A New Publishing Ecosystem Emerges

On The Scholarly Kitchen (@scholarlykitchn), Joseph Esposito (@JosephJEsposito) explains the competing proprietary ecosystems for ebooks (Amazon and Apple) and their limitations as closed networks. Then he details the emergence of a third, more open ecosystem “designed not to be controlled by a single authority but to permit, even to evangelize for, as broad a participation as possible.” Safari Books Online (@safaribooks) is part of this system.

Characteristics of this ecosystem include:

·         Small pieces loosely joined….

·         No single controlling authority….

·         Skepticism about DRM (digital rights management)….

·         Strong interest in social media….

·         An interest in D2C (direct to consumer) marketing….

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See Wikipedia’s “Comparison of ebook formats.”

Also see our previous blogpost, “Guy Kawasaki's New Self-Publishing Instruction Book.”

An interesting side note: For Publishing Executive (@pubexec), Thea Selby (@TheaSelby) counted the number of magazines now being published for tablet consumption (which reflects on the ecosystem of the different formats). Her results: 446 for the Nexus; 744 for the Kindle Fire; and 2,954 for the iPad.

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