Dutch design company Atelier 010 offers the Bookworm, a structural bookcase that curves around and allows space for various kinds of media storage and a place to sit.
Read this in full and see more photos.
Also see our previous blogpost, “Innovative Bookshelves & Buildings Made Out of Books.”
For all book lovers (print and ebook alike), we (@smrsault) invite you to make our SomersaultNOW online dashboard your personal computer homepage (see instructions).
(Image: "END" / artist, Thomas Allen)
NPR radio program On the Media (@onthemedia) spends an hour explaining the current status of the publishing industry. The titles of the individual segments are:
· How Publishing and Reading are Changing (segment 1)
· No Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (segment 2)
· Is Amazon a New Monopoly? (segment 3)
· Are Publishers Stuck in the Past? (segment 4)
· The Story of Pottermore (segment 5)
· Taking On Amazon (segment 6)
· The Problem of Knock-Off Books (segment 7)
· Steal My Book, Please (segment 8)
· Life After Publishers (segment 9)
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According to a report in theguardian (@guardian) newspaper, “Scotland's mystery book sculptor has been up to her old tricks again this week, leaving a series of literary-themed sculptures in secret locations.”
The sculptor – all that has been revealed about her is that she is female and that she loves books – made her first startling appearances last year, leaving intricate paper models of a tiny Ian Rankin in a cinema, a model of a gramophone and a coffin and a detailed paper tree around Edinburgh. Now, to mark Book Week Scotland this week, she has been enticed into making a comeback, with five new sculptures inspired by classic Scottish stories hidden around the country.
Also see our previous blogposts, "EPILOGUE: the future of print" and "The Book Surgeon."
Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish and market your books. Our international office is in St. Andrews, Scotland.
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Lynn Garrett (@LynniGarrett), editor of Publishers Weekly Religion Bookline (@PublishersWkly), reports that “Random House’s (@randomhouse) Crown Publishing Group (@CrownPublishing) is launching a new religion imprint, Convergent Books (@ConvergentBooks).”
According to a Crown statement, “Convergent will explore the contemporary faith experience for a broad range of Christians who are drawn to an open, inclusive, and culturally engaged exploration of faith.” The imprint will be based in Colorado Springs, Colo., and headed by Stephen W. Cobb, who has been president and publisher of the WaterBrook (@WaterBrookPress) imprint since 2001.
...Stated Cobb, “The audience for Convergent Books represents a growing movement of consumers. These readers typically don’t see themselves as either liberal or conservative, evangelical or mainline. Yet they frame their spiritual journey in Christian terms, and they’re absolutely passionate about what theologian Brian McLaren has called, ‘the sacred endeavor of loving God and neighbor, stranger, alien, outsider, outcast and enemy.’"
Convergent’s debut title list will appear in fall 2013.
Also see our previous blogposts, “Random House, Penguin Agree to Merge” and “HarperCollins in Early Merger Talks with Simon & Schuster.”
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The Wall Street Journal reports, “News Corp. (@NWScorp), owner of HarperCollinsPublishers (@HarperCollins), has expressed interest to CBS Corporation about acquiring its Simon & Schuster (@simonschuster) book business, according to people familiar with the talks....They caution that a deal isn’t imminent.”
For book publishing, an industry dominated by a half-dozen big companies, consolidation is viewed in part as a way to weather the transition to digital media. Combining forces can allow publishers to gain more heft in negotiating terms with retailers, including Amazon.com Inc., industry executives say.
A combination of HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster could create the second-largest publisher in the US market. Random House and Penguin have a combined 28% to 30% of the market, while HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster together account for 18% to 20% of it, according to Albert N. Greco Institute for Publishing Research Inc.
In the following video (recorded Nov. 8), CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves discussed whether there was a price tag on Simon & Schuster:
Also see paidContent’s coverage.
HarperCollins’ Christian publishing division consists of Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson) and Zondervan (@zondervan); it also has the religion imprint HarperOne (@HarperOne). Simon & Schuster’s faith-based publishing imprint is Howard Books (@Howard_Books).
See our previous blogposts, “HarperCollins Forms New Christian Publishing Division,” “HarperCollins Christian Publishing Announces New Leadership Team," and "Random House, Penguin Agree to Merge.”
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Kindle Fire users read, while iPad users surf the Web and catch up on email. Bowker (@Bowker & @DiscoverBowker) reports that “ebook consumers are decidedly shifting to multi-function tablets and away from dedicated e-readers, according to the Book Industry Study Group’s (@BISG) closely watched on-going Consumer Attitudes Toward Ebook Reading.”
...[T]ablets have risen by about 25% over the past year as the first choice for respondents’ e-reading device, while dedicated e-readers have fallen by the same amount. The rise of tablet popularity has been fueled largely by Amazon’s Kindle Fire, which increased over the past year from no use to be the first choice for more than 17% of ebook consumers. Other Android devices, such as Barnes & Noble’s NOOK Tablet, have also increased as the first choice for respondents’ e-reading device, from 2% in August 2011 to nearly 7% in August 2012, while Apple’s iPad has held steady around 10%.
“We’ve discovered throughout the course of this survey work that we can chart the future based on what is currently happening with ebook ‘Power Buyers.’ Their ebook purchasing and e-reader preferences have proven to be reliable predictors of market trends,” said Angela Bole, BISG’s Deputy Executive Director. “Based on this, the introduction of new tablet devices by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Microsoft is likely to continue the trend of preference for tablets over dedicated e-readers through the upcoming holiday season.”
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The management team of Family Christian (@FCstores), the nation's largest Christian retail chain with 280 stores in 36 states, has partnered with a group of Atlanta-based Christian businessmen to acquire the company from its private equity owners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Under the new ownership, Family Christian's pledge is to contribute 100% of its profits to Christian causes and, specifically, ministries serving widows and orphans both in the USA and abroad. Family Christian has always been committed to providing resources for the Christian community, but the new ownership structure will allow the organization to not only equip Christians in their daily walk, but to increase the organization's impact by providing substantial financial support to faith-based causes.
Additionally, Family Christian president and CEO, Cliff Bartow, told Publishers Weekly the company has decided to drop its own e-reader – the edifi, launched in June – “because the technology is moving so rapidly, and this is not our core competency.” Instead, Family will work with Kobo (@kobo), carrying four of their color devices and three of their black-and-white devices for the Christmas season. “We definitely believe in the future of ebooks,” Bartow said. (Also see PW’s earlier article, “Family Christian Chain Launches E-Reader.”)
As for the future of brick and mortar, Bartow said, “We believe our stores are a viable concept. Today customers want to be served through multiple channels. Look at Apple--they do business online but their physical stores are also important. Our customers want the store experience. They want a place they can come for inspiration and interaction with our staff.”
Also see Christianity Today’s coverage.
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A study by The Boston Consulting Group (@BCGPerspectives) says young consumers in the US are developing distinct attitudes and habits, providing brand owners with a chance to build long term loyalty. “The Millennial generation (16-34 year olds) is bigger than the Boomer generation (47-65 year olds) and growing in influence.”
Although the youngest members of the Millennial generation are still economically dependent on Mom and Dad, older Millennials are beginning to enter their peak spending years. While they are not yet set in their ways, they are forming preferences, exhibiting tendencies, and influencing one another’s opinions and behaviors. This generation engages with brands, channels, and service models in new ways limited only by the rate of technological advancement and innovation.
· US Millennials are extremely comfortable with technology....They tend to own multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets, and gaming systems.
· US Millennials are much more likely to multitask while online, constantly moving across platforms — mobile, social, PC, and gaming.
· Both groups spend roughly the same amount of time online, but Millennials are more likely to use the Internet as a platform to broadcast their thoughts and experiences and to contribute user-generated content. They are far more engaged in activities such as rating products and services (60% versus 46% of non-Millennials) and uploading videos, images, and blog entries to the Web (60% versus 29%).
· US Millennials spend less time reading printed books and watching TV. Only 26% watch TV for 20 hours or more per week (compared with 49% of non-Millennials), and when they do watch, they’re more likely to do so on their computers through services such as Hulu (42% versus 18%).
· US Millennials are engaged in consuming and influencing; a generation that embraces business and government and believes that such institutions can bring about global change, one that is generally optimistic, and one that has often-unexpected attitudes and behaviors.
· US Millennials are all about instant gratification. They put a premium on speed, ease, efficiency, and convenience in all their transactions.
· For this generation, the definition of “expert” — a person with the credibility to recommend brands, products, and services — has shifted from someone with professional or academic credentials to potentially anyone with firsthand experience, ideally a peer or close friend.
· US Millennials use technology to connect with a greater number of people, more frequently, and in real time.
· This desire for connection and shared experience also extends offline. Millennials are much more likely than non-Millennials to engage in group activities — especially with people outside their immediate family.
Millennials believe that working for causes is an integral part of life, and they are drawn to big issues.
Also see our previous blogposts, "US Consumer Habits Evolving," “Young ‘Millennials’ Losing Faith in Record Numbers,” and "Millennials Aren't Kids Anymore; Plurals Are."
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HA! The above humorous video concerns the recent announcement that Random House and Penguin have agreed to merge. It was obviously produced by someone who knows the publishing business.
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Laura June (@laura_june), features editor for The Verge (@verge), observes that “ebooks are apparently lousy with typos.”
Many of the typos — the letter "c" in place of what should be an "e" — appear to be the casualties of a hasty OCRing of some actual text of the work. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a process of scanning a book and using software which recognizes the scanned words as words, rather than merely as images, converting the images into text files. Anyone who has ever used OCR software knows that the process is far from perfect and always demands a serious attention to detail in the copy editing phase, once scanning is done, because the software doesn’t "read" the text perfectly. This seems to be at least partially what is happening in my Kindle edition of Foucault’s Pendulum, and it’s unacceptable....
[P]ublishing is changing very fast, and to keep up with that pace, publishers are moving quickly to get their books into stores like Amazon and iBooks. That’s great, I want as much content available as possible. But I also demand, and believe that all readers should demand, the high quality that book publishers have always offered to their customers....
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