Amazon has said today that deceased author Stieg Larsson has become the first in the Kindle Million Club, an honor bestowed to authors that have produced over one million Kindle e-book sales.
The Club is only for paid books, not counting the 1.8 million books available for free via the Kindle Store.
Larsson died in 2004 of a heart attack, and was best known for his “Millennium Trilogy” mystery crime novels. All three books, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” are top ten all-time best sellers for Kindle.
Four other authors; Charlaine Harris, Stephenie Meyer, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts have each sold over 500,000 Kindle books.
E-books, while increasing daily in sales, still have a way to go before catching up to their print brothers. In the United States, e-books account for 8.48 percent of all book sales, according to the Association of American Publishers.
The Kindle e-reader recently dropped in price from $250 to $190, and Amazon also released an updated Kindle DX for $379, a steep price drop off the first-generation device which sold for $489.
Result for: trilogy
Universal has announced the launch of the new Blu-ray “Flipper” discs, releases that feature the Blu-ray on one side, and a DVD release on the flip side.
The first films to be made into “flipper” discs are the Bourne Trilogy, which will be released on January 19th, individually. Each of the films will be “flippers,” and will include the feature film and bonus features.
“Universal’s flipper discs are the perfect way for consumers to future-proof their collections while still enjoying their favorite movies on all their existing DVD players,”adds Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.“The flipper disc offers an easy way for viewers to convert to Blu-ray now or at any time in the future, confident in the fact they will be able to experience their home entertainment purchases in the highest quality picture and sound when they do.”
In the press release, Universal uses terms such as “industry-changing,” but I do recall purchasing HD DVD “flippers” in 2007, including Universal films. Why did it take so long for Blu?
Result for: trilogy
In more news that bodes well for the future of the Blu-ray format, Warner has revealed that at least the first installment of the blockbuster trilogy The Lord of the Rings is finally headed to Blu-ray, and it is “coming soon”.
The revelation came as part of an insert added into the new ‘Poltergeist’ Blu-ray Disc that shows what “Collector’s Editions” of BDs are coming as well as movies that are “Coming Soon.” A few other notable movies shown on the insert are “Shawshank Redemption”, “The Notebook”, “The Wizard of Oz” and “Rush Hour” among others.
Industry sources have also noted that the entire trilogy is headed to Blu-ray in 2009, although there was no word on whether the first editions sold would be theatrical cuts or extended cuts.
The news follows on the footsteps of Iron Man breaking BD sales records in just 3 days and word that the Dark Knight is coming to Blu-ray in two editions and with tons of BD-Live features.
