Heather Reisman, head honcho at Indigo Books & Music and Kobobooks, announced the arrival of yet another contender in the already competitive world of electronic book reading devices.
Look out Kindle, step aside Nook, run for the hills iPad and put ‘em up Sony reader ’cause there’s a new kid in town: the Kobo eReader.
logo for kobobooks
And who said ebooks were a fad? Welcome little Kobo eReader.
Especially LOVE that you’re a Canuck.
Things are hotting up in the ebook price point war between online booksellers and publishers.
My niece, Anica, carrying 2010 Olympic Torch
Before Apple came along with it’s iconic iPad and soon to be open iBookstore, online booksellers, like Amazon, set the prices of most new ebook releases at $9.99US, regardless of the publishers’ wishes.
This is going to change as Apple has agreed to set its prices higher, between $12.99US & $14.99US.
Now, other retailers, like Barnes & Noble and Amazon, are “yelling Uncle!” and complying. If they don’t, they’ll lose market share tout suite.
Good news for authors and publishers; less so for readers. I like the idea of giving more price weight to newly-released ebooks.
Every dollar counts and the effort, art & craft are worth it.
Attention writers!
You may have already been published or perhaps have struck out trying to find a traditional print publisher.
You’ve heard of print on demand and other forms of self-publishing but are wary of costs.
You still want the opportunity to get your work into readers’ hands.
Well, it’s very possible to do so in an extremely inexpensive yet effective way: self publish your work as an ebook and sell it online!
Cover for A Hemorrhaging of Souls
I’ve done it several times and am now selling electronic books at a number of major online book selling sites, like Amazon Kindle Store, Kobobooks and iTunes.
You can do it, too…and if you live in Victoria, BC area, you can spend Saturday, April 24th, with me at the Publish Your Own Ebook course offered by Camosun College.
I recently gave a speech to a local group called the Victoria Writers’ Society on the Mysterious Evolution of Publishing.
An engaging crowd of over thirty writers and editors attended. My focus was on electronic publishing and blogging and how I have used ebooks to give a couple of my novels a second life. My efforts appeared to go over well as there were numerous questions and much discussion after.
One of the best things occurred about a week later when the president, Debra Henry, kindly emailed me a sweet thank you note for “an information-packed evening that was both engaging and inspirational”.
She added the following:
Since I always enjoy peeking behind the curtain and seeing the secrets therein, I love hearing what other fiction writers offer as their methods, tips and techniques.
Now that PODCASTING exists as an easy to make and even easier to hear medium, it’s a perfect platform for what I have in mind: a ‘radio’ show that chats with published authors to discover the insights they’ve gleaned from the real life wordsmithing trenches.
Old-fashioned Mic (Photo CM Seter)
But what exactly is a podcast? Glad you asked. In a nutshell, media files are published online using RSS (stands for Really Simple Syndication) feeds. These files or POD (taken from the concept of “Portable on Demand”) and casts (taken from the term “broadcasting”) may be heard via a computer or an MP3 player.
My plan is to produce a regular free podcast which offers simple, practical and helpful ways to improve your writing based on the experiences of published Canadian genre writers.
And, I’m going to post my experiences about the creation and production to help other podcaster wannabes.
Okay, I’ve got the promo website, I’ve got social media whirling and I’m blogging. Should be enough, don’t you think?
Nah…I’ve decided to give podcasting a try and blog about it.
As a writer, I’m always keen to learn practical tips and techniques of the craft from other published novelists. Yeah, writing fiction is a craft as well as an art so some of it can be learned.
I doubt I’m alone; that’s the main reason I wrote my little inexpensive how-to mystery writing ebook primer called Youdunit Whodunit! and why I teach a similar writing course at our local college.
cover image for Youdunit Whodunit!
I know there’s a wealth of information out there from other Canadian genre fiction writers just waiting to be picked and offered up in a useful and usable format.
So, that’s exactly my plan.
Stick around; should be a gas.
Okay, hands up those of you who insisted that your local library was going the way of the Dodo.
Good, now those of you who said e-books were just a fad, stick up your fists, too.
Now, don’t you look foolish.
Dodo bird (photo Jeremy Burgin)
Today, soaring numbers of ebook (and audio downloads) have been reported by OverDrive, the world’s leader in ebook and audio downloads.
Adding to the good news reported in their press release is a 40% increase in new library users and a 53% increase in ebook checkouts.
Yeah, I know that we authors don’t get royalties directly from library downloads but we do receive some for the books purchased by the libraries and exposure to new readers is one key way to for us to increase our paying audience.
So I think this is terrific news.
Oh, and what were the most downloaded fiction and non-fiction ebooks of 2009?
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.
Congrats, guys.
(And thanks to Jeremy Burgin for his Dodo pic)
Happy New Year and best wishes for a healthy, prosperous and inventive 2010.
As the old year ends, I’ve established my own little awards, The Niki’s, to honour the best of 2009.
My categories are mostly related to creative endeavours, are arbitrarily chosen and listed in alphabetical order.
So, drum roll, please:
1-Top Technology of the Year: Podcasting
credit: Amazon.com
3-Top Cool Thing of the Year: the E-book
4-Top Food of the Year: my sister’s Microwavable Chocolate Fudge
Lounging Lions (credit E. Polinsky)
6-Top Plant of the Year: My funky Spectabilis bamboo
Phyllostachys Spectabilis
7-Top Radio Play of the Year: The Barchester Chronicles by Anthony Trollope (BBC Radio)
8-Top Song of the Year:Battlefield by Glynne Turner
9-Top Television Show of the Year: The Closer (James Duff: executive producer/creator/writer)
10-Top Word of the Year: Quillr® (online multimedia storytelling platform)
So…what are your Top Ten of 2009?
Pretty interesting day for ebook author and sellers.
Shortcovers, the online bookselling arm of Indigo Books & Music Inc., has spun off into a new chapter. They’ve taken on Borders Group Inc., Instant Fame and REDgroup Retail as partners, and have rebranded themselves as Kobo.
Their press release, in part, says:
Shortcovers is pleased to announce a new chapter in our company’s history: Shortcovers is rebranding with a new name, a new look, and a new round of investment from leaders in the industry.
Today, December 15th, 2009, Shortcovers will begin operating under the name Kobo. Our rebranded website is available today at http://www.kobobooks.com , and updated versions of our mobile applications for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Palm Pre are on their way to their respective app stores and our website.
Read the complete press release from Shortcovers here.
This could be very cool and profitable for ebook authors: more markets; more buyers; more dough.
Of course, now I’ve got to change all my links to booksellers!
With the crop of new e-readers available and the ever-growing list of ebooks available, there is a lot of rumbling and grumbling about the end of publishing as we know it.
UnnaturalStates: John & Harry Battling
As a keen believer in electronic publishing, especially in telling stories in a multimedia platform like our UnnaturalStates, I’m all for evolution in the publishing business.
Church Choir Mysteries: The Unsuitable Suitor
I’m also up for good old-fashioned printed books, with their lovely heft and smell.
And, most shockingly, I don’t see these two positions as being diametrically opposed.
Now, Michael Hyatt offers some excellent predictions on the end of publishing as we know it, as well as offering a video introducing an amazing new multimedia reading device by Time Inc. and Wonderfactory called the SI Tablet.
Check it out. Reading is evolving, whether you like it or not.
Oh, and of course, publishing isn’t ending anytime soon.
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