News Roundup: Book Chain Installing Espresso POD Machines, Ebooks: False Sense of Security for Publishers?, Newspaper Revenue Slide Continues

Mac Slocum
June 27, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1) | Listen

UK Book Chain Installing Espresso POD Machines

UK book retailer Blackwell will test the Espresso Book Machine at one of its locations this fall with an eye toward installing the print-on-demand device at additional stores. From a Blackwell press release:

Blackwell CEO Vince Gunn -- "From a retailer's point of view, even allowing for the first-generation technology and publisher challenges, this is a fantastic opportunity -- sell to demand with no risk to inventory and an opportunity to create incremental revenue streams for ourselves and publishers."

Ebooks: False Sense of Security for Publishers?

Michael Cairns says ebooks as we largely understand them may be a short-term fading generational segment. From PersonaNonData:

Today's publishers for the first time in their history have no confidence that their child's generation will be (or are) interested in their published output. It is not that publishers aren't making an effort; however, I have a disturbing belief that there is an preponderance of focus on forcing existing content into a format and delivery mechanism (e-books and e-readers) that is not ideal only to have that e-book content used by a market -- my and my parents' generation -- that is in long term decline.

In other words, migrating content so that it is available on an e-book may provide a false sense of security for publishers who believe this is enough to 're-launch' their content to the newest generations.

Downward Slide Continues for Newspaper Revenue

The news, for newspapers, is monotonically downwards. From the New York Times:

On top of long-term changes in the industry, the weak economy is also hurting ad sales, especially in Florida and California, where the severe contraction of the housing markets has cut deeply into real estate ads. Executives at the Hearst Corporation say that one of their biggest papers, The San Francisco Chronicle, is losing $1 million a week.

Over all, ad revenue fell almost 8 percent last year. This year, it is running about 12 percent below that dismal performance, and company reports issued last week suggested a 14 percent to 15 percent decline in May.

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News Roundup: Publishers Push to Meet Russert Book Demand, Seth Godin's Kindle Analysis, BN.com Redesign Nets Big Traffic

Mac Slocum
June 20, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Publishers Pushing to Meet Russert Book Demand

Random House and Hyperion Books are rushing to meet demand for Tim Russert's two books, Wisdom of Our Fathers and Big Russ & Me. From Newsday:

Carol Schneider, executive director of publicity at Random House, reports that the company is immediately printing 100,000 paperbacks of "Wisdom" that began shipping yesterday [6/16/08].

Likewise, Hyperion Books has gone back to press for another 100,000 copies of "Big Russ," according to Beth Gebhard, executive director of publicity. (Continue reading)

Seth Godin: Community and Interactivity Would Benefit Kindle

Seth Godin weighs in with random thoughts on the Kindle, including:

The Kindle does a fine job of being a book reader, and a horrible job of actually improving the act of reading a book.

Godin says the Kindle reading experience -- particularly with non-fiction titles -- would benefit from reader recommendations, Digg-style voting, and hyperlinks. (Continue reading)

BN.com Redesign Nets Significant Traffic Increase

Barnes and Noble is seeing positive results from its 2007 Web site overhaul. From Publishers Weekly:

... in 2007, the online arm of the retailer posted a 10.1% sales increase, helped by a strong fourth quarter, and the solid results continued into the first period of 2008: B&N.com; posted a 7.2% sales increase, compared to an increase of 1.1% for the stores. (Continue reading)

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News Roundup: Future E-Paper Devices, Potential in Aggregated Ebooks, PBS Web Videos Include Ads

Mac Slocum
June 13, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Future Electronic Paper Display Devices

Nice overview of electronic paper display (EPD) technologies at Computerworld:

[Fujitsu's] Fabric PC looks like a soft trifolded portfolio. Opened, it reveals a flat keyboard on one panel and a display on the other -- a display that wraps under the keyboard. Unfold the keyboard as well and the entire inner surface of the device is an EPD screen as big as a desktop display. (Continue reading)

Aggregated Ebook Service Suits Research Publisher

An understanding of audience goals can prove fruitful in digital publishing, according to Cynthia Cleto, global manager for e-books and e-product management at research publisher Springer. From a Q&A; at TechNewsWorld:

... our readers are working at a desk somewhere and they want specific information at their fingertips in a hurry because of whatever they are working on. Relaxation is not the driver in this market. (Continue reading)

PBS Online Videos Include Advertising

PBS is releasing shows on the video site Hulu, but incorporating advertising with a revenue sharing plan. The New York Times Bits blog discusses the move with Andrew Russell, senior vice president of PBS Ventures:

PBS has moved online slowly, and right now it makes only a small fraction of its content available over the Internet. One reason is the complexity of the rights to its programs. Nova, for example, is produced by WGBH in Boston, which acquires individual episodes from various production companies. Only in some cases does PBS actually have the rights to distribute shows online.

Mr. Russell said that by exploring digital distribution with the programs that the network does have rights to, it hopes to build the case to show that producers should let it distribute their shows online. This means offering them a good share of the advertising revenue or download fees. The online deals also show corporate and foundation sponsors that the programs are reaching a wider audience.

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Sneak Peek: TOC Online Directory

Andrew Savikas
June 9, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Update: From the Murphy's Law department, we temporarily lost a bunch of the directory entries for a few hours this morning. The entries have been restored, and we'll be working with the company providing the directory service to find out what happened (and probably evaluating alternative providers ...).

We talk with a lot of publishers looking to adopt new technologies like XML, ebooks, and Print-on-Demand, and while many of them are convinced of the need to move ahead, they're not sure where to find the right partners, vendors, and service providers.

To help the situation, we've put together the TOC Online Directory, which includes listings for:

• Technology companies
• Publishing tools
• Service providers
• Printers
• Consultants
• Associations
• Industry events

You can rate the companies listed, and even subscribe to an RSS feed so you'll know about new listings added within a specific category.

Listings that include just name, phone number and URL are free, or you can choose a Basic, Premium, or Showcase listing for a higher profile. Some levels also include goodies like embedded video, longer descriptions, a contact form, and images.

The site is now in "beta," which means that while most everything is up and running, there are still some wrinkles to iron out (see: the first paragraph of this post). Your feedback is important and quite welcome. Just send mail to tocdirectory AT oreilly.com with any comments or questions.

In addition to listings for all of our TOC 2008 sponsors, we've begun adding entries for other companies and organizations that seem relevant to the publishing and technology ecosystem. If we already have you listed, you can "claim" your listing and customize it. If you're not already listed, join today. As a bonus for blog readers, save 30% on upgraded listings with discount code blog through July.

News Roundup: Borders Cuts 274 Positions, Kindle Hacks, Google Taking Long View on Book Search

Mac Slocum
June 6, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Borders Cuts 274 Positions

Borders is cutting 274 jobs, with most of the hit being absorbed by corporate groups within the company's Ann Arbor, Mich. headquarters. From Publishers Weekly:

Borders stressed that with a few exceptions none of the cuts came at the store level and a spokesperson said there are no plans to reduce the number of store employees. The cuts represented about 20% of Borders's corporate positions but only 1% of its total workforce. (Continue reading)

Hacking the Kindle

Reversing Everything popped the hood on the Kindle and poked around the underlying software. If you like to tinker (and don't mind putting devices in peril), this three-part Kindle series is worth a look.

Google Taking Long View on Book Search

With Microsoft abandoning Live Search Books, eWEEK turns the spotlight on Google Book Search:

... the smart strategy would be for Google to advance its effort from the "not-too-distant future" to the present. Google can pretty much corner the market at this point. Google was asked by eWEEK when it could expect to see some Book Search results, but the spokesperson declined to comment.
(Continue reading)

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