"digital" entries
Going Digital Gives Publishers Safety Net
Sarah Lacy provides an articulate and approachable list of digital lessons for book publishers. Her passage on going "electronic from the get-go" is an important reminder about the vital efficiences of digital content: You might be stunned to learn that in book publishing, once you get to the final manuscript stages, there is no electronic version. The manuscript is…
Infinite Permutations of the Digital Book
James Bridle discusses the near infinite malleability of digital books. From booktwo.org: Imagine a book that told a different story every time it was opened. The story might change depending on the gender of the reader, or the sex. It might depend on the location of the reader, or the position of the book in time; the time of…
Which Game is the Kindle Changing?
The Kindle might not change reading patterns, but it could disrupt shopping.
Acknowledge and Move On: A Useful Debate Format
Mindy McAdams outlines 10 facts that need to be left behind in "future of journalism" discussions. The same debate format would benefit book publishing as well.
Analyst: Digital Disruption Has TV and Film in Crosshairs
In the wake of Lehman analyst Anthony DiClemente downgrading a wide swath of the entertainment industry, paidContent.org provides some blunt analysis: Boiled down, the core argument is basically: You saw what happened to the music industry and the dramatic fall-off in CD prices. You've seen what's happened to the broadcast TV and newspaper industries. Now it's time for it…
AP Struggles with Digital Growing Pains
A story in the Wall Street Journal looks at how the Associated Press (AP) is struggling to find its place in a very different market for news distribution: Many member newspapers say they support the AP's new-media initiatives and, particularly, its recent efforts to push members' content to mobile devices. The problem, some say, is the organization's perceived insensitivity…
Copyright Office Catching Up with Digital
Another step in the automation of the copyright office. Via Ars Technica: 550,000 registrations a year pass through the Copyright Office, so it's in both the government's and the taxpayers' interest to make the system efficient enough to process those applications in a timely manner. On Tuesday, the Copyright Office will throw the switch on a system called, creatively,…
Lamenting the Digital Decline is a Dangerous Path
Harping on the revenue shortfall between digital and traditional content distracts from the bigger questions that need to be asked and answered.
Ebooks: False Sense of Security for Publishers?
Michael Cairns says ebooks as we largely understand them may be a short-term fading generational segment. From PersonaNonData: Today's publishers for the first time in their history have no confidence that their child's generation will be (or are) interested in their published output. It is not that publishers aren't making an effort; however, I have a disturbing belief that…
Q&A with Susan Danziger, CEO of DailyLit
DailyLit has made a name for itself by delivering simple book installments via email and RSS. In this Q&A, DailyLit CEO Susan Danziger discusses the company's philosophy, process, and upcoming services.