TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Holcombe Publishing, new etextbook publisher in the UK

By Paul Biba

From a press release I received today:

Academic eBook publisher Holcombe Publishing has released its first publication, a book identifying how social systems shape current society. Holcombe Publishing aims to provide academic books at affordable prices, as well as providing a platform for academic authors to distribute and sell their work.

Colin Asquith, Holcombe Publishing’s Technical Director, said: “Holcombe Publishing was created with the aim of creating academic books which are both high quality and affordable. Many current academic books are expensive due to high publishing costs for low volumes, so starting with an eBook avoids us keeping our books out of the hands of interested readers.

You can find out more about the company and its first book, Systems, not People, Make Society Happen, by Michael King, here.

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Read and save your Kindle blogs with Kindle for the Mac, PC or other Kindle apps

By Stephen Windwalker, editor of The Kindle Nation

Originally posted at Kindle Nation Daily 3.18.2010

The new Kindle for Mac App, like earlier apps for the PC and other devices, allows you to download the latest edition of any Kindle edition blog to which you are a subscriber so that you can read it on your computer and keep it there as long as you like. This is a great way to save blog posts for future reference or research — or simply, in the case of blogs other than this one, because of their great literary quality. It can also be useful if there is a blog post that is full of useful links to which you want to return from time to time, because using Kindle for Mac or the other apps to click on any link in a blog, periodical or ebook will seamlessly take you to the destination web page without closing the Kindle App.

Ordinarily a Kindle edition blog is updated with each new blog so that you have a revolving snapshot of (up to) the 25 latest posts, but when you download a blog’s snapshot to your Kindle for Mac or PC you get to keep that snapshot with your Kindle for Mac or PC Home screen for as long as you wish, and even maintain multiple snapshots of any given blog.

It’s an easy process, and here are the steps. (Unfortunately, for those of you who are thinking along with me at home, this feature is not yet available for Kindle subscriptions to newspapers and magazines.)

Editor’s Note: the remaining part of the article is an illustrated summary of how to go through the steps. Unfortunately, it doesn’t reproduce well in the TeleRead blog format. Please see the original article if you need to follow Stephen’s instructions. PB.

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Publishers of children’s books important to survival of publishing

By Paul Biba

Resource Shelf picked up a good article from the Washington Post. Here is part of their their summary:

Michael Norris, an analyst for the media research firm Simba Information, said publishers of children’s books are “unbelievably important” to the survival of publishing as a whole. “If you think about the long-term future of the industry, the people who are reading ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ today will hopefully be reading a thick piece of literature in a few years.”

[Snip]

Children’s publishing is often viewed as a stable segment of the industry, thanks to reliable sales to parents and school libraries.

[Snip]

Nielsen BookScan reported that sales of juvenile books were the strongest of any category in 2008, rising 6 percent from 2007. In 2009, Nielsen reported, sales held mostly even. By contrast, last year adult hardcover and mass market paperbacks both declined nearly 4 percent, and trade paperbacks fell 2 percent.

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Laptop does a hands-on review of the Alex

By Paul Biba

The machine gets 3.5 out of 5 stars and the reviewer seems to like it a lot. One thing that interested me is that he says that Spring Design is working ewith 40 developers to create or modify apps for the device and a store should be available in June. He also includes a link to a Laptop Blog post on How to find Android Apps for your tablet, ereader or other large screen device.

All in all the review finds the machine a good experience, but questions whether its high price is worth it. The Alex has a $150 premium over the Kindle and the Nook, but, as the reviewer says, that premium buys you a true multitasking device that does both the basics and the extras well.

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Authors Guild warns members about Random House, HarperCollins e-royalty rate renegotiation

By Chris Meadows

Mediabistro’s Galleycat makes note of a two-page letter sent by the Authors Guild to its members in reference to letters that Random House and HarperCollins have sent its authors.

It seems that those two publishers are trying to get their writers to lock into 25% royalty rates on e-books. While this might look better than the 15% going rate on hardcovers, the Authors Guild warns that the terms may not be entirely desirable:

Authors and publishers have traditionally split the proceeds from book sales. Most sublicenses, for example, provide for a 50/50 split of proceeds, and the standard trade book royalty of 15% of the hardcover retail price, back in the days that industry standard was established, represented about 50% of the net proceeds of the sale of the book. We’re confident that the current practice of paying 25% of net on e-books will not, in the long run, prevail. Savvy agents are well aware of this. The only reason e-book royalty rates are so low right now is that so little attention has been paid to them: sales were simply too low to scrap over. That’s beginning to change.

The Guild advises authors try to retain the right to renegotiate terms after a couple of years, stipulate a “royalty floor” in their contract (such that the amount of money they get for each e-book sale is at minimum equivalent to the amount they would get from a print sale), make sure the terms do not adversely affect their reversion of rights clauses, make sure they are not signing away rights they already control—and if all else fails, wait for a better offer to come along as the market develops.

The royalty percentage increase was in part a reaction to the new agency pricing model that Apple and Amazon are going to, to give the writer a bigger chunk of the smaller monetary amount coming in. But it is still too early to tell whether this increase will really be enough.

Related: Authors Guild repudiates Random House e-book rights grab

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‘Piracy’: The terminology debate

By Chris Meadows

What’s in a name?

A lot, really. Take the issue of “piracy”—most commonly used in Internet circles to refer to unauthorized distribution of other peoples’ intellectual property. Its use in that sense actually pre-dates the Internet by a considerable length of time (see video at bottom). For a long time, a debate on whether this is an appropriate use of the term has raged.

Representing those who do not think the term is properly used, the Free Software Foundation has this to say:

Publishers often refer to copying they don’t approve of as “piracy.” In this way, they imply that it is ethically equivalent to attacking ships on the high seas, kidnapping and murdering the people on them. Based on such propaganda, they have procured laws in most of the world to forbid copying in most (or sometimes all) circumstances. (They are still pressuring to make these prohibitions more complete.)

If you don’t believe that copying not approved by the publisher is just like kidnapping and murder, you might prefer not to use the word “piracy” to describe it. Neutral terms such as “unauthorized copying” (or “prohibited copying” for the situation where it is illegal) are available for use instead. Some of us might even prefer to use a positive term such as “sharing information with your neighbor.”

Of course, saying that the Free Software Foundation tends to think intellectual property is a bad idea in general is on the order of calling the Pacific Ocean “slightly damp,” but in a way this illustrates the point: those most inclined to protest the use of the word often tend to be those most inclined to favor the practice, or at least not believe it to be as bad as the content industry thinks. (Similar issues surround the word “theft”.)

[Read rest of post]

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Two more potential iPad alternatives: WePad, Moby

By Chris Meadows

Earlier today, Paul mentioned that the HP slate might be a better device than an iPad. Here are another couple of devices that might make promising alternatives.

First, TechCrunch reports on German manufacturer Neofonie’s 11.6” 1366×768 (720P capable) WePad. (English datasheet PDF here.) Due next month, it has a larger multitouch screen, faster processor, USB, card reader, Flash, and even a webcam. It will run “a Linux derivate (sic) with Android on top,” meaning that it can install not only Android apps but also Adobe Air software from Neofonie.

The WePad is being pitched not only as a multimedia tablet, but also as an e-book reader that can read “all open standards” of e-book formats. Exact details about price are currently unavailable, but according to TechCrunch, Neofonie’s CEO claims it will be significantly cheaper than the iPad.

And speaking of significantly cheaper, Wired’s “Gadget Lab” blog reports semiconductor manufacturer Marvell has demonstrated a touch-sensitive 10” tablet at the unlikely price point of $99. The Moby would support Flash, could provide 1080P high-definition resolution, and could run Android or Windows Phone 7. It is aimed at students looking for an inexpensive way to access textbooks and the Internet.

[Read rest of post]

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Amazon will drop smaller publishers if they insist on the agency model

By Paul Biba

Yesterday we published a couple of articles on Amazon/Apple and the larger publishers. Now comes some news about the smaller ones.

According to published sources, Amazon has told smaller publishers that it would not negotiate “agency model” terms with anyone other than the initial five Apple partners. If a publisher outside this list insisted on the agency model then Amazon would drop their entire list, both print and digital.

Welcome to the real world of commerce. Publishers have been protected for so long that I bet this comes as a shock. Not to the rest of the sales world, however. This is, actually, a real opportunity for smaller publishers. The initial 5 have locked themselves into a rigid pricing model and they don’t understand the retail space. By staying away from this model, and by cooperating with a retailer who understands pricing better than anyone, the smaller pubs can try all sorts of marketing schemes to beat the big guys. Don’t forget, the “agency model” guys have now taken over price control and have absolutely no experience as to how to use it. It will be fun to see what happens.

Thanks to Erin Biba for the heads up.

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Price, free content most important factors in US e-book sales

By Chris Meadows

The Bookseller.com reports on a study presented at the Book Marketing Limited conference that suggests price is a key driver for e-book sales in the United States.

Kelly Gallagher, Bowkers’s VP for publishing services, noted that free content was also an important factor. A survey of 750 consumers indicated that 44% were reading e-books on a computer, as opposed to 36% using the Kindle. However, they expected the iPad to bring about a shift in these demographics.

Another point that was raised is one I’ve suspected to be true all along:

Simultaneous print and electronic publication was not an issue for some consumers. When asked whether they were prepared to wait three months from hardback publication for the e-book, 32% said they would wait, 25% would buy the hardback and 30% were not sure.

Almost 1/3 of readers are willing to wait, and almost the same amount undecided? It’s hardcovers vs. paperbacks all over again.

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German entrepreneurs launch virtual book store app for the social network by Ansgar Warner

By a TeleRead Contributor

Facebook is not only rapidly growing in numbers, it also keeps evolving from a mere social network to a full-scale marketplace. Only lately PayPal was added as a payment option, making in-app-shopping of physical or virtual goods still more easy. So why not start an E-Book-Store within the network service? Thanks to „Readboox“, the German speaking Facebook Community will be the first to go shopping for electronic books without having to leave their profile. The e-book store comes as a normal app that can be added to your personal Facebook pages by a few mouse clicks.

[Read rest of post]

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Dr. Peter Watts found guilty of assault in border crossing incident

By Chris Meadows

Canadian science-fiction author Dr. Peter Watts has been found guilty of assault in connection with the incident we mentioned in December, when he was stopped on the US side of the border while crossing back into Canada.

As Watts tells the story, he was attacked and arrested by the border patrol officer; as the officer tells the story, Watts attacked him. Watts faces up to 2 years in prison; sentencing will take place April 26th. (Found via BoingBoing.)

Update: Ted R. points out Peter Watts’s blog entry on the verdict. As Paul Durrant also says in comments below, it turns out he was convicted not for “choking” a guard, but rather for not immediately obeying the guard’s order to get on the ground.

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Why is Spain so slow to launch ebooks?

By Paul Biba

This is a question asked by Publishing Perspectives. According to the author:

Spanish publishers Maeva and Random House Mondadori are approaching the mobile and e-book markets in Spain. While both are making progress in the mobile market, the e-book segment appears stalled in beta.

The market for Spanish-language e-books has potential to be huge, as it encompasses both Spain and all of Mexico, Central and Latin America. And it was last June already when Spain’s “Big Three” publishers — Random House Mondadori, Santillana, and Paneta — announced plans to collaborate on a digital distribution company. The company is now scheduled to launch in May.

In a companion set of articles they take a look at the mobile and ebook market in Spain and publishers’ online marketing in Spain.

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