Earlier this year the Swedish publishing conglomerate Bonnier expanded its publishing services company, Type & Tell, from Sweden to the UK. Eight months later it is shutting down its UK operations.

It published this notice on its website today:

It is with great regret that we have to announce that Type and Tell UK will cease trading at the end of 2017.

As a result, it is no longer possible to create a new account, and packages and services are no longer available for purchase. All registered users can download files from the Book Editor as Word documents.

Please do this before 9th December 2017 – after this date your T&T Dashboard will no longer be available.

Our customer service centre will remain fully operational until 5.30pm on our last day of business – which will be on 20th December 2017 – so if you have any enquiries about your files or require any further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

Some fool on Twitter comparing this closure to Pronoun (which announced it was shutting down last week) and saying Amazon is to blame, but he could not be more wrong.

Type and Tell UK was more of a services company than a distributor, and it closed because it could not sell enough services to authors. The Bookseller reports that it had around 500 users in the UK, which was not enough to satisfy Bonnier.

The thing is, this company launched into a very competitive market, with thousands of independent service providers.

Everyone who offered some type of publishing service online, from FastPencil to solo editors and book formatters, competed with Type & Tell and the company talks like it didn’t understand the market.

“We are enormously proud of what we have achieved at Type & Tell UK,” Jon Watt, country manager of Type & Tell UK, told The Bookseller. “We set out to create a new kind of self-publishing service – a place where authors could write, make, print and publish quality books with ease and professional help. In six months we have built it into a market leader, collaborating with publishing start-ups and exploring new possibilities for self-publishing."

Type & Tell wasn’t new; it operated on the same model as FastPencil and BookBaby.

If its manager could not see that – and the need to differentiate Type & Tell from the competition – then that is probably why the venture failed.

While the Kindle Scout program has generated significant debate among authors, many writers believe it offers a unique opportunity despite the inherent risks. Benjamin Sobieck recently detailed his decision to submit his crime thriller, *The Invisible Hand*, to the new platform. After a quick vetting process, Amazon approved his campaign to launch on October 28. Below are the primary reasons why this program may be a viable path for modern authors.

**1. Efficient Turnaround**
Traditional publishing and even certain self-publishing routes can be incredibly time-consuming. For authors facing personal time constraints—such as Sobieck, who is preparing for the birth of a child—the 45-day decision window offered by Kindle Scout is highly attractive compared to months of querying agents.

**2. Solving the Problem of Visibility**
The digital book market is currently oversaturated, making it difficult for even high-quality novels to be discovered. Kindle Scout offers authors a chance to leverage Amazon’s internal marketing tools and algorithms. Gaining this type of institutional support can provide a significant advantage in a crowded marketplace.

**3. Financial and Contractual Security**
While writing rarely comes with guarantees, the Kindle Scout program offers a $1,500 advance and a Kindle Press contract. For many, this provides a stable foundation. Additionally, the typical contract allows authors to retain certain rights, such as print rights, which can be shopped to other entities.

**4. The Rise of Curated Content**
As the e-book market grows, readers are increasingly looking for curated experiences. Much like a grocery store is more efficient than a random assortment of goods, a curated platform helps readers find what they want. Kindle Scout acts more like a "farmer’s market organizer" than a traditional gatekeeper, establishing a professional framework for how books are presented to the public.

**5. Early Adoption and Experimentation**
History suggests that those who join Amazon programs in their infancy often reap the greatest rewards. While Sobieck continues to use traditional publishing for specialized projects—such as his reference guide, *Weapons for Writers*—he views Kindle Scout as the right venue for experimental fiction.

**6. Evaluating Exclusivity**
Critics often point to Amazon’s exclusivity requirements as a downside. However, for many unpublished works, the alternative is often a book that earns nothing at all. If the program fails to yield a contract, the author is only out 45 days of time and can still pursue traditional KDP or other publishing avenues.

**7. Revenue Goals**
Ultimately, writing is a profession, and the goal is to generate income. The combination of an upfront advance and Amazon’s massive retail reach makes Kindle Scout an appealing financial prospect for writers looking to monetize their work effectively.

While Kindle Scout may not be the perfect fit for every creator, for those looking for a mix of marketing support and a quick path to market, it represents a calculated risk worth taking.

Reports of a higher-capacity Google Nexus 7 tablet have surfaced following an accidental shipment in Japan. While the tech industry widely anticipated that Google would eventually upgrade the storage on its flagship 7-inch tablet, the arrival of a 32GB version has occurred much sooner than industry analysts predicted.

The leak originated from a Japanese consumer who purchased what was supposed to be a 16GB Nexus 7. Upon receiving the device, the owner discovered that the warehouse had inadvertently sent a 32GB unit—a model that has not yet been officially announced by Google. Evidence of the mistake appeared on social media, where the user, tweeting under the handle @oppese, shared a photograph of the device’s system settings confirming the increased storage capacity.

It appears the logistical error occurred because the 32GB tablet was packaged inside a box intended for the 16GB version. This packaging discrepancy allowed the unreleased hardware to bypass inventory controls. While the misplaced box helped confirm the tablet’s existence, it also limited the amount of information available; had the unit been in its correct retail packaging, barcodes or serial numbers might have offered further clues regarding the retail price or an official launch date.

Nevertheless, the fact that these devices are already boxed and entering the supply chain suggests a commercial release is imminent. Logistics of this nature typically indicate that a formal product launch is no more than two weeks away.

The timing of this discovery is particularly significant given the competitive landscape of the tablet market. Rumors suggest that Apple is preparing to announce the "iPad Mini" very soon. By expanding the Nexus 7’s storage capabilities now, Google may be attempting to solidify its position in the small-tablet market before Apple’s new hardware can overshadow the competition. Despite the accidental nature of this reveal, it confirms that Google is ready to offer a more robust hardware option to consumers in the immediate future.

Today is a great day, one where we should celebrate the revival of bookstores, because Amazon’s seventeenth store has been confirmed for Maryland. It’s going to be built in the Bethesda Row shopping center which is located about 5 miles from the Amazon Books location in DC.

From Bethesda Beat:

The Bethesda bookstore will open at 7117 Arlington Road, in a space currently occupied by the home furnishing store Urban Country, a source told the Bethesda Beat on Monday. Urban Country in October announced plans to move next door to 7121 Arlington Road, taking over the former City Sports spot.

"We are excited to be bringing Amazon Books to Bethesda Row in Bethesda, Maryland and we are currently hiring store managers and associates," Amazon Books spokesperson Alexandra Woodworth wrote in a statement. "Stay tuned for additional details down the road."

A building permit application for the Amazon store was filed with the county on Nov. 8 for a $1.5 million project to renovate the roughly 6,000-square-foot space.

Bethesda Row is one of those American inventions stemming from not having good public transit. It is a development where multi-story retail and office buildings face the street and wrap around a parking garage.

The new Amazon Books location is about a block from a Barnes & Noble store that is closing at the end of the year, but the geographic proximity is really all they have in common. B&N is leaving a 3-story space, while Amazon is opening a 6,000 square foot store (a corner space, to be exact).

According to Google Maps, there are no other bookstores in the area; the closest is in DC. This makes Bethesda fertile ground for Amazon’s brick-and-mortar retail empire.

image  by SounderBruce

Pearson has just informed its customers that it is shunting down its ebookstore at MyPearsonStore.com, and that it will be deleting purchased ebooks by 30 April 2018.

While the ebooks don’t have encryption DRM and thus could be regarded as DRM-free, Pearson does use digital watermarks to invisibly identify the buyer of the ebook.

I am still seeking confirmation from Pearson, but my source, Axel Rauschmayer, writes that he:

Bought DRM-free ebook “Effective JS” a while ago. Now Pearson tells me:

• They’ll remove it from my account
• To rub it in, they let me know they still offer it on another platform

Very disappointed. Not surprised that Amazon and DRM are winning for ebooks.

To be honest, I have trouble summoning sympathy. Yes, Axel is going to lose access to the cloud copy, but the ebook he bought will continue to work after April 2017, and he didn’t have to break any laws to make that happen.

In comparison to the closure of Fictionwise, when many thousands of customers lost their purchases, or when Google bricked the Revolv smart hubs, or Amazon when it shut down its pre-Kindle bookstore, this story is less a tragedy than a reminder of why one should always have a local backup.

Everything is up in the air this week following the Pronoun closure. Authors are scrambling to find a new distributor, and PublishDrive is stepping into the gap.

They’ve announced on their blog that they have developed an importer feature that can take the export ZIP file supplied by Pronoun and automatically upload the files for distribution through PublishDrive.

We are sorry to see an innovative competitor go: competition drives the industry to provide better service and keep improving. However, we understand that authors are frustrated and worried. These are bad news, especially before Christmas: losing your reviews and rankings sounds awful just before the most important sales period. There is a lot of confusion: should you remove your books from sale already? Do you need a copyright statement to confirm your rights?

PublishDrive is here to make migrating your books easier. Our development team was busy this week working on an import tool for former Pronoun authors. You upload your ZIP file and we do the switch, keeping your reviews.

PD also said that they had confirmed that reviews posted on bookstore retail sites will transfer to the new copy of the ebook distributed by PublishDrive at Nook, Kindle, Play Books, and in OverDrive supplied stores (but not Kobo).

That detail is particularly important given that the consensus among authors was that the chance of keeping the reviews was a crapshoot at best; we know that Amazon could transfer the reviews upon request, but Charles Babbage only knows whether the other retailers could do the same.

You can find out more on the PD blog.

image by quinn.anya

When Google closed its publisher portal two and a half years ago in response to massive ebook piracy, they said the move was temporary so they could "improve our content management capabilities and our user experience". Google has never fully reopened the portal to new signups (existing users continued to have access) but reports are coming in that the portal has briefly reopened on a couple occasions, and that Google is accepting indie authors on a case by case basis.

There’s an ongoing discussion on KBoards about Pronoun shutting down. After hashing out the causes of the shutdown, the thread soon turned to finding replacements so authors could get their books into retailers.

Google Play Books was an especially hot topic given that only a few distributors could place a book there (PublishDrive, Ebook Partnership, StreetLib, to name a few). I was very surprised to read this comment on Google’s publisher portal:

I can’t give you specifics, but they have opened it at least twice this year. Both times it’s been talked about here. And IIRC, it’s been for short periods of time, as in hours, not days or longer.

I have yet to confirm that Google has had periods of open enrollment, but there are numerous reports that Google is letting authors sign up for a waiting list, and then granting them access to Play Books after a brief background check. For example:

For those who used Pronoun for Google Play, I highly recommend contacting Google Books and telling them the situation. I contacted them yesterday morning, received an email slightly less than 24 hours later with a link to fill out the Interest Form.

So, I filled out the form this morning with the hope that I’d get put on their "waiting list" and then get an invitation in a few months. Well I just got the invitation, less than 12 hours after filling out the form!

It may be a little extra work to get an account there, but it’s clearly worth it to try.

That is just one of several similar reports I have found, so apparently this portal is not as closed as it would appear.

Google had a massive piracy problem at one time (it was about as huge as Kindle Unlimited’s ongoing issue with scammers). It looks like Google’s solution is to vet each applicant and only accept the ones that demonstrate their legitimacy.

Approving users one by one is a lot of work, but it seems there is no other option. Neither Google nor Amazon have found algorithmic solutions to their respective piracy and scammer problems, which means they may have no other choice but to have a real person deal with the problem.

This got little attention in the English-language press, but Tolino launched a new marketing effort last month at Frankfurt Book Fair.

It is being likened to Kindle Unlimited, but Tolino Select is far more limited than a Netflix-style reading service.

The way it works is that subscribers pay 10 euros per month to choose from a selection of 40 discounted titles. The selection changes each month, and subscribers can get up to four titles each month for the ten euro fee.

They’re not buying the ebooks, though; subscribers just get to read the ebooks so long as they continue to pay the monthly fee.

That’s not a very good deal for readers, and the terms offered to indie authors are almost as bad.

Indies Go German reported last month that the most an indie author could make was half a euro per borrow:

Indie authors are welcome to submit their books to the Tolino Select team. Simply contact them by mail or through this online form. To have a chance, your book needs to fulfill certain requirements:

• No anthologies, only complete works
• Books of at least 150 pages
• Needs to cost at least 2.99 Euro for the duration of the enrollment
• Must be available (published) at least 2 weeks before the start of enrollment
• Must be distributed via Tolino Media

What’s in it for you?

If your book is chosen to be featured in Tolino Select you will receive 0.25 Euro per borrow (for prices below 4.99 Euro) or 0.50 Euro (for prices above 4.99 Euro). But ONLY if the book has been published less than 12 months ago. Older titles don’t receive any payout (but can also be submitted, of course).

If selected, your book is going to be featured next to traditionally published books, which means higher visibility. In addition, each borrow will be counted as a sale, so your book can rise in the sales charts. For first books in a series, this might work well to drive sales to the other books.

Out of 10 euros per month, Tolino is keeping eight and paying out two (at best).

What a racket.

The Amazon-owned service has been selling Chinese language audiobooks for several years now, and today it updated its service to more fully support the language.

According to the announcement, there’s a new section of the Audible website that is in Chinese.

Audible, Inc., the world largest seller and producer of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, today announced the launch of Audible in Chinese, a tailored listening destination where US and other international Chinese-speaking audiences can discover Chinese audiobooks and audio dramas on audible.com.

The Audible in Chinese catalogue at launch comprises over 300 audiobooks and audio dramas in Mandarin and will grow to include many more over the coming months. A dedicated landing page (www.audible.com/chinese) houses a curated content library featuring best-selling contemporary mysteries and thrillers, romances, classics, children’s titles, Chinese translations of popular English content, Chinese language learning materials and other categories, as well as helpful text and video guides for Chinese-speaking customers. Among the titles available today are ??? – ??? (Candle in the Tomb), ???? – ???? (Scarlet Heart), and ??? – ??? (Journey to the West). ????? – ????? (Classic Nursery Rhymes) is also available as a special free download.

Coincidentally, the listing for  the Chinese language audiobooks on the Audible UK site only shows 42 titles. Do you suppose that is  license issue?

“Audible.com currently offers content in 38 languages, and I am excited to extend our catalogue to include Chinese in such a dedicated way,” said Audible Chief Content Officer Andy Gaies. “For the first time, Chinese-speaking audible.com customers can now explore and enjoy a diverse library of authentic content. Through these incredibly produced titles, Audible can now offer the tens of millions of Chinese speakers outside of China compelling listening experiences.”

For the past couple years one of the more confounding questions in publishing was how Pronoun could afford to keep distributing ebooks without taking a commission or charging fees.

It turns out that it cannot.

Pronoun just informed users via email that the service is shutting down.

Two years ago Pronoun set out to create a one-of-a-kind publishing tool that truly put authors first. We believed that the power of data could be harnessed for smarter book publishing, leveling the playing field for indie authors.

We are proud of the product we built, but even more so, we’re grateful for the community of authors that made it grow. Your feedback shaped Pronoun’s development, and together we changed the way authors connect with readers.

Unfortunately, Pronoun’s story ends here.

While many challenges in indie publishing remain unsolved, Macmillan is unable to continue Pronoun’s operation in its current form. Every option was considered before making the very difficult decision to end the business.

As of today, it is no longer possible to create a new account or publish a new book. Pronoun will be winding down its distribution, with an anticipated end date of January 15, 2018. Authors will still be able to log into their accounts and manage distributed books until that time.

For the next two months, our goal is to support your publishing needs through the holiday season and enable you to transition your books to other services. For more detail on how this will affect your books and payments, please refer to our FAQ.

Pronoun was a singularly unique startup in that it encapsulated almost every way you can’t make money in the book industry.

It launched in 2009 as Vook, a publisher of enhanced ebook apps. When that market proved unpopular with consumers, Vook expanded into making enhanced ebooks for Kindle and iBooks (after the platforms gained support in 2010). When that didn’t work out,  Vook pivoted to making enhanced ebooks as a service.

And when that didn’t pan out, Vook pivoted to being a distributor of ebooks.

Then Vook rebranded and relaunched in 2015 as Pronoun, picking up new capital in the process as well as a new model: no-cost distribution. That sounded crazy, yes, but Pronoun insisted they were making their money from building platforms. "In addition to offering free services to thousands of authors, Pronoun also powers the publishing programs of large media companies like The New York Times, Forbes, and Fast Company, who are paying partners," I was told.

Apparently that worked well enough for Macmillan to acquire Pronoun in May 2016, but not well enough for Pronoun to continue operating.

And so after 18 months of finding out it can’t survive as a subsidiary to a Big Five publisher, Pronoun is shutting down for good.

Thus ends one of the more unusual publishing startups.

I’m going to miss Pronoun. For one thing, it was nice to have someone in the room that was crazier than me, but more importantly I am going to miss Pronoun’s formatting service.

They had a free automated conversion tool that made absolutely beautiful ebooks. They were nicer-looking than most ebooks made by people.

One can only hope this tech will show up somewhere, at some point.

Google doesn’t sell a lot of ebooks, and pretty soon they will also not be selling a lot of audiobooks.

Android Police pulled part the latest version of the Play Store app and found references to audiobooks in the code.

Back in 2012, the Android Market was rebranded to the Google Play Store, and in the process it brought the stores for books, music, and movies under one roof – TV shows and magazines (later renamed Newsstand) were added later. Now a new product category is about to go up for sale: Audiobooks.

Actually, audiobooks probably won’t be treated as a different category, rather another buying option to exist side-by-side with e-books. If you’re looking at an ebook that has an audiobook counterpart, a label will point out that the other format is available with a button to switch to that option, and vice versa. Most audiobooks will obviously have a price tag on them, but there will be some freebies, as well.

…

There aren’t very many strings here, nor are there any dedicated layouts related to audiobooks, which suggests they’re probably not going to launch with this version of the Play Store. Even if you could begin buying audiobooks tomorrow, there’s not really a good app for playing them. Play Music supports podcasts, which are at least similar, but that experience is still missing quite a bit and it’s nowhere close to suitable for audiobooks. Perhaps we’ll see this responsibility go to Play Books, or maybe a new app is on the horizon.

The closest that Play Books comes to audiobooks is a rather mechanical-sounding TTS feature where the text is automatically read aloud.

Audiobook support is very different, but it remains to be seen when or how Google will implement this feature.

image by ActuaLitté

An anonymous Chinese electronics manufacturer has released a functional "iWatch" clone, predating the launch of Apple’s official wearable. While the tech world awaits specific details regarding the authentic Apple device’s aesthetics, cost, and functionality, the K1 iWatch is already being sold and shipped globally for approximately $100.

The K1 iWatch features specifications that distinguish it as a standalone "watch phone" rather than a traditional companion smartwatch. It is equipped with a 1.8-inch screen (220×176 resolution), a VGA camera capable of recording video, an internal microSD slot, a headphone jack, and Bluetooth connectivity. Notably, it includes a SIM card slot, allowing it to operate independently of a smartphone. Reports suggest the device is compatible with US carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile, though the potential absence of an integrated microphone may necessitate the use of a Bluetooth headset for voice calls.

While the device features a user interface clearly modeled after Apple’s iOS, its origins are not actually tied to recent leaks. Although rumors regarding an Apple wearable have intensified over the last several months, the K1 has existed for some time; promotional footage for the device surfaced as early as 2011 and 2012. Rather than being based on leaked hardware designs, the K1 appears to have been modeled after a 2010 conceptual design created by ADR Studios.

This development highlights the fact that the smartwatch sector is a well-established niche rather than a new innovation. Manufacturers such as Sony, Casio, and Motorola (Google) have previously released models, and the market includes crowdfunded successes like the Pebble. On various Chinese retail sites, dozens of similar watch-phone variations are currently available for purchase.

Industry analysts draw parallels between the current state of wearables and the smartphone market of late 2006. Prior to the iPhone’s debut, smartphones had existed for over half a decade as niche products. It was Apple’s entry that transitioned the technology into the mainstream. While many observers expect a similar trajectory for the smartwatch, it remains to be seen if Apple will introduce a design revolutionary enough to replicate its previous success in the mobile phone industry.

There’s been no official word yet from Seattle, but local sources are reporting that Amazon’s sixteenth bookstore will be opening in a mall in Atlanta.

Atlanta will soon be getting its first Amazon Books store as the company continues to expand it’s brick-and-mortar retail experiment.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that the store, estimated to be about 5,000 square feet, will be the first in the Southeast and that nearly $1.5 million will be invested into the build-out at Lenox Square.

The first store opened in Seattle in 2015 and was followed by 10 more. The Chronicle reports that the company has plans for as many as 400 more locations.

After the Amazon books in Georgetown, this will be the second Amazon Books in the Southeast.

Coincidentally, this is going to be Amazon’s second retail store in that mall; they also operate a pop-up store, Amazon’s misleading label for a permanently installed electronics store that sells Amazon’s gadgets.

According to their site, Amazon now has 52 pop-up stores (not counting the locations in Kohl’s dept stores). Some are seasonal but most are permanent locations.  The pop-up closest  to me, which is located in Tyson’s Corner, has been there for a couple years now.

Working solely from the number of locations, Amazon now owns one of the largest chain of electronics stores in the US.