Reading in the Cloud: “Spotify for Books” from The Publisher’s Standpoint

In Guest Contributors by Guest Contributor

Based on the Spotify model, streaming e-book subscription platforms are tricky to monetize properly for publishers — though they appear to be inevitable. By Javier Celaya MADRID: Yesterday I offered two different points-of-view on whether the streaming, cloud-based Spotify model was suitable to the book world — the first, from the reader’s angle, and the second one from the author’s …

What is the Future of “Freemium” in Book Publishing?

In Discussion by Edward Nawotka

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 …