somersault

It’s no secret that book publishing is changing at high speed. So fast, in fact, you may have missed Seth Godin’s announcement about his new publishing partnership with Amazon. Together they’ve created the publishing imprint “The Domino Project” to publish an initial list of 6 titles using Amazon’s new “Powered By Amazon” publishing program. Powered by Amazon enables authors to use Amazon's global distribution, multiple format production capabilities, including print, audio and digital, as well as Amazon’s personalized, targeted marketing reach.

Godin is the lead writer, creative director, and instigator for a series of "Idea Manifestos" under his new imprint, which will include books by other bestselling authors, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders. These books will be made available for sale in print editions via Amazon.com and as audiobooks via Amazon.com and Audible.com, at bookstores nationwide and as ebooks exclusively in the Kindle Store.

Godin’s first book in this program is Poke the Box, coming in March.

What implications does this have for other independent authors who no longer want to use traditional publishers to represent their books? How do you foresee this affecting publishers and booksellers?

Chart of the Day (@chartoftheday) displays the optimistic 5-year predictions by Morgan Stanley on the tablet market. Keep in mind that ALL the devices tracked in the forecast are able to be used to read and/or listen to books. The market is growing.

Read the story in full.

Wally Metts (@wmetts) is director of graduate studies in communication at Spring Arbor University. He’s also a consultant, teacher, and journalist. He writes the blog “the daysman.” In a recent post he reviews the current state of affairs in bookselling and concludes, “It’s the end of the bookstore as we know it. Wait, didn’t I see that in You’ve Got Mail? The Shop Around the Corner? But now it’s the big chains and not the independents that are struggling.” He identifies two new developments contributing to the current situation:

First, the Kindle got page numbers. The text book industry in particular must have experienced a collective shudder. And second, a new service, Lendle, now makes it possible to loan your Kindle book to a friend for 14 days. This too is big.

I’m not saying the Kindle is the biggest or the best ebook service. I’m just saying that the rate of innovation in ebooks generally is rapid and irreversible. And cost and convenience will win in the end.

He says it’s not the end of the book, just a new chapter.

Read this in full.

USA TODAY (@USATODAY) reports on one author, Amanda Hocking, who became frustrated in trying to find a traditional publisher to accept her young-adult paranormal novels. So last year she published them herself in the ebook format.

By May she was selling hundreds; by June, thousands. She sold 164,000 books in 2010. Most were low-priced (99 cents to $2.99) digital downloads.

More astounding: This January she sold more than 450,000 copies of her 9 titles. More than 99% were ebooks.

In fact, her Trylle Trilogy will debut in the top 50 of USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list on Thursday! Truly book publishing and distribution is changing. How can Somersault help you navigate these waters?

Read this article in full.

Newsweek (@Newsweek) polled a few literary leaders on their thoughts about where the future of reading is headed, given that the format of books is “evolving at warp speed” thanks to daily digital advances in publishing. Here’s a quote from James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress:

The new immigrants don’t shoot the old inhabitants when they come in. One technology tends to supplement rather than supplant. How you read is not as important as: will you read? And will you read something that's a book — the sustained train of thought of one person speaking to another? Search techniques are embedded in ebooks that invite people to dabble rather than follow a full train of thought. This is part of a general cultural problem.

Read other quotes here.

News Corp. debuted The Daily (@daily) today, a "digital newspaper" designed specifically for the 14.8 million iPads sold since last April and the millions more expected yet to sell. Joined by Apple executive Eddy Cue, the company's Internet division chief, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch unveiled the publication to which his company has committed around 100 staffers and an investment of $30 million.

"No paper. No multi-million dollar presses. No trucks," Murdoch said. "We're passing on these savings to the reader, which is why we can offer The Daily for just 14 cents a day." It represents an opportunity to "make the business of editing and news gathering viable again," he said.

Read this CNN Money article in full.

For a critical review, read “The Daily - stunning but too slow.”

For an alternate review, see “Why The Daily’s Detractors Are Missing The Point.” 

More than 1,200 publishing professionals gathered at Digital Book World 2011 (@DigiBookWorld) in NYC last week for 3 days of forecasting the future of publishing. A quick roundup of news coverage, tweets, PowerPoint slides, and reactions to Digital Book World 2011 (#dbw11) is located on the DBW website. For example, from the Los Angeles Times

In 2010, ebook sales rose by around 400% and pulled in almost $1 billion in sales. Madeline McIntosh, Random House’s president of sales, operations and digital, said her company is working on the belief that by 2015, half the books readers buy will be ebooks.

And from Eric Hellman

“Fear no ebooks” was the message of the conference, and it was a welcome message to many of the participants that I talked to. “I’m just trying to learn about ebooks” and “we’re trying to decide what to do” were phrases I heard more than once.

Read this in full.

Meet Nelson, Coupland, and Alice — the faces of tomorrow’s book. Watch global design and innovation consultancy IDEO’s (@ideo) vision for the future of the book. It explores the new experiences that might be created by linking diverse discussions; the additional value that could be created by connecting readers to one another; and the innovative ways that might be used to tell favorite stories and build community around books. Watch the video.

In 2010 ereader prices fell close to $100 and 10.5 million people in the US own a dedicated ereader. New reading form factors were introduced. Tablets in about 10 million US hands right now – primarily the iPad. A third of the people who own an iPad own a Kindle. Nearly $1 billion was spent on ebooks in the US alone.

In 2011 20+ million people will read ebooks on a reader or tablet. $1.3 billion will be spent on ebooks at the bare minimum. They can’t even forecast the impact on non-traditional eformats.

Are publishers ready? Surveyed publishing execs to find out. 89% optimistic about digital transition; 74% say readers will be better off; 66% say people will read more; 83% say their companies can manage digital transition; 63% say have a digital plan in place; 80% believe their company needs significant retraining.

Read this in full.

Digital Book World (@DigiBookWorld) is celebrating the 40th anniversary of ebooks with the 1st annual Publishing Innovation Awards. The aim is to encourage the creation and distribution of the next phase in ebooks and book apps.

See the nominated titles and publishers for this award.