There is a new entrant in field offering ebook subscriptions for kids, Epic!, which targets kids 12 and under with an app that offers unlimited reading for $9.99 a month (starting with a one-month free trial). They stream the books rather than download them, and the company says participating publishers include Simon & Schuster, Open Road, Lerner, Kids Can Press and others providing “thousands” of titles. Sample screens show books including Olivia; Click, Clack, Moo; and Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs. The company says it has raised $1.4 million in seed funding from Menlo Ventures, Webb Investment Network, Innovation Endeavors, Maven Ventures, Morado […]
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People, Etc
Rosetta Books announced multiple promotions: Nav Khalsa has been appointed digital marketing director; Greg Freed is production and distribution director; Michelle Weyenberg has been named digital marketing and promotions manager; Hannah Bennett is now production manager; and Peter Clark is production manager. Also, the head of Rosetta’s UK office Jonathan Ward will relocate to Beijing in January, where his duties will include supervising a new, exclusive partnership with the China National Publications Import and Export Group to distribute their english-language ebooks catalog to libraries, schools, and other institutional accounts in China. Rosetta ceo Arthur Klebanoff notes that “The market in […]
eNews: Kobo Disabled at Whitcoulls; Scholastic’s Ed-Tech; Scribd’s Subscriber Report; and More
WH Smith still has not restored service to their website in the wake of controversy over some of the Kobo ebooks they were offering for sale. In New Zealand, retailer Whitcoulls “has suspended the sale of eBooks through our website.” They write in a site note: “This suspension will remain in place until we can guarantee that any inappropriate material, that has been available through self published eBooks, has been removed from the Kobo eBook catalogue.” But Australian partner Angus & Robertson is still selling what appears to be the full and unexpurgated Kobo catalog (at least judging by a […]
Amazon Sells Subscription Package of Kids Books, Videos and Apps
Amazon’s latest announcement has two interesting aspects: They are bundling digital children’s content across media into a combined “library” or subscription, and they are broadly selling that subscription to all customers, not just Prime “members.” Called Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, the all-in-one subscription service works on any Kindle Fire device and will be available as part of an automatic OS software update “in the coming weeks.” The package features books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows focused on children ages 3-8. Amazon Prime members get preferred pricing–$2.99/month per individual child (or $6.99 per family)–but others can subscribe for $4.99/month (or $9.99 […]
eNews: Digital Romance Imprints from Cosmopolitan, Random House Australia
Cosmopolitan is partnering with Harlequin on Cosmo Red Hot Reads, a digital line that will publish two original ebooks every month starting in May 2013. The ebook romance novels, which will run approximately 30,000 words (to “appeal to readers on a variety of platforms, including mobile devices”), will bear both the Cosmopolitan and Harlequin logos on their covers. At least some will be written “by some of Harlequin’s bestselling authors.” “We are very excited to be Cosmopolitan’s partner in publishing and believe these stories will prove popular with women everywhere, especially new adult fiction readers,” Harlequin publisher and ceo Donna Hayes said […]
Briefs: Bardowl Audiobook Streaming Service Launches in Europe; Reading Rainbow iPad App; And More
A new audiobook subscription service, Bardowl, has launched in Europe and will provide unlimited access to audiobooks for £9.99 a month for those with iOS devices. Among the publishers who have signed on to provide audiobooks to Bardowl are Penguin, Macmillan, AudioGo, Wiley, and specialist audio publishers Summersdale and Creative Content. Release Months after announcing LeVar Burton and his company RRKidz announced their intention to revive Reading Rainbow, the long-running PBS children’s show that ended in 2009, as an iPad app, the service is now live in the iTunes store, available at an introductory price of $9.99 a month or […]