E-Books

Princeton University Press has announced that it will start publishing Kindle edition textbook this fall, according to Inside Higher Education, Princeton will follow other prominent educational establishments like Yale, Oxford and UC Berkeley in offering Kindle edition textbooks to students and faculty. Depending on the success, more university are likely to follow.

The Kindle seems like the ideal device which would appeal to the university demographic more so than any other gadget out there, students and faculty can both benefit from the Kindle. Image if every student had a Kindle, all the course lectures and textbooks could be downloaded the instant they were available, with the amount of reading an average student goes through in an average semester they may be grateful for a device which can help them reduce the weight in the already heavy bags. And university lecturers could add reading material for next week lecture which could be automatically downloaded to a students Kindle, just like a newspaper.

With Kindles search feature students can easily find the right passages instead of searching through the library archives for 3 hours, it can be noted, annotated and bookmarked for later reference.

Anything that help with learning and education gets the thumbs up from us

Source: cnet

Lurking around various e-book blogs and websites I stumbled upon Epublishers Weekly, where I found this informative 30 benefits of reading an e-book.

Here are the first 7;

1. Ebooks promote reading. People are spending more time in front of screens and less time in front of printed books.

2. Ebooks are good for the environment. Ebooks save trees. Ebooks eliminate the need for filling up landfills with old books. Ebooks save transportation costs and the pollution associated with shipping books across the country and the world.

3. Ebooks preserve books. (The library of Alexandria was burned and the collection ruined. Richard Burton’s wife, after his death and against his wishes, destroyed a book he had been working on for ten years. The original manuscript of Carlyle’s The French Revolution was lost when a friend’s servant tossed it into the fire.) Ebooks are ageless: they do not burn, mildew, crumble, rot, or fall apart. Ebooks ensure that literature will endure.

4. Ebooks, faster to produce than paper books, allow readers to read books about current issues and events.

5. Ebooks are easily updateable, for correcting errors and adding information.

6. Ebooks are searchable. Quickly you can find anything inside the book. Ebooks are globally searchable: you can find information in many ebooks.

7. Ebooks are portable. You can carry an entire library on one DVD. [or perhaps on a Kindle ;-) -ed]

Be sure to read the remaining 23 benefits of reading e-book’s.

Source: Epublishers Weekly “30 Benefits of Ebooks”

Whilst tracking Kindle sales is like guess work, tracking US e-book sales is a bit easier, the above graphic shows US e-book sales from Q1 2002 - Q1 2008. Whilst there was a healthy upward trend, the last 5 quarters (Q4 2006 - Q4 2007) only showed a 17% increase in sales according to industry statistics compiled by The International Digital Publishing Forum. However just in the last quarter alone, the industry saw an explosion, up from $1,887,900 in sales in Q4 2007 shooting up 23% to $2,460,343 in sales in Q1 2008.

I think the most interesting results will be Q2 2008, if we see another 20% spike in sales like we saw in Q1 2008 then it’s quite reasonable to theorise that the Kindle is having an effect on e-book sales in the US.

Bear in mind that The International Digital Publishing Forum only collects data from 12-15 trade publishers and that the real retail numbers could be as much as double the figures reported above.

A commenter, rizchamps, from the Silicon Ally Insider article on the report writes:

So if we ascribe all the incremental revenue from $2.5M to $3.1M = $600K to Kindle, and assume that $3 a piece wholesale cost, that would be 200K ebooks currently in service. In addition, assume that those with kindles are early adopters who would buy more than 1 book, say 10 book per kindle for the three months period, that would put the active kindle number around 20K.

Then, those 20K in service probably was mostly sold during Xmas season, give it 15K, meaning for an average month, there are 5K kindles entering service (summer time could be less because Kindle has not proven itself on the beach yet). That would translate into annual sales of 70K units(generic), give it a multiple YOY 30%, that would be 80K.

That would mean 90k (units)* (500 (price) + 50 (book per year, since adopters love books)* 10 (price per book) = $90M gross revenue

rizchamps numbers seem well worked and seem entirely reasonable, more so than a certain Citigroup analyst.

Of course all this is still guesswork and we wont know for sure unless Amazon releases Kindle sales figures. Do you think the Kindle is having an effect on e-book sales?

Source: The International Digital Publishing Forum, Silicon Ally Insider

Welcome to the New York Times Best Sellers list for June 6, 2008.

Each week we go through the top sellers on the list and give you our top 3 picks so to give you can get an idea of what to download for your Kindle. You can browse through The New York Times best sellers list on Amazon.com.

Here are our top 3 books of the week following by the top 5 best-selling books in each category;

Our Picks

Twenty Wishes (A Blossom Street Book #4) (by Debbie Macomber) - Number 10 in Hardcover Fiction

In Seattle thirty-eight years old Blossom Street Books owner Anne Marie Roche grieves the loss of her husband Robert who recently died. They had no children together though he left behind two adult offspring from his first marriage. Ironically they were separated seven months at the time of his demise, but Anne Marie cannot move past her loss; blaming herself in some ways.

Anne Marie and her friends celebrate Valentine’s Day together when she thinks about creating a list of things she wants to do but never has. Her friends do likewise as does eight year old Ellen Falk, her “Lunch Buddy”, a Woodrow Wilson Elementary School child she mentors like a Big Sister. Instead of performing her list, Anne Marie decides to make Ellen’s TWENTY WISHES come true.

It takes a village to raise a child as Debbie Macomber affirms with this heart felt thought provoking return to Blossom Street. The relationship between the Lunch Buddies is fabulously developed so that the adult gets as much or more from it than the child. Fans of character driven tales will want Ellen’s TWENTY WISHES especially one in particular to come true. - reviewed by Harriet Klausner

4.5/5 Amazon.com rating by 15 customer reviews.

Kindle Version is available!
Source: Amazon Customer Review*

Unaccustomed Earth (by Jhumpa Lahiri)- Number 12 in Hardcover Fiction

In this brilliant book, Lahiri sustains her control of characters and weaves tight stories. Her plots and characters move effortlessly through each vignette. Once again we meet the structured Bengali culture and their American children who never seem to completely belong in either world.

The stories emphasize intermarriage between a Bengali and an American but their coming together seems natural and no definitive blame is placed on troubled intermarriages. I had originally thought the stories wold be linked but only two were related directly.

Arranged marriages often make life easier . We learn about the strict, almost inflexible, Bengali families who come to America and desperately retain their sharp divide of women’s place and the man’s responsibility in a marriage. Not so when a Bengali girl or boy marries an American. Many of the alliances seemed anguished and incomplete. I didn’t feel any of the characters could find contentment.

What held every story together, whether it was a drunken husband or a grieving wife missing her Bengali mother, was the demanding emphasis on education. The Bengali expected their American son or daughter to become dstinctively educated at the very best Ivy schools to attain optimum success in their fields. This theme seem the overriding reason for coming to America. The Bengali wives remained tied to their Indian cultures and continued their obsequious responses to their husbands. They remained isolated and out of touch. Not their children who desperately tried to find a place for themselves in our rich country and liberal culture.

This was a wonderful book; she is one of the best authors. We are thrown into the plots from the very first sentences. She reminds me of Anne Tyler, taking simple people who live mundane lives, but who are quite complicated and intense. - reviewed by Mr. August “Literature lover”

4.5/5 Amazon.com rating by 56 customer reviews.

Kindle Version is available!
Source: Amazon Customer Review*

Child 44 (by Tom Rob Smith) - Number 15 in Hardcover Fiction

Set in Stalin’s Soviet Union circa 1953, Child 44 is a dramatic, troubling tale of life under a repressive system that controls its citizens by regimentation and fear. Although the novel begins with the separation of two young brothers from a starving Ukrainian village in 1933, the events of that one day set in motion a terrible series of crimes that surface twenty years later, just prior to Stalin’s death. The protagonist, Leo Demidov, is a member of the State Security, the MGB, rigorously performing his assigned duties, arresting accused traitors for questioning, their sad fates ordained the moment these unfortunates are arrested. Days before his life is altered by the mischief of another, Leo is assigned an unusual case, the mutilated corpse of a child, of necessity declared an accident. There are no crimes, no mistakes in the Soviet Union, a rigid hierarchy that controls the population with propaganda and terror, survival the currency of repression, people accusing others in order to save themselves.

Buoyed by his investigative instincts and sense of invincibility, Leo has built an enviable life; when all that is necessary to establish guilt is accusation, it is not surprising when the finger of suspicion points at Leo, a jealous rival facilitating his fall. Leo has had no quarrel with his life, avoiding introspection until he and Raisa are the targets. Leo is demoted, the couple sent to a remote country village as punishment for an error in judgment. Once Leo is stripped of his power, the marriage is revealed as a sham. Raisa demands total honesty or she cannot stay. Then another child is found murdered, eerily similar to the one in Moscow, Leo caught in an impossible conundrum, not authorized to investigate crimes that do not exist in the eyes of the government. It is Leo’s profound emotional journey that is the heart of this intriguing, provocative novel. With Raisa as the catalyst for a dormant conscience, Leo risks everything to accomplish one good thing before the long arm of the MGB reaches out once more to deal another blow. For Leo is not deceived: his punishment has only begun, a reprieve before a final reckoning.

Relentless, Smith contrasts Leo’s awakening in an environment meant to stifle individuality, Leo’s soul blooming against a frozen landscape where horrors are perpetrated by a madman and a government that cannot bear scrutiny. This protagonist does not survive unscathed, battered by a government meant to intimidate, to silence dissension. The rigid constraints of a lifetime give way to Leo’s quest for justice, a surprising tie to a forgotten past adding unexpected complications, Leo and Raisa under constant threat from one man’s determination to see Leo punished for his earlier successes. The prose is consistent, compelling, the plot brilliantly sustained until the inevitable confrontation with the MGB. Dredging unexpected moments of humanity from morality’s massive graveyard, Smith has written a stunning indictment of political repression in collision with hope. - reviewed by Luan Gaines “luansos”

4/5 Amazon.com rating by 38 customer reviews.

Kindle Version is available!
Source: Amazon Customer Review*

* These reviews are taken from Amazon.com customer/editor reviews and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions blogkindle.com

Top 5 Books In Each Category

Hardcover Fiction
1. THE HOST, by Stephenie Meyer
2. SUNDAYS AT TIFFANY’S, by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
3. PHANTOM PREY, by John Sandford
4. THE WHOLE TRUTH, by David Baldacci
5. CARELESS IN RED, by Elizabeth George

Hardcover Nonfiction
1. AUDITION, by Barbara Walters
2. HOME, by Julie Andrews
3. ARE YOU THERE, VODKA? IT’S ME, CHELSEA, by Chelsea Handler
4. A REMARKABLE MOTHER, by Jimmy Carter
5. THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD, by Fareed Zakaria

Hardcover Advice
1. THE LAST LECTURE, by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
2. JUST WHO WILL YOU BE?, by Maria Shriver
3. THE SECRET, by Rhonda Byrne
4. THE ONE MINUTE ENTREPRENEUR, by Ken Blanchard, Don Hutson and Ethan Willis
5. THE SOUTH BEACH DIET SUPERCHARGED, by Arthur Agatston with Joseph Signorile

Children’ Books
1. READ ALL ABOUT IT!, by Laura Bush and Jenna Bush
2. GALLOP!, written and illustrated by Rufus Butler Seder
3. SOMEDAY, by Alison McGhee
4. DIRT ON MY SHIRT, by Jeff Foxworthy
5. ALPHABET, by Matthew Van Fleet

Paperback Trade Fiction
1. THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB, by Kate Jacobs
2. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by Sara Gruen
3. THE KITE RUNNER, by Khaled Hosseini
4. THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER, by Kim Edwards
5. NINETEEN MINUTES, by Jodi Picoult

Paperback Mass-Market Fiction
1. THE HOLLOW, by Nora Roberts
2. THE GOOD GUY, by Dean Koontz
3. INVISIBLE PREY, by John Sandford
4. THE BOURNE BETRAYAL, by Eric Van Lustbader
5. SIMPLE GENIUS, by David Baldacci

Paperback Nonfiction
1. EAT, PRAY, LOVE, by Elizabeth Gilbert
2. THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
3. MARLEY & ME, by John Grogan
4. THE AUDACITY OF HOPE, by Barack Obama
5. 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN, by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey

Paperback Advice
1. A NEW EARTH, by Eckhart Tolle
2. THE POWER OF NOW, by Eckhart Tolle
3. HUNGRY GIRL, by Lisa Lillien
4. WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING, by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel
5. SKINNY BITCH, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin

Tor Books is a major hardcover and paperback science fiction and fantasy publisher, one of the largest in the English-speaking world, it announced recently that it was working on a new community website which would be a “go-to site, a central community” for science fiction and fantasy fans, this website will act, in part, as a form of branding and promotion for Tor book titles. The site will also implement light social networking elements and publish original short fiction and nonfiction for free online, all DRM free.

Here is the hook from the front page of Tor.com

A science fiction and fantasy site not quite like any you’ve seen before, mixing news, commentary, original stories and art, your own comments and conversations, and more. A place on the net you may find yourself wanting to visit—and participate in—every day.

While there isnt any more information on the site Patrick Nielsen Hayden is on the team that is developing the site, he had this to say;

But we know several things. We know that the site will use a blog-like architecture to present an ongoing stream of news, opinion, and observation from various Tor people, myself included, about the SF and fantasy events of the day—and about perhaps less-current things that are nonetheless of interest to SF and fantasy readers, such as medieval siege engines, the Van Allen Belt, hoisin sauce, XKCD, and the novels of Georgette Heyer. We know that there will be non-Tor bloggers also posting to the “front page”; in fact we’ve already recruited several in order to ensure coverage of particular niche areas. (Some of these individuals will be familiar to Making Light readers—wave hello, Bruce Baugh—and we haven’t finished recruiting, either.) We know that the site will also feature new original fiction on a regular basis, illustrated under the supervision of art director Irene Gallo, and that these original stories—free of DRM, offered as part of the blog feed and also Available For Your Convenience in a variety of other formats—will have their own associated open comment threads, just like everything else on the blog. We know that there will be lightweight “social networking” features for registered users, including the ability to form mutual-interest groups through tagging and the ability to create journals and/or discussions of their own. Most of all, we know that the real point of the exercise isn’t to create yet another blog, but rather, a place and a context for the lively, ongoing, wide-ranging, and profoundly self-organizing discussions that have characterized the science fiction subculture since its earliest days. In other words, it’ll be a lot like Making Light, except with original fiction and art, more front-page bloggers, a more direct connection to SF and fantasy, and run out of the middle of Tor Books.

From what I have gathered from various sources a few dozen authors have already been approached to submit their work, Tor is possible paying upward of 25 cents per word for some of the stories from the prominent authors. Once the titles are published on the site they will also be accompanied by commissioned artwork.

Beta testers can apply to join the private beta by sending an email to tor.betatest@gmail.com, however that maybe unnecessary since the launch may be imminent - it is due for launch sometime in May.

As part of the effort to get users to sign up, Tor is offering a free e-book every week for users who sign up for the weekly newsletter, this weeks offering is “Touch of Evil” by C. T. Adams, in previous weeks you could have got your hands on “Mistborn” by Brandon Sanderson, “Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi and “Spin” by Robert Charles Wilson - all of them great books, all of them DRM free and all of them work with the Kindle.

The concept of the site sounds amazing, and there isn’t anything remotely like it anywhere on the web. Even if they implement half of what they are trying to do, the site will be a huge success. So if you love your science fiction and fantasy book, sign up for the newsletter and stay tuned in for the launch.

Source: Making Light