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NPR News featured a report on the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Reporter Barbara Bradley Hagerty says the King James Bible is the poetry that inspired Handel's oratorio Messiah, as well as modern musicians:

The Byrds sang from Ecclesiastes in Turn Turn Turn: proclaiming that there is “A time to be born, a time to die, A time to plant, a time to reap, A time to kill, a time to heal.” Simon and Garfunkel echoed the Gospels when they sang, “Like a bridge over troubled waters, I will lay me down.” And when Kansas voiced its existential angst — “All we are is dust in the wind” — it was inspired by the Psalms.

Listen to and read this report in full.

A national expo is being held in Washington, DC, where a congressional resolution honoring the KJV Bible will be read. Here’s an excerpt:

Whereas the King James Bible’s relevance and contributions continue to formatively influence the United States: Now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress--

(1) recognizes the 400th anniversary of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible being published;

(2) recognizes its lasting influence on countless families, individuals, and institutions in the United States; and

(3) expresses its gratitude for the influence it has bestowed upon the United States.

You may want to see photos of Thomas Nelson’s (@ThomasNelson & @NelsonBibles) historic Bible exhibit shown at the NRB convention this year. The exhibit was part of KJV400.

Also see Somersault’s Infographic of 2011, the year to celebrate the significant and life-changing milestones achieved in the areas of publishing, technology, and innovation.

An article in The New York Times (@NYTimes) describes the solution for authors who want to sign their book on someone’s ereader.  Autography LLC is a media technology firm in St Petersburg, Florida with a patent-pending method for inserting an autograph or other salutation into an ebook. This personalization can take place at the time of purchase or any time afterwards.

Here’s how an Autography eBook “signing” will work: a reader poses with the author for a photograph, which can be taken with an iPad camera or an external camera. The image immediately appears on the author’s iPad (if it’s shot with an external camera, it’s sent to the iPad via Bluetooth). Then the author uses a stylus to scrawl a digital message below the photo. When finished, the author taps a button on the iPad that sends the fan an email with a link to the image, which can then be downloaded into the ebook....

[W]ithin the year consumers should expect to see a variety of advances in digital signing, including ebooks that are sold with blank pages for that purpose. Some devices already have their own solutions, like Sony’s Reader, which enables authors to use a stylus to sign a page on its screen.

Read the article in full.

Today is singled out internationally to promote reading, publishing, and the protection of intellectual property through copyright. According to Wikipedia,

World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Days) is a yearly event on 23 April, organized by UNESCO. The Day was first celebrated in 1995.

The connection between 23 April and books was first made in 1923 by booksellers in Spain as a way to honor the author Miguel de Cervantes who died on that day.

The radio program On the Media (@onthemedia) has a segment that discusses the complexity of copyright protection and the Internt. And The Blog Herald (@blogherald) has a post on how bloggers should know the difference between copyright, patent, and trademark. 

UNESCO’s World Forum on Culture and Cultural Industries this year has as its theme “The Book Tomorrow: The Future of the Written Word.” It’ll be held June 6-8 in Monza, Milan.

What books that you publish today will contribute to character building in tomorrow’s generation?

On the Common English Bible blog, associate publisher Paul Franklyn announces that the new Common English Bible (@CommonEngBible) translation is now complete after 3 years of arduous work over hundreds of thousands of hours by more than 200 scholars, church leaders, and reading group participants. The first typesetting of the Bible is in production at the printers with copies scheduled to be shipped in August.

Read the blog post in full.

Start getting Common English Bible verses on your Facebook page.

Follow the Lenten Blog Tour to get rich daily reflections on passages from the Common English Bible.

Listen to audio samples from the Common English Bible audioBible (like you've never heard before).

National Library Week (@AtYourLibrary) (#nlw11) is the annual event to promote local libraries and the quality service they provide to their communities. Library trends of the past year are detailed in The State of America’s Libraries, 2011, just released by the American Library Association (@alanews). Here are a few highlights reported in American Libraries magazine (@amlibraries):

·         The availability of wireless Internet in public libraries is approaching 85%, and about two-thirds of them extend wireless access outside the library. Computer usage at public libraries continues to increase.

·         Almost all academic libraries offer ebooks, as do more than two-thirds of public libraries. For most libraries, ebooks are only still a small percentage of circulated items – but represent the fastest-growing segment.

·         12% of academic libraries circulate preloaded e-reading devices, while 26% are considering it. (Kindle tops the device chart at 81%, followed by Sony at 34%, iPad at 28%, and Nook at 22%.)

·         6% of school libraries circulate preloaded e-reading devices, while 36% are considering it. (The Sony Reader leads the way at 64%, Kindle followed at 47%, Nook at 15%, and iPad at 4%.)

·         5% of public libraries circulate preloaded e-reading devices, while 24% are considering it. Kindle is the leader here.

·         Among academic libraries, social sciences is the discipline most likely to offer ebooks (83%), followed by science at 82%, technology (80%), humanities (77%), medicine (69%), and law (51%).

·         In school libraries, children’s fiction top the ebook charts at 51%, followed by reference (42%), children’s nonfiction (39%), children’s picture books (34%), and young adult nonfiction (24%) and fiction (23%).

·         In public libraries, adult nonfiction leads the way (86%), with adult fiction at 84%, bestsellers at 76%, young adult fiction at 69%, and children’s fiction at 56%. Young adult nonfiction, children’s nonfiction, reference, and children’s picture books “score” less than 50%.

·         A battle over the future of widely used ebooks was joined in March, when HarperCollins announced that it will not allow its ebooks to be checked out from a library more than 26 times, raising the possibility that ebooks that are not repurchased would be available at the library for only about a year. The ALA issued its response.

Read this in full.

Rebecca Miller of Library Journal magazine (@LibraryJournal) shares 10 favorite library locations as attractions in and of themselves:

·         Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, New York Public Library, New York City

·         Fayetteville Public Library, Fayetteville, AR

·         Seattle Central Library, Seattle, WA

·         Geisel Library, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA

·         Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

·         Weippe Public Library, Weippe, ID

·         Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago Public Library, Chicago, IL

·         Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA

·         Deadwood Public Library, Deadwood, SD

·         Central Denver Public Library, Denver, CO

Read about these library locations in full.

As a publisher, agent, or author, how are you networking with your local library? Comment below.

Digital Book World (@DigiBookWorld) recently hosted the webcast “Reader Experience and E-books: What UX Experts Can Teach Publishers.” Here are a few take-aways:

• The digital reader experience isn’t just about the container, but also about the content.
• Readers should be able to control their own digital reading experience.
• Choose the right platform for the right content.
• Think about the experience through the lens of the medium. What’s important in print may not be important in digital.
• Look to textbook and academic journal publishing for lessons in how to integrate digital and multimedia components, online access, and community engagement with printed books.
• Workflow processes must change.
• Ebooks have actually restored interest in a good reading experience.
• Stay open to change.

Read this in full.

Let Somersault help you navigate 21^st century publishing. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard created especially for publishing and marketing professionals.

The New York Times (@NYTimes) reports the Digital Public Library of America (#DPLA) is still in its infancy, but it’s a concept supported by librarians from major universities and officials from the National Archives and the Library of Congress. The project’s ambitious mission, recently described in a four-page memorandum, is to “make the cultural and scientific heritage of humanity available, free of charge, to all.”

The project is playing catch up not only to Google, but also to Europe, where several countries have proceeded with large digitization projects. The European Commission has backed Europeana, (@EuropeanaEU) a website where users can search for digital copies of 15 million works of art, books, music and video held by the cultural institutions of member countries.

Read this in full.

Also see LibraryCity (@LibraryCity).

The matrix barcode known as QR (Quick Response) code that’s scanned by QR readers in smartphones to take users to websites for more information may be on its way out. Bizmology reports the change could be coming because Google has decided to support another technology.

Until recently, Google widely supported QR codes, using them in its Google Places service to allow people to use their smartphones to find business addresses, URLs, hours of operations, and more. Businesses listed on Places would often put Google-supplied decals printed with QR codes in their windows for customers to scan. Google quietly stopped using the code last month, however, in favor of a new and dynamic technology known as Near Field Communication (NFC). If the technology takes off as Google predicts, NFC may quickly supplant QR codes as advertisement vehicles and send them to the technology graveyard just as fast as they hit US shores.

So what exactly is NFC? It’s is a new type of chip that can be embedded in 2-D items like posters or cards. Similar to QR codes, NFC chips can contain product information and other data. The chips can take the form of tags, stickers, or cards. A person with a NFC-enabled smartphone could wave their phone near a poster with a NFC tag to upload the information embedded in the tag.

Read this in full.

This is an interesting development, especially in light of the recent research that US consumers like QR codes.

What will this mean for publishers who have begun using QR codes in marketing material as well as individual products?

Baptist Press (@baptistpress) reports on the surge among Christians to use mobile applications in accessing the Bible, especially in a mobile context.

There are Christian apps on every smartphone platform, but among the two most popular platforms -- Android and iPhone's iOS -- there are literally hundreds of Bible and Christian-themed apps, helping believers with everything from Scripture memorization to lesson preparation to Bible study to witnessing....

The most popular Christian app, by far, is the YouVersion Bible app (@YouVersion), developed by the multiple-site-campus church known as LifeChurch.tv.

Read this article in full. Also see “Christian Apps of the Month.”

Ministries and churches are creating their own apps to further their messages. For example, see the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (@BGEA) mobile site and its “Steps2Peace” app.

Let Somersault create a strategic app for your brand. Be sure to use daily our SomersaultNOW dashboard to remain current with the latest developments in social media marketing and digital publishing. And as long as we’re talking about mobility, be sure to regularly use Somersault’s mobile site for links to other mobile-friendly sites.

Ron Benrey (@ronbenrey), posting on the blog Fiction After 50, lays out a rational approach to the art of pricing ebooks.

At first, we couldn’t understand why someone willing to spend $18 for two movie tickets would recoil at spending 10 bucks on an ebook. After all, a movie is a one-time event, whereas an ebook can be read again and again (and, with some ereaders, lent to other people).

We then we thought some more...

1. We paid for our ebook readers (which makes an ebook more like renting a DVD than going to a first-run movie).

2. Even more important, we know that ebooks (unlike movies, library books, or paper-back books) are cheap to produce. We think it’s unfair for a publisher to charge the same price for an ebook as for a paper book.

All at once, the penny dropped (as the Brits say). We began to understand why customers might perceive three to four bucks as a fair price for an ebook. They are doing an instinctive cost analysis and realizing that an ebook selling at $2.99 and a trade paper book selling for $14.99 can net a publisher the same profits. (This is eerily close to the truth when you consider the cost of printing, transportation, distribution, warehousing, and returns.)

Simply put ... there’s no reason for a publisher to charge 15, 20, even 25 dollars for an ebook — other than a seriously overdeveloped profit motive.

Read the full post.

Do you agree with him?

You’ll also want to read his post “eBook ‘Tipping Points’”