Day: August 16, 2010

Go Read This | W H Smith makes all e-books half price | theBookseller.com

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

I used to worry that the digital developments that seemed to be moving so fast in the US would outpace Ireland and the UK and result in UK and Irish publishers losing out.

It now seems to me that in fact the opposite is the case. The maturing of the ebook market in the US gave UK retailers forewarning and they decided not to just let Amazon waltz in and take their territory from them.

They spent money to develop ebook delivery platforms and while they may not have the range of devices that they have in the US, they can fight on price and so they are.

That said, the readers bonanza that the book prices being reporting today represents will be the lower profits of Booksellers later this year and the margin pressure on publishers this Autumn. but it’s also a sign that ebooks really are a big deal this side of the water too!

If publishers are able to resist the margin pressure in the face of this price war, they should end up doing well out of the ebook price war. Of course, if they can’t that’s a whole different ballgame.

All of that goes just for the UK, by my estimation neither Publishers or Booksellers in Ireland are ready for the ebook to any great degree.

When Amazon launched its UK Kindle store, Steve Kessel, senior vice president of Amazon Kindle, told The Bookseller the prices would be the lowest in the market. However, WHS is selling the Lampard memoir cheaper than Amazon.co.uk, which has it on sale at £4.86. It does beat WHS on the other titles mentioned above. The Pacific is on sale on the Kindle for £9.44 and McGiffin’s memoir for £7.97.

via W H Smith makes all e-books half price | theBookseller.com.

PS: I’ve finally succumbed and added Ebooks as a category rather than just a tag!

Quick Link | The Chart of Fantasy Art, Part One | Orbit Books | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

Yes indeed!

This year we didn’t spot a single unicorn (though it’s possible a unicorn was hidden under one of the hoods.) To all unicorn-lovers out there, don’t lose heart. Unicorns are rare – like double rainbows —  so a year without them will only make their inevitable reappearance that much more magical. In the meantime, there’s always this.

via The Chart of Fantasy Art, Part One | Orbit Books | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy.

Quick Link | Ebooks and opensource textbooks for Irish education – EirePreneur

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

Occasionally Google Alerts throws up some odd links, often old material that for some reason has been refreshed in the cache. This is one of them, and I’m very glad because I find it a fascinating attempt to pull together a very fractured discussion about digital publishing, curriculum development and ebooks in Irish Education. Hopefully, I’ll follow some of the links in the post to some more interesting discussion.

On November 6th last we asked on Twitter – “Can Irish educators explain what obstacles prevent the development of an opensource curriculum distributed on back-friendly ebooks?”

Darren Geraghty, a researcher at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute in Galway was first to answer – “I’m not an educator but I’m told book publishers want it to remain the current archaic way for obvious self-serving monetary reasons”

To which I reponded, “I’ve heard that too but wonder why, in the age of wikipedia, an opensource alternative can’t be developed? Lack of will?”

via Ebooks and opensource textbooks for Irish education – EirePreneur.

Go Read This | The printed book’s path to oblivion – The Shatzkin Files

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

It’s a day for good articles on the future and books!

It is very hard for me to grasp why anybody would prefer a printed book 30 or 40 years from now. I’m sure by then screen technology will be able to simulate any aspect of the printed book that could possibly be of interest (except, perhaps, for the smell of the paper, ink, and glue, but, then maybe a companion air-wick would do the trick. I wonder if you can use the same aromas for all titles, or whether some customization will be required.)

via The printed book’s path to oblivion – The Shatzkin Files.

Go Read This | B.O.B., University of Texas’ $150,000 Book Machine, Readies for Freshman Year

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

I just liked this paragraph but the whole piece is interesting and well worth reading!

Case in point: The University of Texas Co-Op — who is the largest seller of used textbooks in the country and the most profitable independent college bookstore in the United States — recently purchased an EBM for $150,000. It has created publishing company Forty Acres Press to manage the machine, which has been affectionately named B.O.B: The Burnt Orange Book machine, in honor of the university’s signature color.

via B.O.B., University of Texas’ $150,000 Book Machine, Readies for Freshman Year.