Amazon announced that their 70 percent royalty offer to authors and publishers using their self-service digital text platform and agreeing to a variety of conditions on pricing, availability and features is now available. (The offer currently applies only on sales to US customers.) They say that they have improved the platform itself as well, including “a simplified two-step process for publishing.”Release Toshiba has announced their Book Place ebookstore will launch “in the coming weeks,” to be powered by Baker & Taylor’s Blio. They promise syncing with up to five devices, including tablets and smartphones. Book Place will be pre-loaded on […]
eNews
eDeals: Symtio Sold to Libre Digital; Overdrive Adds Disney and Partners with Internet Archive, As IA Invents Their Own Rules for Lending Older Titles As eBooks
Zondervan has sold the technology and infrastructure behind their Symtio business to LibreDigital (in which Zondervan parent HarperCollins is also an investor). The sale covers “the Symtio e-commerce technology, existing e-commerce contracts and applications, and key e-commerce staff,” but not Symtio’s retail card business, which the release says ” Zondervan is in negotiations to sell separately.” It’s a curious bifurcation, since Symtio has always promoted their “digital product cards” as the heart of the business that lets physical retailers sell and activate cards that allow the downloading of digital media. LibreDigital ceo Russell Reeder says in the announcement they will […]
eNews: Travel Chain to Sell Kindles; Kindle Android App; Bezos As Missionary; NYT Plans eBook Bestseller List
The 11-store airport chain HMSHost, which sells under the Simply Books and Authors Bookstores banners, has become the unlikely first travel retailer to sell Kindles.Release In other Kindle news, yesterday Amazon announced the release of a free reading app for the fast-growing Android platform.Release In an interview with Fortune, Jeff Bezos paints himself as a missionary. “We think of it [the Kindle platform] as a mission. I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it’s not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but […]
eNews: No Reader from Plastic Logic; Kindle App Plays Audio and Video On Apple's Platform
Further reinforcing the idea that many of the announced but not-yet-produced eink readers are dead on arrival with the rise of the iPad, last week Plastic Logic cancelled all backorders on their long-hyped oversized Que reader. The company is calling it a “delay” and tells Wired it “wants to make sure that the product they deliver is the right one for their target business customers in the rapidly changing marketplace. They are continuing to refine the product, technology and features, and are anxious to get in the marketplace as soon as possible.” But many people doubt the product will ever […]
Announcements: Topical McCullough eSerial; Getting Glued to Favorite Books; Candlewick's Audio; Horrid Henry Moves to Film
Capitalizing on President Obama’s confrontation with General Stanley McChrystal, Simon & Schuster is releasing a short ebook by David McCullough called TRUMAN FIRES MACARTHUR. It’s an excerpt from his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Truman. The 35-page title lists for $1.99 and is supposed to be available from major ebooksellers by some time later today. Yesterday afternoon GetGlue launched a Foursquare-inspired pop culture iOS app that encourages users to “check in” to favorite TV shows, music, movies and yes, books, and see what friends are enjoying in real-time. Publishing partners providing “exclusive stickers” as “rewards” include Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, […]
The Latest iPad and eReader Stats and Discount Offers, and Shambhala Works with Open Road
Apple said yesterday that they have sold 3 million iPads in the 80 days after launch. With help from Father’s Day and the international rollout, the rate of sale has increased as the third million were sold in 21 days. (The first million took 28 days and the second million took 31 days, but those sales milestones both included pre-orders–first for regular models and then 3G, and then international pre-orders.) For anyone who thinks they overspent on a Nook or Kindle for Father’s Day, right before the latest price cuts were announced, the WSJ reports that you can get a […]