Where to go to create XML files---so even old backlist books can be available in ePub and other formats, with less fuss in the long run? In a lengthy article by Teri Tan, Publishers Weekly looks at XML-related services in India. TeleRead is an international blog, but I can't help but ask: "Why is so much of the American publishing infrastructure half a planet away?" I won't blame the Indians; rather, the short-sightedness of domestic companies and policymakers. While so many in U.S. publishing were dissing e-books, Indians were preparing for the new era. I'm also curious what...

Floss manuals, mentioned here before, is putting on a push to get a manual done for PureData. The Sprint, as they call it, will take place simultaneously in New York City and Berlin from Saturday 4 April to Monday 6 April. You can find the details here. I fully intend to participate in one of these Sprints, but it's a bit too close to tax time for me to take part in this one. I first heard about them at the O'Reilly conference, and I think it is a wonderful thing to participate in. PureData? Here's the blurb: Pure...

From the MSN Encarta site: On October 31, 2009, MSN® Encarta® Web sites worldwide will be discontinued, with the exception of Encarta Japan, which will be discontinued on December 31, 2009. Additionally, Microsoft will cease to sell Microsoft Student and Encarta Premium software products worldwide by June 2009. We understand that Encarta users may have questions regarding this announcement so we have prepared this list of questions and answers below. Please keep reading if you would like more information about these changes to Encarta. ... Encarta has been a popular product around the world for many years. However, the category of...

The Detroit newspapers will show up this year on the Kindle and the new big-screen Plastic Logic reader. Subscribers will be able to buy or lease the devices. See detroitnews.com, as well as a Google news roundup. If newspapers follow in other large cities, this could be a major boost for e-books---both the for-sale and library varieties---which could piggyback on the newspaper-related promo campaigns. There's even a digital divide angle. According to the Detroit papers, they will start "An extensive outreach program to reach senior citizens and others who might potentially be left behind in the...

"Clearly e-books aren’t free---they are perhaps as expensive or in some cases more expensive than print---yet they do not create large, short term cash flow to cover their costs. E-books, if successful, will sink the trade publishing industry." - Evan Schnittman, Oxford University Press executive, expressing his personal views in his new blog, Black Plastic Glasses. (Via Reading 2.0 list.) Update, March 31, 4:30 a.m.: Let me add that Evan, a big Kindle fan, is not saying that publishers should avoid e-books. Rather he wants them to modernize their ways of doing business. See Logan Kennelly's comments....

Editor’s Note:  The following is the beginning of a long essay by Michael. The full essay can be found at Epublishers Weekly. Paper books: I love them, and I hope that they are never replaced completely by their electronic progeny. Nevertheless, every day, ebooks are growing in use, in sales, and in significance.  To promote the growth of this young industry — and to nourish the aspects of the digital reading revolution that can make us a nation of readers again — publishers and authors need to educate the reading public about the brave new worlds of ebooks...

Complete with listings for F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe, Filedbyauthor has started up with 1.8 million name-related pages waiting to be claimed. So far the most viewed writers are Stephanie Meyer, J.K. Rowling, former PW editor Sara Nelson (claimed page), Sylvia Day (claimed) and Sharon Lee (claimed, albeit not enthusiastically). More than 1,600 writers have "filed." We've already shared basic impression of the site. Now, from Fileby CEO Peter Clifton and his cofounder, Mike Shatzkin, here are replies to TeleRead's e-mailed questions. Peter is a former executive at such companies as Ingram and Wiley, while...

No review yet, just the unboxing pictures, but they promise too add their thoughts in a while.  TeleRead has asked for a review unit, and we’ll report if they send us one.  Meanwhile: ...

From GalleyCat: Remember a few weeks back when we agitated for more digital ARCs for book reviewers? Jane Litte of Dear Author emailed us recently to discuss her blog's new policy: "In an effort to encourage publishers to make cost efficient advance copies available to bloggers, Dear Author will be giving review priority to any review copy sent in digital form in advance of publication," Little says. "Any finished print copies provided to Dear Author will not likely be read/reviewed until 1-2 months after publication date." "We encourage bloggers and authors to push...

In a long article about the NACS' trade show, that excellent daily newsletter, Shelf Awareness, covers the Association's digital initiative. Mark Nelson, v-p of strategy and development, NACS's digital content strategist said: In digital matters generally ... that "change often comes from very unexpected places and can happen very quickly." He believes, he said, that in terms of digital material, "we are headed for a change." Already there are signs of major shifts. While the paper book is just a device with "certain pros and cons," so e-readers are also a device with pros and cons. Most people who...

Just in case you missed it over the weekend, check out The Digitizers---Hadrien Gardeur, Feedbooks cofounder, ePub advocate and Stanza ally, the latest in Kay Meyer's Digitizer series. (Photo by Duncan Davidson.) Also posted earlier: Book marketing tips: Use Librarything to find reviewers for your book, by Robert Nagle. Coming today or tomorrow: A Q&A with Filedbyauthor.com's cofounders....

"Publishers and agents representing the authors J. K. Rowling and Ken Follett were battling last night to get free copies of their novels removed from a Californian website that claims to be the most popular literary site in the world." - Times Online. The TeleRead take: Time for Scribd to improve monitoring? In the other direction, doesn't this show the folly of DRM? Rowling's works are not available as e-books, and most pirates almost surely are scanning or typing in the text from paper copies. Time for Rowling to make her books available at reasonable cost in E, so that...