somersault

(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.

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. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Book Discovery Sites tab.

This article in The New York Times (@nytimesbusiness) says, “Reviews on Amazon are becoming attack weapons, intended to sink new books as soon as they are published.”

Books used to die by being ignored, but now they can be killed — and perhaps unjustly killed,” said Trevor Pinch, a Cornell sociologist who has studied Amazon reviews. “In theory, a very good book could be killed by a group of people for malicious reasons.”

...The retailer, like other sites that depend on customer reviews, has been faced with the problem of so-called sock puppets, those people secretly commissioned by an author to produce favorable notices. In recent months, Amazon has made efforts to remove reviews by those it deemed too close to the author, especially relatives. The issue of attack reviews, though, has received little attention....

Attack reviews are hard to police. It is difficult, if not impossible, to detect the difference between an authentic critical review and an author malevolently trying to bring down a colleague, or organized assaults by fans. Amazon’s extensive rules on reviewing offer little guidance on what is permissible in negative reviews and what is not....

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.

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. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Book Discovery Sites tab.

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. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Book Discovery Sites tab.

The online business journal Knowledge@Wharton (@knowledgwharton) scrutinizes the possible future of Barnes & Noble (@BNBuzz), which operates 689 bookstores in 50 states and 674 college bookstores.

The chain is caught between the need to bolster its in-store experience, and the drive to keep up in an ever-growing tablet market as readers increasingly turn away from printed books.

Barbara Kahn, director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center (@whartonretail) says Barnes & Noble's merchandising isn't giving consumers much of a reason to visit stores. "The best retailers are experiential," she says. "Online retailers can provide big assortments and better prices. If a retailer focuses on price and category, online [retailers] will always win. Barnes & Noble has to ... do what online can't do -- social interaction, physical presence, and experience."

...One of Barnes & Noble's core assets may be the people on its sales floor. "The more the retailer can provide service with a face on it and provide amenities, the better chance it has of surviving," says Wharton management professor Daniel Raff. "You can create a destination for merchandise and prices, but service and a response to your desires will get you ambiance.... If Barnes & Noble is just about buying books, customers can get that online. But what if it can also provide customers with insights from, and conversations with, people who understand the experience? Barnes & Noble has to figure out what makes it a good retailer and play to its strengths."

Read this in full.

In an interview in The Wall Street Journal ("B&N Aims To Whittle Its Stores For Years"), CEO Mitchell Klipper says that, while B&N still sees growth left in the physical book business, it plans to close about 1/3 of its stores over the next decade, bringing the total remaining shops to around 450 to 500. Klipper says less than 20 of B&N's total retail stores are money losers. Overall, the retail stores still make solid profits; enough to offset losses from the Nook business.

Be sure to download our white paper, “Tech, Trends, & Retail Success: See the Future and Act Now,” in which we explain how 7 Cs – Casual, Current, Convenient, Communal, Collective, Convivial, Confident – can help retailers create an extreme in-store experience for customers.

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. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Book Discovery Sites tab.

The above Infographic is by OnlineColleges.net.

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. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Book Discovery Sites tab.

Leadership Journal (@Leadership_Jnl) has selected 10 books as the best of 2012 to nurture ministry leaders’ souls while equipping them for more effective ministry.

The Leader’s Inner Life category:

·         Pastoral Graces: Reflections on the Care of Souls by Lee Eclov (Moody)

·         Sifted: Pursuing Growth through Trials, Challenges, and Disappointments by Wayne Cordeiro (@waynecordeiro) (Zondervan)

·         The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg (@cduhigg) (Random House)

·         Adventures in Churchland: Finding Jesus in the Mess of Organized Religion by Dan Kimball (@DanKimball) (Zondervan)

·         Dangerous Calling: The Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry by Paul Tripp (@PaulTripp) (Crossway)

The Leader's Outer Life category:

·         Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City by Tim Keller (Zondervan)

·         Deep & Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend by Andy Stanley (@AndyStanley) (Zondervan)

·         Pursuing God's Will Together: A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups by Ruth Haley Barton (@TransformingCnt) (IVP)

·         Your Church Is Too Safe: Why Following Christ Turns the World Upside-Down by Mark Buchanan (Zondervan)

·         Vision: Lost & Found: The Story of a Church That Got Stuck but Didn't Stay There by Tim Stevens (@timastevens) (Exponential)

Read this in full.

Also see our previous blogpost: “The 2013 Christianity Today Book Awards.”

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, 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. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

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

74-year-old independent Christian bookstore Baker Book House (@bakerbookstore) (blog), Grand Rapids, MI, held its ribbon cutting grand re-opening ceremony this morning, celebrating the completion of its nearly year-long 28,000-square foot reconstruction project.

Along with new Bibles, books, music, video, digital, and giftware, Baker Book House, the retail division of Baker Publishing Group (BPG) (@ReadBakerBooks) (@BakerAcademic) (@bethany_house) (@BrazosPress) (@Chosen_Books) (@RevellBooks), has an extensive inventory of used books and serious academic and theological sections.

In his remarks, Dwight Baker, president of BPG, emphasized the communal aspect of the store and how the remodeling’s objective is to make the space an inviting place for people to gather, hold meetings, and attend events (see above video).

John Topliff, general manager of Somersault, says, "The new Baker Book House truly is a dynamic store with natural light, excellent inventory, wide-enough aisles for browsing, WiFi and a cafe to make the store a third-place, a used book department, and an area for events and meetings that makes the store a valuable community-building hub. The staff is welcoming, service-oriented, and knowledgeable. This store is already a destination store and the remodeling provides more reasons for people to stop in and shop. The joy on the faces of the Baker staff was wonderful to see."

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

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

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

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

Learn about SomersaultSocial, 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. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

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

(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.

Learn about SomersaultSocial, 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. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

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