Thursday News: Kindle iOS App Brings COLLECTIONS aka folders; Lance Armstrong’s ruling; 60 largest book publishers
Publishing NewsFirst-Amendment / Kindle / publishing12 Comments
I might have released an audible squeal upon learning that the updated Kindle App for iOS7 has folders. You can easily create as many folders you like and then inside the folder, you add and delete at will. Plus, your collections are synced with your account so the collections on your Kindle paperwhite appear on your Kindle iPad on your Kindle iPhone. I suspect that the Kindle Fire and the desktop apps are yet to come. I’ve got some work to do.
The World’s 60 Largest Book Publishers, 2013 – Pearson is on top of the list of book publishers but was is driving the bottom line (other than huge phenoms like 50 Shades) is specialized technical books, education and then trade. Trade books encompass books sold to the general public rather than a special segment of society. Pearson and Reed Elsevier (who owns Thomson/West the legal and financial publishing companies) are the top two and Random House comes in 5th with Hachette close behind them. Interestingly, of the top 10 top publishing groups, almost all of them had more revenue in 2012 than 2011. Big publishing isn’t going away anytime soon. Publishers Weekly
It’s not about the drugs: Lance Armstrong lawsuit fails – Lawless sent me a link to Rebecca Tushnet’s dissection of the Lance Armstrong decision. As Kim, a commenter, had noted, the dismissal of the petition was based on California’s ANTI-SLAPP statute. The crux of the decision rested on a finding that Armstrong’s speech was not “commercial speech.” Commercial speech is regulated for more heavily than non commercial speech.
“Under Bolger, speech can be characterized as commercial when it’s admittedly advertising, references a specific product, and is spoken with an economic motive. Commercial speech inextricably intertwined with otherwise fully protected speech becomes fully protected.”
None of the statements Armstrong made about his non use of rugs proposed a commercial transaction nor did the publicity efforts surrounding the book. And that even if they were, the commercial and noncommercial speech were inextricably entwined. Rebecca Tushnet’s 43(B)log
Oooooh the kindle folders. I might cry. This is so beautiful.
Haven’t read all of it but there are some interesting figures in the publishers report. I’m curious if there are ereaders (Kindle and the like) easily available in countries like France. I thought they were until I read that Hachette’s digital revenue in France (where they are based) is only 1.8% compared to 23% in the US and UK. Or is it more a lack of content?
Also, looks like Dragon is floundering on you today Jane. My favorite slip from above might be about Armstrong’s non use of rugs . Heh.
If / when the folders sync across all devices, that may be the thing that gets me to switch to Kindle. Not ready to ditch my Nook / convert my bazillion epub files yet, but you know, I like to organize my books. It makes me happy. One of the reasons I bought a Nook in the first place was because they had folders and Kindle didn’t yet.
That’s what I love about Calibre and my Sony. The Sony automatically sets up folders/collections with whatever series names and tags I have in Calibre. I never would have gone digital if I wouldn’t have had a device that had organizational capabilities. Happy for all the Kindle users who have been waiting for this.
Any idea if the Kindle App for Android devices is going to adopt this feature with the next update? I’m having some major jealousy issues right now ;)
@Lada: Yes, there’s Bookeen’s CyBook (which is a French company). I have one and I loved it until FictionWise lost all NY content and I had to start stripping DRM from Kindle books to use it. And they sell Kindles there now too. One of the big issues with Hachette is availability. They bought world English rights to my books, but they didn’t release them as eBooks anywhere but North America.
@Patricia Eimer:
Yes. Tears are rolling down my face. Kindle Folders, I have been waiting for you my entire life!
@library addict: The Kindle e-reading devices have had folders/collections for a long time. I believe it’s only Kindle for iOS that is just getting them now.
@Janine: I thought I’d remembered seeing the option on my Kindle4PC, but since I don’t use the app for reading I’ve never investigated further.
I AM SO EXCITED TO HAVE FOLDERS (Yes, this needs all caps). I had no idea! I can’t wait to organize. Thanks for the heads up.
I updated the new Kindle app 4.0 for my iPad – which I haven’t updated the IOS yet – it replicated all my Kindle folder/collection that I have on my Paperwhite – no work from me. What is interesting – is that it populated the folders from my old Kindle 2 that died too – apparently they have a record of that too. Kind of scary but very convenient.
Elsevier owns LexisNexis not Westlaw. Westlaw is owned by Thomson Reuters.