Legacy publishers will say they can’t produce high quality digital textbooks affordably, but that’s not the issue. They don’t want to, says competitor Flat World Knowledge.
#PubNewsCheat: E-book Sales Still Rising, Random Invests in Flat World
Our cheat sheet to some of last week’s notable publishing news from around the world… By Hannah Johnson Last week, both Nielsen BookScan and the Association of American Publishers reported that print sales in the USA continue to fall as e-book sales are rising. The AAP figures showed that print sales declined by 25% across all segments in the first …
What is Your Greatest Fear for the Future of Publishing?
By Edward Nawotka Eric Frank, co-founder of Flat World Knowledge, describes the bizarre evolution of the contemporary textbook into “Frankentext,” — what he calls a “overstuffed, overpriced, and unloved” monster. To Frank, the current academic publishing scene is a horror story. Of course, Frank is not alone in looking across the book publishing landscape and seeing monsters. For some, it’s …
What is the Future of “Freemium” in Book Publishing?
By Edward Nawotka Today’s lead story looks at Flat World Publishing’s “freemium” model for publishing college textbooks. The model isn’t exactly new: authors ranging from Chris Anderson to Cory Doctorow to Seth Godin have long advocated giving digital or online-only editions away for free in order to entice readers to purchase print books. Big Six and other publishers have been …