If you’re a hardcore sci-fi or fantasy reader, be sure to check out the newly opened SF Gateway website at http://www.sfgateway.com/. At present, there are over fifty authors represented (see full author list here), with more to come over time. That’s the good news. The bad news is that those old print-biased territorial restrictions have [...]
ebooks
Pottermore delayed; no Harry Potter ebooks until 2012
The team behind Pottermore—the official Harry Potter website and online community—made a few announcements this morning that will disappoint those die hard fans who have been waiting expectantly for access to the site and the official ebooks. Phased access starting in late October In a blog post on Pottermore Insider, they refined their original “opening [...]
Checking out Kindle ebooks from the public library: a quick demo
While I was wrapping up a conference on a totally unrelated matter yesterday, Amazon unveiled its long awaited public library lending feature for Kindle ebooks. You can find out the official details at www.amazon.com/kindle/publiclibraries. This morning I gave it a shot with my local library. I’ve never particularly liked the whole OverDrive experience with EPUB [...]
1,000+ classic sci-fi and fantasy works to be epublished in September
Early last month, publisher Gollancz announced that it was going to publish a new third edition of the “Encyclopedia of Science Fiction” online, and make it free for anyone to access. An executive for Gollancz told FutureBook that it had profit-minded reasons for doing this, but wouldn’t explain them at the time. Here’s why: Gollancz [...]
Apple’s OS X Lion can create EPUB files!
If you’re using or plan to upgrade to the latest Apple operating system, Lion, you’ll discover a nifty ebook trick baked into the Automator program: it can create EPUB files! The website Mac OS X Automation reported it first, so far as I know. From that site: Mac OS X Lion includes an Automator action, [...]
Angry Robot introduces DRM-free subscription plan: pay flat fee, get every new title for a year
I’m subbing over at the esteemable Teleread blog for the month of July, and I just posted this news over there but thought it was something worth sharing with Booksprung readers as well. Also, it gives me a chance to blockquote and reference my own post elsewhere, which is not only meta but deeply satisfying [...]
Rowling will sell the Harry Potter ebooks on her own starting in October
The Harry Potter series may take place in the modern world, but it’s always been somewhat removed from it, emphasizing magic and wizarding dynasties over digital technology. The same has held true for the actual books, which have always been sold in print or boxed audiobook versions but never as ebooks, which Rowling dismissed at [...]
How Sidney Williams escaped midlist oblivion
In this interview, author Sidney Williams discusses retro computers, how to budget for ebooks, lost gems on Project Gutenberg, and why he’s chosen to publish his novels through Crossroad Press.
What you need to know about the ‘Spam on the Kindle’ story
The hot story the past few days is that spam ebooks are taking over the marketplace. Here are a few points you should consider while reading such articles and blog posts.
BookLikes first impressions: an undercooked indie version of Shelfari
BookLikes is yet another free service for book lovers that promises to make quality recommendations to you based on what others are reading. Unfortunately, it’s not quite ready for public consumption.
Unbridled has 25 books for 25 cents each. The catch? It’s through Google Ebooks.
There’s a great sale going on right now from Unbridled Books. Unfortunately you’ll have to go through Google, a company that hasn’t worked out the kinks when it comes to ebook purchases. (Update: the sale has ended, but the user experience is still relevant, especially if you plan on buying Google Ebooks in the future.)
Amazon’s two week “Sunshine Deals” sale has a little of everything
On June 1st, Amazon announced Sunshine Deals, a two week promotion with smaller publishers that features 600 ebooks priced between $0.99 and $2.99. The selection is all over the place in terms of genre and quality, and it sort of reminds me of the bargain shelves in Barnes & Noble’s retail stores, only without any [...]