News of the Digital World in a Nutshell

We have been presenting you all the imperative developments and news happening in the digital world with respect to ebook readers, ebooks and digital publishers.

Stay tuned for the latest events and happenings changing how the world reads.

Kobo and ABA distributes eBooks and ebook readers to 2,000 US stores:

Kobo, the Canadian based company has recently joined hands with American Booksellers Association to provide ebooks to a large number of independent bookstores in US. This agreement will come in effect in October this year and will introduce ebooks in more than 2,000 US bookstores. This is an impressive way to gain recognition in the US and Kobo will finally make its presence felt in a bigger marketplace. The CEO of Kobo, Michael Serbinis, stated that ebooks and ebook readers will be made available in all indie stores across USA. If we look at the figures of Kobo, it has more than 3 million ebooks in its ecosystem, more than 100,000 titles were sold in Japan in just two weeks, has 10 million users around the globe and since last year, downloads have increased 400% and new users have increased 288%.

Amazon to sell its ebooks in rival bookstores through Ingram:

Amazon has stricken a deal with Ingram to market its ebooks to other companies. Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Sony and Apple will be selling ebooks for Kindle through this deal. When Amazon entered the ebook market and used its own imprints, it gained rivals in all these major ebook stores. It is not yet confirmed whether these companies will allow Kindle ebooks to be sold through their stores, but itseems that necessary preparation has been made to take this major step.

The paid ebook review controversy:

Nowadays, most of the users rely on the reviews provided on the ebook retail platforms as it is thought that these reviews are posted by readers who have actually read the books. These reviews also play an important role in rating the books and directing readers to unknown authors. Recently, an article in New York Times narrated about a company which posts paid reviews sparking a huge controversy and debate among authors. Many post paid reviews as a normal practice to promote authors while others promote their book in a decent manner. This controversy is still raging. It would be good if authors shared their views on the issue.

Sony PRS-II Review:

The latest Sony Wireless PRS-II was released a few weeks ago. The design is much better than the previous version, but audio functions lack in the new version. The page turns are quicker and menus also load speedily. Overdrive feature is a great addition for borrowers, while FaceBook and EverNote are also extremely handy additions. The device is completely touchscreen, making page turns quite a problem because pages are supposed to be turned by a sweeping motion which becomes very hard after a while. Page turn buttons are present on the bottom of the device, rather than on a more convenient side position. Nevertheless, this model is highly recommended for its brand new superb features.

 

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