electronic books news stories on Newser

Amazon Now Moves to Slash E-Book Prices

Rob Quinn — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:32:56 CDT

Just after the Department of Justice launched its antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers , Amazon announced plans to slash e-book prices. But while the move is expected to cut the prices of major titles from $14.99 to $9.99 or less, analysts believe the benefit to consumers...

Harry Potter E-Books Debut

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:24:05 CDT

Finally, e-reader users can be reunited with Harry Potter. For the first time, e-books of the entire series went on sale today on the Pottermore website, with the first three books costing $7.99 apiece and the last four $9.99 each. The books are compatible with most e-readers, but...

E-Books Joining NYT Bestseller List

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:42:40 CST

E-books are gaining sales and credibility: The New York Times will add two e-book bestseller lists, fiction and nonfiction, beginning next year. The company has been working on a system to track and verify sales for two years, using weekly data from publishers, bookstores, and online retailers. “It was clear...

Apple Tablet Rollout Has Publishers Scrambling

Jane Yager — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:46:07 CST

Book publishers were locked in last-minute talks with Apple ahead of today's unveiling of the tablet, which has been touted as promising to change the publishing industry as radically as the iPod did the music industry. The tablet's model for books, which puts it in direct competition with the Amazon...

Publishers Delay E-Book Releases by 4 Months

Jane Yager — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:31:33 CST

Taking a stand against the cut-rate $9.99 pricing in the fast-growing e-book market, two prominent publishers will start delaying release of e-books until four months after hardcovers come out. "The right place for the e-book is after the hardcover but before the paperback," Simon & Schuster tells the Wall...

Barnes & Noble Unveils 'Nook' E-Reader

John Johnson — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:01:34 CDT

Barnes & Noble unveiled its new e-reader today: the Nook. Like the Kindle, it's a wireless device that allows for instant downloads of purchases. Some details, via CNET, the Wall Street Journal , the LA Times , and PC World . It costs $259, same as the Kindle, and will be out in...

Amazon Cuts Kindle Price, Offers Worldwide Wireless

Jason Farago — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:27:54 CDT

Amazon slashed the price of its Kindle e-reader by $40 today and introduced a new edition of the device that will enable wireless downloads in 100 countries. The move brings the price of a Kindle to $259, which is still $60 more expensive than Sony's competitor. Amazon will also finally...

Why the Kindle Stinks

John Johnson — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:34:49 CDT

Nicholson Baker wanted to like the Kindle, honest. But when he unwrapped it and began to see what all the fuss was about, he "tussled with a sense of anti-climax," the prolific author writes in the New Yorker . Things never improved. He slams the e-reader for having a "greenish, sickly...

Sony Reader Gets 500K Free Books From Google

Matt Cantor — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:09:00 CDT

Google is making half a million books available for free on the Sony Reader, propelling it past Amazon’s Kindle as the e-book device with the most tomes, at 600,000, the AP reports. The availability of the public-domain books, all published before 1923, marks the first time Google has made...