Apple intends on launching its iBookstore in Japan very soon. Within a month, customers will be able to purchase ebooks directly on their iPad devices. This is good news for customers, because Apple iPads account for over 60% of all tablet usage in Japan.The iBooks ecosystem plans to launch with over 80,000 titles from Japanese publishers, including Kodansha, Shogakukan, … [Read more...] about Apple to Launch iBooks in Japan
E-Book News
Does Kickstarter Work as a Platform for Books?
That's the title of an article by Seth Godin on his The Domino Project Site. According to Godin, the hardest part of publishing a book is getting the first 10,000 copies read and after that, if the book resonates, it should take off. He feels that Kickstarter can solve this problem because an author "… with a tribe can reach out to her readers, activate them and make an offer: … [Read more...] about Does Kickstarter Work as a Platform for Books?
Digital Single Give Away for New Year’s Eve
The single biggest advantage that digital publishing has brought to DIY authors may be the enormity of control over the content. So many conventions have been stripped away. Word count restrictions have been overtaken by ebook shorts and long-form digital journalism like Kindle Singles and Atavist. Concerns over the marketability of certain themes or topics have been removed, … [Read more...] about Digital Single Give Away for New Year’s Eve
Macmillan Says New eBook Contracts Allow for Discounting
So says Macmillan Chief Executive John Sargent in an open letter posted on his company's website. Sargent said that new retailer ebook contracts will allow retailers to discount certain titles priced at $13.99 and above by 10%. As Global Finance points out, those retailers who have settled their antitrust case will allow discounting on all their titles. Sargent says that … [Read more...] about Macmillan Says New eBook Contracts Allow for Discounting
Print Sales Rose Over the Holidays, But Is It a Sign of a Coup?
All of the early smart predictions about digital publishing allowed that there were markets for print books and markets for ebooks. High-resolution photo books fare better in their print formats, while no one can argue that the romance genre fans don't love digital. A recent article in The Guardian demonstrated that, while print sales rose over the holidays, it is in these … [Read more...] about Print Sales Rose Over the Holidays, But Is It a Sign of a Coup?
Apple iBooks Dominating eBook Market in Brazil
The Brazilian market has been a focal point of many companies that specialize in digital books. In recent months, Amazon, Kobo, and Google have jumped into the fray, hoping to capture a piece of one of the world's largest markets. You may not hear a ton of news about the iBookstore in Brazil, but Apple is currently dominating the market.Many industry analysts are very … [Read more...] about Apple iBooks Dominating eBook Market in Brazil
Apple Found Guilty of Selling Illegal eBooks in China, Fined $165,000
Apple may have won quite a few back to back court battles over patent infringement cases, but has had a "minor" setback in China. Ironically, the tech giant is accused of having infringed on the copyright of eight Chinese authors and two companies and has been ordered to pay 1.03 million yuan, or $165,000US, as fine for causing financial losses to the parties concerned.The … [Read more...] about Apple Found Guilty of Selling Illegal eBooks in China, Fined $165,000
The Global Reach of Digital Publishing
When digital publishing first reached the mainstream, some of the many benefits included the ability to bring books to outlying areas where bookstores and libraries were few and far between, as well as making access to publication a far more viable option for those authors--especially international authors--who did not have easy access to publication. This focus on a more … [Read more...] about The Global Reach of Digital Publishing
Libraries Starting to Emerge as Bookstores
With bookstores gradually on the way out in the digital age, libraries are increasingly finding themselves in the new role of bookstores themselves. More and more libraries are changing their renovation plans. They are limiting additional shelf space to add more titles to their already existing collection, and earmarking a separate section that will be dedicated to sell off … [Read more...] about Libraries Starting to Emerge as Bookstores
Online Vendors and Right of First Sale
Indie authors who are savvy enough to check around the internet at the various online book retailers' sites may have found some surprising books available: their own. Third party vendors using online storefronts have sprung up on various retail sites that sell authors' print editions at an astounding markup over the authors' own sales' pages, sometimes listing CreateSpace … [Read more...] about Online Vendors and Right of First Sale
Smashwords iBookstore Sales Skyrocket over Christmas
This is great news for the self-publishing company! According to the Smashwords blog, sales the day after Christmas were 76% higher from the same day a week earlier and sales for December 27 increased 65% over the same period a year ago. These figures were aggregated over the 125,000 Smashwords titles available in the iBookstore.Even more encouraging is the chart above, … [Read more...] about Smashwords iBookstore Sales Skyrocket over Christmas
Pew Research Center Survey: More People Are Reading eBooks
Despite the predictions from several years ago that digital reading was a fad-like flash-in-the-pan, a recent telephone survey conducted by the Pew Research Center of nearly 3,000 American consumers ages sixteen and older shows that ebook consumption is on the rise. In keeping with the later predictions that print and digital would co-exist side by side, the rise in e-reading … [Read more...] about Pew Research Center Survey: More People Are Reading eBooks
Hachette UK Garners 250,000 eBook Sales in Two Days
Hachette's United Kingdom division has seen a copious amount of digital downloads on Christmas and Boxing Day. The publisher sold over 250,000 ebooks from its website and various resellers. This marks a 86% increase over the same period last year and is a testament to the dramatic surge of digital publishing.The head of Digital Marketing at Hachette UK, George Walkley, told … [Read more...] about Hachette UK Garners 250,000 eBook Sales in Two Days