December
2000
eBooks
Will Fall to Multichannel Publishing
"Taken together, custom printing, digital
textbooks, and eBooks will pressure publishers
to offer greater consumer choice, variable
presentation and delivery, and new ways to
purchase, none of which authors can do
themselves. The result is a new publishing
model that Forrester calls multichannel
publishing. Successful publishers will manage
all of their content from a single,
comprehensive storehouse, a repository
containing modular book content and structure.
"
Cyber Atlas, December 27, 2000
Forrester
Predicts Slow E-Book Growth
"A report from Cambridge, Mass.-based
Forrester Research predicts slow growth for
so-called electronic books and the portable
devices used to download and read them.
However, Forrester says in its report,
"Books Unbound," that the rise of
the Internet is transforming the publishing
industry as a whole and will lead to changes
in the way that it gets words into the hands
of readers. "
Internet.com, December 27, 2000
E-Book
Market Set For Explosion
According to a new study released by IDC, a
company that tracks technology and e-business
trends, demand for e-books will build slowly
in 2001, then begin exploding in 2002. IDC
predicts the market in the US alone will
mushroom from $9 million in 2000 to $414
million in 2004.
Computer User, December 25, 2000
eBook
readers are more Tinker Bell marketing
"If there is a future dawn for electronic
book readers, I suggest you wait until that
day arrives rather than spending your money
now to support RCA and Gemstar in their
magical belief that good intentions can
overcome bad design and implementation."
Mercury News, December 16, 2000
Will
E-Books Ever Really Catch On?
Despite the hype surrounding e-books, format
issues, lack of content, and expensive e-book
readers are slowing adoption of the
technology.
TechWeb, December 14, 2000
Publishers
Ponder the Plant
Stephen King has put 'The Plant,' his
serialized e-book, on hiatus. Publishers are
debating the impact of the work, which
declined in popularity over time but was an
overall financial success
CNN.com, December 8, 2000
AAP
Releases E-book Standards
The Association of American Publishers and
Andersen Consulting released the results of
their joint Open Ebook Standards Project last
Monday at AAP's New York headquarters.
Publishers Weekly, December 4, 2000
Innovative
Interfaces Announces E-Book Integration,
Millennium Implementations
Innovative Interfaces, Inc. has announced the
integration of netLibrary e-books into its
INNOPAC and Millennium library automation
systems. The company has also announced that
the Nobel Library in Sweden, Complutense
University of Madrid, the Social Law Library
in Boston, and the Mac OS X operating
system’s beta release will incorporate
Millennium.
Information Today, December, 2000
November
2000
King's
Internet book ``The Plant'' goes to seed
With payment and interest in his latest
Internet novel dwindling, horrormeister
Stephen King has decided to stop writing ``The
Plant'' at chapter six to focus on two
conventional books.
MediaCentral, November 29, 2000
Barnes
& Noble Says Plans to Continue Talks with
Gemstar
Gemstar-TV Guide, the provider of television
programming guides, is seeking to become a key
player in electronic books through a potential
link with Barnes & Noble, the largest U.S.
bookseller.
Individual Investor, November 25,
2000
Second
Frederick Forsyth story published online
(November 23, 2000)
The second in a series of new short stories by
the best-selling British author Frederick
Forsyth is to be published on the internet.
Ananova.com, November 23, 2000
Launch
of novel device targeting grown-ups
Christmas arrived early this year for RCA and
Gemstar, the backers of a new line of ''eBook
readers'' scheduled to hit area stores
tomorrow. Last week Oprah Winfrey promoted the
eBook reader on a show titled ''Oprah's
Favorite Things.''
Boston Globe, November 23, 2000
Publisher
Sets Policy on E-Books
Hoping to settle a publishing industry
dispute, Random House, the largest English
language publisher, is expected to announce
today that it will evenly split its electronic
book sales revenue with writers.
NY Times, November 7, 2000
Publishers
Ponder Paperless Books
"Yesterday's start of the two-day ebook
World Conference provided another moderating
gig for New York magazine media columnist
Michael Wolff and another view of where
publishers are heading in the uncharted waters
of paperless books."
Daily News, November 7, 2000
New
Flare-Up In E-Books Battle
"Nothing gets an audience of
publishing-industry executives worked up like
the age-old debate over the rights of
publishers and writers. And sure to form, the
same holds true for the emerging world of
electronic-books."
ZDNet, November 6, 2000
Another
Format in the E-Book Field
Reciprocal, a small company that provides
Random House, Time Warner, and other
publishers with digital distribution services
is introducing a new ebook format, the first
one for both personal computers and the
popular Palm series of digital organizers.
NY Times, November 6, 2000
E-Publishing
FAQ.Allen, Moira. (1999).
"E-Publishing FAQ." [WWW document],
16 pages.
[2000 Nov 1],
E-Publishing
FAQ Update." [WWW document], 9
pages.[2000 Nov 1].
The
Real E-Books.
Ditlea,
Steve. (2000.) "The Real E-Books."
From Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of
Innovation. [WWW document], 11 pages.
"Forget those single-purpose e-book
readers. The future of electronic publishing
lies in files you can download to, view on and
print out from the computer you already
own."
October 2000
New
models for book publishing
"The fact is that new models for book
publishing are demanded in the electronic age
and some pointers as to what might result are
already around."
IT-Directory, October 10, 2000
Thomas
Nelson Turns to eBooks
Thomas Nelson, Inc. becomes the first
Christian publisher to launch a comprehensive
e-book publishing program.
About, October 6, 2000
eBook
Award Controversy
The International eBook Award Foundation
announced the finalists for the Frankfurt
eBook Awards. Oddly, some of the books don't
qualify for the category they're finalists in.
About, October 4, 2000
Open
eBook Forum Launches Standards Coordination
and Requirements Initiatives
Leading eBook Trade Organization to Provide
Forum for All Electronic Publishing
Stakeholders.
About, October 4, 2000
ePub
University Announces Fall 2000 Academic
Program
Case studies from Slate.com and IDG Books to
be joined with practice sessions led by
Microsoft, Quark, Barnes & Noble,
OverDrive and The Open eBook Form (OEB)
About, October 3, 2000
eBook
World Launched
Learn about the first event dedicated solely
to the rapidly emerging electronic book
marketplace.
About, October 2, 2000
September
2000
Judging
a Book by its Pixels
eMarketer projects that online book sales will
stack up from $660 million in 1999 to $4.1
billion by 2004.
eMarketer, September 28, 2000
E-Books
Face Standards, Copy Protection Issues
"Speakers at the third annual Electronic
Book 2000 Conference and Show praised the
young industry for its achievements, but said
the industry must work on standards and copy
protection if it is to avoid the pitfalls that
have tripped up other trailblazers in digital
content."
TechWeb, September 28, 2000
Standards
group pushes for electronic braille reader
A U.S. government standards body is close to
unveiling an e-book reader for the blind that
transforms electronic text into braille.
CNet News, September 19, 2000
netLibrary
and Fatbrain.com Form eBook Alliance
Companies Bring Leading eBook Technology to
Corporate Market.
About, September 18, 2000
DigitalOwl
to Market and Sell iPublish.com eBooks
Digital Owl will digitally promote and sell
popular eBooks published by iPublish.com
through its network of syndication channels.
About, September 18, 2000
William
Gladstone Joins Qinnet.com's Epublishing
Effort
Qinnet.com, Inc. has announced the appointment
of Mr. William Gladstone to chair its
Technical Advisory Board, which will spearhead
its recently announced E-Book publishing joint
venture with Liaoning Publishing Group in
China.
About, September 18, 2000
Gemstar-TV
Guide International Announces Entry Into
e-Publishing Business in France
Company Acquires 00h00.com, a Leading European
eBook Publisher.
About, September 15, 2000
Free
eBook Authoring Software Program for Education
Announced
OverDrive to Donate $2.5 Million in Microsoft
Reader eBook Authoring Software to Education
About, September 14, 2000
Consumer
Book Publishers Prepare For Coming Demand For
Ebooks
Publishers are showing an unprecedented level
of interest in electronic books, though
logistical concerns remain and consumer demand
for ebooks has yet to catch up with the
attention the format is getting within the
industry.
About, September 8, 2000
E-Books:
A Challenge to Paper Books?
E-books have received renewed attention from
users, authors and publishers. Despite the
benefits of immediate Internet-based
distribution, e-books must overcome barriers
before adoption will occur.
Gartner Group, September 5, 2000
Electronic
Literature Directory Goes Live
Nonprofit Organization Launches Comprehensive
Directory of Electronic Literature.
About, September 5, 2000
NetLibrary,
Online Book Publisher, Files for $82 Million
IPO
Online bookstore NetLibrary Inc., a publisher
offering electronic books that can be
downloaded from the Internet, filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission for an $82
million initial stock offering.
AOL, September 1, 2000
August 2000
Thomson
Selects Maverick For e-Book Reading Tablet
'Thomson Consumer Electronics has selected
Cirrus Logic’s Maverick EP7212 processor for
use in a book-shaped portable electronic
reading tablet called an RCA e-Book.'
e-Insite, August 22, 2000
Frightened
Stephen King Fans Pony Up Extra Bucks to Make
Up for Freeloaders
'King fans frightened about being cut off from
the author's online serial novel have been
sending extra cash to make up for readers who
downloaded the first instalment without paying
for it.'
BookWire, August 22, 2000
Brill’s
Contentville Gets Ready to Offer E-Books
Contentville.com is expected to launch its
e-book initiative early next month as it
continues to strike deals with publishers for
the rights to sell digital versions of new and
classic books titles.
dmnews.com, August 15, 2000
Prospective
Veep's E-Book
The day after Al Gore announced the identity
of his running mate, Joseph Lieberman’s
book, In Praise of Public Life, was sold out
in many books stores across the country. But
the e-book version is available in an
unlimited supply.
Wired News, August 14, 2000
From
deep space to cyberspace
J Michael Straczynski, creator of the Babylon
5 TV series, is planning to make his latest
novel available in four limited-life
instalments that can be downloaded from the
web.
BBC News, August 10, 2000
eBook
Wars
Battlefield Earth and Stephen King's Riding
the Bullet battle it out for #1 spot on
peanutpress.com's bestseller list.
About, August 10, 2000
Simon
& Schuster Leads The E-Book Charge
Simon & Schuster releases popular titles
in ebook format to coincide with Microsoft's
launch of free Microsoft Reader software.
Forbes, August 9, 2000
Microsoft
Launches E-Book Software; Big Shift Seen
Microsoft's launch of the new Microsoft Reader
software for electronic books was marked by
publishers as a turning point for the book
industry.
Upside, August 9, 2000
E-Lit
Support Group Formed
E-publishers and new media professionals can
now look to the Electronic Literature
Organization, a year-old nonprofit founded to
provide support and industry analysis for
literature designed for electronic media.
Publishers Weekly August 7, 2000
Random
House's E-Books Foray Threatens Startups
Random House announced Monday that it would
make a serious foray into electronic books
this winter, when it releases original titles
from authors such as Elizabeth Wurtzel, Rob
Walker and a dominatrix named Mistress Ruby,
among others.
INSIDE, August 03, 2000
iPublish.com
at Time Warner Books is First to Inveil List
of Ebook Titles
List showcases works by Nelson DeMille, David
Baldacci, Sandra Brown, Nicholas Sparks and
David Foster Wallace. About.com,
August 1, 2000
July 2000
Random
House Launches E-Book Unit
Random House today announced a line-up of
titles it will publish early next year under a
new e-book imprint.
Newsbytes, July 30, 2000
Seybold
to highlight digital publishing issues
Seybold San Francisco 2000 publishing show
will be focused on digital rights management
and electronic books. Microsoft is preparing a
raft of announcements both prior to and during
the event, including information about its own
digital rights management product
InfoWorld, July 27, 2000
MightyWords
Joins Forces with William Morrow & Co. To
publish Ebook By Dying Author
In response to a recent fatal diagnosis of an
author, MightyWords.com has joined forces with
William Morrow & Co. to publish an
abridged electronic edition of her book that
will not be available as a printed book until
this October.
About.com July 25, 2000
Amazon.com
Chosen by Stephen King to Facilitate Payment
for Exclusive Serialized Online Novel, The
Plant
In an ambitious publishing experiment, monthly
installments of The Plant will be available
for download only on www.stephenking.com, with
King asking his readers to pay $1 for each
installment on the honor system. The first
installment of The Plant was made available
today, and the second installment will be
posted on King's site on August 21.
About.com, July 24, 2000
Fiona
Avery's `Crusade' Scripts Debut on
Bookface.com
Renowned Science Fiction and Fantasy Author
Provides Previously Unreleased Scripts for
Fans to Explore Online for Free at
Bookface.com
About.com, July 24, 2000
E-Book
Publishing: Much Ado About Nothing Much?
Stephen King's latest tale is another sign of
the growing enthusiasm for the medium. But,
for all the hype, almost no one is making
money.
LA Times.com, July 24, 2000
Say
I Can Offers First Free Online Computer Book
(July 20, 2000)
Say I Can, a Berkeley-based publisher,
announced that their popular computer book The
Dragon NaturallySpeaking Guide is available
free on the Web. This is the first time a
major printed computer book has been offered
online at no charge.
About.com, July 20, 2000
Books
by the Chapter or Verse Arrive on the Internet
This Fall
IDG Books and iUniverse team up to sell books
by the chapter. "Readers will be invited
to create customized books by picking pieces
of content à la carte from an array of
already-published guides at, say, $5 a chapter
instead of $20 a book."
New York Times, July 18, 2000
Giving
It All Away
Bestselling author Seth Godin is offering his
latest work as a free e-book, circumventing
the traditional publishing process, and
banking on future rewards.
About.com, July 15, 2000
Curling Up
With an E-book
A vice-president at McGraw Hill writes:
"Like the personal computer before it,
the e-book opens a world of possibilities. It
is not necessarily better than printed books,
nor need it supplant them. But its time is
here."
New York Times, July 7, 2000
Simon
& Schuster to go digital
Simon & Schuster, the US book publisher,
is teaming up with Lightning Source, a
provider of print-on-demand services, to
convert its backlist of 12,000 book titles to
digital form.
Financial Times, July 6, 2000
June 2000
The
Future of Ebooks: Texts of Tomorrow?
The age of the eBook is here. With easily
readable, high-resolution screens, sound and
video, and a considerable selection of book
titles from which to choose, the newest
e-books offer everything you could want from a
reading machine. But there is still some doubt
about whether the majority of book lovers will
take to digitized reading. Will ebooks, and
the ebusinesses that produce and support them,
survive?
Internet.com, June 16, 2000
King's
Fans Want New Ebook
'In the last four days, more than 7,000 King
fans voted on the author's website after King
asked his readers whether they'd be willing to
pay $1 per installment to download the
remainder of The Plant, an epistolary novel he
begain in the 1980s. "The results were
overwhelmingly positive," King's
assistant, Marsha DeFilippo, said. "There
were only 400 negative votes.'
Wired, June 15, 2000
E-books
novel, but where are the novels?
A recent spate of hot e-sellers are spurring
publishers to rush more books online, but
technical obstacles have thrown a few wrenches
into the works.
ZDNet, June 14, 2000
Barnesandnoble.com
Invests $30 Million In MightyWords
Barnesandnoble.com announces that it has
invested approximately $20 million into
digital content provider, MightyWords, a
former subsidiary of Fatbrain.com.
BizReport, June 7, 2000
Writer
fights pirates in legal shootouts
Harlan Ellison, author of 74 books, hundreds
of short stories (including the classic I Have
No Mouth & I Must Scream) and Star Trek
episodes, filed suit against both individuals
and companies -- including America Online --
he alleges either illegally distributed or
provided the medium to distribute his work.
USA Today, June 7, 2000
Still
Hard to Digest, but Digital Books May Have a
Future
Gary Chapman believes that the quality of
literature today is better than ever, but the
best writers "are essentially invisible
in cyberspace, except on the Web sites where
customers can purchase their books. For now,
good literature and the Internet appear
light-years apart. "
LA Times, June 5, 2000
What
Jeff Said
Notes on Jeff Bezos' keynote address at
BookExpo America, including comments on
ecommerce and ebook publishing. Don't count
ebooks out, Jeff said, but don't expect
anything major within the next two or three
years either.
About.com, June 4, 2000
Read
A Book, And Ad, On Bookface.com
AdWeek reports on BookFace.com, a San
Francisco-based site offering books and
excerpts (some from major publishers) free
with an ad-supported model. Bookface plans to
generate revenue from advertisers and then pay
authors and publishers for each page read.
AdWeek, June 2, 2000
May 2000
"Maybe
they should start their own awards."
--Meg Kearney, acting executive director of
the National Book Foundation about
electronically published books
Giving
Them Their Just Awards
"For instance, will two trends currently
shaping the industry--consolidation in the
publishing business and advancements in e-book
technology and popularity--push a greater
concentration of literary talent into Internet
publishing? And, if and when that happens,
will some of the established literary awards
find themselves judging Web-based works
alongside their more familiar hard-copy
cousins? "
Book, May 2000
Can
Book Publishing Retain Its Most Precious
Asset?
"The Internet changes the entire dynamics
of publishing. When Stephen King's words can
be packaged into a PDF file and downloaded by
anyone with a computer in a few minutes, one
must begin to question what his publisher,
Simon & Schuster, is doing to earn its
share of the income pie."
ClickZ, May 16, 2000
Lightning
Print Inc. Changes Name, Adds eBook Services
Reflecting its new direction, the company
formerly known as Lightning Print Inc., a
subsidiary of Ingram Industries Inc., unveiled
a new name, Lightning Source, launched a new
website, and announced the opening of expanded
headquarters facilities in Tennessee.
Lightning Source also announced a new suite of
digital services designed to help publishers
and booksellers deliver eBooks and other
digital content.
The Write News, May 10, 2000
April 2000
"So
far, the Internet seems to be largely
amplifying the worst features of television's
preoccupation with sex and violence,
semi-literate chatter, shortened attention
spans, and near-total subservience to
commercial marketing,"James Billington,
Librarian of Congress
The
Library of Congress Will Not Digitize Books
The Library of Congress announces a new Web
site, digitizing special formats such as maps
and sound recordings. The Librarian of
Congress, James Billington, criticized the
Internet and electronic book hardware and said
the Library would not be digitizing books. The
Librarian stated his belief that the
traditional book will not be replaced, and
stressed the dangers of electronic delivery,
"You don't want to be one of those
mindless futurists," said Billington,
"who sit in front of a lonely
screen."
Tech Law Journal, April 15, 2000
The
Wired Word
Electronic publishing is a mixed blessing,
writes Jonathan Yardley. Many things will be
published that have not been before, but
publishing on the Internet will bypass the
editorial process. And while the
egalitarianism is appealing, it "rests on
an untenable assumption: not merely that all
of us are created equal, but that all of us
are equally meritorious and interesting."
The Washington Post, April 10, 2000
Read
All About It
Electronic publishing is making some inroads,
but "text on paper is not giving up too
much ground to its more sophisticated
successor; a habit 4,500 years old is hard to
break."
Irish Times, April 10, 2000
Closing
a Chapter of Tradition
Fred Moody paints a gloomy picture for the big
New York publishing houses, blaming their
future demise on the decline in quality and
services they have offered in the past 20
years. He writes: "By the time paperless
publishing becomes economically viable,
writers and readers will have cut publishers
out of the equation."
ABC News.com, April 5, 2000
AAP
Names Task Force To Create E-book Standards
Anderson Consulting recommends that the AAP
facilitate the creation of an "open
standards solution" for ebook drm,
numbering systems and metadata structures,
warning that if publishers fail to take the
lead, e-book market development "will be
slower, more chaotic and less
profitable."
Publishers Weekly, April 3, 2000
DigitalOwl.com
Secures e-Publishing Agreement with Authority
Press
Authority Press has agreed to provide
published content to DigitalOwl.com for
digital conversion. The documents can then be
purchased and downloaded from Authority Press
using KineticEdge software products.
Business Wire, April 3, 2000
The
Coming Ecology of Ebook Publishing
'Until we have a system where
"publishing" is distinct from
"distribution" and from
"retailing", and
"publishing" means being an
intermediary between authors and a complex,
multi-point distribution system, we won't have
a market that is ready for prime time. ' Tim
O'Reilly's comments about FatBrain.com's
publishing/distributing/retailing model.
Tim O'Reilly's Weblog, April 2, 2000
March 2000
"...sentimental
sermons by us old print fogeys aren't going to
turn back the clock." --Frank Rich, New
York Times
E-book
publishers writing new chapters
A look at the progress being made by
electronic books, and some minor projections
about the future. Interesting tidbit:
According to internal projections by Harper
Collins, they expect ebooks to account for $2
Billion in annual sales by 2005.
Chicago Tribune, March 31, 2000
The
Future of the Book
Salon.com examines the ways the digital
revolution is changing what and how we read in
this four part series.
Salon.com, March 28, 2000
Amazon.com
and Adobe to Broaden Availability of eBooks
'On the heels of Stephen King's wildly
successful eBook, "Riding the
Bullet," Adobe Systems Monday announced
that it is working with Amazon.com and Simon
& Schuster to extend the availability of
Mr. King's novella to Macintosh users. '
BizReport, March 27, 2000
EBooks
- and the Word was good
"Sometimes, all that it takes to bring
something onto the mainstream is to give it
celebrity endorsement. Think of Victor Kiam
and razors, or Paul Hogan and Foster's beer.
Now it looks like the same kind of publicity
may be what launches eBooks onto the market.
"
IT Director, March 27, 2000
Stephen
King's Week of Terror
"If books aren't abandoning their analog
containers for digital ones, they're about the
only mainstream media product that is not.
"
New York Times, March 25, 2000
Short
Take: Digital Publishing Hits the Big Time
This article by Tom Watson claims that the
demand for Stephen King's first e-book proved
the model of digital delivery.
Silicon Alley News, March 16, 2000
E-Publishing:
Tomorrow's Publishers Today
"A perusal of the Web finds a gaggle of
sites that publish original e-books. More like
old-media small presses than anything else on
the Web, these companies pay little to no
advances and high royalties and, in many
cases, display an impressive editorial
rigor."
Publishers Weekly, March 6, 2000
A Novel
Device, Electronic Books Are Still Far From an
Easy Read
"E-books are reminiscent of the early
personal computers from the 1970s. You can
tell their time will come, but it's not here
yet.
LA Times, March 2, 2000
XML
With Style
A rather technical article about XML for
Electronic Book Publishing and the Open Ebook
Specification.
XML.com, March 2, 2000
Weblife:
Electronic Books
Another opinion piece arguing that electronic
books won't replace paper in the near future,
or maybe ever.
The Guardian, March 2, 2000
Barnesandnoble.com
and Microsoft to Create eBook Superstore
Barnesandnoble.com, Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
have announced that they will create a
barnesandnoble.com eBook Superstore using
Microsoft Reader software.
Information Today, March 1, 2000
February
2000
"If I
had a young author whose career I was trying
to build I'd rather have a hundred dollars
from The New Yorker than a thousand from
Fatbrain." --Russell Galen, Literary
Agent
Serial
E-Authors Make a Killing
Publishers find that doling out bits of books
online can hook readers and entice them to
pay. By M.J. Rose.
Wired, February 29, 2000
Palm
Reading
Though e-book sales have been sluggish,
Microsoft says in 10 years they'll challenge
the paper kind.
Salon.com, February 24, 2000
Borders.com
Writes Ebook Prologue
Borders now offers direct links to Peanut
Press, which offers titles that can be read on
a Palm Pilot; ION Systems, which provides
technology to read books on personal
computers; and SoftBook Press, which offers a
dedicated hand-held device for electronic
reading.
Gomez.com, February 23, 2000
eBooks:
The Next Chapter
Author Carol Givner is as surprised as anyone
that traditional booksellers want copies of
her latest e-book. The CDs are showing up on
bookshelves all over.
Wired, February 9, 2000
Digital
Publishing: From Arthur C. Clarke to Psoriasis
Tales
A look at digital publishing and why some big
name authors are giving it a try. Primarily
looks at Fatbrain.com's Ematter.
New York Times, February 7, 2000
The
Future of Publishing
This article by M.J. Rose shows us just how
far ebooks and epublishing have come in the
past year.
Spark Online, February 2000
January 2000
"I
would urge that we not fall all over ourselves
in our haste to filter all of our experience
through circuitries." -- Sven Birkerts,
Author of The Gutenberg Elegies : The Fate
of Reading in an Electronic Age
Gemstar's
Maneuver Into E-Books Hard to Read
Maker of TV-related products buys into
unproven market with eye on success through
licensing.
LA Times, January 24, 2000
Anyone Can
Be An Author on the Internet
A poorly written piece trying to encompass the
entire field of electronic publishing in 500
words.
Montreal Gazetter, January 22, 2000
The Pocket
Bookshelf (link expired)
The Rocket eBook is a step forward for ebooks,
but it's still far from what it needs to be if
electronic books are to catch on in a big way.
Boston Globe, January 20, 2000
The
Future of Print
A discussion of the threat that the Internet
poses to the printed word.
FT.com, January 19, 2000
Gemstar
Enters Electronic-Book Business Through
Acquisition of NuvoMedia Inc. and SoftBook
Press Inc.
Gemstar International Group Ltd. enters the
ebook business through the acquisition of the
two leading eBook companies, NuvoMedia Inc.
and SoftBook Press Inc.
BusinessWire, January 18, 2000
Open
Electronic Book Forum Formed To Develop
Standards For eBooks
A new forum is formed to help encourage
adoption of the OEB standard and the growth of
the electronic book industry.
OpenEbook.org, January 13, 2000
Microsoft,
Audible Sign Pact
Microsoft will integrate Audible technology
into its Microsoft Reader software making
Audible's audio books and information content
available to Microsoft Reader users.
FoxNews.com, January 7, 2000
Microsoft
Misses the Boat with Ebooks
Would Microsoft be better off investing in
downloadable audiobooks rather than in
electronic books?
E-commerce Times, January 7, 2000
Book
Editor Sees Ups, Downs in E-Book Prospects
There has been a great deal of hoopla over
electronic books and digitized content in the
last year or so but the practicalities of
e-books haven't yet measured up.
NACS, January 3, 2000
The
reading edge: The electronic revolution is
changing the way we buy, store and consume
books (link expired)
This article by editor Jane Henderson
discusses some of the pitfalls of electronic
publishing, and its potential impact on the
traditional publishing industry.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 2,
2000
It's Time
to Turn the Last Page
A look at how the shift to electronic books
will change the way we think about reading.
Newsweek, January 1, 2000
December
1999
"We
believe there is an electronic future."
-- Jack Romanos, Head of Simon &
Schuster's Trade Division.
Publishing
Industry Embracing Cyber-Frontier as 2000
Approaches
How the Internet is changing the way book
publishing works. CNN.com, December
30, 1999
Trying
to E-Right a Wrong
M.J. Rose looks at E-Rights.com, a new site
from agent, and now e-publisher, Richard
Curtis. E-Rights.com will revive out of print
titles, and E-Reads.com will supply them to
consumers.
Wired, December 27, 1999
E-Books
Turn over a New Leaf
A look at the e-book industry and the new Open
E-Book Standard.
Wired, December 27, 1999
Publishers
are Racing to Convert Books to Bytes
'Traditional publishers are cautiously
preparing for an uncharted future, digitizing
thousands of old backlist titles in
preparation for an e-new world where books can
live forever because they will never go out of
print. '
New York Times, December 9, 1999
An
Unbound Bestseller
Sales of The Best Laid Plans by Leta Nolan
Childers topped 6,000 copies, an e-book
record. It's an auspicious occasion for the
150-plus e-publishers who collectively offer
more than 3,000 titles, but who have struggled
for recognition from traditional publishing
houses.
Wired, December 8, 1999
Electronic
books an unfinished chapter (link expired)
Demand for digital is rising, but don't close
the cover on paper editions just yet
SiliconValley.com, December 8, 1999
Publishing
the Final Chapter... as an eBook
A brand new chapter of a book on Microsoft's
predatory business practices is published as
eMatter at Fatbrain.com. More about this and
eMatter's vision and goals.
About.com, December 2, 1999
November
1999
"Right
now, there are only a few thousand eBook
titles available, and that's not enough to get
people to move from paper to electronic
reading. We don't yet have an industry."
-- Dick Brass, VP Technology, Microsoft Corp,
November, 1999
Real
World Reviews for Ebooks
Foreword Magazine announces it will be the
first traditional media outlet to regularly
print e-book reviews - at least 5 per issue
starting January 1, 2000.
Wired News, November 29, 1999
Galleys,
'Publishers Weekly' Reviewers Go Digital
Publishers Weekly made a big deal out of this
- they reviewed a galley in Rocket eBook
format. While this really isn't as exciting as
they make it sound, it will be nice if
publishers can get away with sending an
e-galley rather than faking a print one.
Publishers Weekly, November 22, 1999
Is
This the End of the Story for Books?
"Will paper books, with their distinctive
smell and touch, the special, almost
trancelike intimacy they can engender between
writer and reader, vanish forever? And if so,
what will the experience of reading be like in
the 21st century?"
New York Times, November 20, 1999
Beyond
Gutenberg
An article by none other than Bill Gates
explaining how and why e-books will
revolutionize the publishing industry. If Bill
is for you, who can stand against you?
Microsoft.com, November 19, 1999
Getting
a Read on Ebooks
"Electronic books have been slow to catch
on among consumers, but big Internet companies
are betting that the time for e-books has
come."
ABC News.com, November 9, 1999
Can
e-Publishing Upstarts Upset Traditional
Powerhouses?
Web self-publishing and digital-rights
management technology are poised to push
old-school publishing giants aside.
CNN.com, November 9, 1999
AlexLit.com
Buys Mind's Eye Fiction
In the first industry consolidation,
Alexandria Digital Literature (AlexLit.com)
announced its purchase of competitor Mind's
Eye Fiction at the World Fantasy Convention in
Providence, Rhode Island.
Xpress.com (press release), November
9, 1999
E-Publishing
Challenges the Gatekeeper Model
Comparing e-publishing with MP3 and the music
industry, this article discusses whether
traditional publishers will be able to
"ride the electronic wave, rather than
drown in its wake."
IDG.net, November 8, 1999
Microsoft,
R.R. Donnelley Plan eBook Titles
Microsoft and R.R. Donnelley & Sons
announce a joint effort to provide large
numbers of eBook titles to users of Microsoft
Reader software.
CNN.com, November 5, 1999
Scarcity
of Titles Slowing E-Book Progress?
Are there few e-book users because there are
few titles available electronically, or are
there few electronic titles because the number
of e-book users is so small?
NACS, November 2, 1999
October 1999
The
Rocket: Consumer Device Or Business Tool?
This article takes a look at the technical
capabilities and durability of the Rocket
eBook, and concludes it is an ideal tool for
business applications outside of harsh
environments.
TechWeb, October 25, 1999
Why
is Microsoft Hawking e-Books?
E-books will never catch on, this writer says,
no matter how much Microsoft would like to see
the book replaced by something it can control.
ZDNet, October 15, 1999
Paper-Free
Future
"The future is electronic. The past is
paper." This article Microsoft's claims
about the future of electronic books and, in
particular, the Microsoft Reader.
ABC News, October 14, 1999
New
Awards Aimed at Spurring the Creation of
High-Quality eBooks for Readers Everywhere
Microsoft announces its sponsorship of the
Frankfurt eBook Awards - seven awards totaling
$160,000, including a $100,000 grand prize for
a work originally published in eBook form.
Microsoft.com, October 13, 1999
Ebook
Bandwagon Filling Up
Announcements by Adobe, Fatbrain and Microsoft
may speed up the pace of consumer acceptance
of ebooks.
Canada Computer Paper, October 1999
September
1999
"It
is critical for the success of the eBook
industry to unite and provide publishers and
consumers with a common standard by which all
eBooks can be formatted."
-- Dick Brass, VP Technology, Microsoft Corp,
September, 1999
New
e-Book Standard Launched
The Open E-book Authoring Group announces the
Open Ebook Publication Structure version 1.0.
ZDNet, September 21, 1999
Paving
the Way for the Books of the Future
Microsoft's take on the OEB standard release.
Microsoft.com, September 21, 1999
E-books
inch closer to bookshelves
Information on the Adobe Web Buy release, and
some information on consumer preferences and
ebooks.
IDG.net, September 3, 1999
Microsoft
Predicts the Death of Paper
Microsoft predicts that within 20 years
publishers will no longer be printing their
books, newspapers, and magazines on dead
trees.
About.com, September 2, 1999
E-Books:
Read 'em and Keep
News of Adobe's PDF Merchant technologies, and
Fatbrain.com's eMatter from the Seybold
Seminars conference.
Wired News, September 1, 1999
August 1999
"Wood
has taken us about as far as it can as a
reading medium. The replacement of paper books
is as inevitable as the replacement of the
horse by the car." --Dick Brass,
Microsoft
Cutting
Paper
Microsoft has introduced new software for
easier reading on a computer. Will it lead to
a publishing revolution?
ABCNews.com, August 30, 1999
Electronic
books still an incomplete work
Mercury News' Computing Editor find that
considerable technological progress is
required before ebook reader devices will be
accepted as a viable alternative to the
printed page.
San Jose Mercury News, August 28,
1999
July 1999
Some
Electrifying Reading
A look at the work being done at MIT Media Lab
on E-Ink, and the future of newspapers that
print themselves.
ABCNews.com, July 16, 1999
E-bookmaker
makes fed push
The Defense Department is exploring whether to
use electronic books to distribute training
materials under a pilot project with digital
bookmaker SoftBook Press Inc.
Federal Computer Week, July 5, 1999
Create
Your Own Virtual Books
An article about KeeBoo, a piece of software
that lets you create and share your own
virtual books.
CNN.com, July 2, 1999
June 1999
Crack
Open an E-Book
The Ebooks are coming - announcements about
the upcoming release of the Rocket eBook and
Softbook, as well as comments from those who
are resisting the new technology.
ABCNews.com, June 30, 1999
Microsoft
Banks on ClearType to Spur Electronic Books
More Dick Brass quotes and information on
ClearType. Notable near the bottom of the
article is an admission by Brass that
Microsoft is considering becoming an ebook
distributor/ebookstore.
CNN.com, June 18, 1999
Book
Burnout
A discussion of the publishing industry's
reluctance to accept electronic-publishing.
Why are Rocket eBooks from major publishers
more expensive than hardcovers? Why no mention
of ebooks on websites of major industry
players? Chalk it up to fear of the unknown,
and resistance to change.
The Standard, June 11, 1999
New
Technology Prints Books While You Wait
An article about InstaBook Corp, and print on
demand technology. Walk into your bookstore,
search for the book you want at the computer
screen, click to purchase, and in less than 5
minutes have a perfect bound copy in your
hands. Awesome.
Forbes.com, June 4, 1999
Palm
Reading
A nice article about peanutpress and their
ebooks and ebook software created for the Palm
Pilot.
Canada Computer Paper, June 1999
May 1999
Electronic
Books for All
Glassbook will offer a standard way to
download e-books from bookstores or libraries.
PC World.com, May 7, 1999
E-books
Draw Crowds, No Converts
Folks at BookExpo America were interested in
the Rocket eBook, but few were willing to
relinquish their print books in favor of the
electronic version.
Wired News, May 3, 1999
1998 News
"The
baby-boomer woman doesn't want to read her
Oprah selection at the beach on one of these
things."
-- Jeff Lefevere, Publisher Rep. at Macmillan
Computer Publishing on the Rocket eBook,
October 1998
E-Book's
Bash in the Big Apple
Article about the formal launch of the Rocket
eBook. The predictions some publishers were
making at the time have already been proven
false. Interesting reading.
Wired News, October 23, 1998
RWA
Conference/eBook Fair
About.com's Romance Fiction Guide reports on
the Romance Writers of America Conference and
E-book Fair.
About.com, July 27, 1998
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