Showing Tag: "digital" (Show all posts)

E-readers Are Scorching-Hot Sellers; Rewriting Bestseller Lists!

Posted by John R. on Tuesday, January 4, 2011, In : digital publishing 
On Christmas day people, armed with their newly-presented e-readers, downloaded over a million plus e-books!

Talk about regenerating and transforming bestseller lists in an instant...

E-readers have rode in and, in one swell swoop, saved publishing, the book industry and inspired reading. What a shot in the arm!

The only question is: who the hell truly understands all the opportunities in this newly-transformed, sleeker, more efficient, offspring publishing industry??*##% Did I say newly-transfo...

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Books To Always Be...Publishers Not To Be

Posted by John R. on Monday, December 20, 2010, In : digital publishing 
Books, albeit 'live' or interactive, will remain a part of the human experience forever....And they will primarily consist of text, whatever the media format. Publishers, as an industry, will not. That industry has been fragmented into a democratic individualistic endeavor, if you will...A vastly more level and responsive playing field

Everyone who writes and presents are now 'publishers'...Talk about an all-inclusive vertical business model...In fact, talk about an all-inclusive horizontal b...

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U.S News & World Report Abandons 'print' Ship!

Posted by John R. on Friday, December 3, 2010, In : digital magazines 
A venerable old weekly print news mag (it was reduced to monthly in November 2008) is riding off into it's last sunset (the last issue is this month)...

BUT, the U.S. News & World Report will re-appear in digital clothes with an expanded online edition that will appear 8 times per year and definitly include it's famous "list" issues...you remember them: the best colleges, hospitals, etc.

Here is a great eulogy delivered by big fan Greg Brown of FOLIO magazine:

Right about now, you should be gett...

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Digital is Growing Up

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, December 1, 2010, In : digital publishing 
A little visionary post tonight...As much as I can envision the future anyway (being retarded makes it difficult).

We talk about "traditional" print publishing today as old hat. Well, not too far into the future the new tablet computers, eReaders and other mobile devices will be "traditional" or old hat also. Just like the old bulky camcorders (remember them?) have given way to more diminutive devices.

After all, who will need ANYTHING you have to carry to compute on, or receive data on, when...

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Market Intelligence for the Professional Publishing Industry

Posted by John R. on Friday, November 26, 2010, In : digital publishing 
In the digital publishing age a balance needs to be created between the customers' desire for immediate accessability at any time to enriched text (enhanced with audio, video, three-dimensional objects, full text searching, note taking, etc) and "...publishers’ needs for financial self-sustainability."

We are at the age where researchers can access works in the form of e-books that are accessable at any time and any place and never go out of print!

This is heavy neatness to the extreme. Publ...

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Possible Resolution in the 'Rights' and 'Control' Fight Between Google and Publishers?

Posted by John R. on Friday, November 19, 2010, In : digital publishing 
Peaceful resolution may be at hand! I've posted on this issue previously several times on both this blog and Writers Welcome Blog, but I will give one reference here from Writers Welcome Blog for a little background on Google's effort to corner and monopolize digital rights to books (especially out-of-print books).

Anyway, the French publisher Hachette Livre has reached an agreement with Google that may serve as a model for other countries...It certainly is a pact that benefits all concerned (...

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The Daily Beast Marries Newsweek--A Genius Merger

Posted by John R. on Saturday, November 13, 2010, In : Magazine Publishing 
A popular two year old start-up on the internet, full of new tech and digital savoir-faire, has taken the hand of a very traditional-published, weekly, print news mag...AND the new , young bride (The Daily Beast dot com) does NOT want the older groom (Newsweek) to change at all!

The plan for Newsweek (which does have a web page, by the way) is to mold the print weekly into the upper stratosphere of print mag popularity using some magic, digital dust from The Beast.


Can they do it? I think so! I...
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Kindle To Give 70% Royalty to Publishers

Posted by John R. on Thursday, November 11, 2010, In : digital publishing 
Starting 1 December 2010 Kindle will bump publishers' revenue share to 70% (minus delivery costs).

Delivery costs? this is something I'm still confused about. What the hell is the delivery costs for digital downloads? Maybe one of my smarter readers can enlighten me...I hope so. Even the example given in the article below doesn't add up in my petrified mind.

Anyhow, this royalty about to be introduced by Kindle proves they are eons ahead of the other eBook retailers and bookstores (and their a...

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Publishers Becoming Wary of Apple

Posted by John R. on Saturday, November 6, 2010, In : digital publishing 
The fastest growing sector of publishing is in the mobiles. And Apple is in position to control...But they may be screwing up according to a new report by ABCi (Audit Bureau of Circulations 'interactive').
 
The bottom line is Apple has poor analytics and doesn't share appropriate customer data with publishers.

Steven Sande of TUAW
(The Unofficial Apple Weblog) reports this:

ABCi, the interactive media arm of the
Audit Bureau of Circulations, has issued a new report showing that American and Cana...
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Omeka Publishing Unveils A Scholarly Site

Posted by John R. on Sunday, October 31, 2010, In : digital publishing 
Omekais geared towards the online exhibition of library, museum and archive collections. Their new scholarly site, http://www.omeka.net/ , will be a boon to researchers and advanced degree candidates...as well as other academic aficionados.

This new Omeka site will also encourage collaboration and communication; a good thing in research. 

Wonder if something like this would encourage more adult collaboration in D.C.for the good of the country?#@*! 

Just thought I'd ask.

Susan J. Campbell of TMCne...
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Want to Know What a 'Round Book' Is?

Posted by John R. on Friday, October 29, 2010, In : digital publishing 
A German author has introduced a concept for new e-books that will further differentiate them from traditional books...And, he hopes, will make them a better reading experience for readers.

The German author who is on a mission to make e-books more interactive, and with the possibility of no beginning and no end, is Juergen Neffe and his program is called Libroid.

More details by
Barry Neild for CNN :

Never-ending book heralds new chapter in e-publishing

It's an age-old problem for avid book read...

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Adobe Triumphs Over Apple's Resistance to 'Flash'

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, In : Magazine Publishing 

Conde Nast's magazine empire will be using the Adobe publishing tool to publish and sell mags on Apple's iOS...AND with the fantastic "flash" capability intact through the use of ingenious Adobe apps.

For those who aren't aware, Apple resisted the use of the fantastic "flash" technology on their new iOS/iPad outlet by not including an Apple in-house designed app to allow the great clarity and sharp graphics technology that is "flash" and sets Adobe apart from the rest in this area...including ...


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Adobe Unveils New Hosted Digital Publishing Suite

Posted by John R. on Tuesday, October 26, 2010, In : digital publishing 

Adobe, still the premier online graphic designer resource, is providing a publishing platform that will allow magazines and newspapers to publish to all the new mobile devices.

The new Adobe platform was introduced today at the start of it's Adobe Max Conference.

I learned of this cool news reading an article by
Ron Miller for Fierce Content Management:

Adobe(NASDAQ: ADBE) made several key announcements today at the launch of its Adobe Max conference including a new hosted digital publishing...


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We Now Choose Where, When and How We Read Books

Posted by John R. on Saturday, October 23, 2010, In : digital publishing 
We could always choose where and when, just not how. Technology has enabled us to receive digital, video and audio formats in almost any location and over large and small devices...Neat, no?

The introduction of eReaders, iPads, SmartPhones and iPods, etc. has actually increased the number of readers (and people interested in reading) through an intense modern obsession with gadgetry (but, our ancestors were probably taken with gadgetry, too)...If ever there was an instance where the end justif...

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Digital Magazines: Paid Content vs Advertising Dollars

Posted by John R. on Friday, October 15, 2010, In : Magazine Publishing 
Something is happening in the digital magazine world that many so-called publishing gurus said would never happen!...Mainly, that online revenues could and would come from consumers willing to pay for online content...AND that this paid content would exceed advertising dollars! 

In fact, this is happening now with the
Financial Times as explained below in a cutting edge interview by FOLIO magazine's Managing Editor, Matt Kinsman, with Financial Times' CEO, John Ridding:  

Game Changers 

Back i...


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Barnes & Noble Trumps Amazon with 'Pubit' Self-Publishing Platform

Posted by John R. on Tuesday, October 5, 2010, In : self-publishing 
You can now self-publish in the B&N eBookstore and BN.com!

The reason I say Pubit trumps Amazon is because it comes with a free conversion tool that automatically formats Microsoft Word, TXT, HTML or RTF files into the ePub file format for publication.

This is BIG. Any self-publishing author can attest to the difficulty and frustration with formatting these files for Smashwords, Amazon, iPad, etc. This is a great step forward and hopefully will be followed by the others to make digital publis...

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Insight: Making Books Less Expensive for Buyers and More Profitable for Authors

Posted by John R. on Saturday, October 2, 2010, In : publishing 
Another big house publisher has been dumped by a bestselling author...And, why not? Traditional publishing is like thick molasses pouring from a bottle when new tech has ushered in fast-pouring media.

Traditional publishing can take up to two years or more to get a book to market from contract signing! Hell, by that time the book info is probably obsolete!

Douglas Rushkoff, a bestselling author, gives a good insight into why writers are leaving the big publishing houses in this article by Pando...
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Ingram Book Distributors and Macmillan Publishers Form New Partnership and Business Model

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, September 22, 2010, In : book distribution 
With the new digital format demand for books plus the print on demand (POD) requirements of many, logistical requirements for delivering mixed content to ever-increasing readers became a nightmare for publishers.

One giant global publisher, Macmillan, solved this nightmare problem by joining with one of the worlds largest book distributors, Ingram Content Group, to forge a new business model.

This report from PRWeb:

Ingram Content Group Inc. and Macmillan today announced a new distribution ser...


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Apple's Digital Newsstand Far from Done Deal!

Posted by John R. on Saturday, September 18, 2010, In : digital publishing 
Apple wants to "help" newspapers and magazines sell digital versions of their products on iPad, mostly by subscription, by offering a rich digital publishing environment with text plus video. 

Sounds like it could be a good deal for newspapers and magazines, but the devil is in the details.

First, Apple wants to own the subscribers info and data and not give this info to the individual newspapers and magazines for use in their management of subscription bundling, etc, based on readership demogr...

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Digital Ads to Boost Digital Books Profits

Posted by John R. on Thursday, August 26, 2010, In : digital publishing 
With the dynamic growth of and increasing competition in the eBook world, prices are smaller for publishers.

What to do? What they have done in every other media venue...include ads! I have no problem with this if it will translate into more profits for the writers/authors also...

Read this informative article by
Joe Aimonetti for CNET Reviews :

The Wall Street Journal reportsthat iAds may appear in iBooks as publishers watch their profits dwindle amid technology advances like Apple's iPad. Th...


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Digital Mag and Newspaper Subs Could Bring $3 Billion by 2014

Posted by John R. on Friday, August 20, 2010, In : digital publishing 

The title says it all! 

A consumer survey conducted by consultants with Oliver Wyman for Next Issue Media determined that consumers were willing to pay for good mag and newspaper digital content...Details follow from an article by
Eric Sass in MediaPostNews:

Digital issues of magazines could generate $3 billion in subscription revenues for magazine and newspaper publishers by 2014, according to a consumer survey conducted by consultants with Oliver Wyman on behalf of Next Issue Media, a consort...


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Write Once Publish Everywhere

Posted by John R. on Saturday, August 14, 2010, In : publishing 
Technology has improved publishing means...AND that also includes printed word publishing as well as digital publishing.

This neat piece of information comes from FOLIO magazine and it's staff:

Publishing Technology 2010

Today, the publishing industry is being driven by technology more than ever before. As business models evolve, the right technology can make or break new products, from the back-end of a Web site to new customer-facing channels such as mobile and tablet apps.

But it’s not...


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New Mobile Magazine to Pursue Paid Subscriptions over Advertising Revenues AND Big Revenue Share with Writers

Posted by John R. on Friday, August 13, 2010, In : Magazine Publishing 
Nomad Editions, a new series of digital weeklies strictly for mobile devices, will debut in October. What sets this digital mag apart is it's business model being 180 degrees off norm...Mainly seeking it's revenue from paid subscriptions versus advertising.

NE will also be paying it's writers and editors with a generous revenue sharing program...This could be a substantial living...IF NE IS SUCCESSFUL!

Anyway, Matt Kinsman, Executive Editor of FOLIO magazine, wrote this about Nomad Editions:
...
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Digital Publishing Market is Booming in China!

Posted by John R. on Tuesday, July 27, 2010, In : digital publishing 
Global Leaders Institute will be hosting the Digital Publishing Asia Pacific 2010 event in November in China. Everybody who's anybody will be there to hash out the inevitable problems in a huge emerging market...

This press release and report is from
PRNewswire :

Hosted by Global Leaders Institute, world digital publishing industry leaders will convene at Digital Publishing Asia Pacific 2010 (DPAP2010) on November 16th and 17th in Beijing China. The two-day executive summit will examine the hot...

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Could FTC Internet Proposals Hurt Journalism ?

Posted by John R. on Friday, July 23, 2010, In : digital publishing 

Journalism and online news needs no "protection" by the FTC (by changing and expanding laws) in order to survive on the internet in the digital publishing age...They just need to publish news better with unique interactivity that people will be willing to pay for.

Josh Halliday reports for the guardian.co.uk  that: The future of US online news could be stifled by proposals put forward by the Federal Trade Commission to protect journalism, Google has warned.

In its 20-page response to the FTC's ...


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B&N & Blackboard Partner to Offer NookStudy, e-Textbooks

Posted by John R. on Sunday, July 18, 2010, In : booksellers 
College students will soon be able to download textbooks or aggregate and organize other study materials in any neat form they desire to accomplish course work. Technology is making a big impact in the student world again...as it always has! 

But, will it make a big difference in the cost of these materials compared to their printed counterparts? It should! Barnes & Noble indicates a 40% discount...Wonder if this will last? Good news for students if it does. 

Here is an announcement of the up-a...

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Magnify.net to Offer Curated Video Content (CVC)

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, July 7, 2010, In : digital publishing 

How would you like a resource to pull videos from that are related to your site content AND that will draw bigger advertisers with more money for you?...

At least that is what I think the following press release is saying...I am NOT an expert. But, the following press release seems to be saying something important for helping smaller publishers monetize while increasing sales for advertisers!

Initiative will allow publishers to provide contextually relevant video to site specific advertise...


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Monetizing Real-time Online Content

Posted by John R. on Tuesday, July 6, 2010, In : digital publishing 
The best model, I think, for monetizing online content (especially newspapers in view of the decline in ad revenues) is one the cell phone companies have been using for years: give subscribers a Kindle or iPad free with a two year subscription! Right?

Janet Guyon  , Managing Editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, addresses this very topic in an excellent article for Businessweek:

Hal Varian, the chief economist at Google Inc., spends a lot of time talking about the economic state of the news busines...

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Can iPad Resuscitate Magazines?

Posted by John R. on Sunday, June 6, 2010, In : digital publishing 

Maybe...The iPad offers a more personal experience than computers and more graphics and peripherals than eReaders...but, will readers pay for the mag content...much less invest in the expense of the iPad to begin with?

I feel they will...IF the content is relevent, interactive, well written and not available elsewhere. Afterall, content that people want is king!   

Benny Evangelista, who writes technology for the SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle), has this view:

For the magazine industry, App...


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E-books No Party Crasher At BookExpo America

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, May 26, 2010, In : digital publishing 

The international digital publishing industry was an invited guest at BookExpo America (BEA) taking place now in New York AND given a kings welcome! 

This is a good move and shows that booksellers realize they must gear up to sell both digital and print versions of books to grow and survive in the new publishing paradigm. 

Here is an interesting take on this years BEA by Bob Hoover of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

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The New Middle Ground Publishing

Posted by John R. on Monday, May 24, 2010, In : digital publishing 

A new middle ground, half way between traditional publishing (that now outsources everything and puts the marketing burden on the writers) and pure self-publishing, is opening up. Publishing companies are now offering so-called "midlist authors" (and others too) more publishing support in their semi-self-publishing efforts. A case in point is Amazon's new publishing arm, AmazonEncore, agreeing to digitally publish J. A. Konrath's new Jack Daniels female cop series book, Shaken, and bring the ...


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How Do Publishers Handle Worldwide Digital Revenue?

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, May 19, 2010, In : digital publishing 
The growing revenue WORLDWIDE from all the downloadable stuff (eBooks, music, etc) is growing almost exponentially and you can just envision the paper money literally raining down in buckets! 

Well, how do the publishing, distribution and retail companies get a grip on all these currencies and their accounting and reporting? One way is through companies like RoyalShare...



This press release from
PR Newswire:

Leading Book Publisher Adopts RoyaltyShare Service to Handle Growing Demands of Digit...


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Are Writers' Dreams of Riches Now Unrealistic?

Posted by John R. on Sunday, May 16, 2010, In : digital publishing 
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Will the digital content explosion destroy writers' livlihoods OR make their businesses better? There are two schools of thought on this topic...Some in the business, mostly from the publishing standpoint, think that the increased availability of content will drive down content costs and thereby royalities for writers of that content.

I respectfully disagree with this forecast.

I feel that the growing digital publishing industry is creating a renewed interest in reading and that cou...

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Digital Publishing Digs In at Simon & Schuster

Posted by John R. on Saturday, May 8, 2010, In : digital publishing 
Some nice, interesting tidbits about ebook sales and digital publishing within Simon & Schuster...
Be sure to follow the links in this post.

Mark Byrne of MediaBistro/Galleycat reports: 

CBS Publishing released its first quarter report yesterday, showing an uptick in e-book sales and a sharp increase in digital publishing revenue for Simon & Schuster.

Digital publishing revenue jumped from $3.6 million to $12 million in the first quarter of this year, growing 233 percent. According to a paid...


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Book Statistics-Which Are Winning

Posted by John R. on Thursday, April 29, 2010, In : publishing 
Some interesting book, publishing and production stats from R. R. Bowker Company...and a little about Bowker, the guardian and issuer of ISBN's; also the world's leading provider of bibliographic information management solutions designed to help publishers, booksellers, and libraries better serve their customers. 

Increases in tech and finance titles offset continuing decline in fiction; Explosive growth in “print on demand” drives total production past the million mark.


Bowker, the global...
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Publishing Execs to Discuss E-Reader Content Opportunities at London Book Fair

Posted by John R. on Thursday, April 15, 2010, In : publishing 

Big challenges to be debated by big players RE book rights across ever-increasing digital channels...as well as print, audio and film...all to take place at the London Book Fair 2010 next week...Should be an interesting fair that could produce industry-changing guidelines!  

The following press release is for LibreDigital by Heidi Johnson, heidi.johnson@virtualprdirector.com

LibreDigital CEO Russell P. Reeder to Host Discussion with Executives from Barnes & Noble, Entourage Systems, Hachette L...


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High U.S. Demand Delays Global Release of iPad!

Posted by John R. on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, In : digital publishing 

Is the Apple iPad a success? I guess so as evidenced by the sales numbers! Good gosh, they can't seem to keep up with the demand...I wish I had a piece of this action!

Oh well, this from the New York Times:


Responding to strong demand in the United States for its iPad, Applesaid Wednesday that it would delay the worldwide release of the tablet computer for a month.

“Faced with this surprisingly strong U.S. demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch ...


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Adobe's InDesign CS5 Powers the Transition to Digital Publishing

Posted by John R. on Monday, April 12, 2010, In : publishing 
I have always LOVED Adobe and their products...and now they are outdoing past achievements with agressive leadership in digital publishing! The new interactivity and time-saving work-flows in their publishing software are stupendous! 

This press release from BusinessWire paints a pretty picture of Adobe's "InDesign CS5":

Adobe InDesign CS5 enables creative professionals to deliver digital documents that include interactivity, animation, video and audio -- connecting people to page content in in...
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About Me


John R. Austin Writer, Old-Warrior-Adventurer, Blogger... I was born in Key West, Florida. A rather famous hangout for some past famous writers: Hemingway and Tennessee Williams to name two. I just hope that I possess a glimmer of their talent. I have a bachelors degree in architecture/construction and a master's degree in industrial engineering. I have been writing for fifty plus years. Most of my writing has been in the technical, instructional and business areas. I am working on my first book: "Havana Harvest---When Cuba Was Naughty" which details my coming of age experiences in 1958 Havana, Cuba, at the age of 15. Please visit my other blog "Writers Welcome Blog" at http://alturl.com/4z88.

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