Amazon Trims Its On-Site Ad Network

Amazon is best-known for selling all sort of stuff out of their cavernous warehouses, but they're not above selling space on their site to other retailers. That's why they have a marketplace for 3rd-party sellers, and it's why Amazon runs adverts on its own site (the same is true for Walmart) that...

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Facebook is Readying an Instant News Notification App

Between Paper, Messenger, Save, and other apps, Facebook is constantly spinning out its features into standalone apps. Now there's a report that Facebook is working on a notification app. Business Insider reports that FB is working on a breaking news Twitter-like app where brands will be able to...

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Slant Launches a Blogging Platform Funded by a Pay-Per-Click Model

Web publishers everywhere are grappling with how to keep the lights on, much less pay the writers. Some pay per piece, some try to avoid paying writers much if anything at all, but Slant has hit on a model that should be familiar to ebook publishers. From Digiday: Slant, a new platform-based...

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Morning Coffee – 12 August 2015

Here are nine stories to read this morning. Can You Afford to Get Published? (Maine Crime Writers, The Passive Voice) The ethics of modern web ad-blocking (Marco.org) Facebook, Email Most Effective for Crowdfunding Books on Inkshares (Publishing Perspectives) How to double your reading speed...

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Buys eBook Assets From MeeGenius

HMH continued its tech acquisitions today with the purchase of the assets of MeeGenius. Details of the deal have not been disclosed, but the press release does note that HMH has "acquired select eBook and technology assets" from MeeGenius. Launched in 2010, MeeGenius offered a subscription ebook...

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German eBook Sales up 12.8% in the First Half of 2015

The AAP may have reported a 9.3% decline in ebook sales in the first four months of 2015, but the news coming from Germany is much more positive. BuchReport.de has shared a few details from a recent market survey from Boersenverein and GfK. A grand total of 25,000 German consumers were surveyed,...

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Kindle eBooks with Improved Typography Use New KFX File Format

When Amazon first announced in May that the Kindle platform would be getting prettier ebooks, they left a lot of questions unanswered, including exactly how Amazon was pulling it off. Yesterday's update has answered some of those questions. Reports are coming in from a couple different directions...

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Sargent Promoted in Holtzbrinck Reshuffling

Macmillan CEO John Sargent is getting his justly deserved reward/punishment for his role in the 2010 ebook price fixing conspiracy: he's being promoted. The Bookseller and PW are reporting that Macmillan's parent company, Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, is going through a reorganization, and Sargent...

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The Guardian: eBooks Are (Still) Making Us Stupid

If there's one thing that certain elements of the literati like more than discussing which book will be the next masterpiece, it's to lament on how the web and or ebooks are making us stupid. This lament is a variation of the centuries-old cenotechnophobia trend. It crops up every year or so, in...

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Infographic: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Fonts

Fonts make the publishing world go round, but there's more to a font than just characters on a screen. As you can see in the following infographic from Cartridge Discount, fonts used for the web differ from ones designed for print (but we already know that). This graphic also explains the...

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Morning Coffee – 11 August 2015

Here are seven stories to read this morning. Ebooks are changing the way we read, and the way novelists write | Comment is free (The Guardian, The Passive Voice) How Many Scientists Does It Take to Write a Paper? Apparently, Thousands (WSJ) Meet the Kindlepreneurs (Telegraph)  Scared money...

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Oops! Kindle Voyage & Basic Kindle Got an Update, Too!

When I wrote about the Kindle's new software update earlier this evening, I forgot to check support pages for all the Kindle models. It turns out that both the Kindle Voyage and the basic Kindle that Amazon launched along side it were both updated today. They also got the new Bookerly font,...

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Kindle Paperwhite Update v5.6.5 Adds Support for Bookerly, New Typography

Amazon has rolled out a new update for the Kindle Paperwhite, but not everyone will be celebrating. The update adds support for the typography features Amazon announced in May as well as the Bookerly font that we first saw in February, but it's not coming to all the Kindle Paperwhite models. The...

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Toronto Public Library’s Book Vending Machines Are Like a Better Buggy Whip in the Era of Cars

Teleread tipped me to a new program from Toronto Public Library which won't be going anywhere. It seems the library is thinking about installing book vending machines in Toronto's Union Station. From the Huffington Post: Checking out books from the library is about to get easier for commuters. The...

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Audible is Sponsoring the 2015 Los Angeles Podcast Festival

When Audible hired the former VP of programming at NPR, I speculated that it was a sign that they wanted to get into distributing more original programming. Today's news may confirm that intent. Examiner.com reports that Audible has signed up to be the corporate sponsor for this year's Los Angeles...

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Report: Ad Blocking Expected to Cost Publishers $22 Billion This Year

A new report from Adobe and PageFair has given the advertising industry 22 billion reasons to clean up its act. The NYTimes has picked up a story this morning on PageFair's 2015 Ad Blocking Report. The report contains a lot of handwavium, but according to the Times: Ad-blocking will lead to almost...

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Apple Fall Launch Event Tipped for 9 September

With a refreshed iPhone 6, larger iPad, and an updated iPad Mini rumored in the works, the tech blogosphere is eagerly awaiting Apple's press event this fall. And now we can start counting down the days. John Paczkowski writes over at Buzzfeed that his sources are saying that the new hardware will...

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Morning Coffee – 10 August 2015

Here are nine stories to read this morning. 5 Common Reading Mistakes You're Making That Could Ruin Your Literary Life (Bustle) Amazon Tightens Its Grip on Digital Comics Distribution (PW) Barnes and Noble Stops Paying Marketplace Sellers (eCommerce Bytes) Clippy has come back to kill us all...

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Opera Acquires a WhiteLabel Netflix-Like App Service, Considers Selling Itself

Web tech company Opera announced on Saturday that it had missed its second-quarter revenue forecasts and was thinking of finding a buyer, but that hasn't stopped its strategic acquisitions. TechCrunch caught the press release on Friday, reporting that: Browser maker Opera today announced that it...

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Jet.com Encounters Turbulence With Customers, Retailers

For the past year marketplace startup Jet.com has been touted as a serious rival to Amazon (with cheaper prices, to boot), but the month since its public launch has shown that Jet.com is only a threat to itself. The WSJ reports that Jet.com is catching flack from other retailers for its mishandling...

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There’s an Audible Group of Authors Who Are Unhappy About the Audiobook Market

There's been a lot of talk in the mainstream press over the past few months about the blue sky opportunities for audiobooks, but reports on the ground are forecasting much stormier weather. A few days ago the editor of The Passive Voice blog posted a note concerning Audible. It seems that his wife...

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Kindle Unlimited Reaches New Milestone: One Million Titles

It looks like the recent brouhaha over Amazon changing the payment terms in Kindle Unlimited isn't having much of an impact. News broke on Thursday that the German branch of Kindle Unlimited now offered a catalog of a million titles which subscribers can read for 10 euros per month. I checked, and...

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Buck Rogers, Sherlock Holmes, and How Trademark Can Trump Copyright

A recent story over at Ars Technica has reminded me that there can be more to a copyright lawsuit than just copyright. Ars reports that a movie studio has filed suit to get Armageddon 2419 A.D, the original Buck Rogers story, declared as public domain. The studio wants to make a movie based on the...

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Mirimax Pays Off Conan Doyle Estate to Settle Suit Over Sherlock Holmes Movie

While some copyright lawsuits go to court, often times the defendant finds it cheaper to settle rather than fight. Here we have another example. In May of this year the Conan Doyle estate sued Miramax, Penguin Random House over the movie Mr Holmes. The movie is based on a ten-year-old novel...

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There Are Now Over 24,000 Distinct Android Devices In Use From 1,300 Brands

It is universally acknowledged that the Android market is significantly more fragmented than iOS, but I doubt anyone thought that the market is quite this messy. OpenSignal is a company that collates cell network reception data and posts it online. This company gets the data from users who install...

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Morning Coffee – 7 August 2015

Here are five  stories to read this morning. An Accomplished Writer Takes a ‘MasterClass’ From a Gargantuan Selling Writer (Observer) Business Musings: Price Wars and Victims (Kristine Kathryn Rusch) LinkedIn now gets 45 percent of its ad revenue from native ads (Digiday) Looks Like Facebook Is...

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28% of Brits Own eReaders, But Far More Own Tablets and Smartphones

According to a new survey from Ofcom, reports of the death of the ereader have been greatly exaggerated. The UK's equivalent of the FCC has published its annual Communications Market Report this week, and that report shows that 28% of British hoiseholds now own ereaders. That figure continues to...

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Simon & Schuster Reported Profits Up, Sales Down in Second Quarter

Simon & Schuster released its second quarter financial report today, and the news was both bad and good. The publisher reported its fourth straight quarterly decline in revenues even as their profits grew. Sales were down $12 million, to $199 million, while profits were up $3 million, to $27...

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Privacy Badger Blocks the Sneakiest Kinds of Online Tracking

If you value your online privacy the chances are you use Adblock Plus, Ghostery (or one of its competitors), and the Keyboard Privacy Chrome extension. Here's another extension to install. On Thursday the Electronic Freedom Foundation announced the release of Privacy Badger 1.0. While there are...

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AAP Reports eBook Sales Down 9.3% in First Third of 2015

The AAP's latest monthly report lends credence to the premise that the major publishers are feeling the sting of high ebook prices. The Association of American Publishers draws its data from 1,200 publishers. They no longer offer much in the way of specifics most months, but this month they did...

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Kobo for iPad, iPhone v7.8 Adds New Sign-in Option

Kobo released a new version of its iOS app, but I'm not sure what has changed. According to the changelog the new app adds a way to group ebooks by series. It also reportedly adds an option to log in with your Google+ account. While the former feature is going to be useful, the latter feature...

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Kris Rusch: Amazon is in a Price War With Publishers

Amazon surprised many pundits over the past year as they signed deal after deal that gave publishers control over ebook prices, but now I think we know why. While Amazon was publicly fighting with Hachette last summer and fall, it also quietly negotiated a new "agency lite" contract with Simon...

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BQ Cervantes Open Source eReader is Back in Stock

When I introduced you to the Cervantes ereader from the Spanish device maker bq a couple months ago, my joy at finding an ereader that runs open source software was tempered by the fact that it was out of stock. Today I have some good news for you: the Cervantes is back in stock on the bq... Read...

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Morning Coffee – 6 August 2015

Here are eight stories to read this morning. Homme de Plume: What I Learned Sending My Novel Out Under a Male Name (Jezebel) iTunes is Illegal Under UK Copyright Law (TorrentFreak) In the publishing industry, Ursula K. Le Guin wants less profiteering, more freedom (TeleRead) NYC Schools Passing...

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Why College Libraries Are Going Bookless

We've all read the news stories about this college or that college removing books from their libraries. Stanford was one of the first to go bookless back in 2010, and many more colleges have followed suit. This includes Florida Polytechnic University, which opened a bookless library last fall, and...

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NYPL and Library Simplified

New York is a place known for risk taking, for innovation, for not being satisfied with the status quo. Nowhere is that as evident in the library world as with the New York Public Library, and their current projects to reshape the eBooks in libraries landscape. If you’ve ever tried to borrow ebooks...

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LibreOffice 5.0 Now Available

Libre Office is an open-source office suite available on many platforms (even Android) and capable of editing word files, presentations, spreadsheets, etc. Libre Office has been maintained by The Document Foundation ever since it was spun off of Open Office five years ago, and a new version is...

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PRH Opens South African eBookstore Focused on Local Titles

Penguin Random House might have no interest in staying in the Australian retail market, but South Africa is a different matter. Memeburn reported on Friday that Penguin Random House's South African subsidiary had partnered with Snapplify to launch a niche ebookstore which focused on locally...

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ALA Releases New Digital Privacy Guidelines

The American Library Association announced on Tuesday that it has published a new set of privacy guidelines. Spurred on by last fall's revelations that Adobe was spying on readers, the ALA has come up with new set of best practices for vendors and librarians to follow so they can better respect the...

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eCampus Confirms My Report That They Have a Virtual Bookstore Contract With UWM

Two days ago I broke the news that the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee had awarded a virtual bookstore contract to textbook retailer eCampus, and today eCampus has confirmed my report. eCampus put out a press release on Wednesday morning that confirms every detail I reported on Monday. eCampus...

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Kindle Plus Raspberry Pi Equals Fridge Magnet

We've seen ereaders repurposed as weather stations, a netbook, and even a project status board, and now one has made its way to your refrigerator. Last week a hacker by the name of Peter Vojtek published the details of his latest project. He took a Kindle 4 and a Raspberry Pi and turned them into...

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Morning Coffee – 5 August 2015

Here are six stories to read this morning. ALA Releases “Library Privacy Guidelines for E-book Lending and Digital Content Vendors” (INFOdocket) Can You Rob a Little Free Library? (BookRiot) Contributor: Is No Ads Enough? (LinkedIn Pulse) Matchstick, The More Open Chromecast, Destroyed By DRM,...

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Feedly Announces Publisher Kit w\ Better Branding, Discovery, and 100% Ad Revenues

Feedly has announced its response to Apple News and FB Instant Articles, and much to my surprise it looks like almost only no one has noticed. In a blog post dated Friday, Feedly posted a list of nine steps that web publishers can take to better format their RSS feed so that Feedly's tens of...

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Bookmate Partners with Tigo Mobile in Paraguay and Guatemala

Bookmate's long promised expansion into Latin America has commenced. The social reading service announced on Tuesday that it had partnered with a telecom, Millicom, to launch Bookmate's service in Paraguay and Guatemala. The service is being handled by Tigo Mobile, the largest telecom in those two...

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Infographic: Book Plus Dessert Pairing Guide

Whether it is turkish delight (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe), butter beer, (Harry Potter) , or chocolate (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) some deserts have become closely identified with classic books. The following infographic pairs popular books with a desert mentioned in the book. In...

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Penguin Random House Launches LitFlash, a BookBub Competitor

There are approximately eleventy bajillion websites that help you find cheap reads, and if that's not enough then you might be interested the latest project from Penguin Random House. Yesterday a reader tipped me to the launch of LitFlash, a new service from PRH which, from what I can see from the...

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Japanese Readers Spend the Most on eBooks, And Other Unsubstantiated Clickbait

So yesterday Business Insider posted a nifty-looking chart that claimed Japanese readers would be spending the most on ebooks this year, followed closely by Brits. As you can in the chart at right, the Japanese will spend an average of $86.50 on ebooks. eBook users in the UK are expected to spend...

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Morning Coffee – 4 August

Here are five stories to read this morning. Barnes & Noble Education to Consider Digital Takeovers (Bloomberg Business) Daily Dot Latest To 'Keep Conversation Moving Forward' By Not Letting Site Visitors Comment At All (Techdirt) Franklin integrated ‘Peanuts’ 47 years ago today. Here’s how a...

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Aldiko Plans to Release Reading App for iPad, iPhone.

One of the best ebook apps for Android will shortly be coming to the iPad and iPhone. Details are still scarce, but on Thursday the official Aldiko account tweeted: Aldiko for iOS is coming soon! Want to be the 1st to be notified when it's available, sign up Aldiko.com — Aldiko (@Aldiko) July 30,...

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College Textbook Prices Have Increased Over 1,000 Percent Since 1977

While reporting on eCampus's new virtual store earlier today I told you that college students had cut their textbook spending in college bookstores by as much as 23% over the past few years. In perfect serendipity, NBC has published an article that explains part of the reason why: According to...

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eCampus Beats Out Amazon for a Five-Year Contract to Run UW-Milwaukee’s Virtual Bookstore

Amazon has been getting a lot of press attention over the past 6 months for the virtual bookstores it runs at Purdue University and several other US universities, but it is not the only player in that market. Nor is it largest, so today's news should not be as surprising as it is going to... Read...

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Penguin Random House Sells Its Australian Online Bookstore to Larger Rival

The prevailing wisdom may be that publishers need to have more and better connections to consumers, but apparently that doesn't apply in Australia. Smart Company, Sydney Morning Herald, and other sources reporting that  PRH Australia has sold its online bookstore Bookworld to Booktopia. The terms...

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Penguin to Let Londoners Read eBooks for Free on the Underground

Publishing is going through a "throw it up against the wall and see what sticks" phase, and one idea that has stuck is letting people read ebooks for free in public places. The Drum reports that Random Penguin UK  has partnered with the London Underground and its contractor, Virgin Wifi, to let...

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Amazon is Hiring Audible Managers in India

Fresh from the successful launch of Audible Unlimited in Japan, Amazon has turned its attention to the burgeoning audiobook market in India. A couple new job listings have come across my desk this morning which have tipped me to the news that Amazon is planning to expand its audiobook empire into...

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Morning Coffee – 3 August 2015

Here are six stories to read this morning. Barry and Joe and More Authors Guild Nonsense (A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, The Passive Voice) Bitdefender Blocks Anti-Piracy Website as Malware (TorrentFreak) Intellectual property ABCs: Read this fun guide and take the quizzes. Can the Wicked Witch...

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Hachette Book Group Reported Revenues Down 7.8% in the First Half

Following a first quarter report of a 12.3% decline in revenue, Hachette Book Group announced on Thursday that its revenues in the first half of 2015 were down by 7.8%. Hachette's parent company Lagardère released its first-half of the year results last week. Company revenues were down 1.8%, to 3.3...

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Flexenable Has Moved On From Flexible eReaders to Wearables (Video)

The wearables market may have decided in favor of high quality screens over flexible and durable screens but that hasn't stopped companies like Flexenable from bucking the trend. This Plastic Logic spin off was at the IDTechEx at Printed Electronics Europe in May, where it showed off the latest...

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Spain’s Google Tax is Proving Immensely Successful in Its Goal of Suppressing Debate and Free Speech

When Spain passed its Google Tax in October 2014, the obvious flaws in forcing websites to pay for the privilege of linking to content made me wonder whether the Spanish government or someone had an ulterior motive in getting the law passed. Over the past week it has become clear why the Spanish...

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