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Dwight Silverman (@dsilverman), tech blogger/columnist and blog editor for the Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron), says, “The book business is not changing fast enough.... Most of the changes still involve readers paying a publisher for one book, written by an author. Digital formats can enable more creative and reader-friendly innovations. Here are five things I'd like to see book publishers and retailers do that would really kick off a reading revolution.”

·         Let me subscribe to my favorite authors….

·         Keep books updated for one price….

·         Buy a print copy, get an electronic copy, too….

·         Give more of my money to authors….

·         Indie bookstores should sell ebooks….

Read this in full.

Bookmark and use daily our (@smrsault) SomersaultNOW online dashboard created especially for publishing and marketing executives.

A CNET (@CNET) article by Eric Mack (@EricCMack) reports on a new tablet poll by Maritz Research (@MaritzResearch) that simplifies the tablet market into 4 types of tablet customers based on the responses – low-end buyers, newcomers, single-minded buyers, and tablet-committed buyers. Statistically, 3 of the 4 types are dominated by women.

In other words, the profile of the average low-end buyer, tablet newcomer, and single-minded buyer (someone only interested in one particular tablet, most often the iPad) are all women in their 40s.

Single-minded buyers (21%): 60% female, average age is 41. iPad-only. Little familiarity with other brands, 78% purchasing the Apple iPad. 40% make purchase decision within 2 weeks.

Tablet-committed buyers (44%): 56% male, average age is 38. Highly aware of 3 or more brands, open to purchasing any brand. 58% purchasing iPad. 34% make purchase decision within 2 weeks.

Newcomers (13%): 60% female, average age is 46 and 29% over 55. Know Tablet brand names, but nothing else. 58% purchasing the iPad. 28% purchase within 2 weeks.

Low-end buyers (22%): 54% women, average age is 41, buy tablets based on price, want to spend less than $250, 45% purchasing the Amazon Kindle Fire, 39% make purchase decision within 2 weeks.

The household income of all four groups is roughly around $70,000 on average. Even the low-end buyers don't have a much lower average household income, at $62,000 a year.

Read this in full.

Read the poll in full.

Also see our previous blogpost, “New Study Reveals Generational Differences in Mobile Device Usage.”

Bookmark and use daily our SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Research tab.

Jeff Sonderman (@jeffsonderman), digital media fellow at The Poynter Institute (@Poynter ), suggests that ebooks are causing change not only in traditional book publishing; they’re also causing a shift in news journalism. Here are lessons he offers:

·         Shorten the production cycle.

·         Crime and politics are popular topics.

·         Different price points.

·         Need to add value.

·         Don’t forget print books.

Read this in full.

Along the same lines, Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) is launching Christianity Today Essentials, a new series of “natural length ebooks,” described by editor-in-chief David Neff (@dneff) as content “longer than a longish magazine article, yet significantly shorter than the typical print book.” He says, “The format allows you, the reader, to go deeper and learn more than you could from a magazine article, without committing the time or money demanded by a full-length book.”

Leadership Network (@leadnet) is beginning a new series of "natural length experiences" under the brand Leadia (@leadiatalk). "Each piece is limited to 10,000 words and has live links to audio, video, and websites." A Leadia app is available for iPhones and iPads.

And Patheos.com (@Patheos) is starting Patheos Press, a "publisher of original ebooks."

Also read our blogpost, "Ebooks are the New Pamphlets."

As for changes in how news is reported, Meghan Peters (@petersmeg), Mashable's (@mashable) community manager, assesses in “6 Game-Changing Digital Journalism Events of 2011” the progress for online journalism in 2011, from breaking news curation to new revenue models:

1. Paywalls Find Their Footing

2. NPR’s Andy Carvin Proves the Value of Social Network Newsgathering

3. Journalists Flock to Google+

4. Mobile Gets Competitive

5. Facebook Makes Personal Branding Easier

6. The Pulitzer Goes Digital

Read this in full.

And just for fun, here’s a video of what the help desk would look like back in the day when print books overtook scrolls.

Stay current with news about the publishing world by bookmarking Somersault’s (@smrsault) SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Parable and Mardel launched in partnership with Ingram/Spring Arbor’s digital services division, joining Berean and Christian Supply. Signature Websites launched its ebook capabilities in a partnership with eChristian (@eChristianInc), formerly Christianaudio.com. Other independent bookstores sell ebooks in partnership with Google eBooks.

Ebook selling in brick-and-mortar stores is a main topic at CBA’s Next 2012: Meeting the Challenge, an event in cooperation with Atlanta’s AmericasMart (@AmericasMartATL) gift mart show Jan. 12-13.

Read this in full.

Ebook sales in general continue to grow. For the first 10 months of 2011, ebook sales were up 131.1%, to $807.7 million.

As for physical books, according to Nielsen BookScan (@NielsenWire), sales of print books in the stores it covers totaled 12.0 million the week ending Nov. 27 and then jumped to 15.5 million units the week ending Dec. 4. The following week, units rose again, to 18.6 million, and increased 26% the week of Dec. 18, to 23.4 million.

Compared to the same week in 2010, unit sales the week of Dec. 18 were down 14%, with the closing of Borders and the growth of ebook sales likely the two biggest factors in the decline. During the last week, print backlist was doing better than frontlist, with backlist sales down 9% compared to a year ago and frontlist off 19%.

Read this in full.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you navigate the churning waters of 21^st century publishing. And remember to bookmark and use daily our SomersaultNOW online dashboard of news and information from more than 300 sources.

The New York Times Company Research & Development Lab (@nytlabs) has built an interactive mirror, called Reveal, that displays headlines, the weather, and even a current outside view, so you can stay up-to-the-minute while brushing your teeth.

As the physical world becomes increasingly digital, computing is becoming more connected to our physical selves

We've designed Reveal to explore how the relationship between information and the self is evolving and how media content from The New York Times (@nytimes) and others might play a part.

It uses a special semi-reflective glass surface, so that

users of the mirror are able to see both a normal reflection of the real world as well as overlaid, high-contrast graphics. We've dubbed this "augmented reflection." Conceptually, the idea is that our mirror can reveal the halos of data around real-world objects, including ourselves.

Envisioned as a key fixture in your home, the mirror uses face recognition to call up personalized data, including health stats, a calendar, news feeds, and other information relevant to your morning routine. Voice commands switch between views, and gestures (via an embedded Kinect) activate content, including fullscreen video messages from other mirror users. An RFID-enabled shelf responds to objects that are placed on it, such as medications and personal care products, revealing personalized data. The mirror will recognize certain behaviors, such as when you schedule a trip or fail to get enough exercise, and recommend contextually-relevant content. If you're interested, you can tap your phone on the mirror to sync the article for reading on the run or on our Surface Reader application.

Read this in full.

How will this type of innovation affect other content creators, such as you? What ideas does this prompt for you as you consider your publishing agenda and how your consumers will interact with your content?

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you navigate the churning waters that make up 21st century publishing.

Be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Futurist news tab.

The goal was to explore what could be done in a fast-changing environment. Rather than whining about the loss of the status quo, I thought it would be interesting to help invent a new status quo and learn some things along the way. Here are a few of my takeaways:

Permission is still the most important and valuable asset of the Web (and of publishing). The core group of 50,000 subscribers to the Domino blog made all the difference in getting the word out and turning each of our books into a bestseller. It still amazes me how few online merchants and traditional publishers (and even authors) have done the hard work necessary to create this asset. If you're an author in search of success and you don't pursue this with singleminded passion, you're making a serious error.

Godin says, “permission” doesn’t mean “might be interested;” it means that “if you didn’t show up, they would want to know where you were.”

Read this in full.

In its article “Is Seth Godin Right About Book Publishing?,” Digital Book World (@DigiBookWorld) says

The book business, for its part, is listening to Godin. The many industry experts we spoke with today read what Godin has written and followed The Domino Project closely in its short life. They praised him for his insights and agreed with many of his ideas – or, at least the general gist. In addition to building their own “tribes” and gathering “permission,” the book business still has other ways of selling books.

Read this in full.

Another DBW article, “Hachette Document Explains Why Publishers Are Relevant,” reports on Hachette Book Group’s (@HachetteBooks) (multiple Twitter streams) response to Godin in a document it circulated to its employees, which begins:

“Self-publishing” is a misnomer.

Publishing requires a complex series of engagements, both behind the scenes and public facing. Digital distribution (which is what most people mean when they say self-publishing) is just one of the components of bringing a book to market and helping the public take notice of it.

It goes on to say publishers are important because they offer an array of services to authors: Curator, Venture Capitalist, Sales and Distribution Specialist, and Brand Builder and Copyright Watchdog.

Read this in full.

You may also be interested in reading how Thad McIlroy (@ThadMcIlroy), of The Future of Publishing, reacts to Godin’s announcement in terms of allowing libraries to lend ebooks.

Stay up-to-date in the world of publishing news by bookmarking and using daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard of more than 300 links and RSS feeds specifically for publishing and marketing professionals.

This article for independent ebook authors on The Savvy Book Marketer (@bookmarketer) by Mark Coker (@markcoker), founder of ebook distributor Smashwords, says “it’s important to consider price as only one of several factors that influence a reader’s purchase decision. We have many free ebooks that earn few downloads, and many priced books that get more paid downloads than some of the freebies. In the end, if a book doesn’t honor the reader with a great read, you can’t pay a reader to read it.” Coker says the pricing decision should be made within the context of these other important factors:

1.  Length
2.  Reader passion
3.  Author platform
4.  Reader trust
5.  Series or not
6.  Author marketing
7.  Perceived value
8.  Platform building or harvesting?

Read this in full.

A separate article on The Shatzkin Files is for established publishers. “The ebook value chain is still sorting itself out, and so are the splits” by Mike Shatzkin (@MikeShatzkin) examines how publishing pricing strategy and author royalties are dramatically changing in light of the digital revolution.

Right now for ebooks we have two “standards” for the publisher-retailer division of revenue. For agency publishers across all retailers and for all publishers selling to (or perhaps we should, with respect for the agency logic, say “through”) Apple, the retailer share is 30% of the purchasing customer’s payment for the ebook, or the publisher’s “digital retail price.” For non-agency publishers selling to everybody else but Apple, the normal offer is 50% off the publishers “suggested retail price”....

What if one retailer (B&N? Kobo? Google?) were to offer publishers a deal where a discounted version of an ebook were offered through them on a temporary exclusive — say, the first 60 days the ebook was out — during which they would help subsidize the discount by taking a smaller percentage themselves during the promotion. Would publishers find it tempting to accept such an arrangement to poke a hole in the 30% standard?....

Read this in full.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you establish your ebook publishing and pricing strategy. And use the SomersaultNOW online dashboard to stay current with publishing news.

Matthew Richtel (@mrichtel) and Julie Bosman (@julie_bosman) write in their New York Times article that print books “have a tenacious hold on a particular group: children and toddlers. Their parents are insisting this next generation of readers spend their early years with old-fashioned books.”

This is the case even with parents who themselves are die-hard downloaders of books onto Kindles, iPads, laptops, and phones. They freely acknowledge their digital double standard, saying they want their children to be surrounded by print books, to experience turning physical pages as they learn about shapes, colors, and animals.

Parents also say they like cuddling up with their child and a book, and fear that a shiny gadget might get all the attention. Also, if little Joey is going to spit up, a book may be easier to clean than a tablet computer.

Read this in full.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you identify and understand your consumers. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard designed especially for publishing and marketing executives.

In multiple articles and videos, PBS’ MediaShift (@mediatwit) describes how digital technology is disrupting the book industry. “The rise of ebooks is poised to overtake sales of print books soon, and people are reading books on Kindles, iPads, Nooks and more. Plus, the equation for authors is changing, as they get more tools to go around traditional publishers and go the self-publishing route.”

In "Ebook Publishers Must Provide Flexible Access to Avoid Media Hell," Dorian Benkoil (@dbenk) says

Trying to consume an ebook can be an infuriating experience.

Consumers like me want to enjoy the digital version of a book when, where and how we want. We love to be able to read it from multiple screens, search it automatically, share annotations, even have the text read aloud as we drive or do dishes.

In theory that's the promise of the new world of book publishing. But in practice, we're blocked at many turns and end up looking for other solutions. For publishers and booksellers, that's not a good thing, and can even be quite costly.

Read the article in full.

Other articles in the series are:

• “The Book Publishing Industry of the Future: It's All About Content” by Felicia Pride
• “5 Reasons Ebooks Are Awesome, Even for the Very Reluctant” by Jenny Shank
• “How a Novelist Bypassed His Publisher and Raised $11,000 on Kickstarter” by Simon Owens
• “5Across: Beyond the Book - Ebooks and Self-Publishing,” a video roundtable discussion moderated by Mark Glaser
• “Is Amazon Short-Changing Authors?” by Jon Peters
• “Mediatwits #25: The 800 Pound Gorilla of Ebooks: Amazon,” an audio podcast hosted by Mark Glaser and Rafat Ail

See the “Beyond the Book” special report section.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you navigate the churning waters that are 21^st century publishing.

The Infographic below is from the report, Publishing in the Digital Era (pdf), by Bain & Company (@BainAlerts). From the introduction:

The written word — incised in clay, inked with a quill, printed on presses or transmitted as electronic bits in email — has always been at the heart of capturing and disseminating human knowledge.

Now it’s moving to dedicated e-readers, multipurpose tablets, and other digital devices that could be in the hands of 15% to 20% of the developed world’s population by 2015.

This new format will trigger a profound change in the publishing ecosystem and spark new trends in content creation itself....

Whatever the sector, the emergence of new reading devices suggests an interesting evolution in writing itself. Creating long-term value will not come from simply reformatting print content into digital words. Rather, the greatest opportunity lies in experimenting with such new formats as nonlinear, hybrid, interactive and social content, electronic modes that add motion, sound, and direct reader interactions through technologies [discussed in the report].

Read this report in full (pdf).

The above Infographic is by Visual Loop (@visualoop).