Stephen Roxburgh, founder of a small press called namelos llc., has written a guest editorial in Publishers Weekly defending Amazon.com against accusations of predatory behavior and thanking it for its support, without which namelos might not have survived.

Besides the obvious boost in e-book sales, Amazon’s POD program made a huge difference for this embryonic press. “Our new company publishes titles simultaneously in hardcover and paperback using print-on-demand technology, and e-books. Because our books are nonreturnable, most booksellers will not carry them. Amazon does.”

Though Amazon may not strike many as being in need of friends, Roxburgh feels the behemoth has been excessively vilified. “Not since Hester Prynne walked out of prison with an infant in her arms and ‘a rag of scarlet cloth’ in the shape of the letter A has there been such public hue and cry as Amazon has provoked in the past few weeks,” he declares. “From the point of view of this lunatic fringe publisher, Amazon, with all its glitches and stumbles, is crucial to our success. And I, for one, applaud the innovation and transformation Amazon has brought to the publishing world.”

Okay, that’s one. Anybody want to make it two?

We will. Without Amazon’s retail clout and marketing genius, E-Reads would still be in the dark ages of the 20th century (when it was founded).  We are also happy to shout out our other indispensable partners: BN.com, Ingram, LightningSource, Apple, Sony, Google, Kobo, Diesel, Content Reserve, Baker & Taylor and Fictionwise. In 2011 E-Reads sales exceed $1 million and we could not have done it without them.

For Roxburgh’s full editorial in PW, click here.

Richard Curtis

This just in…

An important message from Kobo

As we get ready for what will surely be the biggest ebook holiday season ever, I am writing to share some exciting news. Kobo has accomplished some incredible things in the past two years: over 5 million users in more than 100 countries, great new devices like Kobo Touch and Vox, top-rated apps and cloud-based reading. And now it gets better…

Today, we are happy to announce that Rakuten Inc., one of the world’s leading e-commerce companies, has entered into an agreement to acquire Kobo Inc. from Indigo Books & Music for approximately $315 million. I have attached the full press release below with all of the details about the transaction, and we will be available to answer any questions you have in the coming days. In the meantime, while the news is fresh, I wanted to personally share a few important points about this exciting next step for Kobo.

Still Kobo – Kobo plans to keep its head office in Toronto, operating under the Kobo brand. Our teams in New York, London, Paris, Hamburg, Barcelona and Melbourne will keep going strong. We will continue to function as a stand-alone operation. Our CEO and senior management team will remain unchanged, and our teams for everything from publisher relations to R&D will continue to be filled with the same passionate collection of technology-obsessed book-lovers. Our daily enthusiastic collaboration with publishers and our ongoing relationships with partner retailers will continue as usual.

More competitive – From the very beginning, it has been our goal to be the world’s leading global eReading company. In fulfilling that goal, we are competing against the world’s largest ecommerce company, bookstore chain, hardware company, and search engine. We need scale and resources to continue our winning streak. Rakuten’s position as one of the world’s top 3 e-commerce companies will allow us to be an even stronger competitor in the markets where we currently operate, with access to new resources so that we can continue to push the boundaries of eReading.

Aggressively global –Rakuten’s growing global network of companies, combined with Kobo’s position as the fastest-moving player in international ebooks, means more Kobo in more countries more quickly. We will continue to build on our partnerships with top-tier retailers like WH Smith, FNAC, Media Markt and Collins and look forward to adding more in the months to come.

Business as usual (even faster!) – You will continue to work with the same great group of people, all deeply dedicated to selling your books and promoting your authors. Over time, our hope is that you see us grow even faster, with a continuing focus on innovation in everything from device design to social reading, all with the goal of putting more great books in the hands of readers

Once again, I want to emphasize our continuing commitment to our publishing partners and our shared desire to continue as an even stronger competitive force in the global market for ebooks. If you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to get in touch with Ami Greko at agreko@kobo.com or email me directly at mt@kobo.com.

Sincerely yours,

Michael Tamblyn
Executive Vice President, Content, Sales and Merchandising
Kobo, Inc.

Full Press Release here.

E-Reads is giving away Kobo Reader gift cards worth $25.00 to two lucky winners. To enter, all you have to do is sign up for the E-Reads newsletter.  The offer ends July 4th.  Winners will be selected at random.

Kobo is a global e-book retailer offering over 2.3 million e-books to readers in over two hundred countries. The company supports ePub and enables readers to read its e-books on their smartphone, Sony Reader, laptop, or any other device they choose. About Kobo’s recently released eReader Touch Huffington Post raved, “…Makes massive ultra-modern leaps…”

Click here to participate.

Technologist Jason Perlow has done an analysis of e-book reading apps available on your iPad, and it would be a good idea for you to see what he has to say before downloading any of them.

“The average iPad user may not be aware of features or limitations in the various e-Reader apps available on the App Store,” he says, “so I’m going to try to boil this down so that you can make the appropriate choices which best fit your reading lifestyle.”

You may be surprised, maybe even shocked, by his conclusions. Here in condensed form are his takes on some of the more prominent apps.

iBooks

“While there is no doubting iBooks’ success in terms of its widespread use, of all the reader applications we’ve looked at, it is actually the least functional. Apple designed iBooks to behave and act like a real book, and focused more on the aesthetics and UI than actual App functionality with the initial release….”

“iBooks supports syncing of DRM-free EPUB and PDF content directly to the iPad thru iTunes. This is an excellent feature, but essentially locks the user down to using iTunes as the primary data transfer mechanism and thus requires a host PC or Macintosh in order to maintain the library…”

“Unfortunately, iBooks doesn’t scale very well as the size of your EPUB library increases. While iBooks is perfectly fine for a few dozen or perhaps a hundred or so books purchased from the iBooks Store or synced into iTunes, it is extremely unwieldy once you approach 300+ titles loaded into the database.”

[One issue Perlow doesn't mention is cited by blogger Thomas Baekdal, who writes: "You've already purchased this book but it isn't available for redownload. To purchase it again at full price, tap OK" and his comment is, "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!?"]

Kindle for iPad

“Amazon still has the widest array of paid ebook content in existence, with well over 600,000 titles in inventory. However, from a feature perspective, the Kindle software is pretty weak when compared to its hardware counterpart — you can’t import other file formats into it (such as PDFs or .MOBI files) and it only works with titles you’ve purchased in the Kindle store.”

Barnes & Noble eReader

“Of all the paid content readers, by far the best one in existence is probably the Barnes & Noble eReader application. About the only negative thing I can say about it is that like Kindle for iPad, the application is limited to content purchased on the B&N website, and uses the same Safari web interface for purchasing.”

“Other than that flaw, I love this app — the reading experience is far superior to that of the Kindle application, as it has five customizable themes for different colors of text and background and has the best reading fonts I’ve seen in any of the apps I looked at, especially when viewed in the ‘Earl Grey’ theme that almost has me convinced I’m looking at e-Ink and not an LCD.”

“Margins can be adjusted directly from page view to make maximum use of the screen if you’d like. The content browsing interface is also much more elegant than that of iBooks or Kindle for iPad.”

Kobo Reader / Borders eBooks

“Kobo Reader for iPad is…extremely polished and very well-designed.
Kobo’s main benefit is that it supports many different computing and smartphone platforms, so you can have all of your content available with you wherever you go. Like Kindle and B&N, your content is stored in Kobobooks.com’s cloud, so it doesn’t matter if you are using Kobo for iPad, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Palm, PC or Mac…”

“The Kobo reader application is one of the nicest looking on the iPad platform, although it isn’t nearly as feature rich as B&N’s or Stanza from a pure reading perspective. However, the text display is very nice, and you have four scalable fonts to choose from plus a White-on-Black “Night Reading” mode.”

Stanza

“Of all the applications listed here, Stanza is actually a very mature e-reader app, this despite only very recently being made iPad-native with version 3, in early June…
Stanza is by far the most sophisticated e-Reader application for iPad, as it supports not only the open EPUB format but also the legacy Mobipocket, PalmDoc (DOC), Microsoft LIT formats as well as HTML, PDF, Microsoft Word and Rich Text Format (RTF). This built-in compatibility eliminates the need for book conversion to EPUB with applications such as Calibre…”

“In addition to its connectivity features, Stanza has access to a wide variety of free book feeds… It has a wide array of font styles and color themes, and many options for text layout…”

“If you have lots of content that you’ve collected over the years, Stanza is definitely a must-have app. There’s absolutely no downside, it’s free to use and does more than any e-book reader app on this list.”

For the complete article, check out Apple iPad Showdown: Battle of the eReader Apps

Richard Curtis

E-Reads has responded to the surge in new e-book retailers with an upload of more than 200 titles to Apple iPad, Kobo, Diesel and Google editions.  The ten year old publisher, a leading independent in the e-book and print on demand space, is currently converting its 1000+ title inventory to the specific specs of these and other newcomers in the retail field, as well as older customers.  And of course, you can visit your favorite retailer where you’ll eventually see all E-Reads titles on sale.

Among authors in E-Reads’ upload are Harlan Ellison, Greg Bear, John Norman, Dave Duncan, William C. Dietz, Fritz Leiber, Sean Williams, Janet Dailey, Nancy J. Cohen, and Hannah Howell. Click here for the complete list of June uploads. And remember, that’s just the first of many. So…watch this space for news of new uploads

In the Beginning: Science Faces God in the Book of Genesis – Asimov, Isaac
Mariposa – Bear, Greg
Beyond Heaven’s River – Bear, Greg
The Venging – Bear, Greg
Psychlone – Bear, Greg
Quantico – Bear, Greg
Women in Deep Time – Bear, Greg
Anvil of Stars – Bear, Greg
Blood Music – Bear, Greg
Dinosaur Summer – Bear, Greg
Eternity – Bear, Greg
Queen of Angels – Bear, Greg
Hardfought – Bear, Greg
The Jaguar Princess – Bell, Clare
People of the Sky – Bell, Clare
Happy Endings and More Happy Endings: Uplifting End of Life Stories (Two-In-One Volume) – Bell, Lorna
Ariel – Boyett, Steven R.
Great Siege, The – Bradford, Ernle
The Dream Compass – Bredenberg, Jeff
The Dream Vessel – Bredenberg, Jeff
Talking Back to Prozac – Breggin, M.D., Peter
Quipu – Broderick, Damien
Hyperthought – Buckner, M. M.
War Surf – Buckner, M. M.
The Coin-Giver – Buckner, M. M.
Hair Raiser – Cohen, Nancy
Murder by Manicure – Cohen, Nancy
Body Wave – Cohen, Nancy
Permed to Death – Cohen, Nancy
Highlights to Heaven – Cohen, Nancy
Died Blonde – Cohen, Nancy
Dead Roots – Cohen, Nancy
Killer Knots – Cohen, Nancy
Perish by Pedicure – Cohen, Nancy
The Coroner’s Lunch – Cotterill, Colin
Thirty-Three Teeth – Cotterill, Colin
How to Prosper In the Coming Apocalypse – Curtis, Richard
Tangled Vines – Dailey, Janet
Aspen Gold – Dailey, Janet
A Land Called Deseret – Dailey, Janet
A Lyon’s Share – Dailey, Janet
A Tradition of Pride – Dailey, Janet
After the Storm – Dailey, Janet
Bed of Grass – Dailey, Janet
Beware of the Stranger – Dailey, Janet
Big Sky Country – Dailey, Janet
Bluegrass King – Dailey, Janet
Boss Man From Ogallala – Dailey, Janet
Dakota Dreamin’ – Dailey, Janet
Dangerous Masquerade – Dailey, Janet
Darling Jenny – Dailey, Janet
Difficult Decision – Dailey, Janet
Enemy in Camp – Dailey, Janet
For Mike’s Sake – Dailey, Janet
Giant of Mesabi – Dailey, Janet
Green Mountain Man – Dailey, Janet
Heart of Stone – Dailey, Janet
Heiress – Dailey, Janet
Kona Winds – Dailey, Janet
Land of Enchantment – Dailey, Janet
Lord of the High Lonesome – Dailey, Janet
Low Country Liar – Dailey, Janet
Night of the Cotillion – Dailey, Janet
Northern Magic – Dailey, Janet
One of the Boys – Dailey, Janet
Reilly’s Woman – Dailey, Janet
Savage Land – Dailey, Janet
Sentimental Journey – Dailey, Janet
Show Me – Dailey, Janet
Six White Horses – Dailey, Janet
Sonora Sundown – Dailey, Janet
Southern Nights – Dailey, Janet
Strange Bedfellow – Dailey, Janet
Summer Mahogany – Dailey, Janet
That Boston Man – Dailey, Janet
That Carolina Summer – Dailey, Janet
The Bride of the Delta Queen – Dailey, Janet
The Homeplace – Dailey, Janet
The Indy Man – Dailey, Janet
The Mating Season – Dailey, Janet
The Thawing of Mara – Dailey, Janet
The Widow and the Wastrel – Dailey, Janet
Tidewater Lover – Dailey, Janet
To Tell the Truth – Dailey, Janet
Valley of the Vapours – Dailey, Janet
Wild and Wonderful – Dailey, Janet
With a Little Luck – Dailey, Janet
No Quarter Asked – Dailey, Janet
The Inquest – Dando-Collins, Stephen
Starrigger – DeChancie, John
Galactic Bounty – Dietz, William C.
Imperial Bounty – Dietz, William C.
Alien Bounty – Dietz, William C.
McCade’s Bounty – Dietz, William C.
Bodyguard – Dietz, William C.
Drifter – Dietz, William C.
Drifter’s Run – Dietz, William C.
Drifter’s War – Dietz, William C.
Snake Eye – Dietz, William C.
The Reluctant Swordsman – Duncan, Dave
The Coming of Wisdom – Duncan, Dave
The Destiny of the Sword – Duncan, Dave
Past Imperative – Duncan, Dave
Present Tense – Duncan, Dave
Future Indefinite – Duncan, Dave
Strings – Duncan, Dave
Hero! – Duncan, Dave
Budayeen Nights – Effinger , George
Gentleman Junkie – Ellison, Harlan
Memos from Purgatory – Ellison, Harlan
Paingod and Other Delusions – Ellison, Harlan
Shatterday – Ellison, Harlan
Spider Kiss – Ellison, Harlan
Web of the City – Ellison, Harlan
Ellison Wonderland – Ellison, Harlan
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream – Ellison, Harlan
Approaching Oblivion – Ellison, Harlan
Children of the Streets – Ellison, Harlan
An Edge in my Voice – Ellison, Harlan
Dangerous Visions – Ellison, Harlan
City on the Edge of Forever, The – Ellison, Harlan
The Deadly Streets – Ellison, Harlan
Deathbird Stories – Ellison, Harlan
From the Land of Fear – Ellison, Harlan
No Doors, No Windows – Ellison, Harlan
Harlan Ellison’s Movie – Ellison, Harlan
Partners in Wonder – Ellison, Harlan
Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed – Ellison, Harlan
Stalking the Nightmare – Ellison, Harlan
The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World – Ellison, Harlan
Strange Wine – Ellison, Harlan
Love Ain’t Nothing But Sex Misspelled – Ellison, Harlan
Over the Edge – Ellison, Harlan
Again, Dangerous Visions – Ellison, Harlan
The Harlan Ellison Hornbook – Ellison, Harlan
Vic and Blood – Ellison, Harlan
Troublemakers – Ellison, Harlan
Rewind – England, Terry
Lot Lizards – Garton, Ray
The Loveliest Dead – Garton, Ray
Sex and Violence in Hollywood – Garton, Ray
On Killing – Grossman, Lt. Col. Dave
Fractured Emerald: Ireland – Hahn, Emily
Floating Worlds – Holland, Cecelia
Highland Bride – Howell, Hannah
Highland Destiny – Howell, Hannah
Highland Champion – Howell, Hannah
Highland Angel – Howell, Hannah
Highland Groom – Howell, Hannah
Highland Hearts – Howell, Hannah
Highland Knight – Howell, Hannah
Highland Savage – Howell, Hannah
Highland Wedding – Howell, Hannah
Highland Vow – Howell, Hannah
Highland Promise – Howell, Hannah
Highland Warrior – Howell, Hannah
Highland Honor – Howell, Hannah
Highland Conqueror – Howell, Hannah
Highland Wolf – Howell, Hannah
EMT: Beyond the Lights and Sirens – Ivey, Pat
Chase the Lightning – Jones, Linda Winstead
Let Me Come In – Jones, Linda Winstead
No Angel’s Grace – Jones, Linda Winstead
The Incredible Voyage – Jones, Tristan
Seagulls in My Soup – Jones, Tristan
Outward Leg – Jones, Tristan
Somewheres East of Suez – Jones, Tristan
The Improbable Voyage – Jones, Tristan
Yarns – Jones, Tristan
AKA – Jones, Tristan
Science Says – Kaplan, Rob
Season of Sacrifice – Klasky, Mindy
Creative Divorce – Krantzler, Mel
Lebenthal on Munis – Lebenthal, Jim
Swords Against Death – Leiber, Fritz
Swords Against Wizardry – Leiber, Fritz
Swords and Ice Magic – Leiber, Fritz
Swords in the Mist – Leiber, Fritz
The Knight and Knave of Swords – Leiber, Fritz
The Swords of Lankhmar – Leiber, Fritz
Swords and Deviltry – Leiber, Fritz
Big Time, The – Leiber, Fritz
Our Lady of Darkness – Leiber, Fritz
Profane Men – Miller, Rex
Assassin’s Play-Off – Murphy, Warren
Created, The Destroyer – Murphy, Warren
Sipping from the Nile – Naggar, Jean
Assassin of Gor – Norman, John
Hunters of Gor – Norman, John
Marauders of Gor – Norman, John
Nomads of Gor – Norman, John
Outlaw of Gor – Norman, John
Priest-Kings of Gor – Norman, John
Raiders of Gor – Norman, John
Tarnsman of Gor – Norman, John
Tribesmen of Gor – Norman, John
Slave Girl of Gor – Norman, John
Beasts of Gor – Norman, John
Rogue of Gor – Norman, John
Guardsman of Gor – Norman, John
Savages of Gor – Norman, John
Blood Brothers of Gor – Norman, John
Kajira of Gor – Norman, John
Players of Gor – Norman, John
Mercenaries of Gor – Norman, John
Dancer of Gor – Norman, John
Renegades of Gor – Norman, John
Vagabonds of Gor – Norman, John
Magicians of Gor – Norman, John
Witness of Gor – Norman, John
Prize of Gor – Norman, John
Imaginative Sex – Norman, John
Norman Invasions – Norman, John
Kur of Gor – Norman, John
The Godmother – Scarborough, Elizabeth
Scarborough Fair and Other Stories – Scarborough, Elizabeth
Song of Sorcery – Scarborough, Elizabeth
2,001 Things To Do Before You Die – Sherwood, Dane
The Parasite War – Sullivan, Timothy R.
The Martian Viking – Sullivan, Timothy R.
The Devil’s Sperm is Cold – Vassi, Marco
Slave Lover – Vassi, Marco
The Stoned Apocalypse – Vassi, Marco
The Saline Solution – Vassi, Marco
The Gentle Degenerates – Vassi, Marco
Contours of Darkness – Vassi, Marco
Tackling The Team – Vassi, Marco
In Touch – Vassi, Marco
The Sensual Mirror – Vassi, Marco
The Sky Warden & the Sun – Williams, Sean
The Stone Mage & the Sea – Williams, Sean
The Storm Weaver & the Sand – Williams, Sean
Showstopper! – Zachary, G. Pascal

Bob Tedeschi, informally surveying available book-reading applications in the Personal Tech section of the New York Times, awarded laurels to Kobo.

The reason? Unlike other e-book reading apps you can use Kobo to read on any device (except Kindle).

“The books you buy from most of these apps are, for now, readable only within the company’s apps. It is as if you have to travel back to the bookstore every time you want to open the book. That is not a major headache, as long as the apps that support your e-books survive forever, with the support of the major hardware manufacturers. But if Amazon folds its apps, or if you decide you want to read your books on another e-reading app, the books will be far less useful.”

Which is why Tedeschi has settled on the Kobo.  In a rapidly shifting e-book terrain it’s impossible to  predict which format will retain standing a few years (or even a few months!) from now.  Not even Kindle format has a lifetime guarantee – your lifetime, that is. Armed with your Kobo reader, you don’t have to worry about waking up to learn the digital gods have removed your format while you slept.

“I’m starting my own digital library through the Kobo iPad app, and I plan to hedge by not buying a lot of books in the near future,” declares Teseschi.

Details in E-Reader Applications for Today, and Beyond

Richard Curtis

Every Blogger owes a debt of gratitude to newspapers and magazines. This posting relies on original research and reporting performed by the New York Times.

“We will not only undersell Amazon, but we make this guarantee: if you find a book cheaper on Amazon, we’ll refund the difference plus 10 percent.”

That’s the offer that Borders Australia made to its customers as reported by Neerav Bhatt in ITnews.com.au. The feisty antipodal book chain “announced plans to launch online bookstores powered by e-books download service Kobo and sell its own e-book reader devices,” writes Bhatt.  Kobo expects to launch on May 19th with over 1 million e-books, newspapers and magazines.

Casually mentioned in the story is the projected list price of Kobo’s reading device: AUS $200. That’s $180 in Yankee dollars, about US $80.00 less than the Kindle.

Has anyone noticed that e-book prices are coming down, and royalties going up?

While you ponder, read Borders Australia Lays Down Challenge to Amazon.com

Richard Curtis