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Blurb and CGX partner for print-on-demand workflow
Ebooks are the current darlings of the publishing world, but there is still a huge demand for printed materials. Blurb, an online platform for designing, publishing, marketing, and selling pro-quality books, has partnered with commercial printing firm Consolidated Graphics, Inc (CGX) to produce an Adobe InDesign plug-in that works with a new service called Publish to allow print-on-demand books in runs as small as one. Publish lets designers use their familiar friend Adobe InDesign to prepare their projects. The plug-in has templates for four cover formats, five paper types, and eight trim sizes. The plug-in then moves projects to Blurb, where they can be proofed, given automated pre-flight checks, and then ordered via credit card. Blurb notes that the workflow speeds project completion times by about 75 percent. The small run size provided by Publish makes it cost-effective for companies to create high-quality projects and receive completed print materials in about a week.
Bloomberg: Apple plans to bolster iPad use in schools
Bloomberg adds yet another dollop of confirmation to the rumors about tomorrow's event that Apple will have plenty of educational news to share. Most of the rumors have revolved around a textbook-based system for iBooks, and Bloomberg agrees, saying that Apple will introduce not only more textbook integration for iBooks, but new tools that will allow lots more authors and publishers to release materials directly. It sounds, according to the two anonymous Apple insiders quoted, like Apple's looking to bypass the standard textbook publishers completely by implementing an App Store-style model, which will come with the added bonus of providing tons and tons of quickly updated educational information on its mobile devices. This would mean that not only can people who want to publish textbooks of their own do so, but teachers can even write and publish their own materials directly, without worrying about sending students out to find a specific textbook printing or being able to afford often quite expensive costs. It's fair to say that Apple helped change the way software was distributed through its App Store (mobile software for certain), and if these rumors are true, it could be looking to do the same with educational materials. Sounds interesting! The event kicks off tomorrow at 10am Eastern in New York City. We'll be providing live coverage and lots of insight afterwards as usual.
Atlus teases new SRPG on Twitter, could be 'Gungnir'
There's teasing and then there's just plain teasing. Atlus is engaging in what must certainly be the much more annoying second kind by outright daring its Twitter followers to guess the company's next release, and giving them only three tidbits of information to go on. It's a strategy RPG title (good), it starts with "G," and ends with "R." Intrepid Atlus followers have two main guesses: First, a new Growlanser game, part of the tactical RPG series which Atlus has published in Japan in the past. Or (and this seems somewhat more likely) a game called Gungnir (subtitled Inferno of the Demon Lance and the War of Heroes), which Atlus published earlier this year in Japan. Most of the titles in the Dept. Heaven series have already been published in the US in some form, so it makes sense that Atlus would be publishing this one as well. Did we guess right, Atlus? Enough with the teasing!
Image Comics joins the ComiXology banner
ComiXology has grabbed yet another major comic book publisher for its iOS app, this time recruiting Image Comics to publish to the digital platform day and date with the paper releases. The app has already landed both DC and Marvel in publishing agreements, so adding the Image stable of comics to the mix really rounds out the selections. ComiXology will publish Image's comics same day on the iOS and Android apps, as well as in digital form on the company's website. And Image will use ComiXology's tech to power its own digital website, as well as run its own branded iOS app. That's good new for fans of Chew, The Infinite, The Walking Dead, or any of the other comic books currently being published under the Image Comics heading. And it's also good news for ComiXology, which is slowly building up a comic book digital publishing empire, all built on Apple's iOS platform. The company is slowly expanding its operations beyond the App Store's borders, but there's no doubt at all that much of its success is predicated on the original App Store app (one of the first comic book readers on iPhone and later on the iPad). There's been a lot of talk about the battle between ink and paper publishers and the new digital publishing industry, but ComiXology is right out there on the front lines, and appears to be doing quite well. Update: Just to clarify, Image already had a few comics in the ComiXology system. But the fact that the entire line is now day and date is the news here.
Ultima Online begins testing Publish 71.0
You'd think that an MMO well into its golden years like Ultima Online would slow down to take advantage of senior citizen menu options, bingo night, and yelling at youngsters to get off the lawn. But, no, the dev team is instead running like they've never run before, as a new update on the test shard Origin can attest. Yesterday, the highly anticipated Publish 71.0 was pushed to the test server for players to tinker around and explore. The patch notes tell a tale of many, many balance changes and tweaks, along with plenty of brand-new buff icons. Fishing's also been treated to somewhat of an overhaul with the patch, as additional trophies are being installed and schools of magical fish will begin to move around in order to keep you guessing. There's even a special sea encounter with Charybdis that is only available to dedicated fishermen. To check out all of the nitty-gritty details and bug fixes that are coming with 71.0, head on over to Ultima Online to read the notes!
Zapd iOS app creates your next website in seconds flat, seriously (video)
Sure, the end result looks like a highly styled Tumblr, but let's repeat this: it's created on your phone. For those who are flat terrified of coding (or simply don't have the time to stay on top of a so-called "blog"), PressPlane has created Zapd -- a free iOS app that allows the creation of picture-led sites in seconds flat. The app truly is as streamlined as the company advertises it to be; load up a few images (or take a few), select a website style, find a decent web connection, and watch as things are published and shared with your pals on Facebook and Twitter. Enough chatter -- peek the video below to see where we're coming from, and give that iTunes link a look if you're hoping to join what's next. You know, now that your honeymoon with Color is thoroughly over.
Borders enlists BookBrewer for its e-publishing portal, 'Time Cube' guy asks where to sign up
We guess that Barnes & Noble can't have all the fun, huh? You'll soon have another option for self-publishing your wildly fantastical (and wonderfully fact-free) rants: Borders has announced that it'll be using the BookBrewer platform for its new eBook publishing service. Beginning October 25, $90 will get you one ePUB format book, complete with ISBN and distribution to "all major eBook stores," including Borders and Amazon. Does that mean that your pamphlet, EARTH HAS 4 CORNER SIMULTANEOUS 4-DAY TIME CUBE IN ONLY 24 HOUR ROTATION will finally be taken seriously? Nah, probably not. PR after the break.
Barnes & Noble opens 'PubIt!' self-publishing portal, details compensation model
It ain't exactly summer, but we'll take it. Launching just a few days after we'd been told to expect it, Barnes & Noble's PubIt! self-publishing portal is finally open for business. As you'd heard before, this platform is essentially designed to give independent writers a venue for hawking their masterpieces, with PubIt! converting files to ePUB for use on a wide range of e-readers (read: not only the Nook). Published titles will be available for sale within 24 to 72 hours after upload on the B&N eBookstore, and the company's pretty proud of its "no hidden fees" policy. Unfortunately, the compensation model -- which is being detailed today for the first time -- has its quirks. For PubIt! eBooks priced at or between $2.99 and $9.99, publishers will receive 65 percent of the list price for sold content; for those priced at $2.98 or less, or $10.00 or more, publishers will only receive 40 percent of the list price. In other words, there's a no man's land in that $10 to $15 range, so you'll probably be settling for a $9.99 price point or reaching for the skies at $19.99. But hey, at least all PubIt! ebooks will also be lendable for a fortnight -- surely that counts for something. Right?
Barnes & Noble to open 'PubIt!' self-publishing portal this summer
Self-publishing has long since been possible through Amazon, but you won't catch us kvetching about a little competition in the market place. In an attempt to do for indie writers what InstantAction has done for indie game developers, Barnes & Noble has just announced its intentions to open up a self-publishing portal this summer. We wouldn't say that the PubIt! name is the greatest of all time (for a variety of reasons, frankly), but the world's largest bookseller is hoping to expand its importance in the digital realm by giving wannabe authors the ability to upload and sell their material through B&N's website and eBookstore. Details on the compensation model (read: profit split) will be announced "in the coming weeks," but the real kicker here is this won't be limited to the Nook; pretty much any e-reader, tablet or PC will be able to tap in and make purchases, so the potential audience is quite large. Hit that source link if you want to be notified when invitations are going out, and given just how close we are to this mythical "summer" thing, we'd suggest you start putting pen to paper -- and fast. [Thanks, Victor]
Runic Games partners with MMO portal Perfect World for their upcoming game
Perfect World Entertainment, the MMO portal of the self-titled Perfect World International and Ether Saga Online, has announced a partnership between themselves and the phoenix game studio Runic Games for the publishing rights of the upcoming MMO, Torchlight.This is a large step forward for Runic Games, the previous Mythos game team of the now defunct Flagship Studios. Their agreement with Perfect World is for global publishing rights, meaning Torchlight could be seeing an international release.Little is currently known about Torchlight, other than the game will be focusing on a single city and centered around the acquisition of a magical ore that imbues equipment with power, but also has a downside to it as well. The game has a bit of a cartoony, playful character to it, as seen in some early concept art shown on the main Runic Games website.
iCal can publish through FTP after all
Well color us surprised: Mac OS X Hints just found out that iCal actually can publish calendars through FTP (not just WebDAV), opening the doors for many users to publish their calendars and integrate them into services like Google Calendar and the like. One simply needs to use ftp:// when using the Publish... command, and all should be well. While it should be noted this still doesn't enable full sharing and editing of calendars like SyncBridge, it should allow users with non-WebDAV enabled hosts to get their iCal publishing on.
Tetris to drop on Xbox 360, THQ to publish
Following a lawsuit launched against The Tetris Company, THQ has acquired the rights to publish Tetris on the Xbox 360 in territories outside of Japan (i.e. North America & Europe). THQ alleged that The Tetris Company breached their contract, preventing the publisher from releasing a version of the classic puzzler for the DS. Instead, Nintendo swooped in and published one of the best installments of Tetris to date.According to THQ's financial filings, a settlement was reached, which included the Xbox 360 publishing rights.
AquaMinds NoteShare 1.0
AquaMinds, makers of the popular NoteTaker, has released NoteShare 1.0, a "powerful desktop application for creating, publishing and sharing media rich, multi-page notebooks." NoteShare allows you to "instantly" share a notebook for presentation or collaborative editing across a room, a network or even the web. Interestingly, their product page states that you don't even need hosting space in order to publish and share a notebook.While NoteShare sounds like an interesting product for its target users, AquaMinds is a little slim on details as to whether NoteShare represents a new level of note taking and rich media abilities above and beyond their NoteTaker product. However, since NoteTaker sells for $70 and NoteShare is priced at $150 for a 3-machine license, I'd bet the premium price is all about that collaborative ability, rather than some fancy new note taking features. If all this notebook sharing business has your interest piqued, AquaMinds offers a 30-day NoteShare trial; just follow the link on the right here.
