World Book

On the heels of a fabulous BookTech East 2001, take pause to reflect on the new opportunities afforded by budding technologies It seems somewhat redundant to say these are exciting times for the book publishing industry, when clearly this is not a new phenomenon. Technologies supporting the digital publishing process are virtually spewing from R&D labs like molten lava. There's a lot of hot stuff out there from which to pick and choose. And to raise the industry's temperature even higher, the business is abuzz with tales of publishers taking bold leaps of faith with new media business models. New stuff Just a few

It's not often a decision about the legality of downloading a free digital track belonging to Metallica affects publishing at-large, but when the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Napster, the controversial online file sharing provider, it sparked questions about digital publishing's overall shelf life. This week's 58-page ruling requires that Napster stop trading copyrighted content online—in the U.S., at least. But whether content is downloaded for free or for a fee, the Napster debate has fueled both kudos and criticism of a system that challenges traditional content rights laws. Thanks to the music market's equivalent of Robin Hood, publishers are learning critical

Handheld E-Book Reading By Donna Loyle, Editor They're getting smaller, smarter and cheaper—all at the same time. In the last year or two, numerous handheld e-book reading devices have hit the market. Innovative features include audio capabilities; built-in dictionaries; revolutionary easy-on-the-eyes type; backlit LCD screens; highlighting ability; direct Internet connections; and much more. While this article does not cover all of the e-book readers available (for example, many e-titles can be read on Palm PDAs, which are not marketed as e-book reading units), the information below offers a quick roundup of some of the latest and coolest devices recently introduced. RCA REB1100

World Book Inc.'s (WB) book-and-CD products were all the rage back in August 1998 when BookTech the Magazine ran a cover story on this Chicago-based company. WB had just launched the book-and-CD educational series titled Interfact, and its flagship product, the World Book Encyclopedia, was being released as 22 print volumes (comprising more than 14,000 pages) and as a two-disc CD-ROM. Since then, WB took its content to different places, including the Internet, not just carving a niche for itself in the education and general consumer markets, but continually exploring new publishing models, as well. Michael Ross, executive vice president and publisher (pictured at

We asked publishers: "What is your take on the future of e-books? What impact do you think they'll have on book publishing within a couple of years and on the way your company produces books?" John Calvano, editorial operations manager, Time Inc. Home Entertainment, New York City: "Of course, issues such as e-books and our company's impending merger with AOL create an 'open book' with regards to the digital asset of our content. Barring technological hurdles at present, our largely pictorial products are not as well suited for an e-book format as they are for a larger color screen. "They feasibly could be

Blast-Off by Rose Blessing Ever sit around brainstorming about a new product idea? Before World Book embarks on the creation of a new product launch, these are some of the questions that development teams typically consider, Ross explains. Concept and Content What kinds of content do you plan to use? Photos, illustrations, text, graphs, charts? How will you get it&emdash;assign it to on-staff writers or illustrators? Derive it from previous products? Gather from a third party? Should a new technology be incorporated, like a hot new kind of image or animation? How much value will it really add? What is the audience? Is it entertainment? How-to? Education? A blend? Is the concept