Kaplan

Fast Company has profiled the most innovative companies in education and several publishers and ebook solutions providers have made the top ten list. Read who's leading the way in education here.

Inkling, maker of the leading publishing platform for high-quality digital content, today publically released Inkling Habitat, a free, collaborative digital publishing environment designed for professionals. Paired with the recently launched Inkling Content Discovery Platform, which enables unparalleled online discovery for nonfiction book content, Inkling now provides the only end-to-end solution for publishers to build, market, and distribute high quality digital books at scale.

Not too long ago, just making an app made news—especially in the book world, where the utility (and desirability) of book apps was a subject of some debate. As publishers have come to see books as multimedia brands, however, the terms of the debate have shifted, from whether book apps have a place to when. Apps can accomplish many things when executed right—from content enhancement to marketing to fun and games, helping publishers meet audiences where they are and build loyalty to books, brands and authors. Realizing this, a few companies have gotten pretty sophisticated in their, ahem, app-roach, as the following examples show.

BISG has learned how to pack enriched expert presentations into a 3-and-a-half-hour session that provides useful perspectives, allows for productive networking and a savory luncheon, and for the rest of the day to catch up on business.
 
Pitched to the theme of “Innovation in the New Reality,” the meeting brought together on neutral ground and in equal standing publisher, distributor and vendor stakeholders in the college sector to consider matters of mutual interest to their business development. Len Vlahos, recently installed as the BISG executive director, characterized its unique blend of multi-sector membership as “The Switzerland of the Industry.”

Really Strategies Inc. has announced the promotion of Marianne Calilhanna to director of marketing. Marianne started her career with Really Strategies in 2001 as a consultant helping publishers re-engineer content structure and editorial processes.

The year 2011 may well go down as the annum of the e-reader. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony and Kobo went all-in for holidays to get their e-readers, tablets and apps into as many hands, purses and briefcases as possible. In 2012, we'll see the results of that push, as publishers anticipate the next step in the digital evolution. Book Business interviewed executives across a wide swath of the industry, from giant trade publishers to university presses, educational outfits and upstart indies. We found that while digital is on the march, print is far from dead, and the next bold move in the industry may be maximizing the synergies between the two.

Really Strategies is closing out a stellar performance in its 11-year history and is pleased to announce that CEO, Barry Bealer, was recently inducted into the CEO Hall of Fame Society at the 2011 Philadelphia 100® awards ceremony. In recognition of steady leadership, continued growth, and constant innovation Mr. Bealer was recognized by the Entrepreneurs´ Forum of Greater Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Business Journal, and Wharton Small Business Development Center.

Kaplan Publishing is a huge name in test prep books. But did you know that they had also moved into trade books, the industry name for better quality titles you find in bookstores and online? Well, after about three years of getting next to nowhere with non-testing books, decided to wind down that operation.

In a time of significant flux in the industry, publishing executives are faced with more pressure than ever to examine their businesses and make decisions that will lead them to a profitable future. Book Business checked in with the leaders of publishing companies of various sizes and scopes—from Scholastic to Springer to Merriam-Webster to Triple Crown—to find out what their best business decisions of the year have been.

With so many book apps on the market tailored for kids, Book Business wanted to get to the heart of some more adult apps.