Borders Prototype Store Shows Off Digital Center

Mac Slocum
March 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Borders' move toward digital services is on display in the company's Ann Arbor, Mich. prototype store.

The store's music section has been downgraded to make room for a new digital center that offers access to audio books, personal publishing via Lulu.com, photo printing, music downloads, and genealogy tools. Borders is also displaying related products, including Sony's ebook reader, digital cameras, and GPS devices.

Ebooks aren't specifically mentioned in any of the digital center coverage, but Borders and Sony recently teamed on a co-branded ebook store that is only accessible through customized software.

Report: Book Sales Up 7 Percent in Early '08

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

U.S. book sales were up 7.2 percent in Jan. '08, according to the Association of American Publishers.

Sales were driven by the adult categories:

• Adult hardcover -- $94.4 million/+4.2 percent over Jan. '07
• Adult paperback -- $135.2 million/+37.6 percent
• Adult mass market -- $65.3 million/+17.3 percent

The children's market splintered. Children/young-adult paperback sales were up 28.2 percent ($34 million), but hardcover titles were down 21.9 percent ($33.6 million).

Ebooks and audio books saw double-digit growth: ebooks posted $3.1 million in sales, an increase of 26.1 percent over Jan. '07; audio books brought in $13.5 million, a boost of 16.8 percent from the same period a year ago.

Last week, bookstore sales figures from the U.S. Census Bureau showed a 4.7 percent increase in Jan. '08.

(Via GalleyCat).

Roundup: New B&N; Site Taps Digital Revenue, Magazine Goes High-End with Production

Mac Slocum
March 24, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

B&N; Opens Digital Revenue Streams with How-To Site
Barnes & Noble's just-launched how-to site, Quamut.com, offers edited guides on more than 1,000 topics (it's a diverse roster; everything from iPods to beagles). According to Publishers Weekly, Quamut's free online guides are supported by display advertising and the sale of downloadable PDFs ($2.95 each) and laminated charts ($5.95). Some charts will also be sold through B&N; stores.

Magazine Courts High-End with Price and Production
As publishers look to cut costs and go digital, Monocle magazine is choosing a different route -- it's using high-end production and big prices to differentiate itself: "We’ve demonstrated that format (trim size, paper stock) is more important than ever in a digital age. At the same time we’ve challenged the subscription model and convinced readers to pay more for quality -- Monocle’s subscription is 50% higher than its cover price," says Monocle editor-in-chief/chairman Tyler Brule.

BitTorrent as a Book Publicity Tool

Mac Slocum
March 21, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (6) | Listen

Free copies of The Cult of Mac and The Cult of iPod are available for download through the popular BitTorrent tracker, The Pirate Bay. Finding book downloads on BitTorrent isn't unusual, but this situation differs because the books were posted by the author and publisher.

Leander Kahney, author of both books, explains the move on his blog:

We came up with the idea after reading about the amazing success to bestselling author Paulo Coelho, who seeds his own books to file-sharing networks and then promotes them on his blog. Coelho claims great success with “pirating” his own books, saying it has had a slow but dramatic effect on sales.

Bill Pollock of No Starch Press, publisher of both Cult books, is taking a waiting-and-watching approach to the free dowloads:

I’ve been in publishing for just over 20 years and my training has not been to give books away. But 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.

The definitive connection between downloads and sales is hard to pin down, but O'Reilly's 2007 case study concluded that free digital copies do not harm book sales.

(Via TorrentFreak)

Will Open Mobile Access Benefit Book Publishing?

Mac Slocum
March 21, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

The C-block segment of the recently completed spectrum auction includes a provision for open access, which means consumers will (in theory) be able to use any wireless phone and any software they like. Verizon won the majority of the C-block licenses with its $9.4 billion bid.

If open access is truly embraced, the new spectrum could yield a host of mobile applications related to the book publishing industry, including new ebooks and ebook readers, platform-independent audio and video content (great for author interviews, book podcasts, and recommendations), and mobile book tie-ins and mash-ups.

The Web found its footing when fast connections and open source development meshed. Will mobile follow a similar trajectory?

Roundup: Borders Mulling Sale, Blogs to Books

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

Borders Considers Sale
The Wall Street Journal says Borders is exploring business options, including a partial or full sale. Barnes & Noble is considered a top suitor, notes DealBook.

Fractal Press Taps Blogosphere for Anthologies
Fractal Press is working with personal finance bloggers to develop a print anthology. The final product, expected in April, will be a print-on-demand book that aggregates best-of-the-blogosphere posts. Fractal Press co-founder Navanit Arakeri says authors will receive a percentage of book sales.

BookLamp Gets Ambitious With Recommendations

Mac Slocum
March 19, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

The creators of the BookLamp recommendation system compare their project -- currently in beta -- to the Pandora music discovery service. Like Pandora, source material (book text) is ported into a software program, then analyzed for patterns and sorted into categories. When someone uses the BookLamp recommendation service, the database serves up similar books according to its categorization scheme (more info on BookLamp's system is available in this video).

I ran a BookLamp recommendation query based on George Orwell's 1984, and the service came back with eight suggestions. The most targeted result was the full text of the U.S. Patriot Act (no joke). Other suggestions leaned toward the sci-fi end of the spectrum.

Click for larger view

It'll be interesting to see if BookLamp can reach the creators' goal of 1 million books. Sites like GoodReads and LibraryThing use social networking and the power of community to drive recommendations, but BookLamp will need a significant amount of data to reach the same type of critical mass.

Are You Ready for Free?

Mac Slocum
March 19, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

A recent post on ReadWriteWeb looks at the relationship between traditional publishing (newspapers, magazines, books) and teen readership. The results are hazy at best -- experts can't seem to get past the "digital reading" vs. "print reading" debate -- but a short passage in the article's magazine section touched on a topic that's popping up all over the place: the power of free content.

"MediaTel managing director Derek Jones said the [magazine] industry must find new ways of engaging with the teen market which has suffered a steady decline in sales. The problem, according to ShortList chief executive Mike Soutar, is that the younger generation like to consume media for free and they have come to expect free content through online extensions." [emphasis added]

The expectation of free isn't just the domain of teens; Web consumers from all generations are used to getting their information for free as well. This is a powerful trend that's gaining steam.

If you're intrigued by free models (or concerned), take a look at Kevin Kelly's essay "Better Than Free," Chris Anderson's article "Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business," and coverage of Tim O'Reilly's TOC '08 keynote "Free is More Complicated Than You Think."

Roundup: Green Books, Podcasts by Cellphone

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

Eco-Friendly Children's Books
Simon & Schuster's Little Green Books children's line will be printed in soy ink and manufactured with recycled materials. Debuting this fall, book topics will focus on ways kids can help the environment.

Podcasts by Cell Phone
Silicon Alley Insider says the rise of all-you-can-talk mobile plans opens the door for podcasts and radio programs delivered through cell phones. Foneshow is already tapping the opportunity with its audio service (users subscribe to specific shows, just like traditional podcasting). This could be a new option for brand-conscious authors and publishers looking to expand their reach.

"Prince Caspian" Gets Read It Before You See It Campaign

Mac Slocum
March 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

HarperCollins has a new "read it before you see it campaign" attached to the upcoming theatrical release of "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian."

The marketing program includes a Facebook profile and interactive game (see image above), Narnia trivia, contests, a Narnia widget that can be embedded on any Web site, and book information.

The Facebook and widget components are notable because they represent a clear effort to engage the target audience (kids) on familiar ground (social networks, blogs, etc.). Back in the day, a program like this would have been relegated to a microsite and maybe a few text ads. Now, the openness of Web 2.0 creates all sorts of new engagement opportunities -- both for companies and the audiences they seek.

(Via Shelf Awareness.)

Random House Chief Exec Sees Opportunity in Shifting Book World

Mac Slocum
March 14, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

In a recent speech to the Stationers' Company, Gail Rebuck, chairman and chief executive of the Random House Group, offered a hopeful perspective on the enduring role of books amidst digital change.

"The speeches of Barack Obama are seamlessly woven into rap videos on YouTube," Rebuck said, "but he started with a book, 'The Audacity of Hope,' which was the anchor and beacon of his campaign. And when he finishes, he will end like Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair –- with a book. Books give life, give purpose, give meaning – they are like music, art and song –- part of the essence of our humanity –- and that will never change."

The rise of eBooks, Rebuck noted, is an opportunity that dovetails with a developing paradox among consumers. Readers looking for instant information can find it in the digital domain, but readers seeking substance and depth will still find it in print editions.

"These contradictions will not suddenly disappear and a new map of digital publishing emerge with sharp contours and clear distinctions. But the eBook and the traditional book will claim different parts of the topography."

The full text of Rebuck's speech is worth a read.

(Via if:book.)

Google Opens Book Search with API

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

Google Book Search has released a Viewability API that lets organizations embed book images, previews and links to Google Book Search results within their own Web sites.

A search result from the Deschutes Public Library in Oregon illustrates one potential use for the API: offering a "preview this book at Google" link within a book's library record.

Clicking the link brings up the book's Google Book Search result, which allows the reader to scan pages and dig deeper into book content.

(Links via Peter Brantley's read20 listserv.)

Roundup: Jeff Bezos and Chris Anderson at BEA, the Value of Evergreen Content, Bonus Features and Ebooks

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

Jeff Bezos and Chris Anderson at BookExpo America
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will be interviewed by Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, at BookExpo America on Friday, May 30. Bezos and Anderson are both at the forefront of business/technological change: Bezos with Amazon's Kindle and Anderson with his focus on free economic models. (What's the over/under on Anderson asking about free Kindles?)

Sourcebooks: Evergreen Holds the Bottom Line
Dominique Raccah, founder of Sourcebooks Inc., has built her business by ignoring fads: "... we elected at the outset to mainly issue books that are on the so-called backlist -- books that are not hot fad followers but are read, and re-read and referenced as evergreen classics, and can be updated with fresh information each year," Raccah tells the Naperville Sun. Sourcebooks' titles include the "Fisk Guide to Colleges," "The Complete Book of Baby Names," and the Sphinx Legal reference series.

Pride and Prejudice Ebook Includes Bonus Material
It looks like e-books are taking a note from DVD bonus features. Penguin Group's upcoming Pride and Prejudice ebook will include reviews from the novel's first run, a Jane Austen timeline, illustrations, rules of etiquette, and other add-ons.

Borders Stores Turn Back on Long Tail

Mac Slocum
March 12, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Borders is counting on a simple turn of the wrist to boost profits and reduce in-store inventory. According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the retailer is displaying three times as many books "face out."

Shelf Awareness notes:

" ... The new approach has led to sales increases 'in the double digits' and has led to the removal of 5%-10% of the average store's titles -- many of which sell only one copy a year in each store."

Borders' move could introduce a unique opportunity for retailers with offline and online storefronts: eschew the long tail in brick and mortar outlets and embrace the long tail on the Web.

Enterprising book marketers could also take a note from the seamless integration we're all experiencing on the Web: just as Web apps unite the desktop with the server-side, a retail store could merge with the retailer's online presence through in-store kiosks (perhaps with a Cover Flow layout to continue the "face out" concept) and print-on-demand equipment.

For these offline-online companies, the long tail doesn't need to be an either/or proposition.