eBook Notes: Thurdsay, November 6, 2008

Some noise about Apple and eBook at MacWorld Expo in January: Apple to sell eBooks by Macworld ‘09? Gee, where have I heard that before?

World’s #1 Manufacture of Matcha Aiya America Creates Free Informative eBooks Available Online – Press Release

Los Angeles, CA—October 28th, 2008—Aiya America, the world’s number one producer of Matcha green tea, announced that it is releasing the first in its tea themed educational eBook series to inform its consumers, as well as industry professionals, about such topics as the tea making process, the health benefits of green tea, ingredient uses for Matcha, quality assurance, safety and other areas of the company’s expertise.

Usually I give free eBooks a post of their own, but this is "almost-free." You must provide name and email address for it. It's a PDF.

ebrary's QuickView Gives Browser-based Access to Ebooks/Documents

Addressing one of the most frequently lamented barriers blocking library patrons' access to ebook and electronic materials, ebrary recently announced the launch of a web-based reader for their content platform, used by more than 1400 libraries worldwide.

The report says it also works with the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Happy endings as Ashcroft buys stake in McNab's eBooks

Lord Ashcroft, the deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, has taken a stake in the mobile phone eBook venture of Andy McNab, the SAS soldier turned author.

Lord Ashcroft, left, has bought a minority holding in Spoken Entertainment Group, worth "millions of pounds". The group, which launched in May this year, will use the cash to expand into the German and US markets.

Tony Lynch, co-founder of the firm alongside Andy McNab, said: "We've only been in existence for six months, but we've been caught by surprise at the extent of the interest. It's gone mad."

Customers of GoSpoken.com can text the group to pay for text or audio versions of a range of books that are sent to their mobiles.

The "Ashcroft" bit caught my eye. I thought it was our evangelical mutant. I wouldn't have posted this if it wasn't also for an interesting money-oriented Q&A with McNab at the Telegraph.

At HuffPo (which seems not to employ proofreaders): On Books and Ebooks

eBooks get social, pose further threat to traditional publishers -- this is a Q&A with a site I still maintain has the worst damned name for an eBook store: Smashwords. This bit caught my eye:

Q. Who owns the content, and how do you compensate the authors?

A. We put the author in complete control over their published works. Our publishing agreement is non-exclusive. We give them 85 percent of the net sales proceeds of their books.

Emphasis added by me.

Hey, Bezos, you read that?

Willkommen bei Hixbooks!
Welcome to Hixbooks! [Google machine English]

An Austrian site/store offering both the Cybook and one version of the iLiad eBook readers. What's interesting is that they will offer German-language eBooks. This might get around the eBook price-fixing in Germany.