Jun 21

The Barnes and Noble nook for $149

Looks like Barnes and Noble is making another exciting move marking the price of their nook down to $149 while offering an optional $199 3G model.

This will absolutely heat things up this summer, and I can’t help but think this is the work of Kobo’s $150 E Ink eReader.

The $149 nook doesn’t just beat Kobo’s price by a buck, it also comes with WiFi, a clear challenge to Kobo’s USB connectivity. (Most readers don’t care, but the convenience of WiFi might be a deal maker.)

On top of that, B&N is dropping the price of the nook 3G with WiFi from $259 to $199. (Connects anywhere.)

So, there’s a shot across Amazon’s bow as the smart eBook Reading Device makers opt out of a head-to-head competition with iPad’s multi-function and go for getting eBook Readers into the mainstream’s hands.

Can the $99 eBook Reader be far behind?

Jun 20

Kobo Reader for iPad and Others.

Jorgen sent us a link to a story at eBookMagazine about Kobo’s cross-platform eReading App. This story picks up where yesterday’s post left off, with a step-by-step review of the software and a ‘how-to’ that shows the pros of the App vastly outweigh the cons.

Jun 19

Kobo Now Available Everywhere

The Financial Post has a story about eReading platform Kobo announcing their services now extend to any Android-enabled smartphone.

On top of a desire to share their eReading experience anywhere on any machine, their open standards allow customers to access and read their selections on any device.

When linked to their $150 eBook Reader, Kobo is poised to set some fires under the industry front-runners.

Jun 18

Rupert Murdoch Makes Some Moves

Thanks again to Jorgen for links to a digital news story that he’s been monitoring. The developments involve Rupert Murdoch making some moves to get a firm toehold in the growing digital newspaper industry and mark a casualty in the eBook Revolution.

Click here for a story at TabletPCReview that details Murdoch’s purchase of Skiff, LLC,  and the e-reading platform developed by Hearst Corp. and designed to deliver premium content to tablet PCs, smartphones, eBook readers and netbooks. Murdoch recently started moving his online news services to a ‘paid content’ format so the Skiff platform’s ability to protect brand identity fits the program.

The other link takes you to CrunchGear’s eulogy for the Skiff Reader. Murdoch bought the Skiff software platform but passed on the physical device. Do you remember the Skiff Reader? I think it’s a beautiful piece of technology that will eventually return from the grave when digital publishing becomes secure enough that niche markets start to evolve that will need large format E Ink devices to deliver broadsheet content. The Skiff Reader was just ahead of its time.

Jun 17

Barnes and Noble eBook Market Share Rises

Authorlink News is carrying a story touting Barnes and Noble’s new CEO William Lynch as the main reason B&N is making huge gains in the eBook Market. I’ve got to agree, whoever is calling the shots is sure making up for ground the company lost after briefly shutting down its eBook Store in 2008. Since re-opening, it’s been one innovation after another as the Internet and Bricks and Mortar eBook retailer has charged back into the eBook Revolution. While its share in eBook sales increased by nearly 20% it still remains a distant second to the market dominator Amazon.com.

Still, that kind of thinking brings competition to a marketplace that needs it to lower the price of eBooks and the machines that read them.

Jun 16

Has Google Editions Won the eBook War?

Many thanks to our friend Jorgen who provided a link to an interesting discussion over at FUTUReBOOK.com about the future of eBooks on the web and the trouble with DRM. The post by Tom Williams ponders whether Google Editions has already won the eBook war with their cloud-based eBooks versus the proprietary formats offered by Amazon, Apple iPad and etc.

I think it’s still too early for a conclusion on this. The mainstream consumer still has to speak, and by the look of the poster after the article, some people just want to read on an eBook reader and are happy without the distracting net-experience that come with multifunction devices.

Jun 15

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.

Jun 14

Consumer Report on eBook Readers

Bright Side of News has a summary of a Consumer Report review of eBook Readers. Not a lot of surprises, but it’s nice to see that eBook Readers are mainstream enough to rate some ink from the non-profit, independent, subscription supported, rating organization.

Jun 13

Low-Priced books Lead in iBookstore sales.

Okay. I know what you’re thinking. “Well, that ain’t news…”

Check out the Bookseller.com story: “Discounted books rule on iBookstore.” They can spin this around the word “discount” all they want but the real story is that lower-priced eBooks outsell higher priced. It’s not rocket science. Publishers have to stop “discounting” titles and just start pricing them fairly, yah?

Jun 11

Dark Valentine Magazine – Volume 1, Issue 1 – NOW AVAILABLE!

summer_2010_cover

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