The ABA’s Len Vlahos posted a presentation to the ABA board about how “a meaningful digital content solution needs to be our top priority and main focus for the immediate future.” For now, however, the immediate recommendations calls for “further study” through a task force; continuing dialogue with Ingram, Symtio and other technology partners; and increased digital focus in the ABA’s educational programs.Report Bookseller Rich Rennicks had an interesting blog post on the topic of how to deal with ebooks in indie stores recently that was enriched by about 40 comments. Among the laments from booksellers there is that the […]
eNews
Remember this Day, For An Actual eBook Sales Number Was Published
The other interesting fact from Lagardere’s annual report merits this separate item and our congratulations on their disclosure. Reporting that ebook sales in the US rose 5.5 times during 2008, the company declared revenues–yes, actual revenues–of $4.7 million. Based on our rough estimate of Hachette Book Group’s total US sales for the year, that means that even with the exponential growth, ebooks comprised less than 0.75 percent of sales. (The conforms with Penguin USA’s recent declaration to us that, while they too experienced a nearly five-fold increase in ebook sales, it has yet to comprise one percent of revenue.) And […]
Barnes & Noble Buys Fictionwise
The ereading (and eretailing) landscape continues to get more interesting as BN has bolstered their quiet development efforts in digital content by purchasing Fictionwise for $15.7 million in cash. As part of this morning’s announcement the company acknowledges for the first time “the launch of an e-Bookstore later this year.” They say, “Barnes & Noble said it plans to use Fictionwise as part of its overall digital strategy, which includes the launch of an e-Bookstore later this year.” Barnes & Noble says they will keep Fictionwise as a separate business unit and founders Steve and Scott Pendergrast will continue to […]
Amazon App Puts Kindle Books on iPhones
Amazon has launched their free app that makes all books available Kindle readable on the iPhone/iPod touch as well. Officially the company still sees mobile as suited to short reading on the go. VP in charge of Kindle Ian Freed calls it “a great companion device for customers who are caught without their Kindle” and echoes ceo Jeff Bezos’s line from Charlie Rose that iPod reading is ideally suited towards when you are “in line at the grocery store.” But they hope it’s such a mediocre companion that it persuades more people to spend $359 for a Kindle. To that […]
NelsonFree Bundles Audio and eBook with Print Purchase
Thomas Nelson will provide buyers of selected hardcover books with access to an MP3 audiobook version and several types of ebook files (including ePub, MobiPocket and PDF) at no extra charge under their NelsonFree program. “After readers purchase a book with the NelsonFree logo, they will be directed to a website where they must register and answer a simple security question.” Once approved, they are able to download the files. The initiative will start with two late March releases,Scott McKain’s Collapse of Distinction and Michael Franzese’s I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse. The company says they will issue […]
Graphic Novel App From Hachette/Patterson/ScrollMotion
ScrollMotion’s Iceberg Reader fell into the background the last couple of months but a new app shows what makes this technology different from popular text readers from Stanza, eReader and Shortcovers: the graphics. They have adapted James Patterson’s graphic novel DANIEL X into a paid iTunes app that “plays” the book more like a video (and gets around the lack of Flash for iPhone/iPod Touch). Or, as the company puts it, they allow “users to move the story forward or backward with a swipe of the finger, and engage the graphic novel in several other ways never before seen.” Hachette […]