It’s not released to the public yet, but longform epublisher The Atavist is putting the final touches on a free version of its conversion tool, which will enable authors to publish to a variety of platforms at once without being tied to any one company’s overly restrictive fine print. (Yes, that’s a jab at iBooks [...]
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Here’s how a local bookseller tried to get my future business
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 [...]
eReaderIQ improves Kindle deal alert service with new filters and categories
Two days ago I noticed something new in the daily email I get from eReaderIQ. Actually, I noticed a couple of new things. The first was that suddenly the books were being organized according to genre, which makes it a lot easier to skim. The second was this notice at the bottom: I clicked through [...]
Set public domain content free from locked PDF files
Lately I’ve been digging around online to find old genre short stories written in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In many cases it’s clear that the works have passed into the public domain, at least here in the U.S., but in other cases there’s a questionable copyright claim, as when a modern publisher slaps [...]
How to convert the entire Skyrim canon into a single ebook
If you’ve ever spent any time in the game Skyrim—or its predecessors Oblivion or Morrowind—you’ve probably noticed how insanely detailed the legends, histories, and religious traditions can be, and not just for a game but for any sort of fantasy entertainment. What makes this detailed world-building even more striking, from a game level, is that [...]
New Kindle weather website launches, competes with other browser utilities
I got an email from Kindle Weather Station this morning, a new service in beta that offers a full screen weather report (via the experimental browser) for your neighborhood. The good news is the weather is presented in a huge, easy-to-read layout that I find quite useful. The other news—maybe not “bad” but not necessarily [...]
Stanza updated! Now works on iOS 5
Clearly I was too pessimistic last week when I wrote about the death of Stanza, the ebook reader app that stopped working on Apple devices with the release of iOS 5. Earlier today an updated version of Stanza was released, and the app now works again. I take back what I wrote in that earlier [...]
SF Gateway launches ebook store for classic sci-fi and fantasy
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 [...]
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 [...]
Amazon Silk, or Amazon Browses the Web So You Don’t Have To
The Kindle Fire doesn’t come with a normal web browser, but with something Amazon is calling Amazon Silk, which is Amazon’s attempt at improving page rendering speed, browser responsiveness, and hardware limitations. Amazon has launched a blog about Amazon Silk, but so far the blog just displays a PR-written post and a Googlefied “here’s how [...]
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 [...]
Here’s an RSS feed for Amazon’s new Kindle Daily Deal
If you’re a bargain hunter when it comes to ebooks, there’s now a new source for discounted titles: Kindle Daily Deal at amazon.com/kindledailydeal. It’s similar to the Gold Box daily specials that Amazon has offered for years now, but focused exclusively on one-day discounts of a single Kindle ebook each day. Amazon says it will [...]