May 24 2012

Things to Read: May 24, 2012

In this issue First up we have Amazon and its future in advertising, as well as a note that Amazon isn’t really the biggest dog in the fight —not reading is. The DOJ gets an open letter from Mike Shatzkin; the death knell of DRM continues being sung; and ebooks become fancy catalogs with excerpts. On the one hand, Amazon wants to be your ebook distributor, but on the other, Ingram is busy sewing up distribution deals with Christian publishing houses as fast as it can. Houghton Mifflin declares bankruptcy. And we read that social sharing around books ought to be focused on common interests, not our contact list. Meanwhile, Hachette dips its toe in the water with a Facebook app for book excerpts.

Amazon
Why advertising could become Amazon’s knockout punch

« It all started harmlessly enough with Amazon’s Kindle with Special Offers. That’s the cheaper Kindle that displays ads when the device is in sleep mode or at the bottom of the screen when paging through the owner’s catalog of books…. Make no mistake about the fact that Amazon would love to see ebook pricing approach zero. That’s right. Zero. That might seem outlandish but isn’t that exactly what they’re doing with their Kindle Owner’s Lending Library program? Now you can read ebooks for free as part of your Prime membership. The cost of Prime didn’t go up, so they’ve essentially made the consumer price of those ebooks zero. Why wouldn’t they take the same approach with in-book advertising?… »

Joe Wikert’s Publishing 2020 Blog
Amazon
Booksellers vs libraries? Publishers vs Amazon? This is the wrong fight.

« Today the real competition for booksellers, publishers and libraries is NOT READING. • Four months ago, it mattered if libraries were or weren’t a direct threat to booksellers. Today, this question is irrelevant. What matters is that the participants in the industry aren’t innovating at the pace readers are seeking and expecting solutions v. reading’s alternatives.… »

Digital Book World
DOJ
Letter to the DOJ about the collusion lawsuit and settlement

« My first concern is that there is a failure of recognition of the necessity for price-setting of individual titles across the ebook supply chain. Indeed, only by eliminating price as a basis of competition can we have any ultimately have balanced competition in the real world of publishing as digital change has remade it.… »

The Shatzkin Files
DRM
E-books may take a page out of digital music’s book

« On Friday, an association of e-book publishers—including major companies such as Harper Collins, Random House, and Barnes & Noble—issued a statement suggesting an outline for a new “Lightweight DRM.” This proposed Digital Rights Management standard could increase interoperability of books on hardware like e-readers. • Don’t get excited yet—the outline was only an invitation to a conversation that the association, called the International Digital Publishing Forum, wants to have. Still, it suggests the traditionally conservative publishing industry is learning how to do business in the Internet era. Hopefully, publishing is realizing something that the music industry has known for years: DRM is dead.… »

Ars Technica
ebooks
Free Publishers Lunch e-book offers excerpts from hot fall titles

« Book publishing industry newsletter and website Publishers Lunch is previewing hot fall titles — by authors like Junot Diaz, Dennis Lehane and Barbara Kingsolver — in a free e-book, "BEA Buzz Books," ahead of major publishing fair BookExpo America in June in New York.… »

paidContent
ebooks
Disintermediating Amazon

« E-books, and the Internet, and with them the prospect of lightning-fast distribution, high efficiency, and minimal, or nonexistent, returns. Perhaps we in the industry are so used to being glum that we refuse to see the thrilling opportunity in front of us. We remain committed to doing business the way it’s always been done. Despite a computer on every desk and exciting new marketing tools online, we perpetuate the same old system, working through retailers and treating the electronic world as simply a tool to augment our presence in the real world. And it means wrestling with Amazon over how to sell. It’s a match that publishers are likely to lose—consumers like getting books for less money—but this is not a battle publishers have to fight, unless they refuse to evolve.… »

Publishers Weekly
ebooks
Simon & Schuster offers free ebook sampler

« Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., announced today that in celebration of five powerful, original new novels coming this summer, it will release a promotional fiction sampler as both an interactive app and in an ebook edition. The Free Press Summer Fiction Sampler app will include extended excerpts and extra content including videos, photos, and more from The Folded Earth by Anuradha Roy, Shelter by Frances Greenslade, Some Kind of Peace by Camilla Grebe and Åsa Träff, Gone to the Forest by Katie Kitamura, and The Other Half of Me by Morgan McCarthy. The free interactive app is available now for the iPad and will soon be available in editions for other tablet devices.… »

Digital Book World
ebooks
Cadre of Christian publishers do deal with Ingram’s CoreSource for sales & distribution

« As Christian publishers develop new business models to succeed in today’s digital market, more, including David C Cook, R.H Boyd Publishing, Our Sunday Visitor, Abingdon Press, and Worthy Publishing are selecting Ingram Content Group’s CoreSource® products for the distribution, sales and management of e-books.… Ingram’s CoreSource is an easy-to-use, online solution for the storage, management, and distribution of digital content. CoreSource delivers a secure, searchable content repository and a high-capacity data distribution network, allowing publishers to move digital content easily and swiftly from their organization to any channel partner globally. Lightning Source, the print-on-demand unit of Ingram Content Group, is the leading provider of comprehensive print-on-demand and distribution services to publishers worldwide.… »

Digital Book World
houghton mifflin
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt files for bankruptcy

« Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the book publishing giant, has filed for bankruptcy protection to eliminate $3.1 billion in debt. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt had been struggling with heavy debt for years. • Houghton Mifflin said its day-to-day operations will continue as normal under bankruptcy protection, and it expects to complete the process by the end of June.… »

CSMonitor.com
houghton mifflin
Houghton Mifflin: The dog ate our business

« HMH reiterates, as it has said before, that education comprises “approximately 90 percent” of sales, with trade/reference accounting for the rest. By that measure, the HMH trade division had sales of approximately $130 million in 2011. When the parent company considered–and then rejected–selling the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt trade unit in early 2009, those trade sales were roughly estimated as approximately $150 million. At the same time, in March 2009, the WSJ said the parent company was projecting sales of $2.2 billion for the year (bearing in mind that they rarely met any of their own projections.)… »

Publishers Lunch
Social Media
Social reading should focus on common interests rather than friend status

« Social reading is gaining momentum. There are quite a few startups involved in this space, and most of them simply assume your Facebook friends share the same reading interests you do. ReadSocial is different. In this TOC interview, we hear from ReadSocial co-founder Travis Alber (@screenkapture) on why they’re building their platform without tying it to your social graph. • Publishers play a role, too — Note that Travis talks about publishers as well as readers here. You can’t just have a “build it and they will come” mentality with social reading. Publishers need to take the initiative and add value by inserting comments, managing groups, etc. [Discussed at 2:00.]… »

O’Reilly Radar
Social Media
Hachette launches ChapterShare Facebook app for book excerpts

« Michael Pietsch, Publisher of Little, Brown and Company and Executive Vice President of Hachette Book Group,announces the launch of ChapterShare, a new Facebook application designed to make the sharing of book excerpts a highly social experience. • ChapterShare createsa unique seamless, high-quality reading experience within Facebook. Using it, Hachette’s publishing divisions and authors will be able to post chapters froma forthcoming novel on their Facebook page. In addition to reading the excerpt, readers can then instantly preorder the book and share a link to the sample chapters with all their friends on Facebook.… »

Digital Book World

Note: This resource has been curated for your enjoyment and education. It is intended to reflect what publishers and leaders in the Christian publishing industry are thinking and talking about — it does not reflect the positions or opinions of Zondervan, its authors, agents, employees, or leadership.

May 18 2012

Things to Read: May 18, 2012

In this issue: Read about the explosion of foreign ebook sales and Great Britain’s literary digital distraction. Metadata is had to deal with, both on production and consumption. We hear more about the agency model, another Big Six publisher settles with the DOJ, DRM is still a hot topic, and the IDPF would like to see a new standard crafted.

Harlequin consolidates it’s digital marketing channels and it seems iOS apps are lousy for digital publishing. Learn Grisham’s best-selling tricks (which he learned from Brian Garfield). The largest book club ever is on Twitter and Hay House wants to tap into bloggers review power. Also, don’t miss the two clever infographics at the end!

MARKETPLACE:
Foreign ebook sales increase 333% for US publishers

« Sales of e-books by U.S. publishers to readers in other countries increased to $21.5 million in 2011 from $4.9 million in 2010, a 333% increase. U.S. publishers work with “nearly 15,000 international retailers in 200 countries” and export roughly 90% of their titles to the 750 million people outside the U.S. who can read English.… »

Digital Book World
MARKETPLACE:
One third of Brits now ereading, says Bowker study

« Nearly a third of British adults (31%) say they are likely to buy an e-book in the next six months, according to a new study from Bowker. • According to report Understanding the Digital Consumer, the percentage of adults who have purchased an e-book has seen an almost threefold increase since February 2011. • The Kindle has become the e-reader of choice for UK adults, with 40% of those reading e-books using the Kindle most often to do so. Tablet devices have more than doubled market share between February 2011 and March 2012, with 12% reporting that they use them most often.… »

The Bookseller
METADATA:
“Ebooksellers get metadata wrong,” say almost 100% of publishers

« Imagine if when a book hit Barnes & Noble store shelves it had a different cover than when the proof left the publisher. • That’s what nearly all publishers are experiencing with their e-books, but in a digital way. • According to an upcoming study from the Book Industry Study Group set to come out in a month, 95% of publishers have had the experience of creating their e-books with one set of metadata and seeing an altered set of metadata at the point of sale, online booksellers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple*.… »

Digital Book World
METADATA:
In the digital era, publication isn’t preservation

« When a print book is published its metadata is literally attached to its content. The author and title, publisher and imprint, price, ISBN and barcode, as well as the size, the shape, the binding are clear, easily referenced at a glance. Part of the complicated process of digitizing books [faces is] how to record and connect all of this information to a digital file. • First of all, it’s not always readily obvious that the metadata is correct. But just as important, the connection of metadata to digital book content is more tenuous. Without a hard copy to refer back to, a piece of information that goes missing may not be retrievable.… »

Digital Book World
AGENCY MODEL:
There’s no level playing field without agency pricing—and not in the way you think

« As we know, successful publishers unlearn old behavior very slowly. So it has taken some time for the big general houses to shed their prejudice against selling direct to end customers even though, in the digital age, it is actually essential that they do so. Why? • Because the business of publishing digital books delivered online is entirely different than the business of publishing printed books sold through intermediaries.… »

The Shatzkin Files
DOJ:
Simon & Schuster settles ebook antitrust suit with state attorneys general

« Simon & Schuster, one of the five major book publishers accused in multiple lawsuits of conspiring with Apple to fix e-book prices, has settled the complaint filed by numerous states’ attorney generals, CNET has learned. • Last month, Simon & Schuster also settled a complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as did Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Book Group and News Corp.’s HarperCollins. The defendants that refused to settle and deny wrongdoing are Apple and Macmillan Publishers (owned by Germany’s Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck holding company), and Pearson PLC’s Penguin Group.… »

CNET News
DRM:
Does ebook sharing create economic damage?

« A fear of piracy is one thing, but a fear of sharing? With the new digital age of publishing upon us there are many variables at work, among them whether or not allowing sharing of e-books among consumers is cannibalizing sales or otherwise causing economic damage. In today’s feature story, futurist Gerd Leonhard speaking at the World E-Reading Congress in London on Monday said that “Sharing should be non-negotiable.” It does not “cause economic damage,” he reiterated.… »

Publishing Perspectives
DRM:
The IDPF proposes new, “light” DRM for ePub

« The IDPF on May 18, 2012 published a draft of use cases and requirements for lightweight content protection technology for EPUB, available at: http://idpf.org/epub-content-protection. Comments from members and other interested parties are requested by Friday, June 8. Comments are particularly solicited regarding the priority of this activity versus other potential IDPF-mediated projects. Also requested are comments on any additional high priority use cases and requirements not encompassed in this initial straw-man document, and regarding the overall desirability of a solution embodying the proposed requirements, or any standardized solution in this area.… »

International Digital Publishing Forum
MARKETING:
Harlequin reorganizes marketing channels into single digital unit

« Earlier this month Harlequin reorganized its North American digital, retail, direct-to-consumer, and physical sales and marketing channels into a single division, which will be spearheaded by Craig Swinwood, named coo of the entire division. “By bringing these groups together under a single division, we wanted to strengthen the focus on the customers, enjoy the synergies of the marketing group and help build Harlequin’s brand further,” Swinwood told us Friday morning. “We’re committed to being available wherever, whenever, and however women want to shop.”… »

Publishers Lunch
iOS:
“I hated every moment of our experiment with apps,” publisher says

« Jason Pontin’s latest column is perhaps the most simultaneously complete and concise summary of publishers’ disappointment with mobile apps. • When Apple released the iPad in April 2010, the Technology Review publisher writes, “traditional publishers had been overtaken by a collective delusion. They believed that mobile computers with large, colorful screens, such as the iPad, iPhone, and similar devices using Google’s Android software, would allow them to unwind their unhappy histories with the Internet.”… »

Poynter
iOS:
Why publishers don’t like apps

« For traditional publishers, the scheme was alluring. They lost their heads. One symptom of the industry’s euphoria was a brief-lived literary genre, the announcement of the iPad edition. A touching example of the form is this 2010 letter by the editors of the New Yorker, published by Condé Nast, dashed off in a style that was uncharacteristically breathless: “This latest technology … provides the most material at the most advanced stage of digital speed and capacity. It has everything that is in the print edition and more: extra cartoons, extra photographs, videos, audio of writers and poets reading their work. This week’s inaugural tablet issue features an animated version of David Hockney’s cover, which he drew on an iPad.”… »

Technology Review
ON WRITING:
Ten rules for suspense fiction — by Brian Garfield

« [Note: In 1994, John Grisham revealed to Newsweek that he credited the following article by Brian Garfield with giving him the tools to create his ground-breaking thriller, The Firm, as well as subsequent books. Garfield himself is a noted bestselling novelist, as well as a screenwriter, producer, and nonfiction writer. He won the Edgar Award for Hopscotch, which was made into the prize-winning movie of the same name, starring Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson. … This article was published twice by Writers Digest. Its first appearance was in 1973 in the magazine. The second was in the 1994 Writer’s Yearbook — “At last: The real secret behind John Grisham’s success.”]… »

International Thriller Writers
SOCIAL MEDIA:
A 64,000-member book club, 140 characters at a time

« I run a book club. It’s a highly democratic operation, and the members choose what books they want to read. What with varying tastes and all, building a consensus can prove challenging. That may be true of any reading group, but my predicament is unusual: this book club has, at last count, 64,483 members.… »

The New York Times
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Hay House inspirational publisher fires up bloggers book review program

« True to its philosophy of personal empowerment, Hay House, the international leader in inspirational and transformational publishing, is launching its own blogger community website HayHouseBookNook.com, with the goal of providing one central place for bloggers to share their thoughts and experiences about Hay House products.… Bloggers will receive free copies of Hay House products in exchange for an honest review on their blog and a consumer site.…Bloggers will benefit from Hay House’s massive digital platform which includes a database of 2 million email names…… »

PR Newswire
INFOGRAPHIC:
How a book is born (because you kids love the infographics)

« Here’s the heartwarming, only slightly messy, and roughly 74% accurate story of how an idea churns through the publishing process just like—as a publisher we once knew put it—a rat travels through an anaconda. Don’t think too much about that analogy. Just enjoy this flowchart that takes you from a brilliant idea to a best-selling trade book. And stop asking your mother embarrassing questions.… »

Weldon Owen
INFOGRAPHIC:
Top 10 most-read books in the world

« Based on number of books printed and sold over the last 50 years. Some titles may have had more copies printed than some of these books, but a vast number of those books were not sold, so we’ll assume that they did not get read. (Data source: 10 Most Read Books in the World via Squidoo)… »

Visual News

May 10 2012

Things to Read: May 10, 2012

Featured in this main issue: Wherein we read about how our technological culture is changing not only the way people read, but how people become readers in the first place. Meanwhile, Pottermore is magically changing the way the Amazon behemoth sells books while Target is transforming Kindles into thin air. Microsoft and Barnes & Noble will start sharing a Nook — perhaps they’ll find a way to let all those penniless iOS developers finally make a buck. Kid’s publishers are taken to task for being too white, DRM is on the ropes, and the Author’s Guild soldiers on in its quest to tilt against the Google windmill.

The Reader & Technology: How technology is changing readers and writers

« I think writers will continue to occur but technology and its trivia will cause us to lose something, just as we lost something when we lost the classical education. We write worse because we cannot write classical prose. Yet classical prose is useless for describing the world of 2012, the world that is there – ready to buzz – in your pocket or bag. • Our perceptions outrun the sedentary sentence by much too much; just as we listen to mp3s to hear what an album would sound like were we actually to sit down and listen to it, so we skim-read the classic books to get a sense of what they would be like were we to sit down and dwell on them.… »

Granta Magazine

See Also:
• Though the ereader battle escalates, the mainstream novel suffers via Huff Post
Pottermore’s Riddikulus spell transformed Amazon from a fierce ebook retailer into a tame ebook shop window

« In a similar way, Pottermore transformed Amazon from a fierce ebook retailer into a tame ebook shop window. Pottermore uses Amazon (and all other ebook retailers online) as an affiliate which attracts customers to their ebook store in exchange for a finder’s fee. Thus, Pottermore gains direct access to the end user details (alongside Amazon as both companies know that the user has purchased the ebook). This ‘charm’ is really transformative as it really shifts the power from the retailer to the publisher. The publisher gains are significant…… »

FutureBook

See Also:
• Pottermore: Developing a blueprint for futureproof publishing via Forbes
Target will yank Kindles by Mother’s Day

« According to a memo obtained by The Verge, Target will stop carrying Kindles in its stores or on its website after Mother’s Day… the change is due to a “conflict of interest. The memo says “Target has reviewed our product assortment and has made the decision to no longer carry Amazon hardware (i.e., Kindle). … »

GigaOM
Microsoft to invest in Barnes & Noble’s Nook

« Microsoft Corp. is pledging $605 million to help bolster Barnes & Noble Inc.’s Nook digital-book business.… As part of its investment, Microsoft is taking a 17.6% stake in a new subsidiary that will include the e-book division and Barnes & Noble’s college bookstores unit, which operates 641 stores.… Barnes & Noble committed to creating a Nook e-reading app for Windows 8—a forthcoming Microsoft operating system that will be used in tablet-style hardware and PCs—and for smartphones powered by Microsoft software.… The companies also will share revenue from sales of e-books and other content.… »

WSJ

See Also:
• Nook wont be “entrenched” with Windows says B&N CEO via SlashGear via Slashgear
• Is there a Windows-based Barnes & Noble reader in the works? via ZDNet
Apps usually fail: 60% of iOS developers lose money on apps (infographic)

« Nearly 60 percent of iOS developers don’t break even with the apps that they create and market, according to a recent study by App Promo. While we hear a lot about blockbuster hits like Draw Something or Angry Birds Space, it’s all too easy for apps to get lost in the crowd of more than 600,0… only 12 percent of apps earned $50,000 or more and that this “top earner” subset spent an average of 14 percent of their time on marketing. … »

VentureBeat
Mainstream children’s book publishers do a sad, sad job meeting the needs of Latino readers

« In 2050, there will be more school-age Latino children than school-age non-Hispanic white children. … Yet, why haven’t these facts resonated with the one industry that is supposed to know children the best but has done the worst job of reflecting today’s playground reality — mainstream children’s book publishers? … There may be a simple reason: About 75% of children’s book buyers are white.… »

Latina Lista
The DOJ’s Publishing Lawsuit May Doom Digital Rights Management

« In London this year, says Lorraine Shanley of publishing consultancy Market Partners International, more mainstream publishing executives are talking seriously about ending DRM restrictions. “It would allow individual publishers much more flexibility with their own content and in making it available directly to consumers,” says Shanley. “And it would allow consumers to access content without getting locked into one device—e.g., the Kindle.”… »

Businessweek

See Also:
• Why the death of DRM would be good news for readers, writers and publishers via The Guardian
• Most workers don’t understand copyright, don’t care about it, or both via PCBDesing
• Association of Authors Representatives write the DOJ and AAR members, opposing settlement via Publisher’s Lunch
Latest developments from Authors Guild class action suit against Google

« From the questions he asked from the bench, it certainly seems like Judge Denny Chin wants to see the Authors Guild lawsuit against Google and its library book-scanning program proceed as a class action. But after a morning of oral arguments in Manhattan, it is unclear if that can happen.… After more than six years, the Authors Guild case against Google could now go to trial as early as September. Even if Judge Chin finds for Google and denies the Authors Guild associational standing, Authors Guild officials have said the case against Google will go on.… »

Publishers Weekly
May 10, 2012 – More Things to Read

« herein we read portents of doom to page-oriented composition and layout due to the rise of reading via display, not paper. And speaking of that, Logos/Vyrso announce adding 1 thousand new titles to it’s reading/ebook platform, plus a new epublisher joins the fray, spun off from well-known agency group, Alive Communications. We read that maybe your next book project will come from the blogosphere, we learn what’s wrong with book reviewers, and what’s up with February’s sales stats. With a very short long tail, WND is appropriately pround of their bestseller titles and open-source textbooks have never really been a threat…until now—a university will be curating a database of peer-reviewed, quality textbooks.… »

Z Things to Read

May 10 2012

Things to Read: May 03, 2012

THIS WEEK: We get to see the Christian Book Award winners, at last! Microsoft made waves with a $300 million investment in B&N. Which is just a little less than the total revenues for the total adult trade in books this past January (see the AAP report). So, there’s plenty of speculation as to what this deal might mean—especially for Apple and Amazon.

Jackie Collins made her own splash by diving into the deep-end of the indie-published ebook pool. (She’s not leaving her publishers, but she practically announced the death of physical book publishing.) Meanwhile, USA Today stands up a new book site, Bowker says the rise of the tablet is eclipsing the ereader, Amazon is “reshaping” publishing, and Huffington Post calls for more innovation.

To close out this week’s roundup we note that we’re wired for story and narrative, provide a fun infographic for story structure, and see that Tyndale House has been telling its story for 50 years.

Enjoy!

Christian Book Award winners for 2012

« The 2012 Christian Book of the Year is Nearing Home by Billy Graham (Thomas Nelson). Other winners include: ESV Student Study Bible (Crossway); Dictionary of Christian Spirituality by Glen G. Scorgie (Zondervan); The Story for Children, A Storybook Bible by Max Lucado, Randy Frazee, & Karen Davis Hill (Zonderkidz); The Queen by Steven James (Revell/Baker); Love Amid the Ashes by Mesu Andrews (Revell/Baker); Close Enough to Hear God Breathe by Greg Paul (Thomas Nelson); The Law of Happiness by Henry Cloud (Howard).… »

Christian Book Expo
Microsoft invests $300 million in new Barnes & Noble ‘strategic partnership’

« The strategic partnership—Microsoft loves ’em—would come in the form of a new Barnes and Noble subsidiary that deals with all things Nook, in addition to its education business. The bookseller would hold onto the lion’s share at 82.4%, with the remaining 17.6% in Microsoft’s control. The first benefit posited would be a Nook app for the incoming Windows 8. Barnes and Noble’s Nook Study software would also benefit from a friendly boost on all that Windows hardware. Maybe all those other legal matches will resolve in similar warm-and-fuzzy business hook-ups—but we doubt it.… »

Engadget

See Also:
• Investors circle Barnes & Noble as it plans to spin off the Nook business via The Register
• Microsoft buys into Nook: 5 reasons why via International Business Times
• Possibilities abound in Microsoft, Barnes & Noble deal via Digital Book World
• B&N and Microsoft: Why it’s not about ebooks via Joe Wikert
Soon you’ll be able to use your Nook to buy books in Barnes & Noble stores

« B&N CEO William Lynch says that the company plans to embed NFC (near field communication) chips into Nooks. Users could take their Nook into a Barnes & Noble store and wave it near a print book to get info on it or buy it. That could help someone gain quick information on their Nook about a book, making it easy to go from browsing to buying.… »

GigaOM
Jackie Collins decides to self-publish

« Let me say up front that I will personally always love physical books. I love how a new book feels in your hands. I love turning the pages one-by-one as you curl up in a chair and engross yourself in the story. But I also know that to stay successful, you’ve always got to be thinking two steps ahead of the game. And by all counts, the book industry is going the way of the CD industry. Almost nobody buys CDs anymore; we get our music fix on iTunes.… »

Jackie Collins
USA Today launches books.usatoday.com to expand coverage of books

« Unique to the books.usatoday.com site is the opportunity for consumers to now preview a book from the USA Today Best-Selling Books list and purchase it from a vendor of their choice, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the iBookstore or IndieBound, an association of independent booksellers.… »

Book Publishing News

See Also:
• USA Today Books via USA Today
The dark side of free

« The other negative I’ve seen is that the fringe buyer for indie books, the reader at the margins who might have been willing to give a new author a test drive in exchange for a few bucks, now doesn’t. Instead, they download free books. Their kindles are clogged with books they will never have the time to read, but they can’t help themselves.… »

Russell Blake
Another publisher rejects DRM

« Duncan Baird Publishers (& Watkins Publishing) has taken the decision to put our readers at the heart of our digital publishing by removing Digital Rights Management (DRM) from our trade epublishing list.… DBP, and our authors, believe that our readers should be able to read their book in whatever format and on whatever hardware they choose, so we are taking steps to make sure that our ebooks are, as much as humanly possible, not platform-specific.… »

Digital Book World

See Also:
• Don’t tell me the truth about DRM via FutureBook
Consumers choosing tablets over e-readers, e-book sales to suffer

« As tablet popularity rises and e-readers falls, the e-book business could suffer, according to Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publishing services at Bowker Market Research…. &Quot;Tablets will adversely affect the e-book business in that the tablet is a multifunction device and will therefore draw the reader into non-book activities and therefore cause them to consume books slower and therefore buy fewer books versus a single function e-reading device," said Gallagher.… »

Digital Book World

See Also:
• More tablets run Amazon’s version of Android than Google’s via AllThings Digital
• The ‘smartphone class’: always on, always consuming content via eMarketer
• Readers will pay more for ebooks with music and multimedia in it via Book Publishing News
Amazon aren’t destroying publishing, they’re reshaping it

« Google, Apple and Amazon are vying to become literature’s new gatekeepers. But good publishing is about more than market share… If Amazon was truly consumer-centric, it would do away with DRM and adopt the ePub format, allowing users to consume their media on any device and through any software they choose, securing them from obsolescence and errors in DRM servers, accidental deletions and the rest. And that it most emphatically does not do. … »

The Guardian

See Also:
• Ebook price-fixing: finding the best model for publishers — and readers via Time Magazine
Publishing industry has strong January revenue growth in print books & ebooks for all audiences

« The US publishing industry saw dynamic net sales revenue growth in Adult, Children’s, Young Adult and Religious categories in January 2012 as compared to January 2011, according to the monthly industry snapshot report produced by the Association of American Publishers. These figures are part of a significant expansion of the AAP monthly new sales revenue report also launching this month. The report now has a name — AAP Monthly StatShot — and now includes a considerably larger base of participating publishers (from an average 75-90 in the past to 1149 this month) and additional categories including eBook data for Children/Young Adults and Hardcover, Paperback and eBook data for Religious Presses.… »

Association of American Publishers
The big six book publishers need to innovate like the good Americans that they are

« When creating hardcover books, start with customized end pages that reflect the scenes the author is writing about. Hire some graphics guru to throw together a tasteful color insert that makes readers tear up with their emotional connection to the story. Craft eye-popping flap jackets and cover art that captures the original enthusiasm; make us feel the magic that inspired the author to start writing the book in the first place. Simply, create a product where the book production is integrated with the narrative, and where the product as a whole reflects the spirit of the thing. Amazon’s e-books can never compete with that.… »

The Huffington Post

See Also:
• Global publishing market expected to increase to a value of $273,048 million by the end of 2016 via Business Wire
• McGraw-Hill posts rise in Q1 profit via Proactive Investors
• Selected findings of US Religion Census via Scripps News
Why storytelling is the ultimate weapon

« [H]umans simply aren’t moved to action by "data dumps," dense PowerPoint slides, or spreadsheets packed with figures. People are moved by emotion. The best way to emotionally connect other people to our agenda begins with "Once upon a time…"… Until recently we’ve only been able to speculate about story’s persuasive effects. But over the last several decades psychology has begun a serious study of how story affects the human mind. Results repeatedly show that our attitudes, fears, hopes, and values are strongly influenced by story. In fact, fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than writing that is specifically designed to persuade through argument and evidence.… »

Co.Create
Infographic: Mapping popular story plot lines

« Finally! The secret ingredient to writing a good book has been revealed. Plot Lines, the infographic from Delayed Gratification, the slow journalism magazine, shows the dominant themes in last year’s books nominated for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.… If you want to write a hit novel, it pays to stick with the tried-and-true plot lines. DEATH of your characters is clearly the overall winning theme, with every one of the novels listed from 2011 including death as a theme. Other classics like WAR, LOVE, BETRAYAL and CORRUPTION followed closely. Obscure plot points like AN ESCAPED TIGER and HOMICIDAL COWBOY BROTHERS are certainly much more of a risk.… »

Cool Infographics

See Also:
• Infographic: Meet the 19% via Media Bistro
Tyndale House Publishers celebrates 50 years

« Tyndale is compiling a commemorative gift book, The Tyndale House 50th Anniversary Reader, as a limited edition for private distribution to employees, key retailers and industry leaders. A special online page—Tyndale.com/50th—affords friends of the company an opportunity to learn about the company’s history and share greetings or upload a picture or video through a virtual birthday card.… The company—a corporation owned by the Tyndale House Foundation—operates under its longtime mission statement: "To minister to the spiritual needs of people, primarily through literature consistent with biblical principles."… »

Christian Retailing

See Also:
• We use narrative as a way to make sense of the world via 40K Books
• Books that sell must be… appealing! via Huff Post
• Four things that make a memoir publishable via Huff Post

Apr 26 2012

Things to Read: April 26, 2012

Wherein we encounter: the SciFi division of Macmillan, Tor, is dropping DRM; Dominique Raccah details a data-driven publishing model borrowed from software development; we tour book production timelines and are greeted with the resurrection of the novella. • We also have 3M announcing its ebook lending technology for libraries (in beta), explore ebook pricing, the need for publisher innovation and we explore controversy surrounding the Amazon recommendation engine. • The LA Times Festival of Books was wildly successful, design really matters, authors have a hard time marketing themselves, and self-publishing still hasn’t gone away—in fact, it’s practically democratic. • Brian Solis has a few words about social media engagement, Jeff Goins invites a guest to write about the spiritually transformative power of writing, and India is a fast-growing English market. • Also, Barnes & Nobel got a cash infusion, and, lastly, we learn that there are still fantastic career options for folks in publishing.

Enjoy!

Macmillan imprint abandons DRM—other publishers to follow?

« The lure of DRM in the face of the piracy bogeyman has been hard for publishers to resist. But for the legitimate owners of ebooks it is an annoyance, preventing them from using their purchased files in perfectly legal ways. DRM also makes it incredibly difficult for independent retailers to resell ebooks, hampering any potential expansion into digital markets.… »

Forbes

See Also:
• Sci-fi publisher announces Tor & Forge will go DRM-free with all ebook titles
• Tor drops DRM from ebooks, unlocking digital controls
• Tor UK follows US in abandoning DRM
• Is publishing experiencing its own Arab Spring?
• Why I break DRM on ebooks—a publishing exec speaks out
• Tor Books drops DRM
Publisher adopts "agile" publishing model
CEO says, "Data works better than your gut."

« At the Digital Book World Conference in January, Raccah announced on stage that Sourcebooks would be engaging in agile publishing for its new book, Entering the Shift Age, by futurist David Houle. This method of publishing—modeled on agile software development where software is built incrementally using collaboration and self-organizing teams—seeks real-time reader feedback before the book is actually published; i.e., data.… »

Digital Book World
An author’s perspective: Why it takes so long to publish a book

« Why does it take a year for a book to go from a draft to bookstore shelves? Is it to build anticipation? Because publishers are modern-day Neanderthals, trying to make e-books by rubbing sticks together? Because authors are so precious? The correct answer is: yes! In more detail, it’s because this* (*view of a process he actually knows little about, with gaps in knowledge filled with speculation and lies)… »

Max Barry
Is the novella staging a comeback…via Melville House Publishing?

« Now the beleaguered genre, at long last, has found a worthy and consistent champion: Melville House Publishing, whose "Art of the Novella" series is an ongoing celebration of the form. The Brooklyn-based press offers 47—and counting—novellas from writers like Cervantes, Jane Austen, Anton Chekhov, Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, and Virginia Woolf.…the series is the first of its kind.… »

The Atlantic
3M launches a cloud-based ebook lending service for libraries

« The touch-based Discovery Terminals allow catalog browsing for visitors and selections can be checked out—along with 3M’s eReaders—like other library materials. Already have a mobile device? E-books will play nicely with your iPad, Nook or Android device via the Cloud Library app. If you find yourself needing to read a bit on your computer, checked out items are compatible with both PCs and Macs as well.… »

Engadget

See Also:
• 3M™ Cloud Library
• 3M Cloud Library: We’ve partnered with the best publishers
• St. Paul e-book library lovers, check this out
Consumers don’t understand ebook pricing issues

« Publishers are making a killing on e-books because they cost nothing to produce, distribute and sell and are almost 100% pure profit. At least, that’s what many consumers think.… What many people in publishing know that consumers generally don’t is that most of the cost of a book, even an e-book, comes from the cost of acquiring and developing the content—which, if the book is trade fiction, is mostly words.… »

Digital Book World

See Also:
• What making an ebook costs—a publisher responds
There’s still some innovation needed before ebooks replace "pbooks"

« Now, I understand there are a few advantages to paper. But I see a lot more advantages to digital. The fact that I now carry about a hundred books with me, wherever I go, that I can read whenever I want, outweighs any advantage a paper book could give me. Well, beyond the shallow extremities of the paper book, like its smell. There are however a few technical challenges that could be overcome by Amazon and Apple that would make my digital books even better and would let me forget about paper altogether.… »

The Next Web
Amazon recommendations:
Consumers like it—but does the house have the advantage?

« The fidelity of Amazon’s recommendation engine became a topic of conversation in the publishing world last week. PaidContent first reported suggestive remarks that Larry Kirshbaum, the head of Amazon Publishing, made during a public forum at the State University of New York’s Stony Brook Southampton campus. His remarks implied that the Amazon recommendation engine would favor books published by Amazon Publishing.… »

Digital Book World

See Also:
• Publishing’s Amazon-powered future
• Larry Kirshbaum shares many more details on how Amazon Publishing will work
• Amazon’s Kirshbaum Suggests Amazon Publishing Books Would Be Favored in Recommendation Engine
LA Times Festival of Books wildly successful
Over 100,000 readers came—were your books there?

« If there were any doubts remaining about the Los Angeles Times‘ decision last year to move the Festival of Books to the USC campus from UCLA, where it had been held for 15 years, they were dispelled this weekend by the enormous crowds of readers, booksellers, publishers, and authors that gathered outdoors on the grounds of USC near downtown Los Angeles. Total attendance was estimated at more than 100,000.… »

Publishers Weekly
Typography matters:
Good design nourishes, and sells product

« Sometimes the most appealing products are not those that are priced the most reasonably, but the ones whose packaging goes beyond functionality and crosses over to the artistic. Alberto Alessi said it best when he described his reason for his own aesthetic designs: “More and more people buy objects for intellectual and spiritual nourishment. People do not buy my coffee makers, kettles and lemon squeezers because they need to make coffee, to boil water, or to squeeze lemons, but for other reasons.”… »

Noupe|Smashing Magazine

See Also:
• Rejected Covers: Stan Grinapol Discusses Designing ‘Second Person Singular’ Book Cover
• 2012 PubWest Book Design Awards
Self-publishing
Is it democratizing publishing?

« Not a week goes by without a new self-publishing success story being reported. This relatively new form of publishing is exploding in popularity and is fast becoming the avenue of choice for talented authors across the globe. For me, this will have a real impact on one social group in particular—young authors who face an uphill struggle against the traditional industry; an industry that, in my opinion, is in rapid decline. Aside from young authors wanting to find a less tortuous route to a publishing deal, self-publishing platforms are also being identified as an outlet for young people to write about issues that affect them.… »

Wired UK

See Also:
• Author teams with Kickstarter and McNally Jackson for new title
• Is the self-publishing revolution a new idea?
• Traditional publishing is dead
• Authors have to sell their work—self-published authors even more so
Social Media Engagement
Why 1% isn’t good enough.

« Engagement is measured by takeaway value, sentiment or feelings, and resulting actions following the exchange. Redefined engagement opens the door to new strategies and resulting metrics that lend to meaningful experiences and results. By designing more meaningful initiatives, businesses can now focus on causing effect, changing behavior, or reinforcing value where previous engagement metrics can now document the progress of progress.… »

Brian Solis

See Also:
• Engaging users key to social media success
• 48 significant social media facts, figures & statistics – plus 7 infographics
How writing changed my life

« The last time I wrote anything was my freshman year in college for a history class. I was headed to medical school, a life dedicated to science. Writing was of no interest to me. In fact, I hated it. Fourteen years later, I finally put pen to paper again, and it changed my life. (This is a guest post by Jeremy Statton. He is an orthopedic surgeon and a writer. He blogs about Living Better Stories.)… »

Goins, Writer

See Also:
• What is SEO writing
• Quotes for writers: novel writing advice
Publishers are flocking to India
English books published growing by 30% a year

« [T]he number of books published in English is growing by 30 percent a year. This growth explains the recent arrival of several international publishing houses. Earlier this year, Bloomsbury announced plans to set up a new publishing business in India, while last May Simon & Schuster announced its plans to open a new division in New Delhi. Hachette Book Publishing India, the Indian branch of Britain’s largest trade publishing company, began operations in 2008, while established houses such as Penguin, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Random House have all been in the country for many years.… »

NY Times
Jana Partners hedge fund takes 12% stake in Barnes & Noble

« Jana Partners, described in various media reports as a hedge fund known for taking an activist role in companies in which it invests, acquired 6.59 million shares of Barnes & Noble, giving the firm an 11.6% stake in the company. News of the investment, made in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing Monday, resulted in an 18% boost in B&N’s stock price yesterday. Jana has an option to acquire another 250,000 shares.… »

Publishers Weekly

See Also:
• Barnes & Noble investors reassess Jana stake purchase
• Barnes & Noble Shares Leap as Jana Buys Stake
• Jana Partners Takes 12% Stake In Barnes & Noble, Shares Jump
Career options in book publishing: Top 10 tips

« There is so much going on in the digital space, so what skills do aspiring 21st century publishers need? Get inspiration with these top tips from our recent live Q&A about career options in book publishing.… Digital expertise can be learned on the job: At HarperCollins, we would not expect a formal qualification on the technical and digital side of things and particularly if you are looking at entry-level and graduate roles, we would say it’s better just to get a job and learn as you go.… »

The Guardian

Apr 19 2012

Things to Read: April 19, 2012

In this issue: The DOJ ebook lawsuit, The Story and Zondervan’s new UK distribution plans, BookShout, Thomas Nelson’s new Bible, Westbow Press, Spring book buzz, publishers & digital evolution, J.R.R Tolkien’s & Charles Dickens’ descendants, libraries & book discoverability, and ABS Bible survey results for 2012.
Everything you need to know about the DOJ ebook lawsuit in one post

« This is a big story and publishers, consumers and retailers may see the ramifications of today’s lawsuit for months or even years to come. Here’s what you need to know now.… »

paidContent

See Also:
• All 50 states may join e-book refund settlement
• Did the publisher’s own insistence on DRM inevitably lead to the antitrust lawsuit against them?
• Barnes & Noble shares fall on eBook competition worries
Introducing The Story as Zondervan partners with IVP for UK distribution

« IVP will take on exclusive distribution rights for Zondervan’s range of CCARR resources, with product shipping via IVP as from July 1st.…The IVP distribution agreement also introduces The Story, a joint Hodder & Stoughton-Zondervan project, to the UK marketplace.… »

The Christian Bookshops Blog

See Also:
• Resourcing retailers and suppliers in the UK
BookShout! platform to make ereading interactive

« Developed over the last 2 years for the Christian market—where small groups are part of the DNA—BookShout! allows users to not only read a book but to further experience, discuss and dialogue about it with others.… »

Christian Newswire

See Also:
• What is BookShout!? on YouTube
• BookShout on Twitter
• BookShout on Facebook
The Bible gets new voice: Thomas Nelson translation formatted like a screenplay

« Seven years in the making, The Voice is the latest entry into the crowded field of English Bible translations. It’s aimed at people who haven’t read the Bible much before and aren’t familiar with church jargon. Unlike the updated New International Version and the Common English Bible—both released last year—much of The Voice is formatted like a screenplay or novel. Translators cut out the "he said" and "they said" and focused on the dialogue.… »

The Tennessean
Westbow Press features signing author at the 2012 LATimes Festival of Books

« Westbow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson, is showcasing author Douglas F. Grady, writer of the Christian title, Where’s Your Light?, at the 2012 "Los Angeles Times Festival of Books" being held at the University of Southern California campus. "Where’s Your Light?" contains numerous verses from the Bible regarding issues salvation. It also shares where the sources can be found so the Christians can understand the stories from the Bible better.… »

Virtual-Strategy Mag
Christian fiction Spring book buzz webcast

« There’s more to Christian fiction than "gentle reads", which explains its expanding appeal to a more sophisticated and demographically diverse readership. Join us on May 10 for our Spring 2012 Christian Fiction webcast. We’ll be talking about the latest and upcoming titles, the ones you’ll need to know about. (Sponsored by: WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, Zondervan, Baker Publishing Group, Abingdon Press and Library Journal.)… »

Library Journal
London Book Fair: publishing world struggles to adapt to new lines

« New formats and self-publishing are changing the industry.… According to George Lossius of Publishing Technology, which provides digital portals and sales systems, non-academic publishers still do not understand the digital world. "It’s not because they are not trying to, it’s not because they are not open to it. It’s because they’ve been dazzled by Amazon and Apple and Google, rather than thinking what they can do with their digital content," he said. "They’ve just reproduced the book in a Kindle."… »

The Guardian

See Also:
• London Book Fair 2012: Amazon Woos Authors On Busy Show Floor
Match made in literary heaven: descendants of Dickens and Tolkien to collaborate

« A London imprint said it would publish two fantasy novels by Michael Tolkien, a grandson of the Lord of the Rings author J. R. R. Tolkien, with audiobooks to be narrated by Gerald Dickens, a great-great grandson of Charles Dickens.… »

The NYTimes
OverDrive study on how readers use libraries to find books

« Looking to support the contention that libraries drive book discovery and sales, library digital vendor OverDrive compiled data on patron use from its 18,000 library client sites during the month of March.… »

Publishers Weekly
American Bible Society: The State of the Bible 2012

« American Bible Society released in-depth findings from its State of the Bible survey, which details Americans’ beliefs about the Bible, its role in society, its presence in U.S. homes and more.… »

Uncover The Word
More Things to Read: April 19, 2012

« Featuring: content creation, writing advice, social media self-promotion, new publishing models, the Blue Like Jazz movie, crowd-funded publishing, top authors to watch, Robin Meyers’ new book, trust and online content, digital content for kids, scratchboard design, a new book from Ross Douthat, and Wiley’s bittorrent piracy trial.… »

Zondervan Things to Read

Apr 19 2012

Things to Read: April 12, 2012

In this issue: Clay Shirky, how reading is changing (and increasing!), consumer behavior and persuasion, DRM, Pinterest, social media and leadership, self publishing, email marketing, and earned media.
How we will read: Clay Shirky

« Publishing is not evolving. Publishing is going away. Because the word “publishing” means a cadre of professionals who are taking on the incredible difficulty and complexity and expense of making something public. That’s not a job anymore. That’s a button. There’s a button that says “publish,” and when you press it, it’s done.… »

Via Findings

See Also:
• Publishing is no longer a job or an industry—it’s a button
iPad Found Accounting for 89% of Mobile Shopping Revenue

« The iPad accounts for nearly two-thirds of all mobile shopping sessions, and an impressive 89% of all mobile shopping revenue, says RichRelevance in April 2012 study results. With mobile’s share of total retail climbing to 4.6% in March 2012 (from 1.9% in April 2011), this means that the iPad now account for more than 4% of total retail revenue. Meanwhile, other iOS devices make up 4% of the mobile revenue share, with other mobiles holding the remaining 7%. The study found that all mobiles combined now account for 9% of total online shopping sessions.… »

Via MarketingCharts

See Also:
• Apple’s ‘iPad’ is the only tablet people know
• Here come the tablets, here come the problems
• Are Apps The Future of Book Publishing?
• iBooks Author Released: Start Publishing with Freedom
The 6 pillars of social commerce: Understanding the psychology of engagement

« One of the greatest myths in new media is that social networks facilitate conversations about you that would not otherwise take place if your organization weren’t present. As such, some business leaders believe that creating a presence in social networks eventually erodes the control of the brand, risking the governance they’ve theoretically held onto so triumphantly over the years. So, if that logic holds, by not engaging in social networks or by sharing only one dimension of your business online, you can control what people think and say. Well, this always seems to come as a surprise to those who think otherwise, but the truth is that new media did not “invent” conversations, experiences, or opinions. It seems imprudent and perhaps commonsensical to say, but, the truth is actually the contrary to popular belief.… »

Via Brian Solis

See Also:
• The Power of Persuasion
Publisher insistence on DRM harms smaller ebook stores

« DRM doesn’t really stop piracy, Curry notes, comparing it to “the anti-theft sensors by the doors at the drugstore” that go off all the time but can’t stop the people who know how to remove a magnetic tag. It doesn’t stop dedicated pirates, but does prevent casual sharing—which suggests publishers are feeling pretty desperate if they want to take away such an integral part of the reading experience.… »

Via TeleRead
The rise of ereading

« The rise of e-books in American culture is part of a larger story about a shift from printed to digital material. Using a broader definition of e-content in a survey ending in December 2011, some 43% of Americans age 16 and older say they have either read an e-book in the past year or have read other long-form content such as magazines, journals, and news articles in digital format on an e-book reader, tablet computer, regular computer, or cell phone. Those who have taken the plunge into reading e-books stand out in almost every way from other kinds of readers. Foremost, they are relatively avid readers of books in all formats: 88% of those who read e-books in the past 12 months also read printed books.… »

Via Pew Internet Libraries

See Also:
• Ebooks Are Replacing Printed Books at a Rapid Rate
• Publishers Hustle to Make E-Books More Immersive
The next time someone says the internet killed reading books, show them this chart

« Well, that time never existed. Check out these stats from Gallup surveys. In 1957, not even a quarter of Americans were reading a book or novel. By 2005, that number had shot up to 47 percent. I couldn’t find a more recent number, but I think it’s fair to say that reading probably hasn’t declined to the horrific levels of the 1950s.… »

Via The Atlantic
Pinterest drives more traffic than Google+, YouTube & LinkedIn

« Pinterest is social media’s rising star — and now has the traffic stats to prove it. The darling network of brides-to-be, fashionistas and budding bakers now beats YouTube, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace for percentage of total referral traffic in January, according to a Shareaholic study. Pinterest accounted for 3.6% of referral traffic, while Twitter just barely edged ahead of the newcomer, accounting for 3.61% of referral traffic. In July 2011, Pinterest accounted for just 0.17% of referral traffic, proving the site’s blockbuster growth… »

Via Mashable

See Also:
• Is Pinterest Traffic Worthless?
Royalties & marketing: how publishing houses will compete

« As competition for top author talent increases (and I believe it will with new digital-first start-ups like one and booksellers like Amazon clamoring for exclusive book content) a publisher’s ability to market books and what kinds of revenues make it back to the author may be the difference between a front-list filled with A-level talent and one populated by the B-team.… »

Via Digital Book World
How to use social media to help your company & not get fired

« More publishing executives are using social media this year than last year and more of them are being careful about what they say on Twitter and in blogs, according to a recent survey. According to a Digital Book World survey conducted by Forrester Research, nearly half of publishing professionals are using Twitter and are blogging, up from about a third a year ago. More publishing executives are also conscious that they have to be careful about what information they broadcast using social media, 54%, up from 47% last year.… »

Via Digital Book World
What does a writer owe a reader?

« As readers, do we have a right to act as if a writer owes us something? I think we do, but not in the way that we most often make the claim. As readers we are not owed something we like or with which we agree. But writers do owe us something,a whole combination of somethings, in fact.… »

Via Barnabas’s Blog
6 reasons authors self-publish

« On the heels of our lively debate the other day on my post “6 Reasons Authors Still Want Publishers,” today let’s look at the other side of the coin. Many of you are still trying to decide which path is right for you — or if maybe some combination of both might work. So hopefully these posts and the discussions in the comments will be helpful. So here are six reasons writers choose self publishing.… »

Via Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent
8 tips for increasing click-through rates

« The most important thing to do to increase click-through rates is to be relevant, interesting and useful, said Mike Volpe, CMO at HubSpot, an all-in-one marketing software company, told ZoomInsights. “Your subscribers will click on what they are interested in, so make sure you have really good data about who they are, what they want and how they have interacted with your company.”… »

Via Zoom Information
Global consumers place highest trust in earned media

« Global online consumers place the most amount of trust in earned media, and the least in ads served on mobile phones, finds Nielsen in an April 2012 report. An impressive 92% of consumers surveyed around the world said they trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth or recommendations from friends and family, an 18% increase from 2007.… »

Via MarketingCharts
More Things to Read: April 12, 2012

« All the extra stuff we couldn’t cram in the main post this week. Includes email marketing tips, a couple posts from Seth Godin, some stuff from “across the pond,” and an incredible infographic about consumer behavior.… »

Via Zondervan: Things to Read