Apple has recently renewed its focus on the iBooks platform, signaled by the launch of a new instructional resource. As reported by Bradley Metrock on LinkedIn, the tech giant has introduced the "iBooks Author Starter Kit," a straightforward manual designed to assist beginners in navigating the ebook creation process.

The Starter Kit serves as a comprehensive, step-by-step guide. It equips aspiring authors with the necessary digital assets to build a basic interactive publication, including a dedicated iBooks Author template, a curated color palette, various images, and text drafts. Additionally, the kit features multimedia components such as video clips and Keynote presentations to enhance the learning experience.

This publication is part of a broader "Apple Education" series, which consists of seven titles, the majority of which debuted in late 2014. Although the official store listing identifies this as version 1.2, data from tracking services like AppAnnie suggests this is likely the first time the title has been made available to the general public.

This release follows a period of perceived stagnation for the iBooks ecosystem. However, it arrives alongside significant updates to Apple’s mobile software. The upcoming iOS 8.4 update will expand the utility of these digital books by allowing iPhones to support files created in iBooks Author for the first time. Furthermore, Apple intends to streamline its media offerings by integrating the audiobook library from iTunes directly into the iBooks application.

The digital book is currently available through the iBooks Store, though users must utilize a Mac running OS X to access the full iBooks Author software for their own projects. Despite the broad release, distribution appears to be inconsistent globally. There have been several reports of the book being unavailable for download in certain European regions, including Germany, Croatia, and Switzerland, even though other titles in the Apple Education series remain accessible in those markets.

The services marketplace Reedsy has announced a partnership with distributing services company Blurb to provide an end-to-end option for authors to take their work from manuscript to

This partnership is of course but a holding pattern for one or both companies to be acquired by Penguin Random House or Hachette.

Press release:

Two of the biggest names in self-publishing services have joined forces to help authors and aspiring writers through every step of their journey, from initial idea to completed book. Through the partnership, users will be able to access the author services and tools offered on the Reedsy platform, including its marketplace of top quality editors, designers, and marketing experts, as well as its bespoke book production tool, the Reedsy Book Editor. They can then use Blurb’s printing and distribution services to print their quality book in an entirely streamlined and professional manner, as well as sell their book in a wide variety of ways.

Blurb is a technology platform that enables custom book printing and distribution to over 2 million customers globally. Reedsy, a startup which operates a global team and is headquartered in the UK, has an active community of over 40,000 authors and professionals using the site. As part of its offering, the company also provides ‘Reedsy Learning’ which is currently one of the world’s largest online publishing schools, with over 15,000 students and over 20 different courses available, on subjects such as book design, productivity and self-publishing.

The Audio Publishers Association posted a few of the result from their annual consumer survey today.

The APA is estimating that audiobook sales totaled more than $2.1 billion in the US in 2016, up 18.2% from 2015. This is the third consecutive year that audiobook sales have expanded by nearly 20%, and unit volume was also up 33.9%.

According to the press release, 24% of Americans (more than 67 million people) completed at least one audiobook in 2016, a 22% increase over the 2015 survey.

High point from the press release:

Who listens to audiobooks?

• Nearly half (48%) of frequent audiobook listeners are under 35.
• Audiobook listeners are often also podcast listeners. Respondents who consumed both podcasts and audiobooks listened to twice as many audiobooks in the past 12 months as non-podcast consumers.
• Avid readers are also listening. Audiobook listeners read or listened to an average of 15 books in the last year, and 77% of frequent listeners agreed or strongly agreed that “audiobooks help you finish more books.”

How and where are they listening?

• Far more listeners are saying they use their smartphone most often to listen to audiobooks than ever before – 29% in 2017 vs. 22% in 2015.
• A majority of audiobook listening is done at home (57%), with the car being the second most frequently-cited location (32%).
• 68% of frequent listeners do housework while listening to audiobooks.  Other multitasking activities among frequent listeners include baking (65%), exercise (56%) and crafting (36%).
• The 2017 survey asked about voice-enabled wireless speakers (such as Amazon Echo or Google Home) for the first time, with 19% of all listeners reporting using them to listen to an audiobook in the last year. Among frequent listeners, that rises to 30%.

Additional Key Findings

• Libraries remain major access channels and important drivers of audiobook discovery. 27% of people said borrowing from a library/library website was very important for discovering new audiobooks.
• Of the more than 50,000 titles produced on audio in 2016, the most popular genres were Mysteries/Thrillers/Suspense, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Romance.
• The top three reasons why people enjoy listening to audiobooks are: 1) They can do other things while listening; 2) Audiobooks are portable and people can listen wherever they are; and 3) They enjoy being read to.

image by ActuaLitté

Publishers have been raising textbook prices for so many decades and have driven the price of textbooks so high that they have created a profitable opportunity for counterfeiters.

There’s serious money in pirating textbooks and then underselling the legitimate copies, but rather than lower prices and eliminate the opportunity, publishers are instead suing alleged sellers of pirated textbooks and pushing to replace textbook sales with digital licenses. Now textbook publishers are experimenting with seals of authenticity that integrate QR-codes

From IHE:

Textbooks from Cengage Learning and McGraw-Hill Education will this fall begin to feature a certification seal that, when scanned with a smartphone app, will help readers verify that the books came from the publishers and not from a counterfeiter.

The certification seal is the latest effort by textbook publishers to stanch losses in the print market. The textbook industry in general is contracting — Cengage estimates it declined by 14 percent in 2016 — and piracy is one of several reasons why. According to Cengage’s numbers, piracy costs the company between $70 million and $100 million a year.

Michael E. Hansen, chief executive officer of Cengage, said in an interview that counterfeit books have become a much more widespread issue in the last two years.

“What changed is just the amount of counterfeits in the market has spiked over the last 18 to 24 months,” Hansen said. “The more we started to dig in and do test purchases, the more we came across, in some cases, a staggering number of counterfeits in certain marketplaces.”

Hansen declined to name specific marketplaces but described them as “not very heavily policed or regulated marketplaces” where anyone can buy or sell products. He compared the issue to the problems with counterfeit goods seen in the athletic and luxury apparel markets.

Cengage’s certification seal will appear on the cover of all of Cengage’s print books. Scanning the seal’s QR code sends readers to an authentication website where, by matching the design of the book in their hands to Cengage’s catalog, they can confirm that the book is legitimate. If the design doesn’t match, readers can report the counterfeit.

McGraw-Hill Education is planning to introduce similar seals, called Prooftags, to all its future print titles as well, Tyler Reed, the company’s director of communications, said in an email. He declined to say how much the company loses from piracy.

You can see two of the seals of authenticity below:

So apparently the publishers are expecting students to check the textbook they bought online to see if the book is legit rather than a pirated copy?

And these are the same students who have taken a financial hit because textbook publishers release new editions every other year?

Yeah, that’s going to go over well.

First and foremost, this effort is going to fail as soon as the pirates figure out that one, they can tell the buyer that their copy lacks the seal because it is either an old copy or an international edition, or two, how to copy the seal.

Perhaps they will copy the seal so well that no one will be able to tell the difference, but the smarter move would be to direct students to a fake website that pretends to authenticate the book, passing it with flying colors.

But even if the counterfeiters don’t figure out out how to outsmart the publishers, this effort will still crash and burn.

It operates under the assumption that students will care enough about whether a textbook was counterfeit to bother checking online.

Students have more important things to do, so that just isn’t going to happen.

So this effort is bound to fail, but really, what other choice did they have?

Textbook publishers have priced themselves out of the market. Students are figuring out how to do without textbooks, using free online sources, or open source textbooks, and as a result the textbook industry is dying.

Oh, they’ll use the word "contracting", but Cengage estimated the industry declined by 14% in 2016.

And that is a problem for the textbooks publishers because they are all invested in the exiting system, and don’t dare kick over the traces. they would rather fight the inevitable and continue to hold on to what little they have lft rather than face the new reality.

that sounds awfully familiar; where have we seen that before, do you know?

For many years now Amazon has enabled Kindle users to manage and share their annotations via a website at Kindle.Amazon.com (just one of many ways you can curate your notes).

Now Amazon has launched a new and much-improved way for readers to access their Kindle notes and highlights. Kindle users got an email today with the news:

We have good news. Customers have been asking for more ways to access their Kindle notes and highlights—especially on their phones.

We’ve created a new home for all your notes and highlights that’s easy to access from your phone, tablet, or PC. Now you can easily refer to your notes and highlights wherever you are. Visit the new home for Your Notes and Highlights at read.amazon.com/notebook.

The new site serves much the same purpose as the old, but it has a better design. It works on a smartphone and your iPad, while the older site was only designed to work on desktop web browsers.

You can use the site to delete highlights, add or edit notes, and the new Notebook site can also show you where you made the highlight.

I was just testing this site, and I found that I could use it to open Kindle for PC exactly where I had made a note.

This feature does not work on Android, however. (And for some unknown reason,  Amazon does not send you to its cloud reading app – even though it’s only a click away).

But none of that really matters; the new site is a huge improvement and will be quite useful.

Amazon’s slowly growing chain of bookstores  has inspired hostility from The New Yorker and other New York media and numerous commentaries across the web.

Most recently Amazon Books inspired Jim Milliot of Publishers Weekly to write that Amazon would soon own the fifth largest bookstore chain.

Amazon has seven bookstores and plans to open six more by the end of this year, and that is enough for Milliot to put Amazon in fifth place. Me, I think that puts Amazon in seventh place, at best – and it would rank even lower if you included Follett and B&N Edu.

From PW:

A combination of bookstore attrition and its own startup efforts will make Amazon Books the fifth largest general bookstore chain in the U.S. based on the number of outlets. As BookExpo began, Amazon Books had opened seven outlets with confirmed plans to open six more before the end of the year.

Amazon Books’ accession couldn’t have been accomplished without the steady decline in the number of bookstore chains since 1991. In that year, there were 11 chains that had 13 or more outlets, with total outlets topping 3,000. In 2017, the five chains on our list had 1,076 outlets. Just since 2011 the store count has fallen by 32%.

…

Amazon’s plans for its bricks-and-mortar business are murky, but the company has ramped up its store openings since it launched the first one in November 2015. Though Amazon took 10 months between opening its first store in Seattle and its second in San Diego, Calif., the pace of openings and announced openings has quickened. The e-commerce giant opened two outlets in 2016 and four so far in 2017—the most recent being its Columbus Circle location in New York City. It has announced plans for stores in Bellevue, Wash.; Walnut Creek, Calif., San Jose, Calif., Los Angeles; Paramus, N.J.; and for a second in New York City. If all goes according to plan, Amazon will open 10 stores in 2017.

Its aggressive store-opening plans notwithstanding, Amazon has a way to go to jump ahead of third place Half Price Books. The Dallas-based retailer, which sells a mix of used and new titles, has had a net increase of eight stores since 2011. It closed three locations earlier this year, but has plans to open two new outlets (in St. Charles, Mo., and Tyler, Tex.) later in 2017.

PW also posted a chart which I reorganized so it fit better. You may notice it is missing a few names:

Two of the chains missing from this list are Follett and B&N Edu. They operate chains of college bookstores and thus arguably do not belong on this list.

So let’s skip B&N Edu and Follett and focus on the other bookstore chains which would have bumped Amazon down to seventh place.

Edit: Or even lower. Publishers Lunch noted on Twitter that Books Inc has 11 branches to Amazon’s seven open bookstores. They also mentioned Deseret Books, which has 33 bookstores across the western US. (Like Cokesbury, Deseret Books is owned by a church.)

Second edit: There’s also Family Christian competitor Lifeway, which has 174 stores.

Milliot missed Hudson News, which operates a chain of airport newsstands and bookstores, and he left out a franchise chain of used books stores called Wall of Books.

It’s hard to say how many of the nearly 100 Hudson locations should be counted as bookstores (more than 13, I’d wager) but we do know that Wall of Books has sixteen locations across the eastern US (including one in DC).

Founded by Shane Gottwals in 2012, Wall of Books offers a training program for owners. The investment is significant for an individual but not nearly as expensive as required for a fast food franchise: Start-up costs can approach $85,000.

While one could argue that Wall of Books is not a chain, I am amazed by the fact that one can now reasonably say the fifth largest bookstore chain in the US consists of used books stores.

Think of what that says about the decline in physical bookstores.

The industry has withered to such a degree that a tiny chain is now in the top five.

That is a sign of just how many books we are buying online in 2017.

image by variationblogr

Launched in 2011, Audible Creation Exchange (ACX) is a marketplace where authors, publishers, narrators, and agents can connect and create audiobooks.

For the past five years ACX has only ben open to residents of the US and UK, but that changed today.

Audible announced the news on the ACX blog:

ACX is excited to welcome new voices and stories onto our revolutionary audiobook creation platform. Starting today, Canadian and Irish Rights Holders and Producers can list their audio samples and audiobook projects for auditions in the ACX marketplace. To date, authors, publishers, studios, and narrators in the US and UK have produced over 80,000 audiobooks using ACX, and we can’t wait to hear what audiobooks you make next. We’d especially like to thank you for the opportunity to help create audiobooks around the world and support the creative community.

According to the latest industry buzz, the nascent audiobook has the greatest potential for growth. While that sounds great, this blogger recalls that similar optimistic hype was expressed over digital textbooks, ebook apps, enhanced ebooks, Editions at Play, direct sales, and ebook bundles.

While that sounds great, this blogger recalls that similar optimistic hype was expressed over digital textbooks, ebook apps, enhanced ebooks, Editions at Play, direct sales, and ebook bundles.

Of course, one detail that sets audiobooks apart from all those failed ideas is that the audiobook market has grown by double digits over year for the past six years.

The AAP reported publisher audiobook revenues increased 38.7% in 2015, and 29.2% through November 2016.

So there’s that.

Charbax met with CLEARink Displays Chairman and CEO, Frank Christiaens and VP of Engineering, Scott Ferguson, at SID DisplayWeek 2017 in Los Angeles this week.

The company won the "Best of Show" award for its reflective screens.

CLEARink Displays' tech works on the principle of Total Internal Reflection (TIR) which occurs on the top plane of the display where light is reflected back creating white state images.

The top plane also encompasses an electrophoretic mechanism where applying a charge causes black particles to rise to the top and absorb light, thus creating the black state, and all this is driven by the back of the display, which is a TFT backplane essentially identical to what is used in E-ink screens and LCDs.

The CLEARink demos are running video at 30 frames per second. The company said that they are targeting wearables, mobile devices, electronic shelf labels as well as signage.

CLEARink is in trial production in a LCD fab and will have samples ready for the customer in the next few months with mass production in the first quarter of 2018.

I suggest that you take the claims of "first ever" with a grain of salt.

Reflective LCDs are old hat; the Pebble watch uses a reflective LCD screen made by Samsung, and you can even buy old stock reflective LCDs from discontinued product lines.

And of course Qualcomm’s Mirasol and Pixtronix each had reflective screen tech. Their screens were based on very different tech from CLEARink, but the screen tech was low-power and reflective, and Mirasol could display video.

So CLEARink is not the first, but it does have at least one advantage over Mirasol and Pixtronix: CLEARink is still around, and it’s about to bring a product to market.

Evidence is mounting that Asus and Google are preparing to launch a new, budget-priced Nexus tablet for $99 at the upcoming 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Recent activity suggests the companies are following a predictable promotional pattern previously seen with the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 launches. This strategy typically involves leaking hardware specifications to Digitimes, releasing benchmark results online, and finally posting sample images to Picasa from official accounts.

New photos have appeared on Picasa linked to an unreleased Asus device identified as the ME172V. While official confirmation is still pending, the timing and nature of these image uploads align with previous pre-launch behaviors. Although Asus does not have a formal booth at CES, industry observers expect the device to be unveiled in Google’s meeting facilities at the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall next month.

Technical data from leaked benchmarks and specifications provide a clearer picture of the ME172V’s hardware. The tablet reportedly features a 1GHz WonderMedia processor, a 400MHz Mali GPU, and 1GB of RAM. The display is expected to be a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 1024×600. Other noted features include a 1-megapixel front-facing camera—validated by the Picasa metadata—and a microSD expansion slot. The device was seen running Android 4.1.1, though some analysts find the use of an older OS version surprising given that Android 4.2 has already been released.

The rumored $99 price point would position the tablet as a low-cost alternative to the standard Nexus 7. To reach this aggressive price, the ME172V utilizes more modest components, such as a single-core CPU and a lower-resolution display than its predecessors. While some speculation exists that the device could be an Asus-branded tablet rather than a Nexus-labeled product, the marketing tactics used so far strongly mirror Google’s established playbook for the Nexus line.

If these reports are accurate, the ME172V will likely be a primary focus of the tablet market during the January trade show, representing a significant push into the entry-level computing space.

In a notable expansion of its electronics offerings, the pharmacy chain Walgreens has begun carrying an Android-powered tablet priced at $99. The device, identified as the Maylong M-150, enters the market as a budget-tier alternative to high-end tablets.

The M-150 features a 7-inch display with a resolution of 800×480. Under the hood, the tablet runs on a 400MHz processor designed by Via, supported by 256MB of RAM. Despite its low price point, the device includes several connectivity options and hardware features, such as integrated Wi-Fi, built-in speakers, and a microSD card slot for expandable storage. A unique inclusion in the box is a dedicated dongle that provides the tablet with USB ports and a 10/100 Ethernet connection.

On the software side, the Maylong M-150 operates on Android version 1.6. The product listing indicates that it comes pre-loaded with several standard applications, including a web browser, an e-reading platform, a video player, and a YouTube client. Because the device utilizes a Via processor, some analysts suggest the hardware might perform more efficiently than its modest clock speed implies, though real-world testing is required to confirm these performance claims.

Public reaction to the device’s online marketing has been mixed. Some observers have raised concerns regarding the legitimacy of the product’s promotional images, which appear to show a user interface featuring icons reminiscent of MacOS and Internet Explorer—elements not typically associated with the Android operating system. Additionally, the software firm Avatron has alleged that the tablet’s interface misappropriates the trademarked icon for their "Air Sharing" application.

While the low-cost hardware may suffer from typical entry-level issues such as a resistive touchscreen, limited battery life, and sluggish processing, industry watchers suggest the $99 price point marks a significant shift. This trend toward ultra-affordable, non-branded devices could present a new competitive challenge for established tech companies, offering a basic entry point for consumers or children who do not require the power of premium tablets. Recent filings with the FCC have confirmed the device’s technical specifications and imminent market presence.

Official filings from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) surfaced yesterday, providing strong evidence of an upcoming 3G-enabled Nexus 7. While the manufacturer, Asus, took standard steps to keep specific details like user manuals and product photography confidential, the model registration number provided a clear link. The device is tagged as the ME370TG, which corresponds directly to the existing Nexus 7 model, the ME370T.

The timing of this regulatory clearance suggests the tablet will be unveiled during Google’s upcoming press event. It is expected to debut alongside several other anticipated releases, including the Nexus 10 and a 32GB version of the standard Nexus 7. These findings align with recent industry speculation, shifting the 3G model from a subject of rumor to a confirmed reality. Analysis of the technical test reports further supports this, as the documents highlight an IMC brand 3G module operating on the XMM6260 platform.

In addition to this hardware news, several other major stories have recently impacted the digital publishing and tech sectors:

**Legal and Regulatory Updates:**
Amazon has initiated legal action against over 1,000 individuals on the freelance platform Fiverr, alleging they produced fraudulent product reviews. In a separate legal victory for the tech industry, a court of appeals has confirmed the legality of Google’s long-standing book-scanning initiative. Additionally, Michigan’s venture into open-source textbooks has recently faced significant disapproval from educational critics.

**Industry Expansions:**
Lufthansa has entered a partnership with Sobooks to launch an in-flight ebook store, allowing passengers to browse and shop at 30,000 feet. In the distribution market, Smashwords has integrated Gardner Hive into its network, and Xinxii has expanded its catalog to include audiobooks.

**Technology and Innovation:**
E-ink recently showcased new hardware developments, including a 13.3-inch color display and digital smart badges. On the software side, new experiments in automated content show that bots are now capable of generating viral, clickbait-style headlines.

**Market Trends:**
Financial data from September 2015 indicates a minor decrease in the per-page payment rate for authors enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. Meanwhile, the e-reader community remains active with discussions on DRM-removal plugins for Calibre and ongoing debates regarding the future of digital content ownership.

The NY Times reports that Amazon’s latest PR campaign  centers on a $5 million fund for creating audio works:

Audible, the digital audiobook giant, announced Tuesday that it would create a $5 million fund to commission new works from emerging playwrights — not for the stage, but for people’s headphones and speakers.

As audio fiction seems to be having a moment, in the realm of podcasts, Audible plans to draw from the vast pool of young writers to create one- or two-person plays. They will be available beginning late this year, the company said.

Playwrights can apply for grants to cover both “industry standards” for new commissions and the cost of production, said Donald R. Katz, Audible’s chief executive and a former journalist and author.

“I’m hoping that people just come out of the woodwork,” Mr. Katz said.

The program is going to fund around a dozen playwrights to start.

“They’re actually getting paid to write a play,” Leigh Silverman, a member of the advisory board, said of the grant recipients. “That’s a rare thing, and it’s an important thing.”

Audible has ben funding original content since at least 2013, so aside from the publicity angle it’s not clear how much of this is new. (I have queried Audible on that question, and am awaiting a response.)

image by ActuaLitté

Although the term “blockbuster book” has only been coined recently, certain books have captured the public’s imagination well before Fifty Shades of Grey.

Going back as far as the 10th Century BC, when I Ching was nothing more than thoughts scribed onto bamboo, we’ve been captivated by brilliant writing and story telling.

In the following infographic, editing service Global English Editing presents its list of the 20 most popular books throughout history.

From religious texts such as The Holy Bible to revolutionary texts such On the Origin of Species to the pure literary genius found in War and Peace, the following timeline not only highlights the history of blockbuster books, but also some of the most significant dates in human history.

What do you think of their list?

(click to enlarge)

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