Entries tagged with “online” from Tools of Change for Publishing
Glimmer of Positivity in Media Industry Analysis
Mac Slocum
May 6, 2008
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A handful of recent media industry reports inject a small but noticeable degree of optimism into their examinations of the current business landscape.
Lauren Rich Fine of Kent State University tells the The Economist that adaptation could guide certain types of newspapers through the industry's rough transition:
Ms Fine also points out that although all newspapers are being buffeted by the internet, their ability to respond will probably depend on whether their audiences are national, metropolitan or local. The first category can afford to invest in distinctive international or business coverage, while the last can prosper by becoming “more intensely local”. But she fears for the big metropolitan newspapers, which may find themselves trapped in the middle.
Fine's analysis doesn't benefit medium-sized papers, but the prospect of success at large and small papers is a shift from typical declarations of "all" newspapers dying.
On the broadcast side, NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman says TV shows will need to exist on multiple platforms to succeed, and variations across formats have to be distinct. From TVWeek:
"Around our new offerings there will literally be shows that end on air and the last scene will continue online," Silverman said at the recent TelevisionWeek Upfront Summit.
Rather than feebly slapping Band-Aids on the established system, Silverman's comments suggest an acceptance -- and an embrace -- of the industry's position. This is a perspective shared by Wired editor Chris Anderson, who, in a recent talk, said the media industry needs to examine the current environment and then find ways to add value. From Journalism.co.uk:
"... we need to do something that the internet has not either not already done or done too well, that may be original reporting, maybe it's investigative reporting. Maybe it's long form narrative; maybe it's the packaging of stories with photography and diagrams ... That's basically our mission, I think, to figure out where the market failure is in the amateur internet and there in lies the commercial opportunity for us to do something that still has value and which people will pay for, either directly or in terms of their attention, which can be monetised through advertising.
On first glance it would seem that newspapers and broadcasters are in a different digital realm than book publishers, but as we've seen time and again, a development in one part of the media landscape often pops up elsewhere. There's also much to be said for a positive outlook in an uncertain environment.
News Roundup: Online's Share Increases, New York's "Amazon" Tax, Open Source Textbooks, Edits Shown in Pan Macmillan Ebooks, Penguin UK's Simultaneous Print-Ebook Plan
Mac Slocum
April 18, 2008
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Amazon Growth Fuels Online's Book Market Share
Online retailers claim 21-30 percent of the consumer trade book market, according to two recent surveys. Publishers Weekly says much of this growth comes from Amazon. (Continue reading ...)
New York Eyes Amazon Affiliates in Tax Move
From the New York Times:
... people owe taxes on what they buy regardless of whom they buy it from. But the seller only has an obligation to collect those taxes (and thus the only time taxes are ever actually paid) when the seller has a physical presence in the state of the purchase. The state is proposing defining Amazon’s affiliates -- Web sites that earn commissions by referring customers to it -- as a physical presence. (Continue reading ...)
Open Source Textbook Adoption Grows
Inside Higher Ed notes the slowly growing open source textbook movement:
Colleges and individual faculty members continue to experiment with putting course information and material online, and "open textbooks" typically are licensed to allow users to download, share and alter the content as they see fit, so long as their purposes aren't commercial and they credit the author for the original material. This allows instructors to customize e-textbooks and offer them to students for free online or as low-cost printed versions.
Pan Macmillan Plans Ebooks Showing Edits and Changes
Pan Macmillan is releasing ebooks with extra sauce. From thedigitalist.net:
The idea that a special edition eBook can contain marginal material produced before, during, or after a print edition features in two other eBooks to be published by Picador this year. Sid Smith’s China Dreams, which we published in hardback in January 2007 and in paperback in January 2008, will be issued in a uniquely up-to-date edition, in the author’s latest version, with corrections, changes, and new material, and a foreword in which he considers the process of composition and revision. (Continue reading ...)
Penguin UK to Release Print and Ebook Editions Simultaneously
Beginning in September, print and ebook versions of Penguin UK's new titles will be available simultaneously for the same price. Digital editions will be made available in .epub format through Penguin's Web sites and via retailers. (Continue reading ...)
Open Source Textbook Adoption Grows
Peter Brantley
April 17, 2008
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Inside Higher Ed notes the slowly growing open source textbook movement:
Colleges and individual faculty members continue to experiment with putting course information and material online, and "open textbooks" typically are licensed to allow users to download, share and alter the content as they see fit, so long as their purposes aren't commercial and they credit the author for the original material. This allows instructors to customize e-textbooks and offer them to students for free online or as low-cost printed versions.
New York Eyes Amazon Affiliates in Tax Move
Mac Slocum
April 14, 2008
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The Amazon affiliates program could yield millions in revenue for New York state, and it won't come from customer referrals.
From the New York Times:
... people owe taxes on what they buy regardless of whom they buy it from. But the seller only has an obligation to collect those taxes (and thus the only time taxes are ever actually paid) when the seller has a physical presence in the state of the purchase.
The state is proposing defining Amazon’s affiliates -- Web sites that earn commissions by referring customers to it -- as a physical presence.
Out of state retailers have until June 1 to register with New York as vendors, reports the New York Post. Companies that don't comply could open themselves to back taxes and audits. However, both the Post and the Times say New York's tax measure will likely be tested in court.
BitTorrent as a Book Publicity Tool
Mac Slocum
March 21, 2008
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Free copies of The Cult of Mac and The Cult of iPod are available for download through the popular BitTorrent tracker, The Pirate Bay. Finding book downloads on BitTorrent isn't unusual, but this situation differs because the books were posted by the author and publisher.
Leander Kahney, author of both books, explains the move on his blog:
We came up with the idea after reading about the amazing success to bestselling author Paulo Coelho, who seeds his own books to file-sharing networks and then promotes them on his blog. Coelho claims great success with “pirating” his own books, saying it has had a slow but dramatic effect on sales.
Bill Pollock of No Starch Press, publisher of both Cult books, is taking a waiting-and-watching approach to the free dowloads:
I’ve been in publishing for just over 20 years and my training has not been to give books away. But I think there’s something to this and logic tells me that if we increase the visibility of our titles, we’ll sell more books.
The definitive connection between downloads and sales is hard to pin down, but O'Reilly's 2007 case study concluded that free digital copies do not harm book sales.
(Via TorrentFreak)
"Prince Caspian" Gets Read It Before You See It Campaign
Mac Slocum
March 17, 2008
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HarperCollins has a new "read it before you see it campaign" attached to the upcoming theatrical release of "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian."
The marketing program includes a Facebook profile and interactive game (see image above), Narnia trivia, contests, a Narnia widget that can be embedded on any Web site, and book information.
The Facebook and widget components are notable because they represent a clear effort to engage the target audience (kids) on familiar ground (social networks, blogs, etc.). Back in the day, a program like this would have been relegated to a microsite and maybe a few text ads. Now, the openness of Web 2.0 creates all sorts of new engagement opportunities -- both for companies and the audiences they seek.
(Via Shelf Awareness.)
Borders Stores Turn Back on Long Tail
Mac Slocum
March 12, 2008
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Borders is counting on a simple turn of the wrist to boost profits and reduce in-store inventory. According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the retailer is displaying three times as many books "face out."
Shelf Awareness notes:
" ... The new approach has led to sales increases 'in the double digits' and has led to the removal of 5%-10% of the average store's titles -- many of which sell only one copy a year in each store."
Borders' move could introduce a unique opportunity for retailers with offline and online storefronts: eschew the long tail in brick and mortar outlets and embrace the long tail on the Web.
Enterprising book marketers could also take a note from the seamless integration we're all experiencing on the Web: just as Web apps unite the desktop with the server-side, a retail store could merge with the retailer's online presence through in-store kiosks (perhaps with a Cover Flow layout to continue the "face out" concept) and print-on-demand equipment.
For these offline-online companies, the long tail doesn't need to be an either/or proposition.
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