Google Editions launches under new name: Google eBooks

The wait for Google Editions is over, at least if you live in the good ol’ U.S. of A. This morning, Google finally launched its e-book sales platform under the new, dull moniker Google eBooks. According to the website, Google has more than 3 million titles ready to download, including millions of free public domain titles and hundreds of thousands of books from publishers. As for non-U.S. residents, Google plans to roll out international editions in early 2011.

According to Publishers Weekly:

Google officials say its pricing “will be competitive,” with other e-book ventures, and will accommodate the agency model if desired. The price for titles from agency publishers will be set by the publishers, and the the price for non-agency publishers will be set by the seller, meaning that Google will set the price for books in the Google eBookstore, and “resellers” will set the price in theirs.

As for resellers, the program envisions a key role for independent booksellers, who can host and sell Google’s eBooks on their Web sites, a move that makes sense both for Google, which despite its dominant online search presence lacks the retail experience of its competitors, and for indie bookstores, who can now get into the e-book game without having to build and maintain their own expensive platforms. At or shortly after launch, indie stores will begin to roll out their own customizable Google eBook storefronts, including  stores participating through a partnership with the American Booksellers Association.

Daily book biz round-up: NY Times 10 Best; Decision Points unlimited; and more

Today’s book news:

• Room makes the NY Times‘ 10 Best Books of 2010
• From The Times of London: authors on their favorite books of the year
• Decision Points limited edition not so limited
• The usually populist Guardian First Book Award goes to art history title
• Indigo brags to The Toronto Star about its growing toy selection

Daily book biz round-up: Google Editions ready for launch; new Oprah pick; and more

Today’s book news:

• Google Editions finally ready to launch, says Washington Post
• Let the guessing begin: Oprah to announce new book club pick on Dec. 6
• Judith Regan to look for “a funny guy” on The Millionaire Matchmaker
• iPad beats Kindle in consumer survey
• Indie bookseller launches Against Amazon blog

Daily book biz round-up: Amazon rips off Kindle users; snogging Salman; and more

Today’s book news:

• Scandal! Amazon charging Kindle users for free Project Gutenberg titles
• Sex! British media personality sues Sunday Times for writing that she “snogged” Salman Rushdie
• Passion! Nabokov’s love letters to be published in English next year
• Madness! “Writers Needed” spam drives Twitter users crazy
• Rednecks! Glenn Beck book event to be simulcast in 537 American movie theatres

Carpenter, Birdsell among winners at Saskatchewan Book Awards

The 18th annual Saskatchewan Book Awards were held in Regina on Saturday. The winners were as follows:

Book of the year: David Carpenter, A Hunter’s Confession (Greystone Books)

Fiction: Sandra Birdsell, Waiting for Joe (Random House Canada)

Non-fiction: Alexandra Popoff, Sophia Tolstoy: A Biography (Free Press)

Regina book award: Dianne Warren, Cool Water (HarperCollins Canada)

Saskatoon book award: Alexandra Popoff, Sophia Tolstoy: A Biography (Free Press)

Young adult literature award: Arthur Slade, The Dark Deeps: The Hunchback Assignment II (HarperCollins Canada)

First book award: Amy Jo Ehman, Prairie Feast: A Writer’s Journey Home for Dinner (Coteau Books)

Award for poetry: Dave Margoshes, Dimensions of an Orchard (Black Moss Press)

First Peoples’ writing award: Jo-Ann Episkenew, Taking Back Our Spirits: Indigenous Literature, Public Policy and Healing (University of Manitoba Press)

Scholarly writing award: Margaret Kovach, Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations and Contexts (University of Toronto Press)

Prix du livre francais: Martine Noel-Maw, Dans le pli des collines (Editions de la nouvelle plume)

First Peoples’ publishing award: Purich Publishing, Indigenous Diplomacy and the Rights of Peoples: Achieving UN Recognition, by James (Sa’ke’j) Youngblood Henderson

Publishing in education award: Purich Publishing, The Duty to Consult: New Relationships with Aboriginal Peoples, by Dwight G. Newman

Award for publishing: Hagios Press, Fallout, by Sandra Ridley

Daily book biz round-up: World Book Night; The Facebook Book; and more

Today’s book news:

• Jamie Byng angers indie booksellers with World Book Night
• Norwegian police reopen Satanic Verses shooting case
• It had to happen: The Facebook Book
• Laura Miller on new graphic novels for non-fanboys
• Tech reporter: print travel guides still better than e-book travel guides

Daily book biz round-up: NY Times’ books of the year; No Turkey for Naipaul; and more

Today’s book news:

• NY Times‘ 100 Notable Books of the Year
• V.S. Naipaul pulls out of Turkish lit event due to complaints
• Judges chosen for 2011 Man Booker Prize
• James Patterson explains why his books aren’t crappy like people say they are

Daily book biz round-up: Of Thee I Sing sells; judging books by their covers; and more

Today’s book news:

• HarperCollins and Gawker make nice
• Of Thee I Sing becomes fastest selling picture book in Random House history
• Better Book Titles (via MobyLives)
• Salty Ink launches the 2010 Judge-a-Book-by-its-Cover Competition
• The two most essential, abhorrent, intolerable lies of George W. Bush’s memoir

Shields, McKay among CBC Canada Reads finalists

CBC Canada Reads host Jian Ghomeshi announced the five finalists this morning, selected from a previous listener-chosen shortlist of 10 titles. Happily, the panelists have mostly avoided the Canada Reads candidates of prior years, which included Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes, Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, and Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road. The finalists are:

• Angie Abdou, The Bone Cage (NeWest Press), chosen by former NHL-er Georges Laraque
• Terry Fallis, The Best Laid Plans (McClelland & Stewart), chosen by CNN broadcaster Ali Velshi
• Jeff Lemire, Essex County (Top Shelf), chosen by Sara Quin of rock duo Tegan and Sara
• Ami McKay, The Birth House (Vintage Canada), chosen by design guru Debbie Travis
• Carol Shields, Unless (Vintage Canada), chosen by actor Lorne Cardinal

Daily book biz round-up: Gawker/Palin flap; Bishop-Stall’s U.S. tour; and more

Today’s book news:

• HarperCollins sues Gawker over Sarah Palin book leak
• Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall forges ahead without Soft Skull
• James Frey defends his literary sweat-shop
• Borders to shut down 17 locations after Christmas
• Gary Shteyngart contemplates moving to Canada in 2012