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E-Book News
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We are the largest news agency devoted to digital publishing, self-publishing, and the ebook industry. Learn about Kindle Books, Kobo books, E-Book DRM, and e-book apps.
Amazon Alexa has a new book recommendation system
Amazon Alexa has added some new functionality to discover new ebooks. Now, customers can simply say “Alexa, what should I read next?” to get a book recommendation based on personalized, top-selling or trending books from over 20 million Audible, Kindle or print titles. The conversational experience allows customers to ask for specific genres or authors, listen to book summaries, learn about ratings, editorial reviews and more. The feature is another example of the many ways Alexa is becoming more conversational and natural to interact with. And, it’s particularly useful for consumers who are now reading more while at home due to COVID-19.
The Netherlands has no shortage of unlimited ebook services
Major publishers in the Netherlands are certainly not risk adverse and unlimited audiobook, ebook and digital magazine services are thriving. There are all sorts of options for people to pay a low monthly fee and get access to a ton of content.
7 E-Books That Might Inspire Students to Become Writers
Inspiration to create can come from various places and mediums, but books are one of the most powerful ones. There is nothing like being compelled by a storyline with relatable characters. And even if it is a non-fiction, it still can be an inspiring read.
And some novels are designed to make you think, “maybe I should start writing myself.” Whether you want to be a fiction writer, journalist, blogger, or academic writer – some texts will motivate you to start. Of course, creating a horror story and helping students that ask, “can you write a research paper for me?” is different in detail, but the passion for language is the same. The popularization and market growth of ebooks makes it even easier. Here is a list of amazing and exciting reads that inspire one to start writing.
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.
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.
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.
Will E-books Make Real Books Disappear?
In the modern era of technology, we can barely imagine our day-to-day activities without electronic devices. Devices with Internet access have become the source of information, entertainment, and even work, making remote jobs more and more popular. The latter is especially important now because of the governments’ preventive measures in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak: most people with office jobs can efficiently work from home using just their laptops. In our spare time, we make use of our screens as well as watching movies and TV-shows. The same trend of digitalization came to the book industry leading to the rise of electronic books, or shortly e-books. Whereas many people predict the extinction of printed books, book shops are still open, and their owners do not seem to plan closing businesses anytime soon. This question is complex, and both material and electronic books have plenty of pros and cons.