Chris McCrudden on Publishing:

“I want to talk about self-publishing. In particular the self-published pornography that found its way on WH Smith’s website via the retailer’s partnership with Kobo, which was spotted by The Mail on Sunday and has since led to a virulent press and social media campaign against ‘vile trade’.”

***

“For me this episode highlights a fundamental tension within the eBook selling industry which is all about why being a platform is different to being a retailer. The success of platforms like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing and Kobo’s Writing Life are quality neutral at the point of entry. They exist to scoop up a critical mass of content because they believe consumers want to deal with the platform with the biggest inventory.”

Read the rest here:  If Self-Publishing is the new Wild Wild West, Who’s the Sheriff?

Julia Barrett

From CNET UK:

Amazon has dropped the price of its cheapest tablet by £30. The Kindle Fire will now set you back just £99, the company has said in an email to customers.

You know what this means: there’s new models a-coming. We’ve already seen leaked snaps of the next Kindle Fire HD, so Amazon could well be trying to clear stock ahead of the launch, which is expected before the end of this month.

The next 7-inch Amazon Kindle Fire HD leaked this week, and apparently there’s an 8.9-inch version in the pipeline, too. The new models will look alike, with a new angular design. The 7-incher should have a resolution of 1,920×1,200 pixels — that’s the same as the new Nexus 7 – while the 8.9-incher should have 2,560×1,600 pixels.

Link to the rest at CNET UK

DIY Kindle Scanner

From The Digital Reader:

If you pre-ordered Kobo’s newest ereader because it was a premium device, you might want to rethink that decision. E-ink announced new screen tech today and the Aura doesn’t have it.

I have just received confirmation that the early hands on reports were correct. E-ink’s 4th-gen Carta screen tech wasn’t used in the Aura; it can only be found in the not-yet-released Kindle Paperwhite.

. . . .

Sadly, for Kobo, the $149 Aura is now going to be overshadowed by the new Kindle Paperwhite, which retails for $119.

. . . .

The Paperwhite has the same screen resolution as the Aura, and both have frontlights and touchscreens, but the Paperwhite will offer a greater contrast and a more reflective screen while still making use of the latest improvements that E-ink has made in providing smoother page turns.

Link to the rest at The Digital Reader

PG wouldn’t usually include two Amazon press releases in a single day, but quite a few visitors to The Passive Voice have commented that the Paperwhite is their favorite ereader plus the Goodreads integration is interesting (but not surprising).

From The Amazon Media Room:

 Today, Amazon announced that the world’s best-selling e-reader—Kindle Paperwhite—is getting even better. The all-new Kindle Paperwhite features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers.

. . . .

Here’s what makes the all-new Kindle Paperwhite better than ever:

• New display technology with higher contrast—Kindle Paperwhite’s display is the most advanced e-reader display ever constructed. Higher contrast and better reflectivity means whites are whiter and blacks are blacker, so the pages are virtually indistinguishable from a physical book. You won’t find this level of contrast with any other e-reader display.
• Next generation built-in light—Guides light toward the surface of the display so you can read comfortably without eyestrain.

. . . .

• New Goodreads Integration—Combines the world’s largest e-reading community and the world’s largest community of book lovers. Join over 20 million other readers and see what your friends are reading, share highlights, and rate the books you read with Goodreads on Kindle, available exclusively from Amazon. See screenshots: www.amazon.com/kindle-goodreads.

Link to the rest at Amazon Media Room and Here’s the link for Paperwite Pre-orders

Passive Guy expects he wasn’t the only person to receive an email from Amazon as follows:

Dear Kindle Customer,

Last fall we notified you that you are entitled to a credit for some of your past Kindle book purchases as a result of legal settlements between several major book publishers and the Attorneys General of most U.S. states and territories. We wanted to let you know that two more publishers have since settled with some State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs and these new settlements may increase the amount of the credit you will receive. A formal notification from the Court about these settlements is included below.

You do not need to do anything to receive this credit. If the Court approves the settlements in December 2013 and there is no appeal, a credit will appear automatically in your Amazon.com account that can be used to purchase Kindle books or print books. We will contact you when the credit is applied to your account. While we will not know the amount of your credit until the Court approves the settlements, it is estimated that it will range from $0.73 to $3.06 for every eligible Kindle book that you purchased. To be eligible, you must have a U.S. billing address and must have purchased a Kindle book published by Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin or Macmillan between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. These publishers will provide the funds for the settlements. If you have already requested a check instead of a credit in response to the notice you received last fall, that request will cover these additional settlements and you do not need to do anything else. If you would like to request a check, you may do so by following the instructions included in the formal notice of the settlements, set forth below. You can learn more about the settlements at www.amazon.com/help/agencyebooksettlements

In addition to the account credit, the settlements impose limitations on the publishers’ ability to control eBook prices. We think these settlements are a big win for readers.

From Business Insider:

On November 22, 2010, at 7:55 PM, Apple’s Senior Vice President of marketing, Phil Schiller, blasted an email to top Apple executives.

He had just seen an ad from Amazon, and he was not happy.

He emailed Steve Jobs, Eddy Cue, who runs Apple’s Internet services, and Greg Joswiak, VP of marketing:

I just watched a new Amazon Kindle app ad on TV.

It starts with a woman using an iPhone and buying and reading books with the Kindle app. The woman then switches to an Android phone and still can read all her books.

While the primary message is that there are Kindle apps on lots of mobile devices, the secondary message that can’t be missed is that it is easy to switch from iPhone to Android.

Not fun to watch.

. . . .

Apple decided to cripple Amazon’s Kindle app for iPhones and iPads. Apple said that if Amazon wants to sell a book through iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, then Apple would collect 30% of the sale.

Link to the rest at Business Insider

From Liliputing:

Amazon’s expected to launch a new line of Android tablets this fall. But what about the company’s black and white eReader lineup? Is there a new model in the works to replace the Kindle Paperwhite?

While there has been leak after leak providing details about the company’s new tablets, I haven’t heard much about a new eReader from Amazon.

But there’s a good sign something’s going on in that department — Amazon’sKindle Paperwhite WiFi eReader is currently out of stock.

. . . .

Amazon’s expected to launch a new line of Android tablets this fall. But what about the company’s black and white eReader lineup? Is there a new model in the works to replace the Kindle Paperwhite?

While there has been leak after leak providing details about the company’s new tablets, I haven’t heard much about a new eReader from Amazon.

But there’s a good sign something’s going on in that department — Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite WiFi eReader is currently out of stock.

Link to the rest at Liliputing

From AllThingsD:

In a report released last week, Morgan Stanley said it estimates that Amazon will sell $4.5 billion worth of Kindle e-readers and tablets this year, up 26 percent from 2012.

. . . .

Of course, Amazon is willing to lose money on Kindle device sales to spur demand for its digital content business — the selling of digital books, movies, games and other content — where it makes real money.

Morgan Stanley estimates that Amazon will do $3.8 billion in digital media revenue this year, and that the business will generate more revenue than device sales next year — with an estimated $5.7 billion in revenue.

In total, Morgan Stanley estimates that the Kindle ecosystem — which also includes advertising revenue of $192 million — will account for 11 percent of the company’s total revenue this year, but 23 percent of its operating profit.

Link to the rest at AllThingsD

From The Guardian:

I’m a rare book dealer, but since getting an e-reader older reading media seem awkward and cumbersome.

. . . .

It was the second lead story on The News at Ten. JK Rowling, it seems, had just been unmasked as the author of a pseudonymous thriller, The Cuckoo’s Calling, under the name Robert Galbraith. By the time the newsreader was on item three, I was on page three. Kindles are perfect for speedy delivery: 30 seconds between desire and fulfilment.

I was delighted to have the new text on my screen, having no desire to schlep it about in hard copy.

. . . .

And too many books are a positive encumbrance if you are travelling, and want to take enough reading matter to cover your holiday, without paying for excess baggage.

. . . .

As I discovered on our way to Heathrow, I had forgotten to take my Kindle. This has never happened to me before, for it is now so essential that I almost buy it a companion ticket. When it became clear, checking my bags for the third time, that I was now Kindle-less, I had a reaction so acute as to qualify, almost, as an anxiety attack. No Kindle? What was I going to do?

. . . .

It has been a few years since I read an actual book on a plane, and I was astonished at how cumbersome, how intractably wrong, it felt in my hands. I found myself – which I have never done before and heartily disapprove of – folding the book in half so that only the page I was reading was visible. That gave me a cramp in my right hand, and the pages wouldn’t stay still, quite, as I read. I found myself swaying slightly, as if at the Wailing Wall. Then I went back to the two-handed double-page-opened position – even describing it makes it seem like an obscure sort of manoeuvre, rather than a natural function – but I still couldn’t settle down. The book was too fat. It was too heavy. It spread out too widely. It was as if I had taken an unruly small pet onto the plane and couldn’t keep it under control.

Link to the rest at The Guardian and thanks to Caro for the tip.