iPad App Makes Ebook Experience Social

Springwise (@springwise) reports that German start-up Readmill (@readmill) has combined its “passion for reading, innovation, and technology to create a social ebook reader for the iPad, pitched as the ‘Last.fm for reading.’”

Readmill, currently in closed Beta, offers users a selection of mainly public domain titles. While reading, users can highlight their favorite passages and share them with others for commenting, either by posting them to their Readmill profile, or via Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr. As well as being able to recommend titles and view recommended titles from other readers, there is also a comment thread where users can post their thoughts on individual ebooks. Other features include a night mode, which switches page color to black and text color to white, while built in tracking enables the reader to see how long they have spent reading each ebook.

Read the story in full.

In addition to Readmill, TNW (@TheNextWeb) reports "Kobo launches Vox, the first social ebook reader with Facebook integration." 

How will this new concept influence your publishing strategy? Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you navigate publishing’s white water rapids.

Optimize Marketing Copy For Mobile

On Mashable (@mashable), Ryan Matzner (@rdm) of Fueled (@Fueled) explains how marketers need to think differently when it comes to the mobile space.

Users on the Web are notoriously distracted and hop around from page to page. Mobile users are distracted even further. Their devices are buzzing with push notifications from their apps, text messages and emails are constantly popping up on the screen. They might be standing in line at a grocery store, waiting for a movie to start, in a taxi, in an elevator or walking down the street. These scenarios — and mobile use in general — are defined by 3 key factors:

1. Pockets of Use. Picking up their mobile device is a secondary task. They’re just trying to fill up a pocket of time while doing something else. Users have just a few moments to check their phone or look up a piece of information while they’re completing a primary task (waiting in line, elevator, etc.).

2. Perpetual and Inherent Distraction. Traditional web users may face distraction from email, chat and the infinite number of other webpages they could be on, but when those users land on a page, they typically stick around until they become bored or want to check out some other piece of information on the web. Mobile users, on the other hand, face perpetual off-device distractions — use of their mobile device is secondary. Byrne Hobart, founder of investment research firm Digital Due Diligence, observes that mobile marketers are “writing for an audience that’s in the middle of something else.” They might be waiting for their subway stop, their floor on an elevator, their line to be called at Whole Foods, a friend to show up at a restaurant. Point is, the number of off-device distractions for mobile users is limitless.

3. The (Very) Small Screen. Mobile devices have tiny screens — they simply do not fit a lot of content. It’s critical that marketers keep this in mind as they write copy. What will fit onto a user’s screen without scrolling?

Read this in full.

Also see this excellent article by John Jantsch (@ducttape), “There’s Really No Such Thing As Mobile Marketing.”

The following chart is from the paidContent (@paidContent) article “Chart: Mobile Business Booms, Data Use Surges to 48%” by Ingrid Lunden (@ingridlunden). It shows that marketers need to be thinking about the mobile environment at all times.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you achieve mobile marketing success. Be sure to place our mobile website (http://m.somersaultgroup.com) on your cell phone's home screen for easy access to many mobile-friendly sites.

Social Media & Marketing 2011

According to a report by Warc (@WarcEditors), over 90% of major brand owners are now using social media; and believe social media has yet to yield tangible revenues.

The report is based on research by Booz & Co (@BoozCompany) and Buddy Media (@BuddyMedia) of executives from 100 companies. The study focuses on social capability priorities, key areas for investment, the evolving role of partners, and major issues related to organization, talent, and metrics that companies are confronting through social media.

·         Marketing departments are primarily responsible for social media efforts.

·         94% of firms list Facebook among their top three social priorities, followed by Twitter (77%), YouTube (42%), blogs and branded platforms (25% each), LinkedIn (13%), and location-based tools like Foursquare (8%).

·         94% think adapting and reacting quickly is essential to social media success.

·         93% think having an internal “owner” and “champion” for social media is vital.

·         Advertising and promotions are the main use for sites like Facebook and Twitter (96%), ahead of the 88% using them for PR, 75% for customer service and 56% for market research.

·         40% of companies employ social media for sales purposes; 46% think they deliver purchases and meaningful leads.

·         90% tie social media benefits to brand building, 88% stimulating buzz, 81% securing consumer insights, and 78% to enhanced marketing effectiveness.

·         Only 38% say their CEOs have this issue on his or her personal agenda.

Read the research report.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) guide your brand’s social media strategy. And use the SomersaultNOW dashboard to stay current on news and resources related to social media marketing.

A Wealth of Typefaces Go To Work in Fortune Magazine

Typographer Stephen Coles (@typographica) writes in Fonts In Use (@FontsInUse) that this year’s Fortune magazine’s (@FortuneMagazine) annual “500” issue is “a particularly typographic feast.”

The core of Fortune’s typography is MVB Solano Gothic. The typeface was originally made by Mark van Bronkhorst for the Bay Area city of Albany, designed to work alongside the community’s early 1900s architecture. With its sturdy, utilitarian geometry derived from sign lettering of the era, Solano can feel slightly vintage, but the standard variant is more sober than the Retro and Round members of the family.

I was surprised to open Fortune and find what could be considered a character actor playing such a central role. But editorial designer and two-time National Magazine Award winner John Korpics proves with Solano that some “display” typefaces can be more versatile than we assume. Besides setting headlines and teasers, Solano performs admirably in Infographics and even the “500” issue’s essential lists and tables.

Read this in full.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you achieve maximum interior page design quality for your publishing projects. And use the SomersaultNOW dashboard to access useful websites and information about page design and editing in general.

Technology's Temptation: Double and Dangerous

At Somersault (@smrsault), we’re committed to leveraging all advances in technology to help publishers and other content creators reach their audiences effectively and efficiently, and achieve sustainable growth in their business endeavors. But we also can see how engulfed in – and dependent upon – technology our culture has become, to the point of potential detriment in our daily lives and spiritual development.

On his blog, Nathan W. Bingham (@NWBingham) writes about the alluring and subtle pull of technology to become our idol. He quotes Tim Keller from his book Counterfeit Gods on describing idolatry as: “...anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.”

Compared with many other potential idols, technology has a greater idolatrous potential; not only can it become an idol in and of itself, it can also serve as an enabler of other idols.

This is an important distinction because although it can be subtle, it means technology is doubly potent for the idol factory that is our heart.

Read this in full.

Let Somersault help you properly manage technology to attain your publishing objectives. And be sure to use our SomersaultNOW online dashboard to remain abreast of news and information for publishing and marketing executives.

Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

“Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.” President Barack Obama

Read the eulogies of other dignitaries.

Read, hear, see the news:

NPR: “Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs Dies At 56
NPR: “Steve Jobs: The Link Between Machines And Humans

BBC: “Steve Jobs of Apple dies at 56
BBC: “Tributes for Apple 'visionary' Steve Jobs
BBC: “Timeline: Steve Jobs and Apple

Mashable: “Google’s Homepage Pays Tribute to Steve Jobs

Marketplace: “An amazing legacy of innovation” [Slideshow]

Tech18: “The Complete Journey of Steve Jobs and Apple” [Infographic]

The New York Times: “Apple’s Visionary Redefined Digital Age

International Business Times: "Lessons to be Learned from Steve Jobs' Leadership"

ClickZ: "Steve Jobs: 10 Lessons in Leadership"

Dr. Michael Milton: "Steve Jobs and the Great Commission"

Christianity Today: "The Gospel of Steve Jobs"

Apple.com

Quotes by Steve Jobs:

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me.... Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” [The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 1993]

"It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them." [BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998]

"Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?" [The line he used to lure John Sculley into becoming Apple's CEO, according to Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple]

“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” [BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998]

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.” [NBC Nightly News, May 2006]

Retail's Afterlife: The Mall-ification of the American Church

This article by DailyFinance (@daily_finance) says that, “from a city planning perspective, churches that occupy dead mall space are godsends.”

As malls across the country empty out, it's no wonder their remains are being scavenged. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a third of America's indoor malls are currently in “financial distress.” Retailers are leaving indoor and strip malls for popular outdoor “lifestyle centers,” those cutesy, mixed-use developments that resemble the Main Streets their predecessors helped destroy.

Meanwhile, it is no news that Protestant churches in the American suburbs are growing and franchising. The Hartford Institute for Religious Research defines a megachurch as a Protestant congregation with more than 2,000 members, and estimates that their numbers have grown from 350 to more than 1,200 since since 1993.

Most of the churches DailyFinance identified that reside in malls or former malls fit the Institute's description. According to its 2008 survey, which got responses from about a third of the nation’s megachurches, most practice a generic form of evangelism, view themselves as contemporary, and regularly adjust worship styles to meet demand. While individual church practices vary, many are “seeker friendly” in that they use technology, pop music, and relatable sermon topics to reach non-churchgoers.

Read this in full.

10 Tips for Publishers Producing Videos

Video production has become a vital and necessary skill for book publishers because of the Web’s culture that elevates video to the top caliber on the attractiveness meter. If publishers are going to appeal to the Millennial generation to read books, video is going to have to be used.

On Publishing Perspectives (@pubperspectives), Steve Stockman (@SteveStockman), the author of How to Shoot a Video That Doesn’t Suckoffers ten basic tips for novices in book world videomaking:

1. Think in shots (create motion, don’t press play and let it run endlessly)

2. Treat Your Video Camera Like a Still Camera

3. Don’t Shoot Until You See the Whites of Their Eyes (close-ups, faces, reactions)

4. Use an External Mic

5. The Rubbermaid Rule (don’t overestimate the length of your video; if you think 10 minutes, 3 minutes is better)

6. Two Words Guaranteed to Take Your Video Viral: Naked Celebrity (if you don’t have that, there’s no guarantee, so make the best video possible for your book’s audience)

7. Take Video Seriously (ie. invest in it, train staff to do it right, or hire the pros…)

8. Treat Your Author Like a Star (avoid bad lighting, poor sound quality and don’t use video that doesn’t make them look like a rock star…)

9. Tell a Story (beginning, middle and end…)

10. The Book Brain and the Video Brain are Different Brains

Read this in full.

Also see, "Surveying the Good and Bad in Book Trailers."

In-Store On-Demand Content Kiosks Increase

Christian retail stores are changing the way they display product. Christian media-on-demand kiosks by Integra Interactive, called the myMEDIA BurnBar, are now in 500 locations across the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, and England. According to its website

the myMEDIA BurnBar™ enables retailers to virtually stock thousands of digital products and have them burned on-demand by customers. It’s the world's largest retail-based burning kiosk system despite focusing on just the CBA channel. The kiosks sell music CDs, Bible software, video, games, and audiobooks.

Digital products in virtual displays are game-changers in the world of retail.