The arrival in January of Apple’s new iBooks Author tool for developing and publishing digital literature may signal a new phase of e-book development that’s good news for tablets, and maybe not such great news for e-ink readers. At least, that’s the view of a PW blogger Peter Brantley, who also serves as the Director of the Bookserver Project at the San Francisco-based Internet Archive.
“The new Apple app raises questions about the future of EPUB3 and open standards,” PW Features Editor Andrew Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “A longtime supporter of EPUB3, Apple has forked the standard by including a few proprietary extensions in the Author App. But what’s notable, according to Peter, is that Apple’s forking of EPUB3 came via a tool for authoring—not for reading. That points to a new phase of e-book development—with all these new tablet devices coming out, as opposed to e-ink readers, designers are likely going to be creating new e-book tools that can take advantage of their capabilities.”
In her weekly review of PW reviews, Rose Fox brings word of “a completely G-rated romance.” Edenbrooke: A Proper Romance, by Julianne Donaldson, says Fox, “is one for readers who are tired of the style of romance novel that’s sometimes called ‘porn for women.’ The romance is developed through longing glances and passionate letters.”
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Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.