With pre-orders for the iPad off to a fast start in preparation for the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) product’s release next month, the Audit Bureau of Circulations has modified its guidelines for counting sales of a digital magazine in the U.S. and Canada. The old standards have always required that in…

We’ve been hearing about it for months; now Spring Design is taking orders for the Alex e-reader, the one that’s the basis of its lawsuit against Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS). Spring claims B&N lifted some of the Alex’s elements after meetings between the two. Whether it gets anywhere with…

Another e-reader company is finding it more difficult than expected to deliver devices. Pre-order customers for the Plastic Logic Que proReader are getting an e-mail from CEO Richard Archuleta about an extended delay in delivering the device, highly anticipated because of its sleek form factor and large screen. During CES,…

The search for revenue by deconstructing the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) into its most valuable pieces for various platforms continues. Up next: the New York Times Book Review for e-reader. NYT marketing exec James Dunn mentioned the new subscription effort during a session of the Digital Publishing Alliance (DPA)…

The Nook is only part of Barnes & Noble’s digital strategy. Now that the e-reader is launched and its production problems appear to be resolved, B&N is heightening its focus on another major area: selling digital content through its own site and device, and through other devices like the upcoming…

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) held its advertising upfront yesterday and unlike the traditional TV upfront events that are getting under way, the focus here was the company’s range of cross-platform offerings, all of which are tied together with social media elements. The centerpiece of the presentation was a…

A few hours after Steve Case tweeted that Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO) CEO Don Graham told a hometown crowd Tuesday the paper wouldn’t charge for online news, the company told paidContent it was launching its first paid iPhone app today. With that, the Washington Post joins a small but…

Weeks after Macmillan CEO John Sargent told Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) the publisher was switching to the agency model for e-book sales—prompting the e-tailer to black out its e-books for several days, he is still trying to explain what the change means for publishers and consumers. After Amazon pulled Macmillan’s books…

As the race to be be ebook format of choice hots up, Penguin is making some bold, experimental bets. These first-look demos of forthcoming books from iPad’s iBook Store, presented by Penguin Books’ CEO John Makinson in London on Tuesday, give an idea how publishers might approach Apple’s tablet…

Random House has set up a small unit to create books tied to new and existing video game titles in an attempt to compensate for the weakness in other parts of the book business, the WSJ reports. The publisher is already shopping around two original storylines, though the company is…

At our first paidContent2010 conference, Elinor Hirschhorn, Simon & Schuster’s EVP & chief digital officer, spoke about the potential for book-online video hybrids such as Vook. “Is there a return?” she asked. “The real question is about distribution. It needs a larger channel or distribution relationship for the browser experience…

Docstoc, the online document-sharing service aimed at small business users, is expanding the online store is it opened last summer to bring in individuals. The new service augments the partner marketplace, which is mainly intended for larger publishers in the small biz, legal and real estate markets, as well as…

Mixed-media book publisher Vook has raised $2.5 million in seed funding as the company looks to capitalize on the wider adoption of e-readers and other portable devices. The funding comes from individual investors Ron Conway and Huffington Post chairman Ken Lerer, along with Maples Investments, Baseline Ventures and Founder Collective.…

Graphic.ly, which offers a digital content delivery platform for print comics book publishers, has purchased 10-year-old online comics book community iFanboy. Terms of the acquisition were not announced, although in a message on his site iFanboy co-founder Josh Flanagan says, “We are most emphatically not rich now.” iFanboy features comic…

Social publishing site Scribd is hoping to capitalize on the hype over apps and e-readers with a slew of products aimed at portable devices in the coming weeks. The San Francisco company’s founder Trip Adler tells the WSJ   Scribd will unveil a “send to mobile” feature this month that…

Bob Iger wasn’t on stage for the iPad launch last month, but the Disney CEO just gave a demo spiel Steve Jobs, the company’s largest shareholder, would applaud about a “really compelling” device that could be a game changer. Volunteering and replying to analyst questions about how Disney plans to…

		EPS*	Rev. vs QQ408	Net Inc. vs QQ408
Disney	Release		Flat	Flat

* vs. Analysts' Estimates: Beat Met Missed

When Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) announced its Nook e-reader in October, the ability to pursue a dual in-store and online sales strategy appeared to be one of the clear advantages it might have over Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN). But, as we first reported then, the chain didn’t plan to sell…

Someone at Macmillan has a sense of humor. When I landed on the site Saturday night to check on e-book pricing and availability following Amazon’s one-week banishment, the book being promoted at the top of the front page was Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage…

Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Book Group is joining fellow iPad launch publisher Macmillan in plans to demand higher prices for its e-books, the WSJ reports. Macmillan’s titles in all formats initially were pulled from Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) after it said it would set its own prices—preferably in the $12.99-$14.99 range—instead of…