Put the pumpkins away. It’s time to bring out snow pants and tinsel. As the weather gets colder we’re faced with the daunting task of buying presents for the holidays. Not surprisingly many of us will be giving and receiving e-books or gadgets on which to read them.
Now to find the perfect e-books for the readers on your list. Many are planning on sticking to their tradition of gifting award shortlisted books. So why don’t e-book retailers capitalize on that with, for example, a Giller shortlist bundle of e-books? The answer is they can’t.
E-Book Tracking in the Canadian Market: What’s in the Works
Some of you may have seen the recent Quill and Quire article discussing the fact that BookNet Canada is undertaking an initiative to collect statistics on the sale of e-books in Canada. Right now BookNet actually has two e-book initiatives underway: e-book sales research and e-book SalesData reporting. Here are the details.
Breaking the Page without Hurting the Reader
Enhanced books are truly amazing. It seems like everyday a new kind of enhancement is announced or shown off. Videos and images can be embedded or made to pop up, text can be hyperlinked, music can be played, table of contents and indexes can be reinvented and repurposed. But while it’s fascinating to see what can be done, we need to ask ourselves should it be done. Developers can build just about anything, because they’re such a talented bunch, but that doesn’t mean the reader wants it in their e-book.
This is why it seemed like a good time to devote one of our conferences to enhancements and apps. Tech Forum West will do just that this fall.
Do Publisher Apps Actually Make Sense?
Yesterday, Eoin Purcell wrote a blog post called “The Opportunity Apple Just Created For Publishers” pointing out the obvious that we somehow haven’t picked up on. But I’m skeptical that publishers are in a place where they can take advantage of the opportunity to sell directly through their own apps.
Social Marginalia
A Little Clarity: Google Didn't Launch an E-Reader
Google announced the first Google eBooks-integrated e-reader on their blog on Monday. Unfortunately, this post has spiralled-off into a series of misinformed articles stating that Google has launched an e-reader. They have not. I promise.Subscribe Me to Your Leader
Angry Robot—a British Sci-fi publisher—has recently made the headlines of some trade magazines by coming out with a subscription model for their e-books. Is the subscription model something that general trade publishing can act on?
Is Pottermore a Game Changer?
Book Summit: Chekov, E-Reading, and Transmedia
BookNet Canada was at the 10th Book Summit last Friday to witness a collective train of thought that included biodiversity, Chekov, video games, and fan fiction.
Book Expo America Roundup
BookNet Canada was at Book Expo America last week. Noah and I were both in NYC to attend. I was mainly there to go to the IDPF Digital Book conference, but I managed to find some time to wander the floor as well. Here’s a roundup of interesting tech-related products and presentations I saw while I was there.
