TOC Tutorial DVDs Now Available

Andrew Savikas
April 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

DVDs from four of the eight TOC 2008 tutorials are now in-stock. If you attended the conference, check your email for information on how to save 50%. If you missed TOC 2008, you can still save 30% on the DVDs using discount code TOCD3 (and sign up for the conference newsletter to make sure you don't miss TOC 2009).

The available tutorials are:

• Digitizing Your Backlist
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for Publishers: Beyond Book Search
• XML for Publishers
• Making Mobile Work

And if you buy two, the third is free. More details here.

Save the Date! TOC Conference 2009 -- February 9-11 2009 in NYC

Andrew Savikas
April 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

The 2009 Tools of Change for Publishing Conference is now officially scheduled for February 9-11 2009, again at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. We haven't yet opened up the Call for Proposals or registration, but if you sign up for the conference newsletter, we'll keep you updated so you can be sure to reserve your spot.

We'll be building on the success of this year's sold out conference with a revised and updated program, more video and audio coverage, and an expanded exhibit hall. As news develops we'll post updates right here on the blog, and at the TOC conference website.

News Roundup: Kindle 2.0 Speculation, Wikipedia: The Book, "Dilbert" Embraces User-Generated Content, Mobile Audiobook Downloads, Tracking Drafts and Revisions

Mac Slocum
April 25, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Speculation on Kindle 2.0

Ars Technica speculates on what the Kindle 2.0 might provide:

... the general hardware configuration appears to be here for a while. The fact that they're still selling the current version also suggests that they have committed to this design in all its white-plastic glory. In the long term, there's still the option of moving some of the awkwardly-placed controls and of improving the E Ink screen (color and improved contrast or faster response times, seem inevitable) ... All of this leaves changes to the software as the most likely candidates for 2.0 improvements. Realistically, we could only infer what Amazon considered to an acceptable interface based on what was released as 1.0. If this doesn't reflect what they "wanted to release in the first place," then all bets on what may change are off.

German Wikipedia Coming in Book Form

Bertelsmann is putting 25,000 German Wikipedia entries into The One-Volume Wikipedia Encyclopedia. From the New York Times:

Bertelsmann says the project should not be judged as a re-creation in book form of what appears online, but rather as an attempt to harness the collective wisdom of Wikipedia’s users. (Continue reading ...)

"Dilbert" Embraces User-Generated Content

"Dilbert" creator Scott Adams and his distributor, United Media, are supporting user-generated content through Dilbert.com. Visitors can rewrite captions and redistribute the results, and the full "Dilbert" archive will eventually be available for free. From Webware:

I asked Adams why he and United Media are opening up the Dilbert intellectual property like this, and he sent me a response by email: "We're accepting the realities of IP on the Internet, and trying to get ahead of the curve. People already alter Dilbert strips and distribute them. If we make it easy and legal to do so, and drive more traffic to Dilbert.com in the process, everyone wins. Plus it's a lot of fun to see what people come up with in the mashups."

UK Service Brings Audiobook Downloads to Mobile Phones

UK-based GoSpoken has partnered with Random House to make 50 audiobook titles available for purchase through the GoSpoken mobile download service. GoSpoken is currently aimed at early adopter UK residents who have broadband-capable cellphones (specifically, HSDPA-enabled) and mobile data plans. (Continue reading ...)

Writing and Tracking through Subversion

Programmers use version control systems to track and monitor code revisions. Writers can bring the same functionality to their drafts by following Rachel Greenham's Mac OS X Subversion tutorial. (Continue reading ...)

Related:

• See more publishing news and insight in the TOC News section

News Roundup: Online's Share Increases, New York's "Amazon" Tax, Open Source Textbooks, Edits Shown in Pan Macmillan Ebooks, Penguin UK's Simultaneous Print-Ebook Plan

Mac Slocum
April 18, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Amazon Growth Fuels Online's Book Market Share

Online retailers claim 21-30 percent of the consumer trade book market, according to two recent surveys. Publishers Weekly says much of this growth comes from Amazon. (Continue reading ...)

New York Eyes Amazon Affiliates in Tax Move

From the New York Times:

... people owe taxes on what they buy regardless of whom they buy it from. But the seller only has an obligation to collect those taxes (and thus the only time taxes are ever actually paid) when the seller has a physical presence in the state of the purchase. The state is proposing defining Amazon’s affiliates -- Web sites that earn commissions by referring customers to it -- as a physical presence. (Continue reading ...)

Open Source Textbook Adoption Grows

Inside Higher Ed notes the slowly growing open source textbook movement:

Colleges and individual faculty members continue to experiment with putting course information and material online, and "open textbooks" typically are licensed to allow users to download, share and alter the content as they see fit, so long as their purposes aren't commercial and they credit the author for the original material. This allows instructors to customize e-textbooks and offer them to students for free online or as low-cost printed versions.

Pan Macmillan Plans Ebooks Showing Edits and Changes

Pan Macmillan is releasing ebooks with extra sauce. From thedigitalist.net:

The idea that a special edition eBook can contain marginal material produced before, during, or after a print edition features in two other eBooks to be published by Picador this year. Sid Smith’s China Dreams, which we published in hardback in January 2007 and in paperback in January 2008, will be issued in a uniquely up-to-date edition, in the author’s latest version, with corrections, changes, and new material, and a foreword in which he considers the process of composition and revision. (Continue reading ...)

Penguin UK to Release Print and Ebook Editions Simultaneously

Beginning in September, print and ebook versions of Penguin UK's new titles will be available simultaneously for the same price. Digital editions will be made available in .epub format through Penguin's Web sites and via retailers. (Continue reading ...)

Related:

• See more publishing news and insight in the TOC News section

Tim O'Reilly: Amazon Has Publishers in its Sights

Andrew Savikas
April 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Over on the the O'Reilly Radar blog, Tim O'Reilly offers a warning for publishers, and cautions Amazon against "irreparably" harming the publishing ecosystem:

It is a free-market economy, and competition is the name of the game. But as Amazon's market power increases, it needs to be mindful of whether its moves, even those that may be good for the company in the short term, are ultimately destructive of the ecosystem on which they depend. I believe that they are heading in that direction, and if they succeed with some of their initiatives, they will wake up one day to discover that they've sown the seeds of their own destruction, just as Microsoft did in the 1990s.

Related Story:

• Amazon Growth Fuels Online's Book Market Share

News You Can Use

Andrew Savikas
April 14, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

We've launched a news channel on the TOC blog, where you can catch news items and insights related to business and technology innovation in publishing. It's even got its own RSS feed (you can also subscribe to a combined blog/news feed). Got news? Send your ideas to tocnews AT oreilly.com.

How Do Publishers and Authors Get Paid in a "Free" World?

Mac Slocum
April 8, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2) | Listen

Author Tracy Chevalier's recent comments capture the mixture of fear and opportunity hovering over the book world.

From Times Online:

Ms Chevalier told The Times that the century-old model by which authors are paid -- a mixture of cash advances and royalties -- was finished. "It is a dam that’s cracking," she said. "We are trying to plug the holes with legislation and litigation but we need to think radically. We have to evolve and create a very different pay system, possibly by making the content available free to all and finding a way to get paid separately." (Emphasis added.)

Chevalier touches on the essence of the "free" issue: How do authors and publishers survive when their work is given away (or taken)? Or, more bluntly, how does anyone get paid?

The best answers I've found are in Kevin Kelly's essay "Better than Free." Kelly discusses eight generatives that inspire consumers to pay for material or services they could otherwise get for free. The essay takes a broad view, but each of Kelly's generatives has a connection to the book publishing industry.

Immediacy: If an author or publisher has a loyal audience, readers will pay for early access to upcoming books, chapters and ideas. Moreover, Kelly says publishers have already tackled immediacy with hardcover editions: "Hardcover books command a premium for their immediacy, disguised as a harder cover."

Personalization: A free generic book might serve the majority of a readership, but there's a small percentage who want the benefits of customization, both in physical qualities (binding, paper stock, fonts) and content (editions, additional chapters, related material). Kelly's suggestion: "The free copy of a book can be custom edited by the publishers to reflect your own previous reading background."

Interpretation: Customers will pay for guidance, meaning and, if they're in a rush, shortcuts. In this generative, authors could also expand and customize ideas on a consultant basis.

Authenticity: Knock-offs and pirated copies have opened the door for "book insurance." A customer searching for a definitive, authentic copy will pay for peace of mind.

Accessibility: The idea of physical ownership isn't likely to fade -- we all love our stuff -- but a fee-based digital archive offers a variety of benefits: shelf space can be reserved for the most used/needed/loved books; material can be accessed anywhere; and if disaster strikes, a library can be re-created.

Embodiment: There's value in sensory experiences, particularly those that can't be copied or contained in a digital environment. "PDFs are fine," Kelly notes, "but sometimes it is delicious to have the same words printed on bright white cottony paper, bound in leather." The experience of author readings, speeches and events can also demand a premium. Serving coffee doesn't hurt, either.

Patronage: A small subset of readers will "tip" authors if the process is simple and there's a guarantee the writer will receive those funds. Authors shouldn't rely on goodwill as a primary revenue stream -- unless there's a lot of goodwill -- but it's certainly a possibility.

Findability: Author Leander Kahney and his publisher, Bill Pollock of No Starch Press, recently posted to BitTorrent free digital copies of Kahney's books, The Cult of Mac and The Cult of iPod. Pollock summed up the move on his blog: "I think there’s something to this and logic tells me that if we increase the visibility of our titles, we'll sell more books."

This is just the beginning of a much larger conversation, so please share your ideas in the comments area. Do you see opportunity in a free system?

(Via TechCrunch and Peter Brantley's read20 listserv.)