New Kindle Exclusive: Free Subscription to Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine

Amazon.com is offering a free subscription to the digest edition of Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine is now exclusively available in the Kindle Store. Kindle customers who subscribe will get access to all of the magazine's editorial content -- editor's recommendations, "Curiosities" (odd books of enduring interest), film reviews, book reviews, cartoons and humor, and "Coming Attractions" (highlights of each issue) -- along with one short story, all at no cost. Customers can start reading the magazine today on their Kindle or free Kindle reading apps for Android, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

"Fantasy & Science Fiction is the definitive magazine of the genre," said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content. "We know our Kindle customers are huge fans of this category, and we're excited to offer them a free and exclusive subscription to the magazine to read anywhere."

Stephen King, bestselling author and long-time fan of Fantasy & Science Fiction, said: "This is the best fiction magazine in America. Kindle readers are in luck."

Fantasy & Science Fiction, which publishes six times a year, was founded in 1949 and is the original publisher of classics by a wide variety of great writers, including Stephen King, Daniel Keyes and Kurt Vonnegut. Each bimonthly issue offers compelling short fiction and the science-fiction field's most respected and outspoken opinions on books, films, and science.

A subscription to the extended edition of the magazine, which is also a Kindle exclusive, is available for just $12 a year and includes everything in the digest edition plus several additional short stories and novelettes. Individual issues of the extended edition are available for $2.99.

Google Books hits 2.5 million eBooks downloaded by hungry fans

The number of eBooks sold continues to grow after surpassing traditional book sales in early 2011. In addition to the online retail industry, dominated by Amazon, there is an exponentially growing appetite for free eBooks. While Google has been successful with "Google Books", it seems that they aren't the only player and certainly don't have the last word in digital publishing despite the media attention they command.

Google Books surpassed the 2.5 million mark for eBook downloads, according to The Huffington Post on June 1st, 2011. However, there are smaller players, like Free-eBooks.net competing strongly in this space. In fact, Free-eBooks.net, has experienced record amounts of downloads too, as eBook reader sales double and billions of smartphone users join in, to solidify the acceptance of the "eBook."

"It's an honor for us to be on par with a giant like Google," exclaims Nicolas Gremion, CEO of Paradise Publishers Inc., who own Free-eBooks.net. He draws a direct comparison because coincidentally, "As of June 1st, we've also served over 2.5 million eBooks to our loyal members. That's equal with Google."

Free-eBooks.net's subscriber base, now approaching the one million mark, is responsible for downloading an average of nearly 19,000 ebooks, every single day. Gremion believes that, "It goes to show that it's possible to compete and win with quality services, resourceful marketing and a positive reputation. These qualities are foundations to building value and equity anywhere, including the online world."

"Plus, we continue to innovate and leverage new market opportunities," says Gremion. "We're entering the mobile space with our popular Smartphone apps, expanding into the growing Spanish market and creating unique, technology solutions to empower more authors. This will both expand and accelerate the production and availability of ebooks, along with other creative digital content. The publishing industry is trying to redefine itself at the moment. We believe that innovation combined with social media opportunities, and not necessarily the deepest pockets or biggest company, are the keys to success."

Paradise Publishers Inc. is a U.S.-based, global, online publisher of both fiction and non-fiction books. It distributes digital eBooks at no cost via http://www.Free-eBooks.net and is about to launch a highly anticipated social publishing site http://www.Foboko.com aim to help anybody become an author and easily publish, promote and profit from their own eBooks.

Science Fiction/Fantasy Books Expected to Grow 3.4% in 2011

Representing just 6% of the total trade book market, the science fiction/fantasy segment will grow 3.4% in 2011, reaching $578.6 million, despite the overall market's expected 5.2% decline. According to a report published by media and publishing forecast firm Simba Information, the science fiction and fantasy categories experienced double-digit increases in title output, along with stronger ratings on the consolidated bestseller list in 2010.

According to the report, the science fiction/fantasy segment is gaining market share, adding half a percent in 2011 compared to 2010, as it more than triples its 1% growth rate from the past two years.

"The sci-fi/fantasy segment has been a stable growth segment for the past few years," notes Michael Norris, Simba Information's senior trade analyst. "Since the book market took a big hit in 2007, it has been inching closer to its previous high-point."

Title output for fantasy rose sharply to 6,389 titles, growing 14.6%, followed by science fiction with 3,714 titles, growing 10.1% in 2010. Simba's report, which uses a consolidated bestseller list comprised of ratings from USA Today, The New York Times and Publisher's Weekly, finds science fiction performed strongly on the list with 76 titles by 58 authors, while fantasy held 321 titles by 192 authors, although its success was led by the Twilight Saga.

"Even though a lot of titles are hit or miss with audiences, both as books and as media tie-ins, there will continue to be a thirst for this segment of fiction for the foreseeable future," added Norris.

Simba's report, Business of Consumer Book Publishing 2011, details the overall market for trade books, segmented by 18 major categories including health & fitness, romance, self-help, science fiction/fantasy and others. It includes demographic and psychographic information on the average book buyer, along with company profiles of the leading publishers including Penguin Group, Macmillan and Random House.