Why do some authors, like Barry Eisler, decide to strike deals with Amazon? Partly due to their e-mail marketing power. Read his full explanation here. When I was publisher of Writer’s Digest, our direct marketing relied predominantly on e-mail. Each e-mail sent could be tied to a specific amount of revenue it brought in, and each campaign was only as good as the open rate and click rate.

Read more at janefriedman.com.

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Learn about effective email marketing at the Digital Book World: Discoverability and Marketing conference in New York on Sept. 24 and 25.

Sometime this summer, The Atavist will release a free version of its software, and people who sign up can begin building children’s books or travelogues or whatever else they fancy, some of which will become part of its online marketplace. Using the so-called freemium model, The Atavist may charge people fees for additional features — like the ability to create an app that could be sold by Apple — and will be making money by taking a cut of sales.

Read much more at the New York Times.

CourseSmart Launches First eCommerce Platform for eTextbooks in the UK and Europe
Students abroad can now enjoy cost savings and anytime, anywhere access to eTextbooks

SAN MATEO, Calif., May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — CourseSmart®, the world’s largest provider of eTextbooks and digital course materials, today announced its continued international growth with the launch of an eCommerce platform in the UK and Europe. The platform provides students access to eTextbooks and digital course materials anytime, anywhere from any web-enabled device. Students in the UK and Europe will also now enjoy guaranteed, up-front savings of up to 40% when compared to a new print textbook.

“The world of textbooks is changing. Through the proliferation of tablets, handheld devices, laptops and computers, the academic world is moving online and engaging with students like never before. We are very excited to be at the forefront of this evolution,” said Fionnuala Duggan, Managing Director of CourseSmart International. “The eCommerce platform will help students to save money, instructors to engage online, publishers to access a developing market and booksellers to be part of this significant development in publishing.”

Following the international expansion plans first announced in May 2011, CourseSmart launched its free Online Sampling Platform, which enables faculty in the UK and Europe to instantly preview and select eTextbook titles for use in specific courses. The eCommerce platform, which is now live, will provide all of the functions of traditional textbooks, enhanced by today’s technologies, including:

Anytime, anywhere access to materials via www.coursesmart.com, www.coursesmart.co.uk or through various mobile devices and tablets;
Search function for topics within a single book or across an entire eTextbook stack;
Highlighting and note-taking capabilities within the eTextbook, which can be easily recalled or searched;
Page fidelity and preservation, mirroring the print edition’s page numbers, full text, diagrams, illustrations and charts;
Ability to cut and paste as well as email sections, notes and highlighted text; and
Accessible titles for students and instructors with print-related disabilities

For more information, please visit www.coursesmart.com or www.coursesmart.co.uk.

About CourseSmart®

As the world’s largest provider of digital course materials, CourseSmart® connects education publishers to consumers by providing an efficient distribution platform for their best-selling content in digital form. Founded in 2007, the San Mateo, Calif.-based company provides services to four business segments: Online direct retail for students; Indirect distribution of course materials to students through bookstores; Online faculty textbook evaluation services; and Institutional solutions for faculty and students that are integrated within campus technology ecosystems. CourseSmart improves the educational process and experience by offering all users anywhere, any-time access to the course content they need, including those with vision- and print-related disabilities. With more than 90% of the same core titles offered by major print publishers, the company’s eTextbooks can be purchased for up to 60% less than the cost of new print textbooks. For more information about CourseSmart, visit the company’s Web site at www.coursesmart.com.

Start reading exclusive excerpts right now from over 30 highly-anticipated books from the fall/winter 2012 publishing season, for free.

Enjoy new work from Junot Díaz, Mark Helprin, Rhoda Janzen, Barbara Kingsolver, Dennis Lehane, J.R. Moehringer, Neil Young, and other well-known authors.

Discover some of debut novelists the publishing world is already “buzzing” about, including Shani Boianjiu, Amanda Coplin, Peter Heller, Scott Hutchins, Kevin Powers, M.L. Stedman, and more.

Sample breakout books from experienced authors, and get a taste of what’s coming from some of the biggest names in growing field of young adult fiction (including Libba Bray, Jessica Khoury, David Levithan, Sarah Maas, Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian, Ned Vizzini, and others).

The packed BUZZ BOOKS 2012 is the first-ever chance for passionate readers to check out so many great books in advance of their publication, right along with industry insiders.

The book will be available from all major e-book retailers.

More specifically, we were pleased to learn that starting this spring, Hachette is conducting a pilot with two ebook distributors for libraries, which will bring a selection of HBG’s recent bestselling ebooks to 7 million library patrons. These pilot programs will help HBG learn more about library patrons’ interests, usage, and expectations, and help the publisher devise the best strategy to reach the widest audience of ebook readers in libraries.

Read more at American Libraries Magazine.

UK bookseller Waterstones is to sell Amazon’s Kindle book-reader and launch other Kindle digital services.

Waterstones says the deal will dovetail with its current store refurbishment scheme, which is creating dedicated areas for digital books, free wireless internet and new coffee shops.

The deal was a “surprise” move for the retailer, considering its general manager, James Daunt, recently had harsh words for Amazon, calling it “ruthless,” a “devil” and an “enemy.” The companies did not disclose the terms of the deal (Waterstones deal with Amazon puts Kindle and ebooks instore):

Waterstones has announced a surprise tie-up with Amazon that will enable shoppers to pluck ebooks as well as physical books from its shelves.

The companies did not reveal the terms of the deal, but Waterstones said it was planning a digital revolution in its stores, with Kindle ereaders on sale for the first time and free wifi, so customers can choose between buying a physical book or downloading it then and there. It is also opening instore cafes as part of a major upgrade of the 30-year old chain.

But just this weekend, Daunt signaled a softening toward Amazon in an interview with the Guardian, just days before the Amazon deal came to light, greasing the skids for the move (Waterstones boss poised to join the e-reader battle):

Daunt, approaching 50, has described Amazon as “a ruthless money-making devil”. In private, he’s less incendiary than steely, a rather clinical Cambridge-educated history graduate who had several years as a banker at JP Morgan before launching his eponymous London bookstore in 1990.

Last year, when Daunt took over at the bookseller, he ended its practice of selling a range of e-readers in-store, even though the move cost the chain money, he said.

Daunt agrees that, while Waterstones has begun to recover, book publishing remains in a state of flux. “If everything stayed the same, we would be on course to win our customers back,” he says. But this is the biggest IT revolution since Caxton. So what does a modern British bookseller do about Amazon, Apple et al? “When I took over last year,” Daunt replies. “Waterstones was selling a range of e-readers, very badly. I stopped that instantly – at a considerable cost to the balance sheet.” Does this mean he’s the enemy of the ebook revolution that’s sweeping down Main Street USA, and beginning to be felt here in the UK ?

Daunt hinted in the interview at his company’s next move into the digital reading space, even going so far as to say that Waterstones will be “different” and “better” than Amazon, its soon-to-be partner (the interview was published on Saturday, just days before the deal hit newsstands).

“We have to insinuate ourselves into the process, and we have to be seamless.” On closer examination, “seamless” turns out to mean persuading Waterstones customers to choose an e-reader (and ebooks) through a Waterstones-sponsored device. Daunt won’t say when this will happen – “it’s the bit we have to get right” – but it’s imminent. “We’ll be different from Amazon,” he says, with characteristic ebullience, “and we’ll be better.”

At the end of the day, readers “want Kindle,” said Daunt in an interview with The Booksellers, and so Waterstones will aim to give its customers what they want (Daunt: Waterstones customers ‘want Kindle’):

“We asked ourselves, ‘what do our customers want?’; the answer was the Kindle. Once we’d done that this was self-evidently the best deal.” Daunt said the two businesses had started talking only “relatively recently”, admitting that he had looked at other options but rejected them. “Ultimately, when we thought about it, we had to give the customers what they wanted. And the best device on the market is the Kindle.”

While Waterstones will not be able to compete on pricing for the Amazon devices it will sell, it will attempt to compete on service, offering tutorials on the e-reader and an easy in-store-browse-to-digital-purchase experience (Waterstones boss James Daunt: Kindle e-books could be bundled with hardbacks):

He said Waterstones would be unable to offer cheaper prices for the piece of hardware that either Argos, Amazon, or John Lewis did. However, he added that Waterstones was the only outlet that was also a bookseller and would offer tutorials to customers about how best to use their Kindles, and to offer ebook suggestions.

The company is also exploring bundling deals where readers can buy both the e-book and hardcover version of a title at a discount.

Asked if Waterstones could offer “Kindle Bundles”, giving discounts on the ebook version of any hardback that a shopper bought, he said it was something they were looking into. “The whole focus is what can we do to give customers what they want? We have all sorts of ideas and we are talking to publishers about them.”

Regardless, Waterstones will offer branch-specific digital deals through the Kindles that log on through in-store wi-fi (Waterstones to sell Kindles with in-store offers):

Waterstones is in the process of rolling out free Wi-Fi access across its chain, and it plans to start selling Kindles in the autumn. Customers who have bought their Kindles from the retailer will be able to use them to log on to each store’s network and see deals associated with that branch.

The Guardian’s books blog pointed out that the deal could be a dangerous one for Waterstones and suggested that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos really wanted to get “his teeth into” the chain (Waterstones kindle a deal for destruction with Amazon):

Daunt said it was a “truly exciting prospect” to welcome a ravening tiger into his living room. Er no. Sorry, what he’s really excited about is harnessing “the respective strengths of Waterstones and Amazon to provide a dramatically better digital reading experience for our customers.” Meanwhile Jeff Bezos said that Waterstones was his favourite bookseller, and that he was looking forward to getting his teeth into the only remaining rival on the high street – I mean bringing together “digital reading and the physical bookstore”.

Perhaps Barnes & Noble, Amazon’s largest U.S. rival, was more a target in the deal (UK’s Waterstones will sell Amazon Kindle (sorry, Nook)):

The announcement — with Daunt referring to Kindles as “the best digital readers” — appears to rule out the possibility of Waterstones signing a deal with Barnes & Noble. That partnership has been rumored since last year, and Barnes & Noble is working with UK app developers, but the London Book Fair in April came and went with no news.

Sources: BBC, The Independent, Guardian, Guardian (Daunt interview), The Bookseller, The Telegraph, ZDnet, Guardian Books Blog, paidContent

The first volume of the series includes new short stories by Aaron Gwyn, Luis Alberto Urrea and Jess Walter, and the stories will be sold only in e-book format in collaboration with Open Road Integrated Media, a digital publisher, beginning June 12. (Another volume will follow every few months.)

Read more at the New York Times.

This legal travesty may at long last be reversed. A bill is making its way through Britain’s Parliament “is intended to abolish costly trials by jury in most libel cases, curb online defamation through a new notice and takedown procedure, reduce so-called ‘libel tourism’ and make it more difficult for large corporations to sue newspapers.”

Not just newspapers: “The bill will rebalance the law to ensure that people who have been defamed are able to protect their reputation, but that free speech and freedom of expression are not unjustifiably impeded by actual or threatened libel proceedings,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice.

Details in Queen’s speech launches overhaul of libel law (guardian.co.uk)

Richard Curtis

The IDPF on May 18, 2012 published a draft of use cases and requirements for lightweight content protection technology for EPUB, available at: http://idpf.org/epub-content-protection. Comments from members and other interested parties are requested by Friday, June 8. Comments are particularly solicited regarding the priority of this activity versus other potential IDPF-mediated projects. Also requested are comments on any additional high priority use cases and requirements not encompassed in this initial straw-man document, and regarding the overall desirability of a solution embodying the proposed requirements, or any standardized solution in this area.

The document describes requirements for a potential content protection scheme for EPUB.  It outlines what would be a “lightweight” scheme, occupying a middle ground between strong DRM and DRM-free.  This would enable sharing with or without watermarking, but, unlike watermarking alone, cracks would be considered definitively illegal. As well, the proposed scheme incorporates configurable passwords (including the option of no password at all); it can be used to discourage “over-sharing” by requiring passwords that contain personal information, such as an email address or credit card number.  The use of encryption also serves to enable limits on modification, copying, and printing of content in a manner similar to the encryption technology incorporated in PDF.  It would also support lending models via usage durations.  Other aspects that would make the scheme “lightweight” include not requiring network connectivity (i.e. no “phoning home”) and trading off less stringent security for lower implementation cost and complexity.

Earlier this month Harlequin reorganized its North American digital, retail, direct-to-consumer, and physical sales and marketing channels into a single division, which will be spearheaded by Craig Swinwood, named coo of the entire division. “By bringing these groups together under a single division, we wanted to strengthen the focus on the customers, enjoy the  synergies of the marketing group and help build Harlequin’s brand further,” Swinwood told us Friday morning. “We’re committed to being available wherever, whenever, and however women want to shop.”

Read more at Publishers Lunch.