In my recent counter-tirade against the emotional outbursts that booksellers are frequently guilty of when they should be discussing retail strategies, I mentioned that the last time I contacted a local bookstore to offer feedback on what I want as a customer, I was ignored. I thought it might be nice to publish that email [...]
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The biggest threat to local bookstores? Crazy booksellers and their fanboys
Last week, Amazon tried to train consumers to openly treat local retail stores as showrooms for Amazon merchandise. It was a ballsy but ethically shaky move; I believe customers who participated helped Amazon steal resources and sales from competitors for very little compensation. It was, at the very least, retail dirty pool. But then—even though [...]
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 [...]
Angry Robot plans fan-created anthologies via new WorldBuilder site
Fandom breeds content, as nearly any Internet user who has ever loved a TV show, movie or book already knows. Fans love to spend time absorbed in their favorite works by inventing new adventures, filling in backstories, and expanding the characters’ worlds with fresh details. (Or just by making the characters have sex with each [...]
Say goodbye to Google Books Settlement for good
The heavily criticized proposed settlement between Google and a small group of authors and publishers has been dealt a final, fatal blow, reports Publishers Weekly this morning—although in this case the deathblow comes indirectly because it’s actually about a different, older legal battle. In case you need a recap of what this is all about, [...]
Amazon releases Kindle Cloud Reader, HTML5 web app that runs on iPad
Amazon surprised everyone this morning by announcing a new way to read your Kindle books if you’re on an iPad or computer. It’s called Kindle Cloud Reader, and it’s an HTML5 web application that runs in modern browsers and gives you offline access to Kindle books that you download. Unlike some Kindle announcements, this one [...]
You can now rent textbooks from the Amazon Kindle Store
Today Amazon announced the opening of its new Kindle Textbooks store (www.amazon.com/kindletextbooks). Titles will be available to rent for periods from 30 to 360 days, and you can increase the rental period in increments as small as one day, or purchase license the book outright at any point. Amazon is crowing that students can save [...]
ReadBeam makes it easy to read newspapers and blogs on your ereader
If you don’t want to use Calibre, or can’t be bothered to figure out how to use it to subscribe to news feeds and send them to your ereader, you might want to give ReadBeam a try. The service offers around two dozen popular blogs and online newspapers. You’ll have to sign up with a [...]
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 [...]
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.
Apple relaxes app rules for ebook apps
It looks like Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and any other ereader app currently on iOS won’t be disappearing from the App Store after the end of the month after all. Mac Rumors is reporting that Apple has removed its most controversial new rule concerning in-app purchases, which said if you sold any media content elsewhere that [...]
PCMag calls Nook Touch the new king of ereaders
Has the Kindle 3 been beaten by Barnes & Noble’s elegant new touchscreen Nook? Yes, says PCMag: it’s smaller, lighter, and more user friendly, with the same Pearl E Ink screen.