publishing

The format of today's episode is a little different, as we discuss all the products to come out of Apple's Education Event at the Guggenheim Museum here in New York, along with Bridget Carey who reports from the field on iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and the revamped iTunes U platform.

Even after the press conference is over, we're still left with questions about hardware deployment and format compatibility, so CNET's David Carnoy joins us as well to give his take on the e-publishing industry and the challenges Apple will face alongside district budget cuts and existing … Read more

Amazon's "Kindle Owners' Lending Library" has gotten off to a smashing start, the e-retail giant announced today.

The company said that Kindle owners borrowed 295,000 Kindle Direct Publishing Select titles last month alone. Amazon had $500,000 in its December fund to compensate authors for the free rentals, and said that the writers earned $1.70 per borrow. Amazon said that authors who made their books available to borrow saw purchases grow, as well.

"KDP Select appears to be earning authors more money in two ways," Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content, said … Read more

The dividing line between writing books and writing programs just got a big step blurrier.

That's because Amazon has now released tools for creating books using Web technologies. Those tools include Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), used to describe Web pages, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), used for formatting.

"Through the use of HTML5 and CSS3, KF8 allows publishers to create great-looking books in all categories, particularly those that require rich formatting and design, such as technical & engineering books and cookbooks," Amazon announced. Other features are well suited to graphic novels, comics, and kids' books, Amazon said. … Read more

As more and more book buyers turn to e-readers, Barnes & Noble appears to be abandoning traditional publishing.

Barnes & Noble, the largest bookseller in the U.S., is looking for a buyer for Sterling Publishing unit, people familiar with the situation tell The Wall Street Journal. The bookseller acquired Sterling, a traditional publisher of nonfiction titles, for $115 million in 2003. Sterling boasts and active list of more than 5,000 owned and distributed titles, specializing on gardening, cooking, and crafts, as well as children's books.

A Barnes & Noble representative declined to comment.

"Sterling has a … Read more

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations that Apple and a group of publishers colluded on e-book pricing, the Wall Street Journal reported.

"We are also investigating the electronic book industry, along with the European Commission and the states attorneys general," Sharis Pozen, acting antitrust chief at the Justice Department, said at a congressional hearing in the agency's first public confirmation of the investigation.

Apple declined to comment on the matter.

The European Commission cited Apple, which sells iBooks, and five publishers yesterday in a probe into alleged anti-competitive practices in Europe. Apple and the … Read more

Apple has once again found itself in the middle of a major e-book pricing complaint.

The iBooks provider and five publishers, including Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin, have been cited in an investigation by the European Commission over concerns that the companies "engaged in anti-competitive practices affecting the sales of e-books in the European Economic Area." (Disclosure: Both Simon & Schuster and CNET News are owned by CBS.)

The Commission, which is the European Union's executive arm, "will in particular investigate whether these publishing groups and Apple have engaged in illegal agreements or practices … Read more

Amazon has retooled and renamed the format for electronic books, embracing Web technologies and adding better abilities for graphics and complex layouts.

The previous format, Mobi 7, will be replaced by Kindle Format 8, aka KF8, according to an Amazon announcement yesterday.

"As showcased on Kindle Fire, KF8 enables publishers to create great-looking books in categories that require rich formatting and design such as children's picture books, comics & graphic novels, technical and engineering books, and cookbooks," Amazon said in its announcement. "Kindle Format 8 replaces the Mobi format and adds over 150 new formatting capabilities, … Read more

A new book revealing many of Steve Jobs' most illuminating quotes is being rushed to the market following the passing of the Apple leader on Wednesday.

Initially slated to be published next March and then pushed to November 15 following Jobs' resignation as Apple CEO, "I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words," is being shipped to retail stores early next week and should be available to consumers by the end of the month.

The book has already been available for pre-order at Amazon and has naturally seen a surge in interest since Jobs' death earlier this week.… Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Some musicians are avant-garde technophiles. Plenty are stuck in the mud of tradition. But almost all of them use sheet music, to the tune of $2 billion a year. The first company today to compete in the Startup Battlefield at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference here was Tonara, which is bringing sheet music and new music technology to the iPad.

In the Disrupt Battlefield, TechCrunch-chosen startups get a chance to give a six-minute pitch to the audience and a panel of VC judges. There is a user vote for the startups and the prize is $50,000, the "Disrupt … Read more