This press release caught our eye as something a little different. Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear have collaborated on THE MONGOLIAD, a speculative fiction digital work that will allow readers to participate via a “social book platform.” A new chapter is delivered weekly via a variety of apps, and the platform “enables the inclusion of meta-narrative and para-narrative elements such as character sketches, articles, short stories, music, video, and social features for discussions among the book’s community.” Sold by subscription, it costs $5.99 for six months or $9.99 for a year. Stephenson claims, “Kindles and iPads were little better than […]
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Hachette UK has hired Matthew Cashmore for the new position of digital director, charged with evaluating their digital strategy and finding new online revenue streams. He was innovation and ecosystem manager at Lonely Planet.
California In Broad Digital Licensing Deal with Big Textbook Publishers
California’s giant state university system (with over 425,000 students on 23 campuses) is starting a pilot digital course content licensing program with the major textbook companies–Macmillan’s Bedford/Freeman/Worth, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson, and Wiley. Senior Director of Academic Technology Services Gerard Hanley says “the purpose of the Digital Marketplace is to provide everyone access to quality, affordable educational content. This is a wonderful example of an academic institution and publishers working together for the benefit of our students.” The announcement explains that “each participating instructor volunteered for the program that promises students will pay the lowest price available for the […]
eReaders: Price Cuts and Kindle in Staples
Borders is trying to keep up with the price cuts on ereaders, lowering the tab on their Kobo reader $20, down to $129. They are dropping the Aluratek Libre price by a similar amount, now at $99.99. Separately, the AP reports that Staples will join Target in carrying all three models of Kindle readers in their stores this fall.
A Bestselling Business Author Who Makes His Money from Traditionally Published Book
Author of The Four-Hour Workweek Timothy Ferris offers his own detailed analysis of how most authors currently make money from their books, and includes some sensible advice for those considering their options. In his case, though his book has ranked high in the Kindle store and is one of the ten most highlighted Kindle books, on his end of 2009 royalty statement, ebooks comprised a grand total of 1.6 percent of units sold. He does know people who publish digital-only quite successfully–but “the downside is that you need to be a world-class marketer and understand affiliate and CPA advertising better […]
Lippman’s eBook Bestseller
Harper gets WSJ coverage for noting that in its first five days on sale, Laura Lippman’s I’D KNOW YOU ANYWHERE has sold more ebooks (4,739) than hardcovers (4,000). Frank Albanese says, “This is the first book of ours of any consequence that has sold more e-books than hardcovers in the first week. What we’re seeing now is that if a book gets a good review, it gets a faster lift on the digital side than it does on the physical side because people who have e-readers can buy and read it immediately.”WSJ While bloggers will certainly make something drastic or […]