Pandigital "Novel" eReader

From Twice:

[Pandigital] said it has reached a deal with national book retailer Barnes & Noble to supply e-books and other electronically published content for a full-color, multimedia e-reader called the Pandigital Novel, model PRD07T10WWH7. It is set to ship in June at a $199 suggested retail, through retailers including Kohl's; Bed, Bath & Beyond; Macy's; and other leading retail accounts, the company said. Panadigital expects to reach 33,000 storefronts with the product by the fall.

The Novel shares many of the characteristics of Apple's iPad, which recently launched to great acclaim, including a full-color touchscreen LCD (800 by 600 resolution), the ability to use multiple apps for a variety of applications, and such multimedia capabilities as playing digital photos, music and some video content (at launch the device will not support Flash-based video).

Unlike the Apple product, however, the first iteration of the Novel features a smaller 7-inch screen and runs on Google's Android software platform, which will run some of that system's non-cellphone-specific apps.

Recognizing that access to content was paramount to a successful launch, the company reached an agreement with the Barnes & Noble eBook Store to provide purchasers access to e-book content. The Novel will support a variety of e-book file formats, including EPUB, HTML and PDF. A majority of the titles from Barnes & Noble are expected to be offered in EPUB.

The Novel includes Wi-Fi connectivity to access content online directly through the device. ...

Konrath's Amazon Encore Deal

Thanks to Rich Kelley for flagging Mike Shatzkin's important take on the new Konrath/Amazon deal for Konrath's forthcoming novel Shaken.

Amazon will publish the Kindle edition at $2.99 in October and release a paperback at $14.95 next February ... this is a significant jolt to conventional publishing economics. Sales of Konrath’s $2.99 ebook will deliver him about $2.10 a copy (Konrath says $2.04; not sure where the other six cents is going…), as much or more as he would make on a $14.95 paperback from a trade publisher, and significantly more than he’d make on a $9.99 ebook distributed under 'Agency' terms and current major publisher royalty conventions. And, however one feels about the degree to which pricing is a barrier to ebook sales, one must assume that the $2.99 price will result in a lot more ebook sales than a $9.99 price would. Many times the sales!

eBooks @ BookExpo

Signs of the times. As struggling booksellers and traditional publishers gather at BookExpo, they'll be greeted with seminars about the technology that's killing them. Panels are to include "Welcome to the eBook Revolution" and "EPUB Boot Camp: Learn How to Produce eBooks in the Industry Standard." Hillel Italie takes note of these and other matters, as BookExpo itself shrinks before our very eyes.

Kindle for Android

Sounds like the new app works nicely. This comes from Phandroid: "Androinica got hands-on with the app at Google I/O, and its just about what we expected. And that’s nothing bad at all, as the Kindle app looks like it will make reading on your Android device straightforward and intuitive. ... "

Traditional Publishers' Profit Model vs. eBook $ Realities

Italics are mine. This from the Wharton Business School:

The book may have a bright future in the digital age. But the road from here to there is badly lit and full of potholes in the view of publishing industry experts speaking at Wharton's Future of Publishing Conference held recently in New York.

According to Alberto Vitale, a former Random House executive whose donations helped found The Wharton Lab for Innovation in Publishing, "Digital will complement and enhance traditional publishing. In a short time, it will make the economics of publishing a lot more attractive and compelling." But getting to that point may require a remaking of the book publishing business as it stands today. Noted Judith Curr, publisher of Simon & Shuster's Atria Books line: "Every part of the publishing function has to be reexamined." She warned that publishers may have to take on unaccustomed roles. "We must be aggregators of information, entertainers, agents and managers. At the end of the day, money has to change hands."

Traditional publishers are trying various experiments, but they are deeply concerned about protecting their existing revenues and author relationships.. "We try to experiment aggressively, but it's hard to ignore the fact that 95% of the revenue is print," said David Steinberger, president and publisher of Perseus Books. "Start-ups aren't burdened by having to protect that legacy revenue ..."

Jane Friedman's Open Road Continues to Thrive

From Examiner.com:

As former ambassador Mitchell Reiss is set to begin his new position as president of Washington College, he also announced that he is writing a book, Negotiating With Evil, on the ins and outs of negotiating--or not--with terrorists. As someone knowledgable about the subject, the real surprise is not that he is writing the book--but that he chose to go straight to ebook format with the publication.

Reiss will be publishing his book through Open Road Integrated Media, founded by former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman and film producer Jeffrey Sharp.

Reiss is not the only author to choose ebook format over traditional publishing methods. He's joined by the likes of rize-winning author John Edgar Wideman and crime novlist J. A. Konrath--both of whom enjoy very strong sales through lulu.com and Amazon's AmazonEncore.

Open Road has been having success with the novels of late author William Styron, who wrote The Confessions of Nat Turner, Sophie's Choice, and others. Those titles were released on May 4th and have been ranking high for Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook. ...

Humor: Is Print Dead?

J.A. Konrath hosts a debate. Damned clever.

Sesame Street Subscription Model for Kiddie eBooks

From Publishers Weekly:

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces Sesame Street, and e-content delivery provider Impelsys have launched a new online Sesame Street eBookstore. Readers can subscribe with Impelsys to get unlimited access to a library of more than 100 Sesame Street eBooks for an annual fee of $39.99, although the company is offering an introductory price of $24.99 through July 4. ...

DNAML Announces DNL 2, the Operating System and Device Agnostic eBook Reader

From PR Web:

DNAML Pty Ltd (‘DNAML’) today announced that it has commenced testing of its new DNL 2 eBook format, which is the next generation of its multi-media friendly DNL eBook format.

DNL 2 is designed to be operating system agnostic and work across multiple devices.

“Developing the DNL eBook format to work on multiple operating systems enables the end user to read their eBook on their Slate or iPad device, mobile phone as well as PC’s, laptops, tablet PCs and netbooks with a single purchase” said Adam Schmidt, Managing Director and Founder of DNAML.

In today’s market, device manufacturers are controlling which eBook formats can be read on their devices. This significantly limits the potential proliferation and penetration of eBooks and does not provide a great consumer experience. As a result, the eBook market is becoming oligopolistic and fragmented with multiple proprietary systems, which is not good for publishers or consumers.

DNAML supports openness and a free digital market economy. The new DNL 2 eBook format is operating system and device agnostic, so consumers will be able to freely read DNL 2 eBooks across whatever devices they choose. The DNL 2 format will be open to all distributors, publishers and authors.

DNL 2 is based on the industry standard ePub format and will enable eBooks to be resized where text will be automatically reflowed to suit the screen size of the device, the orientation of the screen, and the font size selected for viewing.

“We see DNL 2 as the security blanket for the publishing industry and consumers” said Schmidt. Consumers will have peace of mind knowing that they have a control centre which stores the purchased eBook, and makes sure it is always available to be retrieved if a device is lost, broken, or replaced.

Publishers will have the option to use the proven ‘Bullet Proof’ DNL DRM eBook security system, which is backed up with a full back office administration system. Most importantly, DNL 2 provides absolute transparency all around. The publisher can see essential data such as sales results, is able to adjust prices and territorial restrictions and much more, all in real time. ...

DNL 2 will support the following Operating Systems

iPhone OS: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch
Android: Devices running Android 1.5+, Android phones, Android tablets
Windows Phone 7: Windows Phone 7 phones
Windows: Windows 98 to Windows 7 on Desktops, Laptops and Tablets
Mac OSX: Mac OSX 10.4 and above, Desktops and Laptops
Linux: Desktops and Laptops
Symbian OS: Mobile phones running Symbian OS
Blackberry OS: Mobile phones running Blackberry OS

Google Editions re: Out-of-Print Proprietary Content

Forget the dead bookstore lead in this article. That's old news. The more important prose relates to Google Editions and the project's plans/hopes for "out of print" proprietary content: "In the beginning, though, it appears that that the only books Google might only be able to sell are those in the public domain. They are still involved in a long-running court battle, trying to get approval to move forward with their plans for Google Books, which would display books that are copyrighted but out-of-print along with with books that have eetered the public domain. Google’s plans had been challenged by the Author’s Guild and the Association of American Publishers. While there was a settlement, it has not been approved as the judge considers objections including some from the Department of Justice, which has concerns over several issues including anti-trust. And even if they get approval, there does seem to be at least one more hurdle — last month several groups representing visual artists announced plans to challenge Google’s plans. Another issue is that it’s being reported that Google does not yet have deals in place with publishers."

My view: Rights for "out of print" proprietary content routinely, per most trade contracts, revert to authors or the heirs. I believe that Google Editions should be required to negotiate rights (cutting individual deals) with authors or their heirs for any works that remain under copyright. Intellectual property continues to be property for the life of copyright. As an author myself, I certainly haven't endowed either the Authors Guild or the AAP with the auathority to allocate/negotiate e-rights in those works of mine for which I personally control e-rights. And as a publisher, I see no problem with doing the right thing by authors.

Samsung SNE-60 for UK

From UberGizmo: "Considering that Apple’s iPad is on its way to the UK, Samsung probably didn’t pick a very good time to ship its SNE-60 eBook reader to folks in the UK, but who are we to judge, right? While Apple's iPad is not a dedicated eBook reader, it can still function as that, leaving the SNE-60 to be an alternative eBook reader for you if you're shopping for one currently. Packing a 6-inch 600 x 800 greyscale e-ink display, it measures in at 171 x 120 x 16mm and weighs in at 315g. Wi-Fi is built-in, but sadly there isn’t any 3G. The built-in memory should be good enough to store a good 1,200 eBooks, and if that isn’t enough, there’s always your trusty SD memory card slot. Other features of the SNE-60 include support for ePub, PDF and TXT formats, a built-in dictionary, text-to-speech, and MP3 playback capabilities. There isn’t a firm date as to when this device will be on shelves, but it should be in the next few months. Pricing hasn’t been confirmed yet, but a price of £187 ($276) was mentioned during CES."

No 3G. Move over Kubo. btw, the crappy Kubo releases in Australia next week.

Who Owns Users' eBook Highlighting?

From TechDirt: "There have already been plenty of questions over who 'owns' the ebooks you've bought, with stories of remotely deactivated books and remotely deactivated features -- neither of which happens when you have a real physical book. But there are also other concerns opened up by newly activated features. Apparently one new feature -- sent in by a few concerned readers -- is that Amazon will now remotely upload and store the user notes and highlights you take on your Kindle, which it then compiles into 'popular highlights.' I have no doubt that the feature provides some interesting data, but it's not clear that users realize their highlighting and notes are being stored and used that way. Amazon basically says there's no big privacy deal here, because the data is always aggregated. But it sounds like many users don't realize this is happening at all. Amazon says people can find out they added this feature by reading 'forum posts and help pages' -- but it's not clear how many people actually do read those things. While I'm sure many people are fine with this, others might not be. And it once again highlights a key concern in that the 'features' of your 'book' can change over time. Your highlighting may have been yours in the past, but suddenly it becomes Amazon's with little notice."

Fujitso Next-Generation Color E-Paper

From The Register: "Fujitsu has announced its next-generation color e-paper, ushering in the possibility of lightweight color ebooks with long battery life and fast - well, tolerable - page-refresh rates. ..."

4 Million Google Editions

With enthusiastic publisher participation, looks like Google Editions will boast the largest collection of eBooks available, perhaps as many as 4 million to start.

Kobo Klinker Issues

The first-generation Kobo has problems, evidently. From the Good e-Reader blog: "Many people who read ePub books on the Kobo are getting Font Size issues, where the font is so small it makes reading practically impossible. Sure the pre-loaded books look fine, but if you download books from any other site, forget easily loading them on your Kobo. Many users are complaining about all the software and hoops they have to jump through to load different books on their e-reader, especially if you do not buy them from Kobo. Not only do you have to download Kobo’s bug-ridden software platform, but you also need to install Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Digital Editions. Kobo has verified that these problems exist and estimate around two months until they can release a firmware update in order to fix this. Although Kobo blames Adobe for the problems with books purchased with DRM from other sites. There are also other problems such as organizing your library with books you download from other sources, contributing to an ill-managed organization of your ebooks. ..."

Another Kindle/iPad Comparitive Essay

From Network World. The same that's been heard before.

How Many Ways Do (Some) eBook Readers Love the iPad? Seven.

Megan Lavey raves about iPad as an eBook reader on TUAW: The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Daily Tech re: Kobo

A bit from Daily Tech. And a comment from me: I think, despite low price tag, that the lack of 3G connectivity is going to create a very large headwind for the Kobo. So let it be written.

Google Editions "Open-Ecosystem"

Chris Dawson writing on ZDNet: "Google Editions has been on my radar for a while now, primarily for its potential applications to educational technology. After all, while the Kindle and Sony Reader were great tools for bookworms, they were hardly the sort of devices that could bring the next generation of interactive books to students with their gray-scale low-resolution screens. Besides, the iPad was just around the corner, right? Google’s distribution model seemed a perfect fit for web-centric tablets like the iPad and any other smartphone or computer to which users happened to have access. For those of you not familiar with Google Editions, this will be Google’s entry into the ebook marketplace. Ultimately, it will probably include millions of scanned titles from their controversial Books project, but until the legal wrangling over Books is wrapped up, Editions will feature both Google’s own Amazon-style store as well as partner sales channels for small distributors and bookstores when it launches this summer. ..."

More Borders Kobo Details/Criticisms

Check here: "So what does the Kobo eReader have over the Kindle and Nook? Price. The Kindle and Nook retail for $249, close to $100 more than the new Kobo eReader. Furthermore, we can also expect their ebooks to be priced on the lower end of the scale since Borders is trying to keep the overall cost for consumer to a minimum. However that is as far as it goes when it comes to advantages. It pretty much goes downhill from there. For starters the Kobo Reader only offers eight shades of gray whereas the Kindle does sixteen. When it comes to transfer, the Kobo eReader has Bluetooth support and doesn't do Wi-Fi or 3G. There is still some hope for the Kobo eReader if the Kobo library offers a good selection of ebooks at low prices. OZCAR guesses that since the screen size is similar between all three devices and Kobo has decided to slash its price by leaving out some features many consumers could do without, this would make it an ideal gift."

Google Editions

CNET UK: "Google Editions will launch this summer, and looks set to start a new chapter in the ebook market. The browser-based ebook store will offer ebooks that work on any device, which could spell trouble for the proprietary systems offered by Apple, Amazon and Sony. Ebooks bought from Editions will work on devices from phones to a netbooks to any one of the range of ebook readers already on the market. Other ebook stores are often tied to the store's own device, as with the market-leading Amazon Kindle, and Apple's forthcoming iBook store for the iPad. Google is planning for Editions to launch by July, although it's likely that will be a US launch date."

Blog Kindle has as many details as are currently available about the program - a very good rundown.

Borders Kobo eReader and eBookstore

Check it out. From John Biggs: "Borders just announced that they’re selling the Kobo eReader, an $149 ebook touted, by Wired, no less, as a Kindle killer. This device isn’t formally Border’s only ebook reader. Instead, they will sell multiple readers online and in stores and the real news is that they’re creating an ebook store that will act as their default spot on the interwebs for ebooks and content. If you pre-order – and you probably don’t want to – you’ll get your Kobo by June 17. While I doubt the Kobo will sell at all, the more compelling offering is Borders’ ebook store featuring 'a million titles' with apps for the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android as well as the iPad. While I’d prefer all my content in one place on each of these devices – an overarching umbrella ebook app, perhaps – having a bit of overlap is always fun and some stores – Apple’s for example – are missing large parts of the catalog due to rights reasons. Regardless, it’s nice to know Borders is no longer absolutely irrelevant in the world of ebooks."

This from the San Francisco Chronicle: "If black-and-white 'e-ink' e-readers have any chance to compete with more sophisticated tablets like Apple's iPad, they had better be cheap. And that's the best feature of Borders' new Kindle clone: At $150, Kobo is by far the cheapest of the bunch. But at first glance, that's about all that sets it apart from the Kindle. It's going to be hard for any of the e-ink rivals to come close to Amazon's leading brand recognition, especially as the Kindle starts to sell in retail stores like Target."

No Surprise: Top Ten "Bestselling" Kindle eBooks are Free

LA Times blog: "If you want to pick up one of the bestselling books for the Kindle, you don't have to save your spare dollars or even your pennies -- the 10 top Kindle bestsellers are free. To find a bestselling Kindle e-book that costs more than $0.00, you have to look to No. 14, Steig Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -- a book that's spent more than 18 months in the top 100, and has the fairly low e-book price of $5.50."

Will the iPad Mean the End of Free Online News?

Well, will it? Rupert Murdoch has a thought or two. So do the gremlins at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

Penguin # 1 on iPad Makes Pearson Happy, But ...

From Daily Finance: "On the one hand, Penguin (PSO) has many reasons to feel good right now. A preliminary first-quarter earnings report released by its parent company, Pearson, pointed to the Big Six book publisher's "good start to the year" in the U.S. and the U.K., and noted that "growth in demand for eBooks also remains very strong." Meanwhile, Penguin and Apple (AAPL) have begun what appears to be a beautiful friendship, and other online retailers appear to be ready to sell the company's e-books again after a protracted delay. But then there's that pesky other hand: Penguin still hasn't sorted out its dealings with Amazon (AMZN) -- and the online retail giant is making the publisher pay for it by discounting some of its hardcover editions at rock-bottom prices."

Coming This Summer: Google's Launch Into the eBook Marketplace

ZDnet: "Google's foray into the ebook market brings new approaches and another killer app for the Android ecosystem. But is it enough to break Amazon's stranglehold on the market?" National Post: "Google's decision to begin selling digital copies of new releases and other eBooks through its Website places the Mountain View, California-based Web giant in direct competition with Amazon.com's Kindle store, the newly launched Kobo platform from Indigo Books and Music and Apple Inc.'s new iBookstore on the popular iPad tablet computer."

The Reason Joe Wikert Trashed His Kindle for an iPad

Worth quoting: "Sure, you can load content [for the Kindle] from sources other than Amazon, but there's really only one digital bookstore for the Kindle. The iPad offers two advantages. First, you can buy from Apple and Amazon, not just one. And second, the iPad natively supports ePub files, which are closer to an industry standard than the Kindle's mobi format."

Kindle Fan Weighing In

Well worth reading: Harry McCracken on the Kindle vs. everything else.

iPad Sales

The iPad has sold 1 million units as of this past Friday, with the new 3G version selling briskly as well. (Amazon keeps private the # of Kindles in circulation.) Same topic here from MacObserver.

More Kindle vs. iPad

Wade Roush likes iPad. But Steve Haber explains why the iPad won't kill eReaders.