Hot on the heels of the pre-beta introduction of FiledBy Author, Amazon has launched the beta version of their new construct for finally organizing book data and discussions around authors. Called Author Stores (which seems like a misnomer at the moment, since they are not “stores” controlled by authors at all), the site describes the feature as “new corners of our bookstore dedicated to offering customers a new way to browse and shop favorite authors, discover new books, and more. Today each Author Store includes a bibliography, and can include a biography, author photo, and discussion board. But stay tuned–we’ll […]
eNews
NYT on eBooks
Finishing out the year of the most overcovered story, the NYT looks at the state of play for ebooks. Following massive increases in percentage sales, one percent of total volume at the big houses is in sight! There’s little new here, but the article does introduce another interesting fake statistic: “Amazon’s Kindle version of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle now represents 23 percent of total Amazon sales of the book, according to Brian Murray, chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers.” Also, “after some initial hesitation, authors like Danielle Steel and John Grisham are soon expected to add their titles to the […]
ScrollMotion Unveils Deals with Multiple Publishers for iPhone Books
We mentioned ScrollMotion’s interface for iPhone books a few weeks ago and now the company is unveiling some of their other arrangements with multiple publishers (ok, so they’re tech guys, not publicists). Random House gives their press release in advance to AP and as result the story only mentions that the company will release a dozen books on iPhone, including Christopher Paolini’s Brisingr, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and Peter Matthiessen’s award-winning Shadow Country. Wired reports more broadly via a blog that ScrollMotion’s release will include such other books as Kindle bestseller Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, along with Scott […]
Isn't It Ironic? Houghton Leads Amazon's "Inside Publishing"
Picking up on a program begun at Amazon.UK (with a letter from Harper UK ceo VIctoria Barnsley), Amazon.com in the US today launched an Inside Publishing promotion. And who better to take the lead for our business than Houghton Harcourt Mifflin trade and reference president Gary Gentel, right? He begins: “Dear Amazon Customers: Even as the winds of change swirl around us this Election year, some things never change. Among them is the perennial fascination with the subjects of family, betrayal, social status, and money.” Gentel goes on to recommend Meryl Gordon’s Mrs. Astor Regrets: The Hidden Betrayals of a […]
Random House: Free iPhone Book Promotion
Random House and Ballantine are offering free books to read on the iPhone via Lexcycle’s fast-growing Stanza reader. (The app has been downloaded approximately 500,000 times.) The works come from the backlist of popular authors such as Alan Furst, Julie Garwood, Charlie Huston, David Liss, Laurie Notaro, Arthur Phillips and Simon Rich, and include promotional excerpts for new hardcovers scheduled for 2009. The company says it is also “providing links to retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, Borders.com, Powells.com and IndieBound.org to encourage readers to purchase more books by these authors.”
Penguin 2.0: Groundbreakingly Revolutionary, If They Say So Themselves
Penguin has pulled together a few electronic initiatives under the umbrella of a Penguin 2.0 mini-site, which does sport a fun logo (the zero is depicted by a Penguin, naturally). It gathers up the eSpecials program begun earlier this year, a promotional iPhone app launched recently, and a new program with SharedBook to offer Penguin classics with customized dedication pages (for now, the first and only offering is a paperback of The Christmas Carol–personalized for $17, versus $9 for the regular edition). Most intriguing is a forthcoming feature for next year, Penguin Custom, in which “you will have the ability […]