Thu July 10 2014
Nano-pixel discovery, screens of the future? |
06:56 AM by owly in E-Book General | News Heard about this on Swedish Radios Science news, "A new discovery [at Oxford University]will make it possible to create pixels just a few hundred nanometres across that could pave the way for extremely high-resolution and low-energy thin, flexible displays for applications such as 'smart' glasses, synthetic retinas, and foldable screens." |
[ 6 replies ] |
Smashwords Releases 2014 Indie E-book Sales Survey |
06:49 AM by AnemicOak in E-Book General | News
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...es-survey.html
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[ 1 reply ] |
Amazon makes a direct offer to Hachette authors: 100% ebook royalties |
06:49 AM by Top100EbooksRank in E-Book General | News https://gigaom.com/2014/07/08/amazon...e-full-letter/ The full letter “Dear XX, I wanted to ask your opinion about an idea we’ve had that would take authors out of the middle of the Hachette-Amazon dispute (actually it would be a big windfall for authors) and would motivate both Hachette and Amazon to work faster to resolve the situation. Our first choice would be to resolve a dispute like this through discussion only. We tried that already. We reached out to Hachette for the first time to discuss terms at the beginning of January for our contract which terminated in March. We heard nothing from them for three full months. We extended the contract into April under existing terms. Still nothing. In fact we got no conversation at all from Hachette until we started reducing our on-hand print inventory and reducing the discounts we offer customers off their list prices. Even since then, weeks have gone by while we waited for them to get back to us. After our last proposal to them on June 5th, they waited a week to respond at all, promising a counteroffer the following week. We are still waiting a month later. We agree that authors are caught in the middle while these negotiations drag on, and we’re particularly sensitive to the effect on debut and midlist authors. But Hachette’s unresponsiveness and unwillingness to talk until we took action put us in this position, and unless Hachette dramatically changes their negotiating tempo, this is going to take a really long time. Here’s what we’re thinking of proposing to them: • If Hachette agrees, for as long as this dispute lasts, Hachette authors would get 100% of the sales price of every Hachette e-book we sell. Both Amazon and Hachette would forego all revenue and profit from the sale of every e-book until an agreement is reached. • Amazon would also return to normal levels of on-hand print inventory, return to normal pricing in all formats, and for books that haven’t gone on sale yet, reinstate pre-orders. Here’s an example: if we sell a book at $9.99, the author would get the full $9.99, many multiples of what they would normally get. We can begin implementing this arrangement in 72 hours if Hachette agrees. We haven’t sent this offer to Hachette yet — we’re sending this to a few authors and agents to get feedback first. What do you think? Would this be helpful, especially for midlist and debut authors? Can we talk on the phone later today or tomorrow once you’ve had a chance to digest? Thanks and look forward to talking.” Statements from Hachette and Amazon Hachette: “Amazon has just sent us a brief proposal. We invite Amazon to withdraw the sanctions they have unilaterally imposed, and we will continue to negotiate in good faith and with the hope of a swift conclusion. We believe that the best outcome for the writers we publish is a contract with Amazon that brings genuine marketing benefits and whose terms allow Hachette to continue to invest in writers, marketing, and innovation. We look forward to resolving this dispute soon and to the benefit of the writers who have trusted their books to us.” Amazon: “We call baloney. Hachette is part of a $10 billion global conglomerate. It wouldn’t be ‘suicide.* They can afford it. What they’re really making clear is that they absolutely want their authors caught in the middle of this negotiation because they believe it increases their leverage. All the while, they are stalling and refusing to negotiate, despite the pain caused to their authors. Our offer is sincere. They should take us up on it.” *Hachette previously described Amazon’s proposal as “suicidal” in a statement to the Wall Street Journal; the story has since been updated and that reference removed. |
[ 87 replies ] |
Sat July 05 2014
MobileRead Week in Review: 06/28 - 07/05 |
06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review Another week, another steady stream of e-book goodness here on MobileRead. Our authentic roundup of what's been going on: E-Book General - News E-Book General - Reading Recommendations |
Thu July 03 2014
Amazon: Business As Usual? |
07:21 AM by AnemicOak in E-Book General | News Yesterday the NYPL hosted a live discussion on Amazon and the future of publishing.
http://new.livestream.com/theNYPL/businessasusual
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[ 75 replies ] |
Bertelsmann getting out of book retailing |
07:17 AM by fjtorres in E-Book General | News WSJ link: http://online.wsj.com/news/article_e...MDAwMjEwNDIyWj
All the german Amazon angst is over eleven percent market share?!!
More at the source... |
[ 13 replies ] |
Tue July 01 2014
July 2014 Book Club Vote |
12:54 AM by WT Sharpe in Reading Recommendations | Book Clubs July 2014 MobileRead Book Club Vote Help us choose a book as the July 2014 eBook for the MobileRead Book Club. The poll will be open for 5 days. There will be no runoff vote unless the voting results a tie, in which case there will be a 3 day run-off poll. This is a visible poll: others can see how you voted. It is You may cast a vote for each book that appeals to you. We will start the discussion thread for this book on July 20th. Select from the following Official Choices with three nominations each: • Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin Spoiler:
• Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age by Modris Eksteins Spoiler:
• Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach Spoiler:
• The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter Spoiler:
• The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013 edited by Siddhartha Mukherjee Spoiler:
• The Bible Unearthed by Israel Finkelstein & Neil Asher Silberman Spoiler:
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[ 11 replies - poll! ] |
Sat June 28 2014
S&S Opens E-Book Lending to All Libraries |
12:34 PM by AnemicOak in E-Book General | News In the US anyway, not sure if this is also in other markets or not...
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...libraries.html
S&S Press Release (PDF)... |
[ 23 replies ] |