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 […]
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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 […]
Amazon Gives In on Text-to-Speech
In a rare concession, Amazon is “modifying our systems so that rightsholders can decide on a title-by-title basis whether they want text-to-speech enabled or disabled for any particular title. We have already begun to work on the technical changes required to give authors and publishers that choice. With this new level of control, publishers and authors will be able to decide for themselves whether it is in their commercial interests to leave text-to-speech enabled.” Of course at the same time the etailer reasserts that the “experimental text-to-speech feature is legal: no copy is made, no derivative work is created, and […]
Paid Is a Lot More Complicated than You Think–So Is the Truth
Savvy readers will note this headline is lifted from Tim O’Reilly’s wise presentation from a year ago on why “free is more complicated than you think.” There have been a number of interesting posts and discussions online recently about pricing questions, both from the publisher’s perspective (wondering about how to structure successful business models if average ebook prices are significantly lower than print prices and retailers like Amazon no longer subsidize those low prices) and the consumer’s (generally reaffirming that readers believe ebooks are less valuable than print books, come with fewer privileges, and should increasingly cost less). There’s much […]