EPublishing Week in Brief – April 8th till 12th, 2013
EPublishing Week in Brief – April 8th till 12th, 2013
NOOK® Introduces NOOK Press™: Innovative New Publishing Platform for Authors
Offers Authors Fast, Easy and Free Tools to Create, Collaborate and Publish the Highest Quality eBooks and Access to Millions of NOOK Customers
New York, New York – – NOOK Media LLC, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc., the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced the launch of NOOK Press, a new and innovative self-publishing platform offering authors a fast, easy and free way to write, edit, collaborate and publish the highest quality eBooks and directly distribute them to millions of avid readers. By removing the technology barrier from self-publishing and offering easy-to-use tools for writing, editing and publishing eBooks, NOOK Press makes it even easier for authors to focus on writing and reaching new readers NOOK Press builds on the success of PubIt!™, Barnes & Noble’s original self-publishing platform. In just two and a half years since its launch, PubIt! has propelled many writers to become national bestselling authors, and the program continues to achieve incredible growth:
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=173086
MEDIUM’S NEW COLLABORATIVE PUBLISHING FEATURE ENCOURAGES AUTHORS TO CREATE BETTER THINGS, TOGETHER
MEDIUM’S HYPOTHESIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN THAT PEOPLE CREATE BETTER THINGS WHEN THEY WORK TOGETHER. THE PUBLISHING PLATFORM’S NEWEST TOOL HELPS ITS AUTHORS DO JUST THAT.
Biz Stone and Ev Williams‘ founding mantra for Medium, the publishing platform they launched last August, was, “People create better things together.”
Medium’s newest feature is a collaborative writing tool signals a sea change for writing on the Internet, together: It allows authors to privately solicit and incorporate feedback from others.
“[Medium is] a place where you can work with others to create something better than you can on your own,” Williams wrote in a post back when the platform was still in closed beta.
Mindshare repositions ‘Press’ team as ‘Publishing’
Mindshare UK is set to reposition its ‘Press’ department, to ‘Publishing’, in an attempt to more accurately reflect the rapidly evolving multi-platform market.
The renaming solidifies changes made within the Mindshare Publishing team as they become more platform neutral, speaking to publishers as one brand to find the best mix of platforms, whether on paper, magazine, website, mobile or tablet.
The move mirrors the approach adopted by Mindshare’s creative solutions and partnerships team.
Charlotte Tice, head of publishing (formerly head of press), at Mindshare UK, explained: “With the growth in digital, the publishing sector is experiencing one of its most exciting, rapidly evolving and challenging periods.
“Publisher brands are stronger than ever before, with an ever-increasing number of touchpoints, so we are working collaboratively with our digital team to equip all our people with digital skill sets so they are in a position to embrace this change fully. At Mindshare, we felt it was time to reflect these exciting changes outwardly in the business.”
http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1178238/mindshare-repositions-press-team-publishing/
Barnes & Noble Revamps PubIt Self-Publishing Platform as Nook Press
Barnes & Noble has rebranded its PubIt self-publishing platform as Nook Press, adding some new features to make it easier for authors to turn their work into e-books.
With Quick Start, for example, writers can try out Nook Press’s online tools before adding their book. All writing, editing, formatting, and publishing, meanwhile, can be done in one place, and authors can invite friends to read and comment on what they’ve written.
“We’re thrilled to bring all the new and exciting features of Nook Press to existing PubIt authors and new writers looking for a quick, effective and free one-stop self-publishing platform that delivers high-quality e-books to millions of book-loving Nook customers,” Theresa Horner, vice president of digital content at Nook Media, said in a statement.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2417601,00.asp
Detained journalist’s wife asks why publishing articles has ‘become so dangerous in Libya’
“All he did was to publish a list of judges. Has the act of copying and pasting now become so dangerous in Libya that it requires people being sent to prison?”Wife of Amara al-Khattabi
The wife of a hunger-striking Libyan journalist has told Amnesty International of her disbelief that her husband has been imprisoned and denied bail for ‘offending’ the judiciary under an al-Gaddafi-era law.
Amara al-Khattabi, the editor-in-chief of al-Umma newspaper, was arrested last December and has been on hunger strike since 28 February in protest at his detention. He was arrested a month after his newspaper published a list of 84 judges allegedly involved in corruption.
His wife Masara al-Ghussain declared a hunger strike in his support on Sunday, after al-Khattabi was transferred to a hospital on 4 April due to his deteriorating health.
Man Gets 6 Months For Publishing Fraud
A man who pleaded no contest to taking more than $200,000 from aspiring authors to publish their books but didn’t has been sentenced to serve six months in jail.
Peter Campbell-Copp of Manchester was given a five-to-20-year sentence Thursday, but nearly all of that time was suspended. After the six-month jail term, the 63-year-old is to spend another six months in home confinement.
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/98118/man-gets-6-months-for-publishing-fraud/
What’s the Problem with Self-Publishing?
The discussion of self-published titles in libraries has increased in recent years, in direct proportion to the angst surrounding ongoing ebook licensing negotiations with major traditional publishers. Prompted by the prospect of limited availability of popular titles or higher prices—probably both—librarians are understandably weighing alternatives that might satisfy readership demands.
There are, however, very real barriers that must be overcome before self-publishing is likely to be even a small component of many collection efforts. Some barriers will fall away naturally as this growing market gains momentum and filters its way into downstream publishing markets like libraries, while others will require a more concerted advocacy effort to overcome.
STIGMA
The longest-standing barrier is the stigma associated with self-published works. Long synonymous with “vanity publishing,” these works have been rejected for decades on the grounds that if they weren’t good enough to appeal to a traditional publisher, they were unlikely to serve the needs of library users. On the publishing side, the business case for self-publishing as a profit center is forcing many in the industry to reconsider this attitude.
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/04/publishing/whats-the-problem-with-self-publishing/