Paper is pervasive in publishing and implementing an all-digital operating system is costly. Tell us where you stand in the transition from paper to digital-based systems. By Edward Nawotka The paperless office is still something of a dream. Companies such as Firebrand, Oracle, Klopotek, Publishing Technology, Vista International and SAP have made massive advances in their digital author/rights management and …
A Contagious Vector of Awesome: Publishing and Culture Trends at #SXSW 2011
By Edward Nawotka AUSTIN: Men with full lumberjack beards and ironic t-shirts flirting with women in baby-doll dresses and artful “ink,” everyone sneaking peeks at their iPhones, tapping on their Macs or pecking at the iPads: this is the annual mating ritual called SXSW Interactive, the Austin, Texas tech fest where the world has been introduced to new services and …
SURVEY: How Can Booksellers Futureproof Their Business?
Tell us what should booksellers should prioritize to save themselves. By Edward Nawotka Over the years booksellers have added coffee shops, stationery, toys, games, music download stations, movies, e-readers . . . As discussed in today’s lead story the future of bookselling looks to be multichannel. What do you think booksellers should prioritize to futureproof their business? Take our survey …
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 …
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 …
What are the New Digital Classics?
By Edward Nawotka Today’s lead story looks at a new study on digital publishing released by the Forum d’Avignon and Bain & Co. The end of the report cites the challenge of sifting through all the new digital content to decide what to preserve: “It is unclear how digitally born contents will be sifted, particularly in non-linear, hybrid and social …
Is Writing for the Web a “Fools Bargain”?
By Edward Nawotka Today’s lead story features an interview with Jaron Lanier, philosopher and author of You Are Not a Gadget, in which he says, “If the future is one in which writers are not paid, then it also is one in which writers lack clout. And if it’s a future in which writers lack clout, then what we have …
Publishing Perspectives Editor-in-Chief Ed Nawotka Interviewed
By Edward Nawotka This past summer I spoke to Jason Allen-Ashlock of the Movable Type Literary Group for Galleycat’s “The Book Futurists” series of video interviews. I spoke about our mission here at PP (“Don’t repeat what everyone else is doing and be interesting.”) and shared my thoughts on the impact of digization on publishing (I use the words “exponential” …