Product Launches

Kobo plans to launch a new eReader with a high-resolution E Ink display and a water and dust-proof case. It's called the Kobo Aura H2O, and it recently passed through the FCC. Now German eBook blog Alles Book has found a spec sheet, picture, and alleged price and launch date.

If the leaked info is accurate, the Kobo Aura H2O is coming September 1st for $179.

Barnes & Noble will be unveiling their new Nook hardware on Wednesday morning in NYC, but I won't be there. Instead, I plan to be out in front of my local B&N store at 9am tomorrow, waiting for it to open. My inside sources at B&N have told me that the new stock has already been delivered to stores. The in-store demos are going to be reset Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, in time for the new hardware to be sold when the stores open.

Amazon Publishing and Alloy Entertainment, a book packager and division of Warner. Bros Television Group, are collaborating on a new digital publishing imprint dedicated to young adult, new adult and commercial fiction. The new titles will be released through Amazon Publishing's Powered by Amazon program, which provides global distribution and targeted marketing to Amazon customers.

Karen Joy Fowler and Joshua Ferris are among five Americans who have made it onto the longlist of the Man Booker Prize, which for the first time is open to writers from beyond Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth. The longlist, which also has six books written by Britons, was announced on Wednesday by the administrators of the prize. The other Americans nominated are Siri Hustvedt, Richard Powers and Joseph O'Neill, an Irish-born writer now living in New York.

A new report claims that self-published authors have surged to 31% of ebook sales on Amazon.com, and are now earning more ebook royalties than writers published by the "Big five" traditional publishers. Despite research published earlier this month finding professional UK authors' incomes plunging below minimum standards, self-publishing champion Hugh Howey says the new results, in his third Author Earnings report, prove DIY authors are "here to stay".

"While it should be a jolt to see that indies are earning nearly 40% of the ebook dollars going to authors," the report concluded

Like many of the protagonists in his dozens of young adult books, Walter Dean Myers was once a troubled, sensitive and intelligent young man living an aimless life. A writer's heart beat in his chest, the passion for words there even as he stumbled through a childhood in the 1940s and '50s scarred by a broken family and an angry Harlem upbringing.

How can publishing compete with the allure of the tech companies? Do the tech companies scream "today" - even "tomorrow" - while publishing is still perceived as being stuck in "yesterday?" Does media portrayal of the publishing industry help or hinder? These were among issues raised at the London Book Fair's third 'Tech Tuesday" event last week, held in super cool Hoxton, a very funky area of east London, close to Old Street's "silicon roundabout" where so many app companies are based.

The overall US book and journal publishing industry generated $27.01 billion in net revenue for 2013, representing 2.59 billion in units (volume), according to BookStats Volume 4, the annual statistical survey of publishing's size and scope being released today. As reported in BookStats, the Trade sector - covering general consumer fiction and non-fiction - generated $14.63 billion in net revenue and 2.32 billion in volume.

For 2013, Adult Non-Fiction was the fastest-growing Trade category, surpassing Juvenile (Children's/Young Adult) which had been the growth leader for the past two years.

After nearly 2 years of waiting and being told the release was just around the corner, the E-ink Smartphone is finally about to arrive. The Polish ereader distributor Arta Tech revealed on Wednesday that they have put the Midia InkPhone up for pre-order. Based on the Onyx E-ink smartphone some of us have been lusting after for the past 21 months, the InkPhone sports a 4.3″ E-ink screen.

The retail price is 121 euros plus tax and shipping, and Arta Tech expects to ship after 4 July.

We're not even going to suggest that you pretend to act surprised, but Amazon on Wednesday finally took the wraps off of one of the worst kept secrets in the industry: the Fire Phone. The phone has been in development for years and rumors have been bouncing around since 2012. Then, BGR blew the lid off the handset beginning in April, when we gave the world its first look at the device and reported several key specs.