Monthly Archives: May 2014

Scotland’s Future in an e-book

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scotland2Teleread has reported a story today that is an interesting blend of e-books and politics. Scotland is voting this fall on whether to become an independent nation. The government as created an e-book explaining its views on the pros and cons of the matter. It is available on the government website for free download in .epub and .mobi (Kindle) formats. You can also read it online.

The e-book is available for free via Amazon.  Even there, politics evidently prevail. At the time of this writing, the book had two reviews, averaging three stars. One was a five star review praising the concept of a democratic Scotland; the other, a one star labeling the work “an imaginative piece of writing.”  Both reviews are from December, 2013.

I have to say, this a great example of how e-books can make a contribution to society as a whole in spreading information. 🙂

 

News of the Day: Paper textbook first sale rights, part 2

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From The Digital Reader: A follow up – Textbook publisher backs down on first sale rights for paper books

From The Ebook Reader: A tutorial – Sideloading ebooks and PDFs on the Kindle App for Android

From Techcrunch: This IOS app sounds too interesting to ignore: Turn doodles into video 

From Teleread: A tutorial – How to turn the wi-fi off on the Kindle Paperwhite  (And, yes, in this respect, the Paperwhite is counterintuitive!)

 

 

 

Happy Mother’s Day to my Kindle

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Kindle 1Okay, who is this crazy lady and why is she wishing her Kindle a happy Mother’s Day?

Well, the truth is that for me, the Kindle and Mother’s Day are linked together in my mind. I received my first Kindle, what’s now called the Kindle 1, for Mother’s Day 2008. That makes six years of the magic of reading e-books for me. I still have my original Kindle – and it still works! Since then, I have owned most of the e-ink Kindle models and several Kindle Fires (with a couple of NOOKs thrown in, to boot). At this point, I could not imagine not having an e-reader to read on.

Since I am waxing nostalgic about my Kindles today, I was thrilled to see this article on The Goodereader on The History of the Kindle in Pictures. Take a look; it is a fascinating look at the changes in model styles over the past six years.

News of the Day: Applying the first sale doctrine to paper books?

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From the Digital Reader: Can you apply the first sale doctrine to paper books? 

From the Goodereader: Why do we abandon reading a book?

From Make Use Of: Add your personal e-books to Google Play Books 

From Digital Book World: Subscription service Oyster hits half a million book milestone 

From The Digital Book Reader: Sony is closing their reader store worldwide

 

 

 

News of the Day: Arabic e-books and Is Everyone a Publisher

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For Wednesday, May 7, 2014:

From Publishing Perspectives: A peek at the world of Arabic e-books

From Digital Book World: Is everyone a publisher?  and The Navy commissions e-reader and gives e-books to sailors 

From The Digital Reader: Touch Screen that enables the blind to see with their hands 

From Overdrive.com: Overdrive now works with Kindle Free Time to offer children’s e-books for libraries

News of the day

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Some interesting “e-stories” stories from today.

From Digital Book World: Self-published e-book anthology by High school freshman number one at iBooks.  

From Open Culture: 15 free e-books from University of Michigan Press.

From TechCrunch: Books are free *after* the author gets paid.

And, O’Reilly Books is offering a 50% off promotional code for International Day Against DRM 2014.

 

Print versus e-book: a look at the numbers

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e-book infographicThere is a really interesting infographic on E-Books in America on dailyinfographic.com.  It gives a useful overview on formats and profiles of those who like to read e-books.

However, the part that I found fascinating was the part at the bottom on which format, print or e-book, is best. It shows the percentages where one format is preferred over another and for which activities. E-books win hands down for traveling and getting a book quickly. Print books dominate for reading with a child and on lending to others.  I was most surprised by the fact that reading in bed was pretty much a tie between the two formats. 🙂

I think the infographic confirms a lot of things those of us who read e-books already know: They make it easy to buy books and easy to carry them around with us. I also think that it is interesting to note that little sharing is done on e-readers – only 25% – mostly because publishers don’t allow us to do it! That number is actually higher than I would have imagined it to be.

Anything in the numbers that surprises you?