Amazon presents a new e-textbook rental service - Does it make the Kindle any greener?

Three months after Amazon announced it would allow Kindle users to read e-books from more than 11,000 public libraries on the devices, it is going even further and launching Kindle Textbook Rental.

According to Amazon's press release, tens of thousands of textbooks are available for the 2011 school year from leading textbook publishers such as John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis.

Interesting feature of the new program is its flexibility - Kindle Textbook Rental offers the ability to customize rental periods to any length between 30 and 360 days. Students can also easily extend any rental period in increments as small as one day or choose to purchase the book they are renting at any time. The electronic textbooks can be downloaded to and read not just on Amazon's Kindle, but also on other devices such as PC, Mac and iPad using Kindle reading software.

The company claims that students can save up to 80% off textbook list prices by renting from the Kindle Store. This element will be very effective in getting more students to use the program. For example, Ryan Judy of Ohio University told msnbc.com that he "would, and probably will, use Kindle's service because I have an iPad and you can just download the Kindle textbooks on there, which makes it really convenient. It's also cheaper. I normally try find the cheapest way to get my books."

It is very interesting development in Amazon's services, but only a natural one as we see a growing interest in digital books among students. My question is whether this new service also helps in making the Kindle greener?

It's obvious that renting textbooks is more eco-friendly than buying new ones because this way you maximize the usage of already printed book. Just like with books, after reading a number textbooks on an e-reader, this practice is becoming greener than the alternative - buying paper textbooks. As the length of textbooks is usually higher tend to be longer (500-600 pages in many cases, if not longer), their footprint is larger than the one of 'regular' books and hence the breakeven point of e-textbooks is smaller than the one of e-books.

So we can definitely see that it would be relatively easy to establish e-textbooks rentals as a greener option with a smaller footprint, but does it make Amazon or the Kindle any greener? It's a difficult question because there is no difference in terms of e-reading if you buy an electronic textbook or rent it. Either way, you're using one electronically instead of its paper version. Nevertheless, the fact that renting might be cheaper for students makes etextbook rental more attractive and increases the chances students will move to textbook e-reading.

This service won't change the carbon footprint of the Kindle - it doesn't change anything in the device's production, transportation, usage or recycling. Also, there's actually a good chance many students will use a Kindle reading app to read it on their iPad or even just read it on their PC.

As you can see it's complicated to estimate the impact of the new service, but there are two things we can say for certain: 1. Amazon's new service might lower eventually the breakeven points of e-readers and tablets as the usage of textbooks electronically will be increased due to the new rental service. 2. Amazon's new service will help eventually in making textbook reading more sustainable. Hopefully it will also help students to get better grades!

To read more on how green is your (and my) Kindle, visit our website at http://www.ecolibris.net/kindle.asp

More resources on the ebooks vs. paper books environmental debate can be found on our website at http://www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant one tree for every book you read!

Will consumers reward going green? Examining the case of the book industry

This is the subject of an article I wrote for the Independent, the magazine of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). The article was published last April and was added now to the public archive of the magazine.

The challenge the article is talking about is of course not unique to the book industry, but nevertheless due to the unique characteristics of books (not two books are the same), it makes this challenge even more difficult.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

Do most book consumers care about the environment? Definitely. Do they prefer buying books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper because of that? It depends.

Eco-conscious book consumers need to deal with the same issues that green consumers in general deal with, but they also have special dilemmas. Imagine, for example, a book reader who would love to read Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and who finds out that this great book is not printed on eco-friendly paper. Will the reader decide not to buy it and wait to get a copy in the local library? I doubt it.

A book is not a vegetable, a toothpaste, or a car. Book buyers can’t just choose a “green” book over a “regular” one and still get their needs met, only with some green added value. Each and every book is a unique product with distinctive features, which makes greening book purchases more difficult than greening almost anything else.

You can read the whole article on the Independent's website. I hope you will find it interesting!

Yours,
Raz@Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Planting trees for your books

RIP Borders - The bookstore chain is closing its doors

Now it's official - Borders Group announced on Monday that it will close all of its stores and sell the company to a group of liquidators led by Hilco Merchant Resources. It means that almost 11,000 employees will lose their jobs and the chain's 400 remaining stores will close their doors by the end of September.

This is a very sad day to any book lover, no matter if you're a Borders customer or not. The fact is that this isn't just an isolated case, but an indicator to the change in the industry, where brick and mortar stores can't find an adequate reply to the online competition as well as to the growing demand for ebooks and are losing customers until they can no longer stay in business.

NPR report explained the problem:

"Indeed, outside a Borders bookstore in Arlington, Va., shoppers say they rarely buy books the old-fashioned way."I'll go to Borders to find a book, and then I'll to go to Amazon to buy it, generally," customer Jennifer Geier says. With so many people going online to buy books, Borders lost out. The last time it turned a profit was 2006. "

According to NPR the case of B&N is different, but we believe it's actually no different than Borders, at least in the sense that B&N hasn't find yet the way to transform its brick and mortar stores back into an asset. If they won't find the way to do it, they will be left with BN.com and the Nook, but without stores. They still have time to figure it out, but they need to remember their time is running.

Borders stores will begin closing as early as Friday. The New Yorker gives a good advice to spend your gift cards this week. (Please buy books, rather than calendars, lattes, or Moleskine notebooks.) It adds that liquidation will continue through the summer and is likely to be complete by September.

For more news and updates on Borders post bankruptcy visit our website at http://www.ecolibris.net/borders.asp.

You can also find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz@Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Planting trees for your books

Borders is moving towards liquidation - is this the end for the bookstore chain?

Today is an important day for Borders. According to Boston.com, a US bankruptcy court in New York has given Borders today as a deadline to find another bid or its assets will be sold at auction on Tuesday. In other words, the company might be moving towards liquidation which might be the end of for it as a book retailer unless some sort of miracle will happen today.

You can find more details on the latest development on Bloomberg's report (Borders to Seek Court Approval for Liquidators’ Bid Over Offer From Najafi) and the WSJ video report below.



We'll keep you posted with further developments and bring you further analysis later on this week.

For more news and updates on Borders post bankruptcy visit our website at http://www.ecolibris.net/borders.asp.

You can also find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz@Eco-Libris
Eco-Libris: Planting trees for your books

10 best green ebooks for the summer!

We're back with another ten recommendations on green ebooks, and today we have a special list of 10 green ebooks for summer time! It means lighter green books which are more suitable for an outdoor vacation, the beach, or just a lazy evening on your sofa.

The links of these ebooks are to Amazon.com and I apologize in advance to all the Nook, iPad, Kobo and Sony Reader owners. I hope you can easily find an ebook you'll like on other ebookstores. This is also the place to disclose that we're taking part in Amazon's affiliate program and therefore will receive a small percentage of every purchase made using these links.

We hope you don't mind! You can find all the lists published so far on our recommended green ebooks webpage (see examples at the bottom of this post).

Without further ado, here's this week's list of 10 recommended green e-books for the summer:

1. My Footprint by Jeff Garlin - Gallery (April 3, 2010)

2. The Moneyless Man by Mark Boyle - Oneworld Publications (September 1, 2011)

3. Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne - Penguin (September 28, 2010)

4. GrassRoutes Northern California Wine Country: Green Road Trips by Serena Bartlett - Sasquatch Books (July 1, 2009)

5. Boiling Point by K.L. Dionne - Jove (December 28, 2010)

6. Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America by Nick Rosen - Penguin (July 27, 2010)

7. The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food and Love by Kristin Kimball - Scribner (October 12, 2010)

8. The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey - Anchor (September 14, 2010)

9. The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir (P.S.) by Josh Kilmer-Purcell - Harper Collins (June 1, 2010)

10. Eco-Resorts: Planning and Design for the Tropics by Zbigniew Bromberek - Architectural Press (February 25, 2009)

More recommended green ebooks lists:

Best green ebooks for Father's Day

Best ebooks for green entrepreneurs

Best green marketing ebooks

Best green business ebooks

Best eco-chic and eco-beauty ebooks

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a Tree for Every Book You Read!

My Name is Grace by Lorraine Oman Hanover has joined the 100 trees project!

Don't you like to read about interesting life journeys? I sure do! So how about one from innocent to outcast, wartime Glasgow to Canada’s 1970s counterculture? Grace’s diary lives long after she is gone, and provides a roadmap to redemption for more than one troubled woman.

And this new book, 'My Name is Grace' by Lorraine Oman Hanover has just joined the "100 Trees Project"!

This joint program was launched by Infinity Publishing, a leading self-publishing company together with Eco-Libris to promote environmental sustainability among its authors. Through the program, authors that publish with Infinity are able to plant 100 trees for the title they publish. These authors also have the option to add a special "100 trees planted for this book" logo to their book's design, as a way to showcase their commitment to environmental sustainability.

What's this book is about?
“Some people call me amazing Grace, and some people call me a dis-Grace.” When she slurs those words in a northern Alberta bar, Grace is worlds away from the girl who began a diary on the eve of World War II. Against the backdrop of a Scottish tenement community, her writings portray a journey from innocent to outcast — from devotion to family, to burning every bridge for a dissolute pilot. In 1971, runaway Jude Klein finds Grace’s diary. Unloved and debilitated by drugs, Jude will discover through Grace’s story a roadmap to her own redemption.

About the author: A native of Scotland, Lorraine Oman Hanover emigrated first to Canada, then to the United States. Scotland would have receded into the mists of childhood memory, she says, if not for her mother’s tales of wartime Glasgow. In My Name is Grace, Lorraine set out to capture such a voice and explore how it could steady the spirit of a questing, troubled soul.

My Name is Grace is available for sale on Infinity's website.

Other books on the "100 Trees Project":

The Last Original Idea: A Cynic's View to Internet Marketing by Alan K'necht and Geri Rockstein

Buffalo on the Ridge by Deanna Meyer

What Love Is...A-Z by by Elle Febbo

Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales

Ishift- Innovation Shift

Good Management is Not Firefighting

Play on Words

This is Your Brain on God

DRIVEN! Remembrance, Reflection, & Revelation

X-POSED: The Painful Truth Behind Yoga & Pilates

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Eco-Libris is collaborating with Moon Willow Press on Infernal Drums by Anthony Wright

Moon Willow Press is a small independent publisher helping to sustain arboreal ecosystems while celebrating the written word. It is also partnering with Eco-Libris to plant trees for its published books and we're happy to announce on a new book Moon Willow Press is publishing and planting trees for with Eco-Libris - Infernal Drums by Anthony Wright.

This new literary road novel is not just a great book, but also an example of Moon Willow Press' commitment to the environment. It presents impressive environmental savings:2 fully grown trees; 1,114 gallons of water; 68 pounds of solid waste; and 231 pounds of greenhouse gases were saved, as MWP printed on chlorine free paper made with 100% post-consumer waste (except for the cover, printed on FSC-certified paper). In addition, 186 trees will be planted for this book with Eco-Libris!

Here are more details about Infernal Drums:

Anthony Wright, also author of the short story collection Smoke Ghosts & Other Outré Tales, presents powerful storytelling with a sense of compassion for people, the environment, and indigenous customs and beliefs. His perceptive description of native peoples, places, and beliefs mingles with modern-day explorers and flirts with magical realism. Wright has been compared to Burroughs, Bowles, Dostoyevsky, Kerouac, and even to some degree Joyce as he searches out the sacred and profane of contemporary society.

Infernal Drums explores the spiritual awakening of protagonist Jonah Everman, who regards himself as a writer who drifts, but is really a drifter who writes. Journeying to Mexico, he runs afoul of the law and pays out big to avoid jail. He then heads to the capital where he finds a few kindred spirits, newspaper work, and trouble in spades. Forging an unholy alliance with occult forces, Jonah’s moral destruction seems assured. Or is it?

Infernal Drums takes the reader on a guided tour into the festering underworld of the drug war torn Mexico recent headlines have taught us all to fear. Anthony Wright knows his way around this seedy battlefield. -William Hjortsberg, author/screenwriter of Falling Angel (Angel Heart) and Legend

The book is available in paperback, Kindle format and other multiple e-reader formats at Smashwords.

For more information on Moon Willow Press visit their website - http://www.moonwillowpress.com

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

My article today on Triple Pundit - this one is not for Cosmo Kramer..

Here's an update on a new article I published today on Triple Pundit on a new viral video about employee engagement, which refers to the banking sector and specifically to bank employees that unlike Kramer didn't think from early age they MUST become a banker..

The article is entitled "How to Engage Bank Employees that Lack Passion for the Job" Here's the first paragraph of the article:

"Kramer: I was never able to become a banker. Newman: Banker! So you’re killing yourself because your dreams of becoming a banker have gone unfulfilled. You-you-you-you can’t live without being a banker. Kramer: Yeah, yeah. If I can’t be banker, I don’t wanna live. Newman: You must be banker. Kramer: MUST be banker. "(Seinfeld, The Ticket – episode no. 4, season 4)

Not all the employees in the banking sector are like Cosmo Kramer. Many of them work in banks for various reasons other than a burning desire to become bankers, which might present a challenge when it comes to employee engagement. But does it actually matter what motivates people to work in a bank in the first place? Does it make a difference if it is a bank we’re talking about or Google, for example, where its founders claim that talented people are attracted to the company because it empowers them to change the world?

To read the full article go to http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/07/engage-employees-nine-five-job-trusted-company/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant trees for your books!

Happy birthday - Eco-Libris is four years old!

On Monday, when the whole US celebrated Independence Day, Eco-Libris had its own birthday celebration - we have just turned 4 years old!

Yes, another year passed and just like the year before, it wasn't an easy one. The economic environment is still very challenging but we still did our best not only to keep our head above the water, but also to grow, meet new goals and move forward in our quest to make reading more sustainable.

And indeed it was a year of progress - we managed to create more partnerships, ran for the second time our green books campaign, enhanced our educational work, continued our involvement at the Book Industry Environmental Council (BIEC), contributed to the discussion on how green e-books are, assisted in the preparation of a shareholder resolution calling Amazon to disclose its environmental impacts, provided analysis of the trends in the book industry from a green point of view and of course planted more trees!

I am proud to report that Eco-Libris balanced out so far 177,759 books, which resulted in 198,063 new trees, of which 39,114 are the result of our operations on the 4th year.

* Photo above is courtesy of our planting partner AIR from the 2009 planting season - AIR volunteer and young helper planting Aliso trees to fertilize family crop, in El Tablon, Guatemala.

We would also like to take this opportunity and thank everyone involved in our efforts - from the dedicated eco-conscious readers that balance out their books with us, through our partners - publishers, authors, bookstores, businesses, organizations and others that take action to support sustainable reading and of course our wonderful planting partners, which are doing such a great job in planting the trees in developing countries.

Here's a reminder of some of things we did last year, month by month:

July 2010
A new collection of poetry and prose of author Janice Winokur is going green with Eco-Libris

Is going green really worthwhile for authors?

August 2010
Natanya by Dror Burstein is the first book in Hebrew to go green with Eco-Libris

A new book of Flux by the Danish Paulo Coelho is going green with Eco-Libris

September 2010
Will the iPad succeed to conquer the campus?

14-year old author Taylor Michie is going green with Eco-Libris

October 2010
Is it greener to borrow ebooks from your local library?

The Last Original Idea is joining the "100 Trees Project" of Infinity Publishing and Eco-Libris

November 2010
200 bloggers are taking part in the Green Books Campaign to support books printed on environmental paper

Can Going Green Help Publishers, or Just Planet Earth?

December 2010
How book companies performed on the Greenpeace Boreal Marketplace Review?

Annual assessments of Eco-Libris' planting partners are available now online

January 2011
How green is your (and my) Kindle?

The future of Independent bookstores (or: 5 comments on 'Small Bookstores Struggle for Niche in Shifting Times')

February 2011
Dr. Anne Hallum, founder and director of our planting partner AIR was named one of CNN’s 2011 Heroes!

Brighter Books is collaborating with Eco-Libris to plant a tree for every printed copy of their books!

March 2011
Launching our Earth Day campaign, 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book

The Scandinavian publisher Whyte Tracks is partnering with Eco-Libris

April 2011
Global Sky's tree planting initiative celebrates the planting of more than 2,000 trees!

SHI & Eco-Libris: Launching Culantro Rojo Organics

May 2011
Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales by Frank Poe Jr. has joined the "100 Trees Project"

5 ways to green your ebook reading

June 2011
Why Amazon rejected a shareholder decision to disclose how it deals with climate change?

10 best green ebooks for Father's Day!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

X-POSED: The Painful Truth Behind Yoga & Pilates has joined the "100 Trees Project"!

Did you know many traditional yoga and Pilates movements do long-term harm to most people’s bodies? A new book, X-POSED: The Painful Truth Behind Yoga & Pilates by Kevin Khalili, D.C. will show you how to optimize the safety and effectiveness of your practice.

And not only that, but we're happy to update you that the book has just joined the "100 Trees Project"!

This joint program was launched by Infinity Publishing, a leading self-publishing company together with Eco-Libris to promote environmental sustainability among its authors. Through the program, authors that publish with Infinity are able to plant 100 trees for the title they publish. These authors also have the option to add a special "100 trees planted for this book" logo to their book's design, as a way to showcase their commitment to environmental sustainability.

What's this book is about?
X-POSED: The Painful Truth Behind Yoga & Pilates reveals how these two popular practices can cause bodily trauma and physical pain, and shows how these unfortunate side effects can be avoided. Did you know many traditional yoga and Pilates movements are harmful to most body types? How can you tell which movements best suit your unique posture, and which you should avoid? Wouldn’t you like to optimize the safety and effectiveness of your practice? Based in rigorous scientific research and presented in clear, accessible language, this important book is a must for anyone who teaches or practices yoga or Pilates.

About the author: Kevin Khalili, D.C. is currently the clinical director of the Laser Rehab Institute located in Santa Barbara, California. He has been practicing preventative sports medicine for over 18 years, and regularly prescribes specifically designed yoga and Pilates-based movements to aid in the rehabilitation process of his patients. He utilizes certain yoga and Pilates exercises in his personal workout routine. In addition to having a clientele that includes elite professional athletes, he also maintains close working relationships with team coaches, personal trainers, yoga teachers and Pilates instructors.

X-POSED: The Painful Truth Behind Yoga & Pilates is available for sale on Infinity's website.

Other books on the "100 Trees Project":

The Last Original Idea: A Cynic's View to Internet Marketing by Alan K'necht and Geri Rockstein

Buffalo on the Ridge by Deanna Meyer

What Love Is...A-Z by by Elle Febbo

Raven Wings and 13 More Twisted Tales

Ishift- Innovation Shift

Good Management is Not Firefighting

Play on Words

This is Your Brain on God

DRIVEN! Remembrance, Reflection, & Revelation

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Planting trees for your books!

Is the purchase of Borders by Direct Brands good news for the employees of the book retailer?

It depends who you're asking. According to the Economist (Goodbye to bricks and mortar) it doesn't look too good:

"Whatever happens at the auction will dictate the fate of the bookseller, which has already closed more than a third of its stores. Because Direct Brands is an online- and catalogue-based distributor of music, DVDs and books (such as the mail-order Book of the Month club), some speculate that a deal with Najafi will do little to keep the remaining bookstores open. Rather, the company will probably see value in the Borders distribution network and liquidate most everything else. Regardless, the story doesn’t look good for store employees and their dwindling patrons. (The company, which employs more than 11,000 people, has racked up more than $191m in losses since seeking bankruptcy protection in February, according to the Wall Street Journal.)"

What do you think? We'll be happy to read your comments.

For more news and updates on Borders post bankruptcy visit our website at http://www.ecolibris.net/borders.asp.

You can also find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz@Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Planting trees for your books

Finally there's a buyer for Borders - Direct Brands of Najafi will buy Borders for $215 million!

Update from Borders: IB Times reported today that Direct Brands, a portfolio company of Najafi, will purchase Borders' assets for $215.1 million (in addition to assuming roughly $220 worth of liabilities).

According to the article on IB Times Borders agreed to the deal, a "stalking horse bid," after considering two offers, and the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company plans to seek approval from the bankruptcy court.

So who's the buyer? MarketWatch reported that Direct Brands includes Book-of-the-Month Club, Doubleday Book Clubs, Columbia House DVD and BMG Music Service. It was bought by Phoenix, Ariz.-based Najafi in 2008.

Chicago Tribune wrote that a bankruptcy court hearing on the deal is set for July 21. If the court does not approve an auction process, Borders filed a separate motion to liquidate.

What does this purchase mean for the future of Borders and the future of bookstores in general? We'll keep you posted once more information on the deal will be disclosed so stay tuned.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Planting trees for your books!