Goodreads: a second opinion (Part 2)
A day after I drooled with admiration over the mission of social book reading site Goodreads and their not-as-sketchy-as-Amazon’s book reviews, Amazon swept in and bought them. Cue the speculation, lamentation, … Continue reading
Invisible marketing: How the digital world makes it hard to prove your mettle
I work in textbook marketing. Last week, an author on one of my lists sent me an email. The general tone: “You don’t know how to do your job, I … Continue reading
Back to Basics: The Lean, Mean Publishing Machine?
Everything comes in cycles, they say, and lately, it looks like a lot of publishing companies are focusing on simplifying their business strategies, eliminating the “extra” business lines, and focusing … Continue reading
Literary agencies and ebook publishing: fad or future?
Many moons ago, I wondered whether literary agents would thrive or be cast adrift in the ever-shifting waters of the publishing industry. With the emergence of a vast array of … Continue reading
How do you solve a problem like the Hydra?
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and Random House are in a fight over a nine-headed monster. Well, sort of. Last week, Digital Book World reported on an … Continue reading
Amazon Japan turns tables on Kobo
After taking a semester-long hiatus while I wrote my master’s thesis, I now return to the East Asian side of the digital revolution where, in the blink of an eye, … Continue reading
Legal check-in: February updates
Jenna Gilligan wrote earlier this week about the recent indie suit against major publishers in regards to DRM, which has prompted us to take a look at what else in publishing … Continue reading
Will the indies succeed in making DRM illegal?
Last week, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Fiction Addiction, and Posman Books—three independent bookstores who claim to represent “all independent brick-and-mortar bookstores who sell ebooks”—sued Amazon and the Big Six, … Continue reading
Ebook gift card update: Livrada caters to authors
Last holiday season, we highlighted the pros and cons of ebook gift cards in lieu of gifting books, or even retailer cards like a Barnes and Noble gift card. Last … Continue reading
The Amazon patent, part two: What does it mean?
Yesterday we posted an article that discussed the recent Amazon patent that has the digital blogosphere up in arms. Check out that overview or read the full text of the … Continue reading
The Amazon patent, part one: What is it?
Digital publishing has been abuzz (and in many cases, aghast) at the recent news that Amazon may be entering the digital resale market. Publisher’s Weekly announced earlier this month that … Continue reading
What’s a MOOC? (And why should publishers care?)
Though they sound like they might have been cooked up by Seuss, MOOCs have been a hot topic in academic publishing lately. These “massive open online courses” are jut what … Continue reading
Elsevier, Mendeley, and STM publishers look to the future
Last week, news broke that the scholarly STM publisher Elsevier is in talks to purchase Mendeley, the successful research collaboration platform used by researchers and academics around the world. And … Continue reading
To curb “showrooming,” Target to match Amazon’s prices
Last week, my sig oth gleefully showed me an article on the WSJ‘s MarketWatch: Target has promised to match Amazon’s prices. To combat practice of “showrooming,” in which a customer uses a store … Continue reading
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