Nimble Books LLC » Google Stuff

Google Has A Solution For Internet Explorer: Turn It Into Chrome

Fred Zimmerman — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:03:34 +0000

Chrome Frame is a new browser plug-in developed by Google to give you a Chrome browsing experience inside of Internet Explorer. Let me restate that slightly to make it more clear: Chrome Frame turns IE into Chrome.

Yes, it’s both hilarious and awesome (or hilariously awesome, if you will) that Google seems to dislike IE so much that it has spent its own time improving it. Google claims its goals are noble. Talking to Group Product Manager Mike Smith and Software Engineer Alex Russell, they tell us that they simply want to make a more seamless web experience for both web users and developers. That said, they are only targeting one browser, IE, right now.

via Google Has A Solution For Internet Explorer: Turn It Into Chrome .

Twitter better CPC than AdWords

Fred Zimmerman — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:03:05 +0000

I thought I would report the results of some experimentation with Twitter. I
have been using the web-based program Hootsuite.com to schedule Tweets, usually
one or two per day, on a “book of the day” from my list of ~100 titles. So far, the results have been encouraging. I use the URL-shortening service Bit.ly to track clicks per Tweet. Right now, with ~530 followers, I am getting from 10 to 18 clicks per Tweet, with a high of 45 for one title (MARINE OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD, which has the magic word “Marine”). While it’s difficult to track conversions for a variety of technical reasons, I am observing daily sales spikes that correspond to the books being Tweeted–generally speaking, 1-2 sales per Tweet over the “background” ales.

I can’t help but observe that this seems to be more cost effective than my Google AdWords campaign, which costs me ~$0.50 CPC and doesn’t seem to be as effective at converting. I am thinking about discontinuing the Google Adwords at the new year and switching entirely to a Twitter-based program.

True PDF support = betting on #Google v. #Amazon

Fred Zimmerman — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:01:53 +0000

Today’s announcement of the Plastic Logic/B&N partnership was interesting.

Although it’s not mentioned iin the article, I see that they claim to support PDF.

http://www.plasticlogic.com/partners-programs/publisher-program.php

these include such standard and widely available formats as PDF, ePub and Microsoft Office document types. Information on creating content that is optimized for easy viewing and user interaction on a Plastic Logic eReader will be available through our Publisher Program.

But experience is that “support” for PDF is a vague term that often means less than it appears.

I realize that the persnickety tech details of PDF support may not seem worth including in an article aimed at a general business audience, but let me try to explain why journalists should always try to get the exact details about PDF support in articles about e-book readers.

My view is that true, full-fledged support for PDF is the key step that will open the floodgates for an iPod-like transformation of publishing, for the simple reasons that 1) every publisher already has every book in their collection availablle in PDF and 2) PDF is the only choice for a no-compromises reading experience that takes full advantage of print’s 500+ years of readability testing (Gutenberg, Caslon, Goudy …) This is where Google is heading with Google Editions: PDFs on the PC.

A couple more of my assumptions:

E-readers will always be a small fraction of the installed base of PCs.
Smartphones and “handhelds” will always be a less satisfying reading experience than true “codex” book size, 5.5 x 8.5 ” or greater.

What this means, for a journalistic hook, is that the question whether the manufacturer truly supports PDF is a marker for whether they are placing their money on Google, or Amazon for the long run. (And as the WSJ article notes, even Amazon is preserving the option to bet against itself …)

Barnes & Noble Inc. stepped onto the nascent electronic-book battleground with Amazon.com Inc. and Sony Corp. on Monday, saying it would launch its own e-bookstore with bestsellers priced at $9.99, in line with its rivals.

via Barnes & Noble Challenges Amazon’s Kindle – WSJ.com.

#Google Editions has it in for science and academic publishers

Fred Zimmerman — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:02:54 +0000

Who has exorbitant prices, other than scientific, academic, and professional publishers?

Mr. Turvey said that Google would probably allow publishers to charge consumers the same price for digital editions as they do for new hardcover versions. He said Google would reserve the right to adjust prices that it deemed “exorbitant.”

via Poised to Sell E-Books, Google Takes On Amazon – NYTimes.com.

Sell #Google Editions from your own website

Fred Zimmerman — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:59:46 +0000

Publishers Marketplace scoops world!

One major aspect of Edition not yet reported is that it will allow online retailers to sell the digital books directly from their site, with Google playing the role of electronic distributor. The selling feature is linked to Preview, the program that already lets retailers present the ability to browse inside Partner books.

via Publishers Lunch Deluxe: Closer Reading of Google Edition.

Ceci n’est pas un ebook « Black Plastic Glasses

Fred Zimmerman — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:57:06 +0000

Is Google Editions the death of e-books?

I don’t think so … sitting upright at a PC will never be the best way to read a long complex document.

Google Editions is the coming out party for “cloud publishing” where content is purchased, but never physically owned. Cloud publishing is where downloading will only be done to enable offline access, not ownership. If this works, we won’t care about epub, we wont care about Digital Editions vs. Mobipocket vs. Kindle Reader. All we will need is a device with a browser that allows us to log on to our Google Account and install Google Gears.

via Ceci n’est pas un ebook « Black Plastic Glasses.

Book Kismet: you hold the fate of books in your hands

Fred Zimmerman — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:54:45 +0000

I’ve started working on a project called Book Kismet. The initial seed for the idea was this message I posted to a Google Group devoted to an innovative “social books” project housed at the University of Toronto, and it’s my hope that BK will wind up being a useful tool for them.

The functionality I want to see in version 1.0 is as follows:

user supplies author name, book title or ISBN

system provides list of ISBNs & titles from one of:

Amazon API
Google Book Search API
LibraryThing API
OpenBook API

user selects either author or book (by ISBN)

system provides (some of):

cover image via one of {Amazon, LT, GBS, Open}
link to Amazon detail page; link to Amazon reviews for boook
link to GBS title page; link to GBS reviews for book
link to LibraryThing detail page for this book (all ISBNs); link to LibraryThing book reviews
link to Google API answer set on “author lastname” “author firstname” “discussion forum” “booktitle”
embedded Google Trends widget with book title and author name as keywords
Google Groups (old Usenet) search results

etc.

Book Kismet: an open, platform-agnostic architecture for social books

Fred Zimmerman — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:40:30 +0000

I have been thinking about the challenge of integrating physical and digital worlds via [social books] and I have a suggestion. I think you need to be designing at a higher level of abstraction: really, designing a standard instead of a device.

Think about it this way.

Class of bibliographic entities:

printed book (i think “codex” is too jargony)
journal article
report
e-book

Class of physical Enablers

CueCat
Kindle 1 & 2, Kindle DX, etc.
Sony E-Reader

Class of entity-level citation schemes, e.g.

APA
Chicago Manual
BibTex
EndNote
Digital Object Identifiers

Class of “pinpoint” citation services, e.g.

Legal standards (West, F.2d 1033)
Scientific standards: Nature 355:321 12 October
Paragraph and line numbering schemes

Class of web resources

Single purpose websites (1 per book)
Google Book repository
Amazon catalog
LibraryThing

Class of web services

Annotation
Discussion
Recommending

Right now, we have a variety of entities pursuing efforts to connect all these classes with single threads e.g. Amazon connects e-book documents with Kindle with the Amazon catalog with recommending. Kindle is a closed system so that thread is the only you one can follow if you own the Kindle class of Enabler. the proposed sBook would connect codex books using a custom-built Enabler with some undetermined citation format with purpose built websites and offer Discussion and Recommending services.

What is really needed, IMHO, is an open, platform-agnostic architecture that allows mix and match of all these classes. I believe Kindle is eventually going to be a limited success (not a failure, just a 10% of the market type thing) because it locks the reader into a single thread of classes. I’m more optimistic about Google Book Search because I think their physical enabler will be any device that can read a PDF and I think they will eventually ave a good citation standard and robust discussion services at GBS.

will my Nimble book be published as an e-book? #ebook

Fred Zimmerman — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:28:49 +0000

Yes and no.

Yes: I upload all books published by Nimble Books to Google Book Search, Amazon Search Inside the Book, and Amazon Upgrade. There is a lag of 1-4 months after nominal publication date before the book actually appears in those places. As you may know, once the Google author settlement is closed, Google will begin offering PDF downloads of “their” books.

No: my stance on e-books is that I am waiting until I can deploy my entire list (which includes many color books with high production values) to a device that can read and display near-full-size (~ 8 x 10) color PDFs. Tech-savvy readers will be aware that the Kindle DX claims to have a native PDF reader and a low-res (150 pixel per inch) grayscale display … but at this writing, Amazon has not yet answered the $64 million question: whether there will be a way for publishers to deploy their PDFs to Kindle via the Amazon DTP system or their Mobipocket subsidiary.

@cnet Google: We’re good for journalism | Murdoch: $NEWS is going extinct

Fred Zimmerman — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:03:28 +0000

As I remarked last month, the most frightening thing about the current state of newspapers is that even someone like Rupert Murdoch, who has made billions of dollars by accepting (and creating) brutal realities that others were to shy to to embrace, is now in denial.

Google is under attack for profiting from content produced by newspaper executives, magazine publishers, and The Associated Press, but the company’s Marissa Mayer on Wednesday sought to convince the U.S. Senate that Google adds to journalism, too.

via Google: We’re good for journalism | Digital Media – CNET News.