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New findings from a Nielsen (@NielsenWire) online survey of respondents from 56 countries:

·         Nearly half (49%) have purchased a product online.

·         46% have used social media to help make purchase decisions.

·         37% purchase from online-only stores most frequently.

·         1 in 5 global respondents plan to purchase electronic books and digital newspaper and magazine subscriptions in the next 3 to 6 months.

·         The online purchase intent of hard copy books and physical subscriptions declined from 44% in 2010 to 33% this year.

·         Categories with growing global purchase intent include computer/game software (+18%), entertainment tickets (+10%), computer/game hardware (+6%), video/music production (+5%), cars/motorcycle and accessories (+4%) and apparel/accessories/shoes/jewelry (+1%).

·         More than one-quarter (26%) of global respondents plan to purchase food and beverage products via an online connected device in the next 3 to 6 months — a jump from 18% reported in 2010.

Also see the Infographic “The Pre-Purchase Habits of Shoppers” and our previous blogposts, “Why Shopping Will Never Be the Same” and “Tablets Change Shopping, Media Habits.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help digitally publish and market your content.

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The above Infographic, based on research from the My Hope with Billy Graham (@BGEA) outreach campaign, depicts statistics of the average American neighborhood of 100 people.

How might this information shape your publishing agenda? Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you.

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

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.

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 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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In TIME magazine (@TIME), Katy Steinmetz (@katysteinmetz) reports, “In recent years, several neologisms have achieved widespread usage thanks to technology and social media.” Consider:

hat tip, n.: in online contexts, used as an acknowledgement that someone has brought a piece of information to the writer’s attention

tweeps, pl. n.: a person’s followers on the social networking site Twitter

lolz, pl. n.: an expression of fun, laughter, or amusement; used especially online.

All three of these are now found in the Oxford Dictionaries Online (@OxfordWords). Other additions highlight trends that have become widespread, such as photobombing–spoiling a photograph by suddenly appearing in the camera’s field of view as the picture is taken….

Our modern taste for word-shortening is also on display, with additions such as ridic, an abbreviation for ridiculous, and UI, an abbreviation for user interface. And the ODO gives those maniacally laughing villains the recognition they’ve sought these many years, with mwahahaha finally getting a nod.

Read this in full.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you select the right words in your writing craft and to connect you with readers.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, created especially for publishing and marketing professionals.