From book patrol (@bookpatrol) and HeraldNet comes this fun photo.
What else would you cover an electrical transformer that sits in front of the Library Place apartments, and is adjacent to the Everett (Washington) Public Library, then with a book sculpture?
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Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) correspondent Judith Rosen (@Judith2dogs) reports on the conference Unbound: Speculations on the Future of the Book (#unbound) held May 3-4 at MIT.
The symposium, organized by two postdoctoral fellows in Writing and Humanistic Studies at MIT, Amaranth Borsuk (@amaranthborsuk) and Gretchen E. Henderson, lingered most on what forms the book might take.
The answer varied from Christian Bök’s (@christianbok) The Xenotext, an attempt to genetically engineer a bacterium to store a poem in its genome, to Nick Montfort’s computational poem, 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10, a one-line Commodore 64 BASIC program, to Bob Stein’s SocialBook, a post-print publishing platform that allows users to share comments and drawings on books and articles read in Web browsers.
James Reid-Cunningham, associate director for digital programs and preservation at the Boston Athenaeum, a private membership library, was the only speaker to proclaim the book dead, specifically the reference book. “Books that carry data will be dead; the phone book is already dead,” he said, and drew parallels to other “dead” technologies like the daguerreotype. Digitization may be replacing the codex, but one form that Reid-Cunningham thinks may be a future of the book is art books, which are in and of themselves works of art.
In looking at reshaping the book, Gita Manaktala (@sylviamath), editorial director of the MIT Press, the only traditional publisher on the roster, discussed the difficulties faced by scholarly presses. “Our authors live in a wiki world, where knowledge is produced quickly,” she said. Yet publishers have to figure out what content should be preserved. She also discussed the need for alternatives to peer reviews given that today’s authors put up content and solicit comments as they prepare their manuscripts.
Stein suggested that Manaktala use SocialBook, which is currently in beta, and invited her and all 240 attendees to sign up by emailing him at futureofthebook@gmail.com. The idea behind the platform, he explained, is that a book becomes a place where readers and authors can gather. “Google Docs, wikis, they’re great at letting you change the text. They’ve grafted social awkwardly on top of it. For us,” said Stein, “social is not a pizza topping, it’s the cornerstone of reading and writing.”
Also see imprint's (@printmag) "Between Page and Screen," The Institute for the Future of the Book, and Harvard’s History of the Book.
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PaidContent’s (@paidContent) Laura Hazard Owen (@laurahazardowen) reports, “New stats from the Association of American Publishers (@AmericanPublish) show that kids’ and young adult ebook sales grew by triple digits in February, while adult ebook sales appeared to flatten. But the AAP notes that’s partly due to the fact that so many adults are reading YA ebooks like the Hunger Games trilogy.”
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PBS MediaShift’s (@PBSMediaShift) Barbara E. Hernandez (@bhern) explains some alternatives to Amazon’s ebook self-publishing service.
In the ebook market, Amazon.com is the biggest name in the game. But, as criticism mounts — especially from people who believe that Amazon, and specifically, it's KDP Select Program, can hurt rather than help writers — alternatives like Smashwords (@Smashwords & @markcoker) are on the rise.
But can an independent author afford to bypass Amazon, especially when it provides so much exposure to self-published ebooks? So far, the answer isn't a clear one.
Most of Amazon's criticism comes because of the KDP Select program. For most authors at the Kindle Store, books are usually split between two prices — 99 cents and $2.99. At $2.99, Amazon's take is only 30% with 70% going to the author. At $2.98 and below, the author's take is only 35%.
But the KDP program offers more visibility on Amazon if authors agree to give their book away for free for five days during a 90-day period. The author must also sell exclusively at the Kindle store for those 90 days. While the subject is a hot topic on the Kindle boards, many authors are already a part of the program in hopes of getting momentum and their title climbing the Kindle charts.
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The surprise of finding a unique, fun, and relevant book in the glove compartment of your new car is still a delight, even (or especially?) in this digital ebook age.
In a promotional campaign introducing Volkswagen's Up! (@vw_up & @volkswagen_up) small car to the UK, drivers get a special treat when they find The Narrow Roads of Britain, a handsomely illustrated glove-box-size book that highlights 18 of the thinnest thoroughfares in Britain, from urban tunnels to country lanes — perfect for the Up! to slip through. GPS coordinates appear on each page, along with photos by Harry Cory Wright (@Harrycorywright).
The Inspiration Room (@InspirationRoom) reports on another innovative use of a printed book: "Land Rover Edible Desert Survival Guide." The agency Y&R Dubai (@yrdubai) created a book with helpful advice in the event of an emergency in the desert and used it to promote Land Rover (@LandRover) to existing owners, gave it away as a supplement to the car's manual, and made it available in sports shops.
It was made out of edible ink and paper, and it had a nutritional value close to that of a cheeseburger.
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Digital Book World (@DigiBookWorld) editorial director Jeremy Greenfield (@JDGsaid) postulates on what the Microsoft/B&N deal could mean to book publishing:
Imagine a Windows-powered Nook Tablet (@nookBN) that breaks the iOS and Android stranglehold on the mobile device market.
Imagine turning a PowerPoint slide deck into an enhanced ebook and distributing it to a dozen e-booksellers with the press of a button.
Imagine a book discovery engine built into every version of Internet Explorer and connected to one of the world’s leading e-bookstores.
These are the dreams that book industry players were having last night as the news sunk in of a sweeping new partnership between tech giant Microsoft and the second-leading US e-bookseller, Barnes & Noble.
In “B&N and Microsoft: Why It's Not About Ebooks,” Joe Wikert (@jwikert), general manager, publisher, and chair of the Tools of Change conference (@toc) says, “Success in this venture will not be measured by sales of ebooks. Microsoft should instead use this as an opportunity to create an end-to-end consumer experience that rivals Apple's and has the advertising income potential to make Google jealous.”
It makes sense that B&N wants to keep improving its Nook Tablet. According to a new BISG (@BISG) study, dedicated e-readers are losing their hold, paving the way for publishers to introduce richer ebook content on multi-function tablet devices.
In another B&N development, Laura Hazard Owen (@laurahazardowen) reports on GigaOM (@gigaom) that the Nook will soon be used for more than reading ebooks.
On the heels of yesterday’s news that Microsoft is investing $300 million in Barnes & Noble’s Nook and college businesses, B&N CEO William Lynch says that the company plans to embed NFC (near field communication) chips into Nooks. Users could take their Nook into a Barnes & Noble store and wave it near a print book to get info on it or buy it.
That could help someone gain quick information on their Nook about a book, making it easy to go from browsing to buying. Consumers could also choose to just buy a printed book in the store with the additional information gleaned from the Nook. The model would help ensure that showrooming leads to sales through Barnes & Noble, whether users ultimately purchase a print or ebook, instead of sending them online and possibly Amazon.
In these fast-changing times, contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish and market your content.
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Recognizing “the absolute highest quality in Christian books based on excellence in content, literary quality, design, and impact,” the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (@ecpa) has announced the winners for the 2012 Christian Book Awards (@CBAwards & @ChristianBkExpo). Presented annually since 1978, the Christian Book Awards honor titles in 7 categories: Bibles, Bible Reference, Non-Fiction, Fiction, Children, Inspiration, and New Author.
Five finalists are selected in each category following a stringent judging process by judging panels specially selected for each category. The top scoring book in each category is named the Christian Book Award winner. The Christian Book of the Year is chosen among the finalists to represent Christian publishing's highest quality and greatest impact for 2012.
The Christian Book Award winners and Christian Book of the Year were announced at the ECPA Awards Banquet in Chicago, IL, April 30th.
ECPA also announced the winners of the Jordon Lifetime Achievement Award: Gary & Carol Johnson and John R. W. Stott.
The 2012 Christian Book of the Year
Nearing Home by Billy Graham (@BGEA) (Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson))
Bibles
ESV Student Study Bible (Crossway (@CrosswayBooks))
Bible Reference
Dictionary of Christian Spirituality by Glen G. Scorgie (Zondervan (@Zondervan))
Children
The Story for Children, A Storybook Bible by Max Lucado (@MaxLucado), Randy Frazee (@RandyFrazee), and Karen Davis Hill (Zonderkidz (@Zonderkidz))
Fiction
The Queen by Steven James (@sjamesauthor) (Revell (@RevellBooks) / Baker Publishing Group (@ReadBakerBooks))
New Author
Love Amid the Ashes by Mesu Andrews (@MesuAndrews) (Revell (@RevellBooks) / Baker Publishing Group (@ReadBakerBooks))
Non-Fiction
Close Enough to Hear God Breathe by Greg Paul (Thomas Nelson (@ThomasNelson))
Inspiration
The Law of Happiness by Dr. Henry Cloud (@DrHenryCloud) (Howard Books (@Howard_Books))
Also see our previous blogposts, “ECPA Announces 2012 Christian Book Award Finalists” and “2012 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award Winners Announced.”
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Here’s the latest disrupter in the education field. TED (@TEDNews & @tedtalks) curator Chris Anderson (@TEDchris) announced yesterday that “after more than a year of planning and dreaming, we're finally launching our new TED-Ed website (@TED_ED), whose goal is to offer teachers a thrilling new way to use video.”
...the goal is to allow any teacher to take a video of their choice (yes, any video on YouTube, not just ours) and make it the heart of a “lesson” that can easily be assigned in class or as homework, complete with context, follow-up questions, and further resources.
This platform also allows users to take any useful educational video, not just TED’s, and easily create a customized lesson around the video. Users can distribute the lessons, publicly or privately, and track their impact on the world, a class, or an individual student.
In recent years at TED, we've become enamored of a strategy we call “radical openness”: Don't try to do big things yourself. Instead empower others to do them with you.
This has served us well. Sharing TEDTalks free online has built a global community of idea seekers and spreaders. Opening up our transcripts has allowed 7500 volunteers to translate the talks into 80+ languages. And giving away the TEDx brand in the form of free licenses, has spawned more than 4000 TEDx events around the world.
So it's natural that we would look to this approach as we embark on our education initiative.
Also see The Atlantic’s (@TheAtlantic) article by Megan Garber (@megangarber), “The Digital Education Revolution, Cont’d: Meet TED-Ed’s New Online Learning Platform.”
Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you take advantage of new technology to publish and market your brand’s message.
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With the objective to promote reading, publishing, and the protection of intellectual property through copyright, UNESCO (@unescoNOW) has declared today World Book and Copyright Day.
23 April is a symbolic date for world literature, since 23 April 1616 was the date of death of Cervantes, Shakespeare, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. 23 April is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors such as Maurice Druon, K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla, and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.
This is why UNESCO chose this date to pay a worldwide tribute to books and their authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and to gain a renewed respect for the extraordinary contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.
The idea for this celebration originated in Catalonia (Spain) where it has become a tradition to give a rose as a gift for each book purchased.
The year 2012 also marks the 80th anniversary of the Index Translationum, an international bibliography of translations. Search the online database.
Also see the World Digital Library (@WDLorg), the International Children’s Digital Library, the Internet Public Library (@theipl), the Library of Congress (@librarycongress), and the United States Copyright Office (@CopyrightOffice).
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Schools.com (@schoolsEDU) has created the above Infographic to show that nearly half of all Americans get some form of local news on a mobile device, and 46% of people get their news online at least 3 times a week. Online news sources officially surpassed print newspapers in ad revenue in 2010. Thanks to social media, we're getting news as it happens — sometimes even before news organizations have a chance to report it.
Also see our previous blogpost, "Infographic: Pew's State of the News Media 2012."
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