform for kids Storia has launched in beta today via the Scholastic web site. For now, however, the downloadable Storia app is only available on the most kid-adverse platform out there, Windows PCs. The iPad version is due next, and the company says Mac OS, iPhone and Android versions are also on the way. Storia ebooks are readable only through the Storia app itself, though many of the titles in the new store are also available through standard ebookstores in their regular versions. (Others, however, like Clifford’s Family, are available in digital form for the first […]
People, Etc.
Kobo has hired Phil Wood for the new position of country manager, UK. Wood was at TomKat Consulting, serving the consumer technology, electronics and IT sectors, prior to which he director of Interead, which attracted attention for its inexpensive COOL-ER ereaders (before going out of business). Kobo general manager Matt Welch says in the announcement, “Having someone with Wood’s technology, commercial and eReading expertise positions us well for our planned growth in the UK. We have seen tremendous first six months here and with Phil as country manager I am confident we’ll see Kobo continuing to drive forward the ereading revolution.” […]
OverDrive Acquires Booki.sh
OverDrive acquired Australian cloud-based ebook discovery site Booki.sh (not to be confused with still-to-launch US-based ebook discovery site Bookish) for an undisclosed sum. Booki.sh founders and principals Joseph Pearson, Virginia Murdoch and Peter Haasz will join OverDrive from their existing offices in Melbourne to expand the global distributor’s publishing, library and school initiatives. OverDrive in turn will expand the Booki.sh distribution and digital bookstore platforms as well as integrate Booki.sh HTML5 and EPUB reading technologies into OverDrive library and school services. “Joseph, Virginia and the Booki.sh team have created a fresh, direct and immersive reading experience that uniquely serves the […]