Friday News: Twitpic shuts down, Amazon woos kid lit authors, Harper Collins experiments with bundling, and deadmau5 fires back at Disney
Publishing NewsAmazon / applications / children's lit / digital books / Disney / Harper Collins / intellectual property / print books / software / trademark / Twitpic / Twitter9 Comments
Twitpic is shutting down – I am of two minds about this news: first, I’m sad that Twitpic is going away, because it was, for me, one of the easiest to use and least demanding/intrusive applications for use with Twitter. And second, I’m pretty damn curious about what it’s planning in the long-run, if, in the short-run, it’s willing to shut down completely rather than abandon its attempt to gain trademark. In either case, a substantial short-term loss for Twitter users. The service is open until September 25th and advises users to export content before then.
We originally filed for our trademark in 2009 and our first use in commerce dates back to February 2008 when we launched. We encountered several hurdles and difficulties in getting our trademark approved even though our first use in commerce predated other applications, but we worked through each challenge and in fact had just recently finished the last one. During the “published for opposition” phase of the trademark is when Twitter reached out to our counsel and implied we could be denied access to their API if we did not give up our mark. –Twitpic
Amazon Invites Children’s Book Authors To Kindle Direct Publishing, Rolls Out Kids’ Book Creator Software – Amazon definitely seems to be a on a roll — as in they’ve been rolling out a lot of new products and programs in pretty rapid succession. In this case, the product is focused on a part of the market that seems to be growing (I was just thinking the other day how it seems like everyone — even Bruce Springsteen! — is writing a children’s book right now), and the fact that both new and already published authors can use KDP kids, and, by extension, KDP Select, Kindle Unlimited, and the Kindle Lending Library, seems like a pretty interesting experiment. I don’t know a lot about the kid lit market, so if anyone has any additional information or perspective on this, please do share.
This tool will allow budding children’s book authors to create chapter books and illustrated children’s books that are able to take advantage of Kindle features like text pop-ups, explains Amazon in an announcement about the new services. After the book is finalized, authors can also use the tool to upload the book to KDP while also stipulating the category, age and grade range filters needed to get the book listed correctly.
Optionally, KDP Kids authors can also enroll in KDP Select which allows them to earn royalties through Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. They would then also have the ability use other marketing tools available to Select authors, like the Kindle Countdown Deals and Free Book Promotions. –Tech Crunch
HarperCollins Offers Free eBook of Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box To Anyone Who Owns a Print Copy – I’ve got to hand it to Harper Collins for their progressive marketing strategies. Not only have they been discounting their imprints (we’ve seen this a lot with Avon books), but now they seem to be venturing into bundling by offering digital copies of Jo Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box for those who have purchased a print copy. It may give the publisher a sense of how many readers who buy print are also open to digital, too.
Hill asked fans to retweet a message he put out there with the details, which you can see below courtesy the website linked above. The app needed to get your free copy can be downloaded here (Android or iPhone). –ComicBook.com
Deadmau5 issues Disney a C&D letter – So first deadmau5 responded to Disney’s legal filing with a message to “lawyer up mickey,” and now he has tweeted an allegation that Disney is using one of his songs without permission, suggesting confusion that he would willingly work with the company. Although deadmau5’s Twitter stream is highly entertaining, it’s also a chronicle of what at some point I hope will be very interesting legal history. The text of the cease and desist letter can be found in deadmau5’s Twitter stream, starting here. –Twitter and deadmau5
Here in the UK Amazon has definitely been targeting kids as Kindle users. There is an ad on TV that shows kids (between, I’d say, ages 8 and 13) reading on a Kindle in all sorts of places–bedroom, treehouse, pool, etc. My daughters, ages 13 and 16, both read on Kindles, but I don’t like not knowing what they’re reading. I can check their digital content, but they have a lot more access to a lot more different kinds of books, which can be both good and bad.
I may be a big fat cynic, but I expect that the primary customers of KDP will be people who want their tendentious views (MY PARENTS OPEN CARRY; I GET BULLIED ‘COZ I’M A WHITE CHRISTIAN; NOBODY WEARS CLOTHES IN NATURE! etc) to be endorsed by the books available to children, whether their own or other people’s.
Or at least who want a wide pool of books that won’t expose the kiddiwinks to ideas they DON’T like.
KDP Kids, I mean.
@Kate Hewitt: I read the romances in my room at night after my parents went to bed. It was years before they knew about those books.
@Sylvie Fox: I was a sneak reader for years. I spent my allowance on batteries and flashlights!
My daughter has a Kindle Fire, but she prefers print books for reading and print books are easier for her to share with her friends. She uses the Kindle mostly for games and occasionally for streaming shows. I also think she is also resistant to reading ebooks because a lot of her homework is now online. She’s much more likely to be influenced by what other kids are reading, what a teacher (one she likes) recommends, or what she sees advertised on tv (books made into movies will get her attention, for example). My other daughter is the same way. I’ve offered to buy kindle ebooks for them on many occasions, and they always opt for paperbacks instead.
Wait, Nobody Wears Clothes in Nature? That sounds okay.
@Erin Satie: I misremember the actual title, and didn’t feel like tracking it down (same with the other two, as well). IIRC, the basic theme was that laws against public nudity made children grow up sex-obsessed and neurotic.
Perhaps I’m being unfair in considering this a fringe position, but I don’t believe the book ever took off. I honestly don’t care what people wear (or don’t) in their own homes; but if you’re going to sit next to me on the bus, for God’s sake put some pants on.
I have 27 traditionally published children’s books under the names Chris Eboch or MM Eboch, and I write a column on self-publishing/kid lit topics for the major children’s book writers organization.
People who write novels for childrenand teenagers have been able to use the standard Kindle/CreateSpace publishing systems. This new option opens up self-publishing to people who write picture books or chapter books (for beginning readers), which need more illustrations. Before, that could be expensive and/or difficult.
I expect you’ll see two kinds of books coming out – first of all, a lot of traditionally published authors and author/illustrators will release their out-of-print books. The challenge here is that if the author and illustrator are different people, the author may need to hire a new illustrator, or the two need to agree on terms.
The other kind of books you will see are poor or mediocre texts from beginning writers. Many of these people will not pay professional illustrators, either because they can’t afford it, or because they don’t know that they should. So these will have amateur illustrations as well.
A much smaller percentage of the books will be new titles, by new or established authors, which are high quality in both writing and illustration. So far, though, most of the money in children’s e-books has come from young adult titles. Middle grade and younger doesn’t sell well – yet. I expect this to change within the decade.