"reading experience" entries

What if ebook DRM goes away tomorrow?

Ending DRM is fine, but we also need great buying and reading experiences.

Abandoning DRM won’t change the publishing landscape unless B&N, Kobo and others force the issue through innovative devices and apps. In fact, Joe Wikert says that same innovation can occur with or without DRM — so why wait?

The sorry state of ebook samples, and four ways to improve them

A good ebook sample can turn a browser into a buyer.

Joe Wikert: "My gut tells me the revenue missed by not converting samples into sales is a much larger figure than the revenue lost to piracy. And yet, the publishing industry spends a small fortune every year in DRM but treats samples as an afterthought."

Top Stories: March 26-30, 2012

Designing data products, five tough health care lessons, lean startup for publishers.

This week on O'Reilly: We looked at a four-step approach for designing great data products, Andy Oram shared the lessons he's learned about health care, and we learned about a competitive advantage that publishers aren't seizing.

ValoBox wants to reward content creators and consumers

ValoBox looks to combine access to content, analytics and conversion.

ValoBox, a publishing startup we covered earlier this year, has launched. In this interview, co-founder Oliver Brooks describes the platform, its development, and how its social retail system works.

Linking in ebooks: How much is too much?

Ebook hyperlinks don't always lead to a smooth reading experience.

Ebook producers must decide if the destinations behind embedded links are worth the disruptions they might cause.

To page or to scroll?

Digital book designers face a big question: Is it better to scroll or flip?

We all got comfortable scrolling through web pages a long time ago, but ereader and tablet design added a new quirk with the introduction of page flips. Here, Pete Meyers considers the applications of scrolling and flipping across reading environments.