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Web & TechMonday Jun 29, 2009
Wattpad Launches Google Android Application
Since 2006, Wattpad has focused on creating a community of authors and readers sharing stories across digital platforms. According to a company release, the site has 2.5 million visits every month between the website and mobile site. Readers can access Wattpad on 1,000 different phone models including Nokia, BlackBerry, Apple iPhone, Google Android, Motorola, and Sony. Here's a statement from Wattpad COO Eva Lau: "With over 20 new Android-based phones available before the end of 2009, Android has definitely reached critical mass ... We are extremely pleased to bring the Wattpad experience to all Android users." Tuesday Jun 23, 2009
Video: Book Talk at #140ConfVideo footage from last week's 140 Character Conference is now online, so you can watch the panel where Macmillan's digital marketing team, Ryan Chapman and Ami Greko, teamed up with publishing ronin Richard Nash to discuss the impact of Twitter on the book industry—with some unexpected conclusions, such as: "Twitter won't save publishing; publishing will save Twitter." You can also watch a discussion from earlier that day, where senior editor Ron Hogan spoke about the viability of Publishing As We Know It Today with novelist/memoirist Kaylie Jones and HarperStudio associate publisher Debbie Stier. We've also picked out a few more videos people interested in publishing and books might find illuminating... (And let's not forget panel moderators Russ Marshalek and Kevin Heisler!) Thursday Jun 18, 2009
Pearson Promises California Schools Digital Content
Peter Cohen, CEO of Pearson's North America school curriculum, had this comment: "We believe it is important to take these forward steps toward an online delivery system and we are supporting the Governor's initiative, recognizing there are numerous challenges ahead for the education community to work through." (Via Publishers Weekly) Macmillan Digital in the House at #140ConfAmong the participants in the two-day 140 Character Conference earlier this week were Macmillan digital marketing managers Ryan Chapman We took part in another discussion about the publishing industry, where the consensus seemed to be that it wasn't the industry that's "broken," but the dominant business models at the companies most likely by virtue of size to get noticed by the national financial media. What's the solution? Well, if we knew that, we wouldn't have to keep having panel discussions about "the future of publishing," would we? ![]() Publishing Perspectives @ Twitter Boot CampMonday afternoon, we filed an early video report from O'Reilly Media's Twitter Boot Camp in New York City about how fictional characters might thrive on Twitter, and the following day saw a video spotlight on Flashlight Worthy Books. Here's another perspective on how book publishers can make the best use of the fast-growing social network: "You have to think outside the box about how you communicate with your customer base," said Heather Drucker, associate director of publicity at HarperCollins, during a break in the proceedings. "We have to focus on the online, and I'm excited about how I can use Twitter to talk about their interest in books." You'll also want to watch a short interview with Boot Camp organizer Kat Meyer, where she discusses her goal of helping marketers and PR people learn to "use Twitter for good and not for evil." She explains how social media has transformed her professional life, especially through the ability to get direct feedback from readers. Wednesday Jun 17, 2009
Google Mapping the Bible
HeLives.com has built a Bible Map using Google Maps, charting chapter and verse of the good book on Google's geographical tool. They eventually hope to have every Biblical landmark mapped on Google. Here's a location-laden passage from Revelations, Bible-mapped: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, 'Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.'" (Via and via.) Monday Jun 15, 2009
Cliffs Notes on Your Telephone
The company released five individual apps in the first wave of smartphone study aids--including guides for "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain and "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee--the series will eventually include 40 titles. The app provides summaries of plot and thematic elements, character relationship maps, quizzes to test your comprehension, and "audio CramCasts" about the books. Here's more from the release: "Modality's content architects created two distinct review modes to allow for a more customizable study experience. A prescriptive 'Cram Plan,' created by the experts at CliffsNotes, orders the content of the app to maximize even small increments of study time. A more traditional e-reader interface presents the app's complete content in a fashion similar to that of the printed literature notes." Friday Jun 12, 2009
GalleyCat Radio
Tune in at this link, and stay tuned. Next week the show will feature Chris Hansen, the host of NBC's "To Catch a Predator" show. Here's more from the podcast: "We'll take a look at some of the biggest publishing stories from the newsfeed today. First, how is the AP Stylebook changing? (Yes, Twitter.) Also, how do authors adjust to the new Kindle world. Other stories: Is it time to sell Time Inc., what happens when authors and poets take over a newspaper and What We Learned This Week?" Thursday Jun 11, 2009
Author Reveals Personal Kindle Sales
Konrath is the author of the Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels crime series and also publishes under the pseudonym Jack Kilborn. Since Grand Central published the Kilborn horror novel "Afraid" in April, the Kindle version sold 10,400 copies, each priced at $1.99. Konrath added "The List" to Kindle by himself in April, selling 1,612 copies at prices that ranged between $1.49 and $1.89. Here's more from the essay: "With 1.5 million Kindles sold, I could sell 200 books per day, for 720 days, and still only reach 10% of all Kindle buyers. If we include all of the iPhone and iPod Touch owners who can download a Kindle ap, along with continued Kindle sales, I should be able to sell quite a few books before coming close to saturating this market. If the $90 per day trend keeps up, that's $32,850 a year. Not a huge amount, but not chump change either." Shortcovers Builds Digital Reader for Palm Pre
Indigo Books & Music, Inc. just announced they built a version of the Shortcovers e-reader for the Palm Pre. The application includes titles by Random House, Harper Collins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and Harlequin. It can be found in the smartphone's beta applications catalog, and is a free app. Pam Deziel, vice president developer marketing at Palm, Inc., had this statement: "We developed Pre for people who want an intuitive phone that helps them stay connected to their entire life--not just work or play ... eReaders are incredibly popular right now, and with Shortcovers, Pre provides a great reading experience for our customers." (Via Publishers Weekly) PreviouslySwiss Army Knife of Dictionaries COOL-ER eBook Reader: the Future of Book Publishing? Amazon.com, Inc. Announces Kindle DX Ship Date GalleyCat Exclusive: $199 EBook Reader Stanza COO Neelan Choksi on the Last 150 Days in E-Books Audible Launches BlackBerry E-Book Application Twitter Experts Go Offline, in Print & in Person Lit Bloggers Debate Kindle Blog Program Amazon Opens Kindle to Bloggers The Expensive Art of Digitization Why Should Students Choose Kindle DX? E-Textbook Competition Will Be Fierce Smashwords Courts Publishers with Free e-Book Service Amazon Commands Digital Textbook Revolution PEN Festival Book Trailer Tips Peter Brett Writes 100,000-Word Novel on Cell Phone Is Amazon Preparing for Apple's Next Move? Breaking: Amazon.com, Inc. Acquires Stanza Digital Reader App International Protect a Poet Day UK Digital Book Company Partners with Simon & Schuster in US File Sharing Pioneers Sentenced to Jail and Damages Operation Teen Book Drop Is Go! Saving Jobs, Saving Trees, One Galley at a Time ... An Internet Movie Database, for Books Rumors of Digital Reader from Barnes & Noble Spreadsheet Story Downloaded 10,000 Times What Can Publishers Learn from Nine Inch Nails? Book Trailer Theater: Celebrity Match Short Story Published in a Spreadsheet OUP Executive Explains "Why Ebooks Must Fail" Scribd Responds to Piracy Critics High Profile Authors Find Piracy on Scribd Tina Pohlman Creates Her Own New Publishing Gig Dear Author Giving Preference to DigiARCs Dispatch from the Twitter Lit Frontier Book Trailer Theater: Vikings and Volcanoes GalleyCat Readers Debate Kindle 2's Text-To-Speech Function Multimedia "Digi Novel" Arrives This Fall Nine Disability Groups Write Publishers about Kindle 2 Sony Reader to Offer 500,000 Public Domain Titles Via Google Books Scribd Announces More Publisher Partnerships SXSW Publishing Panel Sparks Fireworks Digiarcs Are Here, With More on the Way We're Flooded With Galleys: More Digital ARCs, Please! What's the Best Literary Web Video Length? Lexcycle and Macmillan Build New Reading App Barnes & Noble Acquires Fictionwise Publishers Offer Eight Free Digital Books Amazon Releases Kindle for iPhone App Building a Better Mobile Version of a Literary Magazine Book Applications Post Huge Gains in iTunes Author Ben Wilson to Test Radiohead E-Book Model HarperStudio Re-Enters Digital Book Pricing Debate Amazon Changes Kindle 2 Text-To-Speech Policy Fake Maya Angelou Twitter Feed Exposed Comic Book Companies Fear Digital Books First Gutted Glimpse Inside the Kindle 2 Roy Blount Jr. Argues Against Kindle 2 Audio Chinese Premier Donates 200,000 Digital Books Amazon Kindle 2 Orders Shipping Danielle Steel To Release 71 Digital Books Scribd Counts 50 Million Readers Digital Galley Copies Spotted on Pirate Sites Plastic Logic Unveils Space-Age Reader New Bernard Madoff Book Serialized Authors Guild Questions Kindle 2 Audio Feature How To Format Manuscripts for Amazon Kindle UK "For Dummies" Publisher Leaves To Follow Mobile Technology First Glimpse of the Amazon Kindle 2.0 StumbleUpon Counts 7 Million Users Wither Goes the Amazon E-Book? Expert Thinks Amazon Sold 500,000 Kindles Jeff Jarvis Stars in New Video Book Harlequin Offers 16 Free E-Books on Stanza Small Presses Lead Digital Push Cell Phone Novelist Wins $1,000 Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Agent Scores E-Book Deal Twitter Tributes To John Updike 86 Percent of Japanese High Schoolers Read Cell Phone Novels Expert Predicts February Release of Amazon Kindle 2 Twin Peaks Episodes Online, But Not the Books eHarmony Asks HarperOne for Relationship Advice Ongoing Reader Debate: Why Are E-Books So Expensive? HarperCollins Signs Three Books from Manuscript Website |
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