Google’ New eBook Reader to Hit the US Market on Sunday:  Made by iRiver, the Story HD is lightweight (207g) and slim (9.3mm) and includes a QWERTY keypad. It supports EPUB and PDF formats with DRM and comes with a built-in Wi-Fi that offers six weeks of battery life from a single charge. Retail price is $139.

The availability of the Story HD means that Google 3 million free eBooks and hundreds of thousands of will be downloadable directly on the device, without the intermediary stage of downloading and transferring them from computer to e-reader.

This new inroad of Google into the world of ePublishing is a clear indicator that the eBook market is still in the early stage of its growth. This new major competitor in the eReader’s device market is likely to push the prices of the eReaders down, which in turn will make it more popular, further fueling the growth of the ePublishing market.

Millenium tastes Apple: Stieg Larsson’s trilogy UK publisher Quercus, has secured a deal to sell its books on Apple’s electronic book store. Mark Smith, chief executive of the publisher, believes that the deal “will lead to great things and a significant increase in sales”.

The deal covers all of Quercus publications and not only the Millenium trilogy.  Quercus expansion to eBooks is a logical step for a publishing house that owes its success to a taste for daring adventures inasmuch as the publishing world goes.

Quercus started life modestly in 2004 after Mark Smith and Wayne Davies defected from Orion Publishing Group. . The company focused on non-fiction books that could be nicely illustrated. Its first success was Universe, followed by Speeches that Changed the World. Two years later, they moved to fiction, signing 10 titles from first-time authors, a brave and bold move for a small publishing house. The turning point for Quercus came from signing the rights of a a Swedish crime thriller called Men Who Hate Women. The fact that the author had died in 2004 and would therefore be unable to participate in any marketing effort did nothing to stop them.   Rechristened “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” for the English market, this first book of the trilogy does not need to be introduced anymore as, by now, even Hollywood is familiar with it.

From captivity to fame: Already unwittingly famous for the ordeal of her 18 years as a captive the sex offender who abducted her when she was merely 11 years, Jaycee Dugard breaks a new record by selling 175 000 copies of her book “Stolen Life” on the day of its release.
“Stolen Life” retells the story of her life and that of her two daughters as captives.