Best Books Blog » E-books http://www.bestbooks.org/blog Official Blog of BestBooks.org Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:53:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Barnes and Nobles Nook Ereader http://www.bestbooks.org/blog/barnes-and-nobles-nook-ereader/ http://www.bestbooks.org/blog/barnes-and-nobles-nook-ereader/#comments Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:44:06 +0000 admin http://www.thebestbooks.org/blog/?p=17 In a previous post we mentioned that a large reason for the increase in the popularity of e-books in the past few years has been due to e-book readers, and most notably the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader.  Well, we now have a third competitor in this young industry, the Nook Ereader by Barnes and Nobles.  While nobody here at TheBestBooks.org has actually been able to touch the physical product as it has not been released yet, we have investigated what the Nook offers.  It is similar to the Kindle in size, shape, and basic features but excels in many ways the the Kindle does not as shown in great detail here.

The biggest improvements over the Amazon Kindle is that the Nook has a full color touch-screen, similar to an iPhone and the ability for memory expansion through a Micro SD expansion slot.  Some smaller improvements is that you can receive free Wi-Fi in Barnes and Nobles book stores, you can transfer the books to your iPod or iPhone without any additional software, and it uses the Android operating system.  Whether all of these improvements will translate to sales has yet to be seen but the Nook Ereader looks promising.

]]> http://www.bestbooks.org/blog/barnes-and-nobles-nook-ereader/feed/ 0 Lulu Review http://www.bestbooks.org/blog/lulu-review/ http://www.bestbooks.org/blog/lulu-review/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:35:42 +0000 admin http://www.thebestbooks.org/blog/?p=15 Have you ever thought about writing your own book but thought that the whole process is too hard and you would never get your book published?  Lulu.com offers a free service that allows you to publish your own books.  You can then sell it from your own website, lulu’s marketplace, and if you get selected lulu will place your book on Amazon.com.

As you may know, we published a book through RubiksSolver.com called, “How to Solve a Rubik’s Cube“.  We created this book using Lulu’s service and we were thoroughly impressed at the ease of the process.  To start you select the type of book you plan on publishing.  Here are your wide array of options:

  • Paperback
  • Hardcover
  • Comic Book
  • Dissertation
  • Cookbook
  • Product Manual
  • Sales Proposal
  • Travel Guides
  • Presentations
  • Directories
  • Textbooks
  • Training Manual
  • Course Outline
  • Brochure
  • Yearbooks

After you choose from these options, simply fill out your book information, such as the title, author(s), and book specifications (paper size, binding type, etc).  Then upload your content in any of the available formats (Word Documents and PDF are included).  After that, you have the option of uploading your own images for your cover, choosing between a few pre-selected covers, or hiring Lulu to create a cover for you.  Once you have finished all of this you are done!

If you don’t mind doing a little self-advertising for your book, Lulu is a great option.  It sure beats going through a publisher, where you most likely won’t to be accepted.  And if your book is accepted it is unlikely to get any promotion from your publisher.  Overall, we give Lulu a very high recommendation.

]]> http://www.bestbooks.org/blog/lulu-review/feed/ 0 Books get High-Tech http://www.bestbooks.org/blog/books-get-high-tech/ http://www.bestbooks.org/blog/books-get-high-tech/#comments Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:27:15 +0000 admin http://www.thebestbooks.org/blog/?p=3 In a world that is run by technology, books are one of the least technological forms of entertainment and ways to distribute information to the masses.  However, even books can’t withstand the trend of technology.  In Quarter two of 2002 e-book sales amassed $1.25 million, while in quarter two of 2009 sales were $37.6 million (resource).  That’s a growth of roughly 3,000% in 8 years.  There are two huge reasons for this: the Amazon Kindle and the popularity of the internet.

With 21 billion dollars in sales, Amazon.com is easily the largest player in the book industry, more than 20 times larger than its next competitor, Barnes and Nobles (resource).  It’s no wonder then why their e-book reader, the Kindle, is such a hit.  The Kindle offers wireless access to 120,000 books, magazines, newspapers, and blogs all at the touch of a screen.  It is light and compact to the point where its’ dimensions are close to a book.  You can read from their screen that is easy on the eyes as well as listen to the book in audio form.  The Amazon Kindle is now receiving competition from some other e-book readers, such as the Sony Reader, but it is the biggest reason why we have seen such a large increase in e-book sales since 2007.

The other reason for such an increase in sales in the industry is due to authors getting their own websites and selling their e-books on them.  This allows authors to cut out the middle man and increase their profits because they don’t have to pay for a publisher to print their book.  A great example of a authors selling their books online is lulu.com.  They make the publishing process automated and leave the selling up to the authors.

This e-book trend is unlikely to slow.  E-book readers and the internet are getting more popular by the day.  This means that even books, one of the least technological forms of entertainment and ways to distribute information, can’t escape technology.

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