A week after the Perseus-produced Hackathon that concluded at BEA, HarperCollins is launching its own version with BookSmash Challenge, a contest running from today through September 5 that asks developers developers “to create new digital products that ‘break the binding’ and re-imagine the book.” Developers will have access to works by more than a dozen authors, including Eloisa James, Julia Quinn, and C.S. Lewis, from which they can build new products and software from access to the full API for those titles. HarperCollins is working with software competition platform ChallengePost on the contest, and a total of $25,000 in cash […]
Web marketing/promotion
eNews: Sony Ends 20p eBook Promotion in UK; DA VINCI CODE eBook Free for a Week; And More
Sony’s 20p discounted price on select ebooks, a promotion that lasted for more than eight months, has ended after the company redesigned its ebookstore. In a statement to the Bookseller Sony said “Discounted 20p pricing is not currently offered on the newly relaunched UK Reader Store. However, pricing is always subject to revision. The duration of our 20p pricing is indicative of our commitment to provide great e-books at exceptionally accessible prices, which is a philosophy we continue to hold.” Now that the steep discount on books such as Yann Martel’s LIFE OF PI and John Lanchester’s CAPITAL (and earlier, […]
eNews: Random Joins MyiLibrary, Book Scout (Officially), and Total Boox
Ingram will add over 36,000 titles to their MyiLibrary ebook platform in February from Random House, Inc. as well as the publisher’s distribution clients. As we were first to report last Friday, Random House formally announced their new Facebook app Book Scout, which launched last week. Random’s svp digital marketplace development Amanda Close says in the press release, “By creating BookScout, Random House is helping to encourage conversations about books on Facebook, and broaden the social discovery of books in the digital space.” Mashable covers the early beta of Total Boox, which lets users download entire books for free, and then […]
Byliner Adds Print; Firebrand Offers Book Widget
Publisher of digital shorts Byliner has paired with Ingram to bring some of their titles into print–and bookstores–starting next month. Byliner founder and ceo John Tayman says in the announcement “we increasingly hear from our readers and writers that they would like our stories available in print as well as digital form.” Ingram will handling printing and distribution, and their Graphic Arts Books unit will also supply Byliner with “the back-office services of a traditional publisher for distribution, administration, file management, and other services.” Byliner’s first “original,” Three Cups of Deceit by Jon Krakauer, was published in trade paperback by […]
Avon’s New Facebook App Doubles as Experiment in DRM-Free Purchasing; Amazon’s Whispercast For Bulk Kindle Distribution
Avon launched a Facebook app, Avon Social Reader, which excerpts up to 20 percent of approximately 30 titles and gives Facebook users the ability to share a given book, once browsed, in their News Feed or timeline. The app doubles as an experiment in DRM-free purchasing, allowing users to click through to buy the selected titles at AllRomance.com (though they can also choose to purchase DRM-enabled versions of the books at other online retailers.) The DRM-free editions will be delivered as secure Adobe ePub files. Avon vp, publisher Liate Stehlik said in a statement the DRM-free experiment was “a publishing […]
eNews: Self-Publishing Goes to Libraries, and Another Start-Up Buzz Network
Self-publishing technology company FastPencil has a new initiative to put their offers in front of patrons of libraries that work with services provider Auto-Graphics. (The company works with 5,500 libraries, but the program begins with “a select group” of those customers.) The new Library Management Platform lets self-publishing customers issue “their musings” from within the library and then work with the library to “add that book, whether digital or print, to the library’s offerings.” Boston start-up Libboo.com has announced a seed round of $1.1 million in financing, led by MassVentures. It’s another platform that aims to create a community of […]