Aug 21 2011
How Good Does a Book Have to Be At 99 cents?
The 99 cent book is becoming a mainstay of the publishing landscape. Pioneered by self published authors, the 99 cent price may be reshaping customer expectations. John Locke, the eighth author to achieve Kindle Millionaire status, once famously told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that at $.99, the other authors have to be(…)
Aug 14 2011
Have eBooks Changed Your Buying Habits?
Jaclyn emailed the DA reviewer group the other day with the following question: I got into an argument on Twitter with another publisher about buying ebooks and now I want to know what other readers do… With print books most of us have towering TBRs. Books we’ve bought and never read. Is the same true(…)
Aug 7 2011
Reading with Android – Mantano Reader
There are a lot of reading apps out there for Android and everybody has their favorite one be it Moon +, Cool Reader, one of the many store apps (Kindle, Nook, etc.) or the well known Aldiko. A new app, called Mantano, has jumped into the fray with both feet and quickly become popular among(…)
Jul 31 2011
Buying Books on the iThings Now that the Catalogs Are Gone
As of today, all of the book apps that work on Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, iTouch = iThings) have been stripped of the their in app catalogs and buy links. The apps are not to mention why the catalogs or buy links have been removed and the apps cannot mention how to create an account(…)
Jul 24 2011
Create Your Own Cloud of Ebooks with Calibre + Calibre OPDS + Dropbox
This post has been updated as of October 16, 2011. ***** Apple appears to have pushed Google out of the ebookstore. Kobo released an updated app with no buy link. Google is randomly deleting Google Plus accounts. Yet another ebook format has been announced. I’m getting pretty fed up with the powers that be(…)
Jul 17 2011
Ebook Buyer’s Guide: Know When to Buy an eReader and When to Wait
Updated: April 12, 2012 Mac Rumors has an awesome site that collects rumors around the internet to help people decide whether should buy a Mac product or when they should Wait. I figured we needed one for ebook readers. The following is a list of the most popular ebook readers on the market with my(…)
Jun 26 2011
Review: The Asus Eee Pad Transformer
Since its release on April 26th of this year the Asus Transformer has been one of the most popular Android tablets on the market. It’s price ($399 for the 16GB version) combined with a very nice IPS screen and a fairly unique keyboard dock have ensured that this tablet sells out almost as soon as(…)
Jun 19 2011
Dear Jane: Is there any way around the whispersync charges on Amazon?
Dear Jane is a column wherein you write in questions about ebooks and I try to find an answer. If you have a question, send it to jane at dearauthor dot com. Dear Jane: I’m a fairly new e-book convert. I first bought my Kindle to use when I travel, but now I find myself(…)
Jun 12 2011
GUEST REVIEW: Bettie Sharpe on the Nook Touch
The New Nook Simple Touch Reader: Awesome for Reading and Buying Books. Everything else? Meh. When I told my husband why I needed—needed!—the new Barnes and Noble Nook Simple Touch Reader to replace my 2.5 year old Sony PRS 700, I tried to impress with tech specs. I mentioned the 6.5” super crisp Pearl E-Ink(…)
Jun 5 2011
Ten Must Have iPad Apps for Readers
I know a number of people received the iPad for gifts this year, either for Christmas or some other event. I’ve got a list of my favorite apps that I think no iPad should be without. Most of them are free. 1-3. Reading Apps (all Free) Nook App – download this ONLY if you are(…)
May 22 2011
Why DRM Won’t Be Abandoned Soon
I know that there have been people hopeful that DRM would soon fade away, but it won’t and here is why. 1. Growth. Most trade publishers have a vested interest in making ebook adoption difficult. Their profit structure is built on a paper book business and they have not yet determined the optimal business system(…)
May 15 2011
Amazon and Google’s Cloud Player: A strike against licenses?
Amazon introduced its Cloud Locker and Amazon Cloud Player and Google has introduced Google Music (beta). Both companies are offering cloud based storage for music. No big deal, right? Wrong. Music labels are concerned because Amazon and Google haven’t worked out a business relationship wherein the music labels and the artists get a piece of(…)
May 8 2011
10 Kindle Tricks and Tweaks
I use my Kindle daily and am pretty proficient with working with the device. Angie James emailed me and asked if I knew about the free.kindle.com feature and I said yes. She told me that she wasn’t aware of it and that I should put together a blog post about it. I pretty much do(…)
Apr 24 2011
Ellora’s Cave Settles with Chris Brashear
As of April 8, 2011, the three year lawsuit between Ellora’s Cave and Chris Brashear has come to an end. On April 7, 2008, Chrissy Brashear filed suit against Ellora’s Cave alleging that she was entitled to a distribution of profits from 2005 until the date at which defendants bought out her 5% shares. EC’s(…)
Apr 24 2011
Digital book subscriptions
In 2009, we visited the idea of subscriptions in the form of a couple of two different models. The first was whether readers would be interested in an ebook reader rent to own sort of deal, kind of like cell phone subscriptions. 186 respondents said yes whereas 109 said no. 100 were uninterested. [poll id="150"](…)
Apr 17 2011
The Oddities of Digital Books
At these tech conferences, you hear a lot about the enhanced ebook. There is the belief amongst some publishers that if they throw in some video and audio, we readers would be willing to pay more for a digital book. This might be true in some circumstances and I’m not discounting a market for enhanced(…)
Apr 3 2011
Amazon’s new Android Appstore and Cloud Drive
On March 22nd Amazon launched their much speculated about Android Appstore. This presents an interesting addition to the Android ecosphere, an app store that has the potential to outshine the official Android Market provided by Google. All in all Amazon's Appstore isn't really too different from the Android Market. At this point it's basically the(…)
Mar 31 2011
REVIEW: Two Against the Odds by Joan Kilby
“You’re being audited.” That’s hardly his most winning opening line, but Rafe Ellersley isn’t here to make friends. He’d promised himself-’and his boss-’that this audit would be different. This time, he would be the consummate Australian Tax Office investigator. Cool, detached, professional. He’d bring Lexie Thatcher, tax-dodging artisan, to justice with ruthless efficiency. No more(…)
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