"subscription" entries

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."

Thoughts on ebooks triggered by the appointment of Andrew Savikas as CEO of Safari Books Online

Subscription is the right model for heavy users, pay-per-view works for occasional users, ad-supported appears to be the best way to fund fast-changing current content, and of course, some content is better rendered as an app than a book.

Subscription vs catchment

As sources become less important, filters are the natural target for those who want to sway opinion.

When people are trawling so many content sources, it no longer pays to concentrate on sources at all. It makes much more sense to study how the trawlers work and become part of the filtering infrastructure.

Apple's in-app shift: What does it mean for publishers?

Readability's Richard Ziade on the softening of Apple's in-app subscription rules.

As Apple softens its position on in-app subscription rules, publishing companies and developers gain more elbow room. Richard Ziade, founding partner of Readability, says resulting simplicity and flexibility could result in more interesting iOS apps.

Customer Loyalty for Mobile Devices

Some of the most interesting data on trends in mobile development has been coming from Flurry, an app analytics company (developers insert little snippets of Flurry code in their apps to gather usage data). They've plotted frequency of usage against app "retention" (what percentage of buyers returned to the app within 90 days of downloading it), and put each…

An On-Demand Night at the Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is letting its inner geek run free. Performances will soon be available as pay-per-stream feeds and subscription packages through The Met's Web site. From the New York Times: For $3.99 or $4.99 per streamed opera, users will have a six-hour window in which to listen to or watch a production, once it has started. A monthly…