Macmillan CEO John Sargent reverses his controversial stance on library ebooks, and Penguin Random House announces a discounted digital books amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Using Text to “Enhance” E-books and Other Insights from the 2011 Leipzig Book Fair
Germany’s second biggest book fair offers a barometer of what’s obsessing the world’s third largest publishing industry By Siobhan O’Leary LEIPZIG: Students from the HTWK Leipzig [Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Kultur] emerged before a standing room only crowd at an event titled “rethinking the book” at the Leipzig Book Fair on Thursday afternoon, well-prepared to present the fruits of …
Which E-readers Might Have the “Second Mover Advantage”?
By Edward Nawotka Today’s lead story looks at the success German retailers had selling e-books this past holiday season. At Thalia, Germany’s largest bookstore chain, their Oyo e-reader proved one of their most popular items of the season. First is good, but second has it’s advantages, as proven by the increasing popularity of the NookColor. Likewise, in the United States, …
End of Year Sales Bode Well for German E-book Market
By Siobhan O’Leary German book chain Thalia reported its highest sales to date for its Oyo Reader in December, according to buchreport. The device — which reached stores in November — was one of Thalia’s top 5 bestselling products and, perhaps surprisingly, most of them were sold in-store rather than online. Thalia witnessed a corresponding increase in e-book sales, with figures …
Take our Enhanced E-book Survey
By Hannah Johnson Inspired by today’s discussion question, “Which E-book Enhancements Do You Prefer?” (and some interesting comments about integrating Google Earth into e-books), we have set up a new, two-part survey. We’re asking you to tell us which e-book enhancements you think are the best. If you don’t see your favorite enhancement on this list, leave a comment! The …
Which E-book Enhancements Do You Prefer?
By Edward Nawotka Today’s lead article reveals that just 7% of the 600 publishers surveyed by Aptara are enhancing e-books. Enhancements can take a variety of forms. Some involve the use of multimedia, such as audio narration and film clips embedded in the text. Others are more simple, such as the inclusion of authors interviews, reading club questions and sample …
Amazon Responds to Google eBooks with Kindle for the Web
By Hannah Johnson Yesterday, Google announced the launch of its eBookstore (formerly Google Editions). This e-commerce platform offers browser-based reading on PCs and downloads to mobile and reading devices. Google also encourages partnership agreements with third-party websites to sell their e-books. Today, Amazon announced that its two-month-old beta project, Kindle for the Web, will soon allow users to read and …
Apple’s Digital Newsstand: Should Publishers Sign On?
By Helen Gregg A potential deal between Apple and major periodical publishers has already been covered by The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News. Apple is moving forward with plans to sell magazines and newspapers on the iPad though its iTunes store, and recently the company has begun approaching publishers. A few days after Bloomberg’s story, the Journal cited reports …