Sorry for the late posting! Here are some of the articles that caught my attention in the past week:
On audiobooks:
“Let’s Go Reading in the Car” (Judith Shulevitz, New York Times) Shulevitz links audiobooks to storytelling, and recommends some good choices for families.
On libraries:
“Connecticut Library to Use Overdue Fines to Fund Ebook Program” (Nate Hoffelder, The Digital Reader blog)
On ebook retailing:
FutureBook has several editorial reactions to the Waterstones-Amazon deal announced this week, one by Philip Jones and two by Martyn Daniels (Daniels’ first response; Daniels’ additional thoughts.) In case you missed it, Waterstones, the largest British bricks-and-mortar bookstore chain, will begin selling Kindles in-store and e-books through a Waterstones wi-fi network. No one seems to think this is a great idea for Waterstones.
“Pricing Books and Ebooks” (Joe Konrath, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing blog) Konrath demystifies the pricing of books and ebooks under the wholesale and agency models, with numbers that include list price, discounted price, what the retailer pays, and what the publisher and author each receive — very useful if you’re confused by the whole agency/non-agency issue. He goes on to suggest not supplying list prices for books in the first place, but allowing retailers and the market to set the price. I’m not sure I agree with him, but he makes an interesting argument.
Rich Adin wonders “Are Indie Authors Doing the Best They Can?” — not in terms of writing, but in terms of selling their books. (An American Editor blog)
“US Publisher Exported $21.5M [in] Ebooks in 2011 (The Real Figure is Higher)” (Nate Hoffelder, The Digital Reader blog) The figure refers not to rights sales but to ebooks sold in foreign ebookstores. There’s more data in the article.
In “Going to Where the Readers Are”, the Dear Author blog vows to only review books that are available in both ePub and Kindle formats. The post argues that publishers should not ignore the ePub market, both because it’s good for competition and because it’s where about a third of e-readers are (the human kind, not the devices.)
On the never-ending agency-pricing lawsuits:
“Simon and Schuster settles e-book antitrust suit with state AGs” (Greg Sandoval, CNET)
Miscellaneous other topics:
Mike Cane argues that “The iPad Mini Will Mean the Death of E-ink” on The Digital Reader.
John D. Berry talks about adaptive layout for ebooks on his blog, Easily Amused.
Piracy gets another look: Nate Hoffelder talks about why some books get pirated. (Hint: those who really love a book will find a way to get an e-book, even when not legally available.) (The Digital Reader)
The realm of archiving (preservation) as it relates to ebooks gets a look in Barbara Galletly’s well-written article, “In the Digital Era, Publication Isn’t Preservation,” on the Digital Book World site.
CreateSpace will allow authors to use it’s publishing platform to sell their books overseas for free through various European Amazon sites.
