Sep 14 2009
While not book related, it was an article that was too cool not to share. A couple of MIT students assembled a camera equipped with GPS that was sent into space, to an altitude of about 18 miles, where the camera took photos of space and the curvature of the earth and the appearance of(…)
Sep 13 2009
The laments I hear about ebooks is the loss of the book culture. There is the loss of the smell and feel of books. There is the loss of the interpersonal connection of books. There is the loss of the cultural signal of book covers. Some see value in the actual turning of pages, as(…)
Sep 6 2009
Last week, I wrote that publishers had sacrificed the quality of the printed book in order to preserve their margins reducing the shelf worthy quality of hardcover, trade and mass market fiction. Because of the decreased quality of the printed books, it’s no real sacrifice to move to digital books. <—-this is the first of(…)
Aug 30 2009
Those devoted to paper in publishing houses worry that digital publishing will lead to the loss of the art of publication. The sad fact is that the art of publication has been subsumed in mass production long ago. With increased paper costs, distribution costs, lowering margins, publishers have cheapened the physical book to the point(…)
Aug 29 2009
Author Talk features nudity and PC and Kristin Cast. Roxanne St. Claire is at the Borders True Romance blog talking about her latest book (a recommended read by Robin) and giving away three free copies of Hunt Her Down. Huffington Post writes about the efforts of DirecTV to put cable stations TNT and TBS online.(…)
Aug 16 2009
If you are a reader with over a couple hundred books in Calibre, it is fairly difficult to navigate, particularly if you are using Stanza. To make Calibre’s library more accessible via the internet (and thus via Stanza), a wonderful programmer shared this script on MobileRead. Essentially, the script looks at the database of Calibre(…)
Jul 23 2009
Kindle sales are now being counted toward bestseller numbers. I hope this goes a long way toward pushing publishers to get their act together and release ebooks in a timely fashion. Slow web loading speed can be a greater deterrent than anything and can overcome great features or content. This is something I struggle with(…)
Jul 21 2009
see more Lolcats and funny pictures It seems romance has evolved to the point where we either get positive press by way of showing off the Ph.D’s writing romance or we get smarmy coverage about how romance authors are all smelling of yeast but still bringing home the bacon. A better article on the RWA(…)
Jun 15 2009
NPR Debates Google v Amazon. Powells thinks that Google will help to include more resellers in the digital market. My feeling? The more intermediaries, the greater the price. (Thanks Lucinda Betts). Teleread.org wonders how many books stand up to the first chapter read that Amazon’s Kindle offers. Given the number of books that I try(…)
Jun 14 2009
Last September I blogged that Literary Fiction should embrace digital publishing because “the psuedo profit sharing that the new arm of HarperCollins is testing: no advances, higher royalties” made sense for the embattled publishing industry. E publishing, with its low overhead, provides a safety net for experimental fiction, the bailiwick of literary fiction. E publishing(…)
Jun 11 2009
The subtext of every one of these types of posts is “If you can’t beat them, join them”. Scribd has become a haven for pirated content but given that it commands 50 million viewers per month, it has a market that is hard to ignore. Simon & Schuster is the most recent publisher to avail(…)
Jun 11 2009
California is having a terrible budget crisis. One of the ways Governor Schwarzenegger is attempting to reduce educational will be to eliminate purchase of print textbooks and require the use of electronic textbooks. The pilot program will be launched next August. High school students will be provided an ebook reader to access the math and(…)
Jun 11 2009
According to the book sales monitored by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), domestic sales are down 4.1% for the year but up 3.3% from last April for a total of $494.9 million. Down Adult Hardcover $95.7 million (-11.0%) – YTD decline 16.2% Adult Paperback $114.8 (-0.8%) – YTD decline 25.7% Adult Massmarket $51.0 (-4.0%)(…)
Jun 7 2009
The idea of ownership of ebooks is quite ephemeral. There is no resale. No return. No sharing. Essentially a reader’s right of first sale is totally obliterated by a digital book. I joked with someone the other day that you really only have a leasehold interest in the digital book for your life or the(…)
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