Archives: May 2010

We are headed out for a long weekend, but here are some eBook headlines to keep you busy over the three-day holiday.

The Apple iPad launched internationally and four major UK publishers struck deals for iBookstore.

eBook sales jumped more than 184 percent in March.

Kindle users eagerly awaited a software update.

In the video embedded above, the CEO of the online reading site Shanda Literature counted 43 million registered users in a presentation.

Garrison Keillor worried that ‘publishing is about to slide into the sea.’

Despite a BEA workshop, Google’s eBook cloud is still cloudy.

Marvel executive said that on the company’s iPad app, “digital books are actually leading to physical purchases.”

Amazon and Penguin struck an eBook truce.

The Book Industry Study Group predicted ‘exponential growth’ in eBooks.

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With a US Tax ID, an iTunes Store account, and a credit card, writers can now self publish in the Apple iBookstore–a development that arrived on the heels of the international iPad.

Complete directions for selling eBooks in the iBookstore are located here, but we broke down some of the main requirements in this post.

Formatting-wise, the book must be an ePub file and meet the standards of epubcheck–read more about the test here. Like more traditional publishing offerings, all self published eBooks must have an ISBN in the iBookstore.

In order to upload, you must meet these technical requirements as well: “An Intel-based Mac running OS X 10.5 or later; At least 1 GB RAM; QuickTime 7.0.3 or later. This is so you can encode and deliver content using our dedicated software; At least 10 GB of available hard drive space (more for larger catalogs) is recommended; A broadband internet connection with an upload rate of 128 kbps or faster is recommended.” (Link via TeleRead; diamond iPad via)

As the international edition of the iPad sweeps through Europe, the writing community at Wattpad has released an updated app–bringing more social networking features for mobile readers on iPhone, iTouch and iPad.

CEO Allen Lau explained: “Wattpad has become the destination for readers to not only find stories but interact and post comments with other members, we wanted to provide better access to the broad social networking features available on Wattpad’s main site.” The video embedded above explores the new features.

Here’s more about multimedia content, from the release: “Writers on Wattpad continue to add to their stories by posting You Tube videos, image slideshows and songs; creating unique, multi-media ebooks. The latest version of the Wattpad iPhone/iPad application allows readers to experience these integrated add-ons from their mobile devices, enhancing their reading experience.”

A new digital publishing software company called Sideways launched at Book Expo this week. They made the BEA iPhone app and they had a booth in the Digital Book Zone. The company’s software is aimed at helping publishers turn books into digital experiences across platforms.

We caught up with Charles Stack, the CEO of Sideways, at the show and he showed off some cool interactive books that he had developed for the iPad. One was a multimedia Jim Morrison story, that looked a little bit more like an interactive web site than a book, but the experience was nicely built. It included a feature article, very high resolution photos and a timeline of Morrison’s musical history.

Sideways creates rich media experiences on the iPad and hopes to bring a three-dimensional approach to cook books, graphic novels and children’s lit.

“People who like print say they like print because of its tactile nature, but eReader devices have their own tactile appeal,” he told eBookNewser, highlighting the interactive textures that could be built into a digital book including the ability to 3D content, games and audio recordings. “You can’t do that in a print book,” he said. “This could work great in a kid’s book.” This is a very a 21st century version of “When you hear the chime, turn the page.”

Stack thinks the iPad has the potential to increase publisher revenues, because of the interactivity built in. For example, he said that publishers could sell cooking tools or recipes within a digital cook book.

As the international iPad makes headlines today, Amazon.com, Inc. announced that the Kindle App for iPad will work “in all countries where the iPad is offered.” While some see the iPad as a “Kindle killer,” Amazon’s release imagines a world where the two devices can co-exist.

Amazon Kindle director Jay Marine had this statement: “Kindle for iPad includes all the features customers love about Kindle for iPhone, including great selection and synchronization of their books across a variety of Kindle apps, along with a beautiful new user interface tailored to the look and feel of iPad. Kindle for iPad is the perfect companion for the millions of customers who already own a Kindle or Kindle DX, and a way for customers to download and enjoy books even if they don’t yet have a Kindle.”

The app joins cross-platform interaction between Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and other devices.

Today The Bookseller reported that Penguin, Pan Macmillan, Hachette UK, and HarperCollins have struck iBookstore deals with Apple. Their eBooks are now available for UK readers on the international version of the iPad.

Here’s more from the article: “The four represent five of the original global publishers who signed with Apple before its US launch in April–only Simon & Schuster is currently missing. Between them, they account for roughly 36% of the UK books market.”

Earlier this week, the online publication Slashgear was disappointed with the current selection in the Apple iBookstore–the bookstore was fairly empty as Apple completed these deals with international publishers.

As BookExpo America draws to a close, we rounded up eBookNewser’s recent coverage of the conference into a handy post.

The CEO of the online reading site Shanda Literature counted 43 million registered users in a presentation.

The Book Industry Study Group predicted ‘exponential growth’ in eBooks.

We visited Barnes & Noble’s PubIt! booth to find out more about the bookseller’s new publishing arm.

At a Google presentation, the search giant’s plans for cloud-based eBooks were still partly cloudy.

In the video embedded above, a Marvel executive said that on the company’s iPad app, “digital books are actually leading to physical purchases.”

Finally, agents and publishers debated about eBook royalties. After BEA, keep following all the publishing action on eBookNewser and our GalleyCat Twitter feed.

The Borders Group reported an 11.4% decline in store sales in the domestic segment in the first quarter of 2010 versus Q109.

The Wall Street Journal has the story here. An exerpt from WSJ: “Traffic in stores and average tickets fell during the quarter, contributing to declining sales that were also hurt by the company’s moves to narrow its music and movie selections. Borders has suffered mightily from dwindling sales as consumer spending slid in the recession and as more readers take to digital copies of books.”

EBooks to the rescue? The company is apparently hopeful that sales will rebound with the launch of their eBook store and mobile reading apps next month. RTTNews.com reports, “the company said that it is preparing to launch an eBook store and mobile apps powered by Kobo next month, and is on track to introduce ‘Area-e’ digital shops in August.”

Socially networked writing sites are huge in other countries, but American publishers have never mastered the form. The BEA presentation entitled Shanda: Bringing Literature Online and Comparing Experiences Between China and the US was sparsely attended, but we covered the event.

In the video embedded above, Shanda Literature CEO Zhou Hongli shared some publishing intelligence about readership, mobile phone usage, and Internet reading habits in China.

Here’s more from the company: “SDL has already accumulated the copyrights to the astonishing figure of almost 500 million pages worth of original Chinese literature, which is still increasing at the incredible rate of 60,000 pages a day. The average daily page view volume is around 400 million while the highest has exceeded 500 million. SDL has taken up more than ninety percent of the online original literature market in China. It has attracted more than 43 million registered users, which are from more than 200 different countries and regions of the world.”

As the panel discussions circulate around how to navigate the digital book business, the showroom floor is buzzing with companies selling solutions to the problem. The Digital Book Zone is much bigger this year than it was last year. I heard that last year there were only about six eBook companies exhibiting and this year there are about sixty. No wonder everyone keeps talking about the “tipping point” of digital publishing.

Barnes & Noble’s Editorial Director Liz Scheier is at the show demonstrating B&N’s take on digital publishing. Their new PubIt technology, which will be out this summer, helps independent publishers and self-published authors distribute their work on BN.com, said Scheier. An author or publisher simply has to create an account on BN.com, share their bank account and credit card information (to get paid) and upload a digital file of the work (Word document, HTML, RTF, TXT) to PubIt. No EAN required.

Consumers can buy these books at BN.com and read them on various devices including B&N’s Nook, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, laptop, etc. This makes self-publishing incredibly easy, but may lead to the future that Garrison Keillor is so worried about.