Time and tide wait for no-one ...

After a solid year, I've decided to put the blog e-publishing, etc. to sleep. No time. Just no time at all. Like so many other dead blogs, it'll stay here, floating in the cloud. Take it easy.

UK trade bookstore results worst March since 2005

The Bookseller: "Spending in March has hit a six-year low, with sales slumping by 8.7% year on year."

Readum Combines Google, Facebook for Reader Comments

PW: "In an unusual social media venture that brings together Google and Facebook, BookGlutton.com founder Travis Alber is releasing Readum, a new social media application that allows readers to add comments and notes to books in their Google eBooks library and easily post them on Facebook for the general public or to specific groups. ... "

Google Books for iDevices gets landscape view for iPad and other features

mobiputing: "There’s a new version of Google Books for iOS, which is optimized for the Apple iPad thanks to a new landscape mode that lets you view two pages at a time and browse through the 2 million books in the Google Books library in landscape. I’m really not sure why it took this long before Google decided to enable this feature. ... "

Fact ...

The more "Big [though shrinking] Six" publishers artificially and absurdly inflate eBook prices, as they've been doing, the more they encourage piracy. And DRM won't save them.

Continuum Opens E-bookstore

PW: "The academic publisher Continuum has launched its own e-bookstore, Continuum eBooks. Continuum expects to have 2,000 titles in the store by the end of April with prices set at that of the lowest print edition. The company hopes to have 3,500 titles by June and while the store will initially be opened to individuals, Continuum expects to offer packages aimed at academic institutions starting at the end of June. ... "

Dumping print, NY publisher bets the ranch on apps

Reuters: "Since 1980, Nicholas Callaway has made the finest of design-driven books, building a publishing house and his fortune on memorable children's stories and on volumes known for the fidelity of their reproductions of great art. But the quality of paper, ink and binding mean nothing to him now. ... "

Digital Reading: On the Way to the Webcast, a Funny Thing Happened

Digital Book World: "Gather a group of digital publishing pros and usability experts in the same (virtual) room, and the discussion gets deep, detailed, and far-seeing. ... "

The end of [paper] books is good for writers and readers

Tom Keane, The Boston Globe:

... There are a great many business ideas where some entrepreneur can strike it rich; [brick-and-mortar] bookselling is no longer one of them. ... 

The book is dead. Books (and by “books’’ I mean words printed on paper with a hard- or softcover binding)" ... 

Two weeks ago, the American Association of Publishers reported that January sales for adult hardcovers were down 11.3 percent, adult paperbacks were down 19.7 percent, and adult mass market books down 30.0 percent. Expect to see those kinds of numbers repeated.

Not all kinds of books will suffer as badly, of course. Children’s books and art books — where layout and graphics are paramount — will persist. Paper is still (for a time) a better medium than digital screens for complex layouts and — especially relevant for kids — far better at absorbing spills and accidental drops. But when it comes to long-form, picture-free books such as novels, paper no longer makes sense. Electronic readers are this year’s hot-selling items because they really are a better way to read. ...

The end of [paper] books may be to the betterment of both writers and readers. The expense of publishing and distribution necessarily meant the imposition of middlemen — agents, editors, printers — who picked and chose what would get published. Now anyone can write a novel, for example, and make it available for sale. The industry seems to be figuring out the issue of digital rights management (something the music industry still hasn’t solved), meaning that authors get paid for their creativity. And even though e-books are less expensive than books, arguably more of that will get back to the people involved in their creation.

Marshall McLuhan famously wrote that “the medium is the message.’’ I’ve never understood why. It is the message — “the information,’’ as journalist James Gleick calls it — that matters. [Paper] Books die. Digital rises. The medium changes; the message remains.

MoMA Launches eBook App for iPad

DesignTAXI.com: "The Museum of Modern Art has launched a free iPad app that allows users to download and read eBooks published by the museum. The app, called MoMA Books [iTunes link] will include current and out-of-print titles, as well as exhibition catalogs, scholarly texts and anthologies of art-historical texts from around the world, MoMA said in a statement."

Memo from Hachette to brick-and-mortar stores: You ARE the Weakest Link

CS Monitor: "In an Amazon era when many readers browse bookstores at leisure, then log into Amazon to place their order, bricks and mortar booksellers rarely catch a break. Now, with the posthumous release of David Foster Wallace’s 'The Pale King,' it seems the Hachette Book Group has eliminated the initial bookstore browse and buzz, dealing another blow to booksellers. ... "

Other Press Raises Digital Royalty to 50%

My start-up does the same for both print and digital. Full partnership with authors. PW: "With e-book royalty rates still a contentious, if lately less openly-debated, issue, indie house Other Press has announced it is raising its e-book royalty rate to 50%. (The reigning e-book royalty rate sits at 25%, though major publishers like Random House have adopted a shifting scale-rate, that can go up to 40%.)"

Digital Subscribers Way Up for News Corp. in UK, But Print Readers Steadily Down

Zacks: "News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation, which began charging readers for online content for The Times of London and Sunday Times of London, in early July 2010, witnessed a surge in the number of digital subscribers -- up approximately 60% during a four-month period, Bloomberg reports." BUT: Print subscriber numbers are down, a 12.1% fall in the past year. Digital readers pay considerably less than print readers. Digital subscribers pay 8.67 pounds per month, while newsstand buyers pay 8.70 pounds per week. FURTHER NOTE: The paywall in question is non-porous, as opposed to the one just launched by The New York Times. Very different animal. Much easier for would-be readers to "game" the latter without paying.

Surging eBook Sales Help a Shrinking Random House Find Profit

PW: "Led by a 250% increase in e-book sales, strong lists and favorable exchange rates, total revenue at Random House rose 6.1%, to 1.83 billion euros ($2.57 billion at current exchange rates), while earnings before interest, taxes and special items jumped 26.3% to 173 million euros ($243 million). In addition to top line growth profits benefited from cost controls, parent company Bertelsmann said. Random ended 2010 with 168 fewer employees than in 2009. ... "

Kindle Will Bypass New York Times Paywall

PCWorld: "When there's a paywall, there's a way, and there are no shortages of methods to dodge or dissemble The New York Times' new content subscription paywall. Even as the Old Gray Lady attempts to shut down loophole-exploiters, like the renegade Twitter feeds reposting NYT content so readers don't have to pay, more procedures sprout by the day. ... "

Diverging Digital Roads: Poetry and E-books

PW: "While digitizing poetry collections wasn't anyone's first priority, the time has come, and, in one way or another, most of the important poetry presses—Graywolf, Copper Canyon, BOA, Coffee House, Wesleyan—will make at least some of their books available as e-books by the fall."

Borders Liquidators Race Clock, Squeeze Cash From Doomed Stores

Businessweek: " ... The liquidators must sell as much as possible before their contract expires in order to maximize profit. Afterwards, their options are limited: They can sell stock to a non-retail customer, hang onto it and attempt to sell it later when liquidating other stores, or abandon it. They can’t sell to wholesalers or bulk purchasers who may return Borders stock to publishers, and thus Borders’s competitors. ... "

Amazon courting Apple's iOS developers to port apps to Kindle

AppleInsider: "Amazon is actively enticing Apple's iOS App Store developers to bring their efforts to the Kindle platform, particularly educational apps, in a strategy that attempts to push ebook readers up into competition with more sophisticated, general purpose tablets. ... "

Lessons for journalism from the Google Books decision, across Europe and here in the US

Nieman: "On Tuesday, US Judge Denny Chin rejected a settlement agreement between Google, the Association of American Publishers, and the Authors Guild for a 2005 lawsuit over the search giant’s full-text scanning and displays of copyrighted books. While Judge Chin’s decision makes the precise future of Google Books unclear for now, the issues it raises are already being felt by journalists, newspapers, and media creators of all stripes who are currently grappling with Google abroad. ... "

Barnes & Noble soon to add more tablet functionality to Nook Color

Chris Meadows, TeleRead:: "Barnes & Noble has announced a big update for the Nook Color e-reader coming in April which will include a number of new functions such as applications and email, essentially bringing the LCD e-reader closer to being a full-fledged Android tablet. ... "

No Buyers for Barnes & Noble at 60 Cents on Dollar

Businessweek:

Even with Barnes & Noble Inc. selling for 60 cents on the dollar, the cheapest retailer in America still isn’t cheap enough to entice private-equity buyers looking for cash. 

The bookseller founded by Leonard Riggio has fallen 28 percent since putting itself up for sale seven months ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Losses accelerated after the New York-based company eliminated its dividend in February, leaving Barnes & Noble at a 15-year low last week. The chain is the only U.S. retailer with a value of more than $500 million trading at a discount to its net assets, the data show. 

Barnes & Noble destroyed 80 percent of its shareholders’ value since rising to a record five years ago as Riggio, who bought the bookstore in 1971, fell behind Amazon.com Inc. in selling books over the Internet and starting an electronic reader business. Now, with Barnes & Noble piling money into its Nook reader to compete with the Kindle and Apple Inc.’s iPad and analysts projecting its first loss in a decade, the only buyer left may be Riggio himself as private-equity firms back away after the bankruptcy of Borders Group Inc., according to Wall Street Strategies Inc. in New York. 

“There’s not much to like,” said Brian Sozzi, Wall Street Strategies’ retail analyst. “One thing I’ve learned in retail is once the model starts to go against you it’s tough to pull yourself out. Assets on their books are losing value so quickly. Other than Riggio, I don’t know who else would want it.” ...

Nook Color Android app store coming in April along with Flash support

Crave - CNET: "While plenty of people have "rooted" their Nook Colors with custom firmware that allows them to access the Android Market and download applications, most Nook Color buyers have stuck with the official firmware that came with the device. If you're in the latter group, you'll be happy to note that you'll soon have access to Barnes & Noble's version of an app store, which is due to launch in April, according to the HSN Web Site, where the Nook is being sold for $299.90."

Once again, old-media publisher pays big advance in order to chase "the next big thing" - which is probably already over and done with

MinnPost: "Amanda Hocking, aka the 'Kindle millionaire,' has signed a seven-figure, four-book deal with St. Martins Press ... "

Audible.com Audiobooks Now Available (For Real - aka, via WiFil) On Kindle

CrunchGear: "You can now download more than 50,000 Audible.com audiobooks on your Kindle via your Wi-Fi connection. You’ve always been able to download Audible audiobooks from the site itself, then transfer them to your Kindle via a USB, but now you can do so wirelessly."

After Rejection, a Rocky Road For Google Settlement

Insightful analysis from Albanese, PW: "In the hours after Judge Denny Chin rejected the proposed Google Book Settlement, publishers and the Authors Guild said they were open to narrowing the scope of the proposed settlement in order to get a revised deal approved, while Google said it “would consider its options.” But after more than two years debating the settlement pros and cons, one thing is clear: the visionary arrangement once on the table is history. This morning, the parties will confront what comes next, and the rest of us what that might mean for the digitization of books. ... "

Google’s Next Stop May Be in Congress

NY Times: "SAN FRANCISCO — Now that a judge has curtailed Google’s ambitions to create a giant digital bookstore and library, the company is left with few appealing options. Google and groups representing publishers and authors were assessing their options Wednesday, trying to figure out whether they would remain allies or become enemies again. ... "

Major Publisher Investment Advances Inkling as the Future of Digital Textbooks

NY Times: "No matter where you set the target date for that tipping point, digital textbooks certainly just received a strong shove in that direction with a major investment announcement from the iPad textbook maker Inkling. The startup has raised an undisclosed round of funding, with participation from some of its initial investors including Sequoia Capital. More significantly, this financing involves significant minority investments from the two biggest educational content companies in the world, McGraw-Hill and Pearson."

Textbook Renter Chegg Becomes More Social

NYTimes: "Chegg is known as the Netflix of college textbooks. The Silicon Valley start-up, which has raised more than $200 million in debt and equity, allows students to rent costly college textbooks, rather than buy them. When the semester is over, they ship the books back and order new ones. The business, said Dan Rosensweig, the former Yahoo and Activision Blizzard executive who became Chegg’s chief executive 13 months ago, is booming. He said Chegg, which plants a tree for every textbook rented, has planted four million trees."

Portability: Does Apple's iBooks need to go Android?

Carnoy, CNET: "Amazon's app motto is, 'Buy once, read everywhere' and it ran a series of What if you switch?-themed TV ads promoting the concept. Barnes & Noble's app page screams: 'Read what you love. Anywhere you like.' It doesn't have quite as many app choices as Amazon, (B&N is missing Windows iPhone 7 and Amazon has announced a Kindle app for HP's Web OS), but it's pretty close. Kobo, too, has a set of apps for a wide variety of devices. iBooks, however, is relegated to Apple iOS mobile devices (we assume an OS X version is in the works), which is fine for all those people who just own Apple devices, but might seem limiting to those who would consider the possibility of dabbling in other platforms."

Barnes & Noble Struggles to Find a Buyer

Note: Kindle = 67% eReader market. Nook = 22%. BloggingStocks: "The biggest threat to Barnes & Noble emerged over the past few years as the more and more readers made the switch from actual books to digital books. The company's main competitor, Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) was quick to capture this market with its e-reader Kindle. Barnes & Noble have come out with their own e-reader, the Nook, but sources close to the company said that one reason buyers are backing away from a potential purchase of the company is due to the length of time it will take for the company to increase its digital sales. ... "

The Kindle-Killer That Wasn’t

TIME: "Throw away your iPad. Trash your Kindle. The future of reading is made of something far more innovative, and it's called 'paper.' The flipback is, according to Patrick Kingsley at the UK Guardian, an ingenious new kind of printed book designed for the iGeneration. 'Could this kill the Kindle?' the headlines asks. Err, no. ..."

The rejected Google e-books settlement: What it means and what comes next

LA Times:

More than a year after giving it preliminary approval, U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin on Tuesday rejected the Google Books Amendment Settlement Agreement, yet left a door open for the parties to try for a revision. 'The motion for final approval of the ASA is denied, without prejudice to renewal in the event the parties negotiate a revised settlement agreement,' he wrote.

What's more, in his decision, Chin detailed several possible revisions, providing a roadmap for the parties if they intend to attempt to revise the settlement.

Will they? It looks like they may try. ...

"Although I am persuaded that the parties are seeking in good faith to use this class action to create an effective and beneficial marketplace for digital books, I am troubled in several respects," Chin wrote. He brought up several key issues that seemed to point a way toward potential resolution of the agreement, including moving the issue of orphan works and international copyright issues to Congress, privacy concerns and inverting the structure of the ASA so authors interested in participating could opt in, rather than being included by default. ...

Books-A-Million sales slipped last year

In other words they are doing great, compared to Borders. Birmingham Business Journal:

Books-A-Million Inc. (Nasdaq: BAMM) reported a 2.7 decrease in sales for its last fiscal year.

The Birmingham-based book retailer said sales totaled $495 million for the year ended Jan. 29, 2011, according to a news release.

Comparable store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, dropped nearly 5 percent and net income fell 35 percent to $8.9 million, compared $13.8 million in the previous fiscal year.

“The results for the fiscal year illustrate a dynamic and rapidly changing retail environment for booksellers,” said Chairman Clyde B. Anderson. “We are also pleased with our ability to manage inventories and maintain a strong balance sheet giving us flexibility to address the challenges and opportunities ahead.”

Anderson said the company successfully launched a partnership with Nook in the fourth quarter to sell e-readers and its toy and game and electronic accessories businesses performed well.

During the fourth quarter, Books-A-Million had a 2.6 percent decline in sales to $153.1 million and a 6.7 percent drop in comparable store sales.

Amazon Reinstates Kindle-Lending Startup Lendle

Business Insider:: "After a bit of press and consumer outrage, Amazon's team got in touch with them [Lendle] and they're back. They had to remove their book sync feature to get into the terms of service. It's hard to know whether Amazon's crackdown was just a fluke or was pushed on them by publishers or what. In any case it's impressive how fast they responded."

Judge Rules Against Google Books Settlement

Good decision: Agreement needs an opt-in rather than opt-out in order to fully protect copyrights. That would also help get around the inappropriate fact of a publishers' org and the Authors Guild presuming to have authority to negotiate for all authors of out-of-print works, which they don't. Puts power back into the hands of true copyright holders. paidContent: "A federal judge has ruled against Google (NSDQ: GOOG) in its long-standing attempt to expand a plan to scan and then distribute millions of books online. Google was sued by the Authors’ Guild and the Association of American Publishers back in 2004, with the writers’ groups saying that the company’s Google Books site broke copyright laws. The two sides settled their dispute in 2008, but revised that initial settlement in fall 2009 in response to objections from the Justice Department and competitors, who claimed that the initial settlement gave Google too much control over the electronic distribution of in-copyright, out-of-print books. In an opinion issued today, U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin said the new settlement remained too favorable to Google. 'The [settlement] would give Google a significant advantage over competitors, rewarding it for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission, while releasing claims well beyond those presented in the case,' Chin wrote. ... "

That was quick: Four lines of code is all it takes for The New York Times’ paywall to come tumbling down

Josh Benton, Nieman Journalism Lab: "The New York Times paywall is costing the newspaper $40-$50 million to design and construct, Bloomberg has reported. And it can be defeated through four lines of Javascript." Read Josh's interesting piece and then check NYTClean. Couldn't be easier.

Google Says Microsoft Patent Lawsuit Threatens Innovation

PCWorld: "'Sweeping software patent claims like Microsoft's threaten innovation,' Google said in a statement. 'While we are not a party to this lawsuit, we stand behind the Android platform and the partners who have helped us to develop it.'"

Semantics: "Real" Books vs. eBooks

Get with the program. eBooks = BOOKs. Stop editorializing about how eBooks kill "real books." eBooks ARE "real books." eBooks are of course drastically minimizing (though not killing) paper-books, but the narrative (the REAL "real book") remains intact, regardless of the container. Thank you and have a great day.

Yet Another Tech IP Lawsuit: Apple Sues Amazon Over App Store Name

DailyFinance: "Apple says it holds the trademark to the 'App Store' name. That may be decided in court. The suit was filed in the federal court for the Northern District of California. The complaint stated that people might think the Amazon Appstore is owned by or associated with Apple."

Microsoft v. Android: now B&N Nook gets software patent lawsuit

Computerworld Blogs: "Microsoft is suing more Android device makers: now it's Barnes & Noble with it's partners Foxconn and Inventec. Steve Ballmer's gang doesn't like B&N's Nook e-reader, so has slapped them with a software patent lawsuit."

Amazon stymies Lendle e-book lending service

In the long run, Amazon is doing Lendle, eBook Fling and BookLending a favor, because they had shit business models anyway. That being said, I think it may be a strategic mistake for Amazon to look like it is trying to stifle lending. Carnoy, CNET: "It may be game, set, and match for Lendle. No, not Ivan Lendl, the former tennis great. Lendle, the newly hatched e-book lending service. Lendle first reported the news via Twitter: 'Amazon has revoked Lendle's API access. This is why the site is down. It's sad and unfortunate that Amazon is shutting down lending sites...According to Amazon, Lendle does not 'serve the principal purpose of driving sales of products and services on the Amazon site.''"

Waterstone's Managing Director: Academic bookselling at "crisis point"

The Bookseller: "Waterstone's has called for academic publishers to 'significantly' increase their support for the chain, warning bricks and mortar academic bookselling could vanish from the high street within a few years. The retailer's m.d. Dominic Myers told delegates at the Bookseller Association’s annual Academic, Professional and Specialist Bookselling Group conference last week that the academic bookselling industry was at a “crisis point,” in which 2011 would be a defining year. ... "

re: Borders UK meltdown

The Bookseller: "Waterstone's could be best placed to capitalise from a loss in market share by Borders, according to an influential retail analyst. In a wide-ranging note on entertainment retail, Paul Smiddy at HSBC said this week that between space re-allocation and store closures, Borders would lose market share over the next year, with Waterstone's in the best position to gain from this. ... "

What if Amazon released Android Kindle tablet?

Tech Gear: "Firstly, in the short term, any Android-based Kindle isn't about Amazon competing with iPad or other Apple iOS devices. Amazon's ambitions are much larger: Capitalizing on the enormous Android ecosystem of applications and devices and extending its core competency as a retailer. Amazon already does this on Android and other mobile operating systems with the Kindle app. But Amazon sells more digital content than just ebooks. Android Kindle -- as device or app -- would allow Amazon to better bundle other digitally downloaded products, like movies, music and TV shows."

Is Amazon working on an Android Kindle?

Nick Bilton of NY Times via NDTVGadgets.com: "Although Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief executive, has said in the past that a color Kindle is 'multiple years' away, new job listings on the Lab 126 Web site, the division of Amazon that makes the Kindle, show that the company is building up its team of Android developers, which might involve developing software for a color screen. At least five new jobs were added in the last week alone seeking developers with Android programming experience. Now this could simply mean that Amazon is hiring engineers to work on new software for other Android devices. But it could also pave the way for a Kindle that runs Android, which would in turn be a color device. The current Kindle runs the Linux operating system. It's still up for debate whether an Android Kindle would be good for Amazon, or better for Google. With tablets becoming a competition over the number of apps available for the platform, Amazon would have a lot of catching up to do if the company decided to introduce an entirely new tablet operating system."

No More NY Times Links

I'm going to stop posting links to NY Times articles on my blog, not because I dispute the Times's right to charge for proprietary content (I don't), but simply because the links will be of no use to readers of e-publishing, etc. who are not subscribers to the Times and have used up their 20-free-articles privilege for any given month.

Kindle to move to Android? [Rumor]

Android Community: "There’s talk going around that Amazon may be looking to take completely redesign the Kindle platform and base it on the Android OS. According to posts in the New York Times Blog, Amazon is looking for Android developers for 'Lab 126' which is Amazon’s Kindle development unit. That would make for a very interesting development and may signal Amazon’s concern that the NOOKColor is suddenly very popular with Android geeks looking for an affordable tablet option. There’s also the fact that with Amazon’s Android App Store that the book seller may simply be looking to evolve the Kindle to take advantage of Android apps they sell."

Kobo eBook app now available for Samsung Windows Phone 7 devices

Mobiputing: "Kobo has released an eBook app for Windows Phone 7, but it appears that at the moment it’s only available for phones from Samsung."

Paywall for The New York Times Set for March 28

ReadWriteWeb via NYTimes: "The New York Times has finally announced the terms and pricing for its paywall that will go into effect beginning March 28. The paywall is porous, meaning that you'll be able to read 20 articles a month without having to pay. ... "

Borders closing 28 additional stores, making final count 228

Reuters: "Borders Group Inc is set to close another 28 of its superstores on top of the 200 locations it is already shutting down as part of its reorganization under bankruptcy protection. Those locations will close by the end of April and include stores in Hollywood, California, and Stamford, Connecticut. The closings will leave Borders with only half of its superstores. 'We reached the determination about these stores after a further review of their ongoing economic viability,' Borders spokeswoman Mary Davis said in a statement. ... "

January E-book Sales Soar, Top Hardcover, Mass Market Paperback

PW: "The surge of e-book buying expected to take place in January following a round of holiday e-reader gift-giving did in fact materialize. According to preliminary estimates from the Association of American Publishers, e-book sales from 16 reporting companies jumped 115.8%, to $69.9 million in January. No other trade segment posted a sales increase in the month."

No breakthrough over author e-book rights in France ahead of fair

The Bookseller: "French authors have urged culture minister Frederic Mitterrand to intecede in order to break the deadlock in their negotiations with publishers over electronic rights. For the second year running, the Permanent Council of Writers (Conseil Permanent des Ecrivains, CPE) and the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE) have tried and failed to conclude an agreement in time for the Paris Book Fair. ..."

Kindle’s "Real" Page Numbers - How They Did It

Per Amazon:

... With our massive selection and knowledge of print books, we were excited to be in a position to help solve this problem. We had to invent an entirely new way to match the streams of text in a print book to the streams of text in a Kindle book, and assign page numbers in Kindle books. There are hundreds of thousands of Kindle books (and growing every day), so to handle a job of this size, we turned to our Amazon Web Services computing fabric. We created algorithms to match the text of print books to Kindle books and organized all of this in the cloud, using our own AWS platform. The results of this work are stored in Amazon’s Simple Storage Service, where we track the complete history of every page matching file we’ve produced. We even found a way to deliver page numbers to books that customers had already purchased – without altering those books in any way, so customers’ highlights, notes, and reading location are preserved exactly as they were.

Some other e-bookstores have added virtual “page numbers” to e-books, but we’ve found that these approaches can be confusing and often inconsistent – they don’t map to the page numbers in physical books, and in some cases they don’t account for title pages, blank pages, and other nuances that we see in print books. We’ve already received a lot of great feedback from customers who like our approach. Real page numbers are already available in tens of thousands of our most popular Kindle books, including the top 100 bestselling books in the Kindle Store that have matching print editions, and we’re adding page numbers in more Kindle books every day. We want you to lose yourself in the reading, so page numbers are only displayed when you push the menu button. ...

B&N Pines for a Storybook Ending

WSJ: "It's never fun to realize, after starting a book, that the plot is so familiar it loses any element of surprise. The question for Barnes & Noble shareholders is whether they are living such a predictable tale. The stock's 47% plunge in the past three weeks, to below $10, its lowest point since the early 1990s, suggests investors feel that way. Last month's suspension of the dividend, to preserve cash for digital investments, likely sent income-oriented investors heading for the exits. But despite Barnes & Noble's claim to be 'now a growth company,' growth investors appear to be staying away—with good reason."

The chain gets smaller margin on eBooks than on physical books, the latter market shrinking as the former grows. It also has the brick-and-mortar monkey on its back, plus:

"It doesn't help that Barnes & Noble has taken on long-term debt for the first time in several years, partly to fund the $596 million cash buyout in 2009 of the Barnes & Noble college-store chain from Len Riggio, chairman and 30% shareholder. The price paid was more than Barnes & Noble's now-shrunken market capitalization. While the college chain's earnings have proved valuable as Barnes & Noble invests in digital, its sales at stores open more than a year have declined since the purchase. The deal would have looked better for Barnes & Noble shareholders if Mr. Riggio had taken stock rather than cash."

My late father-in-law Bill Bartkovick, a longtime Senior VP at B&N, founded the Barnes & Noble College Division. He would be the first to tell you that this division's days are numbered [see story below], and that the deal benefited Lenny and his family entirely at the expense of shareholders.

1 in 4 College Textbooks Will Be Digital By 2015

NYTimes: "Sales of digital textbooks still only account for a small fraction of the U.S. college market. But according to the latest report by the social learning platform Xplana, we have reached the tipping point for e-textbooks, and the company predicts that in the next five years digital textbook sales will surpass 25% of sales for the higher education and career education markets."

EU anger over ebook deal suggests hard times ahead for publishers

What'd I just say? Check the guardian.co.uk: "The perception that selling ebooks by the agency model is unfair (consumers) and illegal (EU) is a big worry for publishing firms ... "

French government says publishers should collaborate over e-book negotiations

The Bookseller: "French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand has urged French publishers to speak with one voice in forthcoming negotiations with Amazon over supplying their e-books for the Kindle. During a visit to Silicon Valley, where he met senior managers of Amazon, Apple and Google, Mitterrand told reporters that if publishers go into negotiations separately, 'in disorder and a climate of permanent rivalry and competition', Amazon would 'fairly rapidly dictate its law'. Publishers should establish common rules on fixed e-book prices and other issues, he added. Referring to the recent raids of five French publishers and the publishers association (SNE) by European Commission competition officials, he said: 'I don’t think that we are in a zone of conflict or zone of difficulty between the French State and the main partners and players. ... .'" Yeah, pal, but you will be in a "zone of conflict" with the European Commission very shortly if you keep advocating the fixing of prices.

Apple Keeps Right On Approving Amazon And Netflix Updates Without In-App Purchases

TechCrunch: "Remember when everyone was freaking out over the Apple in-app subscription changes? You should. It was just a month ago. And while some of the fears that arose do appear to be very real, the two things most people focused on were Amazon’s Kindle app and the Netflix app. Well guess what? Both received updates today [March 15th], and neither includes the supposedly mandatory changes."

Good Summary of the Current State of Business re: eBook Lending

Stu Woo, WSJ: "BookLending and Lendle opened in the past two months, while eBook Fling plans to start Monday. The sites' creators said they decided to launch the services after Amazon, following Barnes & Noble's lead, introduced the ability to lend Kindle e-books in late December. Analysts estimate that Kindle has about two-thirds of the U.S. market for e-books." BookLending and Lendle are just for Kindle users. The new eBook Fling provides service to both Kindle and Nook users.

Luddites Whining: The End Of Bookstores

Nicole Krauss uses the pages of The New Republic to moan about our losing a certain curatorial element which she believes can only be found in the brick-and-mortar bookstore.

Struggling States Try to Get Amazon to Collect Sales Tax

NYTimes: "Amazon’s skirmishes with states over whether it should collect sales taxes have been an ongoing battle. But the fighting has recently escalated, coinciding with the economic woes that have left a number of states struggling with multibillion-dollar deficits, and looking for money wherever they can find it."

Milestone - The Web (Finally) Surpasses Newspapers As Source for Americans' News

NYTimes: "That's according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, which has just released its latest report on the 'State of the Media.' The study finds that, 'By several measures, the state of the American news media improved in 2010,' but that improvement did not extend to one important sector - newspapers - which continued to see a decline in revenues, readership and newsroom jobs."

Publishers Declare War on Libraries - Brilliant Move

Elsewhere in the news: ski-makers declare war on ski-resorts (where skis are frequently rented).

I have previously noted Cory Doctorow talking sense on this topic.

For Borders, a Scramble to be Lean

Trachtenberg/Spector, WSJ: "In a bid to boost to its digital prospects, [Borders President Mike] Edwards said Kobo Inc., the Toronto-based e-book retailer in which Borders holds a stake, will begin sharing some of the proceeds of every Kobo e-book sold in the U.S. The move, said Mr. Edwards, will enable Borders to more effectively compete on the digital front with companies such as Amazon.com Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc. and Apple Inc. In turn, Borders, Ann Arbor, Mich., will put all of its online and in-store marketing and promotional muscle behind the Kobo brand. Mr. Edwards said that in addition to selling Kobo e-readers, Borders also will continue to sell readers from other makers." This is still a death watch. The restructuring = chemotherapy, delaying the inevitable while also prolonging the agony.

Kindle 3 Catapults Amazon to 48% eReader Market Share in 2010

IDC via Reviews Of Electronics: "Amazon scooped up 48% of the eReader market [in 2010], thanks predominantly to the Kindle 3."

Bloomsbury sees ebook sales leap

Telegraph: " ... the listed publisher of Harry Potter, is on course to make around a quarter of its revenue from ebooks in 2011 following a 600pc uplift in like-for-like sales of digital titles in the first two months of this year."

iPad 2 as e-reader: glare still an issue

CNET Reviews: "Later this year, we should start seeing anti-reflective color display technologies such as Mirasol hit the market. These types of displays don't appear to offer quite the color saturation that the iPad 2's display does, but they are viewable in direct sunlight, which is another complaint people have about the iPad and iPad 2: they just aren't as usable as they should be outdoors on a bright day. If you've seen Amazon's sometimes entertaining Kindle ads, you know that outdoor readability is a competitive advantage Amazon likes to tout. You can expect more of those ads."

Borders Meets with Publishers Over Terms; Conference Call Set

PW: "Ahead of a conference call set for Friday afternoon to give vendors an update on its business plan and restructuring, Borders merchandise executive have been in New York this week negotiating with publishers to resume direct shipments to the embattled chain. At present, Ingram is doing most of the shipping with publishers only shipping on a cash basis. According to sources, Borders is asking for cash in advance terms for a month with more regular terms afterwards."

Wall Street Journal Adds 200,000 Mobile-Device Subscribers

WSJ: "The Wall Street Journal has added 200,000 paying subscribers who access the newspaper via mobile devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPad and Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle."

Goodreads Buys Recommendation Service Discovereads

ReadWriteWeb via NYTimes: "Book-sharing service Goodreads announced today that they have purchased the book recommendation engine Discovereads. According to Goodreads CEO Otis Chandler, the acquisition addresses a frequently-requested feature. 'With their deep algorithmic book recommendation technology, we're going to be able plumb our database of 100 million book ratings from 4.6 million users to find general patterns of the kinds of books people read and to generate high-quality personalized recommendations.'"

Len Riggio: American trade on cusp of "transformational growth"

If I were Lenny, I wouldn't mention Borders either. The Bookseller: "Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio has said the American book trade is on the cusp of 'transformational growth' led by digital sales, in a bullish keynote address to the annual meeting of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), in which he stated that that the book chain remained 'committed now as ever to the future of [its] stores'. Riggio did not talk about B&N's falling share price or whether he might buy the company back; he did not mention Borders. ... "

Turow & Authors Guild Not Just Out of Touch on the Subject of eBook Pricing, but also ...

on DRM, "piracy," copyright and other things that go bump in the night. Last month, Mike Masnick @ Techdirt: " ... as the Authors Guild continues to have out-of-touch, fact-challenged people lead it, it's only going to serve to drive younger authors away from the Guild. Smart authors today recognize the maxim that obscurity is a much bigger threat than piracy, and many have come to figure out that piracy is nothing to fear if you have a smart business model. If Turow and the Authors Guild really wanted to help authors, they'd focus on helping them understand new business models, rather than supporting ever more draconian laws that will do nothing to help and plenty to hurt."

Scott Turow and the Authors Guild Still Don't Get It

In the end, the free market always wins. PW: "Authors Guild president Scott Turow has praised Random House’s announcement last week that it is adopting an agency model for selling e-books. 'Book retailers have faced extraordinary challenges in recent years,' he wrote, 'a double whammy of recession and a shift to digital books that had cut many stores out. For anyone who loves bookstores, this is the best news out of the publishing industry in a long time. Random House's move may prove to be a lifeline for some bookstores.' ... "

Rumor: Random House UK considering agency pricing switch

EBOOK MAGAZINE: "Random House UK could follow their US counterpart in adopting agency pricing for ebooks according to internet rumours which also suggest an announcement confirming the move could come as early as this week. ... "

Kobo Raises A New Round Of Funding

paidContent: " ... the Borders-backed e-books seller, has raised a new round of funding led by what the company says is a “major institutional investor.” Kobo doesn’t say who the investor is but does say that Canadian books retailer Indigo Books and Music, which spun off the company 15 months ago, participated in this funding round and remains its biggest shareholder. Borders, which put money in the company in December 2009 but filed for bankruptcy last month, isn’t listed as a participant in this funding round. ... "

Diesel eBook Store and Macmillan Form a Direct Partnership to Sell eBooks

Press Release: "The Diesel eBook Store announced that it has entered into a direct partnership with Macmillan – a global publisher – that will permit the retailer to sell the publisher’s titles directly to the public through its web-based bookstore. Up to this point, Diesel eBooks used a variety of third-party eBook distributors for encryption and fulfillment. ... "

Cory Doctorow: eBook durability is a feature, not a bug

guardian.co.uk: "HarperCollins' attempt to ensure ebooks in libraries can only be loaned out 26 times is indefensible ... "

As Borders Sinks, Barnes & Noble Scrambles to Remain Afloat on Troubled Waters

TIME: " ... the question is how long Barnes & Noble can stay ahead of the gradual shift from print to digital. Barnes & Noble still has 705 bookstores in the U.S., and those locations are less profitable than they used to be, though that drop seems to be slowing. Worse, its online operation continues to lose money. Overall, Barnes & Noble's profits in its most recent quarter, which ended in January, fell 25% from a year earlier to $60.6 million. In order to stem the losses, Barnes & Noble's executives decided recently to stop paying stockholders a dividend and invest the money in its online and e-books division to boost growth."

Dealtalk: Barnes & Noble auction gets case of writer's block

Reuters: "Barnes & Noble Inc's (BKS.N) efforts to find a buyer have slowed to a crawl, erasing recent gains in its stock price, as potential suitors question the bookseller's ability to compete against formidable rivals. ... "

Seven IT Lessons From The Borders Collapse

IDG : "We've all heard -- endlessly -- why Borders went bankrupt. But those things are just technology. What are the IT lessons? ... "

Gleick's "The Information" is to the nature, history and significance of data what the beach is to sand

Janet Maslin, NY Times: "The Information is so ambitious, illuminating and sexily theoretical that it will amount to aspirational reading for many of those who have the mettle to tackle it. Don’t make the mistake of reading it quickly. Imagine luxuriating on a Wi-Fi-equipped desert island with Mr. Gleick’s book, a search engine and no distractions. The Information is to the nature, history and significance of data what the beach is to sand."

Video: Neil Gaman Explains How Piracy Helps New Readers Discover His Work, and Thus Helps His Overall Sales in the Long-Run

Scorned librarians and the eBook piracy underground

Violet Blue, ZDNet: "E-books and the ability to share or not to share them: that is the question every publisher and distributor is agonizing over. But no one seems to be answering it with anything short of clutching their petticoats and jumping up on the nearest chair."

UK Research: Consumers expect lower prices for ebooks

Internet Retailing: "... research also revealed a strong consumer expectation to pay less for e-books than their printed equivalent, with nearly half (48%) of consumers saying they expect to pay less, and just one in five (19%) saying they expect to pay the same. Some 7% of Brits say they expect to pay less than 3 pounds, with 28% thinking it should be between 3 pounds and 5.99 pounds. Younger readers were the most likely to expect to pay less—reflecting, according to Mintel, their general experience of being able to procure digital product for less or free on the internet."

Barnes & Noble/Spring Design settle lawsuit over Nook feature

Yahoo! Finance: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc has settled a lawsuit brought against it by Spring Design, which had accused the top U.S. bookseller of illegally copying a screen design for its popular Nook electronic book reader. Under terms of the agreement, Spring is granting Barnes & Noble a non-exclusive license for all of its patents and patent applications. Other terms of the settlement were not disclosed."

AppleInsider | Random House books come to Apple's iBookstore for iPad, iPhone

Well, of course they have.

Crush or Get Crushed: Why B&N Needs to Be a Publisher

Michael Wolf: "Let’s face it, the total pie in books is going to shrink, and the long and unwieldy value-chain from writer to customer is going to collapse. Amazon knew this a long time ago, and that’s why they’ve been moving to disintermediate the publisher and the wholesaler in the e-book world by becoming, essentially, the entire value chain themselves. B&N should do the same, and do it quick. Sure, like Amazon, it launched its own self-pub platform in PubIt!, and it tinkered around with a few imprints on the print side for some time. But in the collapsing world of books, it’s every man for himself, and its time for B&N to accelerate its push into becoming a digital publisher."

European regulators are right: agency pricing = price fixing

Europe confirms raids on ebook publishers • The Register: "The European Commission has confirmed it raided several companies involved in ebook publishing. The regulators said it carried out 'unannounced inspections' at ebook publishing companies in several member states because it has reason to believe they may have 'violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and other restrictive practices'." They shot down the Net Book Agreement and, mark me, they'll bring down Agency Pricing.

HarperCollins's Open Letter to Librarians Shows That They Just Don't "Get It"

John Marwell's letter appears on Library Love Fest: "We spent many months examining the issues before making this change. We talked to agents and distributors, had discussions with librarians, and participated in the Library Journal e-book Summit and other conferences. Twenty-six circulations can provide a year of availability for titles with the highest demand, and much longer for other titles and core backlist. If a library decides to repurchase an e-book later in the book’s life, the price will be significantly lower as it will be pegged to a paperback price point. Our hope is to make the cost per circulation for e-books less than that of the corresponding physical book. In fact, the digital list price is generally 20% lower than the print version, and sold to distributors at a discount."

Will HarperCollins program print editions of books sold to libraries to spontaneously combust after 26 reads?

Another point: Setting aside the ridiculous notion of limiting usage on a sold edition of a book, the idea of digital prices being arbitrarily pegged 20% lower than hardcover or paper prices is equally absurd. In this way the cost of traditional print, paper and bind dictates the cost of e-editions? The tail wags the dog?

AppleInsider: Random House may soon join iBooks -

Well of course. Hell, agency model was the only issue between them in the first place.

Random House Switches to Agency Model, Joins Other Large Houses in Helping Small Upstarts Get a Jump on Them Pricewise

Thank God. The last thing I needed was RH not trying to gouge customers. PW: "In the agency model, publishers set the price and designate an agent—in this case the bookseller—who will sell the book and receive the commission. Adopting the model for e-books tends to mean e-book prices will rise, something both publishers and independent retailers applaud. Publishers believe low e-book prices devalue their books and cannibalize hardcover sales. Under the agency model once a price has been set it cannot be changed or discounted by the retailer and independent e-book retailers believe the higher prices of the agency model allow them to compete with big e-book vendors."

Do E-Book Users Need a Bill of Rights? (Librarians Think So)

NY Times: "Libraries may be on the front-lines of this latest battle, one that makes it clear that issues like DRM and lending policies can have troubling repercussions. Although the HarperCollins announcement impacts just lending through libraries, librarians are quick to point out that it isn't simply their institutions that will suffer."

Publishers Look Beyond Bookstores

Coming to a bait and tackle shop near you. NY Times: " ... Publishers have stocked books in nonbook retailers for decades — a coffee-table book in the home department, a novelty book in Urban Outfitters. In the last year, though, some publishers have increased their efforts as the two largest bookstore chains have changed course. Barnes & Noble has been devoting more floor space for displays of e-readers, games and educational toys. Borders, after filing for bankruptcy protection in February, has begun liquidating some 200 of its superstores. ... "

A word from our sponsor: Video trailer featuring music performed by Pete Seeger for New Street's reissue of David Arkin's BLACK AND WHITE

AT&T stores to carry Amazon's Kindle 3G

Reuters:

AT&T will begin carrying online retailer Amazon.com Inc's market-leading Kindle electronic reader next week, expanding the device's availability in stores.

AT&T said it would start selling the Kindle 3G at its stores across the United States beginning on Sunday and feature it in its device displays.

Amazon, whose Kindle competes with Barnes & Noble Inc's Nook and Apple Inc's iPad, has been trying to make the Kindle more widely available for sale beyond its own web site on the assumption shoppers prefer to try e-readers before buying them.

Last year, office supplies retailer Staples Inc, discount chain Target Corp and Best Buy Co Inc all started carrying the Kindle.

Forrester Research estimated in December that about 6 million Kindles had been sold at that point since its launch in 2007, far ahead of the Nook and other devices.

This Library E-Book Will Self-Destruct After 26 Check Outs

NY Times: " ... imagine, if you will, a publishing company - oh, let's say HarperCollins - telling libraries that after checking out a book a certain number of times - oh, let's say 26 - that they've reached the cap on loans. The book can no longer be shared, and libraries need to return the copy or buy the book again. ... "

E-commerce drives Q3 growth for Barnes & Noble

- Web accounted for 89.3%—$150 million—of all growth in the latest quarter, per Internet Retailer.

NOOK for Android updated with new grid view, wish list and download progress meter

intomobile: "Barnes & Noble has updated its NOOK Android app adding in few of the user-requested features. Version 2.5 comes with a new library grid view, wish list facility and download progress meter, along with “other improvements” — I assume they talk about performance improvements."

Google adds eBooks to Android Market

Important given advent of Honeycomb for new gen of Android tablets. Expert Reviews: "An extension of the Google eBooks store launched late last year in the US and formerly known as Google Editions, the Books portion of Android Market makes it possible to buy and download electronic books for reading on an Android 3.0 device."

Kindle for the Web - or - Why Amazon Isn’t Worried About Apple’s In-App Purchasing Rules

Chuck Toporek @ chuckdude: " ... the reason we haven’t heard Jeff Bezos screaming about this recent change to the IAP rules is because Amazon isn’t worried. They have a solution already in beta testing and it works just fine. Instead of using the Kindle app, iOS users can just point Safari to Amazon’s site, buy the Kindle ebook, and read it right there in Safari. No app required. Again, Kindle for the Web is just a beta right now, so full text isn’t available at the moment. You can bet Amazon will make a big splash about this, though, once they have all the publishers lined up and ready to go."

O'Reilly ebooks outsell print editions by more than 8 to 1

Pocket-lint: "Technology and computer book publisher O'Reilly has revealed that 88 per cent of its unit sales in 2010 were ebooks, with print editions and paid-for video taking up the other 12 per cent combined. In addition, 79 per cent of its dollar revenue was generated by digital versions of its titles."

Apple Announces an iPad-2 Event

NYTimes: "Apple on Wednesday sent the news media an official invitation to an event that is expected to showcase the next iPad. The e-mail said Apple would be holding an 'invitation-only event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco on March 2.' Although invitations to Apple events are usually cryptic, this announcement was less subtle, as it shows a calendar page peeling back to reveal an iPad."

Motorola Xoom - Bad Timing, High Price, Complex Interface

Xoom price = $800, $70 above 32-gig iPad. + iPad 2 about to launch. + Honeycomb a complex interface compared to iOS. NYTimes: "Starting Thursday, you’ll be able to buy one of the most eagerly awaited iPad rivals: the Motorola Xoom. Like most iPad aspirants, this one runs Google’s Android software — but the Xoom is the first that runs Android 3.0 (code-named Honeycomb), which Google designed for tablets instead of phones."

RIP, Alex eReader

RIP, Alex eReader: "The Spring Design Alex eReader is dead. The Android-powered dual-screen device is no longer in stock and production on new units has ceased. Company officials claim the investor has pulled funding."

Amazon's delivery fees for Kindle books putting a hurt on publishers of graphic novels, comics

PW: "However, while there is a nascent market for comics on e-book readers like the Kindle and B&N’s color device, the Nook, Amazon’s recently introduced digital 'delivery fee,' charging publishers 15 cents per megabyte to transfer a book’s file to the Kindle, has forced some comics publishers to rethink using the Kindle platform. While novels are text-based and unlikely to run up a delivery charge much over $0.02, graphic novels have a much higher bandwidth, and could be forced into a lower payment/royalty rate and higher list price because of their file size, directly because of these Amazon fees. In addition, Amazon also has a recommended file size which affects graphic novel pricing."

Steve Haber Speaks: Apple’s Rejection, Sony Reader Sales, the Future of E-Ink

PW: "In a wide ranging conversation, Sony Reader president Steve Haber said the Sony Readers have sold millions of units; that the redesigned Touch and Pocket edition units have sold out completely and he maintained that Apple changed the rules on them when it rejected the Sony iPad/iPhone app. Haber outlined a growing international demand for Sony Readers, the launch of a library device lending program and emphasized that not only are e-ink devices 'not doomed' but “set to replace the traditional book."

Barnes & Noble 3Q net income falls

Yahoo! Finance: "NEW YORK (AP) -- Book seller Barnes & Noble's third-quarter revenue rose, but its net income fell 25 despite higher revenue as it continued to invest in its online operations and Nook e-readers, the company said Tuesday. Barnes & Noble also said it was suspending its quarterly dividend, and it doesn't plan to forecast its fourth-quarter or full-year earnings due to the effect of last week's bankruptcy filing by Borders Group."

Amazon’s New Kindle Commercial Jabs At iPad Again

SlashGear: "The Kindle commercial also accentuates the fact that their device can run up to a month on one battery charge and comes at you with a relatively affordable price point of $139. These advantages plus their overall feel-good message of 'The Book Lives On' should appeal to the true book enthusiasts. And for those book lovers considering an iPad instead, Amazon warns you again in this commercial of the imminent glare."

Books Beyond Borders

Megan McArdle, The Atlantic: "At least Barnes and Noble should be happy; this erases their biggest competition for bricks-and-mortar pure brick retailing. But looking to the future, they too have to be nervous. All that real estate is expensive, and their margins are under pressure from Wal-Mart on the bricks-and-mortar side, and Amazon on the web. One wonders if the Nook can really make up for those competitive disadvantages."

Amazon pushes out Kindle update

TechCentral: "US e-retailer Amazon.com has released the first major software update for its popular Kindle e-reader since it unveiled the Kindle 3 last year. The new software introduces real page numbers that match the pages in printed books, a feature long requested by users of the popular device. The software update, version 3.1, will be pushed to SA Kindle users in the next few days. A Wi-Fi connection is needed to download and install the update. It will not be made available over the cellular networks. ... "

Alexander Nazaryan on the future of publishing - best soundbite of the month award

NY Daily News: "In truth, flooding the market with books doesn't work, because books aren't like shoes or groceries. Readers don't demand choice as much as they demand quality. Fewer books, rigorously edited and thoughtfully published, would have better served both readers and writers. ... If there is hope for publishing, it is with modest presses and modest books, putting out titles for small but loyal audiences. But that's not something that's going to warm the heart of Penguin's CEO."

No More Crippled iBooks? Jailbreaking Tool's Update Claims to Fix Issues

NYTimes: "Last week, Apple updated its e-reader app iBooks with several minor new features and one very unwelcome tweak that affected users of jailbroken phones. Jailbreakers who downloaded the update were no longer able to use iBooks on their mobile phone. 'Apple deliberately crippled my device,' wrote an angry blogger on Social Apples after realizing what had occurred. Today, an update to the jailbreaking tool Sn0wbreeze may have addressed this issue, according to reports from mobile bloggers and Twitter."

Borders bankruptcy's impact across the industry

PW: "The trickle-down impact will affect everyone from manufacturers to agents. Borders accounted for about 8% of overall industry sales, a higher percentage in some categories. A downsized Borders means publishers are likely to receive smaller orders and in turn place smaller first printings, resulting in less business for printers. The likelihood of lower print sales, one publisher said, means that books acquired one or two years ago when Borders was much bigger will have a more difficult time earning the advance back and that less shelf space could mean lower advances."

AAP Reports the Obvious: eBooks Boosted Sales in 2010

PW: "The Association of American Publishers' domestic sales report for 2010 showed e-book sales jumping significantly from last year, rising 164.4%, with e-books bringing in $441 million at the 14 companies that reported sales, compared to $166.9 million in 2009. While all print categories were down slightly in 2010, children's/YA hardcover dropped the most, at 9.5%. The good news for reporting companies is that the significant growth in e-book sales was able to make up for the drops in print revenue, resulting in a 0.2% increase in combined print and e-book sales in 2010. E-book sales represented 8.3% of combined trade sales in 2010, up from 3.2% in 2009. E-book sales have jumped 623% since 2008, when sales from reporting companies were $61.3 million, a figure that represented about 1% of trade sales."

Can Tina Brown successfully reinvent Newsweek?

Money quote from NY Times: " ... there is the much larger question of whether a weekly magazine is still a viable format for delivering the news. Publishing veterans are not focused on whether Ms. Brown can sustain Newsweek as readers have come to know it during the last 78 years. What she needs to do, they say, is create a whole new magazine from scratch. 'Whether it can be saved is irrelevant,' said Ron Galotti, the former Vanity Fair publisher, who worked with Ms. Brown at Conde Nast and left the company with her to help start Talk. 'What is to be created is the task.'"

Book Lovers Fear Dim Future for Marginalia

per NY Times re: digital. But I'm a book lover; and I don't give a rat's ass.

Apple’s Message to Publishers: Quality

Interesting "take" on Apple's new subscription model. Liam Cassidy via NYTimes: "Much publishing today is less concerned with quality than it is with quantity. The more copies there are of a magazine in circulation — or clicks on a web page — the more eyeballs see accompanying ads. In a world where, more than ever before, readers have more choice of content, but less time to engage with it, for many publishers, the key to generating appreciable revenue lies not in value, but in volume. ... Online publishing’s focus on advertising, sponsorship and syndication is problematic, for viewers and for Apple as a company that wants to provide worthwhile content for users of its platforms. Great quality content, in this model, is of little use to publishers, despite the fact that it happens to be precisely the thing readers actually want. Apple, I think, has noticed this problem, and is now taking positive steps to solve it. Apple wants to ensure that publishing on the iPad is never anything less than top quality, where the paramount priorities of publishers lie always in ensuring the quality of their content."

Pressure mounts over Apple's 30% subscription charge

BBC: "Pressure is mounting on Apple over subscription charges it plans to levy on some mobile content. The company wants a 30% cut of payments for newspapers and other publications downloaded to its devices. Anti-trust regulators in the US and Europe are reportedly poised to investigate the new pricing model. ... "

Apple Subscription Service Draws Antitrust Scrutiny

We all saw this coming, right? NYTimes: "Apple’s new subscription service for iPad and iPhone applications, which has drawn complaints from some publishers, has also drawn the attention of federal antitrust regulators, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. ... "

GOB Banners To Go Up Friday for 200 Borders Stores

PW: "At Thursday morning’s hearing for Borders’ bankruptcy, Chief Judge Arthur Gonzalez of U.S. District Court, Southern District of N.Y., gave the retailer the go ahead to liquidate 200 stores and begin going-out-of-business sales on Friday rather than hold off for the customary 21-day waiting period. ... "

Nook Color Honeycomb 'beta' hack advances | Crave - CNET

Carnoy, CNET: "A couple of weeks ago, I posted something on how an industrious Android enthusiast, who goes by the handle deeper-blue on the xdadevelopers' forum, had hacked or 'rooted' the Nook Color to run a preview version of Honeycomb. At the time, we were looking at a pretty crude port that was missing a lot of Honeycomb's core features. But since then, some improvements have been made, giving 'rooters' hope that the slightly underpowered Nook Color might be able to handle Google's Android 3.0 operating system for tablets without running too sluggishly. Several videos of "HoneyNook" in action have cropped up in recent days, including the embedded video from Noah at TechnoBuffalo, who credits the newer NookHoney port to deeper-dev. More recently, David Cogen at theunlockr.com put together his own NookHoney demo complete with a background soundtrack. His assessment: "Not bad for a $250 tablet running beta software...it can only get better." (Note: Cogen is running the Honeycomb port from the internal memory, which works better and has the Android Market, but is harder to undo)."

AAP Stats on Viral eBook Sales Growth

More good #s: "E-books grew a dramatic 164.8 percent in December 2010 vs the previous year ($49.5 Million vs $18.7M). In the AAP’s ninth year of tracking this category, E-books once again increased significantly on an annual basis, up 164.4 percent for 2010 vs 2009 ($441.3M vs $166.9M). E-book sales represented 8.32 percent of the trade book market in 2010 vs 3.20 percent the previous year. ... "

S&P Analyst: US Market "Over-Saturated" in Terms of Number of Retail Book Stores

NYTimes.com: "'The book retailing industry is very challenging right now,' said Michael Souers, an analyst for Standard & Poor’s. 'We’ve had significant transformation. Bookstores have gradually been losing their prominence, and the U.S. market is over-saturated in terms of the number of retail stores. So that trend will likely continue as e-books gain more prevalence in the market.' ... "

Kobo Reassures Its E-Book Customers After Borders Declares Bankruptcy

NYTimes: "Kobo readers join Borders customers today in asking, 'What's next?' And Kobo has responded with a blog post, reassuring users that its service - and their digital purchases - will remain intact. What does Borders' bankruptcy mean for Kobo customers? 'Nothing,' says Kobo, stating its independence from Borders and its financial security. ... "

Bankruptcy Filing Means Borders Owes Big Publishers Millions

Trachtenberg, WSJ: "'If publishers are lucky, they'll get back 25 cents on the dollar,' said Jed Lyons, chief executive of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc., which publishes its own titles and distributes books for other publishers through its National Book Network. According to Wednesday's filing, Borders owes National Book Network $2 million. Although many publishers scaled back deliveries to Borders in the past year as its finances worsened, the filing showed they were the bookseller's biggest unsecured creditors, with the six largest on the list owed a combined $182 million. In first place was Penguin Group (USA), a unit of Pearson PLC, which Borders owes $41.1 million, followed in close order by Lagardère SCA's Hachette Book Group and CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster Inc. ... "

With Borders decline, industry loses millions of square feet of shelf space (permanently)

Hillel Italie, AP: "Whether or not Borders survives closing some 200 stores, the 'superstore' boom of the past two decades has busted, authors and publishers face a market minus millions of square feet of physical shelf space and communities once crowded with booksellers may find themselves with none. ... "

Google Announces Payment System for Digital Content: Google One Pass

NYTimes: "SAN FRANCISCO — A day after Apple stirred up online publishers by announcing a digital subscription plan that some called too restrictive and financially burdensome, Google on Wednesday announced its own payment service for digital content that aims to be more publisher-friendly. ... "

Good roundup of pundit opinion Amazon vs. Apple re: in-app iPad content purchases -

From The Bookseller.

Conde Nast Newsstand Tries Convergence of Technologies

NYTimes: "LONDON — A newsstand set to open here next week will sell more than a dozen international editions of Vogue magazine, in languages including English, Russian and Chinese. More than 100 other titles from around the world will line the shelves, with little flags indicating their country of origin. Visitors will be able to browse through digital versions of these and other publications on iPads tethered to sleek plastic tables. ... "

And Here We Go: Borders Files for Bankruptcy

NYTimes: "Borders Group, the beleaguered bookseller, filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday after failing to secure agreements with publishers and other vendors about reorganizing its debt. The bookseller listed $1.29 billion in debt and $1.27 billion in assets in a filing in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan. ... "

No iBooks For You - Latest iBooks Version Won't Work On Jailbroken Phones

NYTimes: "Apple's e-reader app iBooks received an update last week, boasting a fairly typical set of changes: better stability, better layout, and a connection to AirPrint. But according to some reports, this latest version can cause problems for those trying to open e-books on jailbroken iPhones. ... "

Apple: if we get you subscribers, we deserve a cut

Ars Technica:

It has been almost two weeks since The Daily made its debut on the iPad, but Apple has finally announced its in-app subscription terms for other offerings in the App Store. The system is open to all publishers of content-based apps—music, newspapers, video, and magazines, but not insurance policies. Anyone who sells subscription-based content outside the App Store must also use Apple's system, giving Apple a 30 percent cut. Hello in-app Netflix subscriptions?

"Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing," CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app."

Apple's announcement went on to emphasize that publishers are not limited to using the App Store for subscriptions; they're allowed to use their own websites to sell subs. They can even offer free access via their apps to existing out-of-app subscribers (so, if you subscribe to a magazine in print form and that magazine lets you get iPad subscriptions for free as part of your agreement, that's still allowed). However, companies cannot offer those types of subscriptions as the only options within their iOS apps—just like Apple's newly enforced rule with e-books, publishers must go all-in with Apple's subscriptions and their own, or they can't be on the App Store.

Oh, and the subscriptions offered within iOS apps must be the same price or less as the company's other offerings, and the apps can no longer link to an outside store where users can purchase content. ...

Blog To Book Deals ... and Market Saturation

Digits - WSJ: "Blogger starts a blog. Blogger solicits photos or texts or emails. Blogger gets a book deal. That formula has been wildly successful for the last few years, but is showing signs of market saturation. ... "

Borders demise signals end for chain bookstores

Retail Gazette (UK):

High street book shops are becoming increasingly rare, with many of the biggest names in the sector pushed into oblivion by buying online and the increasing popularity of reading devices such as the Amazon Kindle and the Apple iPad. ...

Just over a year ago Borders closed the doors of all of its UK stores, marking the start of a disastrous down-turn for the industry.

The next to go was British Bookshops which announced its move into administration in January, and more recently Waterstones closed of 11 stores in the UK and Ireland following disappointing December sales trading.

So the question is whether there is still space for a large chain bookstore on high streets around the world?

Consulting Director of Verdict Research Neil Saunders argures that because bookstores require an extensive amount of space in order to offer a wide selection of books, a combination of low sales and high rents can be lethal. ...

At Huff Post and Social Media Networks - A Nation of Serfs, and a "Tom Sawyer Moment"

David Carr, NY Times:

... The Huffington Post, social networks and traditional media may all seem like different animals, but as advertising, the mother’s milk of all media, flows toward social and amateur media, low-cost and no-cost content is becoming the norm.

For those of us who make a living typing, it’s all very scary, of course. It’s less about the diminution of authority and expertise, although there is that, and more about the growing perception that content is a commodity, and one that can be had for the price of zero. (Content manufacturers like Demand Media that gin up $15 articles based on searches, put the price only slightly above that.) Old-line media companies that are not only forced to compete with the currency and sexiness of social media, but also burdened by a cost structure for professionally produced content, are left at a profound disadvantage.

For the media, this is a Tom Sawyer moment. “Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?” he says to his friends, and sure enough, they are soon lined up for the privilege of doing his chores. That’s a bit like how social networks get built. (Just imagine if Tom had also schooled them in the networking opportunities of the user-generated endeavor: “You’re not just painting a fence. You’re building an audience around your personal brand.”)

“The technology of a lot of these sites is very seductive, and it lulls you into contributing,” said Anthony De Rosa, a product manager at Reuters. “We are being played for suckers to feed the beast, to create content that ends up creating value for others.”

Last month, Mr. De Rosa wrote — on Tumblr, naturally — about how audiences became publishers, essentially painting the fence for the people who own the various platforms.

“We live in a world of Digital Feudalism,” he wrote. “The land many live on is owned by someone else, be it Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr, or some other service that offers up free land and the content provided by the renter of that land essentially becomes owned by the platform that owns the land.” ...

Borders' Bankruptcy, eBooks, and Evaporating Physical Shelf-Space

Jeff Trachtenberg and Paul Sonne, Wall Street Journal:

A bankruptcy filing by Borders Group Inc., which could come within days, will mean fewer places for consumers to buy books, which in turn is expected to speed the pace of online and e-book sales.

Borders has been putting the finishing touches on a store-closure program that could eliminate more than one-third of its 674 stores as part of a Chapter 11 restructuring, according to people familiar with the matter.

"Once physical shelf space is gone, it's gone forever," says Mark Coker, chief executive of Smashwords Inc., an e-book publishing and distribution platform based in Los Gatos, Calif. "If you remove books from our towns and villages and malls, there will be less opportunity for the serendipitous discovery of books. And that will make it tougher to sell books." ...

Why Innovation Doffs an Old Hat

NY Times: "Just as the average human carries around the remnants of a prehistoric tail and a useless appendix, the tools we use also bear marks of the evolutionary process from which they arose. Add to that list Amazon’s e-reader, the Kindle, which will now supplement its 'location numbers' with page numbers that correspond to physical books. The change, announced last week, does have a practical purpose — especially for book clubs, whose digital readers presumably will no longer have trouble looking up the same page as analog readers. But there is also a sense of absurdity here. E-books, by definition, do not have pages. Depending on which size font someone uses, she may have to advance the screen many times before 'turning a page.' Then there are the questions of how to approach books with many physical editions, or texts that exist only in digital space. ... "

Time Inc. Strikes Blows for Publishers in Standoff with Apple

Jeff Bercovici - Mixed Media - Forbes:

For Time Inc., the world’s biggest magazine company, the quickest way to get it titles onto iPad screens may be getting them onto other tablets first.

While other publishers wrangle with Apple over the ins and outs of subscription sales in the iTunes store — How big a cut does Apple get to keep? Who gets control of the consumer’s information? Should the customer get to choose? — Time Inc. is moving ahead diagonally, making deals with the makers of other devices in hopes of gaining leverage in its negotiations with Apple.

Today, Sports Illustrated introduced an “All Access” subscription plan that will allow readers to pay one price to read the magazine in print, online, on Samsung Galaxy tablets and on Android phones. Although newspapers including The Wall Street Journal already offer such an option, SI is the first magazine to do so, according to managing editor Terry McDonell. The news comes just in time for the magazine’s swimsuit issue, its biggest annual seller. ...

Borders Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

Mike Spector and Jeff Trachtenberg, WSJ:

Borders Group Inc. is in the final stages of preparing a bankruptcy filing after failing to persuade publishers and others to go along with a plan to refinance the troubled bookstore chain's debt.

The Ann Arbor, Mich., bookseller could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as Monday or Tuesday, said people familiar with the matter, paving the way for the closure of about 200 stores and thousands of job losses.

The people cautioned the filing could be delayed a few days. But Borders has pivoted from focusing on refinancing efforts and is preparing bankruptcy papers and seeking financing agreements that would keep it afloat during the Chapter 11 reorganization process, those people said.

"There have been constant inquiries by reporters, and stories written, regarding whether Borders is considering a Chapter 11 filing," a Borders spokesman said. "Borders is not prepared at this time to report on the course of action it will pursue."

Borders initially plans to close about 200 of its 674 stores, the people said. Liquidators have been bidding for the right to run the store closures, with an option to close an additional 50 stores or so under similar terms, the people said. ...

Hedge fund financier acknowledges $125 million loss on Borders investment

AnnArborDOTcom: "One of the top investors in Ann Arbor-based Borders Group Inc. acknowledged that his New York-based hedge fund has lost $125 million on its investment in the book store chain, Bloomberg BusinessWeek is reporting. Activist investor Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management 'admits' the Borders investment was a mistake, the magazine says in a lengthy profile story. ... "

Apple, Google and the Publishers: Here’s How to Make Subscriptions Work

John Squires | AllThingsD: "In recent weeks, we’ve heard growing concern from magazine and newspaper publishers regarding the challenge of providing content for mobile media while preserving their print franchises. The concern is nothing new, but it’s apparent that content providers are at risk of losing track of their customers like toddlers in a shopping mall. ... "

Sports Illustrated Magazine to Offer Subscriptions for Android Devices

Digits - WSJ: "Sports Illustrated magazine on Friday afternoon will start offering subscriptions to digital editions on Android smart phones and tablets, according to a person familiar with the matter. ... "

Yahoo Launches "Livestand"

One more aggregator. NYTimes: "Yahoo on Thursday announced the debut of Livestand, a publishing platform that aims to deliver personalized content to mobile devices. As The New York Times first reported on Sunday, the platform, a digital newsstand, will offer a continuous stream of programming based on users’ interests. Yahoo plans to push the platform across multiple formats, including tablets, smartphones, and Web browsers, according to the company’s press release."

PC WORLD Ponders the eBook Format Morass

Money quote: "Ultimately, what consumers need is e-books that they can buy and read anywhere, using any software they choose on any device they have at hand, whether it be a phone, a tablet, a laptop, or a PC. No muss, no fuss. This issue is critical to library management and to the future success of e-books."

HP TouchPad and Other Tablets vs. the Advantaged iPad

Michael Hickins, WSJ: "Hewlett-Packard announced its entry into the mobile device space today, but is entering a market already crowded with strong contenders. The market, currently dominated by Apple’s iPad (which hogged approximately 87 percent of the worldwide market in 2010, according to research firm IDC), already includes Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, and will count the likes of Motorola Mobility Holdings, Research in Motion and Dell, all of whom intend to ship by the end of this year. But it’s that very timing that gives Apple such a huge advantage, according to Susan Kevorkian, who follows the mobile device market for IDC. ... "

Amazon HP TouchPad Kindle App

Gizmocrunch: "While no release date has been specified, it is expected to launch around the same time the HP TouchPad hits the market (summer release). With the HP TouchPad Kindle app, you can read Amazon Kindle books on your tablet and even sync it with other devices you own (e.g. iPad, iPhone). Amazon has also announced that the Kindle app will be making its way to Android, BlackBerry and Windows 7 tablets soon as well, allowing you to share book with just about every platform. ... "

Kindle Books on Linux

Amazon Kindle 3 and Kindle DX Review and News Blog: "As of recently it is possible to run Kindle for PC application via Wine on Linux. I tested it on 64-bit install of Ubuntu 10.10 and put together this step-by-step instructions and a short review. Enjoy! ... "

Page Numbers for Kindle Books an Imperfect Solution

But imperfect is all we can hope for - so says Dave Pogue in the NY Times.

Powell’s Lays Off 31 Workers

PW: "In a sign that no bricks-and-mortar bookstore, even one with a strong online presence, is immune from today’s economic conditions, 40-year-old Powell’s Books in Portland laid off 31 employees yesterday. ... "

Apple's New iPad in Production

Wall Street Journal: "Apple Inc. has started manufacturing a new version of its iPad tablet computer with a built-in camera and faster processor, said people familiar with the matter. The new iPad will be thinner and lighter than the first model, these people said. It will have at least one camera on the front of the device for features like video-conferencing, but the resolution of the display will be similar to the first iPad, these people said. It will also have more memory and a more powerful graphics processor, they said. The new iPad will initially be available through Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., but not Sprint Nextel Corp. or T-Mobile USA in the U.S., according to some of the people familiar with the matter. ... "

European publishers upset over Apple's iTunes subscription fees, restrictions

AppleInsider:

A group of European newspaper publishers has warned Apple that a 30 percent commission on iTunes subscription revenue and restrictive conditions would be unfair, according to a new report.

The BBC reports that the European Newspaper Publishers' Association has expressed concern over Apple's revenue split for iTunes digital periodical subscriptions and possible restrictions limiting whether iPad users can subscribe to a periodical through the company's own website.

The ENPA warns that Apple is demanding too large a cut of publishers' profits while potentially banning newspapers from taking subscriptions via their own websites. ...

Yankee Group: eReader sales to reach $8.2 billion by 2014

Boston Globe: "Global sales of e-readers such as the Kindle are projected to reach $8.2 billion by 2014, according to a new report from Yankee Group, a Boston-based market research firm. That's up from 2010 sales of nearly $1.9 billion, or from about 11 million units last year to a projected 72 million in unit sales in 2014, Yankee Group said. And by 2014, the average retail price for an e-reader device should be $114, down from a 2010 average of $182, Yankee Group said. ... "

Having stopped shipments to Borders Group, publisher John Wiley writes off $9 million, doesn't expect payment

Crain's Detroit Business Mobile: "With Borders Group Inc. now into its third month of withholding payments to some landlords and publishers, a New Jersey-based publisher is giving up on getting paid by the bookseller. Last Friday, John Wiley & Sons Inc. (NYSE: JWA) filed a disclosure stating that it is recording $9 million in bad debt because of nonpayment by Ann Arbor-based Borders. Wiley based its reporting of bad debt on 'the status of our current business relationship with Borders Group Inc. and potential future adverse financial events that may affect this customer,' according to the 8K document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ... "