Category: publishing

“The power to create great books and the power to distribute great books is transferring to the author. Just a few years ago, publishers controlled the printing press and they controlled access to retail distribution. So if you couldn’t get your book printed and you couldn’t get it distributed, you’d never reach readers. But today, the printing press is completely democratized.”

“Singles justify both an e-reader purchase and a low-commitment investment in reading something; they aren’t aspirational like the high-designed special editions that might save real books, but there is a version of wantable scarcity that comes with such a custom, niche-y, one-off something.”

Not long ago, publishers decried low e-book prices as a scourge on their industry that cannibalized print sales and drove down the value of their products. Some even delayed digital editions for months following a print release to nudge readers toward more expensive hardcover editions. Now, in a strategic shift, some publishers are experimenting with cheap digital “prequels” to help build buzz and snag readers in the months leading up to a splashy print release.

“I have a big web audience, and a lot of my cartoons are incredibly popular. They fly around the web more than a lot of articles do, but for whatever reason, cartoons aren’t on the budget.”

“E-books are here to stay. But there’s a way to save the overall book business for both print and electronic editions. The solution requires three parts.”

“You feel misled by my essay. I accept that. You feel that it’s inappropriate for me to have done this. While I feel that it’s a necessary part of my job to do this. By taking these liberties, I’m making a better work of art–a truer experience for the reader–than if I stuck to the facts.”

“The e-book, by eliminating all variations in the appearance and weight of the material object we hold in our hand and by discouraging anything but our focus on where we are in the sequence of words (the page once read disappears, the page to come has yet to appear) would seem to bring us closer than the paper book to the essence of the literary experience.”

“Wellesley College and Baylor University collaborated on the project, which [launched on Feb. 14] with more than 1,400 letters by the poets available online. Of those, 573 represent the complete set of love letters, and at least 1,500 additional pieces of correspondence to other people the couple knew are to be up by summer.”

“Several of the 15 new ebooks released after the singer’s death are free, while the others range in price from 99 cents to $9.99. They include unauthorized biographies, a collection of Wikipedia pages about Houston, poems dedicated to the pop diva and a 10-page report analyzing her signature and handwriting.”

“Major brands are rapidly becoming publishers themselves. Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Sears, Target, Best Buy, and AT&T have all moved into the top 50 U.S. online publishers. Of those seven, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Sears are already running ads on their websites.”