Browsing by topic: digitization

Should We Trust Computers to Write for Us?

computer keyboard

Software exists that promises to assist you in finishing your novel, or when it comes to nonfiction, to literally write for you. Should we trust it?

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Ether for Authors: A Mighty Metaphor Is Our Industry

15 April 2013 Westminster Abbey texted story image

Porter Anderson assesses the Digital Minds Conference at the London Book Fair, where metaphors were in vogue, the end of copyright debated, and speed was the word of the day.

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Is Re-mixing the Answer for Good, Fast and Cheap Ebooks?

ebook digital publishing ereader

An old cliché goes: You can have it good, fast or cheap, pick any two. But all three? When it comes to ebooks, new tools might be able to deliver all three.

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80,000 Titles From the National Library of the Netherlands and Google Now Online

kb library netherlands

The National Library of the Netherlands and Google, which began in 2011 to digitize 160,000 books from the library, have just made 80,000 publicly available.

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What Does Germany’s Adoption of Digital Foretell for Europe?

german kindle ereader

As in financial matters, will the rest of continental Europe be forced to fall in line with Germany’s lead in embracing ebooks and digital publishing?

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Germany’s Bastei Lübbe Extends into Spanish, Mandarin

Apocalysis, a bestseller in Germany, has fared modestly in English. Will it do better in Spanish and Chinese?

Bastei Lübbe is eight months into its first English launch, with modest results. How will their brand-new Spanish and Mandarin content fare in 2013?

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SURVEY: Is It Time to Get Rid of the ISBN?

An ISBN code / Wikipedia

ISBNs date back to the 1960s, but many think the system no longer reflects the realities of the digital age. Should the ISBN system be abolished, updated, or left alone?

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Lewis Lapham: The Digital Age Will Produce “a Montaigne and a Shakespeare”

The septuagenarian is sanguin about literature in the digital age.

Lewis Lapham, editor of Lapham’s Quarterly, believes we are still in the experimental phase of digital media, waiting for the next online Shakespeare to emerge.

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Top German Booksellers + Bertelsmann + Telekom = Mega E-book Project

Germany

This Friday, booksellers Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, as well as Bertelsmann and Deutsche Telekom, will announce a new project. Speculators say it may be an ebook platform.

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Will Pay-as-You-Read Allow Publishers to Charge More for Ebooks?

paid content

By minimizing the risk of buying a bad book, pay-as-you-read business models could translate into higher prices and higher quality content, but will it drive more sales?

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