Entries tagged with “classic books” from Tools of Change for Publishing

Commentary on Penguin's Missed Ebook Opportunity

Jimmy Guterman
March 19, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

(Updated with excerpt/link instead of repost)

On Penguin's latest e-Book move via the O'Reilly Radar blog:

What's most galling, of course, is that Penguin isn't attempting to increase interest in ebooks as a medium by making these classics, long past copyright, available in free, un-DRM-encumbered formats. In an old-meets-new mashup, publishers could use free distribution of still-in-demand classics to generate interest in a form, ebooks, that is still only in the earliest days of its potential public acceptance. Wouldn't you be more likely to try something new if it was free?

Roundup: Jeff Bezos and Chris Anderson at BEA, the Value of Evergreen Content, Bonus Features and Ebooks

Mac Slocum
March 13, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Jeff Bezos and Chris Anderson at BookExpo America
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will be interviewed by Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, at BookExpo America on Friday, May 30. Bezos and Anderson are both at the forefront of business/technological change: Bezos with Amazon's Kindle and Anderson with his focus on free economic models. (What's the over/under on Anderson asking about free Kindles?)

Sourcebooks: Evergreen Holds the Bottom Line
Dominique Raccah, founder of Sourcebooks Inc., has built her business by ignoring fads: "... we elected at the outset to mainly issue books that are on the so-called backlist -- books that are not hot fad followers but are read, and re-read and referenced as evergreen classics, and can be updated with fresh information each year," Raccah tells the Naperville Sun. Sourcebooks' titles include the "Fisk Guide to Colleges," "The Complete Book of Baby Names," and the Sphinx Legal reference series.

Pride and Prejudice Ebook Includes Bonus Material
It looks like e-books are taking a note from DVD bonus features. Penguin Group's upcoming Pride and Prejudice ebook will include reviews from the novel's first run, a Jane Austen timeline, illustrations, rules of etiquette, and other add-ons.