As our industry becomes increasingly hybrid – ever more digital, yet still significantly paper-based – the necessity to innovate is a growing problem for publishers. With revenues squeezed by falling prices and decreasing margins, innovation becomes more vital than ever: if we are to survive, publishers need to find new methods of working, new types of product, and new ways of reaching our audiences. Read more »

A long, long time ago - well, about four years ago, but back then people were still saying things like “ebooks will only ever make up 1% of the market” and other stuff which now looks a little odd - I suggested looking at the idea that using a book as a data set for research using data analysis tools, and then using the results to create digital tools such as algorithms might be a new derivative use subject to the usual rules of copyright ownership. Read more »

So, there I was in my best bib and tucker; sitting on a table in one of the Hilton’s many cavernous conference suites surrounded by fellow nominees of the Publishing Innovation Awards and New York’s digital publishing glitterati. The President of the Publishing Association of America gave the keynote speech and then the CEO of Digital Book World stood up to announce the winners. Best e-book: Fiction was first up. He glanced down at his gilded lectern and read out the name of some odd-sounding bloke called James T. Raydel. I felt a momentary surge of disappointment. Read more »

Sony's 20 pence e-book promotion is one of the more curious price strategies, even for a sector that is no stranger to selling its most desirable products at a loss. But 20p takes it to another level. There appears to be little benefit to the instigator (Sony), except that it is costing its imitator and rival (Amazon) millions. Publishers in general decry the pricing, and yet those caught in the headlights will be reaping huge financial rewards, as will their authors. Read more »

Somethin' Else has just launched two digital book products for Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. While both are exclusive to the iPad, they were made in very different ways. One, The Plant Hunters, was created using Apple's iBooks Author software. Read more »

Amazon’s AutoRip service is simple. You buy a CD, you automatically get a digital file of the same content. (A similar logic applies in DVD purchases of a lot of films these days - you get a free download as well as a hardcopy.)

So, hot on the news that 15% of the ebook bestseller lists are self published authors comes this piece about Touching the Void author Joe Simpson leaving his publisher (and agent) over the issue of e-book royalty rates. Read more »

Launched in October 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing in collaboration with the Churchill Archives Centre, the Churchill Archive is a digital library of modern international history available online for the first time. Read more »

The Spanish book industry in general and the media in particular are focusing almost exclusively on aspects of digitization that have to do with the sale of digital content (e-books). However, there is a wide range of options for using the opportunities offered by technology to support the promotion and sale of more physical books, which currently represent around 98% of the Spanish market, with ebooks currently at only 2%. Read more »

“It’s becoming harder to define what ‘publishing’ really is. One speaker at Futurebook 2012 commented that publishers have less in common with each other than ever before, and she’s right. It’s becoming one great big sloppy  soup of a business in which boundaries and, indeed, rules disappear. That’s scary for some, exciting for others. I believe 2013 will be the year of the publishing entrepreneur. I expect to be thrilled, shocked and astonished.  Motto for the year—go for it!”
Peter Cox, agent and founder of the agency Redhammer Read more »