B&N Changes PubIt! to NOOK Press, A New Self-Publishing Platform

A report in Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) says “Barnes & Noble is phasing out its PubIt! self-publishing service and relaunching it as NOOK Press, an upgraded ebook self-publishing platform offering an array of new services to authors and publishers.”

B&N is partnering with the self-publishing platform FastPencil (@fastpencil) to supply NOOK Press with its proprietary online authoring technology, while also offering FastPencil authors access to a variety of marketing opportunities via B&N’s NOOK platform.

While B&N is encouraging PubIt! authors to synch their accounts to new NOOK Press accounts, B&N is also planning to phase out new PubIt! accounts and transition new self-publishers to the NOOK Press platform, which essentially builds on PubIt! by adding new services. Indeed, sales of self-published ebooks continue to grow on the NOOK Platform and the company said they represent about 25% of all ebook sales on NOOK devices. According to B&N, PubIt! titles grow by about 20% each quarter and general self-published titles offering through the NOOK are growing by 24% each quarter.

Read this in full.

Read the news release.

Also read our previous blogpost, "Guy Kawasaki's New Self-Publishing Instruction Book."

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The View of Ebooks from the Inside

In The New York Times Bits Blog (@nytimesbits), tech reporter David Streitfeld (@DavidStreitfeld) interviews Jason Merkoski (@merkoski), a leader of the team that built Amazon’s first Kindle. Merkoski, author of Burning the Page: The Ebook Revolution and the Future of Reading, dispenses with the usual techo-utopianism and says, “I think we’ve made a proverbial pact with the devil in digitizing our words.” And: “Big Brother won’t be a politician but an ad man and he’ll have the face of Google.” And: “It’s hard to love Amazon. Not the way we love Apple or a bookstore.” But he also says:

In 20 years, the space of one generation, print books will be as rare as vinyl LPs. You’ll still be able to find them in artsy hipster stores, but that’s about it. So the great advantage of ebooks is also their curse; ebooks will be the only game in town if you want to read a book. It’s sobering, and a bit sad. That said, ebooks can do what print books can’t. They’ll allow you to fit an entire library into the space of one book. They’ll allow you to search for anything in an instant, save your thoughts forever, share them with the world, and connect with other readers right there, inside the book. The book of the future will live and breathe.

Read this in full.

Also see paidContent’s review, “Former Kindle Exec on Kindle flaws, Nook Strengths, and Google’s Future in Ebooks.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

Download our white paper, “Tech, Trends, & Retail Success: See the Future and Act Now,” in which we detail the elements of creating extreme retail in-store experiences.

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Publishers are Reshaping Themselves

Publishing professional Mike Shatzkin (@MikeShatzkin) writes on his blog about the news that Hyperion plans to sell off its “backlist” to focus its attention on new titles it will develop in conjunction with its corporate cousins at Disney and ABC. He says this follows Wiley’s selling a lot of the most bookstore-dependent parts of its list, including the sale of Frommer’s Guides to Google, in 2012.

Both Hyperion and Wiley are showing us what the publisher of the near future is going to look like. They will be more focused. They will be shedding overheads so they can expand or shrink their offerings more readily to respond to opportunities and circumstances. They will be less dependant on the trade bookstore and book review trade networks. And Hyperion’s decision says something more about the future that Wiley’s doesn’t: book publishing will increasingly be an activity operating in tandem with or in service of other objectives of the owning organization. (There is a parallel here in retailing, where Amazon and Google and Apple fit this description, and Kobo and Barnes & Noble do not.)

...the current state-of-the-art for merchandising and presentation of books online is not very helpful to backlist. Most retailers return a limited number of books (10 or 20) per screen to any query. Customers have limited patience for refreshing screens, so the number of titles an online purchaser “browses through” is far fewer than the number that would catch the same eyes in an equivalent amount of time in a store. This appears to be pushing sales more and more to newer books and books on bestseller lists.

This problem of concentration will probably just get worse as mobile devices become more ubiquitous and the shopping takes places on ever-smaller screens.

Read this in full.

Also see our previous blogpost, “Publishing Must Reinvent Itself.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

Download our white paper, “Tech, Trends, & Retail Success: See the Future and Act Now,” in which we detail the elements of creating extreme retail in-store experiences.

Learn about SomersaultSocial (@SomersaultHelp), our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. Or download our blog as an ebook to your ereader (http://goo.gl/3nTtN). 

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Digital Book World Conference 2013

The annual Digital Book World Conference (@DigiBookWorld) (#DBW13) has concluded. DBW editorial director Jeremy Greenfield (@JDGsaid) offers a quick summary:

Publishers are grappling with the possibility that bookstores might not exist in the future; that some authors have a very low opinion of them; that agents are pushing them for more advantageous contract terms for their clients; that the landscape of book discovery is changing; and much more.

See DBW’s links to coverage of the event. (Digital Book World’s YouTube channel | Slideshare site)

Photos and tweets on Eventifier

Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly): Kobo, Book Discovery and More at Digital Book World 2013

GoodEReader (@Goodereader): My Thoughts on Digital Book World 2013 by Paul Biba (@paulkbiba) and complete coverage

Publishing Perspectives (@pubperspectives): 3 Key Ideas from Digital Book World 2013

Education, Publishing, & Technology (@toddols) summaries: Day One | Day Two

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Infographic: The Consumer Media Universe

(Enlarge the above Infographic)

From televisions and smartphones to tablets and game consoles, Americans are consuming content on every device under the sun.

According to Nielsen’s (@NielsenWire) new US Consumer Usage Report 2012, nearly 120 million people within television homes own 4 or more TV sets, and 16% of television homes own a tablet. Smartphone owners officially make up the majority of mobile subscribers, as 56% owned a smartphone as of Q3 2012. The number of social media users continues to increase across all platforms as consumers use social networking as a vehicle to navigate the ever-expanding media universe.

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Kids Reading Ebooks Have Nearly Doubled Since 2010

According to the 4th biannual edition of Scholastic’s (@Scholastic) national survey Kids & Family Reading Report™ (#KFRR),

·         The percent of 6-17-year-olds who have read an ebook has almost doubled since 2010 (25% vs. 46%), but that also means more than half (54%) of US kids have never read an ebook. Although, bear in mind, this statistic contrasts with the just announced study from Digital Book World and PlayScience, The ABCs of Kids & Ebooks: Understanding the E-Reading Habits of Children Aged 2-13 that says 54% of US children aged 2-13 are reading ebooks.

·         Half of children age 9-17 say they’d read more books for fun if they had greater access to ebooks – a 50% increase since 2010.

·         Overall, about half of parents (49%) feel their children don’t spend enough time reading books for fun – an increase from 2010 when 36% of parents were dissatisfied with time their child spent reading.

·         72% of parents show an interest in having their child read ebooks.

·         1 in 4 boys who has read an ebook says he is now reading more books for fun.

·         More than half (57%) of moderately frequent readers (kids who read 1 to 4 days a week) who have not read an ebook agree they’d read more if they had greater access to ebooks.

·         80% of kids who read ebooks still read books for fun primarily in print.

·         58% of kids age 9-17 say they’ll always want to read books printed on paper even though there are ebooks available (a slight decline from 66% in 2010).

·         Among girls since 2010, frequent readers have declined (42% vs. 36%), as has reading enjoyment (39% vs. 32% say they love reading), and the importance of reading books for fun (62% vs. 56% say it’s extremely or very important).

·         Among girls ages 12-17 there was an increase in the amount of time they spend visiting social networking sites and using their smartphones for going online.

·         Among boys since 2010, reading enjoyment has increased (20% vs. 26% say they love reading), as has the importance of reading books for fun (39% vs. 47%). Reading frequency among boys has stayed steady, with 32% being frequent readers.

·         Kids say ebooks are better than print books when they don’t want their friends to know what they’re reading, and when they’re out and about/traveling.

·         Print books are seen by kids as better for sharing with friends and reading at bedtime.

·         Consistent with the 2010 Kids & Family Reading Report, 9 in 10 kids say they’re more likely to finish a book they choose themselves.

·         31% of parents who’ve read an ebook say they personally read more books now than they read before starting to read ebooks.

·         32% of parents say they’re reading new kinds of books they never thought they would read, including children’s books and teen fiction.

Read the press release.

Read the full report (pdf).

Read coverage by Publishers Weekly.

Also see our previous blogposts

and other posts tagged "Ebook."

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PaperTab: A Tablet As Flexible As Paper

Here’s new technology that has implications for book publishers. Developed by researchers at the Human Media Lab (@humanmedialab) at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, the PaperTab showcased at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week.

The PaperTab features a flexible, high-resolution 10.7-inch plastic touchscreen display built by Plastic Logic, and relies on a second-generation Intel Core i5 processor to turn what looks like a sheet of white paper into a living, interactive display.

iTechPost (@iTechPost) says:

In a revolutionary advancement in the history of computing, the device features a high-resolution plastic display that is virtually unbreakable and can be twisted, bent, and dropped on a desk without any damage. Developed by Intel Labs in collaboration with the Human Media Lab at Queen's University in Canada and British firm Plastic Logic, the tablet is powered by the second-generation Intel Core i5 Processor.

Read this in full.

International Business Times (@IBTimes) says:

While the PaperTab is not yet ready for prime time -- the Intel i5 processor is housed in an outside unit, which connects to all of the PaperTabs, as seen in the video provided by Queen's University --  the technology is very promising. Since PaperTab is both lightweight and robust, they can be bent, thrown around and collected, which isn't so easy to do with today's tablets. Intel research scientist Ryan Brotman believes this particular product could be ready "within 5 to 10 years."

Read this in full.

Also see our previous blogpost, “Flexible E-ink Displays are Here.”

How should you adapt your publishing strategy to take advantage of this forthcoming technology?

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Reading Habits in Different Communities

Several surveys by the Pew Research (@pewresearch) Center's Internet & American Life Project (@pewinternet) reveal interesting variations among communities in the way their residents read and use reading-related technology and institutions:

Book readers: Some 78% of Americans ages 16 and older say they read a book in the past 12 months. Urban (80%) and suburban (80%) residents are especially likely to have read at least one book in the past year. While rural residents are somewhat less likely to have read a book in the past year (71%), the book readers in rural areas read as many books as their counterparts in cities and suburbs.

Purposes for reading: Most of those ages 16 and older read books for pleasure, and that is especially true of suburban readers: 82% of suburbanites read for pleasure, compared with 79% of urban residents and 76% of rural residents. Urban residents (80%) and suburban dwellers (79%) are also especially likely to read to keep up with current events. Some 73% of rural residents do that. More than three-quarters of suburban residents (77%) read to research topics that interest them, compared with 74% of urban residents and 70% of rural residents. Finally, 57% of suburbanites and 58% of city dwellers read for school or work, compared with 47% of rural residents who do that.

Americans and libraries: The majority of Americans ages 16 and older (58%) have a library card and even more (69%) say the library is important to them and their families. Some 71% of city dwellers say the library is important to them and 59% have library cards — and 69% of suburban residents say the library is important and 61% have library cards. At the same time, 62% of rural residents say the library is important and 48% have library cards.

Read this in full.

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Ebook Reading Jumps; Print Book Reading Declines

According to research by the Pew Internet & American Life Project (@pewinternet), the population of ebook readers is growing.

In the past year, the number of those who read ebooks increased from 16% of all Americans ages 16 and older to 23%. At the same time, the number of those who read printed books in the previous 12 months fell from 72% of the population ages 16 and older to 67%.

Overall, the number of book readers in late 2012 was 75% of the population ages 16 and older, a small and statistically insignificant decline from 78% in late 2011.

The move toward ebook reading coincides with an increase in ownership of electronic book reading devices. In all, the number of owners of either a tablet computer or e-book reading device such as a Kindle or Nook grew from 18% in late 2011 to 33% in late 2012.

Read this in full.

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'Myeebo' Tablet Launched for Christian Market

Christian Retailing (@ChristianRetail) reports that ACM Digital, Inc., has launched "Myeebo" (@MYeebo) tablet and apps, described as the first digital device and service to provide "all categories of downloadable Christian entertainment," including ebooks, music, audiobooks, and movies.

David Amster, chief innovation officer of ACM, says, "Our objective is threefold: provide independent Christian retailers with a solid digital service to give them a competitive edge with Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple; significantly improve the online browsing and discovery experience for ebooks and music; and create a way for retailers to partner with churches."

Amster says, so far, 125 retailers have signed up to offer Myeebo, including Berean Christian Stores (@BereanChristian), Lighthouse Christian Supply, Logos Christian Bookstore, and Bible Gift Shop. In the first quarter of 2013, ACM Digital plans to add another 75 stores.

The name Myeebo is a derivative of the words “my,” “electronic,” and “books.” The tablet’s suggested retail price is $179. It includes an 8-inch touch screen with features not available on the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet.

Read this in full.

In November, Family Christian (@FCstores) announced it was discontinuing its own ebook tablet, edifi, which had just launched in June. FCS is now selling Kobo (@kobo) e-readers.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish and market your ebooks and pbooks.

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