Michael Kozlowski

11787 posts
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Amazon Book Clubs is a new program in early access

Amazon Book Clubs is a new platform that  is in early access. People can join public groups, that focus on specific genres, such as mysteries, romance or science-fiction. Book Clubs can be private and invite only, or public. Each of clubs, has little blurb on the focus, as well as their number one recommendation. Clicking on the recommendation takes you to the Amazon listing. I think this is an interesting new system, that should have plenty of new features, before it officially launches.

Unboxing the Xiaomi Moaan W7 10.3 inch e-note

The design of the W7 features an all white body. The screen is flush with the bezel with a layer of glass. On the bottom is a USB-C port and on the very top is a power button. There are no manual page turn keys or a dedicated home button, everything is software driven. The stylus is also pure white, it looks way nicer than the stock stylus that ships with the vast majority of digital note taking devices and the fact you can replace the nibs, makes it an extremely viable proposition.

Playster has gone bankrupt

Playster was an unlimited streaming platform for audiobooks and ebooks and the company has gone bankrupt. They have removed their apps from Apple and Google Android, the website has been shut down and it looks like it is over. There are reports that customers who did not cancel their subscription are continuing to be billed and there is no way to actually stop the subscriptions, short of calling your credit card company.

John Wiley & Sons experiences a digital boom

John Wiley and Sons have experienced a big profit in the past quarter, due to COVID and more people buying research and online access. Digital and online products offset continued declines in print revenue, leading to a 2% increase in sales.  Revenue was $431.3 million in the quarter ended July 31, 2020, compared to $423.5 million in last year’s first quarter, total profit was $16.3 million. The major sales drivers were Wiley’s largest segment—research publishing and platforms—where sales increased 5%, to $240.8 million, and education learning, where sales jumped 29%, to $63.6 million.

Viz partners with Funimation for streaming anime

Viz Media is one of the largest distributors of manga and anime. The company has just partnered with Funimation, the second largest streaming platform, next to Crunchyroll. The new deal will include 2018 sci-fi boxing anime Megalo Box and Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet. They’ll join existing titles from the VIZ Media catalog, such as Hunter x Hunter, on September 22nd, and a slew of movies including Sailor Moon R: The Movie and Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II & III.

Color E-Paper and E INK Kaleido have severe limitations

Good e-Reader has reviewed every single color e-reader and color smartphone currently available, aside from the Onyx Boox Poke 2 Color, since it was only available for a few hours before it was sold out. The non-uniform grey background color on ebooks and the darker screen, warranting the front-light to always be engaged are two of the big problems. Can this be solved or fixed? This is something E INK has to do on a screen and PCP level, they have to create a hardware switch, that can be controlled with software to turn the CFA on/off. This would solve all of the current problems, but E INK has confirmed they will not be making a revision to color e-paper or Kaleido at all in 2021.

RBmedia will distribute audiobooks by Brandon Sanderson

RBMedia has been in the news lately, primarily due to them selling their library unit to Overdrive and the company is now just selling audiobooks directly to users through their network of retailers, such as Audible and Apple Books. Today, RBMedia has announced they signed a business deal with Mainframe, to produce and distribute four new audiobooks from renowned and award-winning author Brandon Sanderson.

Ebook revenue increased by 25% in July 2020

Ebook revenue in the United States are up 25.0% for the month of July 2020 as compared to July 2019 and the format generated $103.7 million. On a year-to-date basis, ebooks were up 14.2%, coming in at $652.9 million for the first seven months of 2020. Notably, ebook  revenues in the Children’s and YA category saw a 76.4% jump during the month, coming in at $11.6 million. On a year-to-date basis, ebook revenues in the Children’s and YA category were up 63.3% for the first seven months of the year, coming in at $73.2 million.

iFlytek Book C1 Color E INK E-Reader Review

The vast majority of color E INK devices that have come out in 2020 have primarily been by Chinese companies. The iReader C6, Onyx Boox Poke 2 Color, the Hisense range of smartphones and now the iFlytek C1. The iReader and iFlytek both use similar design, with a flush screen and bezel, but tap into different ecosystems. The iReader uses Baidu, while iFlytek uses their own and also Migu, these two devices are perfect for Chinese speaking people who live outside of China, students studying abroad, or other circumstances.

Buy print and get a free ebook? Bundling will never happen

Ever since ebooks became popular in 2007, with the release of the 1st generation Amazon Kindle, major publishers have been actively digitizing their front and backlist titles. When the Barnes and Noble Nook and Kobo e-readers came around a few years later, they had massive bookstores on their e-readers, that allowed customers to buy them in their pajamas. Various companies have experimented with giving an ebook away for a very low cost or even for free, if you bought a print edition. Everyone has virtually scaled back or discontinued these programs, the dream of a bundled print/ebook will never be a reality.

Kindle for Android can now permanently delete ebooks

Amazon has added functionality to delete Kindle books right from your Android smartphone and tablet. This will allow you to completely delete ebooks that you no longer want on your device, or sampes you downloaded years ago. All you need to do is visit your library and long press on the cover art and it will give you a confirmation if you want to remove it or not. 

Canadian Publishers are focusing on audiobooks and ebooks

Canadian publishers are focusing on digitizing their backlist and frontlist when it comes to audiobook and ebook production. In 2019 91% of all publishers are involved in ebook production and 55% have converted their backlist to the ebook format, while 74% release front-list ebook titles, in conjunction with print. Publishers are also embracing the public library, as an avenue to increase sales. Sales rose 90% in 2019, whereas in 2014 it was only at 75%.

TCL will release 2 new tablets TCL 10 TABMAX TCL 10 TABMID

Last week TCL unveiled the new NXTPAPER e-paper technology. It will feature a color monochrome display that has 25% higher contrast for better viewing and when compared to a typical LCD panel, is up to 36% thinner and 65% more power efficient than a typical LCD. The first products that will employ the e-paper is the TCL 10 TABMAX and TCL 10 TABMID. These two tablets will debut this fall and exclusivly rely on ambient light in order to display content and will not have a front-light or backlight.

Kaite 2 13.3 inch battery free enote review

The Kaite 2 is available from Good e-Reader for $99, which puts this on impulse buy terrority. It is a very interesting writing notepad, I think it is perfect for people who just want to doodle, layout their thoughts or have it sitting next their PC and jotting down notes. To be honest, this device is really solid. It showcases a different approach towards making notes or drawing. Since it doesn’t have a battery, it is easy to ship and order from every country in the world. I would recommend it to people who are on the fence about whether they want to buy a more expensive enote and whether they will actually use it, day to day. 13.3 inch products are normally very expensive because of the fast processors, RAM, SD support and E INK screens are not cheap. So if you are thinking about purchasing a Remarkable 2, Sony DPT-RP1, Fujitsu A4 or anything else, pickup the Kaite 2.

Dinlebi is a new audiobook platform available in Turkey

Dinlebi is a new audiobook provider in Turkey and content is delivered via their own apps for Android and iOS. They have thousands of audiobooks from over 20 leading publishing houses in Turkey and are offering an attractive business model that would generate them more revenue

Comixology gives Black Panther digital comics away for free

Comixology is giving close to a hundred Black Panther digital comics away for free.  Included on the list are the Black Panther series by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the comic Shuri— so named for the sister of King T’Challa— by Nnedi Okorafor, Agents of Wakanda by Jim Zub and the Rise of the Black Panther series by Evan Narcisse.

The Pocketbook Basic 4 is a respectable e-reader – Review

This is a simple, barebones e-reader with none of the frills and options as all of the other e-readers in Pocketbooks modern portfolio. There are a small minority of people who don’t like touch screens for whatever reason, or use their e-reader while wearing gloves or mittens, due to the cold weather. Clicking on big oversized page turn buttons can be used in this manner. The Basic 4 has a really good design, but doing any kind of typing is utterly terrible, I would recommend this as just a dedicated e-reader and that’s it.

Crunchyroll unveils new membership plans

Crunchyroll is likely the best streaming platform for anime and they also provide digital manga. The company has just unveiled new subscription options, prior to this move, they only had a free and premium tier. The various new perks offered to its members not only provide simple entertainment for the fans, but also help to officially support the Japanese anime industry from all across the world.

Manga Sales are booming due to COVID

Viz Media is one of the largest manga distributors in the United States and due to COVID, sales are booming. Kevin Hamric, the vice president of publishing sales at Viz Media recently gave an interview to ICV2 and stated “VIZ has been doing extraordinarily well during the pandemic period. Our sales are beyond expectations. For VIZ, it’s extremely good, but the manga market is strong as well. We outperformed the book trade during the COVID period, that critical period of nine weeks.We outperformed that. We did not drop as much as the category did. We propped up the category with our sales. So, we’re very happy right now.”

Remarkable 1 vs Remarkable 2 – Which one should you buy?

Should you buy the Remarkable 1 or the Remarkable 2? The first generation is around $100 cheaper, has physical buttons and drawing on a plastic based screen is better than a glass based one. The Remarkable 2 is very hard to buy, the company is taking pre-orders, with ship takes month in advance, so it is hard to make an impulse decision. This device is thinner, has a better stock/premium stylus. It does have a subtle speed increase, due to the hardware, but is not night and day vs the first gen. I would honestly recommend you buy the Remarkable 1 at this point. It has the same battery and the same OS, so you will not miss out on any new enhancements. You can buy it for $299 new or $279 refurbished. Don’t get me wrong, the Remarkable 2 is capable, but it is an incremental upgrade.

TCL NXTPAPER wants to compete against E INK

TCL is the company responsible for making budget 4K televisions and all sorts of other devices, such as smartphones and tablets. They have just unveiled a new breed of screen technology called TCL NXTPAPER and they want to compete against E INK for readers eyes. The new TCL NXTPAPER technology is a low-power, reflective display that works without a backlight, but which displays color graphics at refresh rates high enough for video or other animations.

Bertelsmann is considering a bid for Simon & Schuster

Bertelsmann is the parent company of Penguin Random House, and this year they own 100% of the company, after they bought out the stake Pearson had in it. Penguin Random House is responsible for almost half of all books published in the world, on a yearly basis.  When Viacom and CBS merged, in late 2019, the company said that Simon & Schuster was “not a core asset. It is not video-based. It does not have significant connection for our broader business,” said ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish. “We have had multiple unsolicited inbound calls about that asset, and so as the market stabilizes, we are going to engage in a process” to examine strategic alternatives. ViacomCBS said publishing revenue in 2019 came to $814 million, down 1.3% from $825 million in the prior year.

Audiobook and ebook sales are up 15% at Penguin Random House

In the first six months of 2020, Penguin Random House announced that total revenue fell 8.9% and the publisher generated €7.85 billion Overall profit fell to €488 million from €502 million in the first six months of 2019. The pandemic was one of the reasons why book sales fell, globally. The publishers investment in digital, was one of the big reasons why the loss wasn’t greater.