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LeapFrog Gets Disney E-books
LeapFrog has announced the release of interactive e-books from Disney Publishing Worldwide as part of LeapFrog's new third-party developer program for its platforms.
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Lerner Enhances Interactive Books
Lerner Digital has announced that all Lerner interactive books will include a third audio speed to model pronunciation and fluency while helping beginning readers, struggling readers, and English Language Learners build reading skills and confidence.
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Firebrand Technologies Acquires eBook Architects
Firebrand Technologies, a digital publishing services and software vendor, has acquired eBook Architects, an Austin, Tex.-based firm specializing in designing a wide range of e-books and founded by noted digital design expert Joshua Tallent.
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The Rise of the Multimedia Authoring Platform
Publishers are turning to a new generation of multimedia authoring tools, like iBooks Author, Vook, and Atavist Create, to enhance e-books with audio, video, and animated content.
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DMI to Shut Down Digital Manga Direct
Digital Manga Inc., a California-based manga publishers specializing in the yaoi genre and digital delivery, announced plans to close Digital Manga Direct, its wholesale division. The move follows DMI’s announcement in November that it is suspending all of its print publication until June 2013, while continuing to offer digital editions of its publishing list.
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MHSP Launches E-book Shorts Imprint
Minnesota Historical Society Press has launched a new digital imprint of short form e-books called MHS Express, which will include essays on regional topics, as well as excerpts from recent or forthcoming releases and original e-book shorts.
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The Millions Gets Into E-Originals
The online literary and reviews magazine, The Millions, has published its first e-book, Epic Fail: Bad Art, Viral Fame, and the History of the Worst Thing Ever.
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ProQuest to Acquire Ebook Library
In a move that will further expand its e-book footprint in the library market, ProQuest today formally announced the acquisition of Ebook Library (EBL), a pioneering e-book provider in the library market.
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Viz’s ‘Weekly Shonen Jump’ Debuts New Era of Simultaneous Releases
Manga publisher and anime distributor Viz Media embarked on a new era of simultaneous Japanese and English manga publishing January 21 after releasing the first issue of the renamed and redesigned Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha.
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Total Boox Hopes to Change How We Buy E-books
Total Boox (pronounced total books) unveiled a “pay-as-you read” approach to buying books at this week's Digital Book World conference.
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Penguin Revamps Book Country, Adds Services, Reduces Cost to Authors
Book Country, an online writing community and self-publishing service launched by Penguin in 2011, is relaunching and redesigning the site in stages.
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Inkling Turns Web Searches into New Storefront For Digital Books
Inkling, a software developer specializing in creating multimedia content for the iPad, is launching the Inkling Content Discovery Platform, a way of structuring Inkling content that can be indexed by Google and link Web searches directly to enriched and saleable content within a book.
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EBSCO Strikes Deal with Grey House to Publish Salem Press Titles
EBSCO Publishing this week announced that it has struck an exclusive license with Grey House Publishing to become the publisher of the print editions of Salem Press titles.
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Nate the Great Titles to Be Released as E-books
Random House is launching an e-book program timed to the 40th anniversary of the launch of Marjorie Weinman Sharmat's Nate the Great mystery series. Five books, including the first in the series, will be released on January 30; by the end of 2013, all 26 titles will be available in e-format.
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Tor Tests TV Approach for New Scalzi Book
For The Human Division, the latest novel in John Scalzi's Old Man's War series, Tor is teasing the hardcover with staggered digital "episodes."
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Chegg to Offer Open Source eTextbooks with OpenStax & 20 Million Minds
Chegg will begin offering open source e-textbooks through OpenStax College and the 20 Million Minds Foundation starting this month.
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Lulu Drops DRM for E-books Sold Natively
In an announcement sent out on January 8, self-publishing Web site Lulu.com stated that it is going to stop using Digital Rights Management to protect e-books that it sells directly to consumers.
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Gale Launches New Addition to National Geographic Virtual Library
Gale, part of Cengage Learning, has launched of a new multimedia resource in its National Geographic Virtual Library (NGVL) series, its third installment.
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ShiftyLook Uses Free Web Comics and Games to Build an Audience
The Japanese videogame giant Namco Bandai is giving the freemium model a try with their new Web comics site, ShiftyLook.



