Diesel-eBooks.com Announces Direct Partnership with Richard Curtis’ E-Reads

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 1, 2011

Contact: Kelley L. Allen
Phone: (908) 294-1818

Leveraging the power of Diesel’s new Web store platform, E-Reads has designated Diesel-eBooks.com its preferred eBook retailer.

Richmond, VA—Feb. XX, 2011 – The Diesel eBook Store , one of the world’s largest independent eBook stores, today announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with E-Reads, a leading publisher of quality fiction and nonfiction reprints. Richard Curtis, founder of E-Reads and president of a leading literary agency, is a highly respected and innovative figure in the publishing world.

As part of the agreement, Diesel-eBooks.com will be the preferred retailer of E-Reads’ extensive list of titles on the E-Reads.com’s site. All E-Reads eBooks will be sold without encryption.

E-reads has an extensive catalog of 1200 eBook titles by renowned authors in a variety of genres including romance, science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller Authors include Hannah Howell, Harlan Ellison, Greg Bear, Robert Silverberg, Dan Simmons, William C. Dietz, Janet Dailey, Jennifer Blake, Alan Dean Foster and John Norman, to name just a few.

“Diesel has soared to a prominent place among e-book retailers and we‘re very gratified to cast our lot with them,” said Richard Curtis, President of E-Reads.

“E-Reads is an industry pioneer and Richard Curtis has always been a strong voice for eBooks. We are so thrilled to have them on board as a direct publisher,” said Scott Redford, owner of Diesel-eBooks.com

As part of the deal, a new proprietary PubDesk interface, through which the publisher can access its inventory, run reports and modify its metadata, has been created and will launch shortly on Diesel-eBooks.com.

Diesel-eBooks.com launched its brand new eBook retailing platform in December 2010 and is unique in the marketplace for their expanded categories and their ability to host customer created bundles. Their new site also boosts a suite of new features such as the “Deal of the Day”, social networking , video integration, access to over two million free eBooks via partnerships with Google and Smashwords and a new and improved search engine.

About the Diesel eBook Store
Launching in December 2004, Diesel-eBooks.com is one of the world’s largest independent eBook stores, offering over 2.4 million original eBook titles including hundreds of exclusive cyber bundles for deep discounts. Based in Richmond, Virginia, Diesel-eBooks.com sells titles from hundreds of publishers including Harlequin, HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons, Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, O’Reilly, Penguin, Random House, and Smashwords and in multiple formats including ePub, Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket, and Palm/eReader and PDF for all eBook devices and eReading hardware. Forty categories and 2,700 sub-categories mean customers find it faster at Diesel eBooks.

About E-Reads
Founded in 1999 at the dawn of the digital era by renowned literary agent, Richard Curtis, E-Reads™ is the oldest independent e-book publisher in the field and an innovative leader in the modern book industry. Their mission is to bring out-of-print books back in electronic and print formats and create an independent e-book market for authors.

Leveraging the power of Diesel’s new Web store platform, E-Reads has designated Diesel-eBooks.com its preferred e-book retailer.

The Diesel eBook Store , one of the world’s largest independent eBook stores, today announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with E-Reads, a leading publisher of quality fiction and nonfiction reprints. Richard Curtis, founder of E-Reads and president of a leading literary agency, is a highly respected and innovative figure in the publishing world.

As part of the agreement, Diesel-eBooks.com will be the preferred retailer of E-Reads’ extensive list of titles on the E-Reads.com’s site. All E-Reads eBooks will be sold without encryption.

E-reads has an extensive catalog of 1200 eBook titles by renowned authors in a variety of genres including romance, science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller Authors include Hannah Howell, Harlan Ellison, Greg Bear, Robert Silverberg, Dan Simmons, William C. Dietz, Janet Dailey, Jennifer Blake, Alan Dean Foster and John Norman, to name just a few.

Read the full announcement here.

A recent innovation for funding movie script and other creative projects is the website Kickstarter.com. You just had to know it would come to books and now it has. It’s called Unbound.co.uk.

According to Wired’s UK website, “Three writers have teamed up to launch a new publishing platform — Unbound — that allows authors to pitch their book ideas directly to readers who then pledge their support through funding.”

Here’s how it works: “Authors upload their ideas to Unbound.co.uk and readers then choose the ideas that they like and pledge their support (from £10 to funding the entire book). Once the idea has enough supporters, the book is written and supporters receive a clothbound limited Unbound First Edition with their name in it. Supporters can track the creative process via the author’s private area or ‘shed’, where they can read the author’s blog, watch interviews and meet other supporters. Rewards for higher pledges include an invitation to the book launch party and lunch with the author.”

Okay, authors, time to kiss up to rich Aunt Edna…

For details read Kickstarter for Book Launches

Credit for the first fan-financed story goes to Stephen King, but here’s a cautionary tale: even so august a name as King struggled to make the venture pay for his story The Plant.   Here is Wikipedia’s summary:

In 2000, King published the novella Riding the Bullet over the internet, making it the world’s first mass-market e-book. However, there were technical problems with downloading, and hackers eventually cracked the encryption on it.

Later that year, King decided to release The Plant directly via his website, unencrypted and in installments. People could pay a one-dollar fee for each installment using the honor system. He threatened, however, to drop the project if the percentage of paying readers fell below 75 percent. He viewed the release as an experiment in alternate forms of distribution, writing on his website at the time, “My friends, we have the chance to become Big Publishing’s worst nightmare.”

More than 200,000 customers downloaded free copies of the story in a 24-hour promotion through the Barnes and Noble website.[citation needed]

The book received over the desired 75 percent for its first installment, but this fell to 70 percent after installment two. With the third installment, the numbers surged back up to 75 percent.[citation needed]

King decided to double the cost of the fourth part of the novel to two dollars, while at the same time doubling the number of pages to 54. He also promised to cap the total cost of the entire book at a total of 13 dollars. Paying readers dropped to 46 percent of downloads. The number of downloads decreased overall as well.[citation needed]

The last installment was published on December 18, 2000. The book has yet to be completed.

Richard Curtis

The next time your wife complains that you never hear what she is saying to you, plead inattentional deafness. Tell her that it has been scientifically confirmed that your brain capacity cannot accommodate both visual and hearing senses at the same time. Cite the report in the Daily Mail that “Scientists demonstrated that when someone focuses their full attention on something, they can become deaf to normally audible sounds.” “Inattentional Deafness” is the formal name of the syndrome.

Your wife in all probability will have long ago reached a conclusion about the limits of your brain capacity and may commonly resort to getting your attention by whacking the carapace of your skull with a rolled up issue of Vogue. But now that your inattentiveness is grounded in the diligent investigations of neuroscientists you have a perfect excuse for not responding to her. You should therefore carry a book with you at all times and keep your nose buried in it, whether or not you are interested in it or indeed whether or not you are even literate, lest you be bereft of an excuse when you do not hear her addressing a question to you.

Inattentional deafness may have graver consequences than a lump on your pate, for it is also the reason why your visual acuity as a driver may be compromised by listening to the radio or an audiobook – or to that selfsame wife. So, for safety’s sake, you may have to choose between looking and listening.

You can read details of the experiment in Lost in a book? How reading and doing crosswords can block your ability to hear

No sexism is implied in this article. A variety of experiments, such as one published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, confirm that women are more attentive than men. These findings were reinforced by an informal survey undertaken by this blogger at Clancy’s in Times Square, where for some reason a preponderance of male patrons were immersed in books.  In response to being asked if they paid attention to their wives 85% of the respondents said “Huh?”  The same question was then posed to male non-readers. Only 65% responded “Huh?” (and 25% responded “What the hell business is it of yours?”) The remaining respondents concurred with the man who said he paid one hundred percent attention to his wife ten percent of the time.

Richard Curtis

Each thriller by Ray Garton that E-Reads reissues reaffirms his unmatched role as a master of dark and horrifying suspense.  Dark Channel is no exception.

People from across the country and around the globe are coming to the mountain retreat of Hester Thorne, the enthralling leader of the Universal Enlightened Alliance. They are coming to hear the comforting wisdom and messages of peace offered by Orrin, the centuries-old entity that Hester channels. They are coming to donate their money and time to Hester, the Alliance and Orrin. And some are chosen to make a more significant contribution…a greater sacrifice.

Jordan Cross is looking for a reporter who disappeared while investigating the truth behind the Alliance….Lauren Schroeder is trying to find her husband, who joined the Alliance and kidnapped their son….Together, they will go behind the Universal Enlightened Alliance’s false front of crystals and meditation and life-affirming positivity to discover the terrifying truth of an ancient cult bent on tearing down the wall between this world and one of unspeakable evil. The process has begun and the final dark rites are underway. It may already be too late…

As is his custom, Garton has written a deeply personal essay describing the inspiration for Dark Channel. Read Dark Channel: The Story Behind the Book and you will understand what provoked this Grand Master of the Horror Writers of America to reach into the heart of darkness and bring back this disturbing trophy.

“They’ve taken Paris,” Laura said.
Everyone stared at her. She was interpreting for the family the excited German issuing from the radio in staccato bursts.
“Are you sure?” Alain demanded.
“He says the troops are marching down the Champs Elysees,” Laura answered.
“Oh, my God,” Brigitte moaned, turning away and putting her hands to her face.

That is the opening passage of Clash By Night, a love story by Doreen Owens Malek that throbs in counterpoint to the tramp of boots as war spreads across Europe.

The Germans have taken Paris, and those heavy bootsteps menace the small French village of Fain les Sources. Many flee, but a few brave souls stay to start up a Resistance. Their futures are unsure, but pride and desperation push them forward. For three women, one question tears at their hearts: Can love overcome the wages of war?

In this stunning work of romance, author Doreen Owens Malek paints a portrait of patriotism and passion struggling to survive as the countryside burns during WWII. From the earliest days of the Occupation to the promised freedom of liberation, Clash by Night will clutch your heart and never let go.

Clash by Night introduces E-Reads’ reissue program of Doreen Owens Malek’s romantic fiction. Keep an eye on her author page for more.

Publishers Weekly‘s Judith Rosen described e-books as “the elephant in the Javits Center.” There was indeed an elephant there but I don’t think it was e-books.

Javits is of course the coliseum where the publishing industry assembles annually to celebrate books, extol brick and mortar bookshops and glorify booksellers at Book Expo America. Visitors perform the ritual known as “the crawl,” strolling up and down the aisles of the 675,000 square foot coliseum like browsers in a bookshop the size of Versailles. Though references to digital technology are plentiful they are not inescapable.  You can actually pretend that the book is the reigning artifact of civilized humanity and that the Red Death is not standing outside the ballroom patiently waiting for our dance to be over.

Oren Teicher, the CEO of the American Bookseller Association, shattered the fantasy by reminding his constituency that the plague was already in the room and they damned well need to do something to expel it. “The simple fact is that to most consumers, if you don’t exist online you simply don’t exist,” he said.

To prevent the the printed book from becoming “a relic of an antique era” he called for a host of new business models. The one that raised our eyebrows was ending the returnability of books. If anything is a relic of an antique era it’s the custom of permitting bookstores to return unsold stock to publisher for full credit.  Whatever good reason for instituting returnability a long time ago it has done more to undermine the publishing industry than an invasion force of Kindles, Nooks and iPads.  If anyone seeks the real elephant in the Javits center it is this pernicious practice, and if Mr. Teicher knows of a practical way to expel the beast, we welcome the endeavor.

See BEA 2011: Teicher Calls for New Retail Business Models

Richard Curtis

The following article was published in June 2009.  In view of Amazon’s announcement of the creation of a New York book publishing initiative, we thought you might find it relevant.

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Lev Grossman and Andrea Sachs write in Time magazine about our love-hate relationship with Amazon. Their conclusion? It depends on who’s doing the loving and who’s doing the hating. Defining Amazon is about as easy for us as defining the elephant was for the blind monks of Chinese legend. Time succinctly states the case:

“Amazon has diversified itself so comprehensively over the past five years that it’s hard to say exactly what it is anymore. Amazon has a presence in almost every niche of the book industry. It runs a print-on-demand service (BookSurge) and a self-publishing service (CreateSpace). It sells e-books and an e-device to read them on (the Kindle, a new version of which, the DX, went on sale June 10). In 2008 alone, Amazon acquired Audible.com a leading audiobooks company; AbeBooks, a major online used-book retailer; and Shelfari, a Facebook-like social network for readers. In April of this year, it snapped up Lexcycle, which makes an e-reading app for the iPhone called Stanza.”

As if all that were not enough, Amazon has now become a publisher, too….

To continue click here.

Richard Curtis

This is Book Expo America Week. Though it has traditionally been a celebration of printed books, more and more attention is paid by exhibitors and fans to electronic books.  The following article, published on the Clarion Blog, is adapted from Richard Curtis’s 2011 keynote speech at the Writers Digest Conference.

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Since the Kindle was introduced in 2007 we’ve seen scores of rival gadgets, all touted as Kindle Killers. The Nook can do this and the iPad can do that and the Sony can do the other thing. And it’s true, they’re all wonderful in their own way. But I want to talk about a reading device that I’m crazy about that I think has been neglected in this tidal wave of hype.

Behold, emerging from 500 years of beta testing, the real Kindle Killer.

To continue click here.

Richard Curtis

For some time it’s been clear that Amazon was moving in the direction of original publication, such as its announcement of a romance line and the hiring of a science fiction editor.  But no one could foresee that Amazon would jump in with both feet.  That has changed with a blockbuster announcement that will undoubtedly dominate Book Expo America and create major earthquakes in the book industry landscape.

According to an Amazon source, Laurence Kirshbaum, former CEO of the Time-Warner Book Group and more recently a literary agent, “has accepted the role of Publisher for Amazon’s New York publishing office, effective July 5th.”

Kirshbaum will assemble an editorial team that will develop and manage new Amazon imprints “with a focus on acquiring the highest quality books in literary and commercial fiction, YA, business and general non-fiction,” said the source.

What will happen to Kirshbaum’s literary agency is just one of many questions that will be answered in weeks to come.

Richard Curtis