The Seybold Report

Bowker Says English-Speaking Countries Lead Global e-Book Adoption

Australia, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States are leading the world in e-book adoption according to new research from Bowker Market Research. The Boker Global eBook Monitor tracks customer attitudes to and purchases of e-books in major world markets. more 

Copia Partners with Australian Publishers Association

Copia Interactive LLC has announced a partnership with the Australian Publishers Association and Thorpe-Bowker to equip Australian booksellers and their customers with competitive e-book and e-reader services. more 

Apple Launches Interactive Textbook Development Initiative

Apple made several announcements this morning relating to the development of interactive textbooks for education. The company announced a new initiative involving a iBooks Author, a new, free app designed for interactive book development for the iPad, as well as agreements with major textbook publishing companies McGraw-Hill and Pearson Education to develop such books--and a few are available now. The company is also working with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to develop educational books. Apple says the new textbooks and others developed with the app will be integrated with material available through iTunes University. more

BJU Press Creates E-Book Platform

Christian education publisher BJU Press has introduced as e-book platform using an e-content hosting product developed by MPS Limited. The e-books are available as interactive whiteboard modules via MPS’  MediaSuite tool, which also makes the books available in VBK and PDF formats. The package includes a sales and distribution platform to host the books. more 

OverDrive Demonstrates WIN Catalog at Frankfurt Book Fair

OverDrive will demonstrate its new WIN (Want It Now) Catalog this week at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The catalog, an addition to OverDrive’s WIN platform for its network of 15,000 libraries worldwide, will provide samples and links to national and local booksellers to library Web site visitors who want to order a title. The Catalog will also provide complete long-tail collections of e-book and audiobook titles in publishers’ catalogs. more

ebrary Announces Short-Term Library Loan Model

E-book and research technology provider ebrary has announced the beta test of a usage-triggered short-term loan model to provide libraries with all the benefits of traditional short-term loans with the extra advantage of only paying if titles are used. The model can be a standalone service or can be used with ebrary’s patron-driven acquisition program.  more

Free Webinar: e-Book Digital Content Strategy

Traditional publishers do not provide good role models for e-book production because most still employ print production processes never designed to meet electronic market challenges says Rockley Group Inc. President Ann Rockley, principal author of eBooks 101: The Digital Content Strategy for Reaching Customers Anywhere, Anytime, on Any Device. She and digital content production specialist Anthony Allen of the American Society for Training and Development will present a free Webinar on e-book digital content strategy development on March 31 at 2 PM EDT (GMT -5). more

Copyright Clearance Center and ALPSP Offer e-Publishing Webinar

The Copyright Clearance Center and ALPSP are offering a Webinar on the strategies, offerings, and practical applications for developing revenue streams from e-book sales to individuals and institutions February 22 from 10:00-11:30 AM EST (GMT -5). The Webinar speakers will provide expert advice and hands-on experience with technological solutions for small-to-mid-sized book publishers There is a small fee to attend. more

Google Licenses Adobe Content Server 4 for e-Books Store

Adobe has announced the new Google e-book store, which opened December 6, uses Adobe Content Server 4 software to protect its e-content. Adobe Content Server is part of Adobe’s comprehensive Digital Publishing Solution for e-books. more

Bloomsbury USA Chooses RoyaltyShare to Manage e-Book Sales

Bloomsbury USA, a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., is installing the Digital Advantage for eBooks from RoyaltyShare Inc. to process and manage e-book transactions and revenue data. more

Barnes & Noble Announces NOOKdeveloper Program

Barnes & Noble Inc. has also announced the NOOKdeveloper Program to encourage the creation and delivery of rich content and applications for the NOOKcolor open device. The company is inviting content providers and developers to create, market, and sell content and applications that enrich, extend, and expand reading for customers.  more

Borders and BookBrewer Announce Borders-Get Published

Borders and BookBrewer have introduced Borders-Get Published Powered by BookBrewer, a co-branded publishing service to allow independent authors and bloggers to publish and sell e-books through the Borders electronic book store and other e-book retailers. The service creates books formatted to work on several technology platforms including a variety of tablets and e-reading devices. The service will be available on October 25. more

Barnes & Noble Announces PubIt! Digital Publishing Platform

Barnes & Noble Inc. has introduced PubIt!, a self-publishing platform for independent publishers and authors who want to distribute their works electronically through the company's online bookstore. PubIt! titles are available for purchase in the store within 24-72 hours of upload. more

Amazon Releases Beta Plugin Adobe InDesign for Kindle

Amazon.com Inc. has announced the beta version of a Kindle plugin for Adobe InDesign. This free new tool allows publishers to publish to the Kindle format by allowing them to convert Adobe InDesign files directly into Kindle books. more

Barnes & Noble Enhances Free e-Reader Software

Barnes & Noble Inc. has enhanced its free Nook e-reader software for the iPhone, iPad, and PC to deliver a more personalized electronic reading experience. more