An interesting report is circulating the book blogs, alleging that e-book sales in Canada are down almost five percent. I've seen reporting on the Booknet Canada report on at least 3 blogs (for example, here and here and here, but nobody seems quite sure what to make of it. We're selling lots and lots of devices here in Canada, aren't we? We're Kobo's number one country! So what, exactly, are we reading? Are e-book sales on the decline? Here are a few thoughts about what may be going on here: 1. Device Availability is Limited This is partly because the retail scene is limited! We've only just gotten Target here, and it opened...

I wrote previously about Star Dispatches, an e-book subscription service being produced by the Toronto Star. According to this article on The Star's website, they're being recognized for this series with two Online Media Awards. The service has an intriguing set-up where, for a nominal fee, subscribers get a new e-book sent to them every week. There is no à la carte purchase, but the weekly fee is so affordable that subscriber retention has been high. From the admittedly self-congratulatory write-up: "We’re extremely proud of the stories being told in our weekly eRead format, our subscribers are highly satisfied and the business model has...

There have been a lot of stories lately about government attempts to increasingly lock down data rather than letting it open up—in Canada, Bill C-11 granted users a host of new rights and then negated them all with its digital locks provisions; in the U.S., the president himself had to weigh in on the issue of cell phone unlocking before an overly restrictive bill got fixed. Lost in all the 'content must be protected!' rhetoric is the tiny detail that sometimes data aggregation can be a good thing. Two stories crossed my inbox this morning which are highlighted how. Case Study 1:...

OverDrive Media Console Now Available on Linux (Good e-Reader) 9 Ways Big Pub is Like Big Pharma (Huffington Post) Canada Post Claims Exclusive Use of Word 'Postal Code' (Boing Boing) The Digital Truths Traditional Publishers Don't Want to Hear (The Guardian) Kindle Daily Deals: Archie Meets Nero Wolfe by Robert Goldsborough (and 3 others)  ...

Blogger Hollee Actman Becker is making headlines for her blog post on a disturbing Instagram trend: the 'beauty pageant', wherein tweenaged girls post collages of their friends and ask readers to vote on which is the prettiest. The girl with the least votes gets Xed out of the picture, and the game repeats until only one girl is left. Her reaction to the discovery that her own daughters were playing these games was swift and surprisingly heart-felt: she posted an image about beauty being only skin deep (which has since gone viral), and used her daughter's account to publicly ask girls...

Here's an interesting story from one of my favorite financial writers, Gail Vaz-Oxlade. The Beloved and I are devotees of her 'jar' system for budgeting, and my diligence at applying her simple financial planning 'rules' helped me pay off my student loan and simultaneously save over $10,000 in my retirement account in four years. She also has several popular TV shows that are quite entertaining. But, as Gail explains in this blog post, most of her books have only thus far been available in Canada; her American publisher was concerned that her new book, Money Rules, needed a different 'spin' as a...

A blog post by freelance journalist Nate Thayer has been making the rounds this week. In the post, Thayer shares an exchange he had with an editor at The Atlantic, who wanted to republish a significantly shortened version of a feature story he'd written about Dennis Rodman's recent publicity trip to North Korea. When Thayer inquired as to payment, he was rebuffed and told the exposure of appearing in their publication would be payment enough; Thayer, a working professional, was offended and the story lit up the blogosphere. Lost in the righteous indignation was the smaller detail, revealed by Thayer himself,...

  Starting next Sunday, March 3, readers across Brazil will have one more reason to know and experience the digital book—a reason they feel in their pockets. Booksellers, publishers and authors promote the first "Semana do Livro Digital," a local version of Read an E-Book Week, a traditional online event that's been running since 2004. The Brazilian week will offer thousands of free or discounted e-books from March 3 through March 9, the same time period during which the original Canadian Read an E-Book Week event will be happening this year. In Brazil, dozens of publishers and independent authors will be taking part...

              Canada’s Futile Quest to Own Postal Codes (GigaOM) New Online Educational Library for Jewish Schools (Digital Book World) Ubuntu for Tablet PCs is Here (Good e-Reader) What’s Going on with Readers Today (Goodreads) Kindle Daily Deals: The 500 by Matthew Quirk (and 3 others)...

Bittersweet news came out this weekend that Nicholas Hoare, a landmark Toronto bookstore, is set to close April 1, 2013. The store is known for its eclectic stock and elegant interior, and has been in operation in three different cities, at various junctures, since 1971. The shocker? This article on the closure says there isn't actually any 'untoward' reason for the closure—no 'competition from big chains will destroy us all' or 'Amazon is killing the little guys' or 'ebooks are causing the death of print.' It's simply that Hoare's lease was up for renewal and Mr. Hoare had a choice to...

Author Rita Toews reached out to me recently and mentioned that Read an E-Book Week—that would be March 3-9—is currently in the process of gearing up for its 2013 festivities. This will be the event's 11th consecutive year, by the way. And Toews tells me that any author, publisher or vendor who's interested in being a part of this year's celebration of e-books is welcome to contact her via email, at r[dot]toews[at]shaw[dot]ca. Naturally, you'll also want to keep your browser tuned to the event's official website, where you'll find information about everything from the event's origins and the history of the e-book. Incidentally,...

  By Adrian Diaconescu   Though you can fly, drive, take the bus or even walk from American to Canadian soil whenever you want, Amazon has never been as open to Canada as it has to the States. Case in point, the latest Kindle e-readers, available in the U.S. ever since September 2012, but released up north just now. The delay has been definitely disappointing, not to mention illogical, but if you’re still looking to score one of the new members of the Kindle family you’re in for some pretty nice deals. The cheapest device goes for just CAD $89, which is basically the same price...