Content Strategy
An intensely divisive election cycle like the one we just experienced seems to have more losers than winners. And there's no doubt that among those losers is "the media." A September Gallup poll shows that Americans' trust of the media was at an all-time low. Only 32% say they have "a great deal" or "a…
The business news has been very painful for newspapers lately. A piece we saw a couple of days ago says both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are going to cut back sharply on their arts coverage. The advertising simply isn’t there to support it. And recently before that, we read a…
Every publisher represents a storehouse of interesting content that can be used to attract readers, capture email subscribers, and increase book sales. In past articles, I’ve written about these concepts and reasons why publishers should invest in inexpensive digital marketing tactics. Free content attracts readers who become email subscribers. Those email subscribers can be converted…
Publishers’ brands are under attack from all sides. We hear, for example, about the “article economy” and the strongly held view that publishers add no value to the process of editorial development and the dissemination of materials. In the book world, the argument is that no…
Last week Simon & Schuster announced a new podcast created in partnership with CBS Radio's Play.it podcast network. The podcast "Paper Donkey" will feature interviews with famous editors and authors about how books are created and how editors help bring authors' vision to life. “We want to give people the chance to eavesdrop on the…
There was a time a few years back when it seemed to me that about every third book I encountered was called “The X’s Daughter,” with X standing in for just about any occupation, title, rank and pejorative imaginable. Bookshelf upon bookshelf was filled with the daughters of generals, cartographers, lacemakers, lighthouse keepers, veterinarians, preachers…
Over the past few years we’ve reported extensively on two major trends that have reshaped the book publishing landscape: direct-to-consumer marketing and digital book printing. While these topics could not be more different—one is a strategy for audience development and a catalyst for book sales while the other is a method of book production and…
The chief executive of the UK’s largest publisher has warned that the books industry will “become irrelevant” if it continues to fail to reflect the society we live in. Tom Weldon, chief executive of Penguin Random House UK, was speaking as the publisher launched a new scheme intended to discover and mentor authors from the…
It is not so long ago that we routinely talked of Old vs. New Media. The “Old” was characterized by the investment in and creation of content, which in turn gave rise to a common set of properties — definitive and authoritative journalism and scientific reports, the fixed text, the pursuit of the finest authors…
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and NEW YORK — September 22, 2016 — Epic!, a premium content and learning platform for kids 12 and under, has partnered with Sesame Workshop to bring Sesame Street content to its subscribers for the first time. Beginning immediately, a collection of Sesame Street audio-enabled “read-to-me” books and a wide range of…