The embarrassment of eBooks and eReaders

Ebook sales is reported to have gained remarkable feats by several large eBook stores, yet the related eReader market has plunged into a less encouraging statement at the same time. Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the two eBook leaders in the US, actually exploit their increasing eBook sales to offset the loss on eReaders. Now let’s have a look at the embarrassment the two tycoons have confronted.

Amazon eBook sales

Since April of 2011, Amazon has sold approximately 105 eBooks for every 100 print books. In August 2012, Amazon revealed that eBooks outsold print books on Amazon UK. Amazon eBook store currently sells 114 eBooks for every 100 print books. As to the prevalence of eBooks and the advantage of price, people are inclined to purchase eBooks more often.

Amazon eReader sales

Amazon launched Kindle Fire last fall and the sales of E-ink Kindle slumped during the following months.

In Amazon’s Q1 2012 earnings release, the gross sales of Kindle readers decreased by 63% from the previous quarter. As a report from Pacific Crest Securities recently put, the orders of E-ink reader’s standard components have dropped by seventy percent for Q2.

Barnes & Noble eBook sales

Barnes & Noble’s eBook s and other digital content did a good job for the fiscal 2013 first quarter. Compared to previous period, it has seen gains of 46 percent, which made a paramount contribution to the whole company.  

Barnes & Noble eReader sales

It was just reported that sales of Barnes & Noble’s eReader s and tablets continue to drop in its fiscal 2013 first quarter. Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight, which was released in April, has not marginally improved the sales of eReader but to make things worse. In the end, the loss of eReaders has to be covered by the well-performed digital content sales. There is even a rumor that Barnes & Nobel has been selected as one of the nine sinking companies for its permanent descending sales.

What device do people read eBooks on?

Ridiculously, people purchase more eBooks and less eReaders. It seems that there are better substitutions for dedicated eReaders. In fact, we can read eBooks or enjoy diversified recreations on various mobile devices like Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet or multi-functional smartphones. While Google Nexus 7 is exceedingly hot currently, who dare to say that people who hold Nexus 7 exclusively play games instead of reading eBooks on it?

An investigation concerning eBook-reading: The old like eBook readers better than the young

With the booming development in the industry of eBooks and eReaders, eBook-reading is doing well in English-speaking countries. BWM Books has made an infographic on eReaders and eBooks, which demonstrates the statistics of four countries’ eBook markets: US, UK, Canada and Australia.

The devices used for reading

                 

According to the data provided by Pew (for the US), the two primary reading devices are computer (42%) and eReader (41%). Smartphone accounts for a proportion of 29% and tablets comes last (23%). 

The advantages of eReaders

In terms of the advantages of eReaders, people hold respective views. 83% people think that it’s exceedingly fast and convenient to get the purchased eBooks. 73% people read eBooks on their journey. 53% people like eReaders for a massive selection of electronic resources. 43% people read eBooks in bed.

A typical eReader, Kindle, is much slighter than print books with affluent eBook resources furnished by Amazon.

On the contrary, we should not ignore the merits of traditional books. 81% people choose paperback books for children while 69% people share their beloved books with others.

The age distribution of the customers

Different from young folks who are fond of smartphones, old people are inclined to choose proprietary eReaders. According to the statistics from US market, around 33% customers with eReaders are over 55. Customers between 25 and 34, who occupy the largest proportion of smartphones, constitute approximately 23% of people who possess eReaders.   

Smartphones appeal to young people as they integrate various functions. Thus young people maybe find it unnecessary to purchase additional eReaders as eBook-reading has been supported on smartphones already. Conversely, old people have more leisure time and would like to spend their time on comfortable eReaders.  

The diversity of countries

In the main English-speaking countries, the amount of eReaders and tablets used for reading has surpassed 120 million, among which the US market has made up 100 million. In the meantime, there are 46 million eReaders in the US, which is much higher than other countries.  

For the number of people who have ever downloaded eBooks, four countries show similar statistics. 20% adults in the US have downloaded at least one eBook while 21% adults have done so in the UK and Australia.

The overall eBook sales in Australia is predicted to reach $ 200 million this year, which accounts for 10% of the print book market. The proportion is estimated to go by 25% in 2014.

According to a report from BWM Books
Click the image below to view the full size version.

Meet the new Kindle on September 6

This is the invitation letter from Amazon to invite the media to join their Press Conference on September 6 at California.

On September 28 last year, Amazon launched Kindle Fire, Kindle 4 and Kindle Touch, one year later, it's no surprise that in this Press Conference Amazon will launch their new weapons.

Not long ago, we have submitted a post to show that there are indicates showing the New Kindle is coming.

We also have a post in June to introduce you the predictions from principal media about the New Kindle Fire.

Amazon Kindle Fire vs. Google Nexus 7

E-readers are the new age books that come with many advantages. The two most recent e-readers that are constantly making news in the tablet world are Amazon Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7. Though there are several common things among the two, it is quite interesting to know the way they are faring in the market. Here’s an insight on the features of both the devices.

The left is Kindle Fire, the right is Nexus 7.     Image from Wired.com

Amazon Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7

The all-affordable Amazon Kindle Fire stirred up a revolution when it was announced. The 7-inches digital reader is powerful and promises some of the amazing features.  It is simple with an attractive exterior design, not too flashy. There is not much difference in the Google Nexus 7 design which also sports the same look as Amazon’s Kindle Fire. It is much lighter and offers a natural feel when held in the hand. Google Nexus 7 delivers a sharper display with1280 x 800 pixels while the Kindle Fire has 1024 x 600.

When it comes to the processor, the most important part, Kindle Fire has a 1GHz dual-core which is more than enough to get you through the basic tasks. On the other hand Google outdoes with a Nivida quad-core Tegra 3 chip at 1.2GHz, best suited for action-packed games and to support powerful apps. Google's Nexus 7 tablet has a front-facing 1.2 Mbps camera with a longer battery-life.

Even though both the devices run on Android, their software builds are much different from one another. Nexus 7 carries the Android, 4.1 Jelly Bean while Kindle Fire runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread that comes with a customized interface. But must agree, Amazon’s Gingerbread is simple and is made much easier to use. Though Google’s Nexus 7 has a lead over the Amazon’s Kindle Fire, there is something to look forward with the next-generation Kindle Fire, rumored to be packed with impressive features.

Why do you need digital readers?

Well, with so much about Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire, if you are wondering the how you could benefit from owing an e-reader, the answer is simple!

E-readers have definitely changed the approach the world has towards books. Its advent has changed the way we use books and also has affected the way libraries and publishing houses function. It was not till the advent of e-books, e-readers gained momentum in the market. E-books are now available in several formats and can be easily be accessed on a wide range of e-reader devices.

Benefits of using eBooks and eBook readers

There are several advantages of using eBooks and e-readers than the traditional books.

·         E-books are environment friendly as there is no paper involved and save printing and delivery costs you can download eBooks instantly, store as many e-books as you want till you empty the storage space of your device and also this is a great way to carry your books around  E-readers allow you to alter the size of the text and even annotate and bookmark the text

E-reader Converters

Though most of the eBooks are seen in PDF format, you can print them in the file format that best suits your e-reader. 

In fact, you can make use of the e-reader converter to transfer them into the desired file format that your handheld device supports. E-reader converters can be bought or downloaded from web. These are nothing but programs that assist you in transforming eBooks from one file format to other. 

There are many types of converters available, but this again will depend on the file format that you want to convert or that your reader supports. If you need a capable software which can convert DRM protected Kindle, Sony, Nook, Kobo eBooks, please scroll up and click "eBook Converter" button on the top bar.

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Who is the most popular when people reading eBooks?

Since March this year, we launched a survey on our product site.

We asked our clients to tell us what kind of device do they read eBooks on. Months past, we have collected more than 30,000 feedback.

Some of them gave us the fake or invalid answers, like "device" "123" or even "asdfsafjjjs"....(What the hell....)

After hours of filtering and clustering, we get a report with 26678 solid answers. And we have made it an infographic.

Infographic by Epubor

Embed Code:
<div><iframe frameborder="0" height="4835" scrolling="no" src="http://infogr.am/-1345101824-54810/" style="border: none;" width="550"></iframe><br />Infographic by <a href="http://www.epubor.com/">Epubor</a></div>

Listen to your eBook and take a rest!

When I am obsessed with an eBook and continue reading on my Kindle Fire for a heap of hours, I wonder whether there is a text-to-speech function available that allows me to listen to the book without opening my eyes(I don't have an iPad which supports TTS itself). In fact, I hope this function is supported on my reading app rather than those on-line services so that my reading won't be too complicated.

TTS (Text To Speech)
TTS is a technology that converts text to speech automatically. There are different forms of TTS applications:  on-line TTS (website), TTS software, reading apps supporting TTS, etc. Do you remember the blind young man in Seven Pounds? Will Smith found out he was blind through the synthetic voice on the telephone.

TTS on Mantano
There are a cloud of android reading apps and many of them are nifty. However, most of them do not deliver TTS engine or we have to pay for the premium versions for TTS function (such as Aldiko). Fortunately, I got Mantano, which offers TTS engine and remarkable features for free.
Follow me to listen to the eBook if you feel that your eyes have been fairly painstaking!

1. Download and install Mantano.
Launch the browser on your android eReader (Here I take my Kindle Fire for example.), search for "mantano download" and enter a web page to download the APK file to your device.

2. (For Kindle Fire) Allow installation of applications.
Tap the right corner on the top of the home screen, select "More" and then select "Device". On the "Device" screen, tap "ON" for "Allow Installation of Applications". Tap "OK" on the following warning window. Then we can install the downloaded app (APK file) on the Kindle Fire. If you install Mantano on other eReaders, a similar setting might be a must.

3. Install Mantano.
Tap "Web" icon on the top menu bar of the home screen and tap the option icon on the bottom bar. Tap "Downloads" icon to get the downloaded APK file. Then tap the file name (like mantano.apk) to install Mantano on your Kindle Fire.

4. Launch Mantano and import an EPUB file.
Mantano seems amazing, isn't it! Well, our task is to enjoy TTS. Now we need to import an EPUB book. As Mantano does not support Kindle books (AZW/MOBI), we need to convert at least one Kindle book to EPUB or download a free EPUB book to Kindle Fire. Here I have prepared some EPUB books. Make sure you are on the "My bookshelf" page and tap "Import" icon on the bottom menu bar. The EPUB and PDF files on Kindle Fire will be detected automatically. Select one EPUB file and tap "Import".

Tips:
A catalog of sites for free eBook ( EPUB / PDF ) download
How to convert Kindle books to EPUB

5. Listen to the book
Tap the book and flip to a page. Tap the screen and a menu bar will appear on the bottom of the screen. Here we select "TTS". A woman is reading the content!

Apparently, the voice is sort of stiffly and awkward. But this is just another pattern for us to continue our reading without straining our eyes. Let’s close our eyes and have a good rest! Even if you own an iPad, you would have to spend seconds in selecting the content!

reading apps supporting TTS
Here is Best android eReader apps review, some of which are said to be TTS supported. Moreover, one reader remarked that wordplayer supported TTS function and it made any book an audio book.

If you have got one of the hottest Android tablet, Google Nexus 7, follow this guide to read and listen to Kindle books on Nexus 7 with free FBReader.

on-line TTS (website)
A professional TTS website is Text to Speech, which provides human reading. It supports a couple of languages and offers an embedded link for web use. Nevertheless, there is no audio file (MP3) generated and the free service allows a maximum of 1000 words.

Text2Speech is another free site for TTS, which supports several voice types and volume scales. It will deliver an MP3 file to you after a few minutes’ processing. The generated file sounds much worse than what you hear on Text to Speech, of course, but you don't need to pay for it!

TTS software
There seems to be plenty of software related to TTS, yet most of them are not free. I tried one of the so-called free versions of Natural Reader, the MP3-conversion function is exclusively open to higher versions (paid version). I would be pretty appreciated if you share your experience concerning free TTS software with me in the comments below.

Create An EPUB With Free Sigil: Start Your EBook Journey

How to create an EPUB file? More and more people ask such a question currently. With a cloud of eBook reading, you might feel like sharing your individual experiences with others in the form of eBook. If you are an EPUB beginner, this article will help you start your first EPUB basically. If you have created eBooks before, I would be fairly delighted that you can get something useful here. 

EPUB
EPUB (electronic publication) is an open–eBook standard proposed by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). Different from the traditional file formats such as .DOC and .TXT, EPUB supports reflowable and resizable content on various reading devices for optimized display. The text and pictures of an EPUB book is actually described by a specified language, XHTML, which is similar to HTML rather than those advanced programming languages (C, C#, JAVA, etc.). Thus the EPUB book created by Sigil is exactly composed of XHTML. Don't worry about it! We just create an EPUB with some simple operations and Sigil generates the code herself.

Sigil
People who have created EPUB books before may know about Sigil. Sigil is a free open-source software to create and edit EPUB files. As a multiple-platform-supported software, it can be used on Mac and Linux apart from Windows. It's versatile and easy to use.

Tips:
Besides Sigil, you can use eCub, Calibre and iBooks Author to create EPUB books as well.

Guide to create an EPUB



Prepare a demo book to create an EPUB. Now let's start our EPUB journey!

1. Download and install free Sigil.

2. Launch Sigil.

3. Open the prepared book.

4. Break chapters. Locate the cursor at the end of a chapter, click the "Chapter Break" icon, and you can separate this chapter from the rest content.

5. Set formats. Select the content and you can set the formats of titles and texts.

6. Insert images. Select "File"/"New"/"Add Existing Files" to add the images that your EPUB needs into the current project and then click the "Insert Image" icon.
7. Align. Select the content and click different align icons on the tool bar to set the alignment.

8. Add a cover. Right click the Text folder, select "Add Blank Section" and a new XHTML file will be added at the end of the chapters. Right click the added file and select "Rename" to rename it as "cover" (or other names as you like). Right click the renamed file "cover" and select "Sort All". Click "OK" to make sure of it on the following warning window and then drag the file to the head.

9. Edit the cover. You can input headline and insert pictures into the cover. Setting the font and formats of the headline is necessary.

10. Edit "Meta Editor". Click "Edit"/"Meta Editor" to edit the "Title" and "Author" of your EPUB. Click "More" to edit more information.

11. Save the file as .EPUB. Click "File"/"Save as" to save as EPUB file.

12. Now you have finished your trip of Launch Adobe Digital Edition or another software supporting EPUB to have a look at your EPUB.

This is a basic introduction about how to create an EPUB. There must be some more functions of Sigil that are not introduced here. Moreover, you can use Sigil to write and edit EPUB books. Enjoy your EPUB books with Sigil.

Tips:
How to convert EPUB to MOBI
How to convert EPUB to PDF