An eBook every self-published cynic should read…

Shadow_of_Medea_SM

George Smiley, Jason Bourne, James Bond, Jack Ryan - authors and readers seem to love spies and covert agents, especially those whose adventures span multiple books. As a reader, the appeal of a book series is a world which grows with each instalment and a character who grows in stature and status as they complete … [Read more...]

Could Apple launch an iTunes Match for eBooks?

ibooks

Like probably a lot of other people, I have some ebooks purchased for my now unused Sony reader which I’d love to store on my iPad n iBooks alongside new purchases. Because they’re protected by DRM that’s not currently possible. Or at least, not without breaking the law. Hopefully at some point in the … [Read more...]

Amazon isn’t selling 1m Kindle Fires per week

Amazon are now selling refurbished Kindle Fires

There’s a lot of excitement at Amazon’s latest Kindle press release, some the result of misreporting and misreading. Amazon says “customers are purchasing well over 1 million Kindle devices per week” - that’s ALL Kindle models, the ad-carrying ‘special offers’ model, the touch and the Fire. That’s … [Read more...]

European Commission opens investigation into eBook agency pricing

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The European Commission is investigating whether eBook publishers have broken EU antitrust rules by engaging in “anti-competitive practices affecting the sale of e-books”. A number of publishers sell beooks under the agency pricing model, which sees publishers set the final retail price and pay the retailer a … [Read more...]

Kobo sold to Rakuten in $315m deal

Kobo's Touch reader

Japanese ecommerce specialists Rakuten are purchasing ebook retailer Kobo for $315 million. Rakuten recently purchased UK ecommerce site Play.com and owns Buy.com in the U.S. In the UK Kobo’s ebook readers are sold via WHSmith. The ebook retailer also offers books via apps for the iPad, iPhone and Android … [Read more...]