Black Plastic Glasses

The Day Digital Died

Evan — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:12:31 +0000

It was a seemingly innocuous situation… I was sitting in a room filled with publishing types: book publishers, librarians, agents, industry press, metadata specialists, and consultants of varying shapes and sizes. We were there in an advisory role to one of the digital publishing conferences. Things started innocently enough – the usual suspects began to chime in (I am shamelessly unable NOT to talk in a group). As I spoke I began to feel a strong sense of familiarity. And that feeling grew and grew as the conversation rolled forward until I felt I was having a deja vu on steroids moment. It dawned on me that I was in the exact same discussion about the exact same conference in the...

Amazon’s Newest BFF

Evan — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:18:40 +0000

Last week Amazon announced that the third generation Kindle became the best selling single product in their history! (http://bit.ly/dOL8AQ) Triangulating this news with an insider rumor insider claiming that Amazon sold over 8 million Kindle’s last year puts the Kindle in the same sales range as the iPad. One has to wonder what the reaction in Cupertino to this shocking bit of news. This is important for a few reasons; first it demonstrates that there isn’t just one company out there able to launch and sell an entertainment device. In fact, it demonstrates that there is an incredible appetite in the reading world for a single use device. Giving customers the right business model and device/platform...

The Finkler Answer

Evan — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:28:05 +0000

As many of you know, I made a move from academic to trade publishing over the summer. The transition has been fascinating, and I think the last 3 months have been the most exciting in my career as my role has shifted from strategic licensing at OUP to overseeing all sales and marketing at Bloomsbury. In my new job I have already participated in nearly every imaginable trade business scenario: retailer terms negotiations, international sales & distribution deals, book launches, author tours, agent negotiations, and even a Man Booker winner. Perhaps most interesting about my new role is that I am one...

Ebooks Don’t Cannibalize Print, People Do

Evan — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:37:50 +0000

Last week in The Bookseller, Philip Jones covered a seminar in the UK by Enders Analysis that presented data done as a part of a Nielsen BookScan report. The article led with the following statement.

“The growth in e-book sales in genres such as romance and science-fiction is leading to a cannibalisation in sales of printed books, according to Nielsen BookScan data.”

This led to the inevitable debate on the Read2.0 listserv (also known as the Brantley List for the devoted followers of Mike Shatzkin). While there was little illumination in the ensuing voluminous discussion, there was an overall consensus that ebooks were indeed cannibalizing print books. While I see the logic...

Pass the Gestalt, Please

Evan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:08:24 +0000

In the past two weeks I have heard forcefully stated pronouncements by agent Andrew Wylie and chair of the Society of Authors, Tom Holland, regarding ebook royalty rates. A 50/50 share between author and publisher is the only possible outcome they can accept, citing the tired and somewhat old argument we have heard before:

The publisher has little or no incremental out of pocket cost to create ebooks, therefore the income should be split in the same manner as subsidiary rights, which is generally 50/50.

The average person would be hard pressed to disagree—certainly in this day and age the digital file created to make a print book cannot cost much to...

Ch-Ch-Changes…

Evan — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:06:11 +0000

Dear Reader: I have been working on finishing the series on disaggregated textbooks and on a new series on territorial rights in a digital world. But alas, production has been slowed by work and life of late. However, with the following announcement now public, I promise to get back to posting somewhat more regularly. http://www.bloomsbury.com/whatsnew/ I hope to be back online soon!

The iPad: Gateway Drug to Digital Learning?

Evan — Wed, 05 May 2010 10:46:40 +0000

In my last post, What's Next in Digital Reading I explored my notion that there are three kinds of reading; extractive: immersive, and pedagogic. Extractive reading works in digital form as finding and extracting data and information is optimized by the power of digital. Immersive reading struggled to flourish in digital form until the e-ink screen went mainstream with the release of the Kindle. Pedagogic reading, the kind done when learning from a textbook, has yet to take hold as there hasn’t been a device and/or business model for delivering lesson-based reading that has gained any traction. However, this is all about to change dramatically because of the iPad. The iPad has been the...

What’s Next in Digital Reading?

Evan — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:15:02 +0000

The history of digital reading in a fascinating one and I believe exploring its development arc helps predict the trends that may lie ahead. Thinking about what worked early on – meaning what was read in digital form - use cases where search, find, and quick read were the primary means of interacting with the content, such as encyclopedias and reference works, directories and other data driven compendia. This was brilliantly summarized in 2003 by Niko Pfund, OUP’s VP of Academic and Trade Publishing, when he referred to this kind of reading as “extractive, as opposed to immersive.” Extractive reading is an extension of search – its primarily purpose is to “extract” information from searched databases. Extractive reading is easily done...

The Powerlessness of Print Advertising

Evan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:03:06 +0000

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing two of the most influential forces in publishing today: Cathie Black of Hearst and Jane Friedman of Open Road Integrated Media at the Publishing Business Expo. We spent an hour talking about the impact of digital on the book and magazine industries and both Cathie and Jane were immensely impressive. To open our session entitled Reinventing Today's Publishing Company, Cathie and Jane each spent 10 minutes in their opening remarks. Jane presented the 4-layered “cake” that is the structure of Open Road, and Cathie played a video and followed it up with an overview of the goal behind the massive effort that will...

I’m Coming Back!

Evan — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:36:48 +0000

Watch this space in early March for my return to blogging. I am taking suggestions here for topics you want to see me cover. I will be checking the comments section daily and take on all serious ideas. See you all soon!