"digital" entries
Studio Notes DVD Sales Increase Amidst Digital Distribution
Warner Brothers found that DVD sales actually increased during a simultaneous DVD/VOD release program. These results apply to other industries, including publishing.
The Inertia of Digital Turf Wars
Two recent news stories illustrate the problems that arise when traditional businesses go after digital envelope pushers.
Science Publisher Offers Digital Subscription to Books
Life-sciences publisher CABI is making its front-file titles (2005-2008) available through an annual digital subscription. The PDF-based collection is launching with 140 titles and CABI expects this to increase to 200 by the end of the year. Digital subscription services have already been well received in the tech and business industries: Safari Books Online is O'Reilly's third-largest reseller. (Disclosure: TOC…
Is Publishing Getting More Comfortable with Digital Brand Building?
Niko Pfund, Vice President and Publisher of the Academic and Trade division of Oxford University Press, recently offered answers to frequently asked publishing questions. Pfund's first response touches on the topic of online availability and its impact (pro or con) on print sales. Pfund writes: The more specialized a book, the more likely it is to benefit from online…
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. From The Bookseller: [Penguin] digital director Genevieve Shore described the move as "an important step." She said: "We have seen in other markets…
Free Doesn't Work for Every Company
Hank Williams of Why Does Everything Suck? does an informal economic critique of Chris Anderson's "things tend to free" hypothesis: "Some of you will argue that Google does fine based purely on advertising. But just because one company can commoditize everyone else's work and make pennies on things that used to generate dollars, is that sustainable across the whole…
Experimenting for the Sake of Experimenting
Satellite radio companies Sirius and XM are both touting aggregated programming that focuses on a popular artist or topic (e.g. the '08 election) for a period of time, then gives way to the next subject. Sirius calls them "pop-up channels." XM dubs them "microchannels." (They'll have to settle on a name if/when their proposed merger goes through …) From the…
The Digital-Only Sequel
A sequel to a successful film soundtrack isn't a new idea, but the team behind "Juno" is tweaking the concept: the film's second soundtrack — "Juno B-Sides" — will only be released in digital format.It's an interesting move: ride a wave of popularity in a low-risk digital format. If the album doesn't sell, the backers don't have to deal…
A Q&A on O’Reilly’s “Up-to-Date” Publishing Experiment
O'Reilly has launched a new experiment with the just-released "Essential Silverlight 2" Up-to-Date edition. Readers get a book that's current when they purchase it, but also get access to updates that can be physically inserted into the book.
Borders Prototype Store Shows Off Digital Center
Borders' move toward digital services is on display in the company's Ann Arbor, Mich. prototype store.