Overdrive Inc.

CT – September 13 – Tantor Media, one of the largest independent audiobook publishers in the nation, is venturing into the realm of print and e-books.

OverDrive's industry-leading catalog of eBooks and audiobooks topped 1 million titles in July, with surging demand for eBooks and new publisher partnerships driving unprecedented growth. The fastest growing segments, Children's/Young Adult and International (including popular non-English content), signal exceptional expansion opportunities in library and school markets in the U.S. and overseas. Every day throughout OverDrive's growing network of 19,000 libraries, schools, retailers and device manufacturers (OEMs), millions of readers in 20 countries enjoy popular titles from bestselling authors on Kindle® (U.S. only), iPad®, Nook™, iPhone® and all major eReading devices.

Penguin Books India is releasing its first set of eBooks. This will be the first extensive list of Indian ebooks to be published internationally by an Indian publisher and will be available from all the major international ebook retailers – Amazon, Apple, Kobo and Google, Gardners, Sony, OLF, Apabi, Go Spoken/Mobcast, OverDrive, Txtr, Ebooks.com, IGroup and Baker & Taylor. The first list of over 240 titles consists of all of their new books published in 2012 and select best sellers from the backlist. Over the course of the following months they will continue to publish the remaining backlist while

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwire - Jul 9, 2012) - Australian Library and Information Association Conference - OverDrive, the leading global distributor of eBooks and audiobooks to libraries, schools and retailers, is accelerating its growth with the opening of a new office in Melbourne, Australia. OverDrive Australia supports the company's ongoing effort to deepen its relationships with library, publisher and bookseller partners in Australia, New Zealand and throughout the Asia Pacific region. At the Australian Library and Information Association Conference (Booth 24) in Sydney, July 10-13, OverDrive will introduce its new team members and showcase Next Generation services that enable instant access to eBooks and audiobooks, rich integration of digital content and a streamlined user experience.

New reports from the American Libraries Association and Pew Internet and American Life Project reveal that despite the increasing number of e-books available to library patrons, libraries themselves face big challenges in weathering the transition.

Some findings from the reports:
More digital demand, less funding

Over 75 percent of libraries now offer e-books, up from 67.2 percent last year, the ALA reports. Thirty-nine percent also lend out e-readers. Libraries are also creating mobile versions of their websites (14 percent) and releasing smartphone apps (7 percent).

June is Audiobook Month, and leading digital distributor OverDrive announced today that it will update its popular audiobook download services to include new options for readers to instantly “See Book—Hear Book.”

BookExpo America, the U.S. book industry’s largest trade event, hits NYC next week. Here are a few themes to look out for. Discoverability and the move to B2C Publishers are realizing that to compete with Amazon they have to be able to sell directly to consumers. One way they can do that is by making their books more discoverable. Joint venture Bookish is now almost a year late and nowhere to be seen, so startups are trying to fill the gap — for instance,  Zola Books, a New-York based company that lets publishers and authors sell e-books directly, is launching

Here’s the “wizardry” that Amazon teased yesterday: Through an “exclusive license” with Pottermore, Amazon will make all seven Harry Potter e-books free through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library starting June 19. KOLL allows Amazon Prime members who own a Kindle to borrow one e-book free each month.

The e-books will be available in all languages, though the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is U.S.-only. “It’s a commercial deal that makes sense even with a level of cannibalization of my sales,"

OverDrive (www.overdrive.com) will announce at the London Book Fair (Booth X700) April 16-18, the first of a series of "Big Data" reports analyzing billions of eBook impressions and other data collected from across its network of 18,000 public and school libraries.

The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) announced today the preliminary program and speakers for Digital Book 2012 at BEA (idpf.org/db12). The conference, held in partnership with BookExpo America (BEA), will be held June 4-5, 2012, in New York City's Javits Center, and is expected to draw global leaders in the publishing industry, including technologists, marketers, retailers, solution providers, publishers, authors, and agents.

Featured speakers at Digital Book 2012 will include best-selling authors Seth Godin and Bella Andre, as well as publishing CEOs and senior executives including Jane Friedman (Open Road Media), Madeline McIntosh (Random House), Otis Chandler (Goodreads) and more.