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Amazon Releases Two Free Games for Kindle
Amazon has made good on its long-ago promise to bring games to the Kindle. This week, the company released two free games--called Every Word and Shuffle Row, both of them word scramble game--downloadable for free from the Kindle Store. They both only work on Kindle devices, not the Kindle apps.
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Apple, Amazon Under Antitrust Scrutiny from Connecticut Attorney General
The office of Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is bringing pricing agreements between Amazon, Apple and book publishers over e-book pricing under scrutiny to see whether these agreements violate antitrust laws. According to Blumenthal, both companies have made agreements with publishers guaranteeing them the lowest prices on some e-books, preventing rivals from offering competitive prices.
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HarperCollins Releases First Enhanced E-Books, More Planned
HarperCollins has entered the enhanced e-book market, putting three titles into the iBookstore last week, and it has plans to do at least five more in the coming months. Ana Maria Allessi, v-p of Harper Media, said it is quite possible HC will do additional titles before the end of the year. "We want to do as much experimentation as possible between now and the new year," Allessi said.
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The Odyssey of Wylie vs. Random
Of all the comments and reactions to the Wylie Agency's decision to launch Odyssey Editions and sell its e-books exclusively through Amazon, the Authors Guild message to its members best captures the complexities and ramifications of the agency's actions. The memo finds fault with all parties involved in the arrangement.
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Follett Teams with Blackboard to Offer CafeScribe Digital Texts
Follett Higher Education Learning Group has entered a partnership that will allow students to use its CafeScribe interactive digital textbook technology in coordination with Blackboard, the online teaching platform used at colleges around the country.
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S&S Unveils Two Digital Initiatives
]Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers has announced two new digital reading ventures: the online serial novel Loser/Queen by Jodi Lynn Anderson, and the release of the first iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app in the U-Ventures series.
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FastPencil Hires Former S&S Exec Bruce Butterfield, Signs More Authors
Self-publishing company FastPencil has made a number of inroads into e-books lately, and made more announcements this week. The company has appointed former Simon & Schuster executive Bruce Butterfield to its board of directors, and is developing a new imprint which, said co-founder Steve Wilson, "will cater to mid- and upper-tier authors."
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Wattpad Joins Forces with Bubok for Spanish-Language Content
Toronto-based online writing community, social networking site, and mobile phone e-book developer Wattpad is partnering with Bubok, a self-publishing service for authors writing in Spanish, based in Spain.
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Authors Guild Weighs In on Odyssey Editions, Warns Publishers to Raise E-book Royalties
The Authors Guild has now weighed in on the intense debate that flared up last week over the Wylie Agency's entry into e-book publishing, Odyssey Editions. In a memo posted today on its site, the Guild called the situation "the most important development in electronic publishing since Apple entered the market," both celebrating the agency for seemingly monetizing e-rights it feels authors control, and blasting it for setting up an exclusive deal with Amazon.
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Betting the House on HTML5
Scribd CTO Jared Friedman talks to PW about his company's bold move, e-books, and the future of digital publishing.
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Wylie, Random House Dispute Heats Up
Thursday's news that the Wylie Agency was getting into the publishing business, though a Kindle-only side project called Odyssey Editions, brought widespread reaction throughout the industry, turned CEOs to blog and ultimately ended with Random House declaring it would no longer do business with the powerful literary agency.
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Random House Prepared to Challenge Wylie Agency's New Publishing Biz
The Wylie Agency's new digital publishing business, Odyssey Editions, is not going unnoticed by publishers. Odyssey Editions, which the New York Times reported on this morning, will release e-book editions of classic titles by some of the agency's clients including Philip Roth and John Updike. The move, according to Random House, may be illegal.
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Penguin Debuts Amplifed Edition of Ken Follett's 'Pillars'
Penguin USA is debuting what it is calling the Amplified Edition of Ken Follett's international bestseller, The Pillars of the Earth--a multimedia e-book app offering extensive video, audio and other graphic content, created in conjunction with Starz Entertainment's production of an original 8 hour TV-mini-series based the book and set to broadcast beginning July 23.
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Amazon's E-book Sales Tripled in First Half of 2010
In Amazon's ongoing effort to show how popular the Kindle and e-books are without giving away real numbers the company has released a batch of new statistics about the two products ahead of its second quarter earnings report set for Thursday. According to the company, sales of the e-reader "accelerated each month in the second quarter--both on a sequential month-over-month basis and on a year-over-year basis."
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BBC Audiobooks Acquired by AudioGo
AudioGo Ltd., a UK-based media company, has bought BBC Audiobooks, in a sale that includes BBC Audio's U.S. operation, BBC Audiobooks America. The sale, which a company spokesperson said means "business as usual in the short term," has not resulted in any layoffs or executive staff changes. BBC Audiobooks America's Rhode Island office, in North Kingstown, is remaining, and editorial director Jeff Golick will continue to be based out of BBC Worldwide's office in Manhattan.
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HarperCollins Signs with NetGalley
HarperCollins is the latest publisher to sign with NetGalley to deliver ARCs, promotional materials, and other content digitally. The publisher's initial title with NetGalley--Judgment and Wrath by Matt Hilton, which Morrow will publish August 17--debuts at ThrillerFest today.
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AuthorHouse to Re-Release 12 Harold Robbins Novels
Jann Robbins, the widow of commercial novelist Harold Robbins, who died in 1997 after writing more than 20 bestsellers, is re-releasing 12 of Robbins's novels through self-publishing company AuthorHouse. Robbins said she chose AuthorHouse because it gave her the opportunity to make the books available over a wide range of digital platforms.
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Joining with Kobo, Borders Launches its E-Bookstore Today
Today's the day. Citing a goal to claim 17% of the e-book market by next Summer, the Borders Group, in conjunction with e-book retailer Kobo, is launching its own e-bookstore today, offering more than a 1 million free and for-pay titles along with a selection of digital reading devices.
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Major Publishers on Board with Agency Pricing in Canada's iBookstore
Last week, Apple offered Canada its birthday greetings by officially launching the iBookstore in the country. Although the free iBooks app has technically been available to Canadians with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch since the end of May, customers north of the border could previously only take advantage of free public domain classics.
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Wattpad, Smashwords Ink e-Book Partnership
Wattpad, an online writing community, social network and mobile phone e-book developer, is partnering with e-book publisher and distributor, Smashwords, to provide wider distribution and cross promotion opportunities for writers from both online communities.
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