news – Activity Press

A Bad Week for New Zealand Publishing

It’s been a bad week for New Zealand publishing. On Tuesday, Pearson Education announced the imminent closure of its New Zealand office. The global publishing giant is restructuring to focus on ‘core’ and ’emerging’ markets, and New Zealand is neither. And yesterday, Harper Collins joined the exit, announcing its plan to move most of its New Zealand… Continue reading A Bad Week for New Zealand Publishing

Australia’s first digital-only trade publisher launches

A company which believes it is Australia’s first digital-only trade publisher launched last week with a roster of titles from five Australian authors. Really Blue Books publisher Sarah Bailey sees an opening in the market for a publisher with a digital-only focus prepared to promote new, creative talent. “We are particularly keen to benefit and nurture our home-grown… Continue reading Australia’s first digital-only trade publisher launches

Could this be Australia’s worst publishing contract? And bookselling icon Dymocks is behind it.

Australian bookselling icon Dymocks last week launched a self-publishing service called D Publishing. While the service looks fine, its publishing contract is dreadful. Even if you’re not in Australia, you should look at it to see just how bad a publishing contract can be in the wrong hands. The issue was exposed by The Australian… Continue reading Could this be Australia’s worst publishing contract? And bookselling icon Dymocks is behind it.

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

Publishers, here’s how to stop Apple and why you should do it now

When the mightiest online retailer in the world, Amazon, has to bow to Apple’s demands and cut ties to its ebookstore in the Kindle app, we know we’re facing a big problem. Retailers have lost an important battle to stop Apple turning its hardware dominance into control over content sales. It’s now time for publishers to… Continue reading Publishers, here’s how to stop Apple and why you should do it now

US publisher upheaval ahead as print book sales see sharp decline

The Association of American Publishers released its US book sales figures for February 2011 and it looks like 2011 will be the year the trade book business has to finally confront serious declines in its core print business. Up until now, print sales have largely held up while ebook sales boomed, giving the industry the… Continue reading US publisher upheaval ahead as print book sales see sharp decline

Video review: Kobo eReader reviewed by Martin Taylor on bookTV.nz

For those who want to see the new Kobo eReader in action, take a look at the video review I’ve just done for bookTV.nz. Kobo eReader is the ebook reader that Whitcoulls is now selling through its stores and website to accompany the opening of its ebook store. If you want more, you can also… Continue reading Video review: Kobo eReader reviewed by Martin Taylor on bookTV.nz

New Zealand gets its first ebook store, ebook reader: Whitcoulls powered by Kobo

New Zealand’s largest book chain Whitcoulls today launched the country’s first commercial ebook store. It’s the fruit of an investment by Whitcoulls’ parent, the Red Group, which late last year took a stake in Canadian ebook operation Kobo Books. Whitcoulls’ ebook store carries the ‘Whitcoulls’ brand but is powered by Kobo and integrated into Whitcoulls’… Continue reading New Zealand gets its first ebook store, ebook reader: Whitcoulls powered by Kobo

BookTV.nz set to bring video book reviews, author interviews to the web

I’ve been working on a project called BookTV.nz, a book video channel on YouTube with reviews and author interviews done in a web-friendly style, easy to share to spread the word about good books. It’s ready to go live and we’re starting with some great video clips of New Zealand and international authors from last week’s… Continue reading BookTV.nz set to bring video book reviews, author interviews to the web