An Update on Used Ebooks

Back in February I wrote about Amazon's interest in selling used ebooks. This topic has come up again recently: this week the German district court of Bielefeld ruled that digital books cannot be resold by purchasers. The ruling states that an ebook can only be resold with the consent of the author and publisher. We'll have to see how this decision effects sales in the US market.

Bestselling science fiction author John Scalzi blogged about the concept of re-selling ebooks. Naturally as an author, he brings an interesting perspective to the matter. What follows is a pretty lively debate in his comments section. Whatever does happen, it's a safe bet that there is going to be a great deal of litigation on this matter. I can certainly understand why authors and publishers are concerned about this. 

Should ebooks be treated like print books, able to be resold at a discount? Or is re-selling a digital file too similar to the file sharing that shook up the music industry?

Overdrive Media Console

With all of the changes we've seen in publishing thanks to ebooks, one has to wonder how libraries are affected. We already showed you San Antonio's bookless library, but what about current brick and mortar libraries? Are they getting in the digital game?

Absolutely. Meet the Overdrive Media Console, a free app that you can download to any of your devices. If you have a library membership you can use this app to connect to your library and rent ebooks and audiobooks, which you can access on any of your devices.

They're temporary ebooks that will disappear from your device after two weeks; you will need to check them out again if you're not finished at the end of the two week period, but the app will remember your place. The best part is that just like the library, it's all free. 

Ebook Bestsellers And A New Bundle From StoryBundle

Publishers Weekly has an article on the Ebook bestsellers for 2012. A few interesting things to note: this list only includes data from big publishers that have titles in the print bestseller list, so it doesn't include figures from the many smaller publishers and self-publishing authors that are out there. Also worth noting, although print books are still outselling ebooks, it appears the digital counterparts are getting closer and closer. 
 
StoryBundle has a new bundle available: fiction from female authors, curated my bestselling author MJ Rose.