We don’t know how much Amazon has offered to acquire Goodreads but it probably was not a huge sum. In Silicon Valley, an exit valley between $10 million and $50 million is barely worth mentioning (Facebook bought no-revenue Instagram for …
For the last few years, Bookish.com — the joint venture between S&S, Hachette, and Penguin — has seen a number of iterations and had its share of setbacks. Most articles — including this one — tend to lead with a …
I was in a meeting yesterday from 4-5 pm. I wasn’t looking at my email during that hour. Once the meeting ended, I glanced at my iPhone and noticed I had received 48 emails in the past hour. Something had …
The big news of the day is that the world’s largest bookseller (Amazon) has acquired the world’s largest book-focused social network (Goodreads). Because we live in the era of instant reaction through social media, Goodreads users have already posted hundreds …
The stories of self-publishing success—the Hockings, Howeys, Konraths and the like—are well known, as is the Publishing Industry is Dead viewpoint of New York Times bestseller (and self-pub advocate), Seth Godin. But what of the long-predicted mid-lister migration to self …
As reported by AP, Penguin has improved the lending terms in its library ebook pilot. But there is a larger story than today’s development. ALA portrays this larger picture in a post on our American Libraries E-content Blog. Check it …
Part Two in the series of articles on new e-book distribution methods for schools. See “Ebooks Are Actually Not Books” for Part One. One ebook, one device, for one child. It makes sense if you’re a parent looking to provide reading material for …
Isn’t that the dream of many authors? What if today’s digital tools can propel not only category fiction but also thoughtful science and physics titles? The author Colin Gillespie and his publishing partner Howard Gurevich, founders of the publisher Big …
In its annual report for 2012, released today, Bertelsmann has a lengthy write-up on Fifty Shades of Grey. No wonder, as the series helped drive Random House (owned and operated by Bertelsmann) to a record year, with nearly $3 billion …
Digital disruption has happened in almost every publishing sector except one: academic publishing. The reasons why academic publishers have resisted changes as other sectors have gone digital is complex, and many have tried to change aspects of academic publishing with …
Barnes & Noble is pushing publishers for better terms, higher marketing funds and cutting back on their initial orders of books. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times both recently reported that B&N and corporate publisher Simon & Schuster …
Fifty Shades of Grey made a huge impact on the publishing industry — but its impact may be more lasting than you know. This genre-bending best-seller isn’t really a romance novel, but it’s been generally treated as one by the …
The American Library Association (ALA) is planning outreach activities for the next few months. In particular, we will have a policy presence at Book Expo America (BEA) this year. The Association of Authors’ Representatives is organizing a panel on ebooks …
The publishing industry is going through “atomization,” according to industry consultant and DBW partner Mike Shatzkin. He writes in his latest blog post at The Shatzkin Files: Soon — in the next 5 or 10 years — every university (perhaps …
This is Part 1 in a series on e-book distribution to schools. See Part 2 here. Digital books are triggering tectonic shifts in education. One of the most fundamental, yet seemingly invisible, shifts is happening in the back rooms of …
When you hear the term “loss leader” you think of grocery stores and discount warehouse chains. You don’t think about technology or publishing. Until now. Amazon recently announced price cuts on its Kindle Fire Tablets. The lowest priced model was slashed …
My subconscious purses her lips and mouths the word ‘‘ho.’ I ignore her. –Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey (E.L. James) I don’t know how to answer your comment about feeling like a whore. I know that’s not what you’ve written, but it’s …
Welcome! This is an informal blog that will chronicle a book promotion for my novel The Frog Prince taking place March 14 and 15, 2013. If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to read my blog “THING 3. Prostitute Your …
Today’s kids are eager to use technology, so when their school day includes digital tools, they are more apt to approach their assignments with enthusiasm. But educators who want to include digital learning tools to their classes face a few challenges. Challenge …
This past week was a busy one for Allison Dobson, vice president and digital publishing director at Random House’s new digital imprints Hydra, Alibi, Loveswept and Flirt. Hydra came under fire starting last week when the Science Fiction & Fantasy …
Indie author Marie Force debuts on the NY Times e-book bestseller list on 10 March at #6 and the combined print/e-book list at #11 with her indie-published book, “Waiting for Love,” book 8 in her popular McCarthys of Gansett Island …
In mythology, a hydra is a serpent-like beast with many heads. And when you cut one head off, it grew two more. It also had poisonous breath and acid like blood. So why would you name a publishing imprint after …
Since the summer, ebook price have been on a roller-coaster ride, lurching up and down due to competition between retailers, holiday promotions and, most notably, new contracts between major publishers and ebook retailers precipitated by U.S. Department of Justice actions. …
Customer feedback, accurate contact information, and conversion statistics are essential consumer data for publishers. Publishing insiders speaking at our Digital Book World 2013 Conference + Expo in January called out those three sorts of data as essential. Businesses and publishers …
There have been two great and thought-provoking and much commented articles recently on the subject of new book discovery: 1. Discovery is Publishers’ Problem; Reader are Doing Just Fine by Guy Lecharles Gonzales 2. Is the Book Discovery Bubble Ready …
Most people know that downloading copyrighted information without paying for it is against the law. But millions of people who are otherwise totally law-abiding have at one time or another illegally downloaded a copyrighted digital file. How serious is this problem …
Younger teachers use technology in their classrooms with more confidence than teachers aged 55 and older, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project in collaboration with the College Board and the National …
A new report released by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that though digital tools are widely used throughout U.S. schools, teachers who serve the lowest income students have more difficulty using digital tools effectively. “Digital technologies …
Without quality assurance, good ebooks can be, well, useless. Recall Hachette’s formatting error last fall, which left J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy unreadable on Kindle. And, other popular titles, including Dan Simmons’s The Terror and Stardust by Neil Gaiman, have …
Lost in the debate about cannibalization, pricing, terms of access and the like between publishers and libraries is the rather basic question of how libraries can become a more significant source of revenue for trade Ebooks. One way to sell …
iPads are entering schools more rapidly than any other technology in recent years. A million iPads were sold to the K-12 market in the month of June 2012 alone. More K-12 school boards, administrators, and IT departments answering “yes” to …
Gamification is one of the hot new concepts in children’s enhanced ebooks. The general idea is simple: To get kids to eat their broccoli (i.e., read books), let’s put some cheese on it (make them fun — cheese on broccoli …
The Change Agents is an occasional series spotlighting the work of of people inside Big Publishing who are confronting disruption with creativity, and helping their respective companies adapt, adjust, innovate, and reinvent. Read the anchor post here. If you’re a publisher …
