Thousands of people received new e-readers over the course of the Christmas Season. Kobo, Amazon, Barnes and Noble are the mainstream brands found in North America and most of Europe. No matter what device you have, finding great books goes beyond the bookstore that comes pre-loaded on your reader. Online retailers constantly are pushing you to buy something and not necessarily … [Read more...] about How to Get the Most Out of Your New e-Reader
Archives for December 2013
Judge Rules on Sherlock Holmes Public Domain Case
With the dramatic changes that have been taking place in the publishing industry over the last few years, it's easy to forget that some very solid, set in stone rules do still apply where books are concerned. One of those key areas is in copyright, which can be a sensitive issue in terms of anthologizing or crafting new stories based on decades-old characters and works.A US … [Read more...] about Judge Rules on Sherlock Holmes Public Domain Case
One Million New Amazon Prime Members Sign up in One Week
Amazon Prime has been a runaway success for the company with their free two day shipping option to customers living in the United States. The membership platform also gives you one free eBook a month and free content Amazon Instant Video. The success of Prime is quite evident and one million customers around the world became new Prime members in the third week of December. On … [Read more...] about One Million New Amazon Prime Members Sign up in One Week
Barnes and Noble & Books-A-Million Stop Selling Marvel Comics
Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million have confirmed to Good e-Reader that they have stopped carrying single issues of Marvel Comics. You might still find single issues at some of the smaller stores or in more rural areas, but it has been mandated that stores cannot order new issues.Barnes and Noble has a flagship store in Union Square, in New York City. This is the … [Read more...] about Barnes and Noble & Books-A-Million Stop Selling Marvel Comics
Image Comics Slashes Prices—Till Saturday Night
Image Comics is having a half-price sale on all the comics in its digital store right now, and that's a great opportunity to fill up your e-reader, because Image is the publisher behind some of the most talked-about comics of the year. Even better, Image sells its comics as direct downloads, which means you own the file—you don't have to depend on a third-party provider such as … [Read more...] about Image Comics Slashes Prices—Till Saturday Night
Retailers and Couriers Grapple With Unexpected Surge in Online Shopping Trend
Many of those who had avoided the hassle of physical stores to do their holiday shopping have ended up paying the price by having not received their wares by Christmas. As things stand this year, a sizable number of consumers opted to let their computers do their holiday shopping, which has been pegged by the National Retail Federation at about 14 percent of all holiday sales … [Read more...] about Retailers and Couriers Grapple With Unexpected Surge in Online Shopping Trend
Apple iOS Devices Proves More Popular Than Android For Holiday Shopping
Consumers who own iOS devices have been found to be far more active when it came to shopping on Christmas Day than their Android counterparts, a report from IBM cites. When translated to figures, 23 percent of online orders placed on Christmas Day were done from iOS devices compared to just 4.6 percent from devices running Android. iOS users also emerged as the biggest … [Read more...] about Apple iOS Devices Proves More Popular Than Android For Holiday Shopping
What’s Up with Amazon Royalties Coming Down?
The debate over the most recent accusations about how Amazon is destroying the book industry has taken a new turn with some new arguments, all of which--yet again--have nothing more behind them than the insistence that Amazon hates books, hates authors, hates readers, and basically...hates everyone.In a brilliant post with some actual explanation behind it, bestselling … [Read more...] about What’s Up with Amazon Royalties Coming Down?
Number of Children’s Challenged Books Increased in 2013
With the advent of digital reading, digital publishing, and self-publishing in their current forms, it seems that a resurgence in bibliophilia may be sweeping the planet. But at a time when access to books is being made possible literally anywhere and efforts to further reading through instant digital downloads continues to grow, a sad and shocking fact has come to light: more … [Read more...] about Number of Children’s Challenged Books Increased in 2013
Podcast: KDP Authors May see Royalties Decreased to 35%
Today on the show I talk about all of the latest rumors about Amazon potentially lowering self-published authors royalty rates from 70% to 30%. Funny enough, Amazon offers 30% royalties to a number of new markets it has entered recently, such as India. This had zero backlash at all, since it was a new service. Can Amazon get away with this? Yes they can.Big Foot and … [Read more...] about Podcast: KDP Authors May see Royalties Decreased to 35%
Free Children’s Enhanced Shrek Forever After eBook from iStoryTime
As part of the holiday recognition of their customers, a number of companies are offering their users free content in this post-holiday period when many users may have received new devices. Apps likes Apple's 12 Days of Gifts offer everything from free songs to free ebooks via the iTunes store.One company that has extended the free gift period is children's ebook app … [Read more...] about Free Children’s Enhanced Shrek Forever After eBook from iStoryTime
Experts Warn Strict Parental Control Needed for Kids Tablet Usage
One of the reasons that have contributed to the stellar growth of tablet devices has been their ease of use, something exemplified no better than the way kids aged even three year olds have taken to using them with élan. However, notwithstanding the great publicity that this would make for technology or the way it can help improve our lives, experts are wary of the negative … [Read more...] about Experts Warn Strict Parental Control Needed for Kids Tablet Usage
New Startups Focus on Tracking eBook Reading Data
How long does it take for someone to complete a book? When reading a steamy erotica, are you lingering over the sex scenes? Do readers ever finish the books they start, or skip right to the end? New startups are seeking to address these questions with new software and they intend on opening it up to writers, indie authors and publishers.New startups such as Oyster are … [Read more...] about New Startups Focus on Tracking eBook Reading Data