When can a book be digital-only, and when does it need to be print too?
Book publishers discussed digital-first and digital-only initiatives at the Making Information Pay conference this week. Read more »
Publishers to testify against Apple in price-fixing trial
photo: Tricia Duryee
Apple’s exposure in a closely-watched price-fixing case over ebooks looks more serious as the CEOs of major publishers — which have already settled with the government — will testify about Apple’s role in the case. Read more »
Following pilot, Hachette will make all of its ebooks available to libraries nationwide
photo: Flickr user Eric Mueller
Hachette announced Wednesday that it will make all of its ebooks, including new titles, available to libraries nationwide. New ebooks will be priced at three times the cost of the print version, but a library only has to buy a copy once. Read more »
iOS reading platform Readmill partners with digital marketplace Gumroad
iOS reading platform Readmill announced three partnerships Friday. The Berlin-based startup is working with digital marketplace Gumroad, and has also partnered with U.K. companies Faber Factory and Firsty Group, which offer services to independent publishers and authors. Read more »
Why digital book publishers are starting to embrace data
photo: Albert Chau
How are book publishers learning more about our evolving reading habits? Not surprisingly, ebook publishers are turning the industry toward thinking more about making data-driven decisions. Read more »
Simon & Schuster launches ebook lending pilot with New York City public libraries
photo: Flickr / melanzane1013
Simon & Schuster will finally make its ebooks available to libraries, through a one-year trial with New York City’s public libraries. The publisher is making all of its titles available in the trial, but would not comment on how much it is charging libraries for them. Read more »
Publishing startup Ganxy launches new tool for ebook giveaways
Ganxy, a startup that helps publishers sell and market ebooks online, is adding tools that will let them give away ebooks for free through targeted promotional campaigns. Read more »
Ebooks made up 23 percent of US publisher sales in 2012, says the AAP
Ebooks accounted for nearly a quarter of the U.S. trade book business in 2012, according to statistics released Thursday by the Association of American Publishers. The ebook industry appears to be maturing, however, and triple-digit growth is likely a thing of the past. Read more »
Book review: Former Kindle exec on Kindle flaws, Nook strengths and Google’s future in ebooks
In a new book, former Kindle exec Jason Merkoski examines where e-reading platforms are now and how they could change in the future. If you’re looking for secrets about Jeff Bezos, though, you’re in the wrong place. Read more »
Heartbreak for Harlequin authors as judge tosses e-book case
photo: Harlequin Romance
A new court decision reflects the ongoing difficulties in deciding how old book contracts should address the issue of ebook royalties. In the ruling, a federal judge dismissed a class action brought by writers against Harlequin Romance. Read more »
Podcast: How Hugh Howey’s Wool became a self-published smash hit
photo: Jasper Scheuers
In this podcast, we talk with Wool author Hugh Howey about his self-publishing success and how he arrived at a seven-figure, print-only deal with traditional publisher Simon & Schuster. Read more »
“First do no harm”: My interview with Amazon and Goodreads on the future of Goodreads
photo: Shutterstock / Thomas Bethge
In an interview Thursday, Goodreads CEO Otis Chandler and Amazon’s VP of Kindle content Russ Grandinetti stressed that Goodreads will not change for the worse following its acquisition by Amazon. Read more »
What’s next in digital publishing: New platforms and payment models
What can a book look like in the digital age and how will people pay for it? This is one of the themes we’ll be exploring at paidContent Live on April 17 in New York Read more »
Updated: Apple expands iBookstore in Japan with new publisher partnerships
For the first time Apple’s iBookstore will offer paid ebooks in the Japanese market, from major Japanese publishers including Kodansha and KADOKAWA. The iBooks 3.1 update also brings reading improvements for other Asian languages. Read more »
Amazon execs set to testify in price-fixing case against Apple
photo: Getty Images / Spencer Platt
Amazon won a court ruling last week that restrict Apple’s access to its executives and documents. Filings from the case also show that senior Amazon executives are poised to testify for the government in its price-fixing case against Apple. Read more »
As Nook revenues plunge, B&N says it’s “calibrating” strategy but “committed” to devices
photo: Barnes & Noble
As it had warned, Barnes & Noble released a disappointing earnings report Thursday morning. Nook sales were down 26 percent over the previous year, despite the launch of new tablets. Read more »
Authors face change as Amazon tightens affiliate policy on free Kindle books
photo: Flickr / Alan O'Rourke
Amazon is cracking down on a policy that allows blogs and websites to earn money when users download free ebooks through their affiliate links. That means big changes in the ways that some self-published ebooks are promoted online. Read more »
Here’s the problem with book publishers’ discovery problem
photo: Shutterstock / Thomas Bethge
When it comes to discoverability and walled gardens, there’s a flip side. Read more »
Macmillan settles with DOJ, leaving Apple last defendant standing in ebook pricing case
Macmillan, the last remaining publisher holdout in the Department of Justice’s ebook pricing antitrust lawsuit against five publishers and Apple, has decided to settle about ten months after the lawsuit was originally filed. Now Apple is the only remaining party fighting the DOJ lawsuit. Read more »
Berlin-based e-reading app Readmill adds iPhone version
Berlin-based e-reading startup Readmill launched an iPhone version of its e-reading platform Wednesday. Users’ ebooks will now sync between their iPhones and iPads. Read more »
Two years and three CEOs later, publisher JV Bookish is ready to help users find their next book
The long-delayed Bookish, a website backed by Hachette, Penguin and Simon & Schuster and designed to promote book discovery and sell books, launched Monday night and is designed to be a one-stop shop for readers looking for their next book. Read more »
Why Apple is the stumbling block in Amazon’s ebook transition
As the ebook transition moves forward, Amazon should worry that Kindle is not going to be the device leading the revolution. Read more »
How to use your iPhone, iPad or Mac to borrow ebooks from the library
photo: Shutterstock / Gts
You don’t have to pay for ebooks on your mobile device or your Mac: your local library will lend you ebooks, digital magazine and audiobooks. Here’s a quick guide to getting set up. Read more »
Why online book discovery is broken (and how to fix it)
Here’s the main problem with book discovery online: Right now, it doesn’t really work. New research shows that frequent book buyers visit sites like Pinterest and Goodreads regularly, but those visits fail to drive actual book purchases. Read more »
To fight Amazon’s “black box,” iPad publisher Inkling opens its 400 ebooks up to Google
In an effort to aid book discovery and battle Amazon’s dominance, iOS publishing platform Inkling will allow its roughly 400 ebooks to be fully indexed through Google search. The company plans to add a thousand more books this year. Read more »
54% of U.S. kids have never read an ebook: New report
photo: Scholastic
A new report from Scholastic reveals that most U.S. children have still never read an ebook. Many of them — especially girls — want to, and kids also claim they’d read more for fun if they had more access to ebooks. Read more »
Don’t hold your breath waiting for Amazon to give you Kindle copies of your books
Amazon is offering consumers a free digital copy when they buy a CD. It makes perfect sense to do the same for books — alas, it’s not going to happen. Here’s why. Read more »
With release in hardcover, 50 Shades completely flips traditional publishing cycle
photo: 50 Shades of Grey
The bestselling 50 Shades of Grey trilogy is set to rake in even more cash: The books will be released in hardcover in time for Valentine’s Day. With their availability in that format, the trilogy will have completed a traditional publishing cycle almost entirely in reverse. Read more »
McGraw-Hill’s new adaptive ebooks aim to adjust to students’ learning needs
At the Consumer Electronics Show on Tuesday, McGraw-Hill Education unveiled its SmartBook, an adaptive e-book that tailors the reading experience to each students’ pace and mastery level. It guides students through the material, frequently assessing their retention, and highlights content on which they should focus. Read more at GigaOM »
Tablets surge past e-readers as ebook reading grows
The Pew Research Center reported that almost a quarter of Americans are reading ebooks. But more of the growth in ebook reading devices is happening on tablets than dedicated e-readers. Read more at GigaOM »
Ebook prices aren’t dropping faster because they weren’t too high before
photo: Flickr/401(K) 2012
A piece in the New York Times says ebook prices aren’t falling rapidly because the growth rate of ebooks isn’t as rapid as it once was and e-readers are falling in price. But that explanation doesn’t tell the whole story. Read more »
Barnes & Noble will give away free ebooks in stores, including big-6 titles
photo: Barnes & Noble
In a holiday promotion, customers who go to a Barnes & Noble store and buy an ebook from a list of 20 qualifying ebooks can “instant-gift” another ebook on that list for free. The list includes new and bestselling titles from big-six publishers who settled in the DOJ’s ebooks case. Read more »
Amazon’s 2012 bestseller list shows publishers and indie authors need each other
Amazon released its list of the bestselling books of 2012 on Friday morning. The list is a great summary of one of the key themes in book publishing in 2012: Self-published authors and traditional publishers need each other. Read more »
New stats: Ebooks still growing, but more slowly
photo: Shutterstock / Thomas Bethge
New stats from the Association of American Publishers provide a snapshot of publishers’ revenues through August 2012. While ebook revenue is still increasing, publishers are no longer seeing triple-digit growth in adult fiction and nonfiction ebooks. Read more »
The technological imperative: An excerpt from The Battle for the Books
In the latest GigaOM Book, Jeff John Roberts provides an in-depth look at the twists and turns behind Google’s attempt to digitize the world’s books. This excerpt examines why the company took on the project, which promised minimal financial benefit but plenty of legal headaches. Read more at GigaOM »
Penguin expands library ebook lending with Baker & Taylor
photo: Flickr user Eric Mueller
Less than a year after ending its relationship with digital library distributor OverDrive, Penguin is expanding ebook library lending in new partnerships with Baker & Taylor and 3M. But neither distributor supports Kindle e-readers. Read more »
Avid library ebook borrowers claim it doesn’t affect their book buying
photo: Flickr / melanzane1013
Do people who borrow ebooks from libraries buy fewer books? A new survey of about 75,000 library users suggests no — but because the respondents were self-selecting and already active library users, the results can’t be extended to the general population. Read more »
Book publisher earnings roundup: Hachette, Random House
Hachette and Random House’s parent companies Lagardère and Bertelsmann reported earnings Tuesday. At Hachette, ebooks made up 20 percent of adult trade book sales in both the U.S. and U.K. divisions. Read more »
Three Mac apps to help you self publish your book
I’m looking to self-publish my writing, so I took a look at a bunch of different Mac apps that can create ebooks. The best I found were Apple’s Pages, Adobe InDesign, and Scrivener. Here’s a look the pros and cons of each program. Read more »
European Commission reportedly accepts ebook pricing agreement
Reuters cites two unidentified sources who says that the European Commission has accepted Apple and four publishers’ proposed ebook pricing settlement. As we previously reported, the EU settlement includes Apple, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette and Macmillan parent company Holtzbrinck. Macmillan and Apple are not settling in the U.S. Read more »
