Kate Pullinger is one of the most creative, forward thinking authors I know, and she has my utmost respect for the positive way in which she is embracing the digital possibilities of the web, mobile technology and digital publishing in general. So it was with great interest that I read her piece on digital royalties [...]
Do authors deserve ‘a better deal’ from digital publishing?
Posted on 13 March, 2008
Posted in Publishing
Will the Kindle spark an eBook device surge?
Posted on 28 February, 2008
Posted in eBooks
I’m grateful to Peter Brantley for pointing out to me that over at engadget, a student design competition gives insight into how to usefully combine multitouch into a reader. Which leads me to wonder whether the advent of the Kindle is stimulating an upsurge in the development of eBook readers. This one looks closer to [...]
Mobile, social is where it’s at
Posted on 13 February, 2008
Posted in TOC 2008
Day two of the Tools of Change conference and it’s becoming clear that mobile and social are the buzzwords this year.
Gavin Bell, of our very own Nature Publishing Group, argued that publishers are in a strong position to aggregate, host and curate the digital ‘conversation’ that is already going on around our books online. [...]
How to roast a duck
Posted on 12 February, 2008
Posted in General, TOC 2008
I’m nearing the end of Day 1 at the extremely thought-provoking and wonderful O’Reilly Tools of Change conference, and I thought I’d post my top five challenging (scary?) ‘take-aways’ of the day:
40% of Internet users are tagging content on a daily basis – how many publishers are ensuring their content is taggable? (Stephen Abram, Information [...]
Are publishers over-obsessed with eBooks?
Posted on 4 February, 2008
Posted in General, eBooks
Last week The Bookseller hosted a seminar entitled, ‘Reaching Readers Online’, at which Peter Collingridge of Apt Studio warned publishers of ignoring eBooks at their peril and pleaded with them to sort out their digitisation strategy, “…because they are coming whether you like it or not.” I agree with him wholeheartedly, which is why [...]
eBook pricing: what’s fair / what will fly?
Posted on 28 January, 2008
Posted in eBooks
Till now, eBook pricing policy discussions have been theoretical at best, most proposals prefaced with a flippant, “Of course, it doesn’t really matter all the time there’s no market.” The ground has ever so slightly shifted in 2008: a subtle combination of the Kindle launch in the US (it didn’t light the world on fire, but [...]
