There have been two major sales spikes in the past week, both of them noteworthy due to their unexpected rise in popularity and the fact that both of them were highlighted from the stage at the Democratic National Convention. The first was the "pocket Constitution," which Khizr Khan held up in defiance to GOP candidate Donald Trump; Khan offered to loan his dog-eared copy to … [Read more...] about Do Republicans Read?
Digital Publishing News
Apple iBooks Just Started an Instagram Account
Apple just started an Instagram account for their iBooks store. They are sharing quotes, author spotlights, and unique videos. The intention behind this new initiative is to draw more intention to the Apple bookstore.There are a number of pictures on the Instagram account from the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child London stage play and some fans dressed up as various … [Read more...] about Apple iBooks Just Started an Instagram Account
Amazon Ember vs Amazon Bookerly Font Review
Amazon Ember and Bookerly are two fonts that were exclusively developed for Kindle e-Readers. Bookerly is a serif font and is available on most Kindle e-ink devices, but also on the companies line of Fire Tablets. Ember on the other-hand is a sans-serif font and first showed up on the Kindle Oasis when it was released last year. Amazon has also included the Ember font on the … [Read more...] about Amazon Ember vs Amazon Bookerly Font Review
The Vatican Just Digitized a 1,600 year Old Poem
The Vatican is in the process of digitizing over 80,000 works and their recent offering is from the famed poet Virgil. He wrote his classic poem, “The Aeneid,” more than 2,000 years ago and the Vatican has just digitized it and made it available for free.The 1,600 year-old manuscript only contains fragments of the epic, which tells the tale of the ancient hero Aeneas as he … [Read more...] about The Vatican Just Digitized a 1,600 year Old Poem
Penguin Random House Refuses to Divulge e-Book Sales
This week the vast majority of major publishers have released financial figures for the first six months of 2016. Simon & Schuster and Hachette experienced declines in e-book sales and gave generalized figures. Things are so bad at Penguin Random House that they did not even break down digital sales, they merely said there was a "reduced demand for e-books."The U.S. … [Read more...] about Penguin Random House Refuses to Divulge e-Book Sales
Anne Rice Proves Lestat Is Truly Immortal
Anne Rice first broke the mold on vampire fiction when her iconic book, Interview with a Vampire, unleashed an immortal named Letstat on eager fans back in 1976. The long-awaited 2014 release of a follow up to the story, The Prince Lestat, was so well-received that Rice is slated to publish another title in the series this fall.The November 29th release of Prince Lestat and … [Read more...] about Anne Rice Proves Lestat Is Truly Immortal
Simon & Schuster Digital Sales Have Fallen 6%
Simon & Schuster has just released their financial results for the second quarter of 2016. The publisher has admitted that digital sales have decreased by 6%. Audiobook and e-Book sales now account for 23% of their total revenue stream.Print and digital generated $187 million from April to June, during the same period of 2015 they made $199 million.Best-selling … [Read more...] about Simon & Schuster Digital Sales Have Fallen 6%
Hachette e-Book Sales Continue to Fall
Hachette has just announced their financial figures for the first six months of 2016. E-Book sales account for 9.2% of their total revenue stream, which is a slight decrease from 10.7% during the same period in 2015.Sales for the first six months of 2016 fell 6.6% at Hachette Book Group, compared to the first six months of 2015. The funny thing is, even though sales are … [Read more...] about Hachette e-Book Sales Continue to Fall
Ixxus Launches End-to-End Publishing Solution
With the launch of the digital publishing revolution, there was no shortage of startups that emerged, promising to meet the customers' publishing needs. Unfortunately, so many of these companies were cookie-cutter solutions, all offering essentially the same services--fixed layout, HTML5, formatting, distribution--that there was no distinguishing factor for too many of them. … [Read more...] about Ixxus Launches End-to-End Publishing Solution
Canadian and US Bookstore Trends for 2017
The year is half over and we now have a sense on how bookstores, digital publishing and the book selling industry are faring. What are going to be the big trends for 2017?Barnes and NobleBarnes and Noble bookstore sales have remained flat this year, but the company may see more print sales in 2017 due to a few factors. Hastings books is closing 126 stores and Powell’s … [Read more...] about Canadian and US Bookstore Trends for 2017
Booktrack’s Days are Numbered
Booktrack is a company that develops soundtracks to books. It started in 2011 and has raised around three million dollars to stay in business. Their technology didn’t seem to take off with consumers and the only way to listen to them is with their proprietary app. I fear Booktrack's days are numbered.Booktrack took advantage of most of the hype surrounding the enhanced … [Read more...] about Booktrack’s Days are Numbered
e-Book Piracy Suffers a Serious Blow
The founder of one of the world's largest Torrent sites has been arrested and it looks like only a matter of time before KickassTorrents is shuttered. This is a serious blow against people who pirate e-books.“Vaulin is charged with running today’s most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over $1 billion of copyrighted … [Read more...] about e-Book Piracy Suffers a Serious Blow
Amazon Launches Kindle Singles Classics
The Kindle Singles program has been running since early 2011 and the main premise is content that is too long to be a feature magazine article and too long to be an e-book. Today, Amazon has expanded on Singles with Kindle Single Classics.Launching with more than 140 essays and stories, Singles Classics includes works from writers like Susan Orlean, Norman Mailer, Gloria … [Read more...] about Amazon Launches Kindle Singles Classics
How Romance Authors Are Really Faring
Author Earnings is at it again, this time sharing crucial information on the state of romance publishing at the recent Romance Writers of America conference. Romance publishing--even before the advent of self-publishing and digital publishing--has always had this stigma attached to it, as though the work of these talented authors amounts to nothing more than a source of funds … [Read more...] about How Romance Authors Are Really Faring