Borders eBook Store Online and Free Coffee!

Borders eBook store is now online. According to their site, there are now more than one million titles available, including hundreds of thousands of free eBooks. These eBooks will work on a variety of devices. There are desktop apps for PC and Mac computers. And, for the mobile reader, there are apps available for iOS devices (iPhones, iPod Touches, iPads), Blackberry and Android devices. Finally, the eBooks are also readable on several eBook readers, including Sony Readers, the Kobo eBook reader, and soon the Aluratek Libre reader.

Free Coffee!

Borders has an interesting offer to entice people to download their mobile apps. If you go to your local Borders and show them an installed eReader app, they'll give you a free cup of coffee. Their website for the promotion indicates that this is limited to the apps for the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.  They don't mention support for people with the Borders app on an Android phone, but I guess it couldn't hurt to ask since the ad does say "show us your Borders eReader App, get a FREE Small Brewed Coffee".

Let me know what you think of the apps, the eBook store or the coffee!

Tracy

Independent Booksellers partner with Google Editions

According to an article in the New York Times, the American Booksellers Association (ABA) will soon partner with Google Editions as the primary source for e-Books on the websites of independent booksellers. This is significant, as the ABA has over 1,400 bookstore members. If you're interested in the growing number of options for retailing e-Books, I recommend you read the article:

Stores See Google as Ally in E-Book Market

Tracy

Amazon 70% Royalty Option for Kindle Digital Text Platform Now Available

Amazon's new 70% royalty option is now available for it's Kindle Digital Text Platform. The 70% option provides authors with the means to earn a larger share of revenue from each Kindle book sold. Amazon's existing standard royalty option still remains as an alternative. See Amazon's press release below for details on qualifying for the 70% option program.

Tracy

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SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that the 70 percent royalty option that enables authors and publishers who use the Kindle Digital Text Platform (DTP) to earn a larger share of revenue from each Kindle book they sell is now available. For each book sold from the Kindle Store for Kindle, Kindle DX, or one of the Kindle apps for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, PC, Mac and Android phones, authors and publishers who choose the new 70 percent royalty option will receive 70 percent of the list price, net of delivery costs.

In addition to the 70 percent royalty option, Amazon also announced improvements in DTP such as a more intuitive “Bookshelf” feature and a simplified two-step process for publishing. These features make it more convenient for authors and publishers to publish using DTP. Delivery costs are based on file size, and pricing is set at $0.15/MB. At today’s median DTP file size of 368KB, delivery costs would be less than $0.06 per unit sold. For example, on an $8.99 book an author would make $3.15 with the standard option and $6.25 with the new 70 percent option. This new option, first announced in January 2010, will be in addition to and will not replace the existing DTP standard royalty option.

“We’re excited about the launch of the 70 percent royalty option and user experience enhancements in DTP because they enable authors and publishers to conveniently offer more content to Kindle customers and to make more money from the books they sell,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content.

DTP authors and publishers are now able to select the royalty option that best meets their needs. Books from authors and publishers who choose the 70 percent royalty option will have access to all the same features and be subject to all the same requirements as books receiving the standard royalty rate. In addition, to qualify for the 70 percent royalty option, books must satisfy the following set of requirements:

• The author or publisher-supplied list price must be between $2.99 and $9.99.
• The list price must be at least 20 percent below the lowest list price for the physical book.
• The title is made available for sale in all geographies for which the author or publisher has rights.
• The title will be included in a broad set of features in the Kindle Store, such as text-to-speech. This list of features will grow over time as Amazon continues to add more functionality to Kindle and the Kindle Store.
• Under this royalty option, books must be offered at or below price parity with competition, including physical book prices.

The 70 percent royalty option is for in-copyright works and is unavailable for works published before 1923 (a.k.a. public domain books). The 70 percent royalty option is currently only available for books sold to United States customers.

DTP is a fast and easy self-publishing tool that lets anyone upload and format their books for sale in the Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore). To learn more about the Kindle Digital Text Platform, visit http://dtp.amazon.com or e-mail dtp-support@amazon.com.

Kindle is in stock and available for immediate shipment today at http://www.amazon.com/kindle.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Trailer

The new trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is out, and it's great! I can't wait to see this!

Tracy

Correction regarding Children's Choice Book Award finalists

Earlier today I announced the names of three JacketFlap members as finalists in the Children's Choice Book Awards:

Shiver, written by Maggie Stiefvater

Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life, written by Rachel Russell and illustrated by Leisl Adams.

In fact, Rachel Renee Russel is the sole credited author and illustrator of Dork Diaries. JacketFlap member Liesl Adams and Rachel's daughter Nikki contributed artwork to the book as assistant artists under her direction.

Congratulations again Rachel!

Tracy

Congratulations to Children's Choice Award finalists and get the widget

The finalists for the 2010 Children's Choice Book Awards were just announced. I'm excited to say that books written and illustrated by two of JacketFlap's members are among the finalists! Please join me in congratulating the two finalists by clicking their names below and leaving a congratulations comment on their profiles:

Shiver, written by Maggie Stiefvater

Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life, written and illustrated by Rachel Renee Russell.

Voting for the finalists will open March 15th. Children and teens will be able to cast their vote for their favorite books, author, and illustrator at bookstores, school libraries, and online until May 3, 2010. 15,500 children and teens from around the US spent months reading and evaluating books submitted by publishers. The five favorite books published in 2009 in each of these categories are open for a nation-wide vote in March and April 2010 in each of four grade categories: K-2nd, 3rd-4th, 5th-6th, and Teen as well as Favorite Author, and Favorite Illustrator. The winner in each category will be named at a gala during Children's Book Week on May 11th, 2010 in New York City as part of Children's Book Week (May 10-16, 2010), the oldest national literacy event in the United States.

To enhance the awareness of the awards, the Children's Book Council is working with JacketFlap again this year to create a Children's Choice Book Awards Widget, which displays a different finalist book every time it loads on a web site or blog. You can get the Widget for your own blog or web site at:

http://www.jacketflap.com/widgets/widget.asp?widgetname=ccba2010

Please spread the word to children and teens so they can vote. Remember, voting ends May 3, 2010! The full list of award finalists are listed below.

Tracy

Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year

The Birthday Pet by Ellen Javernick, illustrated by Kevin O'Malley (Marshall Cavendish)
Lulu the Big Little Chick by Paulette Bogan (Bloomsbury USA)
Mouse Was Mad by Linda Urban, illustrated by Henry Cole (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett (Simon & Schuster)
Opposnakes by Salina Yoon (Little Simon/Simon & Schuster)

Third Grade to Fourth Grade Book of the Year

The Book That Eats People by John Perry, illustrated by Mark Fearing (Tricycle Press)
Coretta Scott by Ntozake Shange, illustrated by Kadir Nelson (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins)
Gonzalo Grabs the Good Life by Janice Levy, illustrated by Bill Slavin (Eerdmans)
Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Knopf/Random House)
Oceanology by Ferdinand Zoticus deLessups (Candlewick)

Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year

The Adventures of Benny by Steve Shreve (Marshall Cavendish)
Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renee Russell (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster)
Moonshot by Brian Floca (Atheneum/Richard Jackson/Simon & Schuster)
Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood by Tony Lee, Sam Hart, and Artur Fujita (Candlewick)
Zoobreak by Gordon Korman (Scholastic Press)

Teen Choice Book of the Year

Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, Book 4) by Richelle Mead (Razorbill/Penguin)
Blue Moon (The Immortals, Book 2) by Alyson Noel (St. Martin’s Griffin/Macmillan)
Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, Book 3) by Cassandra Clare (McElderry/Simon & Schuster)
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press)

Author of the Year

Suzanne Collins for Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) (Scholastic Press)
Carl Hiaasen for Scat (Knopf/Random House)
Jeff Kinney for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (Amulet Books/Abrams)
James Patterson for Max (A Maximum Ride Novel) (Little, Brown)
Rick Riordan for The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 5) (Disney Hyperion)

Illustrator of the Year

Peter Brown for The Curious Garden (Little, Brown)
Robin Preiss Glasser for Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire! (HarperCollins)
Victoria Kann for Goldilicious (HarperCollins)
Susan Roth for Listen to the Wind (Dial/Penguin)
David Soman for Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy (Dial/Penguin)

Kirkus Reviews has new owner!

Previously I reported the sad news that Nielsen was closing Kirkus Reviews. I'm happy to note that Herb Simon, owner of the Indiana Pacers, has bought Kirkus Reviews.

The company will be renamed Kirkus Media, and Marc Winkelman has been named as the CEO of the company. According to the New York Times:

Mr. Winkelman said that Mr. Simon was “an inveterate and unquenchable and voracious reader” who was a longtime subscriber to Kirkus, which was founded in 1933. “The idea that Kirkus was leaving was a real shame for him,” Mr. Winkelman said.

Editor & Publisher has also been saved. It has been bought by Irvine, California-based boating magazine publisher Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc. In December, Nielsen agreed to sell The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek and Back Stage magazines, as well as Nielsen’s Clio Awards and Film Journal International to e5, a company formed by private equity firm Pluribus Capital Management and financial services firm Guggenheim Partners.

Here's a link to the latest Kirkus Children's Reviews.

Tracy