somersault

In an opinion essay for The New York Times, author Andy Martin (@andymartinink) says settling on a book title is one of the hardest things to do – even if you spend all day thinking of names for other things. How do you summarize 50,000 or more words into five?

Perhaps the rule about titles is that there is no rule. Like everything else we write, a title is a bunch of words that are arbitrary, random, largely meaningless, and yet still striving to sound as indispensable as the opening notes of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony….

Read this in full.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you title (and market) your book(s).

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News release: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, comprised of both Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson) and Zondervan (@Zondervan), today announced the division’s new Leadership Team. The new team will work together to preserve the two publishing group’s unique editorial focus, while pursuing mutually beneficial collaborative opportunities, for the new division.

The new Leadership Team will report to Mark Schoenwald, President and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing Division. The team is as follows:

·         Stuart Bitting, SVP & Chief Financial Officer

·         Annette Bourland, SVP Zondervan Book Publishing

·         David Moberg, SVP Thomas Nelson Book Publishing

·         Chip Brown, SVP Bible Publishing

·         Paul Engle, SVP Church, Academic and Reference Resources

·         Stan Gundry, Zondervan Editor-in-Chief

·         Eric Shanfelt, SVP eMedia

·         Tod Shuttleworth, SVP Spanish and International Publishing

·         Carol Nygren Managing Director Live Events Management

·         Tom Knight, SVP Sales

·         Rachel Barach, General Manager Bible Gateway (@biblegateway)

·         Al Kerkstra, SVP Support Operations and Human Resources

·         Casey Harrell Director of Corporate Communications

“As we move forward in the process of building the HarperCollins Christian Publishing Division, I am pleased with the progress we have made over the last few weeks,” said Schoenwald. “I am confident in this team’s ability to lead the company through decisions that will be crucial for driving growth and fulfilling the publishing groups’ missions. We will continue to work through every aspect of the business to build an organization focused on innovation and execution, committed to honoring God and serving our partners.”

HarperCollins Christian Publishing will continue to release information, as it becomes available.

HarperCollins Christian Publishing, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers (@HarperCollins), is comprised of Thomas Nelson Inc. and Zondervan. The two publishing groups provide bestselling Bibles, inspirational books, audio and digital content, academic resources, curriculum, and live events for the Christian market space. HarperCollins Christian Publishing is committed to meeting the needs of its consumers with resources that honor God and inspire the world. For more information please visit www.thomasnelsoncorporate.com and www.zondervan.com.

See coverage by Digital Book World.

See our previous blogpost, "HarperCollins Forms New Christian Publishing Division."

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For a humorous (and accurate) ☺ depiction of the publishing process from an author’s viewpoint (using animated GIF images), see this blog post by Nathan Bransford (@NathanBransford).

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Here’s a new page in the print-on-demand saga and its growing impact on book publishing (see our previous blogpost, “Mardel Acquires Espresso Book Machine"): 3D printing. There may be innovative applications for publishers to consider for print books, especially in light of the current capability to 3D print a functional human jaw and a working gun made out of resin.

Jonathan Zittrain (@zittrain), author of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It (book) (blog), professor of law at Harvard Law School (@Harvard_Law), and faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University (@berkmancenter), says

Resin is the toner of the modern 3D printer. No doubt 3D printers will come to be able to commonly use other raw ingredients. There's no reason they couldn't be someday in the mainstream metals and all sorts of forms of porcelain, but in this case we're talking plastic.

Read this in full at Marketplace Tech (@MarketplaceAPM).

Another foray into the future is the possibility that smartphones will be fashioned into glasses, and the opportunities this may bring to publishers.

"This idea of wearing glasses and being able to see data as we walk around is where I think things are heading," says Brian Chen (@bxchen), columnist for The New York Times Bits blog (@nytimesbits) and author of Always On: How the iPhone Unlocked the Anything-Anytime-Anywhere Future—and Locked Us In. And once the interface for glasses is less intrusive, he noted, the potential use cases are wide open. “Say you were giving a speech," he said. "Glasses could serve as a teleprompter."

Read this in full.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you sort out the fast-changing world of publishing.

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And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Futurist news tab.

The above Infographic (enlarge it) is by Fast Company (@FastCompany) in its September 2012 issue (#therules). Submit your own rule.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategize and execute social media marketing for your brand.

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Dear Friends:

I write from St Andrews, (@VisitStAndrews), Scotland (@VisitScotland). My wife, Debby, and I relocated from Grand Rapids (@ExperienceGR), Michigan (@PureMichigan) on Monday-Tuesday, August 13-14, so that she can pursue a masters degree at the Institute of Theology, Imagination, and the Arts at St Mary's College / University of St Andrews (@univofstandrews). It's a very innovative program and Debby looks forward to working on integrating the disciplines of theology, imagination, and her passion for using artistic expression of all forms to articulate the biblical narrative and engage the culture.

We’re enjoying the Scottish people, the lush and dramatic landscape, and the historic town and university with its cathedral and castle ruins. It's been an excellent experience and we’re settling in quite well to life in St Andrews. We're walking everywhere and enjoying a slower pace of life.

We worshiped at All Saints Church, a Scottish Episcopal Church, in downtown St Andrews on Sunday amidst incense and what they tell us is high church liturgy. The sermon was stimulating and the congregation friendly. We had an excellent conversation about art and architecture with one of Debby's professors, Dr David Brown, who serves on the clerical staff of the church, as well as being a full professor at St Mary's College.

After church Debby and I walked over to the Old Course (@oldcourseexp) and, because it's closed on Sunday to golfers and turned into a public park, we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the 17th fairway! The course is tucked between the town and an expansive beach on the North Sea. I hope to play one of the St Andrews Links Trust (@TheHomeofGolf) courses in the next week or two! Debby plans to post updates on her blog about our life here in St Andrews. Also visit her website debbytopliff.com.

John

John Topliff
General Manager, Somersault (@smrsault)
Email: jtopliff@somersaultgroup.com
St Andrews Office - Dial from the USA: 011-44-7713-183363
USA Office: 616-551-1539
131 Division Avenue South, Suite 300
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

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NPR’s (@NPR) The Diane Rehm Show (@drshow) recently focused on the complexities of public libraries lending ebooks.

In the past year, libraries have seen a sharp growth in ebook borrowing. That trend is transforming the relationship between libraries and publishers. Some publishers worry lending ebooks will lead to piracy and loss of sales. Two of the big 6 publishers license their ebooks to libraries. Others are exploring pilot programs or have declined to participate. Many library patrons are frustrated with the limited availability of titles and long waiting lists. And some buy a copy of the ebook anyway.

More than three-quarters of the nation's public libraries lend books electronically, a fact that's not widely known among the reading public. Some publishers worry that ebook borrowers don't buy books. But a recent study suggests that among those who read books electronically, 41% of those who borrow them from the library purchased their most recent ebook. Guest host Frank Sesno (@franksesno) and his guests discuss the current and future role of ebooks at our nation's libraries.

The guests are:

·         Jeremy Greenfield (@JDGsaid), editorial director of F+W Media's Digital Book World (@DigiBookWorld).

·         Carrie Russell, director of the Program for Public Access to Information, Office of Information Technology, the American Library Association (@ALALibrary).

·         Allan Adler vice president of legal and government affairs at the Association of American Publishers (@AmericanPublish).

·         Vailey Oehlke director of libraries at Multnomah County Library (@MultCoLib) in Portland, Ore.

Listen to the program in full.

Read the transcript.

See our previous blogposts, “Many Ebook Borrowers Buy, Too, Says New Study” and “The Digital Bookmobile.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish (and market) your brand content in pbook, ebook, and audiobook formats.

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And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Above is the time management chart known as The Eisenhower Matrix, named for President Dwight Eisenhower who used it in his own decision process. The visual comes from The Decision Book: Fifty Models for Strategic Thinking by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler (free online) (blog).

Notice how The Eisenhower Matrix places the most positive emphasis on Quadrant I. That differs from the chart above that the late Stephen Covey promoted in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, where he numbered the boxes differently and said Quadrant II is where you want to spend most of your time for effective time management. Either way, you want to invest most of your energy in doing what is important and not urgent. Better late than never. But never late is better.

Be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Leadership tab.

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Above poster by Digital Book World (@DigiBookWorld).

Also see our previous blogposts, “Discoverability in the Digital Age: Personal Recommendations and Bookstores” and “Sites That Facilitate Book Discovery.”

Stay current with publishing news when you bookmark and use daily our (@smrsault) SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Book Discovery Sites tab.

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LEGO (@LEGO_Group) turns 80 this year. To celebrate, the company produced this 17-minute cartoon about its humble origins and how it revolutionized the toy industry. 17-minutes long and it succeeded in getting 2 million views in 2 weeks. 17-minutes! And the pace of it is slow-moving, at that!

If a slow-moving 17-minute-long video can get more than 2 million views, it proves viral videos don’t need to be constrained to only 3-minutes of flash mobs or kittens!

Also see our previous blogposts, "Unlikely Videos Go Viral" and “The 3 Qualities That Make A YouTube Video Go Viral.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you produce creative and effective videos promoting your branded content.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.