UK’S Largest Retail Book Store Chain Removed Kindle e-readers Due to ‘Not So Good’ Sales

Waterstones, London based UK’s largest retail book store chain has decided to discontinue with Amazon’s ‘kindle’ after nearly three years. This decision has been taken because of the reduced sale of Kindle ebooks. In a statement to The Booksellers magazine, the Managing Director of the company Mr. James Daunt said “Sales of Kindles continue to be pitiful so we are taking the display space back in more and more shops. It feels very much like the life of one of those inexplicable bestsellers; one day piles and piles, selling like fury; the next you count your blessings with every sale because it brings you closer to getting it off your shelves forever to make way for something new,” he told the magazine. It was reported by Guardian that in December2014, sale of paperbacks at Waterstones has increased by 5%. However spokesperson of Amazon in his statement informed that they are pleased with the constructive momentum and mounting distribution of Kindle and Fire tablet sales. He also stated that their devices are now obtainable in over 2,500 retail locations across the UK, including Argos, Tesco, Dixons, John Lewis and recent additions like Sainsbury’s, Boots and Shop...

Australia Passes Anti-Piracy Laws

Australia has joined the growing number of countries to pass anti-piracy laws in an attempt to help protect the music, publishing and entertainment industries. The law in question allows publishers or rights holders to challenge various torrenting websites. The challenge can force the pirating websites to close in order to maintain the rights of the copyright holders. This legislation is expected to greatly decrease the number of piracy websites that have eBooks, movies, music and more available for download for free or at reduced prices from those of the original owners. While the legislation does require the original owners to challenge the websites, it does allow them with a governmental route to help protect their assets and property. The challenge requires internet providers to block the websites in question. Some are seeing this as an infringement of personal right, but the government has sided with the entertainment industry in this case. This is not the first instance to be seen of internet providers being required to block pirating websites at the insistence of the government and copyright holders. A similar program has been established in the UK and actually had its first big court case last year. The outcome of the case required internet providers to block access to multiple websites that were hosting pirated eBooks. It will be interesting to see how the legislation works in...

Amazon Unveils New Font For iPhone and iPad

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...

Latest Trend Custom Dictionaries in eBooks

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...