Perseus has officially announced their program to help physical distribution clients and their own publishing units streamline participation in a variety of digital and ebook sales and promotion/visibility programs. In development for months and dubbed Constellation, Perseus calls it a “‘one-stop shop’ digital offering” to help “independent publishers exploit the sales and marketing opportunities created by the rapid developments of digital technology.” Participating publishers supply a single print-ready PDF file and then “will have complete control over what books they make available for what services.” Current choices from what will be an expanding menu of options include ebook sales through […]
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Stephenie Meyer Abandons Final Twilight Book after Internet Leak
Author of this year’s biggest release Stephenie Meyer surprised her fans by posting on her web site that her “partial draft of Midnight Sun was illegally posted on the Internet and has since been virally distributed without my knowledge or permission or the knowledge or permission of my publisher”–and as a result, she has put the new manuscript “on hold indefinitely.” Meyer writes: “My first feeling was that there was no way to continue. Writing isn’t like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes […]
Amazon's Election-Year Promise: No New Kindle in 08
Perhaps they are worried about inhibiting current sales, but Amazon spokesman Craig Berman provided a direct answer to a NYT blogger’s question: “One thing I can tell you for sure is that there will be no new version of the Kindle this year. A new version is possible sometime next year at the earliest.”Item
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* What does it mean for LibraryThing, now that Amazon is taking over Shelfari entirely, and will acquire an approximately 40 percent stake in LT once their acquisition of AbeBooks closes? The site opened itself up to user suggestions and feedback while pondering the possibilities, and the extensive discussion has well over 100 posts. Meanwhile, with various web stats showing user growth at both LibraryThing and Shelfari leveling off considerably, Tim O’Reilly writes on O’Reilly Radar “I’m a bit surprised that the articles have seemingly ignored the fact that Goodreads appears to be the market leader, at least based on […]
Amazon Takes Over Shelfari
Book social networking site Shelfari announced on their site that Amazon, which was an investor, is buying out the company: “As many of you may already know, Amazon has been a long supporter of Shelfari. They’ve worked closely with us as we introduced readers, like you, to our global community of book lovers…. And now Shelfari and Amazon will work hand in hand to continue to grow our dynamic community and create innovative new tools around the books you love. We’ve got some big plans ahead. With more resources and Amazon’s expertise in building a platform where people come to […]
An Analyst with Some Sense on Kindle
McAdams Wright Ragen Tim Bueneman said on Friday in an e-mail that based on his meetings with management at Amazon, “There are already several new, improved versions of the Kindle in the works. But Amazon has no plans, however, for an MP3 music audio version. We guess the new version will have improved interface operating controls. This has been an issue with some buyers.” Bueneman’s letter notes that Amazon sees an opportunity to market Kindle to college students “market its e-book reader to college students” and it’s this threat that most of the press jumps on. Amazon’s Heather Huntoon comments […]