by Allen Weiner | July 27, 2011 | Comments Off
The New York Times had an interesting feature on a subtle change in the book publishing industry with one shortsighted goal in mind: increase print profits in a hurry. Breaking tradition from the customary one-year waiting period between release of a hardback book and the paperback version, the feature pointed to three examples of a [...]
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Category: Amazon Tags: books, e-books, New York Times, paperbacks, publishers, royalties
by Allen Weiner | May 5, 2011 | 2 Comments
Just when you thought it was safe to go into your big box retailers and buy an “e-reader” after parsing the maze of options, two new choices loom: a new tablet from Amazon and a new something from Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble’s new device is fact; Amazon’s is speculation built on the usual [...]
Category: Amazon Apple Tags: Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, books, e-books, e-readers, iPad, Microsoft, Mirasol, Qualcomm, Sony
by Allen Weiner | January 20, 2010 | 2 Comments
Amazon has plans to change its royalty schedule for publishers beginning this summer, doing a 180 on its 70-30 split. There are rules a’plenty, but it’s a clear pre-emptive move in the face of Apple’s possible launch of a tablet-based device. Apple is said to be willing to offer publishers a split that more resembles [...]
Category: blogging citizen media Microsoft Mobile Newspapers Publishing Yahoo Tags: Amazon, Apple, Apple tablet, books, Kindle, publishers, tablets
by Allen Weiner | November 3, 2009 | 1 Comment
Don’t get too excited, in this video, Grisham only acknowledges the fact that ereaders will make an impact on the number of authors who get published (as a result of lower retail prices). The world (or at least those of us who are fans of John Grisham), await the author giving the green flag to [...]
Category: Amazon Publishing Tags: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, books, ebooks, John Grisham
by Allen Weiner | October 28, 2009 | 1 Comment
Macmillian, perhaps believing it will face some tight margins as ebooks sales become as competitive as print products have become of late, has rewritten its author contracts, with boilerplate language stating that authors will receive 20% royalty fees on net ebook sales. Many major publishers, including Random House and Simon and Schuster offer authors 25% [...]
Category: Publishing Tags: books, ebooks, Macmillian, Random House, Simon and Schuster
by Allen Weiner | April 13, 2009 | Comments Off
A few weeks into my ownership of a Kindle 2, I must report that the Amazon e-reader holds great promise as it delivers a very intuitive experience for those who want portability and a virtual library at their fingertips. Adding books (from both Amazon and other sources) to the Kindle 2 is straightforward with the [...]
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Category: advertising citizen media Mobile Newspapers Publishing Tags: Amazon, books, e-readers, ereaders, Hearst, iPhone, Kindle, Libre Digital, Newspapers, Plastic Logic
by Allen Weiner | February 11, 2009 | Comments Off
In the research that led to our report, “Publishers Explore Digital Editions, Devices as New Channel Opportunities,” Mike McGuire and I debated/handicapped the merits of various e-reader devices and their chances of becoming the go-to gadgets for reading books, magazines and newspapers. Our conclusions were, well…inconclusive. With recent events, those inconclusive conclusions are even more…well… [...]
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Category: blogging Mobile Newspapers Publishing Television Web 2.0 Tags: Amazon, Android, Apple, books, e-books, e-readers, Google, iTune, Kindle, Plastic Logic
by Allen Weiner | February 5, 2009 | Comments Off
As reported on its home page, Harper Collins announced its will offering a video edition of Jeff Jarvis’ new book, “What Would Google Do?” The video book amounts to 20 minutes of the author standing in front of a white screen talking about his book. The video retails for the low, low price of $9.99 [...]
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Category: blogging citizen media Publishing Video Web 2.0 Tags: book publishing, books, Harper Collins, Jeff Jarvis, video books
