FutureBook

A long, long time ago - well, about four years ago, but back then people were still saying things like “ebooks will only ever make up 1% of the market” and other stuff which now looks a little odd - I suggested looking at the idea that using a book as a data set for research using data analysis tools, and then using the results to create digital tools such as algorithms might be a new derivative use subject to the usual rules of copyright ownership. Read more »

We've "lost".

In the race to find the “interactive storytelling” Holy Grail, we’ve been well and truly beaten.

We have been beaten by a digital games publisher who based their model on licensed IP, and a comic book company. Read more »

So, there I was in my best bib and tucker; sitting on a table in one of the Hilton’s many cavernous conference suites surrounded by fellow nominees of the Publishing Innovation Awards and New York’s digital publishing glitterati. The President of the Publishing Association of America gave the keynote speech and then the CEO of Digital Book World stood up to announce the winners. Best e-book: Fiction was first up. He glanced down at his gilded lectern and read out the name of some odd-sounding bloke called James T. Raydel. I felt a momentary surge of disappointment. Read more »

Sony's 20 pence e-book promotion is one of the more curious price strategies, even for a sector that is no stranger to selling its most desirable products at a loss. But 20p takes it to another level. There appears to be little benefit to the instigator (Sony), except that it is costing its imitator and rival (Amazon) millions. Publishers in general decry the pricing, and yet those caught in the headlights will be reaping huge financial rewards, as will their authors. Read more »

Somethin' Else has just launched two digital book products for Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. While both are exclusive to the iPad, they were made in very different ways. One, The Plant Hunters, was created using Apple's iBooks Author software. Read more »

Amazon’s AutoRip service is simple. You buy a CD, you automatically get a digital file of the same content. (A similar logic applies in DVD purchases of a lot of films these days - you get a free download as well as a hardcopy.)

Published for the first time in the UK e-book sales data throws a chink of light on the size and variance of the e-book market and its relationship to print book sales. The basic numbers are clear. Read more »

So, hot on the news that 15% of the ebook bestseller lists are self published authors comes this piece about Touching the Void author Joe Simpson leaving his publisher (and agent) over the issue of e-book royalty rates. Read more »

Launched in October 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing in collaboration with the Churchill Archives Centre, the Churchill Archive is a digital library of modern international history available online for the first time. Read more »

The Spanish book industry in general and the media in particular are focusing almost exclusively on aspects of digitization that have to do with the sale of digital content (e-books). However, there is a wide range of options for using the opportunities offered by technology to support the promotion and sale of more physical books, which currently represent around 98% of the Spanish market, with ebooks currently at only 2%. Read more »