By Edward Nawotka Niche bookstores are being squeezed on both side: first from the chains which offer an increasingly broad range of products and second from digital, which offers virtually all products. To survive, niche bookstores — whether focusing on mysteries, travel, or mind-body-spirit (such as Watkin’s Books, discussed in today’s feature story) — will need to be offer to …
How Can New Niche Micropublishers Compete with Large Established Publishers?
By Edward Nawotka In today’s lead story Eoin Purcell discusses launching “The Irish Story” — an online community focused on Irish History — and its first publication, John Dorney’s The Story of the Easter Rising 1916. One of the things Purcell is doing is competing with the large, established publishers — such as Penguin Ireland and Oxford University Press — who …
Bonus Material: Niche vs. Trade Publishing, Which Has a Brighter Future?
By Edward Nawotka In our lead article, Greg Albers, publisher of Hol Art Books, explains his business model, which involves “team publishing.” The company focuses on publishing books about art: from criticism and history, to fiction and poetry. “Writing about art isn’t a widely recognized or exploited niche,” acknowledged Albers. In an interview in 2008 with blogger Eoin Purcell, Albers …