Apr 13 2012
Friday Links: April 13th Book Sale, BN’s Glow Touch; JK Rowling New Book Due in September
BARNES & NOBLE | NOOK Simple Touch™ with GlowLight™ – “World’s #1 Reader now with breakthrough GlowLight™: First & Only Reader designed for perfect bedtime reading Breakthrough technology creates a soft glow optimized for low light reading Warm light illuminates entire screen evenly End bedtime reading debate-when you want to read & your partner wants to sleep GlowLight turns on instantly and adjusts easily with a touch Revolutionary built-in anti-glare screen protector delivers just-like-paper experience – great in bright sun Exclusive Best-Text™ & adjustable fonts make words crisp & clear Fastest, most advanced E Ink® display for seamless page turns Lightest NOOK ever – perfect for long reading sessions and carrying everywhere Unbeatable value: “2 Readers in 1″ – Best of E Ink & Lit Display’ -Amazing in bed and at the beach” Ships on May 1, 2012, for $139. Barnes & Noble
Publishing giants sue open textbook startup over layout • The Register – “A copyright lawsuit has pitted three of the four big American textbook publishers against a web startup in a dispute over the layout of textbooks. Facts may not be copyrighted, but how they are laid out is, contends the joint complaint that publishers Pearson, Cengage Learning, and Macmillan Higher Education filed last month in US District Court in Southern New York.” The Register
Pet Peeves: eBooks only available in one format and one place | Janicu’s Book Blog – “Limiting a customer’s choice of format and expecting a customer to jump through hoops in order to read a book is wildly optimistic, given all the other books I could be reading. It’s even more optimistic when you are a completely new-to-me author, and thus a risk in the first place. Please, please, if you are self-publishing an eBook, make sure that you reach more readers by making it available in different formats! And while you’re at it, if you’re offering your book for free or discounted on Amazon, consider making the same offer for the other formats too, because that’s another rant.” Janicu
THE CASUAL VACANCY – Little, Brown Book Group – “Little, Brown Book Group announces that the new novel for adults by J.K. Rowling is entitled The Casual Vacancy. The book will be published worldwide in the English language in hardback, ebook, unabridged audio download and on CD on Thursday 27th September 2012.The Casual VacancyWhen Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.” Little Brown
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Apr 13, 2012 @ 10:33:55
But I just bought a bunch of batteries for my book light …
And I can’t think of anything riskier for a writer than the one Rowling is taking with this new book. I hope The Casual Vacancy is another huge success, but can you imagine how big a deal a flop would be? She is a global phenomenon; the only thing bigger would be a galactic one, and I’m pretty sure I heard the Martians are hoping their digital copies arrive in the usual 0.00000062363 light years.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 10:38:49
So basically that glowlight adds $40 to the price of the Nook Simple Touch? Meh. I’ve been considering buying a Simple Touch – the main thing holding me back is that I’ve only owned my Nook 1st Edition for a year, and it feels too soon to be buying something else, especially for $99 when my Nook 1st Edition still works perfectly fine. But, oh, the touchscreen is tempting. A glowlight for an additional $40, though? No thank you. I’m assuming that the screen for the Nook Simple Touch is as readable as the screen for the Nook 1st Edition, and I haven’t experienced any lighting conditions where reading my Nook was impossible. I mean, if it’s dark, then I turn the light on, the same as I would with a print book.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 10:53:12
@Darlynne: I don’t think the risk to JKR is that great. She’s already got more money than she needs for the rest of her life with the Potter franchise continuing to bring in huge sums. Even if this book totally flops, it’s not going to affect any of that. So why not try something different? She’s got nothing to lose, as far as I can see. It would be much riskier if she’d tried another children’s fantasy series, I think.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 10:56:57
I was excited to see the J.K. Rowling news. I think there will be a lot of complaining that the new book will be completely different than the Harry Potter novels.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 11:02:39
Is anyone other than me bugged by all the “Par-Tay” nonsense? They seriously couldn’t come up with a better tagline? And the promotional information is…murky. Makes me wonder about the quality of those ebooks.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 11:06:27
@LG: I paid $139 for my Simple Touch when it was first released last year. My son asked me last night if I was going to upgrade. Short answer — NO. The only time I read in the dark is in the car (not while driving!), and I see no reason to pay a $40 premium to replace a perfectly good reader when I can buy a booklight for $9.
That said, it’s still a great move on B&N’s part. They leapfrog ahead of Amazon in basic e-reader capability, and if they package it with promo stuff, like the free SD card full of B&N classics that I got with mine, that just sweetens the pot.
In regards to the Free Par-tay promo, the sponsors need to read your link to Pet Peeves about limiting format choices. Not all of us have or want Kindles.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 11:16:28
@Sandra: I think your reaction that it’s a great move forward is so intersting, because it’s the exact opposite thought I had. I got e-Ink because I do NOT want to have a back-lit device. If I wanted a back-lit device I would have gotten an iPad (or similar). I use a booklight or lamp when it’s night and I want to read, just like I would for a paper book.
Plus, kind of like the built-in booklight on the Kindle case that was out last year, I’m sure it drains the hell out of battery life, and that trade off wouldn’t be worth it to me.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 11:22:50
Am I the only one who thinks Rowling’s book sounds boring? I feel wrong just typing this because I thoroughly enjoyed HP. She’s obviously trying to distance herself from HP, though, so maybe that’s it? I wonder if it’s going to be a mystery. I do think that a lot of her readers will be disappointed, especially the youngest ones. I guess you can’t please them all.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 11:27:03
@Angela: I don’t think it is a back-lit device. As far as I know eink technology doesn’t allow for it. I think it’s just a built in light, probably in the case.
I’m holding judgment until I see how well and evenly it lights up the screen. If it works well, it might be useful on camping/hiking trips or if I’m just too lazy to get up and turn on the light.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 11:29:34
/snicker
Apr 13, 2012 @ 11:31:09
@Angela: I agree with you, I don’t like back-lit devices for reading, that’s why I love my Kindle. However, I think this new Nook is a bit of both, maybe you can turn on/off the light as needed, so I think it’s a good idea. It’s a matter of waiting to see if the e ink still looks the same when you don’t have the light on.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 11:50:25
@Dana S: & @Brie: I don’t think it’s in the case. That’s not what it looks like when I’m looking at it on their page. They show the light coming from the device itself. Of course it could be a layer on-top of the eInk screen below another screen that lights it.
It said that it “automatically” comes on as needed, but that it’s easily adjustable. So, I’d have to see in person to get a better idea of how it worked.
But they showed a person looking at it with it lit and their entire upper body was lit up – that’s not appealing to me. I don’t want to look into light to read.
I can see the appeal for some, and I do like that they’re innovating, but for me it has no added value to the eInk device I already have. And if I were purchasing for the first time, it wouldn’t be worth $40 over one without the light.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 12:02:11
@Angela: The back light can be turned on and off. When off, it is supposed to look just like a regular eInk screen (readable in full sunlight, which an iPad is not). I love the idea of this device.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 12:48:03
Gizmodo reviewed the Nook Simple Touch (WITH GLOWLIGHT!) here http://gizmodo.com/5901499/hands-on-nook-simple-touch-with-glowlight-never-read-a-book-on-a-tablet-again and gave the glowlight very good reviews. It doesn’t look like the Sony one of several years ago which seemed unevenly dispersed and prone to glare.
I still haven’t made my own decision, although the family has an e-ink device and a 7″ tablet. I want a not-off-brand device that can get books from anywhere I want to get them from. Sometimes I shop at Amazon, sometimes B&N, sometimes from e-presses direct. I don’t need or want a separate device for just that bookstore, and I’m not quite sure yet if I want just a reader or a reader-and-angry-birds thing.
I do wish they’d make one that expanded between 7 and 10 inches though (hur, hur) for those times when I have to read full-size PDFs but still want something that fits in my purse. Something like an electronic scroll with flexible e-paper would be wicked-cool.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 12:58:29
The kindle price of Rowling’s new book is $19.99! This seems ludicrously high-priced to me, but I admittedly couldn’t find information on how many pages is it. Maybe it’s like 1,500 pages, so $19.99 is a good deal.
Anyway, I read a sentence or two of the book description before I saw the kindle price… and when I saw $19.99, I didn’t even go back to finish the description.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 13:03:49
@Lada – I’m with you.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 13:14:18
Regarding JKR’s book The Casual Vacancy, the premise made me think of the movie ‘Hot Fuzz’, with Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Timothy Dalton, Jim Broadbent. If the book is anything like this movie, it’ll be fun.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 13:53:12
Is Rowling’s publisher throwing her under the Kindle bus to see if she survives and/or thrives? I buy some of their mysteries and pay $9.99 to $12.99 – and bitch all the way through the purchase – but $19.99 would push me toward the library waiting list.
Anyway, good on her for trying to go in a totally different direction.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 14:27:46
@Ros: No, I meant–and didn’t say very well–that the eyes of the world are watching as they simply don’t for other writers. It’s a big deal either way precisely because of the numbers, which will also make it an automatic bestseller, good or bad. She has nothing to lose, and yet trying something new is still an enormous professional risk.
When Dennis Lehane wrote Mystic River, I had the unbelievable opportunity to talk with him and tell him I thought it was the book he was born to write. His reply was that everyone else kept asking when the next Patrick and Angie book would come out.
I agree with @Maichelle: A lot of readers are going to expect magic, real or otherwise.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 15:42:57
I feel like the plot summary of “The Casual Vacancy” is just one tired cliche after another…the same story I’ve heard for years, all told in a variety of ways but ultimately ending up at the same destination….
Apr 13, 2012 @ 16:09:05
Agree with the pet peeve. Not everyone owns a Kindle/wants to convert formats.
While I like the idea of the Nook glow-lite, I’m very happy with my Sony so have no plans to upgrade. I should probably invest in a better book light though. Mine is bulky.
I’ll wait for the hub-bub around the new Rowling to die down before getting it from the library.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 16:41:28
I totally agree with Janicu’s pet peeve. I have 2000+ eBooks and less than 20 of them are Kindle books. I just prefer not to buy from Amazon even if the books aren’t available anywhere else.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 18:33:34
@Angela: What I understand from the promo/pre-order email I got from B&N yesterday, is that there are LED’s built into the frame which illuminate the screen. If it works well, it could be a good deal. The problem I have with clip-on booklights is that they don’t provide even lighting across the entire screen. Or maybe it’s just my el cheapo light.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 18:51:45
@Angela: I’ll just put in here that I have that case and it isn’t a huge battery drainer. I use the light every night–I prefer it to reading on my iPad when I don’t want to keep my spouse up–and my battery life is still really good.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 19:35:08
The glow-nook would have been a great idea a year ago. I can’t help but think that, by now, the majority of buyers have already made up their mind on what they want and they’ve bought it. Not to say no one’s going to buy a new shiny ever again. But people who are interested in e-ink probably have already gotten on that wagon and most of us aren’t inclined to drop another $140 just to have a glowy thingy. Those who really want/need that backlight/self-lit aspect are well on the tablet train. IDK, just… meh.
And I agree, Rowling’s book sounds kind of dull. I guess we’ll know this fall. I’m sure as heck not plopping $20 for ANY ebook, however. Sheesh. One thing, though, is that apparently, according to her website, she is now officially/currently working on the Harry Potter encyclopedia. So, that’s exciting, I guess.
I don’t know what the hell that Par-Tay thing was. Bad html and links to free Amazon books. Meh again.
Apr 13, 2012 @ 22:40:47
@Darlynne: Ooh, I am so jealous. Mystic River (the book, not the movie) was such an incredibly moving story.
Apr 14, 2012 @ 09:03:27
Janicu’s Book Blog
YES!!!! I don’t buy from Amazon and it is so annoying when the self-pubbed authors choose to go with just Amazon. By the time they move it to other formats (after the 3month deal or whatever it is with amazon) I’ve already forgotten the book. It is sort of a self fulfilling prophecy they think only Amazon can sell their book, they put it up only on Amazon, people forget about it and then when they stick it up elsewhere they sell no books…so in their minds only Amazon can sell their book….duh.