Apr 12 2012
The DOJ filed suit against five publishers (Penguin, Macmillan, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster) on April 11, 2012. The DOJ then immediately filed a notice of settlement and a request for approval of the settlement. A judge assigned to this case will then either approve the settlement and order the parties back to the negotiating [...]
Apr 10 2012
News Amazon’s $1 million secret – Amazon.com – Salon.com – “Amazon is picking up its literary largess during an especially charged season in the company’s relationships with the rest of the book world. For the first time, the “Big Six” publishers — HarperCollins, Random House, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and Macmillan — have refused [...]
Apr 6 2012
ABA CEO Update on Google eBooks and Association’s Meeting With DOJ | Bookselling This Week – This is a two for one link. First, Google has totally abandoned indie booksellers. Remember that not two years ago, Google was going to save indie booksellers bacon by allowing them to be affiliates of the Google bookstore. Now [...]
Mar 12 2012
News Visa responds to erotica authors and say that it isn’t imposing any kinds of restrictions on fiction: Relevant to this situation, the sale of a limited category of extreme imagery depicting rape, bestiality and child pornography is or is very likely to be unlawful in many places and would be prohibited on the Visa [...]
Jan 27 2012
Google has changed some of its policies regarding how it is collecting data from users. A couple of good links on the subject include the WSJ write up and the EFF write up at the USA Today. WSJ: In sum, Google is tracking every move you make and connecting it together. If you watch a [...]
Jan 25 2012
News I think it is hard to say whether Apple can make inroads on textbooks, but schools are already looking for funds to increase iPad and laptop distribution throughout classes. This infographic suggests that learning can be enhanced by technology but there are other studies that indicate the opposite. Apple’s success does not depend on [...]
Jan 20 2012
Apple made it’s education announcement yesterday introducing iBooks 2 which allows you to view books made with iBooks Author. iBooks Author has been described as “Garage Band” for books. Essentially it is a purportedly easy to use tool to create interactive books rich with multimedia such as audio, video, and animations that will be well [...]
Oct 16 2011
For those who are upgrading to iOS5 or getting the new iPhone 4S, you may have noticed that Stanza is dead. The app crashes and is completely unuseable. But do not worry, folks, because there are three fairly decent alternatives. 1. eBook Search. Free but ad supported. $.99 to remove ads. This app is merely [...]
Oct 6 2011
I don’t have any beautiful eulogy to give Jobs and it’s not that I don’t believe that he deserves a beautiful eulogy. He does. He transformed our collective lives. But I have neither the connection nor the knowledge from which to give voice to a remembrance. I’ve read several and these are few I thought [...]
Aug 9 2011
PubIt! asked Dear Author to participate in their review day event on Facebook. PubIt! posted blog summaries on its wall and invited self published authors to make short pitches. Our blog summary was that we wanted unusual historicals and erotic romances and were looking to review books between 50,000 and 80,000 words. Of course, there [...]
Jul 25 2011
Apple instituted a new rule that was to go into effect last month which disallowed Apps to have a direct link to the retailers purchasing site unless the retailer offered the same products for sale inside the App and allowed Apple to get 30%. Under Agency pricing, of course, this meant that Kindle, BN, Kobo [...]
Jun 23 2011
Romance at Random, a community site devoted to romance books and romance readers, has launched. With the launch comes some pretty exciting news. Romance at Random is run by former Borders buyer, Sue Grimshaw. We are pleased to announce the 2011 Loveswept publishing program – a digital-exclusive imprint, comprised of original, newly written e-books, as [...]
May 11 2011
HarperCollins CEO doesn’t believe that consumer desire for lower ebook prices can be made up by lowered costs of production. She also believes that online purchases are driven solely by price: “The signs are that consumers expect e-books to be priced considerably lower than physical books. There’s no easier way to drive an e-book up [...]
Mar 22 2011
Yesterday was a study in opposites. Barry Eisler, a hardcover author of the John Rain series, broke the news that he had turned down a $500,000 offer for two books from St. Martin’s Press and is going to self publish his next Rain book. Eisler is good friends with Joe Konrath and has been increasingly [...]
Mar 4 2011
Funding has been eliminated for Reading is Fundamental. On March 2, President Obama signed a bill that eliminated funding for Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) the nation's largest organization providing free books and literacy resources to prepare and motivate children to read. RIF's ability to provide 4.4 million children with free books and reading encouragement from [...]
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