Digital Developers Imitating Traditional Publishers

Have you noticed that all the new, digital e-readers' format and style templates are designed to look like their print predecessors and even have digital pages that turn like a physical book, etc.?

Well, that is imitation of the old publishing designs and is a form of flattery...Is it not?

Robert Andrews of http://paidcontent.org/ thinks so and points out some other interesting facts in the following article:

It was pop-culture philosopher Marshall McLuhan who wrote: “All media come in pairs, with one acting as the ‘content’ of the other.”

That assertion is true once again, now that a range of developers is pushing out digital products that depend on paying homage to physical-media forebears…

On the web, where countless embarrassing “newspaper” blog templates have been available for years, sites like The Twitter Times and paper.li redeploy the aesthetic and lexicon of printed news - but not necessarily the content. Instead, they try to make “a daily newspaper” from stories linked to by fellow Twitter users.

It’s on e-readers where this format flattery is most pronounced, and where independent developers are incongruously following conventional publishers in the rebooted electronic “magazine” or “newspaper” goldrush...

The Early Edition RSS reader app for iPad reconstitutes what is usually a lifeless, date-ordered list of stories in something reminiscent of a morning rag, with front-page lead stories, distinct section layout and turnable pages. Rival app NewsRack, on iPhone, even displays feeds as though on a wireframe sidewalk stand.

The buzz about socially-organized e-magazines, like the Twitter examples above, grew to a short-lived fever pitch last month when Flipboard debuted its app for showing friends’ linked content in something like a page-turning fashion.

Read more http://alturl.com/z69v2

Who's Winning the E-book War--Amazon or Apple?

We all know that Apple's iPad sold 3.3 million units since it's introduction in April. The purposefully cloudy reporting of Amazon's earning figures make their Kindle sales harder to discern (we don't want our competition to know type thing)...Hummmm, the whole Kindle reporting method seems cloudy to me, as well as Amazon's motives and agenda. But, their single-function Kindle is still selling like hotcakes and is on back-order for now...I just can't help but wonder, though, if it's days aren't numbered against the multi-functional iPads and future clones.

Randall Stross writes this for the New York Times:

THE Kindle from Amazon.com is designed to let us do one thing very well: read. To survive, it must excel at this, not only by jostling to stay a nose ahead of other e-readers, but also by maintaining an enormous lead over the Apple iPad and its coming competitors. The multipurpose iPad can do thousands of things very well; used for reading book-length texts, it doesn’t excel, but it’s passable.

Last month, Amazon introduced a pair of third-generation machines — smaller, lighter and with crisper text. One has a new, lower entry price of $139. “I predict there will be a 10th-generation and a 20th-generation Kindle,” said Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive. If that sounds a tad defensive, it’s probably because of the instant success of the multipurpose iPad: 3.3 million units sold since its introduction in April.

We know how many iPads were sold because Apple is straightforward about reporting the unit sales of all of its products. Amazon is a different story. We don’t know the size of Amazon’s Kindle business because the company is averse to disclosing details of its operations. When it reports its financial results, the company that sells just about anything that can be put in a box or sent electronically divides its businesses into just three categories: “media,” which lumps books, music and videos into one indistinguishable agglomeration; “electronics and other general merchandise,” an even larger, indistinguishable agglomeration; and “other.”

Read more http://alturl.com/q8kmb

Mass Market Publishing Going to E-Book/POD Model?

Many big house publishers are finding that mass marketing their books is becoming way too expensive for the decreasing returns. So many, like romance publisher Dorchester, are changing to the e-book/POD model to improve their margins.

Jim Milliot (I couldn't find a decent link for Jim who is a co-editorial director at PW) of Publishers Weekly has this to say:

Mass market romance publisher Dorchester Publishing has dropped its traditional print publishing business in favor of an e-book/print-on-demand model effective with its September titles that are “shipping” now. President John Prebich said after retail sales fell by 25% in 2009, the company knew that 2010 “would be a defining year,” but rather than show improvement, “sales have been worse.” While returns are down, the company has had a difficult time getting its titles into stores as shelf space for mass market has been reduced, Prebich explained. Dorchester recently let its field sales force of seven go, although Tim DeYoung remains with the company as v-p of sales and marketing. The editorial team remains intact, although Prebich said the number of titles released monthly will likely be reduced from over 30 to 25. He said the schedule for 2011 is set and Dorchester has books in the pipeline through June 2012.

Dorchester will continue to do print copies for its book club business and has signed a deal with Ingram Publisher Service for IPS to do print-on-demand copies for selected titles. According to Prebich, some e-books that are doing well in the digital marketplace will be released as trade paperbacks with IPS fulfilling orders; the company, however, will not do any more mass market paperbacks for retail distribution.

Prebich said Dorchester’s e-book business has had “remarkable growth” which he expects to double again in the next year. Still, digital sales accounted for only 12% of total revenue prior to the company making the transition to the e-book/pod model. Prebich conceded that Dorchester will have lower revenues, but he expects margins to improve. He said the company is working out a new royalty rate with authors that he expects to announce next week. Editors are talking to authors now about the changes. “We hope they’ll stay,” Prebich said. Dorchester’s e-books are available at most major vendors and compatible with most platforms at an average price of $6.99. Trade paperbacks will be priced in the $12 to $15 range.

On his decision to drop the mass market format Prebich explained: “These are like pioneer times in publishing. We felt like we needed to take some chances and make a bold move."

An Unsatisfying State of Digital Publishing?

One of the great features of digital publishing is it's ability to engulf the reader in a three-dimensional world of related words, sounds and visual effects. This opportunity appears to have been missed by Rolling Stone, Apple and Zinio in the following example given by Lonnie Lazar in his article for Cult of Mac (http://www.cultofmac.com/):

Review: Apple, Rolling Stone and the Unsatisfying State of Digital Publishing

Rolling Stone‘s Special Issue of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time made its debut Tuesday on Zinio, a digital publishing platform that could spell the difference between “survive” and “thrive” for old-school media publications looking to keep the doors open in coming years.

With a stable of top-tier periodicals such as National Geographic, Esquire, American Photo, Car & Driver and many more, Zinio definitely leads the way in showing how paper publications might remain not only relevant but vital and attractive to a new generation of “readers” weaned on the sizzle and flash of gaming and 3D entertainment.

Publication is morphing into something beyond simple words and pictures, evolving into an immersive medium that both pushes ideas and information out to consumers — and draws them in with interactive features and activities that take one beyond the superficial layers of what an article or essay might seem to offer.

Thus, with such crucial stakes at hand, did Zinio, Apple and Rolling Stone produce something of a mixed scorecard with the 500 Greatest issue.
Zinio is available as a free app in the iTunes App Store (link) and supports all three of Apple’s mobile hardware devices, the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, in addition to offering cloud-based services accessible through a web browser on any computer connected to the internet.

Most magazines in the catalog can be purchased in-app by the single issue or by subscription — and these transactional nuts and bolts Zinio has down cold.

Not surprisingly, some of the more ephemeral aspects of this digital publishing game, such as delivering the content and handling the fancy interactive bells and whistles on offer, work best — and look best — on the iPad.

To begin with, the larger screen is far more suited to showcasing the visual media of traditional magazines, and the iPad’s core processor seems to deliver a faster, smoother user experience than either Zinio on the web or using the app on the smaller iPhone and iPod Touch. While the iPhone 4′s Retina Display enhances the visual experience on that device, downloading magazines on an older device is an opportunity to cultivate patience, at best.

Read more http://alturl.com/8i68n

Condé Nast is Going Tech for Sure

Condé Nast has hired a big gun in digital publishing, marketing and management away from cable TV's Viacom...namely Joe Simon. His newly created and first-time-ever position at Condé is that of Chief Technology Officer.

The re-structured Condé Nast is diving into the digital survival waters following other magazine that are enjoying a revival of ad pages and profit margins.

For those that do not realize the extent of the Condé Nast high end, fashion, nutrition and luxury magazine empire, I will list all the magazines published by them here:

Vogue
W
WWD
Style
Glamour
Allure
Self
Nutrition Data
Teen Vogue
GQ
Details
Architectural Digest
Brides
Lucky
FN
Golf Digest
Golf World
Vanity Fair
Bon Appétit
Epicurious
Condé Nast Traveler
Concierge
Jaunted
Hotel Chatter
Vegas Chatter
Wired
Reddit
Ars Technica
Parade
The New Yorker

Matthew Flamm, of Craine's New York Business, gives more details of the Condé Nast restructuring, the hiring of Joe Simon and what it means for the future of Condé Nast here http://alturl.com/qwpzh

Authors, No Agent/Publisher? Get Social Media-It's Better and Free!

Non-famous, first-time writers...you know, the talented ones that actually write their own stuff...have been literally shut out by traditional publishing interested only in the fast buck for the more-than-recent-past!

But, technology has blown a lifeboat their way and one of the big oars that come with that lifeboat is social media...Social media can be their agent, book tour and publicist all rolled into one AND it's free!

Lori Culwell , a published writer and expert in Search Engine Optimization, posted this in the Huffington Post RE her own experience getting published for the first time (a wake-up read):

I think if there's one trait about me that has served me the best while at the same time annoying the most people, it is that I will absolutely not tolerate being told that I cannot do something. "No" is the one word that makes me almost pathologically have to find a way, if for no other reason than to go back to the original nay-sayer and proclaim "See! It could be done -- you just lacked the vision!"

Yes, it is richly ironic that I chose to be a writer and yet I find rejection so odious. I get it.

Now you're wondering how this applies to you.

A couple of years ago, I decided I was going to write a novel. Was I a celebrity, did I have a book deal, or did I once date Hugh Hefner?

No. I just wanted to write a novel. Is that so wrong? I had hope when I started. And yet, even before I was done, the chorus of "that's so hard" was upon me. "It's impossible for an unknown writer to sell a novel these days" turned into a cascade of rejection letters and emails from interns at agents' offices, then editors, publishers, even well-meaning writer friends. The manuscript was barely even done before it was finished, as they say.

But, here's the thing -- I knew the novel was good, and I knew it would sell, and even though I didn't relish the idea of self-publishing, by then I was on a mission, not only to put the book out, but to convince the world, one person at a time if necessary, that my book belonged on their summer reading lists.

Read more http://alturl.com/fbzkd

A Peek Into the Comic Book Publishing World

I used to love comic books when I was a kid; I've gotten away from them as I grew older, but they are BIG business even more today...as evidenced by all the smash money-making animation movies based on comic characters...as well as the Superman, Daredevil, Spiderman, and Green Hornet movies, etc...

Calvin Reid of Publishers Weekly wrote this insightful article giving us a great peek inside the business and deal-making world of comic book publishing:

While major publishers/film producers like DC Comics and Marvel dominated the headlines at this year's San Diego Comic-Con International with blockbuster superhero films, mid-size independents, smaller presses, and even self-publishers still benefit from the Hollywood presence, as it gives them the chance to ink their own movie, TV, and licensing deals and use them to drive support for publishing books.

Oni Press, publisher of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series, is the latest example of a small press property turned major media phenomenon thanks to the combination of a great book and a carefully managed movie deal (the sixth volume in the series has just sold through its 100,000-copy first printing). The first thing visitors at this year's show noticed was a mammoth promotional Scott Pilgrim mural clinging to the sides of the Hilton hotel. Image Comics, meanwhile, had its own public relations coup as its booth was mobbed by fans buying copies of Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead series in anticipation of the new AMC TV series, set to debut in the fall.

Old-school Comic-Con attendees lament the impact of Hollywood on the show, but the invasion of the studios is a measure of how critical Comic-Con has become to Hollywood and in turn shows off the importance of a film and TV relationship to an independent comics publishing program. The combination of tens of thousands of knowledgeable and passionate fans makes Comic-Con the promised land for generating media buzz and for film media and licensing deals of all kinds. For publishers big and small, meetings with agents, producers, and directors are now as much a part of the San Diego Comic-Con experience as the Eisner Awards or a visit to Ralph's.

Read more http://alturl.com/bivt2