By: sketched out,
on 2/7/2013
After the flurry of sketching in November and December, January saw a sharp decline. Need to get back in the sketching saddle. Hmmmm, sketching saddle, that might be something to sketch, hee hee!
Anywho, this is a detail of the line, from a page, for an e-reader (in the House that Jack built, no, sorry,) that I’m working on.
Hope you’re having a lovely 2013 so far!
By: Ken Baker,
on 1/29/2013
Tablets, eReaders and smartphones continue to drive the popularity of eBooks. Still, not everyone has moved to the digital age and some don't plan to anytime soon? Where do you stand on the ebook vs printed book debate? What factors motivate you one direction or the other? Share your opinions by taking a minute to take the quick polls below.
By: Ken Baker,
on 12/3/2012
Booktalk Interview with Travis Jonker – Part 3
Part 3 of an interview I conducted with Travis Jonker, an elementary school librarian in Michigan, founder and blogger of 100 Scope Notes, reviewer and blogger for School Library Journal, former judge for CYBILS Awards, and member of the 2014 Caldecott committee.
You mentioned earlier the effect that has come from changes in technology and the rise of eBooks. Tell me other ways that has impacted school libraries.
Travis: Last year I wrote a grant in our school district to purchase eReaders. When it came through, we started a program where students could check out the eReaders and take them home like a normal book. It has been hugely popular. We keep trying to add more to keep up with demand. Whether you’re a school library or public library, there’s no denying that eBooks are going to be hugely important. They’re growing so fast that I think now is the time for libraries to give it a shot.
What were some of your goals with the eReader program?
Travis: One of our goals when we started was to give all our students access to eReaders, especially kids that wouldn’t have access to that sort of thing at home. We felt that a lot of the features of eReaders would be good for students. They can take notes. They can change the fonts. A lot of times the eReader will even speak the words. There are a lot of features, especially for reluctant readers, that might engage the students a little bit more.
With the introduction of your eReader program, did you see a rise in reading with more students reading than before?
Travis: Definitely. We had students who hadn’t had the highest interest in reading before, but were very interested in checking out an eBook and reading it on an eReader device. It’s hard to know whether they were interested in trying something new or if they were interested in some of the eReader features that could make reading a better experience for them. But we had interest from kids who read all the time and from kids who weren’t really readers and hadn’t been checking out books very much. We have a waiting list for all five our eReaders that will take us all the way to the end of the school year. As soon as one comes in it goes out to another student.
What advice do you have for other schools that might want to kick off their own eReader or eBook program?
Travis: A big part is analyzing what you want out of the program. One thing to think about is what you want out of the experience. Do you want it to be mainly for reading? Do you want something where students will have more capabilities, such as from a tablet like an iPad, a Kindle Fire or something like that? That’s the first step. Once you settle on that, based on what your students need, you move forward from there.
I know cost is always a big issue for schools. Do you have advice for how schools deal with that as they look at launching their own eReader program?
Travis: That’s tricky. Our grant came from a local education foundation in our school district. But there are definitely other sources out there. FableVision Learning has an email subscription list that will send you different grants that are available. But in a lot of cases, school libraries are already portioning some of their budgets for digital spending, like databases or online subscriptions. So if a grant won’t work for them, they might need to look at using some of their digital funds for eBooks or eReaders. Or they might want to use a little bit of the money they would normally use on print and put it toward digital. I think more and more school librarians will have to put a little bit more money into the digital side of things.
Any other advice in terms of eBooks and eReaders?
Travis: That’s another situation where I think it’s just good to just jump in and try it. It is growing so quickly. Librarians definitely need to stay current and that’s a good way to stay current.
(Note: Travis recently wrote an article for School Library Journal about his school’s experience with its eReader program, which provides advice and guidance for other schools. You can read the article Travis's Excellent eReader Adventure at www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/08/information-technology/traviss-excellent-adventure-or-how-to-launch-a-thriving-ereader-program-in-a-rapidly-changing-world/)
By: Linda Aksomitis,
on 6/1/2012
Last year on Mother’s Day the kids got me an e-reader. Unfortunately, it took me until a few weeks ago to get through the pile of print books I’d already purchased so I could try it out. Funny, how my reading list can get ahead of me! In the meantime, I’d started teaching a course [...]
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Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten has acquired e-reading service Kobo for $315 million.
The move follows Rakuten’s acquisition of internet retailer Play.com earlier this year for £25m in cash, as part of the company’s European expansion plan.
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The price of Amazon's new tablet device has been singled out as its most eye-catching feature although analysts feel it may not be a direct competitor to the iPad.
Amazon c.e.o. Jeff Bezos unveiled the device yesterday (29th September) along with the surprise introduction of several new models of the Kindle, including a new £89 version for the UK.
The Fire tablet will cost $199 with wi-fi, a seven-inch touch screen and access to Kindle books, music, video and games. The tablet is much less powerful than Apple's iPad.
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Google has launched a branded e-reader, the first device to be integrated with the Google e-books platform.
The internet giant teamed up with manufacturer iriver to produce the iriver Story HD, which goes on sale at Target on Sunday (17th July) priced $139.99, the same r.r.p. as the Kindle.
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Kobo has unveiled a new touchscreen version of its e-book reader at Book Expo America, which it is aiming at less digitally savvy book buyers.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Kobo chief executive Michael Serbinis described the e-book market as David versus the Goliaths of Apple and Amazon.
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By: Ken Baker,
on 2/9/2011
By: Ken Baker,
on 1/31/2011
By: Steve Novak,
on 1/29/2011
The Forts series has found a new home!
More than likely you’re silently saying to yourself, “Oh that’s too bad. It must not have sold well. That poor, poor man.”
Let me assure you, that’s not the case – far from it in fact. The choice to continue the series with someone else was actually mine and mine alone. I never signed a contract for the series as a whole and after my experience with the first book there was no way that was going to happen. It wouldn’t have been the right choice.
I don’t see any reason to go into the details of the “breakup” (for now), but I will say that Forts is moving to greener, less frustrating, and far more professional pastures.
So what does this all mean to you?
Well, it means that the copy of “Fathers and Sons” you no doubt have sitting in a place of prominence on your bookshelf – or next to the crapper, either way. That copy of Forts will very soon be an out of print collectors edition!
That’s right, I said collectors edition and I meant it!
Will you be able to sell it on ebay to pay the rent? Eh, I wouldn’t count on that.
Will you be able to trade it for a pack of gum and maybe a Butterfinger bar? Yep, I think you might be able to pull that off.
Still, your copy is special now. It’s unique. If you sent it to me to get autographed it’s even more unique. You own it, some other people own it, but no one else is ever going to own it – ever. That’s pretty cool, no?
For those of you that haven’t got your hands on a copy yet, a second edition print version of the book will be arriving with a brand new cover before you know it. (Probably within the next few months in fact.) Along with the print version, the book will FINALLY make its way to e-readers everywhere! (This is long overdue.)
Oh, all those editing flubs the original publisher left in – you know, the ones that caused the sentence “This could have been a fantastic book if it had a good editor” to appear in nearly every review. Thankfully those are going to be fixed up for the second edition.
For those of you waiting patiently for “Liars and Thieves,” right around the time the second edition arrives book two is going to hit the shelves! It’s a heck of a lot later than was originally planned, but I’m hoping it’ll be worth the wait.
The nonsense of the past is in the past and hopefully that’s where it’s going to stay. Writing has officially picked up again on the final book in the series and I’m probably only 40,000 words or so from finishing it up.
Forts has a new home, and this is a good thing.
Scratch that and revise: Forts has a new home, and it’s a giggity-great thing.
It’s better than a steaming hot pizza and a tub of ice cream served to you by Rosario Dawson in a French maid’s outfit.
Okay, maybe it’s not that good…
It’s still pretty fantastic though.
Steven
By: Karen Strong,
on 10/25/2010
You would think being a working professional in the software geek world that I would have the latest of everything. But I do stay behind the trends — maybe because I know of all the kinks that exist in early technology releases.
However for e-readers — I always thought that I would never want one because I do like the tactile sensations of holding a book and smelling its pages.
But behold — I now have a Kindle! I have a flower and butterfly skin to personalize it and to ward off a certain person of the testosterone persuasion from taking it on future business trips. Hee, hee.
Back in July, I posted about leaning towards getting an e-reader. After much research, I decided to go with the Kindle.
I must say that I’m loving it so far. I love the design (I’m a buttons girl) and the e-ink display, which lets me read in direct sunlight. I got the Wi-Fi version because I have a wireless network at home and Atlanta has tons of free hotspots.
I also love that I can download WORD documents onto my Kindle and use the “Text-to-Speech” feature. I catch a LOT of bad stuff in my W-I-P when I either read back my pages or have some type of voice program — so that was an extra plus.
I plan on traveling a lot for business and writing conferences in the near future, so it’ll be good to just bring my Kindle instead of 4 or 5 books.
Will I continue to buy regular books? I’m sure that I will. Especially writing craft books. But I think I will buy probably more digital books because of the ease of storage — especially non-fiction books. One of my co-workers, who has a Kindle, says that he actually reads more.
I’m not sure how the digital landscape will affect the industry, but I don’t believe that e-readers will kill publishing. There are definitely some kinks to figure out — especially with the pricing structure and the protection against download piracy, but I think digital books and e-readers are here to stay.
What do I have on my Kindle so far? Revolution by Jennfer Connelly and The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking.
So do you have an e-reader or you sticking with physical books? Are you a hybrid like me and have both types of books?
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 9/22/2009
Over the weekend Ypulse friend Derek Baird drew our attention to a recent proposal encouraging the implementation of e-textbooks across the country titled A Kindle in Every Backpack: A Proposal for eTextbooks in American Schools. As of late we've... Read the rest of this post
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By: Scott Laming,
on 5/20/2009
I'm working on some research about eBooks for a BookFinder.com info page that we will be posting later on to help you guys muddle your way though all the different readers and file types. While doing this I came across a neat video that I thought you might want to see.
It's for the FLEPia, Fujitsu's new full color eReader that was launched last month in Japan. It seems to have some pretty major drawbacks, such as the $1000 price tag and the 1.8-8 second page load times. If you can get past the ultra cheesy music, monotone dialogue and glaring camera work the device itself is a pretty monster step in the right direction for eReaders.
By: Rebecca,
on 6/9/2008
[A Full Disclosure Note From Evan] Let’s be clear from the start: Neither Amazon nor Sony have told me anything. I get nada, zilch, bupkis when I ask even the most circumspect questions about their respective device sales. If it has to do with Kindle or Reader, I get the standard “go away” line. I have not manipulated sales data, be it OUP’s or any other publisher. I have not analyzed Amazon or Sony ebook sales statistics or rankings. I have not found any secret documents. I have not broken into the vault, I have not cracked the code, I have not had prophetic dreams - well, not about any e-ink devices anyway…
What I do have is a subscription to DIGITIMES that has led me to some pretty outlandish and, I think, substantiated conclusions about Kindle and Sony Reader sales figures. Before you dismiss me as loopy check out the evidence…
When the Kindle first launched there was plenty of predictions about how it and its predecessor the Sony Reader would sell. Over time the chatter died down, halted partly by the Kindle going out of stock. At the end of April, the chatter returned and hit full volume after last week’s Book Expo America in Los Angeles. The catalyst was Jeff Bezos’ speech, which let out some tantalizing, yet cryptic information on ebook sales volume at the Kindle store. The chatter, as reported in the NY Times, has publishers and others speculating that Amazon has sold somewhere between 10,000 - 50,000 Kindles.
I think all the speculations are completely wrong. By my calculations, combined sales of the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader will be 1,000,000 units in 2008. This estimate is based on solid data.
The Evidence
Amazon and Sony both use the 6-inch electrophoretic display (EPD), also known as an e-ink screen. Both companies buy their EPD’s from Prime View International (PVI) of Taiwan. DIGITIMES, a daily news service covering the Taiwanese IT market, reported on April 18th, in a story entitled PVI EDP shipments to grow sharply in 2008, that PVI expects EPD module shipments to reach 120,000 units PER MONTH in the second half of 2008. It further explains that the unit price of the screens are $60-$70 per unit and that the current volume has been 60-80,000 units PER MONTH.
Also intriguing is the article’s claim that 60% of the EPD’s go to Amazon and 40% go to Sony. This is an important factor as it implies that there is a market beyond Kindle – a very, very strong market. Taking the figures at face value, Sony was selling (or at least manufacturing) an average of 28,000 readers per month (I took 70,000 units as the average sold per month and then 40% of that). Using this monthly rate, the annual sales of the Sony Reader are at nearly 350,000 units. Using the same formula, Amazon is ordering an average of 42,000 units per month, which will add up to over 500,000 units sold this year.
With production ramping up to 120,000 units a month these numbers will look much better - to the tune of a combined 1.4 million units over 12 months! Even with the Kindle out of stock for a big chunk of the first and second quarter, combined sales of these two e-ink devices in 2008 will most likely top 1 million. If a million devices are out on the street looking to feed, and we know they primarily eat one kind of food, ebooks, then what must this mean for the ebook sales?
Jeff Bezos said last week that ebook sales in the Kindle store had hit 6% of book unit sales. What this means is that of the 125,000 titles available in the Kindle store, the sales of ebooks represented 6% of the sales of those same 125,000 titles in print formats. Another interesting thing that Bezos said was that Kindle buyers purchase at a rate of 2.5 times more than print book buyers… food for thought when thinking through your ebook strategy.
One can draw some ebook sales conclusions from this information. For example, the number 2 seller at the Kindle store is The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. According to Bookscan, in 4 weeks this book has sold 784,158 units. For the sake of argument, lets ascribe 75,000 units (10% of total sales, a reasonable guess) to Amazon. If Kindle sales were 6%, then Amazon would have already sold 4,500 ebooks. That’s 4,500 people with Kindle’s buying a single title in 4 weeks!
While its clearly amazing that in one month an ebook can sell 4,500 units it is not the best way to calculate the ebook sales impact of Kindle and Reader. A better way to approach this is through good old-fashioned guess-timation. Taking stock of my own experience and the experiences of others I know, I found that ebook buying on either the Sony Reader or the Amazon Kindle ranges from 5 ebooks to over 100 ebooks. Assuming that anyone who buys an e-ink ebook reader is doing so to read ebooks, lets assume that 10 ebooks a year is a reasonable purchase estimate. Using this logic, we should see 10 million ebooks purchased for these two devices in 2008.
The IDPF estimates that in 2007 ebook sales income was $31,800,000 with the caveat that the actual retail income could be as much as double due to retailer discounts, so lets assume that the sales actually totaled $60,000,000. If we use an average retail price of $12 per ebook sold, and if consumers will buy 10 ebooks a year, then they will spend $120 on average, per device. That would lead us to $120,000,000 in ebook sales for the Kindle and the Reader in 2008, double all ebook sales in 2007. (For those of you who cannot swallow the idea of 10 books purchased per device – cut it in half. The result is $60,000,000 in ebook sales – as much as last year!)
Success in technology, like everything else, leads to more success. It’s not uncommon to see five-fold growth the year following a successful technology product launch. Think iPod, think Wii, think Blackberry. Whole micro-economies emerge around products that range from accelerated content creation, and all sorts of aftermarket products and services. Versions 2.0 and beyond create better and better devices. The better the devices, the more accessories, the more content there is, and soon a whole world of business opportunity is rolling downhill picking up speed.
With this in mind, I can easily imagine the success of Kindle and Reader dramatically expanding next year and growing by a factor of five. If that happens, then the formula above leads to a completely new ebook economy. Five million devices would mean ebook sales of $1,200,000,000, which, by my estimation, is 1.3% of the current global book market of $90,000,000,000.
This reminds me of a comment I heard from a music industry executive at a conference a couple of years ago. “One day there was the iPod and iTunes. The next day 20% of our business was digital. The day after that more than 50% of our revenues came from digital music. Yeah, we believe in digital music now.”
I personally don’t see publishing becoming a 50% digital business as books and cd’s are completely different animals. But I sure can see that the 3% - 4% I once predicted isn’t such a crazy notion any more. And yes, I believe in ebooks.
Evan Schnittman is OUP’s Vice President of Business Development and Rights for the Academic and USA Divisions. His career in publishing spans nearly 20 years and includes positions as varied as Executive Vice President at The Princeton Review and Professor at New York University’s Center for Publishing. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children.
By: Rebecca,
on 1/4/2008
In case you weren’t checking the internet during the holidays I thought I would repost the links to Robert Mack’s articles about Sweeney Todd, my favorite is the look at Charles Dickens and Sweeney Todd. Mack’s historical look at the story is a great way to learn more about the Demon Barber. Below is the trailer to the Sweeney Todd film, as A. O. Scott said, “It’s not Hairspray.” (more…)
Been missing your humor – glad your back!
Thanks for this. We missed you.
Awww, you guys are so nice! Glad to be back!
Miss you girl!! Look at that naughty little goat….. cute and naughty!
so cute