Spotify's move into audiobooks is a seismic shift in the publishing landscape, but the ripples will take time to be felt - The New Publishing Standard

As Panzer entered the Catosphere today, the Panzermobile was violently shaken by oohhing and aahhing coming from outside. Following all the noise took our brave kitty boy to The New Publishing Standard site. There he found a post about Spotify and audio books.

This could get really interesting.

According to Mark Williams post, Spotify is getting ready to start an audio book subscription service in the U.S. similar to its music service. The company is advertising for an "executive to join the Spotify Studios team" with  experience in audio books. There doesn't appear to be a specific timeline for the rollout of the new service. Obviously,  Spotify's audio book service would be in direct competition with Amazon's Audible. There are several links included in the post to other information about Spotify, the company's podcast service, the company's music service, audio book services in general, and other topics.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... This little kitty wants to know if Spotify can do for audio books what it did for music."

Note: This is a humongous post. Bring a thermos of lemonade, three muffins and three brownies. If you plan to follow the links in the post, bring a gallon of tea, six chocolate chip cookies (biscuits), three more muffins, your lunch in case you're still hungry, and your sleeping bag if you need a nap when you finish reading. (You have been warned. There is a lot of information in this post and the links.)

To read the post tootle over to Spotify and audiobooks

Juggernaut India's Answer to Wattpad gets its first movie deal as an injunction against another Juggernaut title is restored - The New Publishing Standard

I'll be watching this company.

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to The New Publishing Standard site. There with a little digging our intrepid kitty traveler found a post about Juggernaut.

According to the post by Mark Williams, India's Juggernaut recently announced 35,000 stories have been uploaded to their Writing Platform site. In a separate press release Juggernaut also announced one of the stories uploaded has been acquired for a movie. This is in addition to the ten publishing contracts given to authors whose work was uploaded to the site. Juggernaut is only available to the Indian subcontinent. There are several links to other posts and sites.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... This little kitty thinks Juggernaut is aptly named."

Note: This is a long-medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and two cookies (biscuits) for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Juggernaut

Storytel now live in Turkey. Italy launch imminent and Bulgaria launch soon - The New Publishing Standard

Storytel is everywhere.

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to The New Publishing Standard site. There our little kitty boy found a post about Storytel.

According Mike Williams, Storytel recently opened their newest audio book store in Turkey. The Turkey store joins Storytel's other 11 stores, located in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, India, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and United Arab Emirates. Speculation is that Storytel's next two stores will open in Italy and Bulgaria.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... It looks like Storytel is taking over the European audio book market."

Note: This is a medium length post. A cup of tea and a muffin should be enough for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Storytel

7 million users in the Philippines as Wattpad's tencent-backed Asia plans step up a gear - The New Publishing Standard

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when he heard clapping and cheering. Following all the hullabaloo took our adventuresome kitty pilot to The New Publishing Standard site. With no digging at all he discovered a post about Wattpad.

According to Mark Williams, Wattpad has just finished a new funding round. Wattpad started as a site for writers to post their work for readers to comment on and refer their friends to read. It has over time grown into much more. Wattpad has over 65 million users world-wide of which 7 million are located in the Philippines. With the new funding, Wattpad is making an expansion in the SE Asia market. Their recent funding with Kickstart Ventures added telco to their already existing partnering with TV5 for furthering that expansion in the Philippines. The post includes much more information on the planned SE Asia expansion and information about Tencent, Wattpad's other funding investor. Also included are quotes from other posts and links to post.

I see an interesting future for Wattpad.

Panzer says, "This little kitty sees the SE Asia market opened wider to Wattpad's expansion plans with the addition of Tencent and Kickstart Ventures help."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring two thermos of tea, two dozen muffins, and a sleeping bag for a nap in the middle.

To read the post tootle over to Wattpad

UK Spring First in Series Sale, AU/NZ Mothers Day Price Promo, May Buy 2 Thrillers Get 1 Free Sale. A Snapshot of Kobo's little known promotions feature for indie authors - The New Publishing Standard

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to The New Publishing Standard site. There our ingenious kitty found a post about Kobo's promotion feature.

According to the post by Mark Williams, Kobo is an untapped market for promoting their indie authors' ebooks. Three examples of Kobo's May promotions are the 99 cent promotion on the site in the U.S., the Mothers' Day promotion in Australia and New Zealand, and the Spring Price Drop promotion in the U.S. and Canada. There are other Kobo promotions examples included in the post. Also included are descriptions of how the promotions work, as well as, how to submit an ebook for consideration for the promotions.

I'm definitely looking into this.

Panzer says, "This little kitty has been using Smashwords to get his ebooks on Kobo so he didn't know about the Kobo Writing Life dashboard and the promotions feature."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring a thermos of tea, a dozen muffins, and a sleeping bag for a nap in the middle.

To read the post tootle over to Kobo promotions

Over half the top 100 titles on Kindle UK are breaking the metadata rules. A third of the Kindle US top 100 today are Amazon imprint titles - The New Publishing Standard

Today, Panzer's trip into the Catosphere took him to The New Publishing Standard site. With some digging around our inquisitive kitty found a post about Amazon's Kindle.

The New Publishing Standard post actually contains the information from two earlier posts and compares them to two current posts' information. The first post quoted is about the UK authors breaking the metadata rules. Some authors and/or their publishers are using the subtitle field to enter information about being a "book club pick" or an "award winner." This is a prohibited use of the field, but the practice according to current information still continues. The second post quoted is about the fact that one-third of Kindle's list of top 100 titles are Amazon published books. According to the second post's comparison, Amazon published books are still playing a prominent role in the top 100 list. There are links included in the post to the previous posts and to the original post about not breaking metadata rules.

Tell Amazon about the cheaters.

Panzer says, "This little kitty says Amazon needs to remove the cheaters."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s  post. Bring a thermos of tea and a dozen muffins for today's reading selections.

To read the post tootle over to Kindle top 100 titles

Kobo and Fnac Team up with telco Orange France to expand audiobook and ebook reach - The New Publishing Standard

Today, Panzer was just tootling around in the Catosphere when the Panzermobile was buffeted by clapping and cheering. Following all the hullabaloo took our intrepid kitty pilot to The New Publishing Standard site. With no digging at all he found a post about Kobo.

According to The New Publishing Standard post by Mark Williams, Kobo's partnership with French ebook and audiobook distributor Fnac and Fnac's partnership with French telco Orange just got bigger. Last year's free distribution of digital comics has come to an end to be replaced by the distribution of Kobo ebooks and audiobooks to Orange. The ebooks and audiobooks will be available by either a monthly subscription service or individual stand-alone purchases. The new service will be available on Orange beginning on May 17 and continue until January 31, 2019.

Kobo distributes my ebooks.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Which country is after France for Kobo?"

Note: This is a medium post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Kobo

Did Amazon's Audible inadvertently create the current royalties mess by incentivizing listeners to skip forward in the audibook? - The Hot Sheet reviewed. First edition - The New Publishing Standard

When Panzer got into the Panzermobile today he found a wadded up post under his pilot's seat. Smoothing it out our fastidious kitty discovered it was a post from The New Publishing Standard site which is a review of a The Hot Sheet post. The post is about Amazon's Audible subscription service.

In the The New Publishing Standard post Mark Williams quotes extensively from the March The Hot Sheet post about Amazon's Audible romance audiobook subscription service royalties schedule and author payment issues. In between the quoted material he inserts his opinions regarding the issues raised in The Hot Sheet post. According to the information contained in the March post, the payment rate was so abysmal authors were leaving the subscription service. Audible then decided to add a bonus for authors; however, no information was made available about how the bonuses were calculated. The post addresses other issues with the unlimited subscription service. There are links included in the post to other sites with information about the romance subscription service.

A fraction of a cent? Humans.

Panzer says, "Umm ... This little kitty is totally confused. Why would an author agree to a contract where you only make one one-thousandth of a cent per minute?"

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring a thermos of tea and four muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Amazon's Audible

Storytel launches in Iceland. Italy, Bulgaria and Turkey next? - The New Publishing Standard

Today, Panzer's trip into the Catosphere took him to The New Publishing Standard site. There our traveling kitty boy found a post about Sweden's Storytel.

According to Mark Williams, audio book subscription service Storytel has launched its service  in Iceland. This was expected since the company had already bought the Icelandic audio book retailer Skynjun. This is a somewhat confusing post. After the initial information about Storytel's Icelandic launch and speculation about other launches, there are links to other posts about Storytel.

I hope they're not growing to big to fast.

Panzer says, "This little kitty thinks Storytel is beating everybody else in launches in the audio books marketplace outside the U.S. and Canada."

Note: This is a short post. Bring a cup of tea for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow all the links and read the other information on Storytel, bring a thermos of tea and half a dozen muffins.

To read the post tootle over to Storytel

"The ebook is a stupid product. Our business cosists of saying no to three thousand manuscripts and saying yes to one." - Hachett CEO

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when he heard booing and hissing outside. Following the cacophony of noise took our brave kitty pilot to The New Publishing Standard site. There he found a post about publisher Hachette Livre.

He sure hates indie publishers.

According to the post by Mark Williams, Hachette Livre CEO Arnaud Nourry doesn't find Amazon (or any other tech company) a problem to the company's publishing markets. While Amazon is the dominant company in the English speaking readers realm, Hachette concentrates their business in the non-English speaking countries only deriving 25 percent of their market from English readers. Amazon's concentration in the self-publishing arena is also part of the mix. As the title of Mr. Williams' post emphasizes, Mr. Nourry doesn't support self-publishing. Since there are no gatekeepers in the self-publishing realm, he believes most of what is in the reading arena should not have been published at all.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... From this post it looks like Hachette controls the paperback and hardback market outside the English-speaking readers in the United States and Canada."

Note: This is a long post. Bring a thermos of tea and half a dozen muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Hachette CEO

Is Japan's Rakuten the second biggest player in the western ebook and audiobook market? - The New Publishing Standard

Panzer is still recovering from all of yesterday's publishing news reporting for you, so he only made a quick trip into the Catosphere today. Our speedy little kitty boy stopped in at The New Publishing Standard site. With just a little digging there he found a post about the Japanese company Rakuten.

Hmm ...Millions of library downloads.

According to Mark Williams, Rakuten is now the second largest dispenser of ebooks and audiobooks in Canada and the United States. Rakuten owns Canadian ebook publisher Kobo and United States library distributor OverDrive. Overdrive is a major supplier of ebooks and audiobooks to libraries for downloads by patrons. To illustrate this Mark Williams uses charts and data about the magnitude of reader ebook and audiobook downloads. The charts include numbers from not just sales downloads but downloads such as Kindle Unlimited as well. Included in the post are links to some of Mark Williams' previous posts about Rakuten and Overdrive.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... My ebooks are on OverDrive and Kobo."

Note: This is a huge post. Bring a thermos of tea and half a dozen muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Rakuten

Storytel goes the TV route to promote audiobooks in Spain - The New Publishing Standard

Panzer had hardly settled down for a nap when he was shaken out of his kitty bed by clapping and oohing. Hopping into the Panzermobile our speedy kitty was at The New Publishing Standard site in no time at all. There he found a post about Storytel's Spanish audio book marketing. Back in December Panzer told you about Storytel's marketing expansion in Italy.

According to site owner Mark Williams, to increase their audio book subscriber base Storytel is advertising on television in Spain. The post contains translated quotes from Storytel that the advertisements are working as expected with an increase in new subscribers.

Panzer says, "Umm ... Sounds like Storytel outflanked Audible again."

Now for a little sleep.

Note: This is a medium post. Bring a cup of tea and muffin for this reading selection.

To read the post about Storytel in Spain tootle over to Storytel Spain

To read the post about Storytel in Italy tootle over to Storytel Italy

Amazon shutters LoveFilm, Amazon Wine, Heera and Anime Strike. Kicks ebooks out of AbeBooks. Will AbeBooks be next to go? - The New Publishing Standard

Panzer hardly made it into the Catosphere before the Panzermobile began being buffeted by crying and gnashing of teeth. Following all the noise took our fearsome kitty pilot to The New Publishing Standard site. With no digging at all he discovered a post about Amazon was causing all the trouble.

Really, it's not that bad.

According to the post by Mark Williams, Amazon has been doing some reshuffling and closing of certain small divisions of the company. Heera and Anime Strike have been moved into the Amazon Prime package. LoveFilm and Amazon Wine have been closed down. The AbeBooks division will no longer carry ebooks. While Amazon has made no announcement about AbeBooks, the post speculates the removal of ebooks may be a harbinger of AbeBooks demise.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Pay attention to the details, not just the headline."

Note: This is medium post. Bring a cup of tea, one muffin and one peanut butter cookie (biscuit) for today's reading selections.

To read the post tootle over to Amazon

Hekayn - The Arab world's answer to Amazon KDP self publishing. In Sweden - The New Publishing Standard

Today Panzer spent his time sweeping and mopping the floor of the Panzermobile. As he was cleaning the upholstery, he discovered a rolled up wad of something under the cushion of the pilot's seat. Smoothing it out our fastidious kitty discovered it was a post from The New Publishing Standard site about the Hekayh publishing platform.

Nap time. I've had a busy day.

According to The New Publishing Standard site owner Mark Williams' post, Mikael Norrman has opened a new self-publishing and marketing online company named Hekayh. The company was opened in response to the need for these services in the Arabic language speaking countries. Currently, Hekayh has over 1,000 ebooks (with more added each month) available at the sales site. In an interview Mr. Norrman stated this seemed a perfect niche as there was very little competition in the Arab world. Mikael Norrman has experience in the publishing area as he is the CEO of Booqla of Sweden. There are links included in the post to the specific sites mentioned. (Each site/company is in their own language.)

Panzer says, "This little kitty finds it interesting that there are still places where Amazon hasn't taken over the marketplace.'

Note: This is a short post. Bring a cup of tea for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Hekayh

Juggernaut sets the pace for Indian publishing in 2018. Prepares to take on Kindle Unlimited

Today, Panzer's trip into the Catosphere took him to The New Publishing Standard site. There with a little digging around he found a post about Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.

Who can sleep with this going on.

According to Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard, Indian publishing company Juggernaut is expanding into the ebook subscription service. Specifically, the company plans to market in India where Amazon's Kindle Unlimited already has a footprint. Juggernaut then plans to do a global expansion to Indian-language users in the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Included in the post is an infographic illustrating Juggernaut's plans. There are also several links to posts at the Juggernaut site.

Panzer says, "Juggernaut vs Amazon ... This will be very interesting."

Note: This is a long post. Bring half a thermos of tea and six muffins for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow the links in the post, bring the second half of the thermos of tea and another six muffins.

To read the post tootle over to Juggernaut sets the pace for Indian publishing in 2018. Prepares to take on Kindle Unlimited:

Indonesia likely to tax ebooks in 2018 - The New Publishing Standard

Only 6 Days Until Christmas

Panzer was sweeping out the Panzermobile when he discovered a rolled up post stuffed under the passenger seat. Smoothing it out our fastidious kitty boy discovered it was a post from The New Publishing Standard site about Indonesia imposing a tax on "imported" ebooks.

According to the post by Mark Williams, it appears that with the expiration of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) moratorium on charging taxes on imported intangibles that Indonesia will begin charging taxes on ebooks (and other intangibles). The Indonesian government will be the beneficiary of the new taxes. As Google Play and Kobo are the only ebook platforms serving Indonesia the new taxes will only impact their sales there.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... So, it's not just the U.S. using taxes to get their cut of the ebook pie."

Note: This is a long post. Bring half a thermos of tea and two muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post, tootle over to ebook tax

Storytel dots the 'i's with an Italy launch pending, having just opened in India - The New Publishing Standard

12 Days Until Christmas

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to The New Publishing Standard site. While our traveling kitty boy was digging around in the posts there his Santa hat slipped off, but he was able to find a post about Storytel and Amazon's Audible.

According to the post by Mark Williams, Sweden's audiobook producer and distributor Storytel has opened its platform in India. Storytel already has distribution in eight other countries, including Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, and Sweden. There are also two other country openings pending, one in the United Arab Emirates and one in Italy. Until now Storytel has strategically avoided opening its platform in countries where Amazon's Audible has already opened. With a pending opening in Italy, however, Storytel will be competing directly with Amazon when the Audible platform opens there in early 2018.

Panzer says, "Storytel is playing an interesting game of chess with Amazon. This little kitty can't wait to see what happens."

Note: This is a l-o-n-g post. Bring a cup of tea and three muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post, tootle over to Storytel

Anne R. Allen's Blog: How to Get Your Indie Book Translated and Reach th...

Whew! Easy as can be.

Panzer was looking for information on getting his ebooks translated today. A quick search in the Catosphere brought our big brave kitty over to Anne R. Allen's Blog. Digging around, he found just what he was looking for in a guest post by indie author Mark Williams.

Although Mr. Williams' post is divided into fifteen sections and sub-sections, there are really only three parts to the information in the post. It begins with some of his publishing history and experiences with traditional publishing's translations of his work. He then moves through Amazon's history including the Kindle and other devices, including the translation market size. To wrap up the post he moves into the ins and outs of getting your work translated for foreign markets when you're an indie author. According to Mr. Williams, getting translations of your work done isn't as expensive or complicated as you might think. He lists (with links) the two services he uses.

Panzer says, "Now that I know how easy getting a translation done is, I'm ready to do it."

 Note: This is a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g post, so bring a a t-h-e-r-m-o-s of tea and a muffin.

To read the post, tootle over to Anne R. Allen's Blog: How to Get Your Indie Book Translated and Reach th...