Kobo has just announced the shortlist for its second annual Emerging Writer Prize. The award was created with the goal of kick-starting the careers of debut authors, with a $10,000 CAD cash prize awarded to a book in each of three categories: Non-Fiction, Literary Fiction, and Genre Fiction (Romance). In addition, each winning author will receive promotional, marketing, and … [Read more...] about Kobo Emerging Writer Prize Shortlist Announced
E-Book News
Tapas Launches Freemium Comic Book App
Tapastic was a run of the mill comic book app but the company is trying to rebrand themselves. They changed their name to Tapas and they are attempting to employ the freemium model whereby users get access to a good portion of a comic or e-book, hopefully hooking them in enough that they will want to buy the whole thing. Basically, they are doubling the size of the … [Read more...] about Tapas Launches Freemium Comic Book App
Supreme Court Refuses to Grant Authors Guild an Appeal Against Google
The Supreme Court has announced that they refused to grant the Authors Guild an appeal against the Google Book scanning project and this official ends an 11 year legal saga.The idea behind Google Books was to preserve millions of bodies of texts, and put them into a searchable database. Users could look up and read passages from the books. And the fact that in most cases, … [Read more...] about Supreme Court Refuses to Grant Authors Guild an Appeal Against Google
Women represent 75% of the most active digital readers
The most active digital readers are women who are aged 45 and older and they spend on average 30 minutes per day reading on their Kobo e-reader. This is not surprising considering If you take a look at the iBooks top 100 authors you will notice that 64% are written by women. Meanwhile at Amazon, 56% of the top 100 bestsellers are women and Publishers Weekly top 25 has been … [Read more...] about Women represent 75% of the most active digital readers
Kobo is recommending these services to indie authors
Kobo knows that there is a large demographic of writers that are not very tech savvy. Writing your book is the first step, but there are lots of hurdles to overcome, such as finding an editor, cover artist or just getting your table of contents formatted correctly. To this end, Kobo has just posted a list of recommended services for anyone wanting to self-publishing with Kobo … [Read more...] about Kobo is recommending these services to indie authors
Downton Abbey Creator Releasing 10 Serialized e-Books
Downtown Abbey might be ending but the creator of the franchise is not going to be retiring anytime soon. Julian Fellowes will be releasing ten serialized e-books that focus on the Victorian era. The most interesting aspect of this new initiative is that you won't be able to buy them from Amazon or Kobo, instead you have to download an app.The app will launch via the … [Read more...] about Downton Abbey Creator Releasing 10 Serialized e-Books
London Book Fair Does Not Respect Indie Authors
The London Book Fair is the largest publishing event in the United Kingdom. Indie authors are really pissed off at the organizers this year due to the fact that all of the self-publishing companies have been relegated to the very back of the showroom floor.Ben Galley, who self-published The Scarlet Star trilogy, said Author HQ and “indie-centric” stands such as Kobo, … [Read more...] about London Book Fair Does Not Respect Indie Authors
The Man Booker International Prize 2016 Shortlist Announced
The Man Booker International Prize has revealed the shortlist of six books in contention for the 2016 Prize, celebrating the finest in global fiction. Each shortlisted author and translator will receive £1,000, while the £50,000 prize will be divided equally between the author and the translator of the winning entry.The 2016 Man Booker International Shortlist Title … [Read more...] about The Man Booker International Prize 2016 Shortlist Announced
Canadian Public Libraries for Fair Ebook Pricing Starts to Gain Momentum
Last year a coalition of Canadian libraries banded together to draw attention to overpriced e-books. The Toronto Public Library, Canadian Library Council, Ontario Library Association and the Canadian Library Association were the founding members and now there are over 30 individual branches that have taken up the cause.The main premise of FairEbookPrices has to do with … [Read more...] about Canadian Public Libraries for Fair Ebook Pricing Starts to Gain Momentum
New Transformers Pop-Up Book features robots that Transform
The Transformers cartoon show is fondly remembered by anyone that grew up in the 1980's and the recent Michael Bay movies have got an entire new generation hooked on the franchise. In order to celebrate the 30th aniversay of Transformers, Matthew Reinhart and Emiliano Santalucia have created a pop-up book, featuring robots that actually transform.Best Pop-Up Books reviewed … [Read more...] about New Transformers Pop-Up Book features robots that Transform
Barnes and Noble has just outsourced Nook Software development
Barnes and Noble has just outsourced all of the Nook software development to Bahwan CyberTek. This company will take over certain NOOK technology services, including cloud management and development support for NOOK software.Barnes & Noble said that as a result of the agreement with BCT, it plans to close both its Santa Clara R&D center and Taiwan offices in … [Read more...] about Barnes and Noble has just outsourced Nook Software development
GoodReads reports they now have 50 million reviews
GoodReads has reported that they have surpassed over 50 million book reviews on their website and it only took them ten years to do it. The social book community launched in 2006 and was purchased by Amazon in 2013.The CEO of GoodReads Otis Chandler said "On behalf of the Goodreads team, I wanted to give a huge thank you to all of you who've written such amazing reviews … [Read more...] about GoodReads reports they now have 50 million reviews
Ian McKellen will not write a memoir and returns £1 million advance
Hollywood actor Ian Mckellen has announced that he has scrapped plans to write a memoir about his life and has returned a £1 advance to UK publisher Hodder & Stoughton.At the Oxford Literary Festival he elaborated the reasoning behind his decision to abandon the memoir “It was a bit painful. I didn’t want to go back into my life and imagine things that I hadn’t … [Read more...] about Ian McKellen will not write a memoir and returns £1 million advance