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 […]
eNews
Care to Twit?
Long ago you needed forums on your web site. Then came e-mail newsletters. Next you needed a blog. And comments. Add RSS feeds, and an RSS reader. Your kids probably got you to text. Podcasts were the next big thing, followed by viral video, My Space, and Facebook. And so it goes: now it’s Twitter’s turn. From what was a community of a few million, Twitter suddenly hit its viral ramp-up stage within the past couple of months. Whether or not to join the crowd is the latest information-anxiety question on the minds of many people, particularly challenging for classically […]
The Search for 28 New James Patterson Collaborators
James Patterson’s next novel AIRBORNE is an experimental, mostly electronic work. Instead of working with a single co-author, Patterson wrote the first and list chapters, with the other 28 short chapters each written by someone different. The writers were recruited through a contest held by Random House UK and Borders Australia. “Airborne will be released electronically, one chapter at a time, starting on March 20th. Later, a print edition will be published, but only as a prize of sorts for the participants in the competition – it will not be mass produced.”ReadWriteWeb
eGalleys: Is That How It Will Work?
Whenever I meet with other press and reviewers, as well as in-house publicists (and I got to do both at today’s lovely annual Little, Brown preview luncheon, introducing the touching and inspirational story of Rupert Isaacson’s autistic son Rowan as told in THE HORSE BOY) I ask if they are using electronic galleys yet. Publicists generally say they get few or no requests; some reviewers/editors/journalists would love to receive them, while others still prefer paper. On topic, Soho Press publicity director Sarah Reidy just celebrated via their blog: “I got my FIRST ever review copy request from a reviewer…for their […]
Amazon's Credit Upgraded; Kindle Expansion Hitch
S&P also bumped up Amazon’s credit rating one notch to ‘BBB-‘ from ‘BB+’, citing the company’s “strong brand, robust performance, and improved credit-protection metrics” during a “difficult retail environment.” In other Amazon news, Mark Bertils puts the lack of Kindle availability in Canada, the UK, and other territories squarely on the shoulder of Jasper Wireless, which is Amazon’s direct wireless partner, not Sprint: “I am willing to bet that Amazon’s contract with Jasper is exclusive. For the Kindle to grow, Jasper has to grow. And the MVNO market is dead everywhere but in the US and Jasper’s specialty — machine-to-machine […]
Adobe Announces Broader Mobile Support
Following last week’s agreement with Lexcycle, Adobe announced today at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that their new software development kit will support a full range of mobile smartphones and other devices. Companies already planning to integrate the new capability include Bookeen, iRex Technologies, Lexcycle, Plastic Logic, Polymer Vision, and Spring Design. As of today Sony Reader incorporate the new technology, which will “allow consumers to acquire eBooks from a variety of sources, including public libraries.” General manager of Adobe’s Acrobat products Kevin Lynch says in the announcement, “With Adobe Reader Mobile SDK, Adobe is expanding the reach […]