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More Vendors, More Options In the Digital Comics Market
In the wake of last week’s launch of Diamond Digital, Diamond Comics Distributors new program to offer digital downloads through physical comics shops, digital comics vendors like ComiXology and iVerse Media have entered into the spotlight of digital comics distribution. While both vendors are among the frontrunners in offering digital comics, PWCW talked with a number of digital vendors also looking to compete in the digital comics distribution and retail marketplace.
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The Week in Apps: February 11, 2011
This week, there is a Facebook app based on the Princeton Review’s popular Best 373 Colleges, a literary guide to Melbourne, an app that collects reviews of children's books, and an e-bookstore app for kids.
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At Tools of Change, Former ABC Director Kristen McLean to Discuss New Venture, Bookigee
On February 15, McLean will make the first public presentation of her new company—Bookigee—at the Tools of Change Publishing Startup Showcase. Billed as an "innovative, visualizing discovery engine," Bookigee, McLean says, has set its sights on addressing a core issue for books and content in the digital age: discoverability.
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The Week in Children's Apps: February 10, 2011
This week, there is an app that collects reviews of children's books, and an e-bookstore app for kids.
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Diamond, iVerse Team Up to Sell Digital Comics Via Comics Shops
Diamond Comics Distributors is teaming with digital comics vendor iVerse to launch a digital program that will give physical comics shops the ability to offer exclusive digital delivery of a select group of comics.
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The 'Times' Shakes Its Lists
The New York Times will debut its new e-book bestsellers list as well as a new list that combines all print and e-book sales figures in its February 13 Sunday edition. The combined list, which borrows the idea used by USA Today, will presumably identify the hottest selling adult book of a particular week across all formats.
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The Week in Apps: February 4, 2011
This week, there is an app based on Jay-Z’s book Decoded that lets users listen to songs and get interactive lyrics with Jay-Z’s annotations; as well as two new cookbook-related apps, from Martha Stewart and vegan cooking queen Isa Chandra Moskowitz.
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Springer Starts Online Review Program
Springer has started its own online book review program, making 10,000 of its titles available for review on springer.com. The online book review copies includes all English-language e-books that have been published since 2006. According to Springer, the service is designed for journalists, editors and book reviewers who are granted temporary reading access.
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Authors Guild Marks 'The Great Blackout' with Series of Essays
To mark the one-year anniversary of what it calls "the Great Blackout"--when Amazon pulled the buy buttons from Macmillan's titles to protest the publisher's adoption of the agency model--the Authors Guild is doing a series of member alerts looking at "the state of e-books, authorship and publishing." -
Apple Tightens iOS App Purchasing Features
In the wake of its rejection of the Sony e-book app, Apple is clarifying its guidelines for app development, emphasizing that to be approved, apps that allow consumers to bypass the iTunes/App store retail channel must also offer consumers the option of in-app purchases through the Apple purchasing system. It remains unclear how this will affect e-book retailers like Amazon, B&N, Kobo and others with iOS apps, vendors whose apps bypass Apple for sales and send the consumer to their own web sites for purchases but currently do not offer in-app purchases through the Apple purchase system.
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Open Road to Publish Virginia Hamilton E-books
On February 15, Open Road Integrated Media will publish the first children’s titles in its “author branded program”: seven e-books by Newbery Medal and National Book Award winner Virginia Hamilton, who died in 2002. Among the e-books on the list are Newbery and NBA winner M.C. Higgins, the Great.
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Apple Rejects Sony Book App
Executives from Sony are scrambling to reqroup after Apple rejected the Sony iPhone/iPad book app, apparently because the software did not allow consumers to buy e-books through the iTunes/App store as well. While initial reports claimed that Apple was tightening the commercial restrictions it places on apps, subsequent reports suggest Apple is enforcing app-development rules that are already in place.
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Wiley Launches New Program of Open Access Journals
Wiley Open Access journals will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. Publication will be supported by an author fee, payable on acceptance of their articles, although Wiley officials have not yet announced how much that fee would be, only that they will "introduce a range of new payment schemes," including institutional agreements.
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Making the Short Story Mobile
If Paul Vidich, a former technology executive at Time Warner and AOL, is right, his new venture, Storyville, may lead to a revival of the short story. Launched at the end of 2010, Storyville is an iPhone/iPad app that offers readers a weekly short story for an inexpensive six-month subscription.
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The Googlization of Books
There have been a few popular books in recent years detailing Google's ascent in the digital world, notably Ken Auletta's Googled: The End of the World as We Know It and Jeff Jarvis's What Would Google Do. But there is another story, says author and media scholar Siva Vai-dhyanathan.
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The Week in Apps: January 28, 2011
In this week’s round-up of apps, there is an iPad app based on a picture book that teaches kids how to read; a course on learning French; and a classic Dr. Seuss book with a tongue-twisting narrative.
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The Week in Children's Apps: January 27, 2011
In this week’s round-up of apps, there is an iPad app based on a picture book that teaches kids how to read, and a classic Dr. Seuss book with a tongue-twisting narrative.
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Digital Book World: E-Books and Libraries? No Problem, Panel Says
E-book lending has been a thorny issue for libraries, but a panel at Digital Book World yesterday moderated by Library Journal’s Josh Hadro suggested perhaps there really wasn’t much of an issue. Despite Hadro’s introduction, which quoted a recent feasibility study about e-books in which librarians expressed deep anxieties, and a recent talk from Ann Arbor, MI, librarian Eli Neiburger entitled "Libraries are Screwed,” the panel was decidedly upbeat.
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'NYT''s First E-Book Exclusive: Keller's WikiLeaks Story
On Monday, the New York Times will publish its first e-book, Open Secrets: WikiLeaks, War and American Diplomacy, about the release of last year's WikiLeaks documents. An excerpt from the book’s introductory essay by Bill Keller, the Times's executive editor, is online now. The Times is only releasing an e-book version and a spokesperson told PW there are no plans for a print book.
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Digital Book World: Agents and Rights Take Spotlight
In two afternoon panels at Tuesday’s Digital Book World, the evolving role of rights in the digital era were the focus. At the first panel, New Models for Agents, the changing job of agents was the topic as Scott Waxman, Steve Ross, and Jim Levine, all discussed new ventures they have undertaken recently.
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