At the same time that Amazon releases two new models of the Kindle ereader on August 27, the company will launch the machines in the UK, available for the first time for direct sale from Amazon UK in British sterling. Previously, UK customers could buy Kindles priced in dollars from Amazon’s US site, incurring shipping charges and other fees. That said, UK customers will still pay comparatively more for their devices based on current exchange rates, with the wireless Kindle priced at 149 pounds (roughly 230 dollars) and the new wi-fi only version selling for 109 pounds (or about 170 […]
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New Copyright Exceptions Open the Door Somewhat on Text-to-Speech
The Librarian of Congress published six new exemptions to prohibitions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that allow the relaxation of digital access in certain circumstances. Most general media is focused on the aspects that let iPhone owners legally overcome some of Apple’s strict rules, but the sixth and final change applies to ebooks and text-to-speech functionality. While TTS still ranks as one of the most overblown issues in the eBook Era, the new rule will certainly attract interest and may lead to some strategic changes. The published text now exempts: “Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing […]
Good, Evil and Jack-All
While the UK media is stuck in their cliched mode of writing about Andrew Wylie’s Jackalicious adventures–today’s Independent offers up three stories all amounting to little–some trade wag is having a lot of fun. Under the Twitter handle “EvilWylie” have come a string of zingers starting last Friday afternoon with “All your contracts are belong to me! muah ha ha ha ha.” New followers are rewarded with exclusive rights grants (“Evil Wylie has granted you exclusive rights to write like @margaretatwood writing like Stephen King”) there are numerous special offers: “Sizzling summer deals! Evil Wylie just posted e-book rights to […]
Stieg Larsson Is Founding Member of Amazon “Kindle Million Club”
Amazon announced this morning that the late Larsson “has become the first author to sell over 1 million Kindle books.” In his honor they are starting an official “Kindle Million Club” and he is the first card-holding member. (Insert tasteless joke about what happens in the clubhouse here.)Release
On Wylie’s Odyssey, Backlist Royalties, and More
In a bulletin posted this morning, the Authors Guild tells members their “understanding” is that Andrew Wylie and his recently-announced Odyssey Editions “as agent and publisher is taking no more than it would as an agent. That is, Wylie/Odyssey is limiting its total compensation to its rate for commissions.” The Guild tells us they are “confident” about the accuracy of this understanding. Of course that raises again the question of what makes Odyssey a publisher instead of an agency making e-only deals, but the publisher himself remains on vacation. Many other elements of the deal remain opaque, including how Odyssey’s […]
Dark Data Update: AT&T Added More iPads than eReaders
In discussing quarterly results last week, AT&T revealed that they activated “roughly 900,000 connected devices” on their network in the past three months. That category includes 3G eReaders from Amazon and Barnes & Noble–along with netbooks, personal navigation devices, digital photo frames and all kinds of other gizmos. And would seem to include iPads as well. In answering an analyst’s question, the company said in just two months they activated 400,000 to 500,000 iPads alone. You can do the math on ereaders from there… Separately, Apple reported shipping 3.27 million iPads so far.