Microsoft already has a stake in Nook Media, and now it is reportedly seeking to buy out the entire company. In Nook, Microsoft sees a shot at competing against Amazon and Apple — in a way it might not be able to do from scratch. Read more »
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 »
Barnes & Noble is bringing new movies and TV shows to Nook Video. It’s a good step toward creating a media ecosystem for Nook, but the company is not close to becoming a Netflix, Amazon or iTunes competitor. Read more »
Analysts asked Barnes & Noble some hard questions in an investor call Thursday, following an earnings report that showed Nook revenues down by 26 percent over last year. Read more »
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 »
Barnes & Noble’s founder and chairman, Leonard Riggio, has offered to buy the bookstore chain’s 689 retail stores and BN.com. Barnes & Noble confirmed Monday that it is considering the offer. Read more »
It’s only been a couple of months since Barnes & Noble downgraded guidance for its Nook business. Now the company is doing so again. Unfortunately, Nook Media is supposed to be the profitable part of the company. Read more »
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 »
This weekly feature (back after a brief hiatus) looks at the books that are selling better in digital format than in print. This week’s picks: Two books from self-published author Michelle Leighton, who’s just signed a deal with traditional publisher Penguin. Read more »
Barnes & Noble’s new Nook HD tablets, priced starting at $199, aim to stand out from the pack with reader-centric features and enhanced reading experiences for magazines and catalogs. The company’s goal is to drive book discovery and purchasing through the tablets in new ways. Read more at GigaOM »
Just a few days after the approval of the DOJ’s ebook settlement, HarperCollins has entered into new contracts with ebook retailers, and they’re already discounting its titles. What kinds of deals will you get? Read more »
With the releases of the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Glo today, we saw an evolution in e-readers. The devices don’t have more tablet-like features, but they should still provide much better reading experiences than older models. Read more at GigaOM »
Though most eyes are on Amazon’s Thursday press conference, Kobo is angling for early attention with its announcement of two new e-readers and a new 7-inch Android tablet called the Arc. How do the devices stack up to the competition? Read more at GigaOM »
Barnes & Noble announced three more partners for its Nook UK launch this fall: Academic bookseller Blackwell’s, independent bookseller Foyles and general retail chain Argos. B&N also announced John Lewis as a retail partner earlier this week. Read more »
Many newspapers have tried ebooks as a new revenue stream, but the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s “In the Footsteps of Little Crow” stands out. Curt Brown’s extensively researched narrative of the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War is #13 on the NYT ebook bestseller list this week. Read more »
Microsoft invested $300 million in Barnes & Noble’s Nook business. As the following chart shows, that probably wasn’t a great idea: Production problems, slowing ebook sales and other factors are contributing to the Nook’s troubles. Read more »
Barnes & Noble will sell its Nook e-readers in the UK starting this October, but at the beginning they will only be available through a website, nook.co.uk. B&N says it will announce partnerships with “leading retailers” soon. Read more »
This weekly feature looks at the books that are selling better in digital format than in print. This week’s pick: Nordic noir title “The Boy in the Suitcase.” Read more »
The current Kindle Touch models are either unavailable or shipping in 8 to 9 days on Amazon, suggesting that new models are coming soon — possibly including a front-lit Kindle to compete with Barnes & Noble’s Nook with GlowLight. Read more at GigaOM »
This weekly feature examines certain ebooks’ paths to bestseller-dom, and highlights bestselling titles on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists that are selling more copies in digital than in print. Featured this week: R.L. Mathewson’s “Playing for Keeps” and “Perfection.” Read more »
Mobile analytics companies provide app publishers with data about their users. Hiptype, a Y Combinator startup, wants to do the same thing for ebooks. That could be huge for data-starved book publishers — except that for now, Hiptype only works on platforms that support HTML5. Read more »
This weekly feature examines certain ebooks’ paths to bestseller-dom, and highlights bestselling titles on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists that are selling more copies in digital than in print. Featured this week: Bella Andre’s “Sullivans” series and Courtney Walsh’s “A Sweethaven Summer.” Read more »
Remember when Friendster was the hot social network, publishers doubted that ebooks would ever sell, and Netflix thought DVDs in red envelopes was the future? We do — that was that state of digital media when paidContent launched in 2002. Read more »
This weekly feature examines certain ebooks’ paths to bestseller-dom, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: Flappers, chaperones and the power of the Kindle Daily Deal. Read more »
This weekly column examines certain ebooks’ paths to bestseller-dom, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: Self-published young adult romance takes off again. Read more »
In an effort to make ebook gift-giving more spontaneous and fun, Los Angeles-based startup Livrada is partnering with Target to sell gift cards for bestselling ebook titles like “50 Shades of Grey” and “Gone Girl” in the chain’s 1,771 stores nationwide. Read more »
Good way for a book to become a NYT bestseller: Have Jeff Bezos write about it on Amazon’s homepage. That’s what happened to Jessica Park, whose self-pubbed “Flat-Out Love” got a Bezos shoutout on June 18. This week, it hits the NYT ebook list at #25. Read more »
New reports from the American Libraries Association and Pew Internet and American Life Project reveal that despite the increasing number of e-books available to library patrons, libraries themselves face big challenges in weathering the transition. Read more »
Flipboard, Apple’s 2010 iPad app of the year, is finally launching on Android phones worldwide and will also be available on the Kindle Fire and on Nook tablets. The personalized news magazine app will also incorporate Google+ and YouTube for the first time. Read more »
This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: A “new adult” romance for the college crowd. Read more »
German e-reading service txtr hopes to take on Amazon and Apple by becoming the biggest provider of third party reading apps — and a deal with four major American publishers and a New York office could be the latest steps in that journey. Read more »
UK bookstore chain Waterstones has signed an agreement with Amazon to sell the Kindle in its 300 stores and “launch new e-reading services.” The news is a blow for Barnes & Noble, which was rumored to be working with Waterstones on the Nook’s international launch. Read more »
This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: Crashing a book about the financial crash. Read more »
This new weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: A book that plays itself on TV. Read more »
This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling better in digital than in print. This week: Marriage to a billionaire. Read more »
Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch says that the company plans to embed NFC (near field communication) chips into its Nooks. Users could take their Nook into a Barnes & Noble store and scan a print book to get info on it or buy it. Read more at GigaOM »
Although Microsoft invested $300 million in a Barnes & Noble spin-off on Monday, this isn’t the first time Microsoft played the e-book game. Typical for the company, it often has great ideas, but it errs on the timing: Microsoft debuted e-book software back in 2000! Read more »
Microsoft and Barnes & Noble are teaming up to take on Amazon and Apple. The $300 million investment in the Nook subsidiary of Barnes & Noble gives Microsoft about 17.6% ownership of this business unit and values it at about about $1.7 billion, more than Barnes & Noble itself. Read more at GigaOM »
Microsoft and Barnes & Noble are forming a strategic partnership that combines the Nook and college businesses into a new company. Microsoft is making a $300 million investment in the new company and Nook e-books are coming to Windows platforms. Read more »
This new weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling better in digital than in print. This week: Two castaways find romance on a desert island…and other bestsellers. Read more »
