Smashwords to Distribute to Blio and Public Libraries Via New Distribution Agreement

[avantman42]

From the Smashwords blog:

There are two components of the agreement. The first is distribution into the Blio online store and e-reading app. The second part of the agreement gains Smashwords authors and publishers distribution into the library market through Baker & Taylor's Axis360 service.

If you're not familiar with Blio, it's an online store (Blio.com) and also a popular e-reading application that has been pre-loaded on over millions of computers and devices. It powers the e-reading experience for laptops, desktops and tablets produced by Dell Computer, HP, Toshiba and T-Mobile, among others. Blio is also available in the Android store.

The agreement will also bring Smashwords ebooks to public libraries that subscribe to Baker & Taylor’s new Axis360 digital media platform. Axis360, which was launched last year, has been deployed by several top public library systems in the U.S. Dozens more libraries are converting to the platform.

[fjtorres]

Blio has quietly been laying the groundwork for their own ebook ecosystem for a while. With their focus on reader apps and rich format ebooks they might be able to jump in and grab a decent share of the market.
The business is getting big enough that there just may be room for another walled garden.

[Phogg]

Does axis360 offer Mobi content, or just Epub?
This will slam the big six hard, regardless.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Does axis360 offer Mobi content, or just Epub?
This will slam the big six hard, regardless.

Neither.
http://kcls.helpserve.com/Knowledgeb...ablet-or-phone

Blio is derived from a Microsoft format (XPS) which has been ratified into a proper international standard overseen by ECMA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_XM..._Specification

Their PC app has so far been very Sony-like (Grandiose promises, modest delivery) but they continue to work at it, they continue to sign up big name supporters, and they're not short of resources.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechcons...he_future.html

It might realistically be more of a 2014/15 product but if it arrives by 2013 they may be a player. If ePub forking keeps splintering that market, Blio might just be in place to pick up the pieces when the dust settles.

[murraypaul]

Axis 360 eBooks are available solely in Blio format readable solely in the Blio Reader app. Blio is available for the following platforms:

IOS for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch
Android
Windows

So it is yet another, completely incompatible, format and DRM method, which can't be used on any existing eInk reader. After Apple's iBooks, this would be the second most restrictive of all the current offerings.

And another new library scheme. How is the 3M one going?

[murraypaul]

I'm not sure I see the appeal.
All you are doing is trading in Amazon's DRM servers, or Adobe's DRM servers, for Baker & Taylor's DRM servers.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Neither.
http://kcls.helpserve.com/Knowledgeb...ablet-or-phone

Blio is derived from a Microsoft format (XPS) which has been ratified into a proper international standard overseen by ECMA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_XM..._Specification

Their PC app has so far been very Sony-like (Grandiose promises, modest delivery) but they continue to work at it, they continue to sign up big name supporters, and they're not short of resources.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechcons...he_future.html

It might realistically be more of a 2014/15 product but if it arrives by 2013 they may be a player. If ePub forking keeps splintering that market, Blio might just be in place to pick up the pieces when the dust settles.

Crap. Another non-compatible format?? WTF.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

And another new library scheme. How is the 3M one going?

They're performing final testing and hope to go live March 9th. They didn't make their previous goal of March 1st due to app problems.

[caleb72]

Yuck! Am I right in thinking this format is not reflowable text?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I'm not sure I see the appeal.
All you are doing is trading in Amazon's DRM servers, or Adobe's DRM servers, for Baker & Taylor's DRM servers.

Or Apple's or Kobo's or B&N's.
Everybody else is doing it.

What's wrong? Everybody wants competition for Amazon, no? (And for Overdrive.)
The existing players aren't slowing them much so it's not bad that new ones are lining up to give it a try.

BTW, yes; Blio supports reflow, fixed format, *and* ReadLogic view with automatic zoom.
http://www.quark.com/Products/QuarkX...io_Reader.aspx

It is *very* publisher-centric so don't write it off, guys.

For the curious: https://www.blio.com/blio/screens/homepage.jsp#

[teh603]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Or Apple's or Kobo's or B&N's.
Everybody else is doing it.

What's wrong? Everybody wants competition for Amazon, no? (And for Overdrive.)
The existing players aren't slowing them much so it's not bad that new ones are lining up to give it a try.

I'm on the fence. Its coming from Microsoft, but it looks like it has a lot of potential and Smashwords is on the bandwagon. I'm ok with how the Xbox 360 is working in the game console market, so maybe Blio will turn out as one of several competitors in a healthy market.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by teh603

I'm on the fence. Its coming from Microsoft, but it looks like it has a lot of potential and Smashwords is on the bandwagon. I'm ok with how the Xbox 360 is working in the game console market, so maybe Blio will turn out as one of several competitors in a healthy market.

I don't think it's coming from MS per-se. MS *is* offering support but while Blio is built off xps it *isn't* just xps. It's really a Kurzweil/B&T effort to provide an alternative to the existing camps for ebook sales and library checkouts.

Note that Adobe has been using ePub to funnel publishers into *their* products (inDesign, etc) and Quark jumped on Blio early and firmly: this is a fight for the *Publisher's* hearts and wallets. It might work. I can easily see the publishers saying that they'll do two different ebook editions for some books; a "hardcover-equivalent" rich content ebook at premium price and a "paperback" low-cost edition. Blio easily enables the former straight out of the existing workflow. It's one way to get premium prices: offering premium features and presentation.

Blio may come to nothing.
But with the transition to epub3 and KF8 rich-format ebooks looming, there is an opening coming up for new players to slip in. And Blio isn't the only one; 3M and Rakuten wouldn't be angling to play if they didn't see an opening to get in the game.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by caleb72

Yuck! Am I right in thinking this format is not reflowable text?

I couldn't tell from reading the wiki. If it's XML based it could be reflowable... but doesn't have to be. And I saw no mention of 508 accessibility, which also suggests no reflowing is possible.

If anyone knows different, please enlighten us!

Once I realized we were talking about another ebook format (and DRM system), this agreement lost its allure.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Once I realized we were talking about another ebook format (and DRM system), this agreement lost its allure.

^This

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

I couldn't tell from reading the wiki. If it's XML based it could be reflowable... but doesn't have to be. And I saw no mention of 508 accessibility, which also suggests no reflowing is possible.

If anyone knows different, please enlighten us!

Quark says the files are reflowable.
http://www.quark.com/Products/QuarkX...io_Reader.aspx

Use the Reflow view to assemble and preview the reflowable text behind your layout — this allows your reader to switch the view in the Bio eReader from Fixed Layout to Text Reflow view, or to Blio's ReadLogic view (which keeps the reader in the rich layout while intelligently zooming the view to simplify reading even on the smallest devices)