While most countries around the world wait for substantial ebook markets to develop at home, the marketplaces developed by the big North American ebook players increasingly provide unexpectedly strong opportunities to sell ebooks in multiple languages. Amazon vp of Global Kindle Content Acquisition David Naggar addressed this opportunity with data at the Publishers Launch Conference on Monday. Addressing one of the issues raised in the morning panels, Naggar said they are indeed experiencing significant growth in selling English ebooks into translation territories as well. In countries where English is not the first language, Kindle’s year-to-date unit sales in 2011 have […]
International News
At PLC Frankfurt, Mondadori to Launch Translated eBooks In US, and More World Views
Some information and highlights from this morning’s Publishers Launch Conference, eBooks Go Global, in Frankfurt. One of the premises of today’s conference was an expectation the ebooks will lead to new ways of publishing more fluidly around the world. Riccardo Cavallero confirmed this in the morning’s opening panel of international trade executives in two announcements. “We’re going to launch our authors in English directly into English-speaking markets” in ebook form. “We will keep paper rights free,” so if their translations find a market, “we will able to convince some reluctant North American publishers” to take over the English rights. Cavellero […]
Two Actions Might Disrupt Frankfurt Travel
Those attending the Frankfurt Book Fair this week are faced with the possibility of two different work slowdowns that could catch you coming or going. Flights into Frankfurt are experiencing delays Monday afternoon as over 1,200 ground handling staff attend meetings discussing EU plans to increase competition among the handlers. Lufthansa said Sunday “we are actively preparing for it and hope to limit the effect on passengers as much as possible,” while warning that at least some delays are likely. The larger concern is when you’ll be able to go home. Germany’s air traffic controllers rejected a mediator’s proposal to […]
Where the eBookstores Are
With two international announcements this week and more a possibility at next week’s Frankfurt Book Fair, we’ve prepared a recap of recent international expansions of the big ebookstore platforms: Amazon launched their first non-English Kindle store in Germany in April. As part of their international expansion, the company added a general Amazon store in Spain last month (and they opened a general store in Italy in November 2010). Kindle stores are expected soon in both Spain and Italy, where advertisements have been seen for Kindle positions. Among other countries on Amazon’s horizon, Brazilian publishers have reported discussions for both a […]
Google eBooks Launch in the UK; Weltbild Adds German Readers
We’re glad we won’t have to spend the early days of the Frankfurt Book Fair wondering when Google will launch their long-expected UK ebookstore: it is live now. It looks just like the US version, except when visited from US IP addresses you mostly see blank carousels, so there is not a lot to check out. (We infer the store is IP restricted, since UK visitors report seeing a regular store display.) Strategic partner development manager Jason Hanley told The Bookseller, which has the first story on the store, that the Australian and Canadian versions will launch “soon.” As announced […]
Did European Court Just Block Open-Market Imports?
A European Court of Justice ruling in a case over an English pub owner who used a Greek decoder to let her access less expensive Greek broadcasts of Premier League soccer games may have an unusual application: It could settle once and for all the disagreements between US and UK publishers over how to handle open-market English-language exports into continental Europe. That’s because the ruling appears to limit territorial rights limitations within Europe. As interpreted by attorney C.E. Petit on his blog Scrivener’s Error, the court has said that “an identical work can essentially only be licensed once for redistribution […]