Sesame Street Starts Subscription Model for E-Books

Sesame Workshop, the non-profit that produces Sesame Street, and e-content delivery provider Impelsys have launched a new online Sesame Street eBookstore. Readers can subscribe with Impelsys to get unlimited access to a library of more than 100 Sesame Street eBooks for an annual fee of $39.99, although the company is offering an introductory price of $24.99 through July 4.

This Week in Children's Apps: May 19, 2011

This week we're featuring the first app by pop-up book designer David Carter ((How Many Bugs in a Box?); and a series of apps based on the Stella and Sam books by Marie-Louise Gay.

Neil Gaiman Unveils Imaginary Book On The Hypothetical Library

Bestselling novelist and award-winning comics writer Neil Gaiman is the latest author to submit a conceptual book idea to the Hypothetical Library, a fanciful blogsite launched by book designer Charles Orr that creates jacket designs for imaginary books—books that don't really exist—from very real authors.

Amazon to Drop Free Books from Kindle Bestseller List

For some in publishing it may be a curiosity, for others a point of contention--Amazon's practice of including free downloads in its list of most popular Kindle titles. It will soon no longer be an issue. A representative at the e-tailer has confirmed that the company will be splitting its Kindle bestseller list, creating one list for paid books and another list for free titles. The date for the switch is vague--the rep would only say it will happen in "a few weeks"--but the switch will certainly be noticed.

Who's Got Pull in the Publishing Twitterverse

Nearly a year ago, PW looked at a handful of indie presses and major imprints to gauge their use of Twitter. The piece showed most imprints had a few thousand followers, and that some savvy indies were more adept at using the social networking service than the big houses. The story ran at a time when the industry was grappling with what exactly to do with—and on—the social networking service. Is it for publicizing books? Cultivating brands? A province for authors? For marketers? And, most importantly, can you actually use it to sell books?

Borders Launches e-Book Initiative, Kobo Reader Pre-orders

Borders laid out plans for its move into offering digital content, beginning with plans to take pre-orders for the new Kobo digital reading device. Kobo's new $149 e-ink reading devices will begin shipping in June to be followed by the launch of Area-e, special in-store digital content shops, scheduled to open in Borders' stores beginning in August.

Japanese Publishers Form e-Book Association

Thirty-one Japanese publishers, including some of the most influential, have formed the Electronic Book Publishers Association of Japan. The new group will work out new contract terms and set standards.

Google Book Editions and a 'New World Order' in Book Publishing

The promise that the much-delayed Google Book Editions will actually be launched in June or July set off a lively discussion at this spring's last Publishers Weekly Think Future series about what the future of the book industry could be in a world where the major players include the billion-dollar companies Google, Apple and Amazon. And some publishers, too.

Enriched E-Books: Multimedia, Mystery, and 'Cathy's Book'

Originally published in 2006 by Running Press, Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman's Cathy's Book is a hybrid literary work, an interactive novel that manages to work both as a teen mystery and as an interactive game with enough literary chops and facsimile evidence, Web-based clues, and cleverly embedded animation to satisfy both the writing and gaming camps.

Using E-Books to Support Print

It may seem ironic given how much erotic fantasy has migrated online, but Cecelia Tan, who founded Circlet Publishing in Cambridge, Mass., with her husband, Corwin, in 1992, is using her e-book publishing program to try to rescue print. "There's still no replacement for the ‘real' book," maintained Tan, whose own paranormal romances have been published as e-books through Ravenous Romance and who will publish several in print under Red Wheel Weiser's new Red Silk Editions, which launches this fall.

Win a Free Download of the New How to Cook Everything iPhone App

PW's cookbooks newsletter, Cooking the Books, is giving away a free download of the How to Cook Everything On the Go iPhone app to five lucky readers--and today's the last day to enter. With 2,000 recipes and recipe variations, 400 how-to illustrations, and hundreds of menu ideas, it's the ultimate handy reference. To enter, tweet your favorite How to Cook Everything recipe and why you love it to @landriani.

Frontenac and Wattpad Start Poetry Competition

As National Poetry Month draws to a close, Calgary literary press Frontenac House has announced it's teaming with Wattpad--a Toronto-based online writing community, social networking site and mobile phone e-book developer--for a poetry competition. *Extravaganza!*, as it is called, invites young poets to upload and share their best poem; the winning poems will be published in a book late this year.

McGraw-Hill Professional Adds Custom E-books

Penguin and Pearson Launch Free Site, Book Donation Program

B&N Enters Content Partnership With Salon.com

As part of the deal, BN.com and the Barnes & Noble Review will share selected articles and content with Salon.com on a daily basis, including "critical appraisals, reviews, essays, and interviews." Salon.com will in turn include affiliate links to BN.com.

Blurb Launches Bookshow and Allows Book Sharing Everywhere Online

This morning Blurb, a self and micro publishing and marketing platform, unveiled Blurb Bookshow a free tool for its bookmakers to be able to share and sell their books anywhere online-Facebook, Twitter, blogs-and created a non-Flash program to make Blurb Bookshow accessible on the iPad without having to download an application.

Publishers Begin To Embrace Digital Storytelling

Random House's March 1 announcement that it has launched a property development arm, focusing in part on video games, is the latest in a raft of initiatives by publishers and authors exploring interactive games as a means of generating exposure, ancillary revenue, and creative synergies. February saw the debuts of Vision in White by Nora Roberts (from I-play), Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief...

Consumers Show Growing Satisfaction with e-Books

The second of three surveys on consumer attitudes toward e-book reading sponsored by the Book Industry Study Group found e-book readers using Amazon more than ever to buy e-books, while e-book readers also show indications that they are buying fewer print books as they increase their use of e-books. The success Amazon had selling the Kindle and e-books over the holidays and into the new year is...

Winning With Social Media

The last few years have been quite challenging for the publishing industry, but I think the few coming up are going to be the hardest yet. We can, however, do something about it. Social media tools and the entire social networking space are perfectly suited to promote and extend books and magazines into new ways of entertainment and information exchange.

Morgan James Signs with CoreSource, Ups Royalty Split

Morgan James Publishing signs to use CoreSource, and will up its royalty split with authors to 50%.