A while back I was talking to an Australian who has been in the book publishing biz since Adam was on a skateboard. We were talking about other stuff, and I was bemoaning how it was that one industry (book publishing) didn’t learn from the recent mistakes of a similar industry (music publishing). Off the record (that’s why he doesn’t get a name here) he told me: “Truth is, I know the major publishers in this country saw the ebook writing on the wall, but they’ve done everything they can to stave off the...

Cory Doctorow and Joe Konrath are not the only e-pushing authors with already-planted stakes in the dead tree world! A growing cohort of Smashwords authors established writers who have regained rights to some or all of their backlist titles and have chosen to e-issue it themselves. A recent encounter I had with Patricia Ryan, who is one of them, first alerted me to this growing trend. THE BEAUTY OF THE INTERNET, PART 1: AS A MATCHMAKER Ryan found her way to me through a recommendation a Mobile Read user made to me when I was looking for some new titles. I had...

Cnet has a good interview, done by David Carnoy, with Amazon's Ian Freed, vice president of digital. Here are two excerpts. The first is about market share. Carnoy asks Freed to comment on B&N and Apple saying they each have a 20% market share: Honestly, something doesn't add up because we're pretty sure we're 70 to 80 percent of the market. So, something, somewhere isn't quite working right. I encourage you to do some more research. Obviously, from the beginning of Amazon we've been very metrics-focused and we don't typically throw out numbers we don't firmly believe in....

From a Blog Post In June, we concluded a survey, linked on 10 of our highest traffic websites, with more than 5,000 responses from patrons around urban and rural America. The survey included questions regarding demographics, computer/device usage, borrowing habits, general feedback on user experience, and suggestions for collection development. [Snip] Here Are a Few Findings: + 74% of users are female, between the ages of 30-59. + Nearly 70% have a college and/or postgraduate degree. + 60% learned about the download service from the library’s website (if our past blog posts and training sessions weren’t enough to get you ...

The Kindle 3 was released to much Amazon fanfare late last week; in the sea of iPad and general tablet news at the moment I wonder how many people have even noticed. My girlfriend didn’t know what a Kindle was until tonight, and I really don’t know how this has happened. I can only assume that I’ve been right every time I thought she wasn’t really listening to me. She’s been mocking my iPad cravings for a little while now (I maintain it’s not iPad-lust (iLust?), but borderline-usable-tablet-lust, it’s just I happen to think that that’s a very narrow category...

 With Andrew Wylie “threatening” (via FT.com, Registration Required) to expand his exclusive book deal with Amazon.com (OdysseyEditions) we thought some of you might find it both useful and interesting to review the Wylie Agency client list. The only thing we don’t know is how current this list is. It’s long, contains the names of MANY well-known authors, or their estates. Access the Complete List From the Financial Times: Wylie theatens broad digital expansion (Registration Required for Full Text, Free) Andrew Wylie, the literary agent whose exclusive deal with Amazon.com last week stunned the publishing world, has threatened a broad...

 Where I buy a print book often comes down to convenience (which store is closest), pricing, availability (is the book in stock?) and loyalty programs (e.g., member discounts).  The choice of a brick-and-mortar vs. an online store adds in the component of urgency; do you need the book today or can it wait till tomorrow? I'm buying ebooks almost exclusively now.  In fact, I can't even recall the last print book I bought for myself.  Although I ditched my Kindle on day one with my iPad, I do most of my book reading in...

Every week it seems something new is happening in eBookland to set the ebook cause back a decade or two. Always at the forefront of the reversal of fortune is greed. This week’s menace to eBookland is literary agent Andrew Wylie and his new publishing venture Odyssey. Wylie could have summed up his actions in simple terms: to disserve both his clients and the ebook-buying public. What, you ask, did he do? He agreed to give Amazon exclusive rights for 2 years to his authors’ backlist titles; Wylie will publish the books and exclusively sell them through Amazon. The backlist includes...

The big news this week in eBookland was Amazon’s announcement that ebooks outsold hardcovers 1.8:1 in the last quarter. That set tongues awaggin’ and has prompted hundreds of articles, blog posts, and comments, now including this one. So that raises the question: Who’s on first? One of the best comedy routines of all-time was Bud Abbott and Lou Costello’s “Who’s on First?” routine and Amazon’s announcement brought the routine to mind after many years of having been forgotten. For those of you unfamiliar with the routine, here it is: Isn’t this really the story — and value — of Amazon’s announcement? As many...

Having been in business for over 40 years I am continually amazed by the publishing industry's inability to understand how business really works. This industry has been in its little walled-off corner of the world for so long that its executives don't have a clue about the real world. A perfect example of this was demonstrated at a recent conference I attended when Peter Osnos asked the head of a major publishing company about publishers' historic lack of direct contact with customers (they deal mainly with intermediate buyers). She replied that with the agency model she now...

A reader named Will posted a link in the Screens page to a handful of DX-friendly screensavers hosted over at Picasa. If you’ve read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, played Portal, or watched Futurama, you will likely be interested. If not, carry on. Kindle Screensavers by William [Picasa Web Albums] Via Chris Walters' Kindlerama...

If you’re holding on for a price cut to the Australasian version of the Kobo eReader, prepare to be disappointed. What?! But wait – isn’t there an eReader price war going on? Yes there is – overseas. The Kindle 2 and Nook have both added features and offered substantial price cuts, but Borders management say that the Kobo eReader won’t be following suit, at least not on a permanent basis. Kobo eReader supply dramas Mooching around the Australian Booksellers Association Conference & Trade Exhibition shindig at the Brisbane Hilton yesterday, I ran into REDgroup Retail’s Group Communications Manager Malcolm Neil. Why do you care?...