Social reading site Goodreads is changing the API it uses for pulling book metadata to the site, PaidContent reports. It had been using Amazon’s public Product Advertising API which allowed it to import title, author, page count, and so on. However, Goodreads finds the terms of use for the API have become too restrictive for the site to continue to use it. In particular, Amazon will not allow sites using the API to link to the book on any other on-line retailer except Amazon, but Goodreader provides links to titles on multiple retailers. Also, Amazon will not allow content...

Marketing guru Seth Godin has a piece on PaidContent (reposted from his Domino Project blog) responding to an interview with the head of Ingram Books about the future of books and publishing. In the interview, Ingram CEO David “Skip” Prichard trots out some of the usual predictions about the future of the book—multimedia extras, print-on-demand, physical bookstores finding “niches” to adapt to, and print publishers still being necessary. Godin calls Prichard’s views “economically ridiculous,” basing his argument on Chris Anderson’s “long tail” theory. Godin suggests that the broad consumer choice the long tail makes possible will drive down production...

We’ve run a couple of speculative pieces about the idea of advertisements or product placement in e-books. Responses have tended to run toward shuddering at yet another way for publishers to make money on top of gouging consumers. But at least one e-book publisher is moving forward with it. A Fox News article looks at Wowio, which has long offered free PDFs incorporating ads to pay for their download. Now Wowio is looking to branch out into EPUBs of up to 50,000 better-known books from distributor Ingram. These books will not be ad-supported (yet), and prices are yet...

Author Henry Melton has blogged about the process of getting ePubs into the iBook store through the use of third-party aggregators. Apple has contracts with Lulu, Ingram, LibreDigital, and perhaps others to serve as aggregators of small publishers and self publishers.  I've been looking at the details and the first thing that stands out is the tougher standards required for the ePub files.  You see there are ePub books that work, but there are also ePub books that pass the 1.0.5 standard validators. Only the latter need apply. Melton talks about the process...

Publishers Lunch (subscription required) is reporting that Ingram may have to stop wholesaling ebooks until new agreements are reached with publishers who want to use the agency model. Ingram has told publishers that this may happen by April 1. If publishers want to change the model from that which has been used for the last 10 years then Ingram will have to come to new arrangements with each publisher individually. Part of the problem is that, in the agency model, the 30% seller's commission will not change if a wholesaler is involved. This means that Ingram and its publisher...

Publishers Weekly is reporting this: Blackwell, the U. K. academic and library wholesaler, and Ingram Digital have reached an agreement that will give Blackwell access to the 185,000 e-books in Ingram’s MyiLibrary platform for distribution to schools and libraries through Blackwell Digital’s Collection Manager. ... Andrew Hutchings, CEO of Blackwell, called the deal “significant”and said, “Our goal has been to be a true marketplace for e-books. Adding MyiLibrary’s content base to the titles we already distribute from other aggregators and publishers makes that goal more of a reality. This agreement allows us to work with Ingram to better serve the library...

More and more university presses are going digital. Here's the latest from their press release: “The market for digital content appears to be accelerating, and Ingram Digital, with its legacy in the book business and its unique position in the supply chain, stands out as the best way to navigate the challenges unique to launching a digital distribution program," said Mark Saunders, Assistant Director of University of Virginia Press. The cornerstone of Ingram Digital’s offering to academic publishers is CoreSource®, the industry’s most robust digital warehouse. CoreSource ensures that digital content is properly archived, file integrity protected, and versions controlled....

Here's a shot of them setting up the Expo floor, taken from the Press Room. At a general press conference about the show we were told Attendance is down 14% from 2007 in New York, but up 36% from 2008 in LA. Exhibitor registration is down 10-15% from last year and square footage is down 21% Michael Smith of the IDPF organized a panel about marketing ebooks that played to standing room only. The place was packed and, by a show of hands, they were almost all...

Here's part of a press release I received from Ingram Digital. It seems that Overdrive isn't the only one going after the Apple market. Ingram Digital, an Ingram Content Group company focused on solutions for digital content management, distribution and promotion, today announced the launch of MyiLibrary Audio, an advanced audiobook offering for libraries. Featuring thousands of titles from more than twenty imprints, MyiLibrary Audio is the first fully iPod, iPod touch and iPhone-compatible solution tailored to the needs of library patrons that is also compatible with both WMA and MP3 devices. Audiobooks available through MyiLibrary Audio...