Great Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY

Makes me want to apologize to all my vendor friends, especially the free lance independents. Especially because free lance independent is the future economy for most work (including yours and mine).

Last 150 Days in eBooks

I am enjoying real-time online BookExpo updates and following Tweets (#BEA09, #BEA2009) from people attending the talks I wish I was attending this year, including the talk on piracy by Tim O'Reilly and Neelan Choksi's presentation at Random House yesterday. This is the first year in a long time that I've missed BookExpo (maybe one other in 15 years). Even in the down years I drew a lot of energy and ideas from being among my industry colleagues. Alas, this is my first year to follow on Twitter.

Ten new trade stories added to Headlines in Digital Publishing:

Stanza COO Neelan Choksi on the Last 150 Days in E-Books GC 5/28/09

Baker & Taylor, Donnelley in Print-on-Demand Pact PW 5/28/09

Ingram Survey Finds Half of Respondents Will Use E-Catalogues PW 5/28/09

Piracy Study Results Released GC 5/28/09

Comparing Apples and Kindles GC 5/27/09

Ingram Adds Ingram Digital to Newly Formed Ingram Content Group PW 5/26/09

B&T, OverDrive Ink Digital Distribution Deal PW 5/26/09

FiledBy Expands Online Author Directory PW 5/26/09

Audible Launches BlackBerry E-Book Application GC 5/26/09

New Yorker Cover Drawn on iPhone (Gizmodo) MediaBistro 5/26/09

Interesting tech articles in BusinessWeek

The average Facebook user with 500 friends actively follows the news on only 40 (8%) of them, communicates with 20 (4%), and keeps in close touch with about 10 (2%). Those with smaller networks follow even fewer," according to the June 1, 2009 BusinessWeek cover story, What's a Friend Worth?

Do those stats hold true for you? My monitor rate is much higher, I'd guess closer to 20% of my FB friends' updates I follow, but the communication and keeping in close touch rate is about right for me.

Another fascinating dynamic for managing corporate communications in the Web 2.0 world: Managing the Tweets: Companies are scrambling to silence errant messages while exploiting social networks.

Pandora: Unleashing Mobile Phone Ads

AT&T and Verizon Wireless Bet on Netbooks

Seven new stories at "Headlines in Digital Publishing"

Seven new stories added today at "Headlines in Digital Publishing"

eMusic Adds Audiobooks from Recorded Books and HighBridge 5/22/09 PW

Hachette's Bestselling Promotional iPhone App 5/21/09 GC

U of Mich Signs Expanded Agreement With Google 5/21/09 PW

Viz Media Launches IKKI, New Online Magazine Venture 5/21/09 PW

Amazon Upgrades its Kindle for Iphone App 5/20/09 PW

HarperOne's Little Black Book Now Online 5/20/09 PW

Lit Bloggers Debate Kindle Blog Program 5/20/09 GC

560,626 new titles published in 2008, up 38%

Take just a minute to comprehend that statement. Over half a million new books published just last year by more than 75,000 publishers. That is more than 1500 new books released every day, or 64 books every hour, 24 hours a day. I remember being outraged that the number was approaching 300,000 three years ago. Is it any wonder there's so much discussion about the "long tail" in the publishing business? Yet, the big news for the day is not the volume of titles being produced. It is that for the first time ever on-demand publishing output exceeded that of traditional publishing.

Publishers Lunch: "On Demand Books Overtake Traditional Titles for the First Time"

Publishers Weekly: "Number of On-demand Titles Topped Traditional Books in 2008"

Galley Cat: "On Demand" Books Up 132 Percent"

Bowker press release: "Bowker Reports U.S. Book Production Declines 3% in 2008, but 'On Demand' Publishing More Than Doubles: Traditional Publishing Faces Pivotal Year of Retrenching, While Emergence of New Technologies Leads to Soaring Growth in Short-Run Book Publishing"

Without a doubt, we are going to see the number of titles produced by traditional publishers shrink significantly in 2009, and on-demand and self-published titles grow significantly--again.

Good.

All of this is further evidence that the book is not dead, just changed. What we read, how we read, where we read, when we read are all changing and becoming more digital and convenient in nature. Our culture is placing increased value on user-generated content and technology provides the means to publish instantly (heck, I just published this essay), as well as the ability to take content to print and sell it on demand. I don't believe these shifts and changes eliminate the need for books. I believe it increases a print book's value.

Publisher content needs to be higher quality than user-generated content, and physical product needs to have impeccable production quality. I've quoted Clay Shirky before in a post similar to this one because I think he hits the nail on the head about the value a publishing house must bring to the development of content: "A book isn't just a collection of 80,000 words on paper. A blogger can build that up in a few months. A book is a collection of words that have been obsessed over by people other than the writer. That's what a publisher does, and that process helps a book become a focal point for a conversation or an argument."

More Digital Publishing News

Seven stories added today at "Headlines in Digital Publishing"

On Demand Books Overtake Traditional Titles for the First Time 5/19/09 PL

Mobifusion, Encyclopaedia Britannica Release iPhone Apps 5/19/09 PW

Hyperion to Unveil Kernl 5/19/09 PW

PublicAffairs Founder Defends E-Book Bundling 5/19/09 GC

Literary Blogs on Kindle 5/19/09 GC

Scribd Launches Online Store 5/18/09 PW

OverDrive in Deal with ChineseAll 5/18/09 PW

Headlines in Digital Publishing

Last October I declared Oprah naming the Kindle her favorite gadget as a tipping point for ebooks reaching into mainstream popular culture. Electronic publishing initiatives have been in the news almost every day since. I started collecting the headlines and thankfully Publishers Weekly keeps an active backlog of their daily stories. I wish I could say the same for GalleyCat (which only goes back a couple weeks), Publishers Lunch (which requires a subscription to see more than a handful of stories), or ECPA's Rush to Press (which only show's the current week's headlines). Set against the backdrop of the recession's impact on the publishing industry (those were some dark days in December), the emphasis on digital publishing seems especially poignant. Separately, I also collected the recession stories.


IndieBound Updates Literary iPhone App GC 7/23/09
Amazon.com, Inc. to Acquire Zappos GC 7/23/09
Is This the Bookstore of Tomorrow? GC 7/23/09
USA Today Bestseller List Includes Kindle Sales Data PL 7/23/09
Vonnegut Stories to Be Sold Individually As e-Exclusives Before Print Edition PL 7/23/09
Digital Book Buyer's e-Morse: WSJ On the Limited Rights Readers Get PL 7/23/09
Plastic Logic Strikes AT&T 3G Deal GC 7/22/09
B&N Tops Amazon in App Store GC 7/22/09
BookSurge to Sell 400,000 U of M Library Titles GC 7/22/09
University of Michigan Expands Print on Demand Effort with Amazon's BookSurge PW 7/22/09
IndieBound Updates iPhone App PW 7/22/09
Barnes & Noble Launches e-Book Store PW 7/21/09
Copyright Industries Warn Against Piracy Threat PW 7/21/09
It's Ready: Barnes & Noble Launches eBookstore, Partners with Plastic Logic PL 7/21/09
Class Action Specialists Want to Sue Amazon Over Orwell Removals; Plastic Logic "Fully Funded" PL 7/21/09
Barnes & Noble Launches Vast E-Book Store GC 7/20/09
University Presses Stepping Up e-Book Efforts PW 7/20/09
Industry Begins Debate Over Removal of Kindle Titles PW 7/20/09
Google Book Settlement Webinar Set for July 29 PW 7/20/09
Amazon.com, Inc. and "1984" GC 7/20/09
What We Talk About When We Talk About Amazon PL 7/20/09
Maker of Readius Folding eReader Polymer Vision Is Liquidated PL 7/20/09
Harry Potter and the iPhone Apps GC 7/17/09
Journalists Debate E-Book Pricing GC 7/17/09
Harvard UP to Sell 1,000 Books on Scribd GC 7/17/09
Harvard University Press Selling 1,000 Books on Scribd PL 7/17/09
On-Demand Flash Fiction GC 7/16/09
E-Readers Featured in App Awards GC 7/16/09
Slate Critic Calls for Lower E-Book Prices GC 7/16/09
Sourcebooks CEO Dominique Raccah on Delaying Ebook Releases PL 7/16/09
Amazon Offers Free Replacement for Cracked Kindles PL 7/16/09
Closing In on UK-indle? PL 7/16/09
Dems Want to Give Students 400k Kindles PL 7/16/09
WSJ Survey Student Doubts on eTextbooks PL 7/16/09
Morgan James Selling E-Books on Scribd PW 7/15/09
Amazon.com, Inc. Sued by Kindle Customers GC 7/15/09
Kindle Owner Files Suit Against Amazon Saying Cover Cracks Kindles; Seeks Class Action Status PL 7/15/09
Taiwan Companies Pair for eBook Launch PL 7/15/09
Library of Congress Explores New Rules for Depost of Electronic Works PL 7/15/09
The NYT Follows On eBook Release Timing PL 7/15/09
Taiwan Vendors Appear to Confirm Orders from Apple for October Tablet/Netbook PL 7/15/09 Robert Olen Butler Tweets as The Devil for His New Book 'Hell' PL 7/15/09
Content Explosion: FastPencil.com Joins Online Self-Publishing Crowd PL 7/15/09
Pan Macmillan's View: DRM Is Not Evil PL 7/15/09
It Was the Best of Tweets, It Was the Worst of Tweets GC 7/14/09
Sourcebooks Bucks $9.99 E-Book Price Point GC 7/14/09
Author Is Tweeting His Entire Novel PL 7/14/09
Blackwell, Ingram Ink Pact to Supply e-Books PW 7/14/09
Chinese Show Off Kindle-like e-Reader PW 7/14/09
Stanza Reader Turns One-Year-Old GC 7/13/09
Book Deal for Self-Published Kindle Author GC 7/13/09
Spain's Three Biggest Publishers Form eBook Distribution Company PL 7/13/09
Sourcebooks to Delay Release of eBook Version of Hot New YA Novel PL 7/13/09
Free-For-All: Anderson, "Free" Book, Sparks a Backlash Online and Among Battered Media Industry PW 7/10/09
Sourcebooks Experimenting with DRM-Free e-Books PW 7/10/09
Google Renegotiates Terms with Two More Libraries PL 7/10/09
Pixel Qi Introduces LCD-Based Color/Video Screens for E-Readers PL 7/10/09
Richard Nash on Kindle, Twitter, and E-Books GC 7/10/09
Sourcebooks Sells Digital Titles on Smashwords GC 7/10/09
QR Codes and Publishing GC 7/9/09
Amazon Drops Kindle 2 Price GC 7/9/09
Sourcebooks Tests DRM-Free eBooks with Smashwords 7/9/09
SharedBook Demos On-Demand Customized Book via Espresso at ALA 7/9/09
Amazon Drops Kindle Price to $299 PL 7/9/09
Sony Reader Promises Mac Compatibility By "the end of Summer 2009" PL 7/8/09
Enhanced Editions: A New iPhone Reader PL 7/8/09
Barnes & Noble Tops Amazon in App Store Books Category PW 7/7/09
Ditto Book Digital Reading Device Hits the Market PW 7/7/09
New Hachettte Program Gives Complete Access to Titles PW 7/7/09
Amazon Applies for E-Book Ad Patent GC 7/6/09
What's Apple Building in There? GC 7/2/09
Random Houses Teams with BookGlutton for Promotion PW 7/1/09
Using Social Media to Create Product Evangelists ECPA 7/1/09
Barnes & Noble Follows Amazon's E-Book Pricing Model GC 7/1/09
ScrollMotion Publishes Digital Stephenie Meyer Titles in U.K. GC 6/30/09
Barnes & Noble.com Launches Bookstore iPhone App PW 6/29/09
B&N Faces Amazon in App Store GC 6/29/09
Wattpad Launches Google Android Application GC 6/29/09
Read Your "Texts From Last Night" in a Book GC 6/29/06
Allen Letter Urges Industry to Support Google Deal PW 6/26/09
Alexander Street and Arcadia Publishing Launch Online Local History Collection PW 6/26/09
Quartet Press Launches PL 6/26/09
Transformers Rule iPhone Paid Book Apps GC 6/26/09
Quartet Press Seeks Its First Submissions GC 6/26/09
Espresso Book Machine Coming to McNally Jackson This Fall PL 6/26/09
Barnes & Noble Appoints New Digital Executive PW 6/24/09
Zinio Launches "Digital Bookstore" Section PL 6/24/09
O'Reilly Media Heads to Frankfurt Book Fair GC 6/23/09
Video: Book Talk at #140Conf GC 6/23/09
ScrollMotion Seals LibreDigital iPhone Content Deal GC 6/23/09
ScrollMotion in Deal with LibreDigital PW 6/23/09
LibreDigital Delivers 100k Titles for ScrollMotion's App PL 6/22/09
Stephen King Text Message Promo May Be Horror Story for S&S PW 6/22/09
Springer Lets Library Patrons Buy Paperback Versions of E-books PW 6/22/09
Hippocrene Launches Arabic Dictionary iPhone App PW 6/22/09
Kindle DX: Looks Good, Works Fine, Costs Too Much PW 6/22/09
Book Deal for College Kids' "Twitterature" GC 6/22/09
University Presses Cope with Digital Students GC 6/22/09
New Features on Google Book Search PW 6/19/09
140 Character Confab: Listening To and Learning About Twitter PW 6/19/09
Pearson Answers Schwarzenegger’s Call for E-Textbooks PW 6/19/09
Penguin Group Launches Multimedia Site GC 6/19/09
Amazon.com, Inc. May End Affiliate Program in North Carolina GC 6/19/09
Pearson Promises California Schools Digital Content GC 6/19/09
Hachette Signs with Attributor to Fight Online Piracy PW 6/18/09
Ingram Content Group Gets New Structure PW 6/18/09
Tor Launches Online Bookstore PW 6/18/09
Simon & Schuster Launches Teen Networking Site PW 6/18/09
Audibooks App Nabs Top Spot in Apple App Store GC 6/18/09
Macmillan Digital in the House at #140Conf GC 6/18/09
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/web_tech/publishing_perspectives_twitter_boot_camp_119256.asp GC 6/18/09
Penguin Launches Online Network PW 6/17/09
Google Mapping the Bible GC 6/17/09
Tor Launches Publisher Agnostic Online Store GC 6/17/09
McGraw-Hill Education Announces Digital Initiative PW 6/16/09
Amazon CEO Knocks Google Books Settlement GC 6/16/09
How to Write a Fictional Twitter Feed GC 6/15/09
Cliffs Notes on Your Telephone GC 6/15/09
Simon & Schuster in Deal with Scribd to Sell e-Books PW 6/12/09
A Tweet Treat? PW 6/12/09
Simon & Schuster to Sell Books on Scribd GC 6/12/09
HC Children's Does Mobile Promotion for Lauren Conrad Novel PW 6/11/09
Author Reveals Personal Kindle Sales GC 6/11/09
Shortcovers Builds Digital Reader for Palm Pre GC 6/11/09
Twitter Boot Camp Discount GC 6/11/09
Susan Orlean's Tempest in the Twitter Teapot GC 6/11/09
Dzanc Books Launches [Online] Literary Journal GC 6/10/09
Bret Easton Ellis' Twitter Review Career GC 6/10/09
Swiss Army Knife of Dictionaries GC 6/10/09
Conan the Digitalist GC 6/10/09
COOL-ER eBook Reader: the Future of Book Publishing? GC 6/10/09
ScrollMotion Bringing One Million Books to iPhone GC 6/10/09
$99 iPhone Rocks E-Book World GC 6/9/09
The New Gatekeepers GC 6/9/09
Book Stock Watch: Google Gains GC 6/5/09
Textnovel Lets Writers Publish Via Cellphone PW 6/5/09
Dave Eggers Sends Soothing Mass Email GC 6/5/09
Worldwide Seizures of Pirated Books GC 6/5/09
OUP Dictionary Team Dissects Twitter GC 6/5/09
How to Build a Literary iPhone App GC 6/3/09
eNews: Indigo to Launch Their Own Device PL 6/3/09
100 Strangers Co-Write and Publish Book GC 6/2/09
How 25 Million Chinese Readers Read Online GC 6/2/09
Showtime Network Develops Digital Tie-In for Amazon Kindle GC 6/2/09
Blogging Evangelist on the Future of Publishing GC 6/2/09
RAND Lowers e-Book Prices PW 6/2/09
Amazon’s Kindle DX Available June 10 PW 6/2/09
HMH Creates Digital Team PL 6/2/09
Google to Sell Digital Books GC 6/1/09
Amazon.com, Inc. Rumors GC 5/29/09
Tina Brown Bashes $9.99 Digital Books GC 5/29/09
GalleyCat Exclusive: $199 EBook Reader GC 5/29/09
How to Catch a Book Pirate GC 5/29/09
BookExpo America 2009: HarperCollins Featuring e-Galleys at BEA PW 5/29/09
Baker & Taylor, Donnelley in Print-on-Demand Pact PW 5/28/09
Ingram Survey Finds Half of Respondents Will Use E-Catalogues PW 5/28/09
Piracy Study Results Released GC 5/28/09
Stanza COO Neelan Choksi on the Last 150 Days in E-Books GC 5/28/09
Comparing Apples and Kindles GC 5/27/09
Ingram Adds Ingram Digital to Newly Formed Ingram Content Group PW 5/26/09
B&T, OverDrive Ink Digital Distribution Deal PW 5/26/09
FiledBy Expands Online Author Directory PW 5/26/09
Audible Launches BlackBerry E-Book Application GC 5/26/09
New Yorker Cover Drawn on iPhone (Gizmodo) MediaBistro 5/26/09
eMusic Adds Audiobooks from Recorded Books and HighBridge 5/22/09 PW
Hachette's Bestselling Promotional iPhone App 5/21/09 GC
U of Mich Signs Expanded Agreement With Google 5/21/09 PW
Viz Media Launches IKKI, New Online Magazine Venture 5/21/09 PW
Amazon Upgrades its Kindle for Iphone App 5/20/09 PW
HarperOne's Little Black Book Now Online 5/20/09 PW
Lit Bloggers Debate Kindle Blog Program 5/20/09 GC
On Demand Books Overtake Traditional Titles for the First Time 5/19/09 PL
Mobifusion, Encyclopaedia Britannica Release iPhone Apps 5/19/09 PW
Hyperion to Unveil Kernl 5/19/09 PW
Scribd Launches Online Store 5/18/09 PW
OverDrive in Deal with ChineseAll 5/18/09 PW
BEA Blogger Signing Schedule 5/17/09 GC
Amazon Opens Kindle to Bloggers 5/14/09 GC
Romance, DRM and the Future of Reading at Digital Book 2009 5/13/09 PW
Amazon and indieBound Top iPhone App Store 5/11/09 GC
The Expensive Art of Digitization 5/11/09 GC
Webcomics, Storytelling and Books from 'Smith' Online Magazine 5/11/09 PW
Amazon Optimizes Kindle Store for Safari on iPhones 5/11/09 PW
Mobifusion Releases New Cellphone Content Viewer 5/11/09 PW
Book Stock Watch: Amazon Unveils Kindle DX 5/8/09 GC
Sterling's Leaver Down on Trade Shows, High on Digital Catalogues 5/7/09 PW
Alloy to Adapt "Private" for Web TV Series 5/7/09 PW
Amazon Launches Kindle DX 5/6/09 PW
IDW Hires Webber to Oversee E-publishing 5/4/09 PW
Michelin Unveils iPhone Apps for New York, San Francisco and More European Cities 5/4/09 PW
Amazon Press Conference Set Amid Rumors of Bigger Screen Kindle 5/4/09 PW
L.A. Times Panel Debates Gatekeepers, Supply Chain and e-Books 4/30/09 PW
SharedBook Partners with Nelson 4/29/09 PW
Google Deadline Delayed Four Months as Steinbeck Motion Granted 4/28/09 PW
Delay Looming for Google Settlement Deadline? 4/27/09 PW
Amazon Acquires Stanza iPhone e-Book App 4/27/09 PW
More Than 100,000 Users in 160 Countries Try Shortcovers 4/27/09 PW
Barnes & Noble Launches Audiobook Store 4/27/09 PW
Judge Rejects Internet Archive Motion to Intervene in Google Settlement 4/24/09 PW
Amazon Sales Jump, Though Media Growth Slower 4/23/09 PW
Scholastic Web Game Show to Test Kids’ Knowledge 4/23/09 PW
Gompertz Named to New Digital Role at Simon & Schuster 4/22/09 PW
In U.K., Sony E-Reader Says Bring It On, Kindle 4/21/09 PW
British Publishers Try to Find the Money in E-books 4/21/09 PW
Big Rollout for DNL Laptop-format e-Books 4/21/09 PW
Using SKYPE, Wiley Holds Virtual Bookstore Talk 4/21/09 PW
S&S, GoSpoken to Offer E-titles for Mobile Phones 4/17/09 PW
Internet Archive Latest to Object to Google Settlement 4/17/09 PW
Lightning Source Launches Espresso Book Machine Pilot 4/16/09 PW
Children’s Book Week Goes Digital 4/16/09 PW
Lulu.com Launches Lulu Poetry, Introduces Contest 4/14/09 PW
Baker & Taylor Signs with LibreDigital for E-Books, Starts Digital Media Services Group 4/10/09 PW
Digital Recipe Reader Demy Hits the Market 4/10/09 PW
Twittergirls: Laurie Halse Anderson on Tour 4/9/09 PW
Amazon Launches App for Blackberry 4/8/09 PW
Disabled Group Protests Removal of Kindle's Text-to-Speech 4/7/09 PW
Consumer Group Protests Google Settlement 4/6/09 PW
Houghton Rolls Out Curious George App 4/6/09 PW
Yen Press Launches Toxic Planet Comic Online 4/6/09 PW
B&N Gives Booksellers Blogs 4/6/09 PW
Fujitsu Launches Color e-Book Reader in Japan 3/26/09 PW
Kiyosaki Site Drawing Lots of Interest to Free Book 3/26/09 PW
Chronicle Finds a Hit Online 3/26/09 PW
New Site Hosts 1.8 Million Author Web Pages 3/25/09 PW
Fictionwise Launches Free eReader E-book App for Blackberry 3/24/09 PW
Workman Gives Away Kindles, Lands Book in Amazon's Top Spot 3/24/09 PW
University of Michigan Switching to Digital Format for Scholarly Monographs 3/24/09 PW
HC Goes Digital With Catalogues 3/23/09 PW
B&N Digital Initiatives Coming, Riggio Promises 3/19/09 PW
Sony Partners with Google for More e-Books 3/19/09 PW
Scribd Signs Deals with Major Houses 3/18/09 PW
Bringing Comics to the Amazon Kindle 3/16/09 PW
ABPA’s Book Building 2.0 Seminar Addresses E-Books, iPhones and More 3/11/09 PW
Drummond Talks Google Settlement at AAP Meeting 3/10/09 PW
Stanza Has 'Read an eBook Week' Freebies; Hunted Pubs in Print, on iPhone 3/10/09 PW
The Kindle for iPhone: Good App with Flaws 3/9/09 PW
Amazon.com Stock Gets Upgrade 3/9/09 PW
B&N Buys Fictionwise; Will Start e-Bookstore 3/5/09 PW Note: Same day Borders cuts 742 jobs.
A Million Kindles by Thanksgiving? 3/4/09 PW
ScrollMotion Offers Graphical ‘Daniel X’ for iPhone 3/4/09 PW
Amazon Joins the iPhone App Market 3/3/09 PW
F+W Offering Free e-Books 3/3/09 PW
Nelson Makes Books Available in All Formats for One Price 3/3/09 PW
Amazon Reverses Stance on Text-to-Speech Feature 3/2/09 PW
Simon & Schuster Launches Crossword iPhone App 2/23/09 PW
Walden Media Moves into Future 2/19/09 PW
Read Will Eisner On Your iPhone 2/17/09 PW
Lexcycle, Plastic Logic, iRex and Others to Integrate New Adobe eBook Technology 2/16/09 PW
Authors Guild and Amazon Disagree Over Kindle's Text-to-Speech Software 2/12/09 PW
TOC: The Digital Future Is Confusing and Inspirational 2/12/09 PW
TOC Conference: Using Social Media to Build Book Audiences 2/11/09 PW
ReadHowYouWant Has Big Ambitions 2/11/09 PW
Plastic Logic Annouces Partnerships for Forthcoming eReader 2/10/09 PW
Kindle2 to Launch February 24 2/9/09 PW
Google Optimizes Book Search for iPhone, Android 2/6/09 PW
Tor.com Offers New Sci-fi and Fantasy Webcomics 2/2/09 PW
HarperCollins’s New Format: Video Books 2/3/09 PW
ReadHowYouWant Launches Online Braille Store 1/30/09 PW
Amazon Has Big Year, Though Media Growth Slowed 1/29/09 PW
Robert Kiyosaki, Business Plus Team-Up for Free, Online Book 1/29/09 PW
Tantor Distributing Playaway 1/28/09 PW
New Kindle Coming? 1/27/09 PW
Amazon To Drop Microsoft, Adobe e-Book Formats 1/26/09 PW
Perseus Partners with Incelligence to Create Mobile Phone Editions 1/21/09 PW
BookSwim.com Partners with BookRenter.com for Textbook Rentals 1/21/09 PW
Wiley Signs with YBP Library Services for Online Book Distribution 1/21/09 PW
iPhone Recipe Apps Surge 1/20/09 PW
Avalon Travel and For Dummies Launch New Web Sites 1/16/09 PW
Simon & Schuster Launches New Web Site 1/14/09 PW
Hachette's Young Touts Benefits of XML 1/13/09 PW
A Cautionary e-Book Tale 1/13/09 PW
Dorchester Signs with LibreDigital for e-Book Distribution 1/12/09 PW
New B&N.com President 1/9/09 PW
OverDrive Digital "Checkouts" Jumped 76% in 2008 1/6/09 PW
Orbit Offers Dollar E-Books 1/5/09 PW
Amazon Launches Author Stores 12/30/08 PW
Melville House Doing "Live Book" on Goose Island 12/11/08 PW
BISG Unveils BookDROP Standard for Digital Book Repositories 12/10/08 PW
uclick Hopes to Roll Out Hundreds of Comics for iPhone 12/9/08 PW
John Wiley and Directory M Enter Internet Content Syndication Partnership 12/9/08 PW
Penguin Launches Penguin 2.0, iPhone App; Stanza Deal with Random House 12/8/08 PW
Joint Venture Takes Control of NetGalley 12/8/08 PW
Fictionwise Partners with Stanza on iPhone 12/4/08 PW
New E-Book Publisher Launches 12/2/08 PW
Amazon Complete AbeBooks Buy 12/2/08 PW
NBN to Offer Digital Services 12/1/08 PW
Pan Macmillan Signs with Lexcycle’s Stanza 11/25/08 PW
Random House Expands E-book Offerings 11/24/08 PW
Tyndale Signs with Global Reader 11/18/09 PW
Google Settlement Gets Initial Approval 11/18/09 PW
Borders.com Goes Live with Google Preview 11/12/08 PW
U.K. Booksellers Say Google Deal Creates Monopoly 11/12/08 PW
SharedBook Teams with Tattered Cover and Capitol Books 11/10/08 PW
DailyLit Launches Book Samplers 11/6/08 PW
Authors, Publishers, Google Embrace Settlement 10/28/08 PW
Google Settles with AAP, Authors Guild 10/28/08 PW
B&N Launches Social Networking Site 10/27/08 PW
Kindle is Oprah’s New “Favorite Gadget” 10/24/08 PW

Bad News in the Book Biz

Perhaps it seems a bit morbid or sadistic, but I've collected stories about these dark days in the book business to show the stark contrast in electronic publishing--the one industry growth area.

CBA Survey Finds Down Market 5/20/09 PW
Writing the Future Depression 5/20/09 GC
Books Flat at Hastings 5/18/09 PW
Quebecor Has Loss, Moves Ahead with Reorg 5/18/09 PW
Bookstore Sales Dipped 4.2 Percent in Q1 of 2009 5/14/09 GC
CBA Industry Report Reveals Volatile 2008 for Christian Stores 5/14/09 ECPA
Donnelley Makes Offer for Quebecor 5/13/09 PW
Bookstore Sales Down 1.3% in March; Off 4.2% for Quarter 5/13/09 PW
First Quarter Loss at Bertelsmann 5/12/09 PW
Episcopal Publisher Halts Trade Acquisitions 5/12/09 PW
Making Information Pay Conference Charts Changes Brought by Recession 5/8/09 PW
Revenue Dips Nearly 20 Percent at Simon & Schuster 5/8/09 GC
Budget Cuts Threaten LSU Press 5/8/09 GC
Simon & Schuster Has Rough First Quarter 5/7/09 PW
Charges Result in $38 Million Loss at HarperCollins 5/6/09 PW
Marvel Publishing Dips in Quarter; Expects Better Second Half 5/5/09 PW
First-Quarter Slip for Quarto 4/29/09 PW
Source Interlink Files Pre-Packaged Bankruptcy 4/28/09 PW
Plug Pulled on Christian Consumer Book Show 4/28/09 PW
Sales Fall at McGraw-Hill Education, but Loss Cut 4/28/09 PW
New Report Sees Dip in 2009 Book Sales 4/27/09 PW
Aperture Cuts Staff, Publishing List 4/24/09 PW
Borders to Overhaul Board, Enhance Book Clubs 4/16/09 PW
Results Down at Courier, Expects Better over the Next Six Months 4/15/09 PW
February Bookstore Sales Plunge 4/14/09 PW
Quebecor Reaches Agreement with Creditors 4/9/09 PW
NavPress Cuts Nine Positions 4/7/09 PW
Amid Changes, Globe Pequot Reducing BEA Presence 4/3/09 PW
Despite Big Loss, Marshall Confident of Borders's Future 3/31/09 PW
Babylon Falling Closing 3/31/09 PW
U of New Mexico Press Downsizes 3/31/09 PW
Book Sales Off 2.8% in 2008, AAP Says 3/31/09 PW
Pershing Extends Borders 3/31/09 PW
Recession Impacts BEA’s Black Professionals Confab 3/31/09 PW
Kensington to Sit Out Smaller BookExpo America 3/30/09 PW
Quebecor Cuts Loss in 2008 3/30/09 PW
Schoenwald Up, Heim Out at Nelson 3/27/09 PW
Books Etc. Closing Old Port Outlet 3/26/09 PW
Pay Freeze for Barnes & Noble Execs 3/24/09 PW
Random Has Down Year; Sees More Challenges 3/23/09 PW
Books-A-Million Results Fall 3/19/09 PW
B&N Confirms Down Year; Bleak Sales Forecast 3/19/09 PW
Baker & Taylor Moving California Warehouse to Indianapolis 3/17/09 PW
Community Acts to Save Shaman Drum 3/17/09 PW
Borders Sets Annual Meeting; Considers Reverse Stock Split 3/12/09 PW
Bookstore Sales Flat in January 3/12/09 PW
Anderson Sues Magazine Publishers & Wholesalers 3/11/09 PW
Currency Issues, U.S. Economy Result in Down Quarter at Wiley 3/9/09 PW
Anderson's Debt May Top $200 Million 3/6/09 PW
Borders Cuts 742 Store Positions 3/5/09 PW
Anderson’s Troubles Mount 3/4/09 PW
HCI Eliminates 35 Positions 3/3/09 PW
Random House Acquires Ten Speed Press 3/2/09 PW
Book Results Flat at Donnelley 3/2/09 PW
Borders Cuts Corporate Workforce 12% 2/19/09 PW
Simon & Schuster Reports 3% Decline in 2008 2/19/09 PW
Anderson Lays Off Employees; Source Sues 2/18/09 PW
Turner Publishing Buys Cumberland Titles 2/13/09 PW
Borders Gets Another Extension 2/13/09 PW
ABA to Reduce Staff, Institutes Salary Freeze 2/13/09 PW
December Store Sales Down; Year Off 0.5% 2/12/09 PW
HarperCollins Closes Bowen Press 2/12/09 PW
S&P Gets More Negative on HMH Parent 2/11/09 PW
HC Closes Bowen Press, Downsizes Rayo; Makes U.K. Cuts 2/10/09 PW
Harper Closing Collins; Other Layoffs Planned 2/10/09 PW
Anderson News Suspends “Normal Business Activity” 2/9/09 PW
Another Bad Quarter at HarperCollins 2/5/09 PW
Rodale Trims Four in Book Group 2/5/09 PW
Armstrong, Harwood Among Those Leaving in Borders Consolidation 2/3/09 PW
Reed Drops Canadian Publishing Events 2/2/09 PW
Simon & Schuster Unites Marketing 2/2/09 PW
Borders Execs Hit New York 2/2/09 PW
Reader’s Digest Cuts 280 Positions 1/29/09 PW
Random Out of BEC Consumer Show 1/29/09 PW
Harper Offers Voluntary Retirement 1/27/09 PW
Weak School Sales Drop Results at McGraw-Hill Education 1/27/09 PW
Amid Changes, Kenney to Lead 'PW' 1/26/09 PW Note: Sara Nelson out. Boo!
Layoffs at Diamond, DC Comics, Top Cow 1/23/09 PW
OUP Cuts 60 Positions 1/21/09 PW
Random Revamps Adult Sales 1/21/09 PW
BookStream to Flow No More 1/19/09 PW
Schwartz Bookshops to Close; Two Will Have New Owners 1/19/09 PW
The NeverEnding Story Reaches an End 1/16/09 PW
O’Reilly Media Eliminates 30 Jobs 1/16/09 PW
Random House Publishing Group Restructured 1/15/09 PW
B&N Cuts 4% at Corporate HQ 1/14/09 PW
Publishing Sales Sink at Courier; Closes Print Plant 1/14/09 PW
Crown Restructuring Completed 1/14/09 PW
November Bookstore Sales Plunge 1/14/09 PW
Knopf Doubleday Reorg Done 1/14/09 PW
Borders Names McGuire Head of the Board 1/13/09 PW
Books-A-Million Has Small Decline 1/9/09 PW
Small Press Sues Borders, B&T Over Returns 1/9/09 PW
B&N Holiday Sales Drop at Stores, Online 1/6/09 PW
More Cuts at McGraw-Hill Education 1/7/09 PW
Kaplan Buys Cleveland Clinic Press Assets 1/5/09 PW
As Sales Fall, Borders Gets New Leadership 1/5/09 PW
Borders Gets More Time 12/23/08 PW
Dohle Urges Random to Rethink, Reformulate Ways of Doing Business 12/18/08 PW
One-Time Charges, Currency Fluctuations Dent Scholastic Results 12/18/08 PW
Macmillan Scales Back BEA Presence 12/16/08 PW
Macmillan Eliminates 64 Positions; Forms Children’s Group 12/15/08 PW
Sourcebooks Buys Cumberland House 12/15/08 PW
October Bookstore Sales Dropped 5.6% 12/12/08 PW
Unit Sales Fall in Early December 12/11/08 PW
Perseus Suspends Raises 12/10/08 PW
Belt-Tightening in Canada 12/10/08 PW
Chronicle Books Makes Cuts 12/10/08 PW
Ten Speed Press Sale Close 12/10/08 PW
Pay Freeze at Macmillan 12/10/08 PW
Penguin Freezes Raises for Those Above $50,000 12/4/08 PW
HMH Lays Off More Staff 12/4/08 PW
Random Waits for Pending Integration 12/4/08 PW
S&S Cuts 35 Jobs 12/3/08 PW
Richter, Pfeffer to Leave S&S Kids 12/3/08 PW
Rubin, Irwyn Applebaum Step Down in RH Reorg 12/3/08 PW
Thomas Nelson Cuts 54 Positions 12/3/08 PW
Becky Saletan Quits HMH 12/2/08 PW
Borders Results Decline; Company Sale Off 11/25/08 PW
Broccoli Books Folds; Publishers Struggle in Tough Economy 11/25/08 PW
Levy Cancels 2009 Sales Conference 11/25/08 PW
HMH Places "Temporary" Halt on Acquisitions 11/24/08 PW
BAM Comps Drop Nearly 10% 11/24/08 PW
Random House Walks from BEC 2009 11/21/08 PW
Broccoli Books to Shut Down 11/21/08 PW
B&N Sales Sink; Sees Gloomy Holiday 11/21/08 PW
Layoffs at B&T 11/19/09 PW
Linda Jones Stepping Down at Borders 11/17/08 PW
September Bookstore Sales Drop 4.5% 11/14/08 PW
BookStream Slows As It Waits for Funding 11/14/08 PW
Reidy: Worse Publishing Environment May Be On the Way 11/11/08 PW
Economic Downturn Shutters Dallas-area Indie 11/7/08 PW
Profits Tumble at HarperCollins 11/5/08 PW
With Big Exception, Trade Sales Slowed in September 11/5/08 PW
Marvel Publishing Sales Slip 11/3/08 PW
Rodale to Cut 10% of its Workforce 11/3/08 PW
B&N Prepares for Terrible Holiday 11/3/08 PW
Indigo Second Quarter Results Down 10/30/08 PW
Doubleday Cuts 16 10/28/08 PW
Results Off at McGraw-Hill Education; Slashes Forecast 10/28/08 PW

Amazon beats "MediaPad" to Market with DX

Wow. For all my recent trash talk about the Kindle, I want a DX. Sure, I still want touch screen navigation, full Web access, color, and a back lighting option, but I really, really want a DX too.

Here's today's official press release from Amazon.com.

Introducing Kindle DX--Amazon's Large Screen Addition to the Kindle Family of Wireless Reading Devices

Large Kindle DX Display and New Features Provide Enhanced Experience for Reading a Wide Range of Professional and Personal Documents

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May. 6, 2009-- Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today introduced Amazon Kindle DX, the new purpose-built reading device that offers Kindle’s revolutionary wireless delivery and massive selection of content with a large 9.7-inch electronic paper display, built-in PDF reader, auto-rotate capability, and storage for up to 3,500 books. More than 275,000 books are now available in the Kindle Store, including 107 of 112 current New York Times Best Sellers. New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases are $9.99 unless marked otherwise. Top U.S. and international magazines and newspapers plus more than 1,500 blogs are also available. Kindle DX is available for pre-order starting today for $489 at http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Famazon.com%2FkindleDX&esheet=5957674&lan=en_US&anchor=http%3A%2F%2Famazon.com%2FkindleDX&index=1and will ship this summer.

“Personal and professional documents look so good on the big Kindle DX display that you’ll find yourself changing ink-toner cartridges less often,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “Cookbooks, computer books, and textbooks – anything highly formatted – also shine on the Kindle DX. Carry all your documents and your whole library in one slender package.”

New Large Display
Kindle DX’s display has 2.5 times the surface area of Kindle’s 6-inch display. The larger electronic paper display with 16 shades of gray has more area for graphic-rich content such as professional and personal documents, newspapers and magazines, and textbooks. Kindle reads like printed words on paper because the screen works using real ink and doesn’t use a backlight, eliminating the eyestrain and glare associated with other electronic displays.

The New York Times Company and Washington Post Company are launching pilots with Kindle DX this summer. The New York Times , The Boston Globe , and The Washington Post will offer the Kindle DX at a reduced price to readers who live in areas where home-delivery is not available and who sign up for a long-term subscription to the Kindle edition of the newspapers.

“At The New York Times Company we are always seeking new ways for our millions of readers to have full and continuing access to our high-quality news and information,” said Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., chairman, The New York Times Company and publisher, The New York Times. "The wireless delivery and new value-added features of the Kindle DX will provide our large, loyal audience, no matter where they live, with an exciting new way to interact with The New York Times and The Boston Globe . Additionally, by offering a subscription through the Kindle DX to readers who live outside of our delivery areas, we will extend our reach to our loyal readers who will be able to more readily enjoy their favorite newspapers. Meanwhile, we are continuing to work with Amazon to make The New York Times and The Boston Globe experiences on Kindle better than ever."

Kindle DX’s large display offers an enhanced reading experience with another category of graphic-rich content—textbooks. With complex images, tables, charts, graphs, and equations, textbooks look best on a large display. Leading textbook publishers Cengage Learning, Pearson, and Wiley, together representing more than 60 percent of the U.S. higher education textbook market, will begin offering textbooks through the Kindle Store beginning this summer. Textbooks under the following brands will be available: Addison-Wesley, Allyn & Bacon, Benjamin Cummings, Longman & Prentice Hall (Pearson); Wadsworth, Brooks/Cole, Course Technology, Delmar, Heinle, Schirmer, South-Western (Cengage); and Wiley Higher Education.

Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College, and Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia will launch trial programs to make Kindle DX devices available to students this fall. The schools will distribute hundreds of Kindle DX devices to students spread across a broad range of academic disciplines. In addition to reading on a considerably larger screen, students will be able to take advantage of popular Kindle features such as the ability to take notes and highlight, search across their library, look up words in a built-in dictionary, and carry all of their books in a lightweight device.

“The Kindle DX holds enormous potential to influence the way students learn,” said Barbara R. Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve University. “We look forward to seeing how the device affects the participation of both students and faculty in the educational experience.”

New Built-In PDF Reader
Kindle DX features a built-in PDF reader using Adobe Reader Mobile technology for reading professional and personal documents. Like other types of documents on Kindle, customers simply email their PDF format documents to their Kindle email address or move them over using a USB connection. With a larger display and built-in PDF reader, Kindle DX customers can read professional and personal documents with more complex layouts without scrolling, panning, or zooming, and without re-flowing, which destroys the original structure of the document. Everything from annual reports with graphs to flight manuals with maps to musical scores can be viewed on a single, crisp screen with Kindle DX.

New Auto-Rotation
Kindle DX’s display content auto-rotates so users can read in portrait or landscape mode, or flip the device to read with either hand. Simply turn Kindle DX and immediately see full-width landscape views of maps, graphs, tables, images, and Web pages.

New 3.3 GB Memory Holds Up To 3,500 Books
With 3.3 GB of available memory, Kindle DX can hold up to 3,500 books, compared with 1,500 with Kindle. And because Amazon automatically backs up a copy of every Kindle book purchased, customers can wirelessly re-download titles from their library at any time.

Incredibly Thin
Kindle DX is just over a third of an inch thin, which is thinner than most magazines.

3G Wireless, No PC, No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots
Just like Kindle, Kindle DX customers automatically take advantage of Amazon Whispernet to wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download or receive new content in less than 60 seconds, and read from their library—all without a PC, Wi-Fi hot spot, or syncing. Amazon still pays for the wireless connectivity on Kindle DX so books can be downloaded in less than 60 seconds—with no monthly fees, data plans, or service contracts.

Syncs With Kindle for iPhone and other Kindle Compatible Devices
Just like Kindle, Kindle DX uses Amazon Whispersync technology to automatically sync content across Kindle, Kindle DX, Kindle for iPhone, and other devices in the future. With Whispersync, customers can easily move from device to device and never lose their place in their reading.

Massive Selection of Books—Plus Newspapers, Magazines, and Blogs
The Kindle Store currently offers more than 275,000 books, including popular books like New York Times Bestsellers, New Releases, and fiction and nonfiction released in the past several years. Dozens of newspapers and magazines are also available for subscription or single-edition purchase. BusinessWeek and The New England Journal of Medicine are available in the Kindle Store starting today, and The Economist will be available soon. Subscriptions are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle overnight so that the latest edition is waiting for customers when they wake up. Over 1,500 blogs are available on Kindle and updated and downloaded wirelessly throughout the day.

Kindle DX includes all the other features Kindle customers enjoy every day, including:

- Wirelessly send, receive, and read personal documents in a variety of formats such as Microsoft Word and PDF
- Look up words instantly using the built-in 250,000 word New Oxford American Dictionary
- Choose from six text sizes
- Add bookmarks, notes, and highlights
- Text-to-speech technology that converts words on a page to spoken word
- Search Web, Wikipedia.org, Kindle Store, and your library of purchased content
- No setup required—Kindle comes ready to use—no software to load or set up Amazon Kindle is sold through Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
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About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel; Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial.
Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Examples of the services offered by Amazon Web Services are Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon SimpleDB, Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS), Amazon Flexible Payments Service (Amazon FPS), Amazon Mechanical Turk and Amazon CloudFront.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com , www.amazon.co.uk , www.amazon.de , www.amazon.co.jp , www.amazon.fr , www.amazon.ca , and www.amazon.cn .
As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.
Source: Amazon.com, Inc.