Archive for the ‘e books’ tag
Check out The Atlantic’s new #longreads e-book division
The Atlantic, purveyor of high-tone, long-form, magazine-type literature, is launching a new division for e-books.
Called, ever so colorfully, “The Atlantic Books,” the new product line will include non-fiction reads between 10,000 and 30,000 words and will first be featured as the Kindle Singles. Later, the e-books will also be made available elsewhere.
In addition to original pieces created solely for this new endeavor, The Atlantic Books will also include hand-picked classic selections from The Atlantic’s vast catalog of journalism, memoirs, and narrative non-fiction.
“The launch of The Atlantic Books reflects our commitment to innovation in publishing in the service of great journalism and storytelling,” said The Atlantic president M. Scott Havens in a statement on the news.
Just last month, the media company announced a partnership with Longreads, a web startup focusing on, duh, longer-form online content.
As other print publications struggle to maintain great, expensive content in an age of changing economics and reader habits, it’s heartening to watch an older institution gamely try new things.
The Atlantic was founded in 1857 in Boston, Mass., as a literal and cultural commentary magazine. Its long list of luminary founders includes Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
In 2009, the publishers launched The Atlantic Wire, a website to aggregate opinion, editorial, and news from a wide range of reputable sources.
Filed under: Media 
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Amazon now renting old-fashioned paper textbooks
Amazon now offers physical textbook rentals as a cheaper option for college students, a move designed to keep Amazon as a dominant player in textbooks.
While Amazon has offered digital rentals of textbooks for more than a year, this new initiative will cater to students who feel more comfortable with old-fashioned paper books for studying. It also increases Amazon’s rental selection substantially because many tomes are not yet available as e-books.
Most of the textbook options Amazon offers for rent cost between $30 to $60. Rentals are by the semester (130 days) and there’s free shipping back and forth for delivery. Physical rentals are only available in the U.S.
For those concerned about getting a used textbook with a ton of scribbled notes inside, Amazon is doing quality control. The company will allow a “minimal” amount of note-taking in the textbooks. If a student adds “excessive writing or highlighting” to a rented textbook and tries to ship it back, he or she will be charged the full purchase price of the book minus rental fees.
Amazon’s entry into physical book renting could easily hurt rival services like Chegg and BookRenter. Notably, Chegg originally started as a physical textbook rental service but added digital textbook rentals to counter Amazon.
Photo credit: Denphumi/Shutterstock
Filed under: media 
Amazon: ‘E-books worden meer verkocht dan echte boeken’
Volgens Amazon worden er tegenwoordig meer e-books voor de Kindle verkocht dan gedrukte boeken. Dit onderstreept maar weer de tijd die tegenwoordig aan het veranderen is. Volgens cijfers uit het…
Centraal Boekhuis gaat e-books verhuren
Op 1 oktober 2012 begint Centraal Boekhuis met de verhuur van e-books. De boekverkoper kan hierbij de toegang tot een boek na een bepaalde periode afsluiten. De consument huurt dan e-books waarbij hij betaalt voor een aantal dagen of weken toegang.
Book printed in ink that vanishes after two months
We’ve seen a few innovations that have offered a twist on traditional reading habits, from offering short works by new authors based on the duration of train delays to temporary edible and smokeable books. Taking elements of both of these ideas, Buenos Aires-based bookshop and publisher Eternal Cadencia has released El Libro que No Puede Esperar – which translates as ‘The Book that Cannot Wait’ – an anthology of new fiction printed in ink that disappears after two months of opening the book.
Silk-screened using a special ink, the book comes sealed in air-tight packaging that, once opened, allows the printed material to react with the atmosphere. The result is that after two months, the text vanishes. With much discussion currently centering on portable electronic readers and e-books, deemed to be bringing about the death of the physical novel, the creators aimed to add a bit of magic to the anthology, as well as encourage buyers to actually read it once they’ve received it instead of leaving it in their ‘to do’ pile. As the authors inside are all previously unpublished, the concept, developed with help from ad agency Draftfcb, acts as a way to ensure that readers engage with as much of the material as possible while they have the chance. As the video below explains: “If people don’t read their first books, they’ll never make it to a second.”
El Libro que No Puede Esperar adds an element of urgency to reading — motivating readers, promoting authors and benefitting physical book publishers; according to one report, the first edition sold out in one day. Is this a business model that is as shortlived as its product, or could this be developed into something more sustainable?
Website: www.eternacadencia.com
Contact: info@eternacadencia.com.ar
Spotted by: Hemanth Chandrasekar
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Google Adds Movie Purchases, TV Shows, And Magazines To Google Play
The Google Play store already had thousands of movies for rent, as well as millions of songs from major labels available for purchase. It also had a pretty extensive collection of e-books — the largest in the industry, Google claims. But it’s bringing even more content to its Google Play store, with the added availability of movie purchases, TV shows, and magazines on Android devices.
That includes the ability to purchase movies — not just rent them — and have them available whenever users want to view them. In addition to movies, Google Play is adding TV shows, allowing users to purchase individual episodes or even full seasons of their favorite shows. While e-books have been popular, Google Play didn’t previously offer access to magazine titles, but it’s changing that through partnerships with some major magazine publishers.
Altogether, Google is doing that with help from content partners that include Disney, ABC Studios, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, Paramount, Hearst, and Conde Nast.
Apple e-book price fixing trial set for 2013
A U.S. judge on Friday said that Apple will go to trial in 2013 over alleged collusion with a number of major publishing houses to fix the price of e-books sold through the iBookstore.
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How to Get the Best Out of Yourself
When I coach I see people with so much potential, who are almost scared to fulfill their dreams. It saddens me because whether we fear failure or success, those are just words……don’t let words trap you.
- Write down what you want to be remembered for – could be as a person or at work – talk about yourself as the third person and the value you brought to the world. Keep that legacy statement near….maybe read it just before you got to bed each night.
- Create 3 objectives which will take you nearer to that person you have just wrote about…..don’t be soft, give yourself realistic yet stretching targets.
- Create some milestones which you want to achieve over the next year – they are there to keep you on track BUT also to tell you to celebrate the progress you are making.
- Share them with someone you trust and ask them to talk to you about what you are doing to achieve them. Sharing brings commitment.
- Take responsibility for your own success. Einstein had many rejections, many job applications turned down…but he knew it was up to him to find a way.
- Learn...I don’t mean take night classes or exams especially, I mean read. We all get stuck in a rut and we need to keep refuelling our ideas. It can be blogs, e-books, magazines, podcasts…there is just one key point; don’t read the same day after day, read outside your comfort zone.
- Be honest. I tell the story of Dad saying a mirror is a managers greatest tool. If you can look in that mirror and know, truly know that you have done everything….even on the bad days, you feel good about yourself. It is not about how you want to be seen, it is how YOU ARE SEEN.
It’s a funny world we live in, a world where micro-celebrities seem to show that you don’t have to work hard, just be beautiful. There are two things to remember
- People like Kim Kardashian…work really, really hard at maintaining that personal brand. We may not agree with what they stand for…but never overlook the work.
- To be remembered doesn’t necessaily mean earning a billion dollars…..it is about living your values day by day.
Success is ours to define and ours to achieve. We can blame other people for how they stand in our way…a bad boss, a non supporting partner etc – or we can find a way through…..
that is the difference between living the life you want…or living the life you get
In de VS zijn e-books populairder dan hardcovers
In de VS heeft de elektronische boeken sectorin Q1 van dit jaar een omzet gerealiseerd van 282,3 miljoen dollar. Dat betekent een stijging met 28,1% tegenover dezelfde periode vorig jaar. Zo blijkt uit…
E-books verkopen beter dan hardcovers
Volgens de Association of American Publishers is er in het eerste kwartaal van 2012 meer omzet in e-books gerealiseerd dan in hardcover-boeken, met een aandeel van 30% van de totale sales en een groei van 28%. Volgend kwartaal zullen e-books zelfs de grootste categorie zijn, want paperbacks hebben een ‘voorsprong’ van slechts 3% en daalden 10%. Over 2 à 3 jaar vormen e-books meer dan 50% van de omzet en nu al 40% van het volume.
Waarom staan we in Nederland slechts op 1.6% van de omzet? Amazon! Lees meer over: E-books verkopen beter dan hardcovers.