[KineJapan] Kindle problems-->short topical e-books

[anne mcknight]

Speaking of "short topical e-books," I wanted to tell the list about a new small press I started to address those very needs and uses--especially short works that connect cinema to other media and industries. 

The press is called Expanded Editions (www.expandeditions.com), and the first work is the translation of a 1920s robot (jinzō ningen) story by the celebrated cinema and culture critic Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke. 
In addition to his more sober prose, it turns out Hirabayashi wrote a lot of rip-roaring melodramas, interesting for their experiments in genre and pulp themes. These stories also represent his forays into practicing what he wrote about as a journalist and critic, and also showcase his role as something of an advocate for women's rights and the narratives that love them. Staring with Hirabayashi's "The Man-made Baby" (人造人間), the first cluster of stories is about robots--and the more open-ended idea of the "artificial human" that travelled along with the bona fide "robot." These words both drifted over from the Czech play to kick off a robot boom around 1928, enabling nearly a century of stories about people, life, machines and the dreamworlds they may build. 

Some of you will know already--as I am working with you!--but upcoming releases for 2014 include Satoh Makoto's 1960s trilogy of re-purposed Greek myths, three plays transported from the Greek classical era into the heady ANPO-era context of Tokyo art and politics. 

Other projects include some shōjo fiction writings and some eco-criticism. Some of these will be in dual print/e-formats, and many things for classrooms can be customized, if you radio in and let us know how to work with your student/classroom needs.

About Kindle in specific, I have to say the advantage as a producer is that Kindle is pretty easy to use as an interface. The downside…there are a few, for many reasons/feelings I suspect many of you have, in terms of market and general philosophy. We are working on opening up the options in tune with many ideas about design, access, and getting people paid...

Keep your eyes peeled for new releases (you can sign up for the mailing list via news at expandeditions.com), and if there are projects you'd like to see in print, or ones you'd like to do yourself, please get in touch.

~ Anne

On Dec 16, 2013, at 11:42 AM, Paul Roquet wrote:

> Hi Eija,
> 
> I have a Japanese Kindle and have managed to switch back and forth between the Japanese and US stores in order to purchase content from both. It took a call to customer service to explain the situation (i.e. moving back and forth between countries a lot) and have them link my amazon.com and amazon.co.jp kindle accounts together. Your kindle can only be registered to (and can only purchase from) one country/store at a time, but all you have to do to switch is go into your kindle settings through the website, switch your address to the other country, and agree to change stores. As far as I can tell there is no limit on how many times you can switch back and forth, and everything you order from both accounts is available on the device itself.
> 
> The Japanese kindle store is still pretty spotty but it is improving day by day. I'm hoping for more short-format topical e-books like Marc Schilling's Shiro Kido essay (in the US store) and Shimizu Ryosuke's 'Dare ga ongaku o koroshita ka?' (a critique of the Japanese music industry - adapted from a business periodical - and a minor hit in the Japanese kindle store). I haven't seen anything on film like this hit the Japanese e-book market yet, but it will be interesting to see what emerges - a 'Dare ga eiga o koroshita ka?' would be a good start!
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 11:16 AM, Eija Niskanen <eija at helsinkicineaasia.fi> wrote:
> Sorry for a question slightly aside from pure film discussion. I thought about buying a Kindle, but as Kindle is tied to the Amazon of the country of purchase, how have you solved the problem of buying, say English-language Academic books from Amazon U.S. and Japanese-language books from Amazon Japan? Or would it be worth buying some other reading device, Kobo, Sony, other?
> Eija
> 
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