Amazon launched a Kindle store in Australia, which lets people there buy in local currency instead of purchasing through the US Kindle store and is said to more prominently feature local authors and publishers. Multiple Amazon devices are now for sale in Australia in local currency as well, and retailers Big W (owned by Woolworth’s) and Dick Smith will carry the Kindle Fire tablets starting in December. Australian KDP authors can now get paid faster and more efficiently in local currency as well. (Previously they were paid by paper checks sent from the US, experiencing a time delay and often […]
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M&A: Kno At One End, IMG At The Other
Following Friday’s modest announcement of Intel‘s takeover of educational textbook start-up Kno, Om Malik reports “well placed sources who were in the know told us that the company sold for $15 million with some retention bonuses for the employees.” This after raising roughly $75 million in equity and another $20 million in debt. He adds that “earlier this year, the company tried and failed to cut a deal with CourseSmart….In order for the two companies to work together, Kno had to take on all of CourseSmart’s liabilities and at the same time honor its contractual obligations. That deal, which was […]
Tim Ferriss Starts Audiobook Publisher, Eyes eBook Rights
Author Tim Ferriss announced on his blog that he has started an audiobook publishing venture, Tim Ferriss Publishing, under the promotional banner of the Tim Ferriss Book Club. Targeting men ages 20 to 40, and inspired in part by Oprah Winfrey, Ferriss writes, “For the last several months, I’ve been quietly buying audiobook and e-book rights to books that have changed my life, and producing audiobooks in professional studios.” Additionally, he says that ever since college he has “fantasized about somehow driving fantastic but under-appreciated books into the limelight.” The first release is a new audiobook of Rolf Potts’ VAGABONDING: An […]
Intel Buys Kno; Kindle Said to Eye Sweden; Ransom’s Free Resources
Big companies, and big investment, continue to flow towards “ed-tech,” as Intel announced on Friday that it acquired education software company Kno. Intel had previously made a$20 million investment in the company, as part of a $37.5 million round of financing in 2011. Kno started as a hardware company, aiming to make tablets for educational markets, and then shifted to a strategy of helping to digitize, enhance and sell electronic textbooks. Intel says in the announcement: “The acquisition of Kno boosts Intel’s global digital content library to more than 225,000 higher education and K-12 titles through existing partnerships with 75 […]
Small Demons to Close If No Buyer Emerges
In perhaps another sign of the disconnect between conference veneration of the new and shiny and the daunting challenges of building a scalable business around new uses of other people’s content, California-based Small Demons has indicated to publishers in a letter cited by the Bookseller that it will cease operations on November 25 unless a buyer emerges. Backed by approximately $2.4 million in equity funding and additional borrowings, Small Demons aims to “connect all the details of books,” extracting the people, places and things mentioned — including songs, movies, food, cars, fashion items, and more. The company says that a planned sale […]
Amazon Courts Independent Retailers With Kindle Sales Program
Amazon’s ongoing attempt to convince independent retailers to sell Kindle devices and ebooks persisted a little bit more with the formalization of program under the name Amazon Source. The company touts Source as a way for “independent bookstores and other retailers to sell Kindle devices and accessories, and earn money while doing so” through programs tailored for small businesses. At least two bookstores in Washington state, the University of Puget Sound Campus Bookstore and JJ Books, tested out Amazon Source in a pilot program. Source presents two options to retailers: Buy Kindle devices at a 6 percent discount and earn a […]