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Tag: ebook (Page 2 of 2)

Viz iPad Manga Madness

March 1, 2011 /

I just received an email announcing Viz Manga Madness Month. To celebrate their 100th volume, Viz has cut the price of all volume 1 iPad manga to $0.99 for the month of March. This is a great deal for titles that are normally $4.99, but always being one to ask a gift horse lots of questions, first I wonder why. Then I wonder why shouldn’t each digital volume be $0.99 every month?

Previously, I’d wondered just how successful iPad exclusive digital manga could be given the probably small overlap between the manga reader and iPad owner demographics. Most iPad owners are older people who probably do not read Viz manga. And lately there have been a number of stories relating the difficulty of maintaining the readership of iPad magazine editions, such as Wired which after a great debut crashed spectacularly.

Viz Manga Madness Month

Viz Manga Madness Month

Not knowing anything else, the $0.99 volume 1 price is clearly intended to attract new readers to Viz’s iPad offerings. Current iPad edition readers would already have the first volume. So Viz is looking to dramatically increase readership and perhaps test the viability of the $0.99 price point.

I think the iPad is a great machine, but unfortunately this manga reader, like many others doesn’t own one. So while I wish Viz all the best in attracting new readers, I still hold out hope that they will release manga for the other popular eBook platforms as well. And of course, Viz does have a number of titles that can be read online, though mostly introductory volumes at this point.

With fewer and fewer bookstores in which to sell printed manga, coupled with a youth skewed demographic that cannot easily buy them online from Amazon, all roads point to digital manga.

eReaders and Tablets: Peaceful Coexistence?

January 18, 2011 /

Borders has extended its $99 Kobo eBook reader sale through Thursday. I wonder what this means. Does it mean that they received such a favorable bump in sales that the embattled bookseller wants to build on it? Or does it mean just the opposite, and they need to quickly clear inventory and raise cash to pay publishers?

I’d like to think that it is the former rather than the latter. Successful Kobo sales mean more eBook sales for Borders which hopefully offset any losses they take discounting the hardware. Not only that, I’d like to think that maybe they are establishing $99 as a permanent opening price point for a high quality eBook reader. This lower price would also further position eReaders versus tablets like the iPad.

Since the appearance of the iPad, I’ve wondered whether dedicated eReaders stood a chance of surviving in a market of more capable tablets. The falling prices of the Kindle, and Nook since that time will certainly help their survival. And the introduction and reported success of the Nook Color at $249 demonstrates that a middle ground between eBook readers and tablets may exist as well. Still, I think most consumers are thinking of getting one or the other. But if the impulse buy price point of $99 is established for eReaders, then I think buying both becomes an option for many.

So I hope that the $99 Kobo is not just a fleeting blip on my sensors.

A Google Branded eBook Reader?

January 15, 2011 /

As reported on Fierce Mobile Content, Google has aquired eBook Technologies, a firm specializing in eReader hardware and software solutions. They also hold patents in eBook related technologies.

Google did not release any fine details concerning the acquisition or their motives, which leaves the door open to much speculation. One obvious guess is that Google is planning to release an eReader of its own in the future,  akin to their Android powered Nexus S smartphone. Like the Nexus, I don’t see a Google branded tablet or eReader being anything more than a hardware reference platform for the underlying Google technologies.

A Google tablet (Nexus R maybe?) would likely be powered by the tablet optimized Android 3.0 Honeycomb and seamlessly integrate with the Google ebookstore. And like the Nexus S, it would be an open, contract free device. So more expensive to purchase upfront, but no pesky long term data contracts to pay for. Finally, the patent portfolio of eBooks Technologies would likely insulate Google from any eBook related patent trolls (or allow them to become one). The year is just getting started and already I think CES 2012 is going to be very interesting!

What to Write With: Choose Your Poison

January 5, 2011 /

My wife has been planning to write a book about, well about a lot of things actually. After I posted my eBook HTML template yesterday, she asked me whether it was the right starting point for her projects. I explained, that for me, a software developer, using Dreamweaver to edit a collection of chapters in HTML formatted files made sense. But for her, maybe not so much.

In the end, I suggested that she use tools that felt natural to her for the task. She’s an expert at writing with Microsoft Word, so it makes sense to use that to write the book.  Few, if any, are writing eBooks in ePub format directly. And I’m sure that somewhere out there, people are using WordPress or Blogger to write their eBooks too!

The Making of Books: An eBook Template

January 5, 2011 /

My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. — Ecclesiastes 12:12

Indeed the making of books is endless, even more so now in the age eBooks. That would leave one with much to be wary of indeed, but not in this instance!

My first eBook, Anime Aftershocks, is a compilation of blog posts. So it was only natural, to me at least, to write the eBook using an HTML editor. Dreamweaver isn’t exactly a great word processor, but it got the job done. For later work, I figured I’d use Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org. That would be easier, or so I thought. I soon discovered that I would be faced with potential conversion issues and would likely have to convert the book to HTML before processing anyway.

With that in mind, I decided to stick with Dreamweaver and developed a template that has become the starting point for new eBooks which I’m sharing here. It is largely based on what I learned using Calibre, and Amalthia’s Ebook Formatting Tutorial. The Preface file contains some brief instructional commentary. Feel free to use this any way you like, and have fun making books!

Download eBook HTML Template

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