Here are few posts that I am reading this morning.
- Ebook Pricing: Why 99 Cents Might Be a Mistake for You (Lindsay Buroker)
- Jonathan Franzen is wrong: the digital age is making us smarter (The Guardian)
The Morning Coffee – 7 February 2012
February 7th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · Uncategorized
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It’s a Little Too Late to Complain About Apple’s Proprietary Ebook Format
February 6th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · opinion
Just under month ago Apple made a big splash with the launch of new iBooks app, new iTunes U app, and the new iBooks Author.
That last generated lot of fury because instead of generating a spec compliant Epub, iBA creates custom flavor of Epub with any number of non-standard components. This upset lot of people who work with Epubs, including me, but lately I’ve changed my mind.
I was reading an article in The Register earlier this evening that made me realize that it’s a little too late to complain about proprietary Epub formats; iBooks makes the 6th or 7th custom Epub format on the market now.
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Amazon Still Blocks Reading Apps on the Kindle Fire & Continues to Frustrate Customers
February 6th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · opinion
That's not an index finger that Amazon is showing you.
Shortly after the time that the Kindle Fire launched, I discovered that Amazon had quietly blocked all their competitor’s reading apps from being seen in the Appstore on the Kindle Fire. That prohibition continues to this day (with one exception – Wattpad).
Well, today I got a hint that whatever Amazon may have hoped to achieve with the block, what they’re really doing is adding to the frustration of KF owners.
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Ben Bova Foresaw the Self-Pub Movement
February 6th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · opinion
I’m working on a review of the Jetbook Color at the moment, so of course I am reading on it. I happen to have the Laugh Lines collection open on it, and I just came cross this surprising bit of tea-leaf reading.
Ben Bova is an SF author that all should recognize. He’s had a career spanning decades, and in that time he’s made any number startling predictions, some of which have since come true. This prediction came from Cyberbooks, a novel that was originally published in 1989.
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Daily Deal: Coby Kyros MID7015 – $99
February 6th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · Daily deals
Geeks.com has one of Coby’s 7″ Android tablets on sale today via Groupon, but it’s not as good of a deal as it first appears.
The tablet in question is the Kyros MID7015, and you can find it on Groupon for $99. Geeks.com is still selling it for $180, but that retail price is too high when you consider the fact that this year old tablet has specs not quite as good as the iDolPad, another $99 tablet.
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Inkling to Launch a New iBooks Author Competitor Next Week?
February 6th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · Inkling, iPad, software rumors
O’Reilly will be holding their annual digital publishing conference next week, and I will be there, helping with the ereader petting zoo. But do you know who else will be there? Ryan Knapp, one of the founders of Inkling.
As you probably know, Inkling was one of the hot iPad startups of 2010. They were developing an enhanced textbook platform on the iPad, and they’ve been selling textbooks via their own app. But besides launching and periodically going back for more capital, Inkling hasn’t done much that is newsworthy of late. But soon that will change.
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BookRix Expands into Ebook Distribution
February 6th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · ebookstore news
The online writing community announced Monday that they are following in the footsteps of Wattpad BookCountry.
Later this month BookRix will be launching an ebookstore where member authors can sell the fruits of their labors, and BookRix is also going to offer to distribute those ebooks to Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Sony, and iBooks.
But also like BookCountry, this doesn’t look like a very good deal for authors.
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The Morning Coffee – 6 February 2012
February 6th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · Morning Coffee
Here are some of the posts I’ve read over the weekend.
- Academic publishing is a racket (Ask Nicola)
- Amazon Has Tried Everything to Make Shopping Easier. Except This. (NYTimes Bits Blog)
- Coliloquy Steams Up Interactive E-Books (Video) (AllThingsD)
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Is There Hope for Barnes & Noble Redux
February 6th, 2012 by Rich Adin · opinion
Last week I offered the suggestion that Barnes & Noble (B&N) consider getting out of the brick-and-mortar end of the business and instead franchise its name and cut deals with indie bookstores to promote its Nooks and ebooks. The reception was varied, with some commenters thinking this was a great idea and others thinking it was a lousy idea, and yet a third group thinking it was — at least — an idea. Yet the overall tenor running through all the comments was that B&N will be steamrolled by the Amazon juggernaut no matter what it does.
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CageFight: Apps vs Ebooks
February 5th, 2012 by Nate Hoffelder · opinion
Ever since ebooks first appeared there has been an ongoing debate over how to best take advantage of the digital form. Ebooks can of course do things that are impossible for their paper brethren, but on the other hand, do all the extra gewgaws add to the reading experience?
This past week I came across a couple articles on this topic, both for and against. Rather than take a position, I’m going to quote key excerpts from the articles so they can inspire your thoughts bout the issue.
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