This Daily Show segment where Jon Hodgman discusses Borders (it starts at the 7:57 mark) was aired nearly a week ago, but in my defense, Borders officially gave up the ghost nearly a month before that, so it’s not like this is breaking news. No, the reason I’m sharing it is because it’s good weekend [...]
publishing
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, [...]
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 [...]
Erotica publisher Ellora’s Cave plans to launch its own ereader device
I recently interviewed Susan Edwards, the COO of Ellora’s Cave, about news that the publisher is about to launch its own ereader device. Dubbed the ECave C71, the ereader is a Chinese-made LCD model that will be branded by the publisher and sold directly to customers. Like the genres of romance, sci-fi and fantasy, erotica [...]
Amazon makes it easier for anyone to submit to the Kindle Singles program
The Kindle Singles program—which is not about individually wrapped cheese slices, but rather short ebooks consisting of novellas, short stories, essays and articles—has been running since the beginning of 2011, but Amazon hasn’t publicized the submissions process very much. The company just offered an email address and asked that only “serious writers, thinkers, scientists, business [...]
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.
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.)
Red Lemonade launches, offers another take on the “social slush pile”
Richard Nash’s new reading and writing community is another entry in the growing “social slush pile” website category. Is it a valid way to find new quality writing?
Author says publishers underreporting ebook sales by a factor of ten
Kristine Kathryn Rusch says the ebook sales figures from her publisher are off by 90% or more — and that it’s a problem authors need to fix now.