In a recent American study by book data specialist Bowker, bookstores were second only to favourite authors as the most important source of new book discovery. Few booksellers would find this surprising. What perhaps is surprising is that bookstores achieved this ranking with just 19% of book buyers nominating them. Bowker’s study identified 44 sources… Continue reading A lesson from tech history points to a thriving future role for bookshops
Category: Amazon
Hard work of publisher restructuring begins – and the #1 reason many will fail
Technology researcher Forrester released a survey of US publishing executives yesterday which uncovered an interesting disconnect: 82% were optimistic about the digital transition of books, but only 28% thought their own company would be stronger as a result. The explanation? “Publishers have started to do the hard work of making the digital transition and they’re… Continue reading Hard work of publisher restructuring begins – and the #1 reason many will fail
Australian ebook buyers offered choices aplenty this Christmas
Australian readers will have few reasons not to join the ebook revolution this Christmas as a host of offerings come on stream. The past year has seen major strides in the key areas of local availability, price, ease of use and ease of purchase. “This Christmas will be a very important one for ebooks in… Continue reading Australian ebook buyers offered choices aplenty this Christmas
Amazon takes on libraries with Kindle Owners’ Lending Library
Amazon’s loving its Kindle owners. The retail giant is letting Kindle owners who sign up for its US$79 Prime service borrow an ebook each month for no extra fee. Prime is a premium service for Amazon customers that started as an offer of unlimited shipping for a one-time annual payment. That US$79 fee now includes… Continue reading Amazon takes on libraries with Kindle Owners’ Lending Library
EPUB3 ready to go, now Amazon responds with Kindle Format 8
A couple of weeks ago, the publishing industry’s EPUB3 specification was finally signed off. This was the cue for device makers and e-reading app developers to build it into their next releases and for publishers to start work on enhanced ebooks. Now Amazon has responded with its own next generation ebook format, Kindle Format 8 (KF8), complicating… Continue reading EPUB3 ready to go, now Amazon responds with Kindle Format 8
Kindle Fire brings colour, low price – and the cloud
Amazon has announced its long-anticipated entry into the tablet market with the US$199 Kindle Fire, due to go on sale 15 November and US-only for now. While some were anticipating an iPad Killer and several commentators are disappointed that it’s not, taking Apple head-on today was never going to be Amazon’s strategy. Following Apple’s playbook… Continue reading Kindle Fire brings colour, low price – and the cloud
Amazon takes shot at Apple with impressive Kindle Cloud Reader web app
When Apple took its heavy-handed action against retailers last month, stopping them selling from within iPad and iPhone apps, those retailers were inevitably going to search for ways to avoid this happening in future. Any business would want to know that its very existence wasn’t subject to the changing whims of Apple management. It turns… Continue reading Amazon takes shot at Apple with impressive Kindle Cloud Reader web app
Bloggers can now join booksellers selling Google Ebooks
Google has just launched the Google Ebooks affiliate programme, opening the door for any website owner to become an ebook retailer. Likely candidates would be bloggers, publishers, media sites, link sites and anyone who can generate a reasonable amount of traffic. Even booksellers. Sites can link to a single ebook, a group of titles, or… Continue reading Bloggers can now join booksellers selling Google Ebooks
Did Google disappoint with its eBooks launch?
Google launched its much-anticipated—and much-delayed—ebook service this week, serving up several hundred thousand commercial ebooks for sale in addition three million free, out-of-copyright books. Formerly known as Google Editions, the new Google ebooks service launched in the US with the company promising an international roll-out in “early 2011”. The Google ebooks service is a major… Continue reading Did Google disappoint with its eBooks launch?
Make your own Kindle ebooks using new Adobe InDesign plug-in from Amazon
Publishers who want to produce their own Kindle-ready ebooks can now do it directly from within the Adobe InDesign page layout software using a free plug-in thatAmazon has just released. The plug-in adds an “Export to Kindle” facility which generates the file in a few clicks, similar to InDesign’s native ePub export facility. This is… Continue reading Make your own Kindle ebooks using new Adobe InDesign plug-in from Amazon