With the release of its 3G model, Apple says they sold their one-millionth iPad last Friday. They got there in 28 days, noting that it took the company 74 days to sell a million iPhones. They also report “over 1.5 million ebooks” have been downloaded from the iBookstore (presumably including free books).Apple release
eNews
eNews: iPad 3G Releases, Agency Books Returning?
Today marks the next wave of the iPad release, with pre-orders of units with 3G connectivity arriving and new units going on sale in stores (“order limit: two per customer. While supplies last.”) Almost a month after the launch of the agency model in the marketplace, Diesel eBooks reports that they expect to have Penguin ebooks restored by their distribution (Ingram) next week if all goes well. “We are working to sign our second A5 by the end of this week and will update you as soon as we can disclose any further details.”Blog post
eNews: Penguin Has Most iBooks Available; Kindle Upgrades Software
In more stats analyzing the iBookstore, O’Reilly’s Radar shows general fiction as the dominant category by far, with 30% of all titles. Adding other fiction genres brings the total close to 50 percent. A chart of market share by publishers has Penguin Group on top with 23.5 percent of available titles. (As we’ve told O’Reilly, they need to bundle imprints together with their imprints, which is currently inconsistent–they will fix that later.) S&S has over 21 percent and HarperCollins has about 18.5 percent. The biggest surprise could be Smashwords’ 5.2 percent share–or maybe it’s the confirmation that very few publishers […]
Music Players Provides eBookstore Retail Solution
MediaNet, a digital music distribution player, has launched an on-the-fly ebookstore service that may be of appeal to independent booksellers and others looking to enter ebook retailing. The company says that their open API makes it possible to have an ebookstore “installed and ready to go within 48 hours.” They are working with EPUB files (and pdf’s) and claim a catalog of over 200,000 titles. The press release and online documentation do not provide any details about terms, or how they are dealing with a hybrid world of agency and wholesale selling models, divided tax responsibilities, etc.
eNews: Bookmasters Launches Conversion and Distribution; Goldberg McDuffie Starts Digitally-Focused Consulting Group
The BookMasters Group is starting CONVERSO, designed “to make the digital production and distribution process simple and more accessible for small and mid-sized publishers.” They say they will provide digital distribution to “more than 40 digital outlets” and promise “a better deal on revenue-sharing and conversion than competing offerings.”ReleaseList of distribution partners Goldberg McDuffie Communications is launching a new division, GMC Consulting, designed to “help authors, agents and publishers develop creative strategies to meet the challenges of the digital era.” Led by the agency principals Camille McDuffie and Lynn Goldberg, they aim to “help build platforms for authors, developing marketing […]
Open Road to Release Styron eBooks, But Random House Not Ready to Release Other Authors
Open Road will go ahead with their planned republication of backlist works by William Styron in ebook form starting May 4. Initially the ebooks will only be available on Kindle, the NYT reports, though the company intends to have distribution through other online retailers as well. (The company declined to indicate for now whether they are selling on an agency or wholesale basis.) While Random House is not contesting this agreement, spokesman Stuart Applebaum says the house’s position on electronic rights to older works remains as stated by ceo Markus Dohle last year (“Random House considers contracts that grant the […]