Will Apple's January event be about e-textbooks?

Apple plans to make a big announcement Jan. 19 in New York City. It has been rumored that the event will focus on its iBookstore. And when the invitation landed Wednesday, it made clear that the event will be "an education announcement."

Put that together and what do you get? Textbooks. Ebooks. E-textbooks. At least, that's what people are guessing.

"The event will focus on electronic textbooks," writes BusinessWeek. That's exactly what the N.Y. Times asserts with its headline "Apple Aims to Take on the Textbook Market." A more hesitant source told Wired, "Apple may make some changes to iBooks that are directed specifically toward the academic set." Apple had long been a friend to educators, offering discounts to students and teachers and finding ways to get Apple computers -- and iPads -- into classrooms.

 "If Apple does unveil new textbook partnerships," CNET speculates, "it would be a coup for the company. Although none of the major textbook publishers currently have strong ties with Apple or its iBooks platform, they don't have arrangements with the company's competitors, either."

Textbooks have been a robust, if complicated, part of the book business. In his biography "Steve Jobs," Walter Isaacson wrote that Jobs had his sights on textbooks. "If textbooks were given away free on iPads he thought the publishers could get around the state certification of textbooks," the N.Y. Times reported. "Isaacson said Mr. Jobs believed that states would struggle with a weak economy for at least a decade. 'We can give them an opportunity to circumvent that whole process and save money.'"

The Jan. 19 event will be held at the Guggenheim Museum.

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Image: The invitation to Apple's January announcement in New York. Credit: Apple Inc.

Barnes & Noble's Nook news: good, surprising

The good news: Barnes & Noble's Nook is selling big. The surprising news: As a result, the company may sell the Nook division. That's what B&N said Thursday in a statement that ran the gamut from jargon to obfuscation.Take a look:

"We see substantial value in what we've built with our NOOK business in only two years, and we believe it's the right time to investigate our options to unlock that value," said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. "In NOOK, we've established one of the world's best retail platforms for the sale of digital copyright content. We have a large and growing installed base of millions of satisfied customers buying digital content from us, and we have a NOOK business that's growing rapidly year-over-year and should be approximately $1.5 billion in comparable sales this fiscal year. Between continued projected growth in the U.S., and the opportunity for NOOK internationally in the next 12 months, we expect the business to continue to scale rapidly for the foreseeable future."

In plain language, that means the Nook business may be spun off or sold. That comes in the same announcement, which proclaimed that sales of Nook devices were up 70% from a year earlier, setting a new holiday record for the company, with the tablet performing better than expected (the black-and-white e-ink Nooks, not so much). So -- why sell the Nook? At Wired, Tim Carmody explains:

Initially, B&N projected earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization (EBTIDA) of $210 million to $250 million. In December, the guidance offered was at “the lower end” of that figure. Now the company has revised its expectations again, to just $150 to $180 million. So after taxes and other non-operating expenses, B&N will most likely lose quite a bit of money, somewhere between $1.10 to $1.40 per share.

The drop in demand for the Nook Simple Touch and the cost of advertising the other Nook devices takes most of the blame for the drop in expected profit.

Some observers look ahead and see a dark horizon for the last surviving national brick-and-mortar bookstore. The N.Y. Times' Dealbook writes, "a spinoff of the unit would raise questions about Barnes & Noble’s ultimate fate." In a piece with the ominous headline "Barnes & Noble May Separate Nook Business as Losses Mount," the Wall Street Journal explains:

The bookseller tried for months to sell the company, but gave up last year around the time that its biggest brick-and-mortar rival, Borders Group Inc., went belly up. Instead of a sale, Barnes & Noble took an investment from John Malone and his Liberty Media Corp.

Maxim Group analyst John Tinker said Barnes & Noble is caught in a bind as it tries to appease traditional retail investors and those interested in the digital story.

On Wednesday, news broke that Barnes & Noble was looking to sell Sterling Publishing, which it acquired in 2003 for $115 million. Selling Sterling would bring an influx of cash in the short term, industry chronicler Publishers Lunch notes, addding, "While Amazon is investing heavily in their in-house publishing program, Barnes & Noble is headed in the opposite direction as part of their repositioning as a technology company."

Except -- why would a technology company sell the Nook? "This is about requiring sustained investment in the Nook business to grow and expand internationally," Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps told Wired. "A separate Nook business may be able to attract new investment and partnerships and innovate more quickly."

That explains it. Now: to find a buyer.

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Photo: Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet. Credit: Armand Emamdjomeh/Los Angeles Times

Apple event this month may focus on e-books

An Apple event expected to be held in New York this month will not be about hardware, and instead will be about e-books, reports say.

"The event will not involve any hardware at all and instead will focus on publishing and e-books (sold through Apple’s iBooks platform)," Techcrunch says, citing an unidentified source.

Other analysts have predicted that Apple's next move would be an iPad 3 with a "retina quality" screen resolution like that of the iPhone 4. All Things Digital, which was the first to report that the rumor that the event would focus on software, shot down the idea that the company might introduce a new Apple TV device.

If the event is focused on the iBookstore, the timing is somewhat surprising. In December, the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust arm said it was looking into potentially unfair pricing practices by electronic booksellers, including Apple, which also has been the focus of an inquiry in Europe. Why draw further attention to iBooks just now?

We'll have to wait and see. Until later this month. Probably.

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Photo: The iBooks app on the original iPad. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Amazon announces millions of Kindle sales. Wait, how many?

In what has become a post-Christmas tradition, Amazon released news Thursday that its Kindle e-readers sold big -- really big. In the millions, in fact.

That's more specific than the less-than-transparent online retailer usually gets; in November, a Techcrunch headline noted "Amazon: Kindles Are Flying Off The Shelves (But We’re Still Not Sharing Numbers)." Unlike Apple and other hardware companies, Amazon declines to say exactly how many units of its Kindle it has sold.

Now with the "millions" number, Amazon has gotten more specific, but its Kindle sales numbers are still something of a guessing game. Amazon's press release, while seeming to announce sales figures, leaves analysts chasing tea leaves. It says:

• Throughout December, customers purchased well over 1 million Kindle devices per week.
• The new Kindle family held the top three spots on the Amazon.com best seller charts – #1: Kindle Fire, #2: Kindle Touch, #3: Kindle.
• Kindle Fire is the #1 best-selling, most gifted, and most wished for product across the millions of items available on Amazon.com since its introduction 13 weeks ago.

It's hard to say exactly how well the Kindle Fire tablet is selling. The more-than-a-million-per-week sales figure is not just the Kindle Fire; it includes all the Kindle e-readers, some of which sell for as low as $79.

On the heels of Kindle sales news earlier this month, Jared Newman wrote at PC World:

The company didn't break down sales by device, so we don't know how many Kindle Fires have been sold compared to Kindle e-readers. (Amazon's Kindle Vice President Dave Limp says the Fire is "the most successful product we've ever launched.")

And we still have no idea how many Kindles have been sold to date, or how many have been sold since the latest generation of devices went on sale. I don't think those are accidents or oversights. The company probably wants to avoid direct comparisons between the Kindle Fire and Apple's iPad, whose sales have been mighty compared to other tablets so far. To date, Apple has sold more than 40 million iPads, and the original iPad sold two million units in its first 60 days.

Trying to put those numbers together, Kindle Fire tablet sales might just be competitive with Apple's iPad. But until Amazon releases actual sales numbers, we really can't say.

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Photo: Amazon's Kindle, Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire tablet. Credit: Amazon, for the individual images, Collage, Carolyn Kellogg

42 free excerpts in Penguin's holiday sampler

If you're one of the thousands of people who got a new e-reader for Christmas, Penguin has a morning-after gift for you. Sure, the publisher called it the Penguin Holiday eSampler, but I'd say it works just fine post-holiday.

Holiday or post-, there are excerpts from 42 books in the sampler, which can be downloaded for free for Nook, iPad, Kindle, Kobo and Sony e-readers. Like what you're reading, and it's easy to buy the whole book.

What's there to like? Classics such as Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath." Modern bestsellers "The Help" and "Eat Pray Love." There are books for kids, including Judy Blume's "Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing"; for young adults, including "Matched" by Ally Condie; and for their attentive parents, including "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by Amy Chua. There are also mysteries from Sue Grafton, Patricia Cornwell and Clive Cussler and romance from Nora Roberts.

Those are all books that have already hit shelves, some quite a long time ago ("On the Road" has been around for 50 years). But there is also something for those who want a taste of the future: excerpts of six books that will be coming out in 2012. Those include the humor book written by Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel, "Lunatics," and Elizabeth George's next Inspector Lynley novel, "Believing the Lie."

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Image: Penguin Holiday eSampler. Credit: Penguin

 

Amazon updates Kindle Fire operating system

Just in time for the holidays, Amazon has released an update to the operating system that runs its new tablet, the Kindle Fire. It also updated the Kindle Fire apps for iPhone and iPad. The San Jose Mercury-News writes: "Some consumers and reviewers have complained about the Kindle Fire's performance, with slow Web loading, sluggish touch-screen performance and lack of customization options among the most frequent complaints."

Our Technology blog reports on the update:

[T]he update promises to improve the responsiveness of touch navigation and the speed of actions on the device, such as loading webpages in the Fire's Web browser.

However, the biggest new feature might be the ability for users to edit what shows up in their "carousel" of recent apps and content displayed on the Fire's home screen.

Before the update, a Fire user couldn't remove any items -- books they've read, games and music played, movies watched or websites visited -- in their carousel.

Other user complaints, such as having no buttons to control sound volume, lack of customization, privacy concerns, no camera and lack of 3G connectivity, were not addressed by this week's update.

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Photo: The Amazon Kindle Fire tablet. Credit: Armand Emamdjomeh / Los Angeles Times

What the heck is 'social reading'?

There's been talk about it at forward-looking publishing conferences and between idea-filled app developers. Now that more and more people are reading books as e-books, and their e-readers are connected, how can the best of those worlds combine? In today's L.A. Times, we look at the emerging world of social reading.

Look ahead: The presents have been opened, wrapping thrown away, and for a few quiet hours you've been curled up reading the new Steve Jobs biography, a gift from your dad. You find a surprising detail and call to your significant other, "Honey, did you know ...?" but because he is busy making dinner, the idea fizzles away as you turn the page.

Or maybe when you get to that passage, with the swipe of a finger you highlight it and email it to your dad, adding a thanks for his gift. Or you click to add your thoughts to a chorus of readers who found that same passage interesting; or you check to see if there's a link to a video clip; or you find an annotation from the author; or you post it to Twitter or Facebook or Google+, where others can comment on it too.

That's called "social reading," and it's coming to an e-reading app or device near you.

That's just the beginning; read the rest here.

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Image: A screenshot of Subtext, a social reading app. Credit: Subtext

Amazon announces KDP Select for Kindle e-book exclusives

Amazon has announced KDP Select, a program that will use a new funding scheme to compensate authors who make their e-books exclusive to Amazon Kindle for at least 90 days.

The company has announced that in the first year, it expects to put $6 million into a fund that will be paid out to authors when their exclusive e-books are checked out of Amazon’s Kindle Lending Library. The authors will receive a share of the fund calculated by the proportion their books were borrowed compared to the number of borrows overall.

While this pays authors a fee for borrowed e-books, something they haven’t previously been compensated for before, it is unusual to not offer compensation to authors directly for their work. How much an author earns will depend on how much the other authors in the program earn, and the more J. Carson Black earns, the less J.A. Konrath will get.

The participating authors are all part of the Kindle Direct Publishing program. Mystery writers Black, Konrath, Gemma Halliday, and J.R. Rain; thriller writers C.J. Lyons and Scott Nicholson; romance novelists Julie Ortolon, Teresa Ragan and Patricia Ryan; and science fiction author B.V. Larson have signed on.

Amazon’s press release included several statements by authors lauding the program.

“My choice to participate in KDP Select and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library was easy,” said best-selling thriller writer Blake Crouch. “The Kindle Store is simply the best, most effective store in the world for selling independent e-books, and there is no greater champion for independent writers than Amazon.”

“I'm thrilled to be offering my e-books to Amazon’s Kindle Owners’ Lending Library through KDP Select,” said Lyons, No. 1 best-selling Kindle author of “Borrowed Time.” “I look forward to reaching new readers who enjoy my style of ‘Thrillers with Heart.’”

“I chose to participate in KDP Select because it’s an innovative way to get my e-books in the hands of readers who are new to my work,” said best-selling historical mystery and romance writer Ryan. “If they like what they read, they’ll most likely put me on their to-buy list, and maybe even recommend me to their friends.”

“KDP Select and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library are a boon to readers and authors,” said Konrath, author of the best-selling Jack Daniels mystery series.  “Reading e-books for free?  Sign me up!”

“As a KDP author, I’m delighted to participate in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library through KDP Select,” said Larson, best-selling science fiction and fantasy author.  “Amazon has again expanded the value of their Amazon Prime membership by including access to free e-books, and they have not forgotten their homegrown authors.”

“KDP Select is the best way I know to bring my Jake Lassiter series to a new generation of readers through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library,” said Paul Levine, best-selling mystery and thriller writer. “Once again, Amazon leads the way!”

These authors will be guinea pigs in Amazon’s new e-book experiment. While their e-books are being made available to readers for free in this lending program, they remain for sale at Amazon. Will their sales decline? Will the share of a pool of money make up for the difference? Why offer a pool of money instead of paying authors a set rate?

Perhaps some of that will be known soon. The program has begun, with a planned $500,000 available in the pool for December.

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Amazon quadruples Black Friday Kindle sales; doesn't share numbers

Once again, Amazon has made a big to-do about the volume of Kindles sold, without making public any actual sales numbers. "Best Black Friday Ever for Kindle Family: Kindle Sales Increase 4X Over Last Year," its press release proclaims. "Holiday shoppers made Kindle Fire the bestselling product across all of Amazon.com on Black Friday; Kindle Fire now the bestselling product across Amazon for 8 weeks running -- ever since its introduction on September 28."

So, the new Amazon Kindle is selling well, compared to previous Amazon Kindles. How many Kindles have actually been sold? No one knows for sure, but in the release, Dave Limp, vice president of Amazon Kindle, says: "millions." Our Technology blog writes:

Since the first Kindle eReader was launched in 2007, Amazon has yet to release any specific sales numbers, only ever saying that the Kindle has sold millions.

Likewise, Barnes & Noble has made it a practice of never sharing its specific sale numbers for its eReader or tablet sales thus far. However, the company does say its Nook Color tablet is currently the top-selling Android tablet on the market.

Apple, whose iPad is the top seller in the tablet market, does release its sales figures for top-selling items. Last quarter, Apple said it sold 11.1 million iPads, up 166% from a year earlier. Since the iPad first launched in 2010, Apple has said it has sold more than 39 million tablets.

More Kindles may have been sold because of Black Friday deals being offered on the e-readers and Fire tablet. PC World notes that the Kindle DX was marked down from $379 to $259, a price cut that continues through today, Cyber Monday. Wider availability may also have helped Amazon's devices reach new buyers; in addition to being sold on Amazon, the Kindle can now be found in major retail outlets, including Best Buy and Target.

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Photo: Amazon's new Kindle, Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire tablet. Credit: Amazon, for the individual images; collage, Carolyn Kellogg / Los Angeles Times

Barnes & Noble's new Nook: A $249 tablet with e-reader bones

On Monday, Barnes & Noble unveiled its new Nook at a news conference in New York. As was widely expected, there is now a Nook Tablet, pictured above. Look closely and you'll see that the demo version was loaded with Netflix, Parents magazine, games, Hulu and the bestselling Steve Jobs biography.

The new Nook Tablet, which retails for $249, is available for pre-order and should begin shipping next week, well in advance of the holiday shopping season. In addition to Barnes & Noble stores, it will be available at major retailers, including Target, Staples, Wal-Mart and Office Max. You may find it in the aisle near the Kindles -- on Tuesday, Amazon announced that its Kindle will be found for sale at 16,000 brick-and-mortar stores, including some of those same retailers, beginning Nov. 15.

Bargain hunters may be drawn to Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet, which is $199. But our Technology blog wrote that "for the extra $50, the Nook Tablet offers beefier specs than the Kindle Fire that, Chief Executive William Lynch argued in unveiling the new Barnes & Noble device, will add up to a faster, smoother experience when reading books, playing games or watching movies." The Technology blog detailed those specs, then went on to say: 

Unlike the Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet and Nook Color have no built-in storefront for buying movies and music.

Lynch said that while Amazon sells those items, Barnes & Noble is focused on selling digital reading content, while letting others handle the music, TV show and film side of things -- such as Netflix, Hulu and Pandora which all come pre-installed on the Nook Tablet.

"The Kindle Fire is a vending machine for Amazon services, they've said it themselves," he said at the company's flagship store in New York's Union Square during the Nook Tablet reveal. "In one word, we're more open" in allowing users to get their music and video content from wherever they want.

Barnes & Noble was late into the e-reader game, and its entry was full of stumbles -- many shipments of its first Nook failed to arrive in time for Christmas, as promised. Since then, it seems to have gotten its e-reader footing, getting a clearer picture of what its customers want when it comes to reading e-books and getting it into their hands, without delay.

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Photo: The new Nook tablet is demonstrated Monday at the Union Square Barnes & Noble store in New York. Credit: Shannon Stapleton / Reuters