Who doesn’t enjoy sitting down to read a good book? However, have you ever thought about what it takes to make a good book? The length, content, and audience are all important factors when it comes to creating a bestseller. The average length of a best selling book is an average of 375 pages. Although, 87% of people will finish a book that is 300 pages. And only 35% of readers will finish a book that is 700 or more pages. When it comes to content, books with a female protagonist are 40% more likely to become a bestseller, men are ten times as likely to show interest in books that feature a male protagonist….

With QR readers in our pockets and digital book readers in our bags, it makes sense that something like this would start to pop up. There should no longer be a reason for books to be inaccessible. It’s not like we have to go to the library to find out that the book we wanted was checked out. They’re all available in one form or another online. Here’s a close-up view if you want to try it out and download The Iliad. I tested it out myself – no malware. …

There’s a lot of hand-wringing over the so-called “dumbing-down” of America. We don’t read, we can’t write except in and LOLcat-speak, we barely know who’s president. Technology often takes the blame for some of this, with video games and the abbreviated speech of texts and Twitter squarely in the sights of our educators. But e-readers are beginning to create new readers and are getting more people than ever to buy books and read them. We’re buying 57 books a second in the United States, between the paper and electronic varieties. And though sales of print books have been declining (not precipitously,…

When costs are high and demand is low, it’s time to cut out the middle man. That seems to be what Amazon is doing in their latest move to expand both their reach and influence as they will be publishing 122 books this fall directly from the writers’ works. They’re publishing program has been available for some time but this is the first time that they are actually threatening to do something with it. To accelerate the move and bring credibility to the product, they hired veteran publisher Laurence Kirshbaum to run the program. Kirshbaum, 67. was CEO of Time Warner Book Group until 2005. He was hired earlier…

There is something different about this; something I can’t quite explain. There is no paper, no page turning, no cover, and no physicality to it at all. It’s confusing, yet it’s intriguing. So what is this thing, exactly? It’s a revolution. It’s the e-reader. I have never owned an e-reader (or e-book reader, as they are commonly referred to). I’m one of those types of people who prefers books: real books — you know, those things with dust covers, paper pages, scribbles in the margins, and the occasional yellow highlight. Sure, the idea of using an e-reader has intrigued me — I had tinkered around…

The Kindle just got some competition Part of designer David Garcia’s Archive series, which showcases some of his truly alternative designs for book-shelves (I think it’s pronounced ‘buhk’. I hear they’re like a series of LCD screens that only display one thing, or something), Archive 2 enables you to bring your entire library with you. For real. This isn’t a Photoshop, this is a man walking inside a freaking bookshelf. He is so going to accidentally murder his cat. In case inquiring minds want to know, Archive 1 is a bookshelf on a seesaw, and Archive 3 is a stand that snaps the book shut as soon as you…

Best Buy has announced that it will be teaming up with the popular company Barnes & Noble and releasing the Nook ereader next week on April 18, 2010. The Nook will be available in Best Buy stores. The Nook is similar to the Kindle, which was designed and developed by Amazon.com and has seen major success since it’s debut in 2009. Barnes & Noble describes that using the Nook ereader is a better reading experience. The device has 2GB of storage and holds up to 1,500 eBooks, eMagazines and eNewspapers. Without the clutter of actually housing the bulky items, readers can browse over one million…

Amazon and Apple may be actively engaged in an eBook war, but that hasn’t stopped Amazon promising a Kindle eBook app for Apple’s iPad. Details of Amazon’s iPad land grab first emerged this morning at the New York Times, which also reports Barnes & Noble to be hatching similar plans – releasing new digital readers and stores for the iPad, in addition to those already offered for the iPhone and iPod touch. …