A good book lives on in memory. But isn’t it better if you can get others to read it, too? By Edward Nawotka The end of the year “best book” lists are everywhere you turn. I’ve kvetched in the past about how commonplace it is to see the same dozen or two books on everyone’s top ten list. But that’s …
Happy Fourth of July!: What Is In Your Book Bag this Holiday Weekend?
Do you spend your holiday’s buried in an easy mystery, a light romance, or a great classic?
How Do You Use Enhanced Content?
By Hannah Johnson In an interview with Publishing Perspectives, Emmanuel Benoit of Jouve said that publishers use enhanced content in different ways. In the trade sector, he said, enhanced content is great for marketing and promotion, but has less potential as a new product to sell. Do you agree? Or do you consider your enhanced content an entirely new product …
Is the Print-and-Pray Model of Book Publishing Dead?
By Edward Nawotka Publishers typically can’t predict bestsellers. Wouldn’t a better model be to bring the customers to them first? Today’s lead story looks at F+W Media’s development of vertical market communities. The traditional model of book publishing has been “horizontal”: print, distribute (usually through intermediaries), publicize and hope for the best. The “vertical” model is predicated to a large …
Ho Ho Humbug: Weather Delays German Overnight Book Deliveries
By Siobhan O’Leary Next day delivery nationwide is standard among German book wholesalers, giving small and large brick and mortar stores alike a chance to compete with the speediness and broad selection of online retailers. In fact, medications are the only other product that German consumers can expect to receive in as short a time span. But as anyone who …
Could Social Media Replace Some Books?
By Edward Nawotka In today’s thoughtful editorial by Franz Wisner, he argues that the immediate, fragmentary nature of most writing on the Internet and social media needs to be complemented by full-length narrative — one constructed over time and after much reflection and deliberation. Do you think this is true? Could social media ultimately replace some books? (Newspapers, magazines? That’s …
Indie Swiss Pubs Promote Books on Juice Bottle Labels
By Siobhan O’Leary An association of independent Swiss publishers known as Swips is juicing up its marketing activities on behalf of its members. Literally. Founded three years ago, the organization is now teaming up with organic smoothie producer Traktor to launch an unconventional new campaign giving its 22 member publishers the opportunity to feature poems, book excerpts or very short …
Lorna Evans of Ubisoft on Turning Games into Comics, Books and Movies
By Daniel Kalder Lorna Evans is Cross Media Producer for video game developer Ubisoft, and also helps the UK games industry find new business opportunities with books, TV and film. She has worked on some of the UK’s biggest games titles, including Tomb Raider and Resident Evil and is passionate about the need for increased cooperation between media. “Sometimes when …
In the Digital World, What is the Future of the Institutional Library?
By Edward Nawotka Today’s lead story looks at life at a prison library. Numerous institutions — prisons, hospitals, law firms, magazines, intelligence agencies — have their own libraries and archives. Increasingly, these are eliminated to save office space and a eliminate what are seen as unnecessary expenses, particularly in an era when seemingly everything can be found via a simple …
Review: A Visit from the Good Squad by Jennifer Egan
Reviewed by Gwendolyn Dawson Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Good Squad, is a collection of loosely connected short stories presented as a novel that spans decades and covers the overlapping lives of numerous characters. Each of thirteen chapters is told from the perspective of a different character, such that no single character emerges as a protagonist. In addition to …