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Friday News: What Google’s New “Privacy” Policy Means for You

Friday News: What Google’s New “Privacy” Policy Means for You

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(…)

Thursday Midday News: Mr Romance Is Done

Thursday Midday News: Mr Romance Is Done

Google has partnered with iRiver to introduce a new ebook reader to the market.  This will be sold at Target and online.  PC World has a really good review of the device.  The pro of the device is that it has the crispest screen of any eink device on the market.  The cons? Poor software(…)

Thursday Midday Links: Open Letter to Loretta Chase

Thursday Midday Links: Open Letter to Loretta Chase

Dear Ms. Chase: I don’t have your email address but I had to write you to comment on a note a fan made on your behalf on the Smart Bitches site.  You see, your book Captives of the Night(kind of a sequel to the Lord of Scoundrels) caught the attention of Sarah Wendell.  But not(…)

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(…)

Thursday Midday Links:  Facebook tried to launch a whisper campaign against Google

Thursday Midday Links: Facebook tried to launch a whisper campaign against Google

Facebook employed a major PR and lobbying firm Burson-Marsteller to launch a whisper campaign against Google. The Daily Beast broke the story and it is a compelling and almost unbelievable story. Burson-Masteller, for political junkies is the company owned by pollster Mark Penn, a chief strategist for Hillary Clinton’s run for presidency. Confronted with evidence,(…)

Monday Midday Links: Beverly Barton has passed away.

Monday Midday Links: Beverly Barton has passed away.

Romance author Beverly Barton passed away last week. Harlequin community is hosting a virtual memorial. ****** Nookcolor has undergone a pretty major update. Froyo is one of the newer Android operating systems and with the Froyo update, you get Adobe Flash (can I watch hulu on this sucker?) and access to a new Nook App(…)

Wednesday Midday Links: Kristan Higgins’ All I Ever Wanted Digital Edition Makes Bestseller List

Wednesday Midday Links: Kristan Higgins’ All I Ever Wanted Digital Edition Makes Bestseller List

USA Today bestseller list is now counting ebook sales when compiling the list.   Harlequin Books tweeted that Kristan Higgins made the USAToday list today at #102 for her ebook edition.   It’s the ebook edition because of the (E) notation and the $6.99 price point (the paperbook is $7.99).   There are other (E) editions on the(…)

Wednesday Midday Links: Google Gives the Finger to China

There were a couple of very interesting tidbits of information from Publishers Lunch today (registration required). The first is that Liz Sheier is moving to Barnes and Noble to be its “editorial director” and it appears that BN will be pursuing exclusive digital publishing agreements like Amazon has for the Kindle. The second is that(…)

Google Book Settlement Take 2: Still Creating a Blackwater for Books

Google and the Plaintiffs (Authors’ Guild and representative authors and publishers) went back to the negotiating table to craft a new settlement agreement that would address the concerns of the Department of Justice and other critics.   The new settlement agreement was released yesterday. For Consumers There were quite a few positive changes.   To address the(…)

Tuesday Midday Links: Amazon’s Charm Offensive

The new draft of the Google Book Settlement was due yesterday but the parties asked (and was granted) until Friday to present a new settlement agreement. Given that the biggest part of the GBKS were orphan works and that was what drew the biggest complaints, I wonder how any new settlement could address this. ****(…)

Chach Bag / Chachbag

So at the request of some people and the assistance of Sarah from Smart Bitches, we have constructed a google bomb for those who want to help Scott Baio get the publicity he so  desperately  wants (despite his claims that he is fulfilled by golf and family). A google bomb is really the only way to fulfill(…)

Wednesday Midday Links: JA Konrath Posts a Must Read Article and Dear Author Has Neat News

Last night, author and reader Nadia Lee, tweeted me a link to JA Konrath’s most recent blog post. It is incredibly illuminating and a must read for anyone interested in publishing and ebooks. Konrath has been experimenting with releasing his own fiction (mostly short stories) on the Kindle. He had shared his success earlier this(…)

Friday Midday Links:  Promo is an author’s friend

Friday Midday Links: Promo is an author’s friend

A British betting firm has set the odds for the Nobel prize for literature. A.S. Byatt, author of Possession (which is essentially a romance book), is on the list at 50 to 1 odds. Washington Post tells the woeful tale of a newbie author who had almost no publisher support. Publishers are basically executing the(…)

Monday Midday Links:

Google announced a deal last week with Espresso Book Machine wherein the full panoply of out of copyright books Google has scanned and digitized can be available through the POD machines.   The books can be printed in less than five minutes. The suggested retail price for such a book is $8.00.   Maybe publishers want to(…)

Thursday Midday Links

Just to keep you updated on my tooth situation, apparently I will have to have a root canal. I said to my dentist “with all the advanced technology, this procedure will be totally painless, right?” He looked at me seriously and nodded his head in agreement. While I laughed semi hysterically, he tried to tell(…)