Is an App by any other name still a book?
Many thanks to Jorgen for dropping off this link to a thought-provoking story over at futureofthebook.org entitled: “the future of the app.”
It’s easy at first pass to see this discussion as mere semantics until you really open yourself to the developments that are piling up around and in front of us. We’re entering strange territory indeed as the eBook Revolution introduces a future where familiar things like books become unrecognizable.
Excellent piece of writing by Bob Stein and well worth the visit. Take the leap here.
Is eBook Piracy the key to a Bestseller?
Many thanks to Jorgen for a link to a FUTUReBOOK story that highlights the continuing debate over online piracy. It seems that the laws aren’t working, and the powers that be are trying to ramp up the legal response to digital piracy and file sharing.
That eventuality can only slow the Internet and curb the freedoms of its honest users, despite the fact that there are many examples where piracy and file sharing are not just good for business, but are encouraged as a business model.
Read the article here.
FREE eBOOK! and a Popular One by the Look…The Variant Effect!
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Affordable eBooks, Free Author Releases, Free eBooks, Kindle, Kobo eReader, Uncategorized, eBook Readers, eBooks, eReaders, iPad, nook 
Okay. This G. Wells Taylor’s been a favorite of mine for a while, first with his free Wildclown novel and now this. He’s been online forever (inked a deal to distribute all his titles with Smashwords) and always trying the angles. Looks like he’s finished The Variant Effect Serial started last October, and now he’s releasing all the parts in one FREE eBook.
Here’s most of the release…
“All SEVEN installments of THE VARIANT EFFECT are NOW available in ONE FREE multi-format eBook download at SkinEaters.com and other locations.
Plus, THE VARIANT EFFECT PAPERBACK is available for order at SkinEaters.com.”
So, check it out here. (I hear it’s a wicked horror/scifi blend.)
Maturity (or Wisdom?) Driving the eBook Revolution
admin Free eBooks, Kindle, Kobo eReader, Publishers, eBook Readers, eBook Stores, eBooks, eReaders, iPad, nook Here’s a Philadelphia Inquirer story where digital publishing industry analysts suggest the majority of eBook Reader owners (up to 66 percent) are older than 40 with a ’sweet spot’ group of consumers aged 35-54 developing into a powerful market force.
A full set of statistics has yet to be produced, but these early predictions make a lot of sense, especially if you consider the effect of youth-oriented culture driving the older mindset to adopt technology, the mature reader’s long relationship with the joys of literature, their disposable income and the age-defying swap of reading glasses for scalable font sizes. (Who wants to wear reading glasses at the gym? Get my point?)
iPad offers more than the iBookstore.
admin Free eBooks, Kindle, Kobo eReader, Uncategorized, eBook Readers, eBook Software, eBook Stores, eBooks, eReaders, iPad, nook ZDNet’s Jason Perlow gives us a complete rundown of eBook Reading APPs available for Apple’s iPad in a post entitled “Apple iPad Showdown: Battle of the eReader Apps.” A very thorough article and a must-read for iPad or iPhone users. The iBookstore is not the only game in town.
Que ProReader Missing in Action?
admin Affordable eBooks, Free eBooks, Kindle, Kobo eReader, eBook Readers, eBook Stores, eReaders, iPad, nook eWeek has a post that suggests the long-awaited Plastic Logic Que ProReader may be held back from release once again. (Actually, it’s taking so long to launch that pre-orders are starting to cancel out.)
I agree with the article and think that this is a response to a brand new marketplace, the arrival of the multifunction iPad and recent price wars between E Ink readers Kindle, nook, Kobo eReader and soon Sony.
Que is a beautiful machine, and I know there is a place for its larger format E Ink display and sleek executive lines. I just hope its formidable price tag ($600 range) doesn’t make it obsolete and ahead of its time.
eBook Revolution the New Normal?
admin Affordable eBooks, Free Author Releases, Free eBooks, Kindle, Kobo eReader, Publishers, eBook Readers, eBook Software, eBook Stores, eBooks, eReaders, iPad, nook Rafi Mohammed, Ph.D. of The Huffington Post has declared eBooks the official future of digital publishing. Read his article here to judge for yourself if his reasoning is sound.
It’s been a whirlwind year, and the recent developments are very promising, but do you think it’s too early to declare a win for eBooks? I’m still waiting for the eBook Reader priced $99 or less. Then we won’t be in Kansas anymore, yah?
Paper Books to Go Extinct?
The Huffington Post offers a thoughtful piece by Steve Leveen about the past and future of reading entitled: “Will Paper Books Go the Way of the Silent Film? Change in the Air at BookExpo America” inspired by remarks from an industry insider speaking at the recent BookExpo in New York. It’s a well-written piece worth the click.
Dark Valentine Magazine - Volume 1, Issue 1 - NOW AVAILABLE!
Volume 1, Issue 1 of Dark Valentine Magazine, a new on-line quarterly devoted to dark fiction, is now available for free download at DarkValentine.net
The joint venture of Katherine Tomlinson (publisher), Joy Sillesen (Editor/Design Director); and Joanne Renaud (art director), the collaboration was born when the three women met while working on John Donald Carlucci’s online and print pulp magazine, Astonishing Adventures.
“There are a lot of online magazines and sites devoted to pulp crime fiction,” publisher Katherine Tomlinson said, “but with Dark Valentine we wanted to branch into other genres as well.
“I am thrilled with the support we’ve received from the online writing community and delighted with the quality and variety of stories in this first issue,” she added. “There are many talented writers whose fiction fits our vision and we hope to hear from them all.”
Contributors to the first issue include Agatha nominee mystery novelist Elizabeth Zelvin, romance novelists Stephanie Dray and Christine Pope, and UK horror novelist Peter Mark May. There is flash fiction from Sandra Seamans, Carol Kilgore, Cormac Brown and Blue Jackson among the 19 stories, which range from paranormal noir to pulp fiction to sci fi.
The first issue’s cover is by DV’s art director Joanne Renaud, who took her inspiration from Stephanie Dray’s story of love gone wrong, “The Threshing Floor.” Renaud assembled her staff of artists from all over the globe—Greece (Eleni Trigatzi), Thailand (Rina Ez), the UK (Jennifer Caro), and Poland (Pamela Jaworska)—as well as different states in the U.S. (Kat Laurange, Molly Brewer, Michael Lauritano, Larry Nadolsky, Laura Neubert, Jane Burson, and Sarah Winifred Searle.
“It was exciting working with all the great artists who contributed to the first issue of Dark Valentine,” Renaud said, “and seeing the various artistic interpretations of all the wonderful dark stories that were submitted.”
Submissions are now open for Dark Valentine Magazine’s Autumn issue. For information, see the website (designed by the talented Sarah Vaughn) at: http://darkvalentine.net/index.php/submission-guidelines/
The magazine is a paying market—“We’re all freelancers ourselves,” says publisher Tomlinson, “so it was important that we pay our contributors, even if only a token amount”—and plans are in the works for a print anthology built around an as-yet-unannounced theme.
The summer premiere issue of Dark Valentine is available now at the Dark Valentine website and will be archived.
Contact:
publisher@darkvalentine.net
Barnes and Noble’s eReader App for iPad.
Take this link over to ZDNet if you’re interested in Mobile Gadgeteer reporter Matthew Miller’s first look at Barnes and Noble’s eReader App for iPad.
Again, I want to take my hat off to B&N for embracing the eBook Revolution, and to Apple too, for allowing this feature and the broader selection of titles it will give readers.
