Archive for the ‘eBooks’ Category
As eBook popularity explodes, authors and publishers struggle to handle rapid and massive change. Today, Paradise Publishers launched an “Author AdCash Program” for its million-member site at http://www.Free-eBooks.net. Authors collect 100% of the commission from advertising revenue, even if their book is never downloaded. Sounds like “Money for nothing,” however it’s actually an innovative revenue model, when compared to traditional, paper-based publishing.
Carson City, Nevada (PRWEB) May 08, 2012
With the exponential increase in the popularity of both eBooks and eReaders, authors and publishers are facing massive change and a literal revolution in distribution and compensation, as the traditional paper-based publishing falters. A big part of the mix is creating a profitable revenue model.
Today, leading online publisher, Paradise Publishers, announced an innovative way to put money in contributing authors’ pockets through their flagship site, Free-eBooks.net. Authors receive global exposure and a massive reading audience with their free listing but can now simultaneously collect cash commissions from advertising posted around their eBook. It’s the launch of Free-eBooks’ Author AdCash Program.
Free-eBooks.net attracts over 1,000,000, unique visitors every month to their online library. It also boasts over a million subscribers that download an average of over 12,000 eBooks, every single day from over 50 categories. Paradise earns its profits from advertising amp; premium services. Authors post their books in digital format and allow these eBooks to be given away for free, in exchange for the exposure to millions around the world and the opportunity to share their passion, messages and stories.
Any author can enroll in the Author AdCash Program to take advantage of the millions in “traffic” that visit the popular ebook downloading site. The more people that visit each “Details” page for an eBook, the more cash a book’s author stands to make through advertising revenues, on top of all their new readers and the priceless credibility of having published material.
“We’ve partnered with Google’s Adsense to allow our authors to collect 100% of the advertising revenue earned from ads on web pages displaying their ebook,” explained Martin Wales, President of Paradise Publishers. He’s excited about the prospect of being able to offer a way to subsidize the careers of both aspiring and veteran writers. “This means Free-eBooks’ authors can actually collect money whether or not their book is even downloaded. Just for listing their ebook in our library they benefit financially.”
“We hope the all-new, Author AdCash Program demonstrates our continued thanks and extreme gratitude to our authors,” exclaims Nicolas Gremion, the CEO of Paradise Publishers. “As an online, digital publisher of free content, we appreciate these talented artists for entrusting us with publishing their entertaining stories, insightful wisdom and educational material.”
Paradise Publishers Inc. is a US-based, global, online publisher of fiction and non-fiction books, in addition to textbooks and academic content. Via http://www.Free-eBooks.net, it distributes digital eBooks at no cost. They are also about to launch http://www.Foboko.com. It’s a highly anticipated, social publishing site to help anybody become an author and easily publish, promote and profit from their own eBooks.
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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/5/prweb9478372.htm
CROWN POINT | Crown Point Community Library has expanded its services with eBooks available to download from the librarys website. Crown Point Library card holders can check out and download eBooks anytime, anywhere by visiting http://crownpoint.lib.overdrive.com.
Users may browse the collection, check out with a valid library card, and download to your home computer, e-reader and many mobile devices. To read eBooks, users will need to install free software, Adobe Digital Editions.
Titles can be enjoyed immediately and will automatically expire at the end of the lending period. There are no late fees.
Hundreds of popular fiction and nonfiction titles are available for all ages.
This new service, powered by OverDrive, is free for Crown Point Community Library patrons with their valid library card. To get started downloading eBooks, visit http://crownpoint.lib.overdrive.com.
Sorting through the Amazon store for free ebooks can be a bit of a mess. To simplify the process Zero Dollar Books is a simple webapp that aggregates all the best selling free ebooks and shows them off in a nice clean view.
Zero Dollar Books taps into Amazons Kindle best sellers list and then grabs all the books currently free. Since Amazon updates prices on the hour, so does Zero Dollar Books. The book list isnt always full of winners, but if youre looking to check out some free ebooks on your Kindle then Zero Dollar Books makes it easy. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed to get constant updates. If youre looking for more options for free ebooks, be sure to check out our guide to grabbing ebooks from the library and other sources.
Zero Dollar Books | via Digital Inspiration
The Kobo Vox e-reader has Wi-Fi capability and full support for Android apps mean this could give dumbphone-equipped moms a taste of on-the-go technology. Moms with young kids could also pull double duty by downloading kids ebooks on the colour screen, and with Read Along ebooks, kids can touch words to hear them said aloud. Theyre available for $179 at Chapters stores or chapters.indigo.ca.
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When word leaked that the Justice Department was threatening to sue Apple and five major book publishers for allegedly fixing the price of ebooks, the opposition from some tech advocates was swift and sharp. The feds were looking at the wrong problem, these critics said.
The new pricing model adopted by Apple and the publishers promoted competition in the markets for ebooks, ebook readers and hard-copy books that Amazon had come to dominate.
Attacking that model might lower the price for some ebooks, but it would hurt the rest of the book industry and give Amazon an inside track to a publishing monopoly.
That’s an interesting argument, but it’s irrelevant.
The Supreme Court ruled long ago that companies can’t fix prices just because they’re worried they can’t survive otherwise.
If the Justice Department has evidence that Apple and the five publishers — Macmillan, Simon Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette and Pearson — colluded on a plan to raise the price of ebooks, it’s right to seek a remedy.
At issue is the publishers’ decision to stop selling ebooks wholesale to the likes of Amazon and Barnes Noble and to shift to the agency approach proposed by Apple.
Under the original system, publishers sold ebooks to retailers at about half the cover price and let the retailers determine what to charge consumers for them.
Leading B2B publisher network RevResponse.com has undergone a makeover releasing a new suite of monetization tools and added more targeting features.
Los Gatos, CA (PRWEB) May 08, 2012
Leading B2B publisher network RevResponse.com has undergone a makeover releasing a new suite of monetization tools and added more targeting features. The new tools allow publishers to effectively monetize their audience base via non-traditional means without cannibalizing their existing revenue streams.
The first of the new features is the Offer Lightbox. This tool provides publishers the capability to fire a lightbox with a contextually relevant Featured Free Resource to appear when readers visit their site. Resources offered within the Lightbox are specifically confined to valuable content such as free eBooks, reports, and PDFs. For publishers wanting to deploy a more minimalistic monetization experience to their readers, the Slideout Box can help. By default, its set to trigger about halfway down the page when a reader is scrolling down as not to disturb their experience. Similar to the Offer Lightbox, the Slideout Box also will dynamically help publishers monetize their traffic by offering their audience access to thousands of free contextually relevant resources.
The TopBar is another unique monetization approach. Similar to toolbars at the bottom or top of screens that generally provide social sharing features and allow visitors to engage with the site through various online networks, the TopBar sits at the top of the site and displays one featured offer each time a visitor comes to a page. It can easily be minimized or maximized per a readers preference.
Weve continued to watch publishers struggle to evolve their audience monetization strategies over the years. Much of the industry continues to focus on the revenue optimization of traditional IAB positions on a given publisher site. What about the other 97% of a site? Weve decided to offer publishers the tools and the platform to diversify their revenue streams while simultaneously richening the overall user experience of their site, said David Fortino, VP Audience Development, NetLine Corporation.
These new tools make promoting business and technology related eBooks and content easier for publishers, increasing potential for revenue generation. RevResponse is continually updating their content, always offering the freshest content for publishers to promote to their audience. These new tools will continue to aid in RevResponses goal of offering publishers exponential revenue generation opportunities, as well as keeping them as a top network for B2B publishers.
For more information, visit www.RevResponse.com
About RevResponse.com
RevResponse.com is owned and operated by NetLine Corporation.
NetLine Corporation is the industrys premier B2B marketing services provider with the most comprehensive lifecycle customer acquisition platform, integrating e-mail, internet, social media, and mobile. Clients include Adobe, Hewlett Packard, Google, Oracle, IBM, Juniper Networks, Microsoft Corporation, SAP, and VeriSign, among others. NetLine is privately held and headquartered in Los Gatos, California. More information is available at www.netline.com.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/5/prweb9481374.htm
Richmond, Virginia (PRWEB) May 07, 2012
Diesel eBooks and Koinz Media have signed a merchandising deal empowering bank/hotel/airline partners to offer eBooks as a reward for their credit card/loyalty rewards programs. This will give Diesel eBooks (http://www.diesel-ebooks.com) access to the $48 billion in annual purchasing power available through reward programs including leading Banks, Airlines and Hotel loyalty programs. Koinz Media (http://www.koinzmedia.com) provides a comprehensive digital goods catalog to consumers who can safely and securely purchase any type of digital good or service with their credit card or hotel reward points and Airline Miles. Diesel eBooks has deployed a flexible platform enabling partners to quickly incorporate eBooks into their marketing strategy via multiple vehicles including syndication, affiliate program and white label opportunities.
We are excited to be included as the eBook provider in the Koinz Media Catalog. We invested in a new platform a year ago with the idea that these types of channels were going to be key markets in the future and it’s great to see this playing out. Offering eBooks and digital goods as a whole is a great way to reward loyalty and the Koinz Media team have put together a compelling catalog and platform that can boost any reward portal.
eBooks are available instantly to reward members that redeem their credit card reward points or airline miles at their loyalty portal. Diesel provides a vast selection across all the leading eBook readers and we are thrilled to be bringing this selection to our partner banks, airlines and hotel programs Anu Shukla, CEO of Koinz Media Inc.
Diesel eBooks
One of the world’s largest independent eBook retailers, Diesel eBooks was launched in 2004 and serves millions of readers across each continent via its 3 million plus eBook catalogue. Diesel believes in an open eBook environment with customers un-tethered to any specific reading device and allows users to transfer eBooks from other booksellers between multiple devices. Our eBook platform is compatible with iPhones and iPads, Android phones, web browsers and many supported eReaders. Diesel recently introduced its new Android and Apple IOS apps as well as an HTML5 eFreedom App enabling customers to browse the Diesel catalogue from any device with an internet connection. Diesel is unique with its customer reward program and bundling technology which enables virtual packaging of six digital eBook files by series, theme, characters, time period or author. http://www.diesel-ebooks.com
Koinz Media
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, Koinz Media’s state-of-the-art technology platform helps reward portals enhance the value of their reward programs by offering their members a comprehensive catalog of the most popular digital goods and services. Netflix, Skype, Fandango, Electronic Arts (Playfish), King.com, Big Fish Games, Gamehouse, McAfee, Cosmo and Maxim among others. http://www.koinzmedia.com
SACRAMENTO, CA (KXTV) – What is that soccer mom reading on her Kindle? It could be one of the nations best selling ebooks, 50 Shades of Grey.
The erotic trilogy has broken download records and climbed to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list and Amazons greatest hits.With themes of bondage, domination and sadism, it isnt your typical Harlequin romance but a kicked uplust story that falls into the new category of Mommy Porn.
I just heard a couple of gals in line at the grocery store talking about it, Nola said. I downloaded it to my iPhone, started reading it in the parking lot and thought, ah, this could be interesting.
But 50 Shades of Grey is just the tip of the erotic iceberg.
Ereaders have madethegenremuch more accessible and private with no embarrassing covers to take to the checkout stand or to the kids karate class. The ereader is the ultimate brown paper wrapping.
When Im at lunch, at work and reading explicit parts of a book, I think, I hope no one can tell what Im reading. Its getting a little warm in here! Tracy said.
Amazon currently sells 70 percent of all ebooks, but erotica ebooks are so popular that traditional publishing houses are taking notice.
Harper Collins UK has just launched an erotic ebook site called Mischief. Not only is the publisher selling the ebooks directly to consumers, but its soliciting stories as well.
Erotica is actually very accessible for new writers. Mischiefwriter and editor Rachel Kramer-Bussell said. Some may feature spanking or bondage. There is one about amateur escorts and my secret life. People really enjoy that format of multiple stories around one there.
In addition to erotica, may readers download other titles that theywant to keep private.
Some people may want to read political books that they dont necessarily want to advertise, said Sean Harvey of Irish Canon Press.
Harvey is an author, former literary agent and current publisher (non-erotic books) and says publishing has become the wild west as the industry adapts to meet the e-book demand.
There will be more competition from publishers going direct which means theyll have to up their marketing efforts, Harvey said. In the 50s there was a study that showed 25 percent of the population read more than two books a year. A new study shows 50 percent of the population now reads two or more books a year. Whatever the reason, whatever theyre reading, Im all for it.
KARLIN LILLINGTON
NET RESULTS:READ AN ebook lately? Chances are, you didnt at least, if Irish reader preferences are in line with those of their British counterparts.
Statistics out last week indicated the lions share of books are still purchased in print format. Some 489 million (610 million) in sales of print books were made in 2011, according to the UK Publishers Associations Statistics Yearbook.
That compares with 70 million spent on digital-format novels, part of a total 92 million in digital download sales a figure including the short stories that are becoming increasingly popular purchases from big-name authors such as Stephen King.
But that is a bit of a misleading comparison in a sector that is experiencing explosive growth. Whats needed to fully appreciate this is context: digital sales were up an extraordinary 366 per cent on 2010, when e-novel sales totalled just 16 million.
Digital sales nearly recuperated the loss in print sales for publishers there was a 54 million increase in digital sales and a 57 million decline in print sales compared with 2010.
Now, about 6 per cent of books are sold online, and in the US, the value of sales of ebooks outpaced that of paperbacks for the first time a year ago. The majority of all e-book sales are made through Amazons dominant Kindle platform, said to account for 60 per cent of ebook sales in the US.
No wonder Microsoft has elbowed its way into the ebook market. Or to be more precise, returned to the ebook market. It created software for ebooks more than a decade ago but eventually abandoned it due to lacklustre interest in electronic reading. As so often happens in technology, a development that is touted as being just on the verge of a major breakthrough, such as ebooks, often ends up sitting on that verge for a very, very long time.
A decade ago, predictions were rife for massive growth in ebooks growth that never happened, year after year. It really took Amazons printers and cartridges approach to readers and ebooks to gradually seed the market that is, to sell the main device at break-even or a loss. No one is really sure as details have never been released by Amazon but its clear the company was unlikely to ever have made much money on Kindles alone.
The real cash cow has been the sales of ebooks themselves for the Kindle, run through Amazon. Amazon wagered that most people would go on to purchase at least a dozen or so books, and made it compellingly simple to do so via the Amazon website.
Microsoft has re-entered the fray via the Kindles biggest competitor, the Barnes Noble Nook ereader. Two weeks ago, Microsoft made a $300 million investment into the Nook, and Barnes and Nobles ebook division. The investment will go into a new joint subsidiary, which will help develop a Nook reader for Microsofts Windows 8 operating system. That means a Nook reader will be available on Windows desktops thats a lot of potential new Nook users.
Microsoft will also get a slice of the booksellers very profitable education ebooks business, which makes $1.8 billion in profit annually on $12 billion in sales, according to figures given by William Lynch, Barnes Noble chief executive, to the Financial Times.
One central intention of the deal with Microsoft is to expand the Nooks market reach beyond the US, Lynch said. Thats good news for Europeans. Right now, the Nook, which has consistently had excellent reviews, wont work easily outside the US.
Of course, theres other ereader competition in the market too Sony has an excellent ereader, for example, and many others offer reader devices now, often at highly competitive prices. And then theres Apples iPad, which can function as an ereader. Apple has moved aggressively into ebook selling too, most recently into the education book market, offering digital textbooks to students at a standard $14.99.
That move has been challenged by the US Department of Justice, worried that the deal done with five major publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon Schuster and Penguin represented price collusion. Some have already settled out of court but some US states have ongoing legal actions.
The Nook deal is seen positively by many analysts as a way of opening the market back up and creating further competition. All of which underlines how valuable the digital book has become, and the promise that this will only increase into the future.
This was not the news that Apple wanted in the headlines this week.
Rather than basking in the glow of the eagerly awaited new iPad release, they together with five major publishing companies will have to contend with the real possibility of an antitrust lawsuit by the federal government.
At issue is the way in which the potential defendants may have conspired to raise prices in the market for eBooks.
The announcement cannot have come unexpectedly for the technology juggernaut. There have been several investigations ever since the launch of the original iPad. At that time, Apple had announced agreements with the five publishers in question to offer eBooks via the iPad at a discount from hardcovers, but not uniformly at $9.99.
Another early warning shot was a class action lawsuit filed in federal court last year (posted at: http://bit.ly/qn62he). In it, the same defendants were accused of undermining free market competition.
The complaint alleges coordination and an effort to restrain trade and retard innovation. Anybody who had gotten used to paying $9.99 for eBooks on Amazon and grew upset with the sudden price jumps after the original iPad launch may find the document intriguing.
However, the warning by justice department lawyers that they may file a suit instantly makes the situation more serious, no matter how many of the best lawyers the firms in question can afford to hire.
It indicates the government is confident it has sufficient evidence to win a verdict. That is not necessarily a threshold private plaintiffs have to cross.
This, of course, is the crux of the matter when it comes to anti-trust complaints. Too many times, firms have used regulatory agencies and unsubstantiated accusations of anti-competitive behavior to thwart successful competitors. However, this does not seem to be one of those cases.
Amazon customers and there are many, enough to give deep-pocketed Apple a run for the money still remember the pleading announcements by Amazon that they had to give in to ultimatums by publishers.
Also, Amazon continues to drive this point home by adding the phrase this price was set by the publisher to its eBook price quotes. This is different from brick-and-mortar stores, which often buy books in bulk at a great discount from the list price and are, then, given a free hand in setting the final store-price.
Anti-trust legislation, ultimately, is supposed to protect consumers. Significant price increases after agreements represent one indicator, which courts have traditionally considered. Moreover, timing of announcements and threats to other distributors are also ammunition for the prosecution.
Last but not least, the condition that books in Apples e-store should not be allowed to be sold at lower prices by its competitors (Sony, Amazon, etc.) is drawing increased scrutiny by anti-trust authorities.
Some of the potential defendants in this lawsuit have reportedly been in settlement talks with the government. This outcome would be a mistake. The government should only pursue anti-trust cases that have clear merit. However, it should prosecute them vigorously.
After all, throwing the book at a behemoth like Apple may be the best strategy for deterrence here. I write this despite the fact I am eagerly awaiting the impending delivery of my new iPad.
Dr. Michael Reksulak teaches economics and public finance in Georgia Southern Universitys College of Business Administration. He may be reached by email at mreksula@georgiasouthern.edu.