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This article in The New York Times (@nytimes) says, “It used to be like clockwork in the book business: first the hardcover edition was released, then, about one year later, the paperback.”

But in an industry that has been upended by the growth of ebooks, publishers are moving against convention by pushing paperbacks into publication earlier than usual, sometimes less than six months after they appeared in hardcover....

Publishers say they have a new sense of urgency with the paperback, since the big, simultaneous release of hardcover and electronic editions now garners a book the bulk of the attention it is likely to receive, leaving the paperback relatively far behind. They may also be taking their cues from Hollywood, where movie studios have trimmed marketing costs by steadily closing the gap between the theatrical release of films and their arrival on DVD....

The entire publishing life cycle has sped up in recent years. Hardcovers have less time to prove themselves in bookstores, since retailers tend to move them off the shelves more quickly than they used to. Ebook sales are usually strong in the initial period after the publication date but do not spike again after the paperback comes out, said Terry Adams, the digital and paperback publisher for Little, Brown & Company (@littlebrown). 

Read this in full.

How have you had to adjust your publishing pipeline in this digital age?

An article in The Daily Beast / Newsweek (@thedailybeast) by Malcolm Jones profiles the fabulous new children’s ebook The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (@MorrisLessmore) by Moonbot Studios LA, LLC (@moonbotstudios). It says the ebook “embraces the potential of the iPad like nothing else.”

Dumped into a black-and-white landscape littered with wreckage, Morris Lessmore encounters a savior of sorts, who tosses him a flying book that leads him to a library set out in the countryside. Here he takes up residence, learns to care for the thousands of books he lives with and begins to write down his own story, an effort that takes him all his life.

In every scene, the viewer has to help move the action along — speeding up the wind that carries Morris away, spinning the house on which he flies through the storm, spelling out words in the cereal bowl with which Morris feeds the books (cereal like Alphabits, of course). But the interaction is not merely some computer form of a pop-up book. Besides spelling words, you can play a piano keyboard and make the books dance, and if you don’t want narration, you can mute it, and if you don’t want text, you can remove that, too. You can’t change the story, but the app designers have nevertheless found ways to make you feel very much a part of the story.

On the Morris Lessmore website it says

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation), award-winning author/illustrator William Joyce and co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and M-G-M Technicolor musicals.

Read this in full.

A one-paragraph summary of the article is here.

Is this a game-changer in the production of ebooks? How will your publishing plans change as a result? Let Somersault help.

This chart by AdAge (@adage) shows that the generation coming up after the millennials – the iGen – is quickly consuming content digitally. Technology isn't skipping this generation, it's being handed down from mother to child. The data come from an annual survey by Parenting Group, the publisher of Parenting, Babytalk, and Parenting.com (@parenting), and the BlogHer (@BlogHer) network.

The generational breakdown is striking. Across the board, younger moms are passing technology along to their kids at an early age. This might not seem too surprising, given the Gen-Y embrace of technology. But when you consider that many of the youngest Gen-X moms are still having their first kids, whereas many millennials are putting off having kids, the adoption rates of technology start to blur.

Digging deeper into the data we see that the percent of moms who haven't let their children use a smartphone corresponds roughly to the percent of moms who don't have a smartphone themselves. We suspect that moms who haven't let their 2-year-olds use a smartphone likely got a smartphone when their kids were already older than that. Crazy, eh? Looking at stats for more-established technologies would seem to confirm that. The Gen-Xers and Boomer moms -- who are more likely to have older kids -- do show a higher overall rate of having passed the laptop or non-smartphone to their children of all ages.

The sweet spots for majority-usage looks like this: Mobile phone, age 11; smartphones, age 16; laptop/PC, age 4; digital camera, age 5.

Overall, the study finds that nearly three-quarters of moms with Internet access can't go a day without it. One in four report letting their kids use a mobile phone by age 2. We wonder when the ability to hit the home button, swipe to unlock and find an app will become a recognized developmental milestone -- maybe somewhere between walking and multi-word sentences.

Read this in full.

See the complete survey results in a PowerPoint presentation by BlogHer.

Also read our previous blogposts, "Motherhood Sends Moms to Smartphones" and "CyberTots: Pre-teens Drive iPad Purchases, Join Social Networks."

How does this information influence your publishing strategy for the next 12 months? The next 5 years?

Tim Carmody (@tcarmody) of WIRED’s (@wired) Epicenter (@epicenterblog) in a commentary on CNN.com (@cnn) bemoans how ebook innovation is being stymied by big business. An example he sites is Push Pop Press (@pushpoppress), an e-publishing startup founded by ex-Apple engineers Mike Matas (@mike_matas) and Kimon Tsinteris (@kimon), being acquired by Facebook.

Push Pop published one multimedia book for the iPad, Al Gore's Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis [see Somersault’s blogpost about it, “A Next-generation Digital Book”]....

At that time, Push Pop...sought to create a ‘publishing platform for authors, publishers and artists to turn their books into interactive iPad or iPhone apps -- no programming skills required.’

Facebook has no interest in publishing interactive ebooks. According to Push Pop, ‘there are no plans to continue publishing new titles or building out our publishing platform that was in private beta.’ ....

We sorely need independent innovation in digital publishing. We need talented people who are willing to try things. Meanwhile, all of the money, attention, and technological skill is marching in the opposite direction.

Most big media companies with plenty of capital and deep technical talent see few if any reasons to innovate or invest in books....

The ideas are there; the talent is there; the readers are there. But when the three come together, inevitably someone else can figure out a way to use the technology for a different end. The better and more experimental it is, the more likely this is true.

Read this in full.

Do you agree or disagree?

The American Magazine Study, conducted by Affinity Research, reports that, along with 84% of US adults owning at least one computer, distinct generational skews exist in the profiles of eReader, tablet PC, and smartphone owners. It says, “These findings are important for companies marketing mobile devices to Millennials, Gen-Xers, and Baby Boomers, as well as those creating content and advertising targeted at these unique generational segments.”

Boomers are the most likely buyers of eReaders

·         More than 8.2 million Boomers currently own an eReader, while more than 10 million plan to purchase the device in the next six months.

·         More than 9 out of 10 Boomers (92%) use the device at home, 13% at work, and 36% power up their eReaders while on the go.

·         Similar to the national trend, female Boomers are 11% more likely to own an eReader than their male counterparts.

Gen-Xers are the most likely buyers of Tablet PCs

·         More than 9% of Gen-Xers currently own a tablet PC, while 24% - or almost 21 million - have plans to purchase the device.

·         56% of Gen-X tablet owners actively share their devices with others.

·         Gen-Xers with a household income of $100,000 or more are 63% more likely to own a tablet PC than their generational peers.

Millennials are the most likely buyers of Smartphones

·         54% - or more than 25 million Millennials - currently own a smartphone, and 18% plan to purchase one within the next six months.

·         63% of Millennials use their smartphones at work, while 95% report that they are the sole users of the device.

·         Millennials who have graduated college are 23% more likely to own a smartphone than others in their generation.

Read the news release.

Read the study in full.

What does this study mean for your publishing strategy? Let Somersault help.

This video on Kottke.org (@Kottke) shows that back before print on demand, laser printers, and the Internet, printing was a time-consuming laborious process, that took teams of people working together to produce just one book. Amazing to watch and reflect on just how revolutionary digital publishing is!

A story in eWeek (@eWEEKNews) says tablet shipments will outpace those of e-readers by 2012, according to a new report by research firm In-Stat (@instat).

E-readers still offer the truest reading experience and appeal most to avid readers, but a broader market of consumers are demanding multimedia functionality, like Web browsing, video, and gaming, in their next mobile device. Tablets, like the Apple iPad, are optimized to deliver this kind of multifunction experience, and therefore, represent a stronger opportunity for suppliers and manufacturers alike.

“Of the two, the tablet market is the stronger and more sustainable opportunity,” Stephanie Ethier, an In-Stat senior analyst, wrote in a June 20 research note. “In fact, e-reader manufacturers will soon begin adding tablet-like devices to their lineups in order to take advantage of the tablet frenzy. Barnes & Noble already offers the Color Nook, which is often compared with a tablet, and Amazon, the leader in the e-reader space with its Kindle, will likely launch a tablet device later this year in an effort to compete head-to-head with the iPad.”

According to the research

• 38% of respondents own a tablet, compared to 26% who own an e-reader.
• Fueled by low prices and continued expansion of ebook content, global e-reader shipments will reach 40 million by 2015.
• Tablet shipments will outpace e-reader shipments.
• Over 60% of future tablet purchasers plan to buy a tablet equipped with both Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity
• By 2015, 15% of all tablet shipments will go into business markets.

Read the complete eWeek article. Read the news release in full.

You’ll also want to read “Tablet Computing Is Here To Stay, And Will Force Changes In Laptops And Phones” at Fast Company‘s (@fastcompany) Co.Design (@fastcodesign).

Content delivery systems are changing. Are your publishing plans ready for it? Talk to Somersault (@smrsault).

A new report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project (@pewinternet) concludes that 12% of US adults own an ebook reader as of May 2011, up from 6% in November 2010.

Hispanic adults, adults younger than age 65, college graduates and those living in households with incomes of at least $75,000 are most likely to own ebook readers. Parents are also more likely than non-parents to own these devices.

Tablet computers have not seen the same level of growth among US adults in recent months. As of May 2011, 8% of adults report owning a tablet computer such as an iPad, Samsung Galaxy, or Motorola Xoom. This represents just a 3 percentage-point increase in ownership since November 2010. Overall, the highest rates of tablet ownership are among Hispanic adults and those with household incomes of at least $75,000 annually.

Read the report in full.

Also see MediaPost's (@MediaPost) "Tablet, E-reader Owners Also Print Junkies." It says

tablet owners are 66% more likely than the average US adult to be big print magazine consumers and 54% more likely to be heavy print newspaper readers. Similarly, e-reader owners are 23% more likely to be print magazine enthusiasts and 63% more likely to get newsprint on their hands.

One popular e-reader is Barnes & Noble’s (@BNBuzz) new touchscreen Nook (@nookBN). You’ll want to read Rick Mansfield’s (@thislamp) detailed review of it (he likes it).

The Business & Books (@businessnbooks) section of the International Business Times reports on "Harry Potter" series author J. K. Rowling announcing she will release for the first time the Harry Potter works in ebook form.

Ordinarily, that would not be big news, an author releasing traditional books in ebook format. But Rowling is taking a different path, releasing and selling the books herself through a new website she named Pottermore (@pottermore). In other words, Rowling, one of the bestselling authors in the history of the world, is bypassing not just one traditional channel with her plan but two -- the publisher and the retailer…. Rowling will be bypassing leading ebook distributors Amazon and Barnes and Noble with the direct, do-it-herself model.

All of Rowling's 7 "Harry Potter" books will be released on Pottermore.com in the fall. She's even giving fans who buy the digital books direct from her site a magical treat -- 18,000 more words that will be distributed throughout the series. So it's not just the Harry Potter of old she's selling, but also the new and revised Harry Potter fans can find at Pottermore.com.

Read this report in full.

Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) says "Although some are likely to see Rowling's decision to be her own publisher for her ebooks as a significant one for the industry at large, Potter is a unique franchise. 'Everything is different with Harry,' says one person involved with the Potter books."

Read the Publishers Weekly article in full.

Shelf Awareness (@ShelfAwareness) reports what other media and booksellers are saying. And Fast Company (@FastCompany) has this Infographic about the Potter empire.

Mike Shatzkin (@MikeShatzkin) says, “It never took me much time to find what I wanted to read next until I started reading ebooks.”

Just about every new book I’d want to read is available for my device of choice (the iPhone) and the digitization of the backlist just carries on going deeper and deeper into publishers’ repositories.

But the merchandising, at least for somebody who shops on the iPhone (it’s a bit better through the ereading devices or PCs), leaves a lot to be desired. My shopping experiences are actually a bit of a random walk. I ask my ebook retailer to show me books by category and, since my categories don’t change much (and haven’t since I was a kid) I tend to see the same books over and over again, far too many of which I have already read....

A short time ago I was shopping for my next read on the iPhone. I started out shopping with Kindle (@AmazonKindle) and then Nook (@nookBN) and a few minutes on each of their mobile sites didn’t turn up anything that moved me. Then at Google Ebooks (@googlebooks) I found Making of the President 1968 by Theodore White. That was definitely one I wanted to read. I bought it and I’m in the middle of it.

There is no particular guarantee that I’ll find my next book on Google. I haven’t found any clear pattern yet among the four stores I shop regularly (Kobo (@kobo) being the fourth). Obviously, if I know I want to read another James Patterson or John Locke thriller, any of them would deliver it to me quickly and painlessly in response to a search. It is when I am hunting by subject that the search returns seem to be pot luck. I’m probably not making it any easier on the retailers by spreading my shopping around; if any of them actually did have a good engine to take my purchasing and reading profile and make the next great recommendation, I’d be screwing it up by spreading around my data.

All of this underscores how difficult is the challenge being faced by Bookish in the US and aNobii (@aNobii) in the UK, two “find what to read next” sites financed by major publishers. And they join a long line of sites that have tried to build recommendations and community conversation around what people are reading: Goodreads (@goodreads), Shelfari (@shelfari), LibraryThing, (@LibraryThing), and the new ebook platform, Copia (@TheCopia).

Read this article in full.

Other book sharing websites Mike doesn’t mention, but you may want to check out, are BookRabbit (@thebookrabbit) and ShelfLuv (@shelfluv).

What are some ways publishers and etailers should help consumers effectively find ebooks?