Why Should Books Still Be Books When They’re on Tablets?
For all the disruption in the publishing industry wrought by the Internet, e-readers, and tablets, reading a book still feels like, well, reading a book: tabbing through pages, digesting information linearly. But maybe that will change. The company Semi-Linear is hoping so: Its recently unveiled Citia iPad apps reinvents long-form non-fiction for the tablet, turning books into something that resembles less a sequence of chapters and more a digital spread of sharable, customizable, collectible cards.
Read more. [Image: Semi-Linear]
Very interesting concept.
James LaRue, “Navigating the Ebook Revolution”, American Libraries (5/23/2012).
This article is a little old, but it does offer some ideas on what librarians can and maybe should do (scroll to the bottom, “The Librarian”) in regards to the ebook and publishers dilemma. I agree that we shouldn’t sit around and wait for the next best deal to come along, especially when so many publishers are restricting libraries’ access to e-reader content already. We need to start a dialogue with publishers and make our voices heard. Patrons and librarians both are consumers of books.
Libraries Cut E-Book Deal With Penguin
Library patrons are book buyers. Hopefully this opportunity will help all publishers see why they should make e-books available to all libraries.
E-books in library has certainly been a tumultuous affair so far. In a recent American Libraries article on the DoJ antitrust lawsuit, it stated that perhaps librarians should start pushing for direct contracts.
(Source: thelifeguardlibrarian)
In E-Reader Age of Writer’s Cramp, a Book a Year Is Slacking
For years, it was a schedule as predictable as a calendar: novelists who specialized in mysteries, thrillers and romance would write one book a year, output that was considered not only sufficient, but productive.
But the e-book age has accelerated the metabolism of book publishing. Authors are now pulling the literary equivalent of a double shift, churning out short stories, novellas or even an extra full-length book each year.
They are trying to satisfy impatient readers who have become used to downloading any e-book they want at the touch of a button, and the publishers who are nudging them toward greater productivity in the belief that the more their authors’ names are out in public, the bigger stars they will become.
“It used to be that once a year was a big deal,” said Lisa Scottoline, a best-selling author of thrillers. “You could saturate the market. But today the culture is a great big hungry maw, and you have to feed it.”
» via The New York Times (Subscription may be required for some content)
Franzen on ebooks and the future of reading
“Someone worked really hard to make the language just right, just the way they wanted it. They were so sure of it that they printed it in ink, on paper. A screen always feels like we could delete that, change that, move it around. So for a literature-crazed person like me, it’s just not permanent enough.”
This is literally how a 90-year-old person talks about computers.
“But it’ll just disappear! How do I know it’s still there when I turn the page? Get my grandson on the phone—he knows about these things.”
Grandpa Franzen strikes again.
OverDrive expands public library catalogs
“We’re allowing libraries to be better connected with their communities,” OverDrive CEO Steve Potash said during a recent interview. “Right now, we have librarians who are trying to add books to the e-catalog but don’t always know what to add. Now, by exposing a publisher’s entire list, it becomes like crowdsourcing, where patrons can offer their suggestions.”
Potash said he expects the program to begin within a couple of weeks, in a handful of library systems, including New York City, Boston and Cuyahoga County in Ohio.
The Guggenheim releases its first e-books
Guggenheim Publications is not only releasing new e-book titles such as the Cattelan catalogue but also making available historic out-of-print titles for online browsing and publishing digital versions of reprinted titles, including I’d Like the Goo-Gen-Heim, a timeless introduction to modern art for young readers.
> Read the full Guggenheim Press Release.
(Source: somethingoutofsomething)
The Kindle Monologues: Transferring PDFs to Kindle?
I know it can be done, but how… someone help?
Do you have to do the kindle e-mail thing? Or can I just put them on a flashdrive and use my micro connector and put them on that way?
And can they be PDFs or do I have to convert them into something else?
Thank you!
