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“Half a decade into the e-book revolution …,” Nicholas Carr writes, “the prognosis for traditional books is suddenly looking brighter. Hardcover books are displaying surprising resiliency. The growth in e-book sales is slowing markedly. And purchases of e-readers are actually shrinking, as consumers opt instead for multipurpose tablets. It may be that e-books, rather than replacing printed books, will ultimately serve a role more like that of audio books—a complement to traditional reading, not a substitute.”
It's no surprise that there's a lot of confusion around metadata for books. It's complicated. If only they hadn't used the "M" word—metadata. It reeks of digital complexity. And then you read the standard definition: "Metadata is data about data." Gee, thanks. As if your eyes hadn't already glazed over.
For the past two years, higher education publishing professionals have gathered for Making Information Pay for Higher Ed Publishing, a half-day conference exploring the migration from print to digital in higher education publishing. In addition to featuring new results from BISG's ongoing Student Attitudes Toward Content in Higher Education survey, the 2013 program will provide an array of data-rich presentations offering new insights into the unfolding digital transformation.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Nov. 27, 2012 –Simon & Schuster, Inc., and Author Solutions, Inc. (ASI) today announced the launch of Archway Publishing, a new self-publishing service with a focus on fiction, non- fiction, business and children’s categories. “Through Archway Publishing, Simon & Schuster is pleased to be part of the rapidly expanding self-publishing segment of our industry,” said Carolyn Reidy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Simon & Schuster. “Self-publishing has become a viable and popular route to publication for many authors, and increasingly a source of content for traditional publishers, including Simon & Schuster. We’re excited that we’ll be able to help more authors find their own path to publication and at the same time create a more direct connection to those self-published authors ready to make the leap to traditional publishing.”
Columbus, OH, November 15, 2012 – DataCurate announces the publication of The Metadata Handbook, a one-stop guide for book publishers — large, small, and independent — offering help in understanding how metadata works and outlining the essential components of successful metadata creation and distribution.
Topics covered include:
- How metadata for books operates in the real world
- Metadata fundamentals & the history of metadata for books
- Standards and best practices for creating and distributing accurate and comprehensive metadata
- The basics of ONIX for Books, including ONIX 3.0
- The basics of EPUB 3 metadata options
- The latest metadata trends, including metadata for self-publishers.
A new study by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) puts a twist on the conventional wisdom about ebook consumers, e-readers and tablets. Released today, the study reveals that dedicated e-readers (such as the e-ink Kindle and Nook devices) are losing ground to tablet devices (particularly the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet) as the preferred e-reading device of ebook consumers.
Now that Amazon has announced that it's selling more books in digital form than in print, it's only logical that even the smallest of independent publishing houses are racing to make their entire backlist available as ebooks. Book Business solicited a wide range of advice about the ebook conversion process from digital publishing pros. Here's what they had to say:
Impelsys, a global leader in providing electronic content delivery solutions, is powering the innovative new Bowker(R) "Book as an Android App," with its award-winning iPublishCentral software platform.
"Book as an Android App" allows authors and small publishers to use Bowker's popular
to create Android-compatible eBook apps from any PDF or ePub document, opening new sales channels such as Google Play and the Amazon App Store.
"We've partnered with Bowker to make available to their customers a simple option for creating their own eBook app, which helps authors and small publishers better market their titles to potential readers," said Sameer Shariff, founder and CEO of Impelsys.
Publishers of ebooks have a dilemma: You want readers to find (and purchase) your products. But you don't want pirates making your products available for free. But is digital rights management (DRM) technology, one method publishers use (with questionable success) to combat piracy, a hindrance or even antithetical to content discovery?
“If you came here looking for a map, good luck,” joked Perseus Book Group's Rick Joyce, noting that figuring out the new world of discoverbility is “not about map following, but about map building.”
While the metaphor might seem extreme, when it comes to marketing and discoverability in the Internet age, publishers really are, like the early explorers, in uncharted territory. This was the theme of opening keynote delivered by Joyce, Perseus's Chief Marketing Officer to the gathered publishing professionals at the Metropolitan Pavilion for the first Digital Book World Marketing and Discoverability conference.