A PLACE TO SHARE AND/OR PROMOTE BOOKS - SEE WHAT'S OUT THERE

Sony's New Move

I saw this article in Publisher's Weekly and thought I'd share it with you. It sounds like a good idea to me.

Thanks for reading!
Elaine Cantrell
Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
http://www.elainecantrell.com

Sony Adopts EPUB Standard for Reader
By Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 7/24/2008 7:16:00 AM
The International Digital Publishing Forum's epub e-book standard received a big vote of support this morning when Sony announced that effective immediately its Sony Reader will now support the standard. Beginning in August, all new devices shipped will use epub, and right now owners of existing devices can go to http://esupport.sony.com to update their device's software for epub support.

Brennan Mullin, v-p of Sony Audio, said the company was adopting the epub standard to encourage more vendors, booksellers and publishers to get involved in the e-book market and to broaden the amount of content that can be viewed on the Reader. The move to use epub is a significant change in approach for Sony, which has used its own standards and restricted consumers to buying e-books for the Reader from its own store. The use of epub will allow consumers to buy titles from a variety of outlets and will grow the number of titles compatible with the Reader to well passed the 45,000 now available through its online store. Another avenue for new material will be Adobe: Sony also annouced today that the device will support Adobe e-books with DRM and will also have the capability to reflow standard PDF e-books and other documents.

Publishers, who generally favor the one-format approach made possible by epub, welcomed Sony’s decision. “Sony’s support of epub is an important step forward in the cooperation of publishers and portable digital book manufacturers to create better experiences for readers,” said Brent Lewis, v-p digital & internet for Harlequin. “We’re thrilled with the upgrade." IDPF, of which Sony is a member, approved epub as an industrywide standard in an attempt to foster interoperability among e-book reading devices.

Mullin said sales of the Reader have been steady and that sales of titles have increased. Interest in e-books has grown and although reluctant to credit a competitor, Mullin acknowledged that the buzz around Amazon’s Kindle “has been good for everybody in the e-book market.” Amazon, however, has not adopted the epub standard.

In addition to adopting the epub standard, Sony has announced it has started offering the Reader in the U.K.

Tags: authors, ebook, ebooks, novels, reader, romance, technology

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MORGAN'S OWN BLOGSPOT

Are you ready?

I am so not ready for Christmas. I just realized I don't have much time either. One good thing is the DH is off Friday and possibly all next week, so I can give him a few chores to do, which may help some. I'm counting on him to put stamps and labels on the Christmas cards, and do a few things around the house to straighten it out some. Unfortunately, I'm the organizer in the family, so I can't expect too much on the getting-the- house ready front. That's pathetic, since I'm not very organized. (g)

Anyway, I hope to get the house into decent shape before Christmas, when I do my annual meal for the family. There's also that Christmas list to get together. Time is ticking away.

What about you? Are you ready for Christmas? Or do you celebrate another Holiday? If so, are you ready?

Please Welcome Mary Cunningham, Cynthia's Attic Author

Discovering Family in Cynthia's Attic

One of the main reasons for writing "Cynthia's Attic" came from my failure - failure to appreciate my ancestors. Our family stories are probably no more or less interesting than most, and I went out of my way to avoid remembering most of them or asking questions about my grandparents lives.

For instance. Did I bother to ask my grandfather what it was like playing in the first night football game in America?

Or did I try to find out just which relative "supposedly" sold a city block on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles for $20,000? Guaranteed, I would not be sitting here writing a blog had that particular relative held on to the property.

Then there's the story, "Cynthia's Attic: Curse of the Bayou," of my great-great grandfather, Augustus Boilliat who disappeared in 1860 while taking a load of produce down the Mississippi River to New Orleans? Oh, sure I've read different accounts about what happened to him, but lost forever are the stories his grandson (my grandfather) could've told me about facts he'd heard from my great-great grandmother, Marie Julia, about her husband's disappearance.

I remember a few accounts told by my dad about his adventures as a teenage cave guide at one of the largest caves in the Southern Indiana area, Wyandotte, but I only have to guess at some of the adventures he must've had.

That's why I'm writing adventures I wanted my ancestors to have; adventures I can enjoy with them through the eyes and voice of my character, Gus.

The idea for Cynthia's Attic: The Magician's Castle came from detailed genealogy research done by my cousin, Betty. Long before the Internet, she traveled to Switzerland to search for documents that would tie our great-grandmother, Harriet Kistler, to Peter Kistler the First, President of the Republic of Bern, 1470-1480. I've tried to honor the Kistler family in the fourth adventure in Cynthia's Attic.

Thanks, Morgan, for having me as a guest!

Mary Cunningham

Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning 'Tween fantasy/mystery series, Cynthia’s Attic. She is proud to announce the release of book four, "The Magician's Castle," Dec 1, 2009. Her children's mystery series was inspired by a recurring dream about a mysterious attic. After realizing that the dream took place in the home of her childhood friend, Cynthia, the dreams stopped and the writing began.

She is also co-writer of the humor-filled, women's lifestyle book, "Women Only Over Fifty (WOOF)," along with published stories, "Ghost Light" and "Christmas Daisy," A Cynthia's Attic short story.

To celebrate the release of "The Magician's Castle," (Quake/Echelon Press, DEC 1, 2009), a winner will be chosen on each blog stop to receive a copy of the "Cynthia's Attic" short story, "Christmas With Daisy!" So, be sure to make a comment!

Mary Cunningham Books
http://www.marycunninghambooks.com/

Cynthia's Attic Blog
http://www.cynthiasattic.blogspot.com/

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Cunningham/e/B002BLNEK4/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?_encoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=digital-text&field-author=Mary%20Cunningham

Fictionwise
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/a20811/Mary-Cunningham/?

Quake/Echelon Press
http://www.echelonpress.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=23&zenid=4ac57b7ae19fa071cab3b4295df7baf3

Please leave a comment to welcome Mary.

Check out the Mystery of the Missing Checks

Monday, I'm over at my group blog, http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com/, where I'm blogging about the mystery of the missing checks. Come on over and find out what it's all about.

Thanks,
Morgan Mandel

Can We Talk?

I'm firming up some dates for speaking engagements in 2010. One's tentatively set for March 28, at 1:30 at the Niles Public Library, another probably in mid May at the Schaumburg Township District Library.

Also, coming up is a radio interview at WJJQ again on May 7, at 9:35 a.m. before my booksigning May 8 at Cover to Cover Books in Tomahawk, WI.

I've heard that some people are more afraid of public speaking than of dying. Surprisingly, I find it easier each time I do it. As long as I have my cheat sheet with me to glance down at once in a while for security and I like what I'm talking about, I'm okay.

What about you? Do you like to talk or would you rather not?