ePublishing Week in Brief – August 5th to 10th, 2013
ePublishing Week in Brief – August 5th to 10th, 2013
Publishers Claim Recent DOJ E-Book Decision Punishes Them More Than Apple
Not too surprisingly, the five major publishers originally named in the U.S. Department of Justice’s e-book case regarding their collusion with Apple on pricing have now themselves filed a complaint regarding the Justice Department’s proposal to eliminate the use of the agency model in any Apple agreements with publishers for a period of five years.
Publishers like the agency model as it allows them to set prices for e-books, instead of the distributor, as Amazon did before Apple’s own iBooks system launched on the iPad.
Apple has already slammed the proposal as draconian and punitive, but this is the first time the publishers have weighed in on the matter.
“The provisions do not impose any limitation on Apple’s pricing behavior at all; rather, under the guise of punishing Apple, they effectively punish the settling defendants by prohibiting agreements with Apple using an agency model,” said publishing house lawyers.
http://www.cultofmac.com/239313/publishers-file-complaint-recent-doj-e-book-decision-punishes-them-more-than-apple/#I2umzQefL4DKp0U7.99
The Cost of Publishing Your Content on Someone Else’s Site
Recently, Marco Arment, the creator of Instapaper, cautioned writers about Medium, a relatively new blogging platform from the founders of Twitter. Arment tweeted, “Writers: You don’t need Medium. You can host your own blog on your own domain with lots of other tools and hosts.”
Glen Fleishman, editor and publisher of The Magazine, agreed, pointing out that although he’d personally had positive experiences writing on Medium, at the end of the day, “it’s not mine. It’s theirs.”
According to Fleishman, powerlessness is one of his chief concerns: “I can’t control the URL. I can’t embed. I have no idea about what their ultimate plans are… My words’ persistence, both in appearance and permanent location, are dependent on factors beyond my control.”
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
The other issue with relying on other content platforms is that, like Silent Circle, they can shut down whenever they want. Twitter, for example, disclaims all responsibility for “the deletion of, or the failure to store or to transmit, any Content.” Medium reserves the right to “terminate or restrict access to it at any time, in our sole discretion.”
http://www.inc.com/stephanie-meyers/hosting-your-own-content.html
Watch Out Publishers: Here Comes LinkedIn, With Original Content
The World’s Largest Rolodex Is Becoming a Go-To Spot for Information
Publishers, there’s a new sheriff in town. Yesterday, LinkedIn was a social network. Today, it is a powerhouse publishing brand. And with the kind of scale and audience targeting that it’s built, it will be an advertising juggernaut that can’t be stopped.
This past year LinkedIn rolled out a game-changing feature, the Influencerprogram, which has made it a go-to site that offers far more than just the world’s largest virtual Rolodex.
The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and other top-tier business publishers should be worried. LinkedIn is arguably the world’s largest business publication (or any publication for that matter). With a registered audience of more than 230 million, LinkedIn has more than 50 times the number of registered users as the Financial Times. LinkedIn drives around 10 billion page views per month, compared to 133 million for The Wall Street Journal. LinkedIn had 116 million unique visitors last quarter, compared to 13 million average monthly uniques for The Journal.
LinkedIn can drive traffic back to individual articles via the site’s Today’s News hub. However, that traffic to publishers pales in comparison to the enormous number of page views being driven to the original content that the site is now creating and distributing through its Influencers program.
This program has allowed the company to position itself as curator of high-quality content, pushing out personalized content to a vast audience of global professionals.
http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/linkedin-publishing-original-content/243569/
Manga Publishers Look To Cross Borders With Digital Distribution
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/58600-manga-publishers-look-to-cross-borders-with-digital-distribution.html
ENTANGLED PUBLISHING JOINS MACMILLAN’S PUBLIC LIBRARY E-LENDING PILOT PROGRAM
“Entangled has always been a huge supporter of libraries, and we are excited to be bringing our titles to this important community resource through Macmillan,” says Entangled publisher, Liz Pelletier. “This new program will allow our books to get into hands of millions through the venerable library system and that’s what every publisher and author wants–to have their books discovered and loved by readers.”
Since its launch, Entangled has published more than 158 titles, including the #8 bestselling book of 2012 by Jennifer Probst, The Marriage Bargain, and the blockbuster YA hit Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout, which was recently signed for a major motion picture and will begin production in Spring of 2014. The exclusive, boutique publisher has since grown to thirteen imprints, with 11 titles appearing on the USA Today Bestsellers list and 9 titles on the NYT Bestsellers list. Currently, Entangled releases approximately 20-25 titles per month in a digital first format, and 4 per month in simultaneous print and e-formats.
Entangled Publishing, which continues to break the traditional publishing mold within romance and YA fiction, has entered the library market. Through Macmillan Publisher’s e-Lending program, Entangled books purchased by libraries will be lendable for 2 years, or up to 52 times. The arrangement includes all Entangled titles, including the NY Times bestselling novels Wrong Bed, Right Guy by Katee Robert, Seducing Cinderella by Gina L. Maxwell, and The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst, as well all backlist titles since the publisher’s inception in July of 2011.
http://world.einnews.com/pr_news/162401556/entangled-publishing-joins-macmillan-s-public-library-e-lending-pilot-program
COLUMN- Jeff Bezos and the new publishing revolution
Aug 8 (Reuters) – The last few days have seen a flurry of purchases of ailing print journalism flagships. The Boston Globe was sold. Newsweek changed hands again. And, most spectacular of all, the Washington Post was bought for chump change. Meanwhile, the Tribune group – publisher of the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune – is readying itself for sale.
There is nothing new about rich men buying newspapers. The surest way to enhance personal prestige is to become a press magnate. As Rupert Murdoch’s second wife Anna replied when asked how she was enjoying Beverly Hills, “It’s not the same if you don’t own the paper.” But something more interesting is going on than social climbing. New technology billionaires are picking up old money properties for a song. Online is moving in on hard copy. This is not evolution, it is a revolution.
The history of the press from its inception, when Bi Sheng invented moving type in 1041, to the proliferation of online publications today, has been a succession of tidal waves as typeset printing and rival media technologies have battled it out. Despite the contention that capitalism thrives on competition, in practice the m
Rockstand Announces New Alliances With Publishers
Rockstand that counts itself among the leading ebook reading app in India has now forged alliances with several key publishers which includes Delhi Press, Next-Gen Publishing, Hay Market, BPB Publications & Magna Publishing. This will ensure Rockstand has on offer a more varied books and magazines to offer covering topics as varied as computer, lifestyle magazines to children’s magazines, along with content in regional languages and so much more.
For instance, BPB Publishers is known for their vast variety of books on computers and has been making them available at affordable rates. Similarly, Nextgen Publishing issues several popular magazines such as Smart Photography, Car India, Bike India, Computer Active etc. Rockstand will also benefit from its new found alliance with Hay Market that makes available magazines like Stuff, Autocar, What Hi-fi? Sound and Vision, What Car? and such. Users of the Rockstand app can also look forward to picking up several entertainment magazines such as Star Dust, Society, Society Interior, Savy, Starweek thanks to their tie up with Magna Publishing. Rockstand will also have under its ambit several regional titles likes Champak, Grihshobha, Sarita, BS Motoring, The Caravan, Farm n Food and many more.
http://www.trust.org/item/20130808161728-z9l44/?source=hpbreaking