eNews: Kobo's Tablet, Berkley/NAL's Digital Imprint, S&S's Author Portal, and More

PublishersLunch

Kobo is joining the ereader/tablet movement with their just-announced Vox, dubbed "the People's eReader." Selling for $199.99 and shipping as of October 28, it runs Android 2.3 and promises easy web browsing, e-mail, and access to "over 15,000 hot music, video and game apps." It weighs 14.2 ounces (lighter than Nook Color or Kindle Fire), and a vibrating Kobo pulse icon signifies pages with more social activity. Kobo says it comes with three free color ebooks.

Berkley/NAL has announced a digital imprint (actually they call it an "e-initial eBook imprint") launching in January 2012, InterMix. The line will debut with 11 Nora Roberts backlist titles being released for the first time as ebooks, with a second group of seven Roberts backlist ebooks in April and more "throughout 2012."

In February InterMix will revive Signet Regency with six previously-published romance titles also released for the first time in digital, with three more per month (including four of Jayne Ann Krentz's out-of-print Guinevere Jones books, written as Jayne Castle).

They intend to publish originals from "talented new writers we think will one day become bestsellers" as well as the announced ebook versions of previously published genre fiction. Spokesman Craig Burke underscores that the new line is "another method to find new voices" and underscores that the initiative should not be seen "as a sign that mass market is not a viable format. We're definitely committed to it at Penguin Group."

As a timely answer to the NYT's awe on Monday that Amazon gives authors "direct access to highly coveted Nielsen BookScan sales data" (in very small slices, mind you), Simon & Schuster has formally announced their new Author Portal. A "principal feature," called My Sales, gives both authors and agents "access to the most recent and life-to-date sales information for all the active print, audio and electronic editions of their Simon & Schuster titles." And the data dashboard shows granular information for "national accounts, online booksellers, mass merchants and other retailers, aggregated by channel."

CEO Carolyn Reidy says in the release, "The portal reflects our determination to give our authors the resources they need and want in order to make publishing with us a positive experience, and to partner with them in making their publications the success that they deserve to be." Other features are designed to help authors build better online platforms and enhance their usage of social media.