Amazon Acquisitions

Goodreads is only the latest, according to ebookfriendly.com

Since 1998, when Amazon acquired BookSurge, along with Custom Flix and Mobipocket, the wallet has been ever-open, and the sphere of dominance ever-widening.

And this infographic, created by Meet the Boss, isn't even up-to-date -- it was created in July 2009.

You can check out the official Amazon record of business deals and takeovers, but be warned that it is a very long page.

With thanks to Jacqueline Church Simonds

Amazon acquires Goodreads

Good lord!

The growing dominance of Amazon seems endless.

The internet bookselling giant has bought Goodreads

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Goodreads, a leading site for readers and book recommendations that helps people find and share books they love.

“Amazon and Goodreads share a passion for reinventing reading,” said Russ Grandinetti, Amazon Vice President, Kindle Content. “Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world. In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft. Together we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike.”

“Books – and the stories and ideas captured inside them – are part of our social fabric,” said Otis Chandler, Goodreads CEO and co-founder. “People love to talk about ideas and share their passion for the stories they read. I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity to partner with Amazon and Kindle. We’re now going to be able to move faster in bringing the Goodreads experience to millions of readers around the world. We’re looking forward to inspiring greater literary discussion and helping more readers find great books, whether they read in print or digitally.”


Following the acquisition, Goodreads’s headquarters will remain in San Francisco, CA. Founded in 2007, Goodreads now has more than 16 million members and there are more than 30,000 books clubs on the Goodreads site. Over just the past 90 days, Goodreads members have added more than four books per second to the “want to read” shelves on Goodreads.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Subject to various closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2013.

Fifty Shades of Scrimshaw

The National Post reveals a scrimshaw stoush

Controversy hits the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

This stunning set of whalebone teeth featuring art by the great French impressionist Gauguin deserves an exhibit all on its own.  Judging by the provenance, it was part of a collection by the hugely popular writer and sport fisherman, Zane Grey, so there is a story there, too.

However, it is merely part of an exhibition of seafarers' folk art, "Tattoos & Scrimshaw" -- which has inspired a strong complaint, because of the erotic nature of some of the scrimshaw.

As we all know, whalemen were in the habit of taking sperm whale teeth and the flat parts of sperm whale jawbones, and etching pictures on them.  Usually, the scene was of ships, whales, and whaling, drawn by the whalemen themselves, or of demure women in bell-like skirts, taken from illustrations in the huge popular magazine Godey's Lady's Book.  It was easily done -- the picture was cut out of the magazine, pasted with spit or something more lasting onto the tooth or bone, and then pricked onto the medium. After the pricking was finished, lamp black (or tobacco spit) was rubbed into the grooves, and lo, a piece of scrimshaw was born.

But, while I was aware of erotic whalemen's drawings, and erotic tattoos on human skins, along with pornographic netsuke art, this is the first time I've been aware of erotic scenes on sperm whale teeth. Even if it is considered offensive by some, it is well worth exhibiting because of its very unusual nature, and so I applaud the Vancouver Maritime Museum for doing it.

Scrimshaw has been popular ever since it was invented by whalemen, in imitation of Polynesian tattooing. One famous American whaling captain reminisced that he made more money ($25) out of the scrimshaw he sold after his first voyage than he made out of the voyage itself.  Now, a good scrimshawed tooth can fetch thousands of dollars, so there is a brisk trade in fake scrimshaw.

Are those Gauguin teeth "fakeshaw?" There were still whalemen at sea in the early twentieth century, so it is possible that they are "real" ... but it is equally possible that Zane Grey collected them simply because they are so beautiful.

See Rick Spilman's Old Salt Blog (link to the left) for more about the strange controversy, or hit the links above.

Tablets killing dedicated eReaders

From GeekWire comes the startling news that sales of dedicated eReaders will fall by 36% this year

Worldwide shipments of dedicated ebook readers such as the E-Ink Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook will fall by 36 percent to 14.9 million units this year, and plummet to just 7.1 million units by 2016.

That’s the word this morning from industry researcher IHS, which blames the rise of multipurpose tablets such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Apple’s iPad.

Multi-function gadgets are winning out on single-function gadgets, with the result that the meteoric success of dedicated eReaders is going to be swiftly followed by a meteoric plunge to oblivion.

IHS says makers of ebook readers will likely continue to drop in price, which will prolong the life of the market, but “the devices on the whole will not regain the popularity they once had.”

Unless, of course, they make them free.

The golden bonanza

The word GOLDEN is part of our descriptive language

There is the GOLDEN goose that laid the GOLDEN eggs

Some people have a GOLDEN touch

There are GOLDEN opportunities, and at times silence is GOLDEN

A much more modern term is the GOLDEN handshake, varieties of which are the GOLDEN parachute, and the GOLDEN hello.

In the old days, we had chief clerks in banks, and town clerks in towns, and their clerkly equivalents in all kinds of businessess.  They did a good job at very reasonable rates, and they sort-of hovered in the background.  While their jobs were important, they were also regarded as relatively humble.

But now they have been replaced by managers who have written all that gold into their contracts.

Those managers might receive a golden hello, which is a large sum of money to welcome them on board. If the company goes bust, or is taken over by another company, then they are paid off handsomely with a golden parachute. And if they leave because of insoluble differences, they are paid off, often even more handsomely, with a golden handshake.

That these golden remunerations can be very handsome indeed is common knowledge. And they are particularly hated when it is also commonly known that the manager in question did a terrible job. The golden system really hit the news, though, when Daniel Vasella, the chairman of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, was offered a severance payment of seventy-eight million greenbacks.  The political backlash reached such tsunami proportions that a referendum was held, in which the Swiss electorate overwhelmingly voted to ban golden handshakes.

And because of the outcry, Vasella did not accept the huge sum of money.

Could we call it a GOLDEN gesture?

Denver's conspiracy theory airport

It's worthy of a James Herbert paranormal novel

Nearly twenty years ago, Denver built a new airport (DIA).  The old one (Stapleton International) was perfectly adequate.  Indeed, it came complete with rabbits.  Denver used to be a hub for international travel, and so we have sat in many planes waiting for our turn for take-off, watching the rabbits play.

But despite this, a new one was built, complete with conspiracy theories.

DigitalBookToday airs them all. 

Why is DIA built in the shape of a Nazi swastika?

Why is there barbed wire to keep people inside (but not outside)?

Why is death the theme of the terminal's artwork?

Why is there a Freemason capstone in the airport?  The granite monument has “New World Airport Commission” engraved on it ... but the New World Airport Commission doesn't exist.

Is there really a system of tunnels and buildings under the runways? Supposedly, the buildings and tunnels can hold up to 5 million people. Others believe the buildings act as gas chambers or secret areas for executing rebels of the New World Order.

During construction, the laborers were constantly being dismissed. Many believe the architects did not want anyone to be too familiar with layout. Plus, the workers are not allowed to discuss their work.

 

Why?

 

Queen Elizabeth II and other high-ranking diplomats have purchased tracts of land near DIA.

 

Coincidence?

The intriguing questions come courtesy of a series of articles by Dina Rae the author of The Last Degree.

Died of fright

A far-reaching tyranny

One has to feel sorry for the young policeman in this situation, but it is also an eloquent testimony to the far-reaching impact of dictatorial government.

A 56-year old woman who was born in South Africa, and had been in New Zealand for just six months, was pulled over and taken on board a police alcohol checkpoint bus--what is colloquially called a "booze bus."

The police who were running the operation were looking for people who were driving while over the limit, which in New Zealand is 80 mcg.

She was well under the limit, having a breath reading of only 24 mcg alcohol, but being pulled over by men in uniform, and then taken into an official vehicle, had such terrifying connotations for her that she collapsed and passed away.
 At the inquest, the court heard the testing officer describe Ms Gilbertson as having been in a scared and panicked state. Her brother told the coroner that his sister would have found the breath test an unusual and intimidating situation. A pathologist told the court he believed the death was caused by a highly stressful situation coupled with an underlying heart condition.
The coroner has reserved his findings. It will be interesting to learn what he says.

Headhunters of both persusasions ....

Head Hunters

Black and White:

 

Three Collectors
in the western Solomon Islands
1893 to 1914

by Rhys Richards

 

A not-for-profit publication

by the Paremata Press.

266 pages, 92 illustrations (15 in colour)

 

Minimum price in New Zealand $NZ 44.95

plus packaging and postage $ NZ 4.50

Total $NZ 49.50

 

Overseas : Soft Packet  and Airmail Postage:

To Australia $NZ 45 plus $ NZ 12 = $NZ 56.00 = $ A 45.00

To Solomon Islands $NZ 45 plus $NZ 17  = $ NZ 62.00

To Hawaii and USA $NZ 45 plus $ 21 = $NZ 66.00 = $US 55.00

To UK and Europe $ NZ 45 plus $NZ 25= $NZ 70.00= Pounds 39 or Euro 45

 

Please pay by PAYPAL  by email                             or directly to Bank of New Zealand

to by cheque or cash to Rhys Richards                         account   020500 0120535 00

at Paremata Press                                                                  1 Willis Street

73 Seaview Road , Paremata,                                                        Wellington  6011

Wellington , New Zealand  5024                                 

Order by Email : mrhys@paradise.net.nz       ( N.B. PP is Not large enough for NZ GST)

 

                                                             THANK YOU

 

New publisher at Otago UP

The University of Otago has appointed a new Publisher to head up its flagship publishing house, Otago University Press.

Rachel Scott (pictured), the Canterbury University Press publisher for the past five years, has moved to Otago University Press, following the retirement of Wendy Harrex, who leaves after 20 years in the role of Publisher.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Enterprise Professor Richard Blaikie welcomed Rachel to OUP - one of New Zealand’s oldest and most successful University presses.

“We are extremely fortunate to have attracted a person of Rachel’s qualifications and calibre to this role, and we are all very much looking forward to working with her,” he says.

“We also wish her predecessor Wendy well for her future endeavours. Her dedicated service has resulted in a wide range of publications that have kept Otago University Press in extremely high standing.”

Each year Otago publishes about 20 scholarly and general books on subjects within New Zealand and the Pacific, with special emphasis on history, literature, the arts and natural and social sciences. Books about the South Island and Otago University also feature strongly. The Press also publishes New Zealand's longest-running literary journal, Landfall; as well as other poetry and educational titles. Under the stewardship of Wendy Harrex, the Press has grown from a small part-time operation to a highly regarded international publishing house.

Publisher Rachel Scott’s early career includes freelance book editing and designing for almost two decades prior to her role with the Canterbury University Press, working for a number of publishers. She also spent 10 years as a sub-editor at the New Zealand Listener, as well as seven years teaching sub-editing to journalism diploma students at the University of Canterbury.

Rachel says she is looking forward to the move to Dunedin and to her new position.

Just the world right now, and real cool too

Actor Jim Carrey has announced that he intends to self-publish a “metaphysical children’s book” entitled How Roland Rolls.

During an interview with HitFix, Carrey explained: “I’m going to self-publish, because that’s just the world right now and I think it’s cool.”

I love it!

He also promised that the book will be “beautifully-illustrated,” telling the story of a little wave named Roland.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone star plans to release the book in September. Yahoo! News reports that Carrey wrote the book “in part for his grandson.”

Bass player wants work

This is too funny not to be a spoof, but is worth a laugh, anyway...

With thanks to Lindsay Druett

GPS

There has to be a reason we call our NavMan "Emily"...

I have a little Satnav
It sits there in my car
A Satnav is a driver's friend
It tells you where you are
I have a little Satnav
I've had it all my life
It's better than the normal ones
My Satnav is my wife
It gives me full instructions
Especially how to drive
"It's thirty miles an hour", it says
"You're doing thirty five"
It tells me when to stop and start
And when to use the brake
And tells me that it's never ever
Safe to overtake
It tells me when a light is red
And when it goes to green
It seems to know instinctively
Just when to intervene
It lists the vehicles just in front
And all those to the rear
And taking this into account
It specifies my gear.
I'm sure no other driver
Has so helpful a device
For when we leave and lock the car
It still gives its advice
It fills me up with counselling
Each journey's pretty fraught
So why don't I exchange it
And get a quieter sort?
Ah well, you see, it cleans the house,
Makes sure I'm properly fed,
It washes all my shirts and things
And - keeps me warm in bed!
Despite all these advantages
And my tendency to scoff,
I do wish that once in a while
I could turn the damned thing off.

With thanks to Judith Smith.
Cartoon from Arthur'sFreeClipArt

Whaling journal from Tasmania

A wonderful acquisition for someone ...

Or a whaling museum

Advertised by Louella Kerr books

[WHALING] GREEN, Eric A. J. Original diary

hand-writtten on the Norwegian factory ship N. T. Nielsen-Alonso’s whaling expedition to the Antarctic, 1929-30.

 

Beginning on 18th October ‘Left warf at 10/30 this morning...’.

The diary (170x220mm) consists of 63 closely written pages, and gives a day by day account of the voyage until the ship’s return on March 21st . Green, one of the 30 ‘Tassies’ who were taken on in Hobart, describes his conditions and activities in con sid er able de tail. His jobs on the mother ship con sist of load ing and mov ing coal, which he hates, and the preferred deck jobs of receiving the whales from the 5 Polchasers. He is very concerned with the state of cleanliness of himself, his clothes, his quarters, and the condition of the ship itself. He has difficulties with the conditions on deck until he kits himself out with spikes and oilskins from the ‘slapkiste’, or ship’s shop [slop chest]. He lists the catch each day, the number of barrells of oil, the hours he works and the over time he calculates he has earned, and comments on the state of the ice and the birds and fish sighted. He lists the daily catch and the type of whale caught - minke, blue, fin, sperm, killer, and hump back, and he describes the excitement of getting the whales on board the mother ship after they have been harpooned by the whalers. One of these, Pol 5, suf fers various accidents, which result in the loss of most of its mast. His chief criticisms are for the poor quality of the food, ‘food is rotten’ occurs frequently, and he recounts how some of the men went on strike when they were given dried fish and sago for dinner. His descrip tions of the Ross Sea and the ice are often poetic. He ends the diary with a transcrip tion of a fifty line verse ‘The Whalers’ Lament’ by J Manly

‘It was some where down the Pole/that the Tassie boys did go

 

Attached to the inside front cover of the diary, is Green’s letter of employment with the company, dated 23.7.1906..

 $2,500

Kindle metamorphosis

Amazon is responding aggressively to the tablet challenge

Up to now, you could only read online newspapers via your tablet, your smart phone, or your computer

That is about to change, according to a press release.

Amazon just released the new Send to Kindle Button for websites. Any website owner can add the new button so their visitors can send content to Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and Android tablets. Some sites have already added the button including The Washington Post, TIME, and Boing Boing.

Adding the Send to Kindle Button opens a website to millions of Kindle customers who can now enjoy the content on Kindle. The Send to Kindle Button is available for website owners to download for free.

Readers often encounter news articles, blog posts and other content on the web that they want to read but don’t have time to do so immediately. The Send to Kindle Button lets people easily send that content to their Kindle so they can it read later. Just send once and read everywhere on any Kindle device or free reading app. No more hunting around for that website or blog that caught your eye – just open your Kindle and all the content you sent is right there. The Send to Kindle Button is also great for readers who want to collect content from the web to use in work projects, school assignments, or hobbies.

So if you thought your Kindle was a dedicated book-reading device, you need to think again...

Books you DO NOT want to read

And look at the really bad jacket designs...

Having trouble loading the video?  Hit this link

Kobo funding writing scholarships

E-Reader giant moves to improve standards of writing.

The Bookseller reports that Kobo and Curtis Brown have teamed up to create free scholarships for the Curtis Brown Creative courses.

The Kobo Writing Life Scholarship will be open to writers without the financial means to attend a Curtis Brown Creative course, creating a free place on each of their three annual courses.

Places on the six months-long novel-writing course usually cost £2,800, while places on their three-month novel courses and three-month children's writing courses are £1,600 each.

Anna Davis, director of Curtis Brown Creative, said: "Since we started the school in 2011 we have had lots of inquiries from people who haven't been able to pay for the cost of the courses. We wanted to make it available to as many talented writers as possible, and Kobo's partnership is helping us to do that."

The places will be open to single people with an annual salary of less than £20,000 and savings of less than £5,000, and married or co-habiting people with a total combined salary of less than £26,500 and joint savings of less than £5,000.

Mark Lefebvre, Kobo director of self-publishing and author relations, said: "Kobo Writing Life is dedicated to supporting authors and is committed to allowing them barrier-free access to readers anywhere in the world. Excellence in writing is critical and at the heart of an author's success and we are thrilled to be able to work with Curtis Brown Creative to help writers hone their craft."

Applicants must submit 3,000 words of their novel in progress, along with a synopsis and application form.

Charity Norman's After the Fall

Charity Norman is a fine author and delightful woman who lives in New Zealand

I really enjoyed the first book, Freeing Grace, and looked forward to the next

However, through circumstances perhaps too strange to relate, I haven't read After the Fall

The review copy that was sent to me was stolen in the post -- which could be the weirdest compliment a book has ever received.

Spymouse has been nagging me.  It's a wonderful book, and it's a Richard and Judy choice, the erudite little fellow keeps on saying, and Charity Norman is completing a highly successful publicity tour in the UK. So where is the review?

In the meantime, here is what Richard and Judy had to say about the book.

After the Fall is a book about a family in crisis. If you enjoy reading family sagas involving current, edgy dilemmas (such as the novels of Jodi Picoult) I really recommend it.

Martha McNamara’s family life in London is in ruins. Thanks to the recession her husband Kit has lost his job. The advertising agency he’s been doing so well in has crashed, and all Kit’s attempts to find another job have failed. Blaming himself, Kit starts drinking heavily.

Desperate for a second chance, Martha and Kit decide to emigrate to New Zealand. Kit is a talented artist, and he dreams of fulfilling his potential out there. Working so hard in London to provide for his family, he’s had no time to paint and longs for a fresh start.

Martha and her two small twin sons, Finn and Charlie, are thrilled with their new home in Hawke’s Bay – a small town on the isolated east coast of New Zealand’s North Island (where the author herself lives).

Kit stops drinking, and happily begins to paint again.

Only Martha’s sixteen-year-old daughter Sacha has trouble settling in. In fact, for her, emigrating is the start of a nightmare.

Desperate to believe that she’s made the right decision for her family, Martha tries to ignore her increasing worries about her daughter, until one night, the family is engulfed by tragedy. Their beautiful idle, their much longed for new life in paradise, disintegrates into horror.

Richard

In After the Fall, Martha is the narrator, and the book alternates between past and present. As events unfold, we discover what has lead to the disastrous night when a five-year-old boy falls from the upstairs verandah of an isolated farmhouse. He suffers severe internal injuries, and a rescue helicopter is dispatched to airlift him to intensive care at Hawk’s Bay hospital.

The boy’s injuries are life-threatening and he is immediately operated on.

At first, everyone assumes his fall was an accident, but the hospital refuses to confirm this. However, the spokesman tells the local newspaper that police and protection agencies have been alerted and ‘comprehensive enquiries’ have begun.

The little boy is Finn, one of Martha’s twin sons. He’s prone to sleepwalking, so at first it’s easy to suppose his fall is a tragic accident.

But it wasn’t. Only Finn’s mother, Martha, knows exactly what happened.

That’s how After the Fall begins. The rest of this compelling novel charts the complex family dynamics that led up to Finn’s fall. It becomes clear that Martha has a secretive past, and one that’s about to destroy her family.

Skilfully written, the story will appeal to parents of young adults - as well as anyone who is curious about how a family deals with a shattering event.

Cats, walls and the internet

Interactive textbooks

Taylor & Francis launches Routledge Interactive

The Bookseller  shares the interesting tidbit that academic publisher Taylor & Francis is going interactive.

Well, I found it interesting, because Routledge published a book of mine once, a gossipy account of medicine on whaleships in south seas in the mid-nineteenth century. And they have recently brought out a digital version.

It's called Rough Medicine.  It was a fun book to write, and the interior design was outstanding.

My biggest problem with it was that they very firmly deleted my rousing chapter on medicine on pirate ships.  The editors said it didn't fit the picture of medicine on whaleships, and I guess they were right.  Though the logic didn't stand up when they changed the subtitle from "Whaling Surgeons in South Seas" to "Surgeons at sea in the Age of Sail." 

And their reasoning certainly looked limp when they insisted on a cover image that shows a famous incident where a bloke (who eventually became Lord Mayor of London) being saved by a naval officer lancing a shark.

But, as I said, the interior design is gorgeous. And the rest of the book is rousing enough, with amputations and ad hoc medicine a-plenty.  But an INTERACTIVE digital version of medicine at sea?

The imagination boggles.

Lonely Planet sold

Iconic Travel Guide travels across the Atlantic

The Bookseller reports that BBC Trust approval has been obtained for the sale of Lonely Planet to US media giant NC2.

BBC Worldwide has owned the imprint outright since 2011, apparently having bought it for £130m, paid in two instalments.

BBC Trust chairman Chris Patten has gone on record as saying that Lonely Planet "did not prove to be a good commercial investment" for BBC Worldwide.

Never a truer word.  BBC Worldwide will receive £51.5m for 100% of Lonely Planet, again in two instalments, £41.2m paid on signature and £10.3m paid in one year's time.

One really wonders what went wrong. People are traveling like never before--don't they do their homework any more?

Anyway, look forward to seeing an interactive digital format.  NC2, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, is focused on the creation, acquisition and distribution of digital content and the development of the technologies behind this. The company's primary shareholder is American businessman Brad Kelley.

Lonely Planet was founded in 1972 by Tony and Maureen Wheeler.

Make a living from writing?

That publisher advance

Not long ago, a well established writer asked me if I thought that publishing on Amazon et al would ever match the traditional publisher advance, and I was reminded of this when I was sent a link to an interesting article in Salon by PATRICK WENSINK, one that asks more or less the same question.

Boldly headed MY AMAZON BESTSELLER MADE ME NOTHING, the story begins by confessing that Wensink, like many an author, shies like a nervous colt when asked what he makes in the way of money.

Personally, I think it is a very rude question. Asked that once by a total stranger who happened to be sitting next to me at a dinner, I returned the question instead of answering, saying with my eyebrows haughtily high, "So how much do you make?"

It turned out he was a high-flying physician.  I forget the mind-spinning figures he quoted, but I gathered he worked only five months a year, to keep himself out of a crippling tax bracket.

Authors (that woman who wrote about all those fifty shades, et al excepted) don't make money on that sort of scale.  Not anything like it. In fact, that traditional advance (which is not usually large) is often all the money they make from each book.

But at least that advance is real money.  Wensink's experience with Indie publishing, it seems, was somewhat of a contrast.

"My novel shot to the top of the site's bestseller list last summer," he begins.

The book was a satire called Broken Piano for President.  I'm not sure of the details, not having read it (yet), but after he was sent a "cease and desist" letter by Jack Daniels, the book went viral.  As he describes, it "was featured in places like Forbes, Time magazine and NPR’s Weekend Edition. The New Yorker wrote one whole, entire, punctuated-and-everything sentence about me! My book was the No. 6 bestselling title in America for a while, right behind all the different “50 Shades of Grey” and “Gone Girl.” It was selling more copies than “Hunger Games” and “Bossypants.” So, I can sort of see why people thought I was going to start wearing monogrammed silk pajamas and smoking a pipe."

So how much did he make out of it?

Twelve thousand.

Yes, you read it right.

$12,000

That's the same as a fairly average advance.

Read all about it.

Free eReaders on the horizon?

When will an eBook become more expensive than the gadget you read it on?

So asks Beth Bacon, in a blog post on Digital Book World

Amazon, as she comments, has recently slashed the price of Kindle Fire by 10%, saying that they have been able to pass on savings in production costs to the consumer.

But, as she goes on to say, the new price ($159) is still a good deposit on a tablet, such as an iPad, especially if you find one of the specials on iPad minis that are around right now.

I have both a Kindle Touch and an iPad mini, and though I had doubts at first about having an eReader that dings whenever an email comes in, interrupting the reading process, I am now a definite fan of the tablet. It might need recharging a lot more often, but it feels good, looks good, and is every bit as good (if not better) than the Kindle.

This was because of Amazon's generosity.  There is an app which I can download from their website that turns my iPad into a Kindle.  And it's free. I repeat, it cost nothing. And there is also a very easy process where every book I bought for my Kindle is copied onto my iPad. And again, it cost zilch.

So, as Beth Bacon remarks, why would anyone buy a dedicated eReader, if they could afford the gadget that does the same thing, but with bells and whistles as well?

As she concludes, at some point, the value of potential content purchases will exceed the amount it costs for Amazon to produce their e-readers. At that point, will the company to give away their e-readers free? If owning an e-reader leads to enough digital content purchases, in this environment of competition from more full-featured tablets from Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung, Amazon may find that giving away their Kindles for free is a smart business move.

Tan Twan Eng wins Asia Man

From The Diplomat

Malaysian lawyer-turned-writer Tan Twan Eng has won Asia’s top literary award, the Man Asian Literary Prize, for his tome The Garden of Evening Mists.

Tan is the first Malaysian to snag the award, created in 2007, and his book was the second winner originally written in English.

The competition for the $30,000 prize was fierce. Other nominees – representing an impressively diverse range from across the continent – included writers from Japan (Hiromi Kawakami, The Briefcase), India (Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis, which won South Asia’s DSC Prize), Pakistan (Musharraf Ali Farooqi, Between Clay and Dust) and Turkey (Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, Silent House). It’s worth noting that Tan and Thayil were also short-listed for the Man Group’s larger Booker Prize in 2012.

In The Garden of Evening Mists, Tan tells the story of a woman, once imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp, who decides to create a Japanese garden as a memorial to her sister who died while interned in the camp. But this isn’t just any Japanese garden. The woman learns the art of gardening from none other than the gardener who once tended the shrubs of Japan’s emperor. The former imperial gardener has gone on to live in Malaysia’s Cameron highlands and the two form an unlikely bond in spite of history.

Return of the cliffhanger

Serials belong to the time of Dickens

Or do they?

A fascinating article in The Atlantic discusses the revival of the cliffhanger, courtesy of the internet.

As MEGAN GARBER begins--

Before the arrival of the 40th and final installment of The Old Curiosity Shop, in 1841, American readers of the series were forced to wait. And wait. And wait—not just for Charles Dickens to finish his story, but for his completed work to cross the Atlantic. When the ship bearing the resolution of the series finally docked in New York, a mob desperate to learn the fate of the tale’s protagonist, Little Nell, stormed the wharf. The ensuing scene would make a modern-day publisher swoon: a band of readers passionately demanding to learn how the story ends.

The Old Curiosity Shop owed its narrative power not just to the genius of Dickens but also to a certain type of ending: the cliffhanger. In this, the story was akin to Great Expectations and Anna Karenina and Heart of Darkness and the many other works of the time that began their lives as installments in periodicals like The Atlantic Monthly. That wave of serialized fiction was the product of particular historical forces, among them rising literacy rates, industrial advances in printing, and periodicals’ need to sustain reader interest over time. But it was the product of something else, too, something less technologically contingent and more human: the anticipatory pleasure that can come from the simple act of waiting.

The best evidence for this is that, in a plot turn Dickens himself might have appreciated, serialization is enjoying a renaissance, at what would seem to be a most unlikely moment. The Internet, with its ability to give us pretty much any content we want, pretty much any second we want it, ought to have made waiting—for entertainment, at least—obsolete. But that same Internet is also helping revive the serial form. At the same time, television, in so many ways the legatee of periodical literature, is enjoying a new golden age, with shows like Homeland and Breaking Bad and Downton Abbey challenging cinema for cultural supremacy. And book publishers, in an even more overt nod to Dickens, are establishing new platforms devoted explicitly to serialization.

Read the rest.

We needed beer

The fount of artistic inspiration?

As a "regular" at the fount of Belgian beer in Wellington, the incomparable LEUVEN, I can't resist pointing you to ...

A wonderful oped in the NYT  by JEFFREY P. KAHN ...

HOW BEER GAVE US CIVILIZATION

HUMAN beings are social animals. But just as important, we are socially constrained as well.

We can probably thank the latter trait for keeping our fledgling species alive at the dawn of man. Five core social instincts, I have argued, gave structure and strength to our primeval herds. They kept us safely codependent with our fellow clan members, assigned us a rank in the pecking order, made sure we all did our chores, discouraged us from offending others, and removed us from this social coil when we became a drag on shared resources.

      

Thus could our ancient forebears cooperate, prosper, multiply — and pass along their DNA to later generations.

 

But then, these same lifesaving social instincts didn’t readily lend themselves to exploration, artistic expression, romance, inventiveness and experimentation — the other human drives that make for a vibrant civilization.

 

To free up those, we needed something that would suppress the rigid social codes that kept our clans safe and alive. We needed something that, on occasion, would let us break free from our biological herd imperative — or at least let us suppress our angst when we did.

 

We needed beer.

 

Read the rest.

Fly Better

Got your pilot's licence?

Congratulations!

But you might want to fly better ...

To my astonishment, my son Lindsay commented on my post about how many books make a bestseller. Lindsay is very clever, and very technical, and also has his pilot's licence. But I don't believe I have ever seen him with a book in his hand that is not a manual. So you can imagine my surprise when he responded to the post, which says that sales of 10,000 makes a literary bestseller. 

What he wanted to tell me was that a set of books he has evidently read avidly have been downloaded by nearly 30,000 people.

The books are the four volumes of Fly Better, by Noel Kruse.  Here is the blurb from Kruse's website:

'Fly Better' is a series of books about how aeroplanes fly and how best to fly them. They are the teachings of Noel Kruse, the creator and Chief Flying Instructor of the 'Sydney Aerobatic School', a unique and widely known advanced flying school, which for 22 years was based in Sydney Australia. The books are available from this website as a free download. They are intended for people who are planning to learn to fly, for Student and Private Pilots who feel they have not been taught about the subject in a way that enables them to really understand it, and for Flight Instructors to better equip them to teach others how to fly properly.

The books are not just a collection of theory lessons or flying technique lectures, each chapter contains Noel's philosophy of flying, which is based upon his personal experiences and adventures over 51 years and almost 18,000 hours in the air, 12,000 of which were engaged in teaching others how to 'fly better'.

 

Interested?  Go onto Kruse's website and hit the links in the lefthand column to download the free books.  Then tell me what you think.

How many copies make a bestseller?

Fascinating post from MediaBistro.com

Exactly how many copies need to sell for a book to be called a bestseller?

In a long interview at The Onion‘s AV Club, novelist Neal Pollack gave readers a frank look at his bookselling track record.

He shared real numbers behind the career of a literary writer who achieved bestseller status and a big book deal. Aspiring writers should read the whole interview for more literary guidance.

What do you think–how many copies make a literary bestseller?

Ten thousand, apparently.

Neal Pollack Anthology Of American Literature: ”despite all the attention it was getting, sold maybe 10,000 copies.”

Never Mind The Pollacks: “I’m almost embarrassed to say it, but I got a six-figure advance for Never Mind The Pollacks. Low, low, low six figures, but it was there … It is for a book that has sold, to this day, maybe 4,000 copies.”

Alternadad “[It] got more publicity than two-dozen books combined. I was on Nightline, and they did a piece on my family life. That book was everywhere and did a ton of press. But, again, it sold only 10,000 copies.”

JewBall: “500 copies Kindle and paperback. Which is pretty normal for a self-published book … [Amazon's Thomas & Mercer imprint] republished it and quickly, very quickly, published it online and, a few months later, as a paperback. It sold 10,000-plus copies since they did that. And it’s never appeared, as far as I know, in a bookstore.”

Downward-Facing Death: “I wrote a yoga novel about that, again sold 10,000 copies. Ten thousand copies appears to be my threshold.”

The library where you can drink

The Library at NoMad Hotel

A friend is visiting New York soon, and asked me for ideas of places to go, so I read a New York-themed travel article in the DominionPost with more than usual interest.

The place to go for a "power meeting" is, it seems, a new hotel called "NoMad" (North of Madison Square Park) at 1170 Broadway (Chelsea). "Think Parisian-style rooms and a two-level curated library for that important career tete-a-tete," the writer bubbled.

Say what? A library?  Curated? 

I had to know more about this, so found a site called HotelChatter that told me all about it.

Not for my friend, I fear, though I will certainly recommend a quick and surreptitious peep in the doors. The room prices are 'way high.  I suppose they consider them Parisian.

And as for that library, isn't it gorgeous?  But it's basically a place to drink ... and where the bartender's cocktail of the day is going to set you back fifteen greenbacks.  And if you want a nibble with your bubbly, you are going to pay between $8 and $16 for tiny tapas.  And if you ask for the librarian, he is likely to turn out to be your server.

But what a neat idea, and what fun.

Romance Rules

The key to Indie success, it seems, is to:

(A) publish a romance

(B) have "wait" or "too far" in the title

From MediaBistro.com

Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers for the Week of Monday, March 11, 2013

1. Wait for You by J. Lynn: “Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life.”
2. Never Too Far by Abbi Glines: “The story that started with the New York Times Bestseller FALLEN TOO FAR continues… Rush withheld a secret that had destroyed her world. Her entire life had all been a lie.”
3. Fallen Too Far by Abbi Glines: “To want what you’re not supposed to have… She is only nineteen. She is his new stepfather’s daughter. She is still naïve and innocent due to spending the last three years taking care of her sick mother.”
4. Fate Interrupted 2 by Kaitlyn Cross: “Dean Jacobs used to be Milwaukee’s most eligible bachelor until Megan and her bombshell came along. With her father watching his every move, Dean has to figure out a way to return to Evy, his one true love, without anyone else getting hurt.”
5. Lily’s Mistake by Pamela Ann: “Lily Alexander was always in love with Drake Tatum before she even knew what love meant. One fated night during one of their family vacations, Lily gave her virginity to Drake. After that magical night, Drake and Lily avoided each other successfully for eight years. Upon their parent’s meddling, the two suddenly had to face each other–working side by side.”
6. Wait For Me by Elisabeth Naughton: “After a tragic accident left her with no memory, Kate Alexander struggled to fit in with a husband and world that didn’t feel right.”
7. Wool Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey: “This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream.”
8. Play With Me by Kristen Proby: “Will Montgomery is a successful professional football player and seemingly has it all. He’s not used to being told no, and certainly doesn’t take no for an answer. So when he turns his charms on his sister’s sexy rocker-chick friend Meg, he’s not only turned down, but met with open hostility, piquing his curiosity and libido.”
9. On Every Street by Karina Halle: “When young con artist Ellie Watt decides to call herself Eden White and go after the drug lord who ruined her as a child, she never expects to fall for one of his henchmen. But Javier Bernal is no ordinary man.”
10. Fate Interrupted by Kaitlyn Cross: “Dean Jacobs is one of Milwaukee’s hottest eligible bachelors and in no mood to settle down, until she comes along. Evy, however, is focused on opening a new dessert lounge with her sister but Dean won’t take no for an answer.”

Dramatic changes in eBook trends

Self-published book hits number one spot

Another win for a hybrid author

Hunger Games trilogy zooms on price drop

Average price of eBooks drops yet again


Digital Book World reports dramatic changes in the trends this last week.

For the first time ever, a self-published title has hit No. 1 on the Digital Book World Ebook Best-Seller list, occupying a position once held by Fifty Shades of Grey, Gone Girl and other mega best-selling titles.

The book, Wait for You, is authored and published by Jennifer L. Armentrout under the pen name J. Lynn, which she calls her “alter-ego.” Armentrout has published books with Hyperion, Harlequin and several others in addition to self-publishing; that is, she’s a hybrid author.

Wait for You went on sale Feb. 26 and immediately started inching up the best-seller list. Propelling it to the No. 1 spot was a price promotion executed by Armentrout and without the aid of a retailer promotion like a Kindle Daily Deal. The book was $0.99 for three days last week. It’s now selling for $2.99.

Another astounding development on the list this week is The Hunger Games Trilogy at No. 5. The entire three-book set is now selling for $5.00 — the same price as just the first book and less than the other two.

And the price of eBooks dropped again.  The average price of a best-selling ebook dropped again, to $7.61 from $7.86 last week. It’s flirting with the all-time low, achieved less than a month ago — $7.56.

James Cook's signature

Documents reveal signs of Captain Cook's greatness

From the New Zealand Herald

By Amelia Wade

Photo / Sarah Ivey

 

Captain James Cook's signature tells much about his character, says a historian.

Rare personal letters and draft journals from the explorer show he even worked on it and rehearsed it before it became his impressive scrawl.

"His signature is so obviously a signature of a great man," said Paul Brunton, emeritus curator of the State Library of New South Wales, which owns the historical collection.

The documents also reveal that after his first landing at Gisborne, Cook regretted that a number of Maori lost their lives.

This was deleted from the final copy of a report.

"I can by no means justify my conduct in attacking and killing the people in this boat who had given me no just provication [sic] and was wholly igernorant [sic] of my decision and had I had the least thought of their making any resistance I would not so much as looked at them," Cook said in a draft journal written between October 9 and 11, 1769.

Cook was under orders to treat the communities in the South Pacific with restraint, so he wanted to explain his first encounters with Maori after landing at Poverty Bay.

Another hybrid author succeeds

An interview with Marie Force

 

More authors who have published traditionally and are now finding success self-publishing are coming out of the woodwork to talk about their experiences.

The latest is Marie Force, the best-selling author of 25 romance titles, including many from Harlequin. (She hit the Digital Book World Ebook Best-Seller list last week at No. 9 on the $3.00 to $7.99 list.) In an interview in answer to the question of what is the most important key to her success, she said, "self-publishing is the single most important key to my success."

What about all that work over at Harlequin? That was then and this is now. And now, publishers are less interested in Force's works - yet, she has found readers who still are interested. She has revived old works and self-published them digitally and she is now writing new works.

As the folks at Digital Book World go on to say, publishers should listen to what authors like Force have to say. First, they can point the way to more profitability (read: selective revival of back-list titles, for instance). Second, they can help publishers understand what to do to be more attractive to authors.

 

And, as I pointed out in a recent post, publishers should also revise royalty rates for digital editions.  It is just too attractive right now for authors to flee the traditional publishing arrangement.