As we reported in September, after months of trying to enlist publisher participation in an ebook library for Amazon Prime members, the etailer has launched that initiative with a modest base of about 5,000 titles. Called Kindle Owners Lending Library, it makes available selected, mostly backlist titles, with promoted books coming from publishers including Scholastic, Norton, Bloomsbury, Grove/Atlantic, Workman/Algonquin, F+W Media, Lonely Planet, and Amazon’s own publishing imprints. Rosetta Books tells the WSJ they alone are contributing about 200 titles. None of the six largest publishers are participating (and when we discussed it with them in September, none of the companies […]
Libraries
eNews: Kobo Pairs with Fnac in France; BlueFire Goes International; and More
Kobo has announced their next international ebook alliance, with France’s top bookselling chain Fnac. Set to launch “within the fourth quarter” of this year both online and in 81 Fnac stores, the bookseller has committed to having “ereading experts on hand to give personalized in-store demonstrations,” taking a cue from Barnes & Noble’s Nook boutiques. They promise “the largest catalog of ebooks in France” without specifying a number of titles on a platform that will be called “Kobo by Fnac.” (Amazon launched their Kindle store last week with about 35,000 titles in French. This time a year ago, Fnac said […]
A Small Kindle Lending Update
Further to yesterday’s story, we caught up with OverDrive ceo Steve Potash. While the implementation of Kindle lending to all of the over 11,000 public and school library systems served by OverDrive in the US was “still ongoing” yesterday afternoon, Potash said they were activating more systems every hour. He expected they would complete the task by late Thursday or sometime Friday, and noted that all systems had notices that either said they were live or that the service was coming soon. As to the questions about privacy, Potash conceded that the Kindle lending is an opt-in service where patrons […]
Kindle Lending: “Somebody Should Explain….”
As Kindle’s library-lending initiative went from a Seattle-area beta on Monday to a full rollout yesterday, the expected wave of confusion began. Amazon’s press release said customers “can now borrow Kindle books from more than 11,000 local libraries in the United States” but that declaration was premature. The implementation of the library offerings comes through service provider OverDrive, which did not have all of their library customers activated when the press release landed. The company said on their own blog that they are “quickly updating all US public and school library partner websites to support Kindle compatibility and will complete […]
Kindle Library Lending Begins
Kindle’s library lending initiative has gone live in the US libraries served by OverDrive. The program was first announced in April, and spotted in a beta rollout that began Monday at the Seattle Public Library and the King County Library System. (Though a You Tube video from King County describing the download process was taken down at Amazon’s request, according to an LJ story.) Director of the King County Library System Bill Ptacek implied that the Kindle tablet expected later this year may more prominently promote library ebook lending, though his remark is a bit cryptic: “Ptacek is expecting Kindle […]
Librarians Hopeful As HBG Considers Resuming Frontlist eBook Sales
Library Journal updates the state of negotiations on new models for selling ebooks to libraries. While some librarians have apparently convinced themselves that Hachette Book Group has a plan to start selling them frontlist ebooks again, Hachette executives make it clear their internal debate is still underway. SVP for Hachette Digital Maja Thomas has been meeting with the relevant parties, but the HBG team has not made any decisions. “It’s an extremely sensitive issue and there is a lot of passion on both sides, and we’ve been working diligently here for months on it,” she says. “I will present [her […]