Our recent post on how well the Kindle did over the Christmas period has been reinforced by new figures released by Pew Internet and American Life. As you can see from the graph above, e-reader ownership jumped from 10% of U.S. households to 19% of those queried for both types of devices, while as many as 29% of U.S. adults one at least one of the devices.

“Over the past few years, the team at Graphicly identified an unmet need in the digital publishing industry for automated tools to convert, distribute and promote image-based content,“ said Micah Baldwin, Graphicly founder and CEO.  “By opening up our proven digital distribution platform, we now provide these services, while giving authors and publishers full control of their content and revenue streams and a deep understanding of how readers are engaging with their content. We believe our customer’s books should be available in every marketplace imaginable, with the knowledge and support to properly market and promote them.”

Graphicly’s platform offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity for authors and publishers to distribute their books across a variety of digital channels. Utilizing Graphicly allows authors to upload their book, publish it to one or many platforms, and promote it via the channels they choose, while retaining full ownership of their revenue stream. With a brandable and embeddable reader, an author will now be able to provide its consumers the ability to buy and enjoy content from wherever the author chooses.

Content distributed via the Graphicly platform is available across multiple channels, including the Apple iPhone, iPad, and iOS Newsstand; eBook stores including Amazon Kindle, Kobo and Apple iBooks as eBooks and enhanced eBooks; Android devices, including the Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet and NOOK Color and the Amazon Kindle Fire; and an industry-leading HTML5 web app allowing for publishing to any website or blog.  Graphicly is also the only distribution service offering books on Facebook, with more than 90% of its publishers using this channel.

Graphicly’s expanded distribution platform also delivers custom analytics which help authors and publishers tailor their content to how their audience is reading. This seamless experience allows control over how content is consumed, as well as insight into consumers’ behaviors, including how often they read a book, how far they read into a book, and more. For the first time, publishers and authors are able to utilize data, metrics and social media – empowering them to market their books in exciting ways and better connect with their readers.

“Upon publishing my memoir, The Boy Who Loved Batman, through Chronicle Books, I wanted to reach the largest audience possible,” said Michael Uslan, executive producer of the ultra successful Batman franchise of films. “Graphicly is the only digital content platform that, in an easy and simple manner, gives authors and publishers the ability to reach their audience in the places that audience frequents.”

Graphicly offers authors and publisher the ability to select the type of distribution they need, as well as the revenue model that best suits them – from a basic free offering to a flat rate per conversion, with a number of options in between. Web and Facebook posting via the self-service platform are free, with other platforms and services requiring additional commitment.

The new publishing platform is initially available to current Graphicly authors and publishers, and will be widely available in the next few weeks. Publishers and authors can sign up for more information at http://www.graphicly.com/launch

“Between 28th December 2011 and 3rd January 2012, YouGov asked 2,012 adults in the UK what presents they had personally received or treated themselves to over the Christmas period. A result of this research, when interpreted, indicates that of the 1.33 million e-readers gifted at Christmas, 92% were Kindles, making Amazon’s e-reader the most popular choice this Christmas.”

Now with an iPad App, the company is expanding to allow any child to create a book on their iPad and then have this published as a physical hardback book. “Most kids draw well before they write well,” says Scribble Press co-founder Anna Barber. “The iPad is a good medium for that, but the computer isn’t…The minute [the iPad] came out, I thought it was the perfect channel for what we were trying to do.”

Apparent today unveiled Doxie Go, the modern new mobile paper scanner that’s tiny, cordless, and simple, so you can scan anywhere – no computer required. Doxie’s app syncs scans – just like a digital camera – then organizes multi-page documents, creates searchable PDFs with ABBYY® OCR, and sends to the cloud – Evernote, Dropbox, and more.

Scan anywhere – no computer required.

For all your paper
Doxie scans everything from bills and receipts to reports, recipes, ideas, cards, photos, and everything else.

Tiny and fast
Doxie’s tiny size means you can scan anywhere, no computer required. Scan full color pages in just 8 seconds.

Built-in battery and memory
Scan up to 600 pages with built-in memory, or insert a USB flash drive or SD card for endless storage.

Sync to Mac, PC, iPhone, & iPad
Doxie Go syncs scans to your computer – just like a digital camera. Doxie even syncs direct to iPhone & iPad.1

Doxie 2.0 software included.

Connect to sync
Doxie Go syncs scans to Doxie 2.0 when you plug it in – just like a digital camera – and charges while you sync.

Simplicity is key
Doxie’s intuitively designed companion app makes going paperless amazingly easy. Just sync, staple, and save.

Create searchable PDFs
Award-winning ABBYY® OCR technology recognizes the text on your scans and creates searchable PDF files.2

Evernote & Dropbox ready
Doxie works directly with Evernote, Dropbox, Google Docs, and more – send PDFs and images to the cloud.
Now Available For Pre-Order

Doxie Go is the newest member of Apparent Corporation’s award-winning Doxie® scanner family, and includes the cordless scanner, Doxie 2.0 software, and a carrying case. Now available for pre-order for $199. The first orders ship in late November. Complete product information and images available here.

Doxie Go web site: http://www.getdoxie.com/product/doxie-go
Resources for press and bloggers: http://www.getdoxie.com/press/

About Doxie® brand paper scanners
Doxie delivers modern, award-winning scanners for digitizing and organizing paper, photos, and receipts. Doxie scans anywhere – no computer required, sends directly to the cloud, and syncs to Mac, PC, iPhone, & iPad. +1 800-550-5470, www.getdoxie.com.

About Apparent Corporation
Apparent makes smart devices and software that rocks. Apparent’s award-winning products and brands include IntelliScanner home and small business barcode readers that organize everything; Barcode Producer, the industry standard barcode generation suite for graphic designers; and Doxie, the amazing scanner for documents. +1 919-468-0340, hello@itsapparent.com, www.itsapparent.com

If indie authors are willing to sell their e-book exclusively through Amazon for 90 days, those books become available through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Each time a writer’s book is loaned through the system, they get a cut of revenue on top of the royalties they get from book sales.

Amazon has launched a new $6 million annual fund to help fuel the program. That money is divvied up among all participating authors each month, depending on what percentage of the total number of books shared were written by each author. The more their e-books are borrowed, the more money they make. At the same time, the more authors that participate, the smaller each piece of the pie gets. For writers whose e-books are widely shared among readers, this could work out to thousands of dollars in extra revenue per month.

Who Needs Big Publishing Houses?

Not too long ago, the only way for an author to get significant reach and income was to get on board with a major publishing house, no small feat for any author. Today, thanks to the spread of e-books and programs like this, the barriers to entry are much lower and the financial pay-off keeps getting more attractive.

Last year, Amazon increased the revenue share it offers Kindle authors to 70%, likely in anticipation of the launch of Apple’s iBooks store.

By offering an extra stream of revenue via KDP Select, Amazon boosts those profits for writers while making its own lending library seem more attractive to them. After all, why participate in a program that doesn’t generate any revenue, especially if you’re the little guy (or gal)?

Last year, the e-commerce giant announced that e-book editions of best-sellers had outsold their printed counterparts on the site for the first time. Then, earlier this year, the company revealed that it had sold more e-books than paperback and hardcover books combined.

Its line of Kindle e-readers was already doing quite well when the company launched its full-color, Android-based media tablet the Kindle Fire. As the holidays approach, the $200 device is expected to land in the hands of many more consumers. On Black Friday alone, Amazon sold 400% more Kindles that it did on the same day last year.

[SOURCE] Read Write Web.

Those who agree to both terms are eligible to take part in the $6 million fund. Authors and publishers will earn a royalty payment based on their book’s share of borrows during that month. For instance, the monthly fund for December is $500,000. If 100,000 KDP Select books are borrowed during that period, and one author’s book is borrowed 1,500 times, that author will earn $7,500 in royalties.

Before now, independent authors and publishers were not eligible to participate in the Lending Library. Notably, the terms are less favorable for self-publishers: They only receive money if their books are borrowed. Thus far, traditional publishers have been paid simply for including their books in the lending catalog, whether or not those books were then borrowed.

Still, the more popular independent Kindle authors are likely to benefit from inclusion, so long as the KDP Select group remains, well, select. It will also help Amazon build up its lending program, which thus far has been met with resistance from many publishers.

[SOURCE] Mashable.

Read More at BookPulse.