iBooks Author, Digital Book World, And The Rise Of Voice And AI
The news that Apple is formally discontinuing iBooks Author is no surprise to those following the software, but it certainly does mark the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one. On the heels of selling a previous business, the year 2014 saw me learning new skills and picking up the trail of new interests. Publishing had always been one of those, as I viewed with fascination the fact that anyone could publish a book, for the first time in human history, with mitigated
Publishing's Next Decade: A Digital Book World
The decade of the 2010's was an up-and-down one. The rise of ebooks was met by a decline of ebooks. Amazon has grown, opening opportunities for publishers, but also forcing monopoly-like conditions on many. Booksellers struggled to find their way. Libraries continue to innovate and provide leadership for their respective communities. M&A activity remained high with plenty of consolidation taking place across the industry. Digital Book World changed hands. What will happen in
Q&A with DBW 2019 speaker Charlotte Abbott (Founder, FutureProof Content Strategy)
I recently had the privilege of sitting down with publishing industry veteran and Digital Book World 2019 speaker Charlotte Abbott. She's the founder and director of FutureProof Content Strategy, and works with clients to create stories that drive results. Check out her interview below - enjoy. Let’s start with a summary of your publishing career. Are we still in publishing? My evolution from book editor to business journalist to content and audience strategist has taught me
Finding The Joy In Publishing
First of all, watch this video, which is part of an inspiring tweet from earlier this week that went viral and got viewed millions of times: What you just watched is Alice Chigumira, a former Zimbabwean refugee into the United Kingdom and advocate for women's rights, open up a Christmas present to find her own book staring back at her. It's a remarkable, joyous video that feels fortunate to be able to peer in on. Acquiring Digital Book World has been an equally joyous experie
Digital Book World 2018 Award Finalists Announced
We are pleased to announce the Finalists for the Digital Book World 2018 Awards - part of the DBW 2018 program and the largest publishing awards program in the world. We received an incredible number of submissions, from all over the world. As we culled through them, we made decisions on some categories which could be combined with others, and some categories which did not end up with enough volume to justify Finalists, and were removed. Every Finalist was selected from among
Q&A with Lisa Lucas, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation
The mission of the National Book Foundation is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture. I had a chance to sit down with Lisa Lucas, their dynamic Executive Director, who has led the organization in a direction of growth. Below are the highlights of that interview, and we've also included a video (hosted on National Book Foundation's website) which provides a phenomenal view into the gre
Q&A with Andrea Chambers - Director, NYU Center for Publishing
NYU's Center For Publishing provides incredible leadership within the publishing industry, providing an education which promotes the type of blended skill set necessary within a tech-oriented, high-velocity career in this rapidly changing field. We had a chance to ask Andrea Chambers, the Director for NYU's Center For Publishing, a few questions about the program and how she looks at the changing landscape within the industry. She'll also be attending Digital Book World 2018,
The Voice-First Future Of Book Discoverability
The future of book discoverability is voice-first technology, where audiobooks, podcasts, voice assistants, and smart speakers converge to c
Google's "Talk To Books" Might Have Just Changed Everything
Digital Book World took a field trip to London Book Fair last week, just as we'll do with the Frankfurt Book Fair which is after DBW 2018, also in October...only to discover arguably the most important news in publishing last week happened right here in the United States. Last Friday, Google unveiled "Talk To Books," a new tool which uses semantic search - search based on meaning, rather than mere keywords, and powered by the same Google conversational AI used to implement 's
New Wiley / Lumina Datamatics partnership highlights importance of rights management to modern publi
It's not enough with modern publishing efforts to provide tools for creating content. For many, providing rights clearance and ecosystem-wide protection against piracy is increasingly essential. Back in 2011, Steve Jobs and Apple correctly surmised that textbooks were in dire need of disruption, and in early 2012 (after Jobs had passed away), Apple rolled out iBooks Author as the solution which could be used by educators to create digital textbooks. One of the critical reason
