Dark Horse is shutting down its iOS comics app
26 February 2025 (The Verge)
… decided to stop its own direct-to-reader sales because “consumer reading preferences have evolved in different directions.”
Library Futures: Call for Interoperable Ebook Standards in the Academic Book Market
25 February 2025 (InfoDocket)
… including “consistent open metadata using open, universal standards such as OPDS,” and “DRM systems, such as Readium LCP, that use open standards to facilitate interoperable, systematic integration and delivery when access control is necessary.”
Library Database Providers Clash Over Subscription Models
24 February 2025 (Publishers Weekly)
EBSCO said it “reaffirms its unwavering commitment to supporting libraries with diverse acquisition needs, including perpetual access to e-books, print book fulfillment, and flexible acquisition models like Evidence-Based Acquisition (EBA) and Demand-Driven Acquisition”.
BookBeat has paid out $327 million (SEK 3.5 billion) to publishers and authors since it launched in 2015.
23 February 2025 (The New Publishing Standard)
Markus Dohle: “When it comes to subscription, I am convinced that in the long run it is not good for author income, it is not good for retail” – Markus Dohle, 2021.
Spotify Amplifies Audiobook Offerings with ElevenLabs Partnership
23 February 2025 (MSN)
To facilitate this process, authors interested in uploading AI-narrated audiobooks must first download the necessary file package from ElevenLabs. Subsequently, they can proceed to Findaway Voices, Spotify’s audiobook distribution service. This streamlined process is expected to simplify audiobook publication for authors and expand Spotify’s digital offerings.
Spotify Plans Expanded Audiobook Operations in Europe and Sweden
22 February 2025 (The New Publishing Standard)
Spotify, which late last year expanded its audiobook offering to four European countries, has placed an advertisement for a specialist to negotiate with European publishers.
You shouldn’t steal eBooks unless you have good lawyers
22 February 2025 (Android Central)
According to court records, Meta allegedly illegally pirated 82TB of DRM-free eBooks to train Llama. After some gentle nudging from Mark Zuckerberg himself, things changed. The company took steps to make sure the torrenting couldn’t be traced back to Meta’s network infrastructure and began sailing under the black flag.
As ProQuest exits the print book market, will we see a new era of big deals for ebooks?
21 February 2025 (London School of Economics)
Academic libraries in the UK and across the world were taken by surprise by the recent announcement that the company will be exiting the global market for print book sales in August of this year, and similarly stopping title-by-title perpetual ebook sales in October.
Amazon wants you to know you can only purchase licenses, not e-books
20 February 2025 (Android Police)
Of course, these were licenses all along; nothing is changing when purchasing digital goods from Amazon; the company simply updated its language.
Public Library Ebook Service to Cull AI Slop
20 February 2025 (404Media)
While it’s notable that Hoopla is actively removing AI-generated books on its platform that it previously ignored, librarians think the company still has a lot of work to do.
Amazon is stripping away your ability to download your ebooks
19 February 2025 (LitHub)
Starting next Wednesday, February 26th, Amazon isn’t going to let users download the ebooks they’ve purchased, forcing users to keep everything within the corporation’s proprietary ecosystem.
Google Play Books makes it ‘easier’ to buy ebooks on iOS
18 February 2025 (9to5google.com)
Book listings in Play Books now feature a “Get book” button. This is rather cumbersome, but slightly better than the previous approach of users manually opening a browser, going to play.google.com, and searching for the book’s title.
More ebook industry news (back to 2017)
