LISNews: Librarian News

Amazon said its Kindle store has sold over one million digital copies of the books in Larsson's Millennium Trilogy: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl Who Played with Fire" and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest."

Full story

Amazon bought the site Woot.com

Story in the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/technology/01woot.html?ref=technology

Amazon.com, which sells millions of products, said Wednesday that it had agreed to buy Woot, a site that sells one item at a time.

Woot is one of a cluster of unconventional shopping sites that have sprung up in the last few years in the biggest flurry of e-commerce innovation since Amazon and eBay began.

The tactics they use to lure shoppers would puzzle traditional retailers. Some, like Woot, sell just one item a day or, like Groupon, cancel the entire deal if not enough people buy in. Others, like Gilt, restrict access to anyone who is not a member, although membership is free to all.

Seth Godin at Wired.com

Steve Jobs reports today that Apple is selling an iPad every three seconds.

This is a pretty urgent moment for my friends on the Kindle team, so here are some bonus thoughts on pricing, business models and competition:

1. The paperback Kindle. Don't worry about touchscreens or color or even always available internet to download new books. Make a $49 Kindle. Not so hard if you use available wifi and simplify the device. Make it the only ebook reader in town.

2. The Kindle as razor. Buy any 8 bestselling books on the Kindle ($10 each) and get a paperback Kindle for free.

Full article here

As books enter the top 100 on Amazon they get tracked on this site. It is a good way to see what books the public is interested in. Site is updated daily.