Part 2 in a 2-part series on digital book signing. See part 1 here. Digital book authors and publishers who are seeking to enrich their relationships with readers find digital signatures an effective way to connect with their most ardent …
Last week, tablet maker Archos announced the ChefPad, a tablet designed specifically for Foodies. The tablet curates apps so that only Cooking ones come up. It has a waterproof protective cover, built-in stand and front & back dual cameras. There …
“Packaging a book is still the critical point where marketing and publicity begins,” remarked Lucinda Blumenfeld, the owner of Lucinda Literary, in her recent comments to DBW Expert Blogger Mary Cummings. Blumfield notes that it is important to get prominent …
Part 1 in a 2-part series on digital book signing. See part 2 here. Book signings are an age-old tradition, but is it really necessary to extend this custom to ebooks? Today’s ebook signing services and apps not only make …
It’s not easy to secure publicity for books, and I doubt anyone would argue when I say that the difficulty is much greater when said book is published in electronic format only. Even with print-on-demand copies, we often find ourselves …
When anyone starts a business, some premises must be defined. Those are your bets, the ones you believe that will be the framework of your potential success. 24symbols was founded with the belief that mobile devices were going to be …
Last year at this time, the most popular price point for self-published authors using the Smashwords distribution platform was $0.99; this year it’s $2.99, according to analysis by Smashwords. This data dovetails what we’ve seen at Digital Book World through …
Candace Bushnell, creator of Sex and the City, had her email account hacked yesterday. The hacker Guccifer (who exposed George W. Bush – the painter) broke in and posted the first 50 pages of the book. Max Read at Gawker …
This blog post is an excerpt from a case study that is available as a PDF download from Digital Book World. To download the entire case study, click here. In digital publishing today, storybook app creation is still a niche. …
Publishers: Have you thought about what your business looks like if 10% of your bricks-and-mortar shelf space goes away next year? What about if 20% goes away? How about 50%? It could get worse than you think. (Before you smash …
Traditional publishing typically turns to the archives of important writers after their death. Posthumous traditional Kurt Vonnegut titles include: Three anthologies of previously unpublished short fiction and nonfiction …
Today, Hachette Book Group announced a major expansion in its library e-book sales policy. The American Library Association largely praised the move, though noting that pricing could be better. Anyhow, with Hachette Book Group’s change, we are now clearly entering …
According to new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, parents see libraries as very important community resources. Libraries’ digital books and technologies are a major draw for families. Parents value libraries for their full spectrum …
Is it too much to ask that children should experience delight in school? Delight and learning don’t need to be polar opposites. Educator Maria Montessori once said, “One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the …
The current eBook market has been in place over five years. Amazon basically created it with the introduction of Kindle in Fall 2007. Others have followed but Amazon continues to hold over 65% of the US market. B&N Nook; Apple …
I want to thank you, James Patterson. [This is not a setup.] Specifically, I want to thank you for three things: That you are clearly so passionate about your industry at a time when you could happily sit back and …
It’s a great feat for a publisher to have even one book make a best-seller list. Below is a list of the publishers who have made the Digital Book World Ebook Best-Seller List in the first quarter of 2013 — …
Want to know what’s next for ebooks, tablets, e-readers, and mobile connectivity? Take a close look at teenagers’ behavior. “In many ways, teens represent the leading edge of mobile connectivity, and the patterns of their technology use often signal future …
Fantasy author Michael J. Sullivan was one of the early indies who signed a traditional contract when the big-six came knocking. Orbit (fantasy imprint of Hachette) bought his Riyria Revelations series and republished it as three, two-book omnibus volumes. He …
A self-published novel, The Bet by Rachel Van Dyken, was the best-selling ebook on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble during the week ending April 13, 2013. This statistic demonstrates a major shift in our literary ecosystem—self-published books have become culturally …
Last week Simon & Schuster signed a deal with 3M and the NYPL to distribute eBooks into libraries. Now all of the “Big6″ corporate publishers have some type of agreement selling eBooks into public libraries. Libraries are indispensable. Publishers agree …
What are the factors that authors consider when deciding how to publish their next book? A well-written article by publishing beat newbie Leslie Kaufman in The New York Times entitled New Publisher Authors Trust: Themselves suggests that it’s money and …
As we’ve discussed over the past several months, pricing for ebooks has been in flux over the past year due to a number of factors but has seemed to stabilize since the end of 2012. In the past four months, …
Is there room for new thinking on ebook pricing strategies? The medium is still new, so customer expectations have not been set in stone. Now’s the time for publishers and authors to think strategically about the cost of e-books. I’ve looked …
The Change Agents is an occasional series spotlighting the work of of people inside Big Publishing who are confronting disruption with creativity, and helping their respective companies adapt, adjust, innovate, and reinvent. Read the anchor post here. While so many of …
Related: Indie Bookstore Sales of Kobo Ebooks Dwarf Google; Still Slow There are now about 2,000 bricks-and-mortar independent bookstores in the U.S. That’s up from about 1,500 a few years ago but way down from the mid-1990s when there were …
When readers purchase paper books, they know what they bought and they know what they can do with it. They can read it. They can re-read it as many times as they like. They can lend it to someone else …
Publishing legend Peter Workman passed away over the weekend. There have been many wonderful profiles and articles about him. I am a huge fan of the company he created and the care in which the books and products were produced. …
Having sold more than 1.5 million self-published ebooks, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Bella Andre’s novels have appeared on Top 5 lists at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. After signing a groundbreaking 7-figure print-only, English …
Recently, a special issue of Nature explored changes happening right now in academic publishing. While the focus in this issue was on scientific publishing, many of the ideas presented apply to academic publishing as a whole and reveal that, despite …
After hitting a new low in mid-March, ebook prices may be on the rise again after two straight weeks of gains. The average price of a best-selling ebook this week is $8.26, up from $7.84 last week and the all-time …
Just last month Digital Book World debuted DBW U, an online education program. In DBW U’s self-paced courses students will learn from some of digital publishing’s most recognized experts on their own schedule. We’re aiming to help prepare digital publishing …
Was it $10 million, $100 million, closer to $1 billion, as one reporter speculated? We’ll probably never really know, but here’s a summary of the speculation of how much Amazon paid for Goodreads. On the high end, Bloomberg Businessweek speculates …
