The Alliance of Independent Authors is an advocacy organization that works to further self-publishing in the book industry. One of the many ways the group works for authors is in providing up-to-date and continuous information as resources for authors. As part of its Choosing a Self-Publishing Service 2014 guide, Alli examined the opportunities authors have for assistance in … [Read more...] about Smashwords Wins Inaugural Self-Publishing Service Award from ALLi
E-Book News
BookCon Aims to Connect Readers Directly with Publishers
The publishing industry has put forth a focused effort in the last few years to try to engage directly with readers in order to not have to rely on major retailers to sell their content. So far, those efforts have lagged, largely due to the effort already involved in book discovery. Finding great new reads is already a chore for consumers, but efforts such as having publisher … [Read more...] about BookCon Aims to Connect Readers Directly with Publishers
Will the Hachette/Amazon Battle Encourage Authors to Self-Publish?
Amazon and Hachette are currently doing battle in establishing a new publishing contract. This is preventing pre-orders from upcoming titles from being processed and hundreds of current books have five week delivery dates. Authors rely on digital distribution from Amazon to garner book sales and sometimes their livelihood depends on it. Â Self-publishers do not have to normally … [Read more...] about Will the Hachette/Amazon Battle Encourage Authors to Self-Publish?
Important Holiday Reads in Remembrance
While Memorial Day has typically grown into a day of picnics and discount furniture sales, a resurgence in a true observance of the holiday has evolved in recent years. As one of the longest-standing observance holidays, Memorial Day--once known as Decoration Day--grew out of the need for national cemeteries to bury the fallen from the deadliest war in US history, the Civil … [Read more...] about Important Holiday Reads in Remembrance
BookExpo Kicks Off This Week with the IDPF Conference
The IDPF, of International Digital Publishing Forum, is on a mission to be the bridge between what the publishing industry has known about its business for the past few centuries, and where books and bookselling is headed. For the past many years, IDPF has conducted a one-day conference just prior to the official opening of the largest publishing industry event in the world, … [Read more...] about BookExpo Kicks Off This Week with the IDPF Conference
eBook Review: Basil Instinct by Shelley Costa
Verdict: 5 StarsAs far as the genre known as "cozy mysteries" goes--dead guy, yes, psychopathic serial killer, no--there are a host of authors out there crafting really fun story lines and developing settings and characters that speak to a broad audience of whodunnit fans. These books typically run in a series so that fans can get a real feel for the backstory involved in … [Read more...] about eBook Review: Basil Instinct by Shelley Costa
Amazon, Hachette Battle Continues as Pre-Order Buttons Are Removed
First publishers hate Amazon, then they want legal action to require them to sell books? That's the sentiment from bestselling author James Patterson, who's bemoaning his lost income now that Amazon has taken down the pre-order buttons on a number of Hachette Book Group's upcoming titles, as well as imposed lengthy shipping delays on titles from the publisher until they come to … [Read more...] about Amazon, Hachette Battle Continues as Pre-Order Buttons Are Removed
BitLit, Kobo Founder Raise Seed Funding for Print-to-eBook App
eBooks suffered the same initial criticism that happens whenever a new movie format is launched: do I have to buy all of my favorite books over again, just to enjoy them in digital? Thanks to BitLit and its latest round of funding, that answer is no.BitLit bundles ebooks and print by having readers "prove" they own the print edition. Users simply write their names on the … [Read more...] about BitLit, Kobo Founder Raise Seed Funding for Print-to-eBook App
Self-e Plans to Curate Self-Published Titles for Library Inclusion
With exciting new announcements like the one this week from Smashwords, who's now partnered with OverDrive to add an additional 200,000 self-published titles to the 22,000 partner libraries' ebook catalogs, one concern does come up: who will read and approve of all of those titles? While self-published books have always had a bad reputation for low quality, even the fact that … [Read more...] about Self-e Plans to Curate Self-Published Titles for Library Inclusion
Goodreads Makes it Easy to Talk to Your Favorite Author
GoodReads is one of the largest eBook community and discussion sites in the world. It was purchased by Amazon last year with the intention of dominating the book discovery space. Readers and authors alike flock to GoodReads in droves to talk about their literary proclivities. Today there is a new feature on the site called "Ask the Author," which gives fans the ability to ask … [Read more...] about Goodreads Makes it Easy to Talk to Your Favorite Author
More Backlist Titles Make Their Way to Subscription eBook Services
This week, Simon&Schuster made a huge portion of its backlist titles available to ebook subscription platforms Oyster and Scribd, and today HarperCollins followed suit with about 1,000 children's titles for ebook subscription platform Epic! The site, which aims for the ages five through twelve readership.Unlike typical library lending through companies like OverDrive … [Read more...] about More Backlist Titles Make Their Way to Subscription eBook Services
Is Flipkart Poised to Become the New Amazon?
People who've made a study of the rise of Amazon's retail empire can attest to the fact that in the early days of introductory meetings, publishers loved Jeff Bezos. He offered them a new opportunity to sell what they thought would only be their print books, at would only be their established prices. But with the growth in product content Amazon was able to sell, the prices … [Read more...] about Is Flipkart Poised to Become the New Amazon?
eBook Review: Banishing the Dark by Jenn Bennett
Verdict: 5 StarsWith just the right mix of paranormal oddities, romance, and a smidge of explicit fun, Bennett's series seems to wrap up with this installment, Banishing the Dark. With Arcadia on a hunt for her evil parents and planning for an epic showdown with the momster who created her, the spells are flying and her relationships with those around her are courting … [Read more...] about eBook Review: Banishing the Dark by Jenn Bennett