Nate Hoffelder

I’m sure everyone regularly backs up their computer, online account, and mobile devices (or at least we should), but when was the last time you double checked that the backup was working properly?

Now’s your chance. Today, 13 Friday, is the International Verify Your Backups Day. We should all take some time today to make sure that the files we backup both locally and online are actually backed up, and can be accessed in an emergency.

Now’s the time to download copies of whatever you’re storing in Dropbox and open them to make sure that the files are valid. You might also dust off the hard disk or flash drive which you’re using for a local backup and run an integrity check, and also see if you can access the files.

When was the last time you backed up your iDevice? You might want to check to see if that backup is still valid.

One might also use the System Restore feature of Windows to revert to an backup of the OS, but I wouldn’t do that unless you have the time to deal with any issues should complications arise.

This unofficial holiday was proposed by Adam Engst of TidBits earlier this year as a compliment to World Backup Day, which is coming up on 31 March. So far as I know there’s no official support for the idea from any quarter, but this is such a good idea that I’m pushing it anyway.

Creating regular backups of your data, profiles, and settings is just basic common sense security, but for all that we are constantly told to make backups, we are rarely  reminded to check back later and make sure the backups are actually usable.

And that’s what we should be doing today.

I am unfortunately away from my home so I can’t check my local backups, but I double checked the files on Google Docs, Dropbox, and that secret CIA server which no one know that I can access. My documents are all good.

What about yours?

images by jm3,karola riegler photography

Many famous authors gained public acclaim for their sharp wit and sharper pen, but they didn’t always get along.

Faulkner fought with Hemingway, Gore Vidal criticized Capote, who took pot shots at Kerouac, and HG Wells didn’t appreciate George Bernard Shaw’s work at all.

Here are a few of the choicer barbs authors have directed at their colleagues. (Do let me know if the infographic missed any good insults.)

AussieWriter.com

Scribd scored a victory today in its battle to be the largest ebook subscription service. It’s just signed a deal with  Xinxii, the Berlin-based ebook distributor, to add more indie published titles to the Scribd catalog.

Xinxii clients can now elect to distribute their ebooks to Scribd and earn 70% of the net proceeds each time a book is loaned to a reader. To be more accurate, all titles carried by Xinxii will be automatically added to the Scribd catalog unless an author opts out by 20 March.

Scribd has also worked out deals with Smashwords, BooksonDemand, and Draft2Digital. Readers can enjoy indie published titles distributed by those firms for $9 or 8 euros per month.

Self Publishing Bibel

The best books have the power to touch people on every corner of the globe, allowing readers to expand their horizons and discover new cultures and different ways of thinking. But if these books are to be enjoyed all around the world they need to be translated into different languages first.

Created for World Book Day last week, the following infographic details 50 of the most translated books. I’m not sure this is a complete list of the  top 50 titles, but what details we do have come as a surprise.

For example, Harry Potter has been translated more times than 1984, and Twilight has been translated more times than either Gone with the Wind.

The most translated title on this list was The Little Prince, with a record 253 translations. It set that record not just due it its popularity, but also because it has long since fallen into the public domain. In fact, five of the top 6 titles on this list are all in the public domain (not a coincidence).

Update: That book only just entered the public domain in much of the world in 2014. (For some reason, I thought it was published in 1843, and not 1943).

via 7Brands

There are a hundred and one places to get free ebooks, including free ebook sites, through the Kindle Store and other ebookstores, and (last but not least) your local public library.

Many public libraries on the US and around the world lend ebooks through OverDrive, 3M Cloud Library, and other services.

When it comes to fiction, OverDrive is the most used platform. OD offers apps for Android, Windows Phone, and iOS. It also lets you read in your web browser and works with most ereaders, including the Kindle (but only in the US).

Here’s how you can read OverDrive ebooks.

First Things First

To start, you will need a library card for a library which is also an OverDrive partner. You can search for a local library through the OverDrive website.

Most libraries will only issue a library card to local residents, but a handful do issue cards to non-residents. You’ll of course need to get a library ebook before checking out any ebooks, and for that you’ll need to check with the library.

Once you have the library card (you may also need a pin or password), stop and ask yourself this:

Do you want to read on the Kindle or in your web browser, or do you want to read on OverDrive’s apps?

I’m asking you this question now, because the steps you take will differ depending on your choice. You can read the errata section for more details as to why.

If I were you, I would use the Kindle. It’s easier. But the choice is yours, and I will lay out both methods.

Kindle

Sit down at your computer, and visit your library’s digital branch on the OverDrive website. Mine looks like this:

Browse the page, and once you find an available ebook you like you can check it out using the library card number and pin.

Once you have the ebook in your account, you can read it in your web browser (with most titles) or send it to your Kindle.

If you have a Kindle account and you’re in the US, you can read most OverDrive library ebooks on your Kindle. It is in fact easier to read on your Kindle than it is to read in Overdrive’s own apps.

After you’ve checked out an ebook, select the option to download the Kindle ebook.

This will take you to Amazon.com and, after you log in, you’ll be presented with a page where you can choose to send the ebook to your Kindle ereader, Fire tablet, or Kindle app.

If the option is available, that is less work than using OverDrive’s apps. But if it’s not, here’s how to read the ebook on an OverDrive app.

OverDrive Apps

Before you can read an ebook on an OverDrive app, you’ll need to download and install an app. OD offers apps for 4 mobile devices:

• Android (Google Play)
• Windows Phone
•  iPad iPhone (iTunes)

I’ve just spent the past several hours struggling with the Android app, and according to OverDrive’s website the basic procedure is the same across all the apps.

You’ll need to set up an OverDrive account inside the app. You can either create a new account or log in with your Facebook credentials.

Once you’ve logged in, you’ll be prompted to search for a library where you have a library card. Select it, and then log in to that library with your library card and pin.

The app will save the info, so you won’t have to do this nonsense a second time.

Now that the ebook is checked out, find the ebook in your bookshelf.  Press the download button, and choose the option to download the Epub ebook. Then confirm your choice. This should automatically send the book directly to your OverDrive app.

To find and read your ebook, open the sidebar menu and choose the bookshelf option. This will take you to a menu where you can see all of the ebooks downloaded to the device you’re holding.

You can select one of the ebooks and it will open:

And now you can read the ebook!

Errata

Here are a few of the problems and quirks I’ve encountered.

• You might want to change the default checkout period from 7 days to 21 days. You can find this under the settings menu.
• The option to read on the Kindle is only available in the US, sorry.
• For some unknown reason, I can’t check out an ebook in my web browser and read it in the OverDrive (Android) app.
• There’s an option in the settings menu to exclude mature content from your search results, and another option to prevent mature covers from being shown.
• Here’s the link to the OverDrive help pages.

image by Raymond Bryson

When one is confronted by new technology, one can either adapt existing rules to suit the new tech or one can blindly apply the rules – even when it doesn’t make sense.

The European Court of Justice chose the second option this week when it handed down a ruling (PDF) which declared that ebooks weren’t books, but were actually digital services and should be taxes as such.

Following a several-year-long legal battle, the ECJ ruled that France and Luxembourg were wrong to lower the VAT they charged on ebooks.

From the WSJ:

In its ruling, the court argued that a reduced rate can only apply to physical books and that even though electronic books can be read on tablets and computers, they should be considered “electronically supplied services”, not goods. According to EU law, reduced VAT rates can only apply to goods, not e-services.

Back in 2012 Luxembourg reduced the VAT it assessed on ebooks from 17% to 3%, the same rate it charged for paper books. It was followed a short time later by France,which dropped the tax rate to 5% (and then late last year Malta and Italy followed suit and cut their VAT rates on ebooks from 18% to 5% and 22% to 4%, respectively).

France and Luxembourg were sued by the European Commission in 2013 over this matter, lost, and then appealed to the ECJ. The court ruled against them, and now all four countries will have to raise their rates.

Luxembourg and France have already indicated that they will comply with the verdict while at the same time they plan to push for a revision to EU VAT rules. "Luxembourg is of the opinion that consumers should be able to buy a book with the same VAT rate, be it online or in bookstores. We will continue to advocate for adapting the EU legal framework to technological advancement," the Luxembourg finance ministry said in a statement.

French culture minister Fleur Pelerin told France Inter radio that: "We will continue to push for what is called technological neutrality, meaning the same taxation for books, irrespective if they are on paper or electronic."

While the ruling does fit with existing EU regulations, it is still absurd.  While the EU requires that ebooks be taxed as a service, many countries in the EU view ebooks as books and enforce fixed price book laws on their respective ebook markets.

In short, ebooks are denied both the benefit of price flexibility and the benefit of the lower tax rate, resulting in the worst of both worlds.

image by tolworthy

With over a decade of ereader design behind them, Bookeen is the oldest surviving ereader maker in the world, and they’re not slowing down.

Yesterday Bookeen announced a new partnership with Sunpartner Technologies, a French solar panel maker. The two companies are going to cooperate to add Sunpartner’s transparent solar panel tech to Bookeen’s next ereader.

For the past 5 years Sunpartner Technologies has been developing a new photovoltaic tech which is designed to go over a mobile device’s screen and provide power.

This Wysips tech has been showing up in the news for several years now (although I  can’t find any evidence that it has made its way into commercial devices and not just prototypes).

The idea behind this tech is that mobile devices have limited surface area, much of which is taken up by the screen. Just about the only place to put a solar panel on a tablet/smartphone/ereader is on the back, and that’s a problem. Given that you generally hold a mobile device with the screen up and the rear facing down, that’s not going to prove very effective as a power source.

You could put the solar panel on the cover of a mobile device, like we found with cases for a couple Kindle models, but with Wysips you can put the solar panel on top of the screen. Like so:

As you can clearly see, the Wysips panel degrades the screen quality. But that image is 4 years old, and the Wysips has probably advanced considerably since then, so I wouldn’t assume that Bookeen’s new ereader will have similar issues.

According to the press release, the new ereader will be released some time in 2016.

The copyright notice and takedown provisions of the DMCA may help creators by shielding sites like Youtube and the Kindle Store from liability, but that same provision can still be used as a weapon to harm authors and other creators.

Author Becca Mills posted on Monday about a recent encounter she had had with Amazon’s and Smashwords' DMCA policies. That encounter has only lasted a few days, so it is more emotionally painful than it is financially painful, but it offers a few useful lessons in how to respond.

Mills reports that on Friday she received an email from Amazon with the bad news that her book Nolander had been pulled from the Kindle Store in response to a DMCA notice. At first she thought it was a mistake,but then she got a similar notice from Smashwords:

I have just unpublished your book Nolander, formerly found here:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/272292

As we received a DMCA Notice and I was able to verify that the text in your book, published on Jan. 07, 2013, matched the text of a book made public on August 2nd, 2011.

If you have any questions or can give me critical information about the book, please do.  Per our policy, the book needs to remain unpublished until Smashwords is given consent by both parties to republish it.

The tale is much longer than this, but let me take a moment and point out the first few lessons.

One thing I’ve learned at this point is that both Amazon’s and Smashwords' DMCA policies are flawed. Neither party forwarded key details from the DMCA notices, thus depriving Mills of any chance to directly rebut the claims made against her work, and Smashwords admitted that they responded based on the weakest of evidence.

Smashword pulled the book based on similarity to a blog post. Given how easy it would be for someone to clip a part of a book, paste it into a blog post, and then set the date back X years, that strikes me as insufficient evidence.

On the other hand, if we look at this from Smashwords' perspective, it’s not so unreasonable. Ask any group of 10 authors and 4 of them will tell you of horror stories where an author’s work was scraped from their website by a pirate and then uploaded to an ebookstore.

From Smashwords' perspective there’s no way to tell who actually owns the rights, so they have to take a work down on the flimsiest of claims.

Moving on …

Mills went on to detail the next couple emails she received. After she disputed the DMCA notice with Amazon, she got another email from KDP which finally included contact information from the person who filed the DMCA notice (but no mention of evidence to support the notice).

She also got an email from a helpful "fan" who said that he could fix this for her:

Hello Becca,

I am Kushal, who posted on your blog with the screen name Kelvin. I have experience with various aspects of online business including DMCA process, hence I thought about contacting you.

Since you are saying that there has been problems both at Amazon and Smashwords, are you sure that it’s a mix-up? That would be quite unlikely. I don’t know about Indie Fiction Authors but in case of Webmasters, YouTubers and Indie Non-Fiction Authors, DMCA process is often abused. Are you sure someone is not deliberately doing this? Anyway, if the problem does not get resolved then you can let me know what Amazon is saying and I will see what can be done.

Paranormal authors with unique story telling angles are damn hard to find, so I don’t want you to go through this. A malicious DMCA attack can end a person’s career (happened with many YouTubers).

While there are fans like this, an out of the blue offer to help should raise red flags, especially when it comes within hours of the DMCA notice.

And Mills is a textbook case as to why. She started looking into the contact email for the DMCA notice, and after spending a few minutes Googling that email address she ended up on a forum where members left these complaints against "Kushal Das" ghost writing service:

It’s not entirely clear to this blogger what is going on here, but this smells enough like bae (in the correct Danish definition) that I wouldn’t touch Kushal Das with a 10 foot pole.

And so I am passing along a warning. Pirates and/or scammers are targeting indie authors, and you need to be on the lookout. If an offer of help sounds to good to be true, investigate the source before accepting the assistance.

And when you get a DMCA notice, immediately push back. File a counter notice, dispute the claims, and don’t wait for a second to defend yourself.

Correction: The book has been restored at Smashwords, but not Amazon. As of Tuesday morning, the retailer is still sitting on the DMCA counter notice.

Mills' book was only down for a few days, but it was only restored when she fought back. Had she simply passively waited, nothing would have happened. And that is the most important lesson here; one cannot win a legal battle if one does not act.

image by jepoirrier

Part StumbleUpon and part Flipboard, for the past several years Prismatic has been developing a social news reader for iOS, Android, and the web. And now it is said to be in the sights of Microsoft.

TechCrunch reports that Prismatic is currently talking to a number of companies, including MS and Apple, about a possible acquisition. No party will confirm the story, but sources say MS is offering $30 million for the company.

Prismatic is an unusual choice. The company suggests content to users based on  their interests and based on the articles read by their social contacts. In addition, Prismatic also lets users promote, comment on, and share an article online.

Overshadowed by Flipboard, Prismatic reportedly hasn’t managed to build a wide userbase. Its Android app only has between 5,000 and 10,000 installs in Google play, and according to App Annie its iPhone app never managed to achieve a high rank in either the social networking or news categories in iTunes.

And after having used it, I can see why.  Frankly, it’s an underwhelming Flipboard knockoff. The app has a poor layout, a poor related content feature, and doesn’t seem to want to update the stories it is suggesting after I decide I am no longer interested in a topic.  Where Flipboard for the web has me excited, Prismatic leaves me underwhelmed.

With an uncertain financial future and a lack of traction among users, now would be a good time to sell out and let a bigger company adapt Prismatic’s tech. In the case of MS, that would probably end up being something like a Google Newstand or Flipboard competitor.

For the past couple years E-ink has been in an ongoing legal battle with German gadget maker Trekstor. The latter company was and is selling ereaders which incorporated screen tech which E-ink claimed violated its patents, but now two different courts have disagreed.

The Bundespatentgericht (German Federal Patent Court) ruled in December that one of the patents E-ink was suing over was invalid. It confirmed the October 2013 ruling of the Mannheim Regional Court that Trekstor hadn’t infringed upon this patent.

In November 2012 E-ink sued Trekstor because it was selling the Pyrus Mini.  Rather than use an E-ink screen, the Pyrus Mini used a 4.3″ epaper screen made by  Guangzhou OED Technologies. This Chinese firm had developed epaper screens with tech similar to E-ink’s proprietary tech, which it then sold to device makers.

Guangzhou OED’s screens were available in ereaders with 4.3″, 6″, and 8″ screens (the company also offered 2.1″ and 3.5″ screens). Guangzhou OED’s screens haven’t shown up in major ereaders, but a number of second-tier ereader makers have used Guangzhou OED’s screens, including Bookeen. The 8″ screen on the Cybook Ocean was made by Guangzhou OED and not E-ink.

It’s not clear to this blogger why we haven’t read of other lawsuits brought E-ink against other European companies; I suspect that the other companies quietly settled with E-ink and paid the license fees demanded.

But I do know that the lawsuit against Trekstor did not end with this ruling. This ruling of course does not affect the other two patents involved in this lawsuit; that litigation is ongoing.

One patent is being considered for invalidation, while the other is being reviewed by an expert who was asked by the Mannheim Regional Court to clarify certain issues and answer the court’s questions before the case can proceed further.

ITespresso.de

As more and more reports come in, it looks like 2014 was not a good year for the major publishers. Over the past couple weeks, both Simon and Schuster and Pearson have published annual reports and neither had good news to share.

From PW:

Revenue and profits fell in 2014 at Simon & Schuster, parent company CBS reported. Sales declined 3.8%, to $778 million, while operating profit dropped 5.6%, to $101 million.

The publisher, which saw sales and earnings rise in 2013, closed 2014 on a soft note with sales down 4.4% in the fourth quarter, compared to the final period of 2013, and operating income down 30%.

…

One reason for the 2014 decline in revenue and earnings was also a drop in digital sales. E-books accounted for 23.2% of S&S sales last year, down from 24.4% in 2013. Total digital revenue, which includes downloadable audio, generated 26.4% of revenue, down from 27.1% in 2013.

S&S CEO Carolyn Reidy attributed the decline to a lack of hit releases in 2014 as compared to 2013. (And who knows, high ebook prices may have contributed.)

And earlier today Pearson reported similar disappointing earnings from their stake in PRH. There’s no news on digital revenues, but Pearson did report that:

Pearson reported 2014 earnings of £69 million, after taxes, from its 47% stake in Penguin Random House. This figure is down from £78 million in 2013. PRH’s 2014 earnings contribution was lower because of taxes. For the year Pearson reported total revenues of £4.8 billion and operating earnings of £720 million.

According to Pearson’s preliminary, unaudited 2014 financial report, Penguin Random House results benefited from strong performances in children’s publishing and a variety of million-copy bestselling film and TV tie-ins. Bertelsmann will report full Penguin Random House results at the end of March.

Penguin Random House is the single largest trade publisher in the US, and one of the larger conglomerates in the world. Is it just me, or does that make the £69 million in profits sound awfully small?

image by perpetualplum

Barnes & Noble announced today that they were splitting the 700 plus college stores operated by B&N into its own wholly owned company called B&N Education.

For the past 3 years Barnes & Noble’s college store division has been bundled into its digital division, Nook Media. As Nook Media’s fortunes waned, it’s been clear that B&N was going to have to split off the still financially healthy college stores from the toxic digital unit.

And today B&N finally acted.

According to the press release and SEC filing, B&N plans to split the college stores from the rest of the company, turn it into its own company, and then distribute the stock in the new company to B&N stockholders. The split will be complete by August 2015.

That’s a rather curious move on the part of B&N. The retailer had previous announced plans to split Nook Media off into a wholly owned company, but now the digital unit is going to remain part of B&N.

Clearly that plan was derailed by the quarter after quarter of declining digital revenues, resulting in a company which no one would want to invest in, so B&N is instead going to split off the relatively healthy college stores.

B&N Education is going to include the stores as well as Yuzu, the digital textbook platform which B&N launched last year. Given that students are reporting that Yuzu is utterly useless, I’m not sure what value it adds, and it would seem B&N doesn’t think it’s ready for prime time either.

B&N mentions in the prospectus that they plan to "pursue growth opportunities more broadly in the education sector, including by enhancing and expanding our digital assets. Achieving these goals will likely require acquisitions or mergers funded, in part, with capital raises and strategic alliances with other companies."

The new B&N Education is estimated to be worth $775 million. That’s far less that the billion and a half value hung on Nook Media when it was announced 3 years ago, but it is still more than the $436 million which B&n spent to buy the college stores unit from B&N founder Len Riggio in 2009.

Publishers Lunch

image by Brad Clinesmith

There are many publishers who sell direct, but Bastei Lübbe is going where few have dared tread. The German publisher told Handelsblatt on Tuesday that it plans to launch an ebook subscription service next year.

Bastei Lübbe bought the German ebookstore Beam last September, and it plans to adapt that store for a new purpose. The publisher will offer both a paid (like Kindle Unlimited) and ad-supported (like Readfy) service with ebooks and audiobooks. It believes that around a quarter of subscribers will opt to pay for the which is expected to cost around five euro per month.

Bastei Lübbe Chairman Thomas Schierack has set ambitious goals for the service; he wants to have 24 million users by 2020, with annual combined revenues of around 400 million euros. He plans to expand the service internationally and offer titles in German and English in 2016, adding Spanish and Portuguese titles in 2017 and Chinese titles in 2018.

This is not the company to offer an ad-supported ebook service, nor the first publisher to offer a paid subscription service. Readfy has been developing a similar ad-subsidized service in Germany since around this time last year. And there is also the paid subscription service Skoobe, which is owned by Bertelsmann (Penguin’s parent corp) and von Holtzbrinck (Macmillan’s parent corp).

But this is the first time in a long while that I have heard such improbably goals from an ebook company.

The last such example was Zola Books, which launched in July 2012 with the plan of supplanting Google Play Books by the end of the year, and then defeating Amazon in 5 to 10 years. Needless to say, that didn’t happen, and I don’t think Bastei Lübbe has much of a chance of achieving its goals either.

There are simply too many competent competitors in the market right now, including established ebook companies like Oyster, Scribd, Amazon, Skoobe,and Blloon. Bastei Lübbe is late to the race, and the head start gained by its competitors will be hard to overcome.

Lesen.net

 image  by susivinh

Vancouver’s own digital publishing services company Wundr announced on Wednesday of last week that it was launching a new Mac-only Epub3 creation tool.

According to the press release, Playwrite offers an  easy-to-use interface and powerful toolset with a WYSIWYG interface that cuts down on the work required to produce an Epub3 ebook.

Authors can choose from prepared style templates, including novel, textbook, academic journal, and more. They can easily add video, audio, and images simply by dragging and dropping the files.

The app integrates with Upub, Wundr’s distribution platform, enabling authors to create a single file and upload it to all of the major ebookstores, including Kindle, iBooks, Kobo, and Google Play. Authors can then manage their ebook across the stores, including adjusting the price, suspending a listing, and updating the metat data.

While there’s a plenitude of apps for creating Epub ebooks, the ones which also boast of making Epub3 files are rather thin on the ground.  I only know of one, PubCoder; it launched in December 2014. (And of course there is Adobe Indesign.)

You can find Playwrite in the Mac App Store. It costs $50.

Wundr via MobileRead

Here’s a bit of news which could make the net neutrality advocates wince.

Opera announced on Tuesday that it is expanding its year-old Opera Max data compression service and adding a new option for mobile carriers. Originally designed to let users get the most out of their mobile data plan by compressing their downloads, Opera Max now enables telecoms to offer free access to apps of their choice.

The new feature is called App pass, and it builds on Opera’s Web Pass service. Web Pass lets mobile carriers sell limited access data plans and charge either by the minute, MB, or trade access in exchange for watching an advert.

The new App Pass service lets telecoms offer free, sponsored, or low-cost access to selected apps.

It’s basically a single-app data plan, and according to Opera, "App Pass lets operators present offers to users when they open any app on their phones. With two clicks, users can gain free access to the data that app consumes via Opera Max: they can then return to the app knowing that any data consumed while using it will be zero-rated for the duration of the App Pass."

Opera is launching this service today, and they’ve already signed a partner: Norwegian telecom Telenor. According to its statement, it will be testing App Pass in some of its Asian operations. "We’re eager to see how this service is received in our markets," said Telenor digital chief Rolv-Erik Spilling.

So what’s the problem?

Well, as you might know, there’s this little thing called net neutrality.  This is a principle which states that all data passing through a telecom’s pipes should be treated equally, and App Pass violates it.

App Pass gives telecoms the tools they need to strike special deals with certain apps. This type of deal is called zero-rating, and it’s growing popular with certain telecoms and apps.

To be fair to Opera and its partners, they’re not the first to take this route, nor are they the most widespread. That title would go to Facebook’s trojan horse effort , aka Internet.org.

While Internet.org is styled as bringing the internet to the third world, as we saw when it launched in Columbia last month what this program really does is bring access to Facebook and a handful of other sites and services (mainly government services).

That limited access may satisfy many users who think that Facebook is synonymous with the internet, but it is still far from the open internet access you and I enjoy every day.

Even though App Pass is good for Opera and the telecoms in the short run, in the long run I think it will be bad for the internet as a whole.

TNW, GigaOm