09:05 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | General Discussions

Are books dead yet? After all the recent news we've heard about the slow down in e-book sales, you'd think the answer is a definite NO. Meet Seth Godin, who not only sees a quick end to the paper book, but also a renaissance in how we're going to communicate ideas in the future.

Books, those bound paper documents, are part of an ecosystem, one that was perfect, and one that is dying, quickly.

Ideas aren’t going away soon, and neither are words. But, as the ecosystem dies, not only will the prevailing corporate systems around the paper book whither, but many of the treasured elements of its consumption will disappear as well.

What are the disappearing treasured elements? Seth has a list: the bookstore, the library, the "traditional" publisher, single tasking, reading for pleasure, the bookshelf, and, what he calls, the Pavlovian response.

Yet, despite what appears to be the end of the world for every book loving person, Seth isn't all that pessimistic:

Yes, we're entering a new golden age for books, one with more books and ebooks being written and read today than ever before. No, books won’t be completely eliminated, just as vinyl records are still around (a new vinyl store is opening in my little town). But please don’t hold your breath for any element of the treasured ecosystem to return in force. [...]

I called this post, "An end" as opposed to "the end." As always, we'll reinvent. We still need ideas, and ideas need containers. We've developed more and more ways for those ideas to travel and to have impact, and now it's up to us to figure out how to build an ecosystem around them.

Link: An end of books

Related: Poll: 3 out of 4 Americans prefer paper books, Trend Watch: Paper books back in vogue

08:43 AM by TadW in E-Book General | News

Talking about biased media -- check this one out:

The curious case of Apple ebook Judge Denise Cote in Fortune/CNN.

But the air of unreality that permeated her earlier decision in the case -- in which Amazon (AMZN), a monopolist engaged in the predatory pricing of e-books, escaped untouched, and Apple, the new entrant in the market, was found liable for violating antitrust law -- carried over into Friday's hearing. (Transcript.)

If the attorneys for Apple and the publishers took objection to the tone of her remarks -- which seemed more appropriate for a crusading prosecutor than a fair-minded judge -- they would not be the first.

07:45 AM by DStyle in E-Book General | News

From TechnoBuffalo:

Kobo just sent out invites for a press event that will take place in New York City on August 27. The company promises that it will take us “beyond the book” and will show us what’s next from the company. Kobo is a popular eBook reader that competes against Amazon and Barnes & Noble around the globe. It’s possible that we’ll see a new eReader from the company, though the “beyond the book” aspect suggests it could be something entirely different.

The company may introduce a new tablet, possibly an update to the Kobo Arc. The invite’s use of vibrant colors suggest that it has to do more with a tablet than a black and white eReader. Such a device would surely need to compete with whatever Amazon has coming down the pipeline.

TechnoBuffalo will be attending the event and reporting all of the news live. Stay tuned!

Yes Kobo. Surprise me in a good way!!!

07:02 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Here's a very cool development from the University Press of Kentucky. The scholarly publisher just launched a free e-book loyalty program, allowing anyone who owns the print copy of one of their titles to receive the electronic edition for free. And it's remarkably easy! All you have to do is send them a photo of yourself holding the book.

1. Check the list of eligible books: http://www.kentuckypress.com/live/li...?skip=0&max=25 (400+ available and counting).
   
2. SUBMIT your photo by using the form below.
   *Please make sure that the title of your book is clearly visible, AND include an email address with your submission for ebook file delivery*
   
3. Receive a complimentary PDF edition of your book within 7–10 business days

[via Book Riot]

04:01 PM by Jessica Lares in Amazon Kindle | Amazon Fire

From the Amazon Silk blog:

http://amazonsilk.wordpress.com/2013...as-a-new-look/

Since our last major release back in September 2012, the Amazon Silk team has been working hard to make the browser faster and more responsive. A lot of our improvements have happened under the hood, so you may not have noticed the last few software updates. But with our latest release, the browser has a new look!

Based on feedback from Kindle Fire owners, we redesigned the user interface to make the browser easier and more intuitive to use. Among the changes, you’ll find a new tutorial, redesigned tabs, improved browser controls, simpler navigation options, and easier access to our Reading View feature. We’ve also published a Silk Developer Guide to accompany the release.

Our goal with the Silk redesign is to provide a faster, more fluid, and more elegant browsing experience to help customers discover and rediscover the content that matters to them.

Some screenshots:

Looks great! I applaud the detail that they're applying to making the browser much more intuitive.

03:47 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

E L James, the author of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, has just topped Forbes' list of top-selling authors. She raked in $95 million from sales of her kinky erotic trilogy, which sold more than 70 million copies in 2012.

Originally a "Twilight" tribute titled "Master of the Universe," "Fifty Shades of Grey" vaulted its author from fan-fiction websites straight to the top of every best-seller list. The e-book format was a key factor, giving readers an easy way to purchase the sex-filled sequels -- and a discreet way to read them in public.

I read this story, and I feel a sense of deja vu... where I have read about this….. ah, I know, right here. So it's true: sex sells.

Anyhow, here's the list of Forbes' top-earning authors, with some of their best-selling novels:

1. E.L. James, "50 Shades of Grey" — $95 million
2. James Patterson, "Maximum Ride," "Witch & Wizard" — $91 million
3. Suzanne Collins, "Hunger Games" — $55 million
4. Bill O'Reilly, "Killing Lincoln," "Killing Kennedy" — $28 million
5. Danielle Steel, "The Sins of the Mother" — $26 million
6. Jeff Kinney, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," "The Third Wheel" — $24 million
7. Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum detective novels — $24 million
8. Nora Roberts, "Thankless in Death," "Dark Witch" — $23 million
9. Dan Brown, "Inferno," "The Da Vinci Code" — $22 million
10. Stephen King, "Under the Dome," "The Shining" — $20 million
11. Dean Koontz, "Watchers", "Odd Thomas" — $20 million
12. John Grisham, "The Racketeer", "The Litigators" — $18 million
13. David Baldacci, "The Forgotten", "Zero Day"— $15 million
14. Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson fantasy series — $14 million
15. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter series — $13 million
16. George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones series — $12 million

03:40 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Bufo Calvin from the I Love My Kindle blog analyzed the currently top 100 selling e-books in the Kindle store and made an interesting observation:

Nineteen of the most popular books in the Kindle store have been released without DRM.

Just based on my quick survey in putting this together, it tended to be independents (of course…only Tor, among the big publishers, is publishing without DRM), and they tended to be “progressive” in other ways (allowing lending, not blocking text-to-speech access). [...]

Indies may be using this to give themselves a competitive advantage over tradpubs (traditional publishers)…and they may simply be trying to extend their reach by selling in the Kindle store to people who don’t use Kindles (but do need to be somewhat sophisticated in terms of technology).

An increasing number of e-book vendors have discovered the added value in selling books DRM-free. Perhaps all it would take is one big vendor - Amazon perhaps? - to decide to go DRM-free to make DRM go away for all and forever.

07:32 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

TorrentFreak has published a report stating that Dutch vendors who sell watermarked e-books are now required to share identifying information of suspected pirates with the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN.

The new digital distribution deal for eBook merchants will see them ‘watermark’ unique codes into the digital eBooks they sell which will identify a specific transaction number. These transaction numbers will be linked directly to a specific customer account. [...]

The agreement will see vendors connected to the eBoekhuis platform share previously-private customer data directly with copyright holders and anti-piracy group BREIN. This means that should digital books turn up on BitTorrent networks or Usenet for example, with a minimum of fuss BREIN will be able to match the embedded watermarks with the customer who bought them.

Digital watermarks are one of the technologies being touted as a means to deter piracy of digital content. The issue with watermarks is that they're subject to abuses that could invade an innocent consumer's privacy or, worse, expose him to lawsuits for infringements he did not commit.

In a blog entry, Kurt Roeckx, who runs the Dutch speaking e-book store E-webshops, shares his doubt about the legality of working hand in hand with the anti-piracy group.

But now we got a new contract that states that we must directly give information about the buyer if some anti-piracy agency (BREIN) finds an e-book file online. We must keep the information about the buyer for minimum of 2 years and maximum of 5 years. And if we don't sign the contract we won't be allowed to sell e-books with watermark anymore.

So this means that they want to bypass the normal judicial system, and probably contact those buyers they accuse of piracy directly. I questioned that this was legal. They say that it is legal according to the Dutch privacy law, but I have a hard time interpreting any of the options in article 8 as that we can give that information without the explicit consent of the person.

You can read his full blog entry here.

Image: peasap/Flickr