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….

Read this in full.

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.

Read this in full.

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Infographic: Who Reads Ebooks?

(Enlarge this Infographic)

The above information is by Random House (@randomhouse). Among the statistics:

·         Over a fifth of American adults have read an ebook.

·         Ebook consumers are likely to be book enthusiasts who read across digital and print formats.

·         Most ebook consumers are women, are younger than 45, have college degrees or have had some college education, and have upscale incomes.

·         Ebook consumers are over 20% more likely to have household incomes over $100,000 per year than non-ebook consumers.

·         Preferred genres include mystery/suspense/detective fiction, general fiction, and romance.

Read this in full.

Download our white paper, “Tech, Trends, & Retail Success: See the Future and Act Now,” in which we detail the elements of creating extreme retail in-store experiences.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

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David C Cook Launches Digital-First Book Line

Christian Retailing (@ChristianRetail) reports David C Cook (@David_C_Cook) has launched a digital-first book line with The Most Important Thing Happening by Mark Steele (@steelehousemark), a writer for VeggieTales and president of Steelehouse Productions (@Steelehouse).

Cook's director of digital content Michael Covington (@m_covington) says,"By offering books initially in digital formats, we can be more creative in terms of how that content is packaged and distributed. Additionally, it's our aim to make many of our digital-first titles available in print via print-on-demand technology, so bookstores and readers wanting a bound copy should be able to place orders via Ingram or their favorite retailers, respectively."

Read this in full.

Cook also has a free ebook website: dccebooks.com.

Another Christian publisher with a digital-first line is Zondervan (@zondervan), with its ZondervanFirst (@ZondervanFirst).

Also see our previous blogposts “Mardel Acquires Espresso Book Machine; Zondervan Creates Direct to Digital Imprint; Alive Launches Bondfire” and “Bookselling Redefined by Kodak and On Demand Books Deal.”

Download our white paper, “Tech, Trends, & Retail Success: See the Future and Act Now,” in which we detail the elements of creating extreme retail in-store experiences.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

Learn about SomersaultSocial (@SomersaultHelp) our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

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BookJolt: New Book Discovery Site

In the above video, Athena Dean of BookJolt (@BookJolt) explains the concept behind the website BookJolt, a new channel of book discovery and distribution. She says ebooks are offered for free http://bookjolt.com/hey-authors/ while the author shares in revenue made through banner advertising in BookJolt’s “free-embeddable-viral-book-reader-widget.”

See the website.

Download our white paper, “Tech, Trends, & Retail Success: See the Future and Act Now,” in which we detail the elements of creating extreme retail in-store experiences.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

Learn about SomersaultSocial (@SomersaultHelp) our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

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Digital Book World Conference 2013

The annual Digital Book World Conference (@DigiBookWorld) (#DBW13) has concluded. DBW editorial director Jeremy Greenfield (@JDGsaid) offers a quick summary:

Publishers are grappling with the possibility that bookstores might not exist in the future; that some authors have a very low opinion of them; that agents are pushing them for more advantageous contract terms for their clients; that the landscape of book discovery is changing; and much more.

See DBW’s links to coverage of the event. (Digital Book World’s YouTube channel | Slideshare site)

Photos and tweets on Eventifier

Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly): Kobo, Book Discovery and More at Digital Book World 2013

GoodEReader (@Goodereader): My Thoughts on Digital Book World 2013 by Paul Biba (@paulkbiba) and complete coverage

Publishing Perspectives (@pubperspectives): 3 Key Ideas from Digital Book World 2013

Education, Publishing, & Technology (@toddols) summaries: Day One | Day Two

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Infographic: The Consumer Media Universe

(Enlarge the above Infographic)

From televisions and smartphones to tablets and game consoles, Americans are consuming content on every device under the sun.

According to Nielsen’s (@NielsenWire) new US Consumer Usage Report 2012, nearly 120 million people within television homes own 4 or more TV sets, and 16% of television homes own a tablet. Smartphone owners officially make up the majority of mobile subscribers, as 56% owned a smartphone as of Q3 2012. The number of social media users continues to increase across all platforms as consumers use social networking as a vehicle to navigate the ever-expanding media universe.

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Free iBook Targets New Writers, Missionaries, Christian Journalists

Two journalism professors from Christian universities have teamed up to make a short ebook for iPad or iPhone that uses interactive content to help new writers snag a byline.

A One-Step Guide to a Byline is designed for new writers who want to know the bare minimum for writing an article for the popular press. It uses roll-over features, an interactive quiz, and 8 videos to help writers succeed, says Michael Ray Smith, project director and professor of communication from Campbell University, Buies Creek, NC.

Smith joined Wally Metts (@wallymetts), director of graduate studies in communication at Spring Arbor University, Spring Arbor, MI, to make a fun, user-friendly book with enhanced content about the basics of writing. The “one-step” is finding the essential conflict that drives a good story.

Read this in full.

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

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Innovation Award Winning Ebook Includes Collaboration Technology

Reading books has always included a social element (“What books have you read lately”). But it’s now been given a bump as new technology allows readers, without regard to geographical boundaries, to converse with each other — and the author — in real time while still reading.

Among the just announced winners of Digital Book World’s (@DigiBookWorld) Publishing Innovation Awards is the ebook 11 Days in May: The Conversation That Will Change Your Life by JD Messinger (@JDMessinger); voted Best Non-Fiction Ebook.

The PIAs honor “the most innovative ebooks, enhanced ebooks, and book apps....It is the mission of the PIAs to highlight excellent publishers/authors, encourage new thinking, and improve the reading experience in the digital age.”

11 Days in May utilizes Democrasoft’s (@Democrasoft) WeJIT (@myWeJIT) technology, in collaboration with Vook (@vooktv), to allow readers to communicate directly with the author and other readers. These topic-based discussions are made possible with embedded WeJIT links in the ebook that direct readers to an online discussion forum. Conversations can be shared beyond the confines of the ebook via email, Facebook, Twitter, and other sharing methods built into WeJITs.

Read this in full.

WeJIT discussions and polling links from the ebook 11 Days in May.

News release: “WeJIT Connects Readers and Authors Inside the eBook.”

The following video explains how WeJITs work:

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Kids Reading Ebooks Have Nearly Doubled Since 2010

According to the 4th biannual edition of Scholastic’s (@Scholastic) national survey Kids & Family Reading Report™ (#KFRR),

·         The percent of 6-17-year-olds who have read an ebook has almost doubled since 2010 (25% vs. 46%), but that also means more than half (54%) of US kids have never read an ebook. Although, bear in mind, this statistic contrasts with the just announced study from Digital Book World and PlayScience, The ABCs of Kids & Ebooks: Understanding the E-Reading Habits of Children Aged 2-13 that says 54% of US children aged 2-13 are reading ebooks.

·         Half of children age 9-17 say they’d read more books for fun if they had greater access to ebooks – a 50% increase since 2010.

·         Overall, about half of parents (49%) feel their children don’t spend enough time reading books for fun – an increase from 2010 when 36% of parents were dissatisfied with time their child spent reading.

·         72% of parents show an interest in having their child read ebooks.

·         1 in 4 boys who has read an ebook says he is now reading more books for fun.

·         More than half (57%) of moderately frequent readers (kids who read 1 to 4 days a week) who have not read an ebook agree they’d read more if they had greater access to ebooks.

·         80% of kids who read ebooks still read books for fun primarily in print.

·         58% of kids age 9-17 say they’ll always want to read books printed on paper even though there are ebooks available (a slight decline from 66% in 2010).

·         Among girls since 2010, frequent readers have declined (42% vs. 36%), as has reading enjoyment (39% vs. 32% say they love reading), and the importance of reading books for fun (62% vs. 56% say it’s extremely or very important).

·         Among girls ages 12-17 there was an increase in the amount of time they spend visiting social networking sites and using their smartphones for going online.

·         Among boys since 2010, reading enjoyment has increased (20% vs. 26% say they love reading), as has the importance of reading books for fun (39% vs. 47%). Reading frequency among boys has stayed steady, with 32% being frequent readers.

·         Kids say ebooks are better than print books when they don’t want their friends to know what they’re reading, and when they’re out and about/traveling.

·         Print books are seen by kids as better for sharing with friends and reading at bedtime.

·         Consistent with the 2010 Kids & Family Reading Report, 9 in 10 kids say they’re more likely to finish a book they choose themselves.

·         31% of parents who’ve read an ebook say they personally read more books now than they read before starting to read ebooks.

·         32% of parents say they’re reading new kinds of books they never thought they would read, including children’s books and teen fiction.

Read the press release.

Read the full report (pdf).

Read coverage by Publishers Weekly.

Also see our previous blogposts

and other posts tagged "Ebook."

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

Learn about SomersaultSocial, our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

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Reading Habits in Different Communities

Several surveys by the Pew Research (@pewresearch) Center's Internet & American Life Project (@pewinternet) reveal interesting variations among communities in the way their residents read and use reading-related technology and institutions:

Book readers: Some 78% of Americans ages 16 and older say they read a book in the past 12 months. Urban (80%) and suburban (80%) residents are especially likely to have read at least one book in the past year. While rural residents are somewhat less likely to have read a book in the past year (71%), the book readers in rural areas read as many books as their counterparts in cities and suburbs.

Purposes for reading: Most of those ages 16 and older read books for pleasure, and that is especially true of suburban readers: 82% of suburbanites read for pleasure, compared with 79% of urban residents and 76% of rural residents. Urban residents (80%) and suburban dwellers (79%) are also especially likely to read to keep up with current events. Some 73% of rural residents do that. More than three-quarters of suburban residents (77%) read to research topics that interest them, compared with 74% of urban residents and 70% of rural residents. Finally, 57% of suburbanites and 58% of city dwellers read for school or work, compared with 47% of rural residents who do that.

Americans and libraries: The majority of Americans ages 16 and older (58%) have a library card and even more (69%) say the library is important to them and their families. Some 71% of city dwellers say the library is important to them and 59% have library cards — and 69% of suburban residents say the library is important and 61% have library cards. At the same time, 62% of rural residents say the library is important and 48% have library cards.

Read this in full.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

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