Apple iBookstore Expands Smashwords Ebook Distribution to 26 New Countries

Apple this week dramatically expanded the international reach of Smashwords ebooks by distributing our catalog to 26 new iBookstores across Europe and Scandinavia.
Prior to this week, over 50,000 Smashwords ebook titles were available in Apple iBookstores in the US, Canada, U.K., Germany, France and Australia.
All Smashwords authors, publishers and agents enjoy immediate access to this expanded distribution.
Below is the list of new iBookstore countries now reachable through Smashwords.

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New Service for Authors Seeking to Self-Publish E-Books

The Perseus Books Group has created a distribution and marketing service that will allow authors to self-publish their own e-books, the company said on Sunday.

David Steinberger of Perseus, which will offer distribution and marketing to authors.

The new service will give authors an alternative to other self-publishing services and a favorable revenue split that is unusual in the industry: 70 percent to the author and 30 percent to the distributor. Traditional publishers normally provide authors a royalty of about 25 percent for e-books.

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Publishing Scotland to launch digital fund for indies

Publishing Scotland has launched a “Go-Digital Fund” to support Scottish-based book publishers looking to develop their digital programmes and bring their books to a new digital audience.

Scottish arts body Creative Scotland will bankroll the £20,000 fund. It will be spread over two rounds in November 2011 and February 2012, and it is anticipated the fund will run again the following year in 2012/13. Publishers can apply for costs up to £2,000 per company, with applications to be judged by a panel of representatives from both Publishing Scotland and Creative Scotland.

The fund is intended to help publishers in accessing training or consultancy in digital matters, attending digital events in the UK and overseas, and in marketing their digital books and content. It is a sister fund to the organisation’s “Go-See Fund” which enables publishers to make trips to book fairs around the world.

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Amazon launches French Kindle store

Amazon has opened its French Kindle Store today, containing titles in French, English and other languages.

The internet bookseller is launching the French Kindle on 14th October, with the latest generation device selling for €99 (£85). The new French Kindle store will offer 28 L’Express bestsellers in digital, 4,000 free classics in French and hundreds of popular graphic novels. The store will also hold 825,000 titles in English and other languages.

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New Bewrite Books Division Offers Publishers And Agents Ebook Production And Distribution … Fast

BeWrite Books this week launched Limitrophe Publishing to offer full digital production to other publishers, agencies and foreign-rights management organizations on a no-fees basis.

The new imprint is the result of a decade’s careful industry monitoring and the past two years of heavy investment in state-of-the-art technology, retained specialist services and the creation of a worldwide independent distribution base. Only a tiny fraction of this new capacity can be used by BeWrite Books itself.

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