Frontenac and Wattpad Start Poetry Competition

As National Poetry Month draws to a close, Calgary literary press Frontenac House has announced it's teaming with Wattpad--a Toronto-based online writing community, social networking site and mobile phone e-book developer--for a poetry competition. *Extravaganza!*, as it is called, invites young poets to upload and share their best poem; the winning poems will be published in a book late this year.

McGraw-Hill Professional Adds Custom E-books

Penguin and Pearson Launch Free Site, Book Donation Program

B&N Enters Content Partnership With Salon.com

As part of the deal, BN.com and the Barnes & Noble Review will share selected articles and content with Salon.com on a daily basis, including "critical appraisals, reviews, essays, and interviews." Salon.com will in turn include affiliate links to BN.com.

Blurb Launches Bookshow and Allows Book Sharing Everywhere Online

This morning Blurb, a self and micro publishing and marketing platform, unveiled Blurb Bookshow a free tool for its bookmakers to be able to share and sell their books anywhere online-Facebook, Twitter, blogs-and created a non-Flash program to make Blurb Bookshow accessible on the iPad without having to download an application.

Publishers Begin To Embrace Digital Storytelling

Random House's March 1 announcement that it has launched a property development arm, focusing in part on video games, is the latest in a raft of initiatives by publishers and authors exploring interactive games as a means of generating exposure, ancillary revenue, and creative synergies. February saw the debuts of Vision in White by Nora Roberts (from I-play), Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief...

Consumers Show Growing Satisfaction with e-Books

The second of three surveys on consumer attitudes toward e-book reading sponsored by the Book Industry Study Group found e-book readers using Amazon more than ever to buy e-books, while e-book readers also show indications that they are buying fewer print books as they increase their use of e-books. The success Amazon had selling the Kindle and e-books over the holidays and into the new year is...

Winning With Social Media

The last few years have been quite challenging for the publishing industry, but I think the few coming up are going to be the hardest yet. We can, however, do something about it. Social media tools and the entire social networking space are perfectly suited to promote and extend books and magazines into new ways of entertainment and information exchange.

Morgan James Signs with CoreSource, Ups Royalty Split

Morgan James Publishing signs to use CoreSource, and will up its royalty split with authors to 50%.

The iPad Meets the Children's Book

On launch day last Saturday, Apple sold more than 300,000 iPads—and users downloaded more than one million apps and more than 250,000 ebooks from the iBookstore. Parents immediately started snapping up picture book apps from Apple's online store. In fact, children's stories held six of the top 10 paid iPad book-app sales spots as of press time. Typical prices for children's book apps range anywhere from $2.99 for The Cat in the Hat to $9.99 for Miss Spider's Tea Party. So far the big winners seem to be household names....

The More Things Change....

Publisher Stephen Roxburgh test-drives his brand-new iPad with his five-year-old granddaughter.

Since founding namelos, my print-on-demand and ebook-based publishing house, I have been accused of having an unnatural attachment to hardware and all things digital. However, in spite of what some people are saying, I was more excited about the birth of my children than the arrival of my iPad. But the kids are grown up now and... well, maybe I'm not. Be that as it may, the iPad is a thing of beauty and a wonder to behold.

NYU's Brennan Center Launches Book Site

The Brennan Center for Justice, a public policy Institute at NYU Law School, has launched a site called Just Books dedicated to, in its phrasing, "justice books and ideas."

IDPF to Revise ePub Standard

The IDPF is planning a major change to the e-book ePub standard.

LibreDigital, Apple Team Up to Deliver e-Books to the iPad

E-book wholesaler LibreDigital has been selected to be
a certified Apple e-book aggregator and a recommended partner to publishers
looking to deliver their e-books to the iBookstore and the Apple iPad.

Ingram to Distribute to iBookstore

In keeping with its traditional role of a middleman between publishers and retailers, Ingram is now offering publishers access to Apple's iBookstore through CoreSource.

F+W Media Signs with Apple

F+W Media has signed with Apple and has added 50 titles to the iPad.

Vook Releases 19 Titles for iPad

Mixed-media book publisher Vook announced yesterday that it is releasing 19 titles on the iPad.

Content on the Move

Mobility is the buzzword in the current content industry. And the e-book has finally landed. After all, who needs more convincing when 13 American publishers reported that their e-book sales soared 176.6% in 2009 to $169.5 million? Numbers talk, and everybody—especially trade publishers and their content services providers—is listening.

Kobo Debuts Dedicated e-Book Reader

E-book retailer Kobo is making good on plans to release its own dedicated reading device and has also launched "Powered by Kobo," a partnership and e-book software and infrastructure program aimed at helping device manufacturers and retailers work with the company.

Apple to Sell Perseus Titles through iBookstore

The Perseus Books Group has reached an agreement with Apple to sell its e-book titles through the iBookstore in time for the launch of Apple's much anticipated multimedia reading device, the iPad, in April.