Kodansha’s Morning magazine is one of the most interesting manga magazines in the Japanese marketplace. It’s pitched at young adults, and the stories tend to be somewhat more sophisticated than the genre magazines aimed at young teens and pre-teens (Shonen Jump, Ribon, etc.) Many of the Morning series that have been licensed in English have been critically acclaimed, if not top sellers: Planetes, the story of junk collectors in outer space; What’s Michael? a crazy cat manga that won the Kodansha Manga Award; and Masashi Tanaka’s wordless dinosaur manga Gon, which has been picked up by three different publishers in the U.S. at different times.
So it’s big news that Morning is getting its own digital edition, D Morning. It would be bigger news if the app was available in the U.S., but sadly, it is not; it is only available via the Japanese iTunes store (and the only language seems to be Japanese). What’s more, the two really outstanding series, Naoki Urasawa’s Billy Bat and Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond, won’t be in the digital edition.
Urasawa is on record as not liking digital media; in an interview last year, he remarked, “None of my works are [legally] available digitally. I prefer physical books.” Apparently his stance hasn’t changed on that.
Inoue isn’t quite as doctrinaire; his Smile, a collection of drawings that he did on an iPad and first shared via Twitter, is available as an app for iOS or Android. Still, none of his manga are available digitally, at least in English.
Despite the many omissions, the app is an important step forward for Japanese manga. Each new issue of D Morning comes out the same day as print, at a very reasonable price of 5,000 yen (about $5) per month; since it’s a weekly, there are four issues per month, for a total of about 1,200 pages. This is the first real attempt by a major Japanese publisher to do same-day print and digital releases; while Americans are enjoying their digital copies of Shonen Jump, their Japanese counterparts are reading the exact same material on paper. It works because Japan, unlike the U.S., still has newsstand distribution of comics on a mass scale, so there hasn’t been much of an incentive to go digital. But digital is still more convenient than print (comments on the app mention how much easier it is to read digitally on the train), and if Kodansha were to open up the D Morning app to markets outside Japan, they would probably find plenty of readers.
Cary Goldstein Joins Simon & Schuster
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There is some big news that just happened in the publishing industry today. Cary Goldstein has joined Simon & Schuster as the new Vice President, Executive Director of Publicity and Senior Editor. In his new role, Goldstein will supervise the Simon & Schuster publicity department and acquire a select number of fiction and nonfiction titles.
Goldstein was previously publisher of Twelve at the Hachette Book Group where he oversaw publicity campaigns for God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens, War by Sebastian Junger, Columbine by Dave Cullen, The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner, Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley, and True Compass by Edward M. Kennedy.
Deb Futter will be taking Cary Goldsteins former position at Twelve, she arrived from Grand Central by way of Doubleday in 2007. “For the past 5 years, Deb Futter has done a brilliant job as Vice President, Editor in Chief of GCP, and now she will add to her responsibilities the role of Publisher of Twelve,” Jaime Raab, the president and publisher of Grand Central Publishing, wrote. “Now, I can’t wait to see what’s ahead for Twelve, and feel confident that Deb will take the imprint in bold and successful new directions.”
The New York Times started to include ebooks in print and online editions back in 2011. The company announced today that it is suspending the inclusion of ebook titles in the newspaper and only posting them on the website. The prices of the ebooks will also not be included going forward, due to the shifting economic landscape of online sellers.
Pamela Paul is the current editor of the Book Review section of the New York Times, a post she only attained in April. She said in a statement, “The ebook list has migrated online, the digital world being its natural habitat. Given the fluid variety of pricing in today’s marketplace, we have also stopped including cover prices on the lists.”
The online version of the Book Review is undergoing a bit of revision and is starting to use a blogging template. Obviously, with any new look, many users are voicing their disdain. There is also a new column called Open Book, which focuses on panels of experts at various book publishing events and quotes from notable books.
Many readers are not quite sure what to make about the Times suspending the ebook bestseller list from the print edition. Some industry experts surmise that this may be a gambit to garner more money via online subscriptions for the company’s Paywall.
How to Load Android Apps on the Blackberry Q10
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The Blackberry Q10 is the first Blackberry 10 smartphone with a physical keyboard. One of the things that makes it unique is the Android emulator that allows you to run Android Apps. It is not as cut and dry as loading an APK file on your device. You have to convert it to a BAR file first. The Good e-Reader APP Store has a new online converter that you can use yourself, or you can download one one the 3500 Playbook and BB10 BAR files we have on our site.
This video tutorial shows you everything you need to do on your phone and then on your PC to facilitate the transfer of Apps to your phone. If you have any comments, please leave them on our Video, via YOUTUBE, and we will endeavor to help you.
The Amazon Kindle Keyboard Getting Harder to Find
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The Amazon Kindle Keyboard has received a number of new firmware updates over the course of the last two years, most notably parental controls. The e-reader is getting fairly long in the tooth, when compared to the Kindle Touch and Kindle Paperwhite. With a product refresh coming at the end of the summer, this device is getting harder to find. Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and many other retailers are now showing this reader as sold out.
The Kindle Keyboard was a fairly popular model when it came out in 2011, when it was known as the Kindle Graphite. At the time, competition in the e-reader space was fairly poor and customers loved the ability to type notes on the physical keyboard. These days, people want touchscreens or virtual screens. The Kindle 4, Paperwhite, and Kindle Touch are the three devices Amazon is marketing, and it really looks like the Keyboard model is officially discontinued.
Microsoft is all set to officially launch the next iteration of Windows, version 8.1, in October. Towards this, volume production of notebook devices based on Windows Blue is set to kick off in September. However, it remains to be seen is whether a new version of Windows will be enough to spur demand in the notebook segment that is finding increasing competition from tablet devices. The fact that Microsoft isn’t extending any incentive to the notebook manufacturers, such as reduced licensing fees, isn’t helping things either. As of now, Microsoft is offering licensing subsidies for devices with a display size smaller than 11.6 inches.
Meanwhile, in another related development, Microsoft is all set to enter the budget tablet segment with a new Surface RT variant that will have a display of 8 inches and is set for a June launch. The tablet is likely to sport a price tag of around $249 – $299 and is being put together by Pegatron Technology. The 8 inch touch panels are being sourced from Samsung and will be built around a Tegra chip. A bigger 10.x inch Surface RT is also in the pipeline, which will be launched during Q3 this year. However, analysts are skeptical about the success of the smaller Surface RT device, considering the less than enthusiastic response the bigger cousin managed to evoke. Further, competition is set to become even more fierce in the smaller tablet segment with Apple and Google set to launch follow up devices to their successful devices, the iPad Mini and Nexus 7. Samsung also has a few offerings lined up in the budget tablet segment, as well. Microsoft is expecting sales of the two Surface RT variants to reach a million units a month.
There is no word though what the successor to the Surface Pro will be like. Microsoft’s tablet sales in the first quarter of 2013 have stood at 900,000 units, with Surface Pro being the majority contributor to that figure.
New E Ink Sony 13 Inch e-Reader Caught on Video
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Sony and E Ink announced this week that they have developed a new 13 inch e-reader. This new device uses a screen called Mobius, which is making the rounds in Japan and SID in Vancouver next week. At a recent event in Japan, Diginfo filmed a brief hands-on of the device, which should give you a sense on how it handles PDF files and making highlights/annotations.
The Sony E Ink Slate will feature a capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1,200 x 1,600 pixels and 150 DPI. This new slate will be aimed at people who need to read technical PDF documents and edit them on the fly with the accompanied stylus. It will also have bundled WIFI and the ability to increase the memory via the Micro SD card from the 4 GB of internal memory.
The one important thing to bear in mind is that this is not the finalized product. It is a prototype that should be available this summer, and by then there will be firmware tweaks and other features will be greatly enhanced. Still, large screen e-readers have the ability to gain some strong traction for people enamored with technical PDF documents.
Digital Deals: Kevin Keller and Archie Comics
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Three years ago, the Archie Comics folks startled the world by introducing the first openly gay character in Riverdale, Kevin Keller. Kevin made his debut in Veronica #202 and soon got his own mini-series.
This week, Kevin’s creator, Dan Parent, accepted the Outstanding Comic Book award at the GLAAD Media Awards, saying, “Many people thought it would be a challenge to introduce a gay character into a comic book primarily produced for children, but that was really our saving grace. Because as most of you know, the people who have the most progressive minds are really our kids [...] Kids like to read stories about characters they care about, characters they want to be friends, characters with a strong moral compass like Kevin Keller. Many LGBT people of my generation have told me about the lack of any gay characters they had to look to in pop culture, especially in the world of comic books. It’s a very lonely place to be. These fans had to live vicariously through the straight romantic adventures of Archie, Betty and Veronica. Well, LGBT kids of this generation won’t have to worry about that. You have a place in Riverdale now and the fun is just starting.”
To celebrate, the Archie folks are slashing prices on Kevin Keller comics in their digital store, offering Kevin Keller #1 for free and the other issues for 99 cents. Actually, my favorite Kevin Keller comic is the very first one, Veronica #202, because it’s so true to the Archie characters—Veronica, who doesn’t realize Kevin is gay, keeps trying to snare him, and Jughead encourages him to keep it a secret just to annoy her. The sale lasts through May 31.
If Archie is a bit too young for your tastes, check out this weekend’s other big sale: IDW is slashing prices on its Star Trek digital comics at comiXology and its Star Trek app. Graphic novels and single-issue comics alike are all half price, so the comics are 99 cents each and graphic novels are $2.99 to $5.99. Stock up now and spend all summer aboard the Enterprise, but do it fast, as this sale only lasts through Sunday, May 19.
Hachette UK, HarperCollins, Penguin, and Random House have donated a selection of top children’s titles to support the Get London Reading literacy campaign. This is a big event with Barnes and Noble and the London Evening Standard aiming to make reading more accessible and affordable across the UK and includes a donation of 1,000 NOOK Simple Touch e-Readers to Beanstalk, a national literacy charity that recruits and supports reading volunteers in schools.
NOOK has worked with Hachette UK, HarperCollins, Penguin, and Random House to contribute the books, which will be loaded onto the 1,000 Nook e-Readers that B&N is donating to reading volunteers from Beanstalk. The titles donated are some of the UK’s most popular children’s books. The Beanstalk literacy volunteers will use the NOOKs at key schools with high levels of illiteracy across the UK.
Victoria Barnsley, CEO and Publisher, HarperCollins UK and International said: “At HarperCollins, we are passionate about extending the joy of reading and have long supported Beanstalk’s amazing work promoting literacy in schools. We are delighted to be in partnership with NOOK on this fantastic project to Get Reading.”
Gail Rebuck, Chair and CEO, The Random House Group said: “Random House has supported Beanstalk for nine years and the Get Reading campaign since its launch in 2011. Today marks a key milestone for the campaign and we have donated 10 fantastic ebooks from authors who are supporting the NOOK partnership including Jacqueline Wilson, James Patterson and Bear Grylls that will capture the imaginations of young people and support Beanstalk volunteers who are working to improve literacy levels in schools across the UK.”
George Walkley, Head of Digital, Hachette UK said: “We are absolutely delighted to be involved in the Get Reading campaign. We believe that reading is the foundation for a happy and healthy life. Books in every format enhance the lives of children and, as more and more children now read on e-readers, this initiative with NOOK is a very valuable addition to this great campaign.”
Video: Google Play on the Nook HD
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Barnes and Noble announced a few weeks ago that the entire Nook HD Tablet line will get full access to Google Play. We have heard from many readers that they intend to buy one for the first time, or decided to stick with their device because of this new enhancement. Google Play gives international users a viable ecosystem of content to tap into, and for the first time, you can use the Nook outside of the US and UK.
The Nook HD and HD+ are fairly economical in price, due to the recent discounting. The resolution and internal processor speeds are fairly robust. To be honest, these are great tablets that give you a big bang for your buck. In the past, users had to make due with Barnes and Noble’s own curated app store. The one drawback is the absence of any business that competes directly with the bookstore chain. You won’t find any Amazon, Kobo, Sony, or comic reader apps. Now that the Nook’s have access to Google Play, you will be able to download all of this and more!
Now that Google Play is available via a new automatic firmware update, there is a breath of life infused into the Nook HD and HD+. 750,000 apps are at your fingertips, and in our video review, we show you how the entire experience looks on the Nook HD. You can get a sense on how big the update is, and how it looks.
Report: Kids Tend to Read Digital More Than Print
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The process of reading is undergoing a paradigm shift where kids are starting to read on smartphones and tablets more than physical print. The quintessential bedtime story book is being replaced by dedicated kids apps and Amazon.
A recent report by the National Literacy Trust in the United Kingdom surveyed 35,000 kids, whose ages ranged from 8-16. It stated that 39% of children and young people read on electronic devices every day, whereas only 28% read printed materials daily. The number of children reading ebooks has doubled in the last two years from 6% to 12%.
There is a very strong desire to read on a tablet to satiate young folks’ literary thirst. 52% of respondents said they would ideally like to read on a tablet and 32% said they would much rather have a physical book. Young ladies statistically are enamored with the physical book with 68% preferring the printed page, whereas boys account for a 54% preference.
The research also found that those who read daily on screen are almost half as likely to be above-average readers than those who read regularly in print (or in print and on screen): 15.5% compared to 26%. Those who read only on screen are also a third as likely to enjoy reading (12% compared to 51%) and to have a favorite book (just 59% of children surveyed who read on screen had one, compared to 77% of kids who prefer to read print books).
Obviously tablets present publishers with very unique opportunities to directly appeal to their target demographic. Reading on larger mobile screens tends to be the favorite, with 36% of children using it as their dedicated reading device. Computers still are fairly popular with 23% and smartphones account for 23%.
Major publishers are sparing no expense on investing lots of money into dedicated apps. HMH has pumped out a ton of content, centered around the Curious George franchise. Barnes and Noble has the best developed Kids ecosystem in the world, with books that parents can narrate for their children. Scholastic Storia tends to be very popular with kids, as does the relaunched Reading Rainbow on the iPad.
Barnes and Noble announced a major upgrade to its Nook app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch this week, bringing the full range of digital comics capabilities to the app for the first time. Previously, many comics in the Nook store were available only on Nook devices, not on the associated apps. With the upgrade, iOS users can now access any of the 8,000 comics titles in the Nook store.
The Nook folks are also giving new readers an incentive to set up an account now: They are giving away a free Superman sampler comic to anyone who downloads the upgraded app and sets up a new account.
Why would you bother? The Nook app is not as convenient as the comiXology, Comics Plus, or Dark Horse apps, because you cannot buy comics in-app; as is the case with Amazon Kindle, you have to buy the comics in the web store or on a non-iOS device. On the other hand, if you’re the type to shop around, and you don’t mind having your comics in several different apps, the Nook Store sometimes offers lower prices. Also, there are some titles available for Nook that you can’t find on Amazon, such as most Viz manga (although Viz manga are available in the Viz app).
In terms of usability, the app works just fine, but it’s not quite on a par with the otehrs. The Zoom View, which is touted in the press release as an enhancement for comics readers, is somewhat less than comiXology’s Guided View: A double tap enlarges the panel, and you can then drag the enlarged page around so you can see the whole thing. Unlike Guided View, it does not bring you from one panel to the next; all navigation must be done by dragging, which is a less elegant solution. And the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, which lets you move from one section of the book to another, uses thumbnail pages, which take up a lot of space; a simple slider bar would do just fine without covering up part of the page.
The bottom line is that if you are a B&N shopper already, if you don’t mind switching apps to save a few bucks, or if you want to read the digital comics not available on Kindle, this new app is probably worth a look. Check out the Nook Comics Store to see if anything piques your interest.
It’s just a known and accepted fact about the internet that there are trolls everywhere. If you post a video of your six-year-old’s dance recital on YouTube, someone out there invariably will down-vote it and make a rude remark in the comments section. There is almost an air of acceptance about the process, a sentiment that users understand that putting content on the internet opens the door to people hiding behind computer screens and spreading negativity, and there’s not much that can be done about it.
One publisher, however, is taking a stand against what it claims is a troll-like level of criticism from an online grump. The problem is, the so-called grump has spent years collecting and gathering data on the subjects he disparages on his blog, and can fairly-well back up his accusations of less-than-honorable business practices aimed at taking money from scholars at institutions of higher education.
In an article by Jake New for The Chronicle of Higher Education, the plight of one University of Colorado – Denver librarian was exposed. Indian publisher OMICS Publishing Group, who claims to publish around 200 scholarly journals, is suing the librarian for $1 billion and threatening him with criminal prosecution, which they claim under Indian law can result in up to three years in prison.
The metadata librarian in question, Jeffrey Beall, has been featured in prominent journals and newspapers for his work on his site, Scholarly Open Access, which exposes publishers and journals who may be operating under false pretenses or bad business practices. Beall’s site has come to be known as “Beall’s List” within higher education circles for its accuracy and comprehensive depictions of academic publishers.
At the university level, the pressure to publish one’s work is incredibly high, and publishers are available to charge a professor or researcher thousands of dollars just to be able to state that his work is published. Beall has written about OMICS’ practices of using prominent people’s names without permission, their charge of as much as $3,000 to publish one’s research, and hosting sham conferences whose names are misleadingly close to real and prestigious events.
For its part, the publisher claims that Beall’s information is completely unfounded and is suing for the potential damage he can cause their company. The group also claims that under India’s laws, Beall can face a lengthy jail sentence for his “unfounded” accusations; Beall’s attorneys are countering that this is nothing more than a publicity stunt on the part of the publisher, and are taking a stand against the accusations.
Fortunately for Beall, his roles as both the originator of the list and his work as a librarian mean he knows the power of excellent documentation and record preservation, and he counters that he has saved evidence of shady business practices on every publisher he’s ever included on his comprehensive list.
