Speechwriter for Henry Paulson when he was secretary of Treasury Stacy Carlson has written a book, YOU, ME, & THE US ECONOMY, that is being published as an ebook only through Rosetta Books, exclusive to Kindle for a year. “A plainspoken look inside the Treasury Department” that “explains the events and issues through a personal narrative,” with a foreword by Paulson.Release Their second release of the day notes that Amazon Encore will publish four entrants from last year’s version of their Breakthrough novel contest–which has yet to create a discernible breakthrough.Release
eNews
Now A Way to Vook Yourself
Vook officially announced a new tool that founder Brad Inman has been discussing in other venues, the unfortunately-named MotherVook–intended to help publishers create Vook-style enhanced ebooks at scale. They say the platform includes: database management the multimedia elements in an enhanced ebook (text, pricing, video, links and more); production of single XML doc that feeds across different devices and formats; streamlined text (epub) or word importing; instant preview; and simple insert of assets to edit, preview and create. The company has partnered with TurnHere–Vook founder Brad Inman’s previous start-up–to help provide video for those new enhanced ebooks.
Google Updates: Hachette UK's New Position, and Justice Date
Hachette UK ceo Tim Hely-Hutchinson told agents and authors in a letter that the company will opt in to the revised Google Book Settlement to claim any fees due–but will not make their titles available for display.Bookseller As an update (since we couldn’t locate the correct deadline yesterday), the Justice Department has until February 4 to register their views on the revised settlement with Judge Denny Chin.
eNews: Acer Enters Market; Amazon's New Exclusives; Harper's Inkpop
The world’s second-largest computer maker Acer, confirmed that they will launch an ereader by the end of June. They are targeting “up to five European countries” for initial release, president of IT Products Jim Wong tells Bloomberg. “Amazon, Barnes & Noble; they are U.S.-centric. In Western Europe and Asia-Pacific we have publishers to work with, and most of them are content owners.” Wong indicates they are talking to book, magazine and newspaper publishers about content deals (and they plan an app store, as well.)Bloomberg Today’s Amazon press release notes the exclusive release (for a three-month window) of individual chapters from […]
This Week's Calendar: Quiet So Far As New Google Deadline Looms
The day after Apple’s big announcement (on January 27), when Amazon reports quarterly earnings (January 28), is also the deadline for postmarks of opt-outs and new objections to the revised Google Books Settlement. So far the court has not registered any new objections received, and the Justice Department has yet to share their thoughts on the revised agreement.
eReading News
Kobo put out a press release this morning noting that as of next month their service will be available on “various tablet and slate computers,” which will present an “opportunity to deliver eBooks, newspapers, and magazines to readers on yet another screen that is well equipped for reading.” They are also working on support for Windows 7, Android, and other operating systems.Release Speaking of tablets, every news organization playing catch-up on the no-longer-secret Apple content acquisition talks is now required to come up with at least one name of company talking to the folks from Cupertino. So Bloomberg comes up […]