"revenue" entries

Pricing decisions are going to be made whether you have analytics behind it or not

Strata Community Profile on Jon Higbie, Managing Partner and Chief Scientist of Revenue Analytics

Jon Higbie

Jon Higbie

In his role as chief scientist at Atlanta-based consulting firm Revenue Analytics, Jon Higbie helps clients make sound pricing decisions for everything from hotel rooms, to movie theater popcorn, to that carton of OJ in the fridge.

And in the ever-growing field of data science where start-ups dominate much of the conversation, the 7-year-old company has a longevity that few others can claim just yet. They’ve been around the block a few times, and count behemoth companies like Coca-Cola and IHG among their clients.

We spoke recently about how revenue and pricing strategies have changed in recent years in response to the greater transparency of the internet, and the complex data algorithms that go into creating a simple glass of orange juice.

Read more…

Google's Browser-Based Plan for Ebook Sales

BEA '09 may be remembered as the moment when Google formally entered the ebook market. From the New York Times: Mr. [Tom] Turvey [director of strategic partnerships at Google] said Google's program would allow consumers to read books on any device with Internet access, including mobile phones, rather than being limited to dedicated reading devices like the Amazon Kindle. "We…

"None of this is good or bad; it just is"

Lev Grossman takes a pragmatic look at the changing state of authors, readers, and the definition of publishing: Self-publishing has gone from being the last resort of the desperate and talentless to something more like out-of-town tryouts for theater or the farm system in baseball. It's the last ripple of the Web 2.0 vibe finally washing up on publishing's…

"Amazon Tax" Moves Forward in New York

A judge has dismissed lawsuits from Amazon and Overstock.com challenging New York's "Amazon tax," which was enacted last year. From the Associated Press: The law applies to companies that don't have offices in New York, but have at least one person in the state who works as an online agent — someone who links to a Web site and receives…

Book Publishing's Scale Issue

In a post looking at the future interplay of content, gatekeepers and consumers, David Nygren touches on a key issue for large book publishers: scale. Mega Publishing Conglomerates Go Bye-Bye: Or at least they will look very different than they do today. Their scale is not sustainable. The partial implosion we saw in the publishing industry last week was just…

APIs, New "Transactions" and the Google Book Search Registry

At PersonaNonData, Michael Cairns discusses the Google Book Search registry, and muses whether it might support certain types of transactions through an API: How the registry may be formed is anyone's guess, but for sake of argument I envision a pyramidal structure. The identifier segment forms the pointy top layer, bibliographic data the second layer, content the third and the…

Change Always Leaves Someone Behind

Seth Godin discusses the realities of digital change and free distribution in an interview with HarperStudio's The 26th Story: … the market and the internet don't care if you make money. That's important to say. You have no right to make money from every development in media, and the humility that comes from approaching the market that way matters. It's…

Election Interest Signals Print's High-End Future

Following the sell-out of post-election newspapers, Ed Nawotka looks at the collectable future of print. From Beyond Hall 8: One immediate consequence of Obama's victory was the boost in sales for newspapers. So now we have confirmation that print is not dead — at least as far as collectors are concerned. This merely reinforces my belief that the long-term…

For a Workflow Change, Support from the Top is Required

Last week Laura Dawson and I spoke about StartWithXML to a group of IT and operations people from publishers at the User Group meeting for Global Turnkey Systems, a company owned by one of our lead sponsors, Klopotek. We got some great questions afterwards. On reflection, we realized that they touched an important theme: the need for CEO-level support for…

Report: Random House Shifts Ebook Royalties to Net Receipts

Richard Curtis says Random House has announced a shift in its ebook royalties in a letter recently sent to literary agents. From E-Reads: Commencing December 1, 2008, the new royalty rate for sales of ebooks will be 25% of the amount received for all sales, Random's letter goes on to state. What does Random House actually receive? Most e-book retailers…