Amazon has announced that it is dropping .mobi formats for it’s Kindle ebook readers and the upcoming Kindle Fire, and moving to a new format — Kindle Format 8 — KF8.  The new file format is HTML5-based will include more formatting tags like embedded fonts, drop caps, fixed layouts, sidebars, SVG graphics, and more.

A new set of publishing guidelines will be available to authors and publishers soon, but in the meanwhile, a list of the HTML and CSS available in KF8 can be viewed here.

More information from Amazon here.

In an effort to promote the work of California novelists, LuckyCinda Publishing is proudly sponsoring a book contest for self-published and independently published fiction. All entrants of the First Annual California Fiction Writers Book Challenge will receive an autographed award-winning novel, free book marketing tips, and substantial discounts for consultations with big-name authors and expert book promoters.

In addition, every author will be entered into a separate drawing. The prize: Their book will be featured in a story as well as a Free 1/4 page advertisement in the High Desert publication, The Inland Adventurer. This feature article will also be posted online at CNN and LuckyCinda blog sites, as well as on other Social Media.

LuckyCinda Publishing will consider self-published and independently published fiction released on or after Jan. 1, 2010.

Price; $50

Deadline: October 31, 2011

Register Now

Entries must be in English and must be self-published or issued by an independent publishing company. The authors must be California residents. Be sure to use a California address. Proof of residency may be required.

Note: Authors using Print on Demand (POD) firms like Lightning Source or CreateSpace are also eligible for the competition.

Grand Prize for the 2012 Book Of The Year: A one-hour Free consultation with one of the nation’s most respected book marketing experts, Brian Jud, who has self-published five best-selling books on career transition that are distributed internationally.

The grand prize winner will also receive a Free Kindle or Nook Reader.

In addition to the grand prize winner, the judges will choose first, second and third place selections and may also choose honorable mentions.

All winners will receive a combination of books, free writing workshops and/or book marketing consultations offered by some of the industry’s most respected authors, publishers and book marketers including John Kremer, Patricia Fry, Joan Stewart and Dan Poynter.

Free certificates will be made available to all winners.

With the exception of an initial announcement, most of the publicity for winners will start January 2012. Once a winners’ list is officially released, updates will be posted throughout December 2011, so check the site often for the latest announcements.

• RT @MichaelHyatt: Who reads more,e-reader owners or physical book readers? [Infographic] | http://t.co/7vA2ASQR ->the answer is obvious
• RT @tonyeldridge: How Much Should You Price Your E-Book? http://t.co/eVWINIkc -> Thanks. Some good ideas here.
• RT @e_reading: Amazon’s Android Kindle tablet: coming on Wednesday to New York? http://t.co/EaIxRz0i <–Can’t wait to see it

• The Most Powerful People in Books Don’t Write Many Books – Entertainment – The Atlantic Wire http://t.co/onupzWQe

• Amazon founder heads digital advance on Guardian books power list http://t.co/BJNGfH19 via @guardian

A recent report by media and publishing forecast firm Simba Information found that even though bookstores have lost some of their customer base over the years, the channel feeds into the e-book universe by serving as a ‘book showroom’ for the roughly 10% of U.S. adults who buy e-books.

“Believing that adults will begin taking to e-books in large numbers because of Borders’ liquidation is a dangerous assumption,” said Michael Norris, senior analyst of Simba Information’s Trade Books Group, commenting on the report. “Since most adults buy books from multiple channels and enjoy using bookstores for browsing, the loss of a ‘book showroom’ can impact print books and e-books in unexpected ways.”

Data from Simba indicates that the more channels a consumer uses, the more likely he or she is to buy — even though bookstores are sometimes cut out of the action. In a Simba survey of over 110 bookstores across the country, 38% indicated that their (former) regular customers who own a Barnes & Noble Nook or an Amazon Kindle ‘often or very often’ return to browse without buying anything. 43% of the same booksellers also said non-regular customers often or very often come to browse before leaving to buy from another retailer.

“Publishers should be working around the clock to find ways to make chain and independent bookstores stronger, and not for reasons having to do with sentimentality,” Norris said. “If the only retailers left selling books are those that don’t need to, publishers will lose their power and relevance overnight. I genuinely worry that books may follow the same dreadful path of music, where gadgets like the iPod spring up to make consumption easy, the showrooms for media discovery close, piracy becomes a cultural expectation and the market shrinks by billions as more people buy less.”

The report, “Trends in Trade Book Retailing 2011,” also shows the interconnected world of retailing with thorough profiles of the bookstore, online and other major retailing channels, outlining key demographic details and trends unique to each, including the gender, age, household income, education level and purchasing habits of the buyers. The significant influence of non-bookstore physical store retailers like Walmart and Target and the influence of e-book sellers like Amazon.com are also covered.

SOURCE: Simba Information

Entertainment studio The Shadow Gang has unveiled “GoBZRK,” a groundbreaking interactive story experience built around BZRK, the upcoming young-adult book series from best-selling author Michael Grant. Turning the traditional book publishing model on its head, GoBZRK was visualized and developed by The Shadow Gang and Michael Grant, from storyline inception, to be a transmedia experience that deepens and enhances the narrative adventure well before, and beyond, the launch of the book series. GoBZRK reaches across community websites, character blogs, interactive games, graphic novels, mobile apps, social networks and online video, culminating with BZRK the book. Targeted at young adult science fiction, mystery, gaming and adventure enthusiasts, the story will unfold and draw fans into the strange, gritty and compelling world of GoBZRK through the release of BZRK book one on February 28, 2012 from publishing house Egmont.

In the coming months, the GoBZRK plot will be uncovered at NexusHumanus.com, SocietyTwins.com and DeathOrMadness.com, and other story-related sites, via character blogs, videos and embedded clues that guide players deeper into the mystery of Nexus Humanus, an international organization that claims to be dedicated to fostering world peace through the creation of “sustainable happiness.” A comprehensive out-of-fiction hubsite, GoBZRK.com, provides continuity for the entire experience. A GoBZRK mobile game for iOS and Android-compatible devices is also in development and will be available in October.

“GoBZRK was specifically designed to appeal to an audience that has grown up with technology seamlessly intertwined into their lives. These digital natives are open to and excited by a new model of narrative distribution that lets them choose how they want to interact with the experience and how engaged they want to be,” said Alex Lemay, CEO and founder of The Shadow Gang. “By partnering with Michael Grant and Egmont, before pen was set to paper, we have been able to craft GoBZRK as the most ambitious, detailed and fully formed interactive story experience ever to be built around a book. As a result, we’re able to provide virtually unlimited in-game potential for the audience and let fans ultimately decide how robust and interactive they want their experience to be.”

The multi-layered GoBZRK experience quietly kicked off in August with a social media whisper campaign and has already created an enthusiastic fan base that is eagerly awaiting the full gameplay, which begins in earnest today. Following the release of book one, GoBZRK will continue to cultivate the audience across the release of two more books in the BZRK three-book series, with new social and gaming components helping to keep the story alive between installments.

Michael Grant, BZRK’s author, and writer of the best-selling GONE series of young-adult supernatural books said: “I’ve been fascinated for years by the challenges I saw coming for publishing. And at the same time I was determined to find new ways to tell a story. I saw my own kids reading my manuscripts on their iPhones and thought: Wow, I need to go there. So the idea with GoBZRK is to create a story that stretches across multiple platforms. GoBZRK is a fictional universe that lives in a role-playing game, and as an iPhone/Android app and on multiple sites — and of course in the actual books that will be coming in February from Egmont Press. It was very important to me that each element contribute, that they not be just copies of the books. I wanted each element to be unique, to stand on its own, and yet enhance the books, and then to pick up the story and carry it on between books. I took this concept to The Shadow Gang and, working together, we are hoping GoBZRK will entertain and amaze.”