Social Media

'Choose Your Own Adventure' Publisher Partners With Wattpad to Promote YA Fiction
September 10, 2010

Waitsfield, Vt.-based Chooseco, publisher of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" book series, has formed a digital partnership with Wattpad, an e-book community and social networking platform for readers and writers. Featuring Chooseco's first title aimed at teen girls, "Fabulous Terrible: The Adventures of You," which originally was released in 2008, the publisher will work with Wattpad to connect with the website's young-adult demographic.

Editor's Note: Free Book Business Whitepaper Available Online
August 27, 2010

Book Business' latest whitepaper is available to download for free. Offering strategic tips and advice on effectively and efficiently utilizing social media to build brand awareness and market books, "21 Tips for Book Publishers to Build an Effective Social Media Strategy " includes expert information compiled from Book Business magazine articles and Publishing Business Conference & Expo sessions.

New Site and App Offer Free Full-Text Previews of Christian Books
August 13, 2010

Through partnerships with religious book publishers, the recently launched FreeBookPreview.com allows readers to access full-text previews of upcoming and newly released Christian books on mobile devices for a limited time. A service of Bellingham, Wash.-based electronic publisher Logos Bible Software, the new website is the first book promotion tool to maximize mobile technology and social networking for e-books and print books, according to the company.

Confessions of a Twitter Contest Addict: What You Can Learn From My Addiction
June 15, 2010

Hello, my name is Janet. And I am addicted to Twitter contests.

I swear I haven't always been this way. Sure, I'd entered a contest here and there if the prize was particularly enticing (I really wanted that all-expenses-paid trip to the Super Bowl that one year), but I always was the stereotypical “I never win anything” type. I equated entry forms with lost causes, and therefore, generally avoided them. Why waste my time?

Consumer Takes Center Stage at This Year's 'Making Information Pay'
May 14, 2010

Opening his presentation with an image of a woman sitting on a beach with an e-reader, Kelly Gallagher told the crowd of book publishing professionals gathered at the seventh-annual Book Industry Study Group's "Making Information Pay" event last week, "She doesn't care about this meeting today," making the point that the issues and challenges now facing the industry are publishers' responsibilities to solve for the consumer. Gallagher, vice president of publishing services for bibliographic information provider RR Bowker, was one of about a dozen speakers to address the audience at the McGraw-Hill Auditorium in New York City. 

Bookbinders' Guild Members Gather to Discuss the Evolving Book
May 13, 2010

It was another meeting of book publishing industry minds, as members of the Bookbinders' Guild of New York gathered at Random House's Manhattan headquarters May 11 to discuss the rapidly transforming business of producing books. "Digital Horizons: The Evolving Book" featured presentations from Ken Brooks, senior vice president, global production and manufacturing services, Cengage Learning; Bob Stein, founder and co-director of the Institute for the Future of the Book; and Michael Cader, founder of PublishersMarketplace.com and Publishers Lunch.

Amazon Kindle 2.5 Adds Social Networking
May 4, 2010

Amazon has started rolling out a software upgrade for its popular Kindle electronic readers, adding the ability for users to share e-book passages with friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter.

The new social networking feature in version 2.5 adds another Web link to the standard Kindle and the larger Kindle DX, as Amazon finds itself in an increasingly competitive market, particularly with the introduction of the iPad. Apple's slate computer is designed for reading digital books, as well as watching online video, listening to music and Web browsing.

This Week's Featured Video: Highlights from the 2010 Publishing Business Conference & Expo
April 27, 2010

Check out the video highlights from the 2010 Publishing Business Conference & Expo, featuring comments from conference chairs Chris Foster, President & COO, GIE Media; Samir Husni, aka "Mr. Magazine" and founder and director of the Magazine Innovation Center; and Clint Greenleaf, president and CEO, Greenleaf Book Group, as well as from other attendees.