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Information on formatting books for the Amazon Kindle.

The world is going digital today with the advent of modern technologies. One can see this phenomenon on the books too that are now being downloaded from the internet. The publishers therefore are making all possible efforts to make books that can be read on all formats.

Via Joshua Gans, Harry Potter fans can now get their favorite books in digital format. But not from Amazon or the iTunes bookstore. Instead, the exclusive source of Potter ebooks is J.K. Rowling's Pottermore website where you're able to get them in formats that run on all major e-readers and tablets.

Starting from a study that finds different reading practices for online content and print (or scanning vs. slow reading) the author argues against the trend of increasing technology investment in education. I think the argument would profit from a publisher's perspective, one where it's vital to evaluate how the content fits (or doesn't fit) the format. Like the author, I don't want to read Middlemarch ( my favorite novel) online, nor can I imagine anyone who would or who require it read in that format. Bottom line for me - publishers have much to offer the educational establishment.

A look at e-book formats.

Report says 86% of Canadians purchase print formats and 19% buy electronic formats, while only 7% buy both.

San Francisco -- Google Inc. is testing a new format that is supposed to make reading online stories as easy as flipping through a magazine, a shift that eventually could feed more advertising sales to revenue-starved publishers.

Serialized fiction makes makes a digital format return.

Print your blog as a book. Can be done for other formats as well such as Twitter and Facebook,

Thomas Pynchon was one of the last great holdouts: the rare writer who had refused to allow his work to be sold in e-book format. Now he's changed his mind.

Stephen Marche rebels against digital formats (sort of) by creating an interior layout that can't possibly be read on a device...not sure I agree... but it's an interesting look at an author seeing books as art.  That I can agree with.

Though e-books are rising in popularity, print remains the foundation of Americans' reading habits. Most people who read e-books also read print books, and just 4% of readers are "e-book only." Audiobook listeners have the most diverse reading habits overall, while fewer print readers consume books in other formats.

The number of tech titles available on Kindle gets a big bump. But the market is still broken in many respects.  Read about the difficulties in formatting for Kindle and the inability to get publisher updates through Amazon (or Apple for EPUB books).

Good review of the costs and royalties for books in different formats.

Publishers need to recognize that readers are shifting to ereading, and for this group if it's not in e-book format it doesn't exist.

Hearst plans to introduce a large-format device this year based on electronic-ink technology.

Monday, February 16, Adobe unveiled its new Adobe Reader Mobile 9 SDK (Software Development Kit), which will enable companies to more easily distribute and display ebooks in PDF and EPUB formats on mobile phones, ereaders and other mobile devices.

Cory Doctorow's fabulous spit in Microsoft's eye, from 2004. Translated by fans into multiple formats and languages, for free, because of his openness.