by Admin | Jun 2, 2015 | Blog, General
Amazon has recently unveiled a new font for their iPhone and iPad apps that is intended to increase readability of the text across various platforms and devices. The font has been specifically designed for Kindle and is supposed to increase the readability of texts by 2%. The font itself is called Bookerly and is replacing the font known as Caecilia. In addition to the new font, Amazon has updated the layout engine. Users will see improvements in kerning, drop caps, text justification, image positioning and even more options and features. The new font has been set as the default font for Kindle Fires and all their apps. It was custom made by Amazon and is similar to Google’s Literata. The hope is that the new font will help improve some of the aesthetic issues that bother users when they are using eBooks. While the font is only 2% better than the previous one, that is still an improvement over the previous font. Overall, it is expected that the improvements to the layout engine are going to be more lauded than the font itself. The changes have made eBooks appear more like print typesetting which makes it easier for readers overall. The changes should particularly help those that often adjust the sizes of the...
by Admin | May 14, 2015 | Blog
Canadian publishers have been giving more and more attention to their eBook efforts. Many publishers in Canada have been slow to join other US and international publishers that focused on eBooks very quickly. However, more Canadian publishing companies are focusing more and more on eBook and digital publishing. The number of publishes that are producing eBooks has increased to 93% in 2014. Experts are predicting that the number will go up even more over the course of this year. Of the 93% of the companies that are producing eBooks, 50% have digitized their active titles and a quarter have digitized about 75% of their backlisted titles. Canadian consumers have been elated with these changes, as many were still waiting to access books in digital format. Most of the publishers are opting to release print and eBook books simultaneously. The publishers are citing increased sales as the reason for releasing eBook versions. Others cited meeting customer demand. The publishers didn’t feel that the digital versions helped them lower costs, unlike previous years. Nevertheless, the companies are increasingly developing eBook platforms and apps to allow their customers direct access to their books only. In addition, more publishers are publishing digital originals within the last year. Many customers and businesses are cheering the constant development that’s being undertaken by the publishers. We can expect to see the eBook market in Canada continue to...
by Admin | Apr 29, 2015 | General
The latest trend in eBook publishing is highly popular and gaining steam. Authors have been supplying custom dictionaries with their eBooks to help their readers. These new dictionaries are tailored for the subject matter contained within the book and function as a kind of index for the book itself. While this idea is nothing new in the non-fiction world, it is more groundbreaking for fiction eBooks. These dictionaries are proving to be quite popular with readers, especially. Most of these dictionaries are rich media enabled to allow authors to add media, images and more to elaborate on their points and ideas. These are particularly useful for detailed fantasy and science fiction stories that have plots set in alternate universes or realities. Indie authors have been making use of these dictionaries in large numbers. By allowing authors to define and explain their own worlds and ideas, readers are given a more clear idea of the setting and more. These features have been in use by nonfiction authors already, especially in technological and scientific areas where easy reference to complex content is always helpful. With the growing trend in the fiction arena now too, readers will be expecting more features with their fiction books as well as their nonfiction...
by Admin | Apr 29, 2015 | Blog
Last month, Amazon released a new platform called WriteOn for authors to post their works in progress and solicit feedback from readers. The platform was developed to compete with Wattpad. The platform was struggling from the start and Amazon has had a harder and harder time with generating interest in the platform itself. The service went public last month after several months of struggling through beta testing. Unfortunately the platform hasn’t taken off since going public either. Most of the conversations are taking place between authors because readers just aren’t using the platform. This is partially attributed to the fact that Amazon tried to get Kindle readers to shift to the platform and left a bad impression with a lot of those readers. Unfortunately for the authors that are posting books, readers just aren’t getting involved with the platform. Wattpad has already engaged most of the readers that are interested in such a platform. They are engaged with the platform that they want to be on and are not branching out to WriteOn. Whether or not the platform will ever catch on remains to be seen. However, it looks like Amazon is already shifting its focus elsewhere. WriteOn may be left to slowly dwindle at this...
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