I have just received a press release from a newly set up ebook publishing and distributing company, aimed at authors whose backlist books aren’t available as e-books yet and publisher’s back lists, which I thought might interest you.

BookCyclone is an imprint of Signal 8 Press, a Hong Kong based publishing house and it is basically aiming at the whole world, apart from the USA and the UK, which as they correctly point out is already well and truly seeded with all manner of online ebook publishers, ebook sellers and so on.  So this one is more for the Pacific Asia area, and Africa and South America – Having said this, they are actually working with a few authors in both the USA and UK.

Marshall Moore, the owner of BookCyclone describes what it is they are attempting to get off the ground quite clearly:-

We are working directly with writers and publishers to make backlist but still viable titles available as e-books. We’re also partnering with independent and university presses around the world in order to make their books (reprints as well as new releases) available. This isn’t exactly new but our approach is. BookCyclone is an imprint of a publishing house, not just a file conversion service with a single website… and we act as a distributor as well. You’ll find our books on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Editions, Apple, and many other e-retail sites around the world.

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I came across this heart-felt complaint about one of the many ways in which ereader and ebook makers treat us – their customers – so badly, and wanted to share it with you here, so with Joe Wikert’s full permission, here it is.

Kindle Device License Limits Are Stupid

There, I said it. I’m betting most consumers and quite a few publishers don’t realize that Amazon has limits in place to prevent you from loading one Kindle ebook on more than 6 devices within the same account. You’re probably wondering why I have so many devices connected to the same account. The answer is simple: I like to test new devices and the old ones become hand-me-down’s to family members. They all remain on the same account though.

Amazon has a default maximum of 6 devices for any given Kindle ebook. Once you try to get it onto the 7th device you’re greeted with an error message saying, “License Limit Reached”, and they nudge you to buy another copy of the product. No way. I already bought it once and I’m not buying it again.

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Rich Adin has posted a fascinating argument for the standardisation of formats and copyright protection for ebooks on his blog (An American Editor).

He contends that publishers are busily ruining their only chances of survival by ignoring the very real risks that Amazon poses for them, and by extension, for us consumers as well.

I am reposting it here with his permission, as I felt that the various points he makes in this excellent article should be seen by as many people as possible.

So, read on, the word is with Rich…….

I have been following the story regarding Amazon’s foray into publishing. It reminded me of an old (early 1960s) hit by Gerry and the Pacemakers called How Do You Do It? So let’s set the question with Gerry and the Pacemakers.

As the song asks and says, “If I only knew, I’d do it to you.” And that is the crux of the matter in the latest nose thumbing by Amazon.

If publishers cannot figure out what is happening, cannot see the upheaval that is coming, then perhaps they should fold their tents and slither away in the night.

The truth is that the publishers do have an ultimate weapon, a “nuclear bomb” so to speak, at their disposal if they are willing to stand up and use it now, before it is too late.

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The much trumpeted Harry Potter Website has had to announce a serious delay in its plans to start selling all the Hogwarts books as ebooks.

The idea was that they would start selling the Harry Potter books online as ebooks this month (October 2011), but apparently owing to a combination of several million frenzied kids playing away at some form of Wizard’s fencing online game on the Pottermore site and other unspecified problems, they have announced that they will start selling those ebooks sometime next year.

Many commentators have pointed out that this means they will miss the Christmas shopping frenzy, but it has also been pointed out that they don’t really need to give a damn about this, as they have already made more money than one would think possible from those books.

As a spokeperson for Pottermore puts it:

(we)are in no rush to launch anything until all potential problems have been sorted out. . A delayed launch may even mean a greater second wave of excitement about the ebooks becoming available as the anticipation builds up over a longer period of time.”

However, one thing they may have overlooked here is that in setting up this website with lots of trumpets and drums, they have pulled Harry Potter fans onto the net, and will certainly have thus caused many of them to realize that they can download any or all the Harry Potter books in ebook format from no end of free (illegal) torrent sites, which must effect sales when finally Pottermore get themselves together enough to actually open shop.

Link to Pottermore: http://www.pottermore.com/

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So, what do you think about not being able to (legally) get hold of Harry Potter books as ebooks?

In a post on his always intriguing and diverse blog – An American Editor – Rich ponders something that he came across in his most recent paper book acquisition.

In a moment of paranoia, Rich suspects that publishers have come up with a novel and cheap (for them, that is) way of getting us to buy both the paper and electronic version of the books they publish.

If the supposition he lays before us in this post is true, then publishers have more imagination than I had given them credit for.

So, the word is with Rich, read on…………..

Is This the Next Sneak Attack on eBookers?

Here’s something I’m sure every major publisher is thinking about: How can I get consumers to buy both the pbook and ebook versions of a book? Well, maybe they aren’t really sitting around the table thinking about that, but with my latest pbook purchase, I’m wondering if they are thinking about it.

I have enjoyed the “Safehold Series” of books by David Weber. Because Weber is one of my favorite authors, I buy his books in hardcover so I can read them and add them to my permanent library. A week ago, the fifth book in the series, How Firm a Foundation, was released. I had preordered it in hardcover and eagerly awaited its arrival.

It arrived and I put down my Sony 950 Reader to take up Weber’s book. That lasted a whole five minutes and two pages. The publisher chose a font size that was so small I could barely read the text. For my eyes to read the text, I needed a magnifying lens. This is the first time this has happened; I don’t know whether my eyes suddenly got worse (not likely based on the lack of problem I have with any other pbook I own) or the font size was deliberately smaller than usual in an attempt to keep production costs down.     Read full story »

Ebooks, paper books, books for African kids, all in the one place.

They have come up with an intriguing way of letting others decide if a book is worth publishing or not, a sort of Peer review system, which they explain as follows:

The process is simple. Just as it’s done in the publishing world, we ask authors to submit ten pages and a summary of their book. We then let you browse the submissions based on your preferences. You read a brief overview, and if it strikes your fancy, you click through to read a more in depth description. If you’re still interested, you read an excerpt. And if that leaves you wanting more, you support it (which is essentially like preordering the book)! You don’t get charged unless the book is published, so there’s no risk.

So that is their plan, simple but rather neat I think you will agree, and certainly opens publishing up and gives aspiring authors a good chance of seeing their work actually printed, if it is any good at least.  I like it.

All books that get published will be published as paper books, but also as ebooks, which will be available  in Kindle, Nook and Sony formats. In other words, the books -  both ebook and paper book – will be available at most of the normal outlets and for almost all ereaders, which is great news.

On top of that,they also have a forum on their site, which in their words (again):

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