When we think of the Big Three West Coast tech firms poised to change publishing, we think Amazon, Apple and Google. Between them they embody a shift in discovery, distribution and hardware in reading and typify a move away from the traditional centres of the book world, in favour of more new media-native presences.
Kindle currently [...]
The Third Player
on 10 November, 2009 – 5:21 pm
Posted in General, Reading devices
Ebooks in Africa: 2
on 15 June, 2009 – 4:10 pm
Posted in General, Publishing
After writing about the general landscape of digital publishing in South Africa a few weeks ago, I thought it was time to look at some of the specifics. There is a lot of cool stuff going on out there that deserves more attention. Here are some highlights:
- Arthur Goldstuck is something of a web celebrity [...]
Ebooks in Africa: 1
on 28 May, 2009 – 3:22 pm
Posted in General, eBooks
Recently I had the pleasure of going to South Africa, and whilst there attended a conference in Joburg on how digital books are impacting publishing, and what kind of changes and strategic decisions need to be effected as a result. In this post I’ll talk generally about the situation out there and in a follow [...]
Ask and Ye Shall Receive
on 27 April, 2009 – 8:35 pm
Posted in General, Publishing, Reading devices, mobile
A little bit ago I wrote a kind of iPhone app wishlist for independent publishers. Well, it looks like Indiebound made good on their promise. Their new iPhone app (in the U.S.) is the exact right step booksellers should be taking. For more on the genesis of the project, here’s a great overview at Follow [...]
A New Class of Online Media (But Would It Work for Books?)
on 3 March, 2009 – 9:46 am
Posted in General, Reading devices, eBooks, mobile
Hello Digitalist readers! (Digitalists?) James and Sara asked me to guest blog, so I’ll be posting every now and then. I’m the Internet Marketing Manager for the U.S. side of Macmillan, and you can find out a little about me here. It’s best to imagine a flat American accent when reading my entries.
I’m very interested [...]
Shatzkin shizzle
on 27 February, 2009 – 9:47 am
Posted in eBooks, mobile
Mike Shatzkin posted a piece yesterday that seemed to me to have the ring of truth about it.
Asking the question, ‘Will Amazon’s current domination of the US ebook market persist?’, Shatzkin answers firmly, ‘No.’
He goes on to explicate the lack of a genuine compatibility between Amazon’s strengths in physical product supply, handling and selling and [...]
Pan Macmillan and GoSpoken
on 26 February, 2009 – 3:36 pm
Posted in General, Publishing, eBooks
Pan Macmillan are going into GoSpoken, the mobile reading platform. As regular readers of this blog will know, we are big fans of mobile reading and believe it has a hugely significant role in the future of how we read. Our lives are becoming more and more device centric while our devices get better and [...]
Pan, Stanza and the iPhone
on 24 November, 2008 – 4:43 pm
Posted in General, Reading devices
We’re very excited that from today, if you have downloaded Stanza on your iPhone, you’ll be able to read excerpts of some of our titles on the iPhone. We’ve forged a partnership with Lexcycle, the creators of Stanza (which has half a million downloads). What’s more because the full version of these titles are available [...]
“Mobile, mobile, mobile”
on 2 June, 2008 – 10:22 am
Posted in Development, General, eBooks
So said Google CEO Eric Schmidt when asked the future of the web. Last week in an interview with Reuters WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrel said that not investing in mobile content was to miss out on a big opportunity. At Pan Macmillan we agree. While reading on mobile devices remains marginal in the UK, [...]
Mobile, social is where it’s at
on 13 February, 2008 – 12:20 pm
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. [...]
