Canada’s Legible Announces LibrarianAI Update (& Raises $610k)
14 July 2023 (BusinessWire)
LibrarianAI offers conversational book discovery, enabling readers to find and buy eBooks directly on Legible’s browser-based eBookstore. The total amount raised under the Private Placement so far is $1.3 million.
Australia’s Booktopia and VitalSource Launch Digital Textbook Platform
14 July 2023 (Good E-Reader)
The Bookshelf CoachMe practice feature acts like a built-in coach, which helps learners practice and learn by doing. Its AI-generated questions in chapters help students stay on track, focus on learning, and improve their grades. It also provides immediate feedback to students in a confidence-boosting manner.
$19 Million Secured For Voice Technology Research Company
13 July 2023 (Pulse 2.0)
“Projects” will give content creators like publishers and independent authors, access to a hitherto unavailable level of control over their AI-generated audio content.
Penn State Study Targets Ereader User Engagement
29 June 2023 (Smeal College of Business)
Faster loading times and incentives like free book chapters and credits may make an e-reader the, “one app to rule them all.” … The model allowed the researchers to study “hidden” variables — in this case, how users interacted with an app over time and what factors influenced their decisions — by focusing on variables they could measure. Specifically, they examined the number of books and chapters users read and the amount of money spent on digital books.
Six-Month Sentence For Sharing Pirated eBooks & Paywalled News Articles
28 June 2023 (TorrentFreak)
A man who shared copies of more than a thousand eBooks and articles obtained from a paywalled news site has been handed a six-month suspended sentence by a court in Denmark. Prosecutions for sharing paywalled articles are extremely rare but in this case supported by a laundry list of additional offenses including fraud and movie piracy.
The AI bots have broken Amazon
28 June 2023 (Daily Dot)
several authors raised the alarm about AI-generated content appearing on Kindle’s bestseller charts. Many of these ebooks flew under the radar for a couple of months but inexplicably gained traction in the past few days, sparking accusations of bot-farming.
Australia includes ebooks in library lending compensation for authors
26 June 2023 (Press release)
“… we are delivering $12.9 million to ensure authors and publishers are fairly compensated for their work.” Currently, the scheme only provides compensation payments for the free use of print copy books in public and educational lending libraries.
Ebooks account for 12.6% of European book sales
22 June 2023 (Publishers Weekly)
European format sales strongly favored print in 2022, which accounted for 84.8% of sales, with digital books coming in at 12.6% and audio at just 2.5%.
AAP StatShot: US Trade Book Revenues Down 11.2% in April
21 June 2023 (Publishing Perspectives)
Ebook revenues were down 14.1 percent for the month as compared to April 2022 for a total of $71.9 million. The digital audio format was up 5.8 percent for April. 2023, coming in at $65.0 million in revenue.
Storytel to Pilot AI Audiobook Narration
20 June 2023 (Publishers Lunch)
Developing AI voices “specifically tailored to Storytel’s core markets.” In a release, Storytel said their goal is to be a leader in AI narration “as a complement to organic voices.” They are also investing in ElevenLabs’ ongoing financing round, though the amount has not been disclosed.
More Ebook Industry News (back to Aug 2017)
