Gizmodo has a fine set of leaked pictures of the forthcoming Barnes & Noble eReader.The main screen is a standard black-and-white e-ink display–but at the bottom is a smaller touch-screen color LCD, to use to show for titles (with color jackets) and for other features like a on-screen keyboard. The LCD is said to be inactive while reading, so it probably won’t drain the battery too much. The device is equipped for wireless connections with a to-be-named service provider. The report says that BN will be selling the company’s own books (from Sterling) at a “deep discount.” As for the […]
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Jane Friedman's Open Road Licenses eBook Rights to Backlist
Former HarperCollins ceo Jane Friedman officially announced her new venture Open Road Integrated Media at Frankfurt today, though the unit was first reported on in August when her funding of $3 million was disclosed. The company describes itself as a “content marketing company that places the e-book in the center of a multi-platform universe which includes film, video and other forms of digital entertainment.” They’ll produced enhanced ebooks “featuring both aggregated and originally produced video and audio content such as author profiles, behind the scenes features and mini-docs.” Focusing initially on backlist works from successful authors–similar to the model initiated […]
Everyone's Got a Frankfurt Press Release
One of the more interesting comes from LibreDigital, which assembled “aggregate statistics on how books are being browsed across retail and social networking sites.” They found that women browse more–comprising 54 percent of viewers, but spending “nearly 70 percent more time browsing books online than men do.” That makes it no surprise that the most popular genre browsed is romance novels. They were followed by books for tweens/teens and business books. On average, browsers looked at 46 pages of each book viewed. CEO Russell Reader says “We know that allowing readers to preview book chapters before buying has a positive […]
Baker & Taylor Launches POD Program; Lightning Serves Up Mueller
Baker & Taylor announced print-on-demand and digital-short run replenishment services, working with RR Donnelly. Meanwhile, Lightning Source has a release trumpeting how they helped the University of Nebraska Press meet the demand spike for Herta Mueller’s NADIRS after the announcement of her Nobel Prize victory.Release
Nelson Offers Self-Publishing
We’ve often wondered when publishers would find ways of saying “yes” to the slush pile instead of turning customers away. Having discussed the possibility at TOC last winter, Thomas Nelson has launched a self-publishing imprint, WestBow Press–though they are outsourcing the bulk of the operation to self-publishing giant Author Solutions. AS will design, publish and distribute the books. Nelson’s primary roles appears to be sharing revenue and promising customers an “opportunity to be discovered by parent company Thomas Nelson…. For authors who hope to one day be signed by a traditional publisher, this is an opportunity to get your foot […]
BN eReader Unveiling Next Week?; Amazon UK Prices Aim at $13.95
Barnes & Noble is holding an event at Chelsea Piers next week, on October 20, billed as “a major event in our company’s history,” so the NYT speculates that’s when they will unveil their own branded ereading device. The Times also “reports” on what Lunch revealed in July: that Barnes & Noble has been negotiating with publishers to give ebook purchasers the right to “lend” their ebooks to other people. (At the time we reported on it, the proposal under discussion would allow “lending” the ebook to one person at a time, up to three or four times, with DRM […]