Preparé Inc.

Open Education Resources (OER) represents a tectonic shift in education materials. Try typing "mitosis" into Google. Almost every search result on the first few pages is for OER exploring the process of cell division. The same is true for nearly any other concept you type in: "subject-verb agreement," "Pythagorean theorem"--you name it. And what you can find today on the Internet is probably less than one tenth of one percent of the OER out there. Most is trapped on teachers' PCs.

Could free content at scale, distributed for free, break the textbook industry?

We spoke with publishing experts whose social media strategies have yielded loyal followings. They share 25 ways to make your social efforts more effective in 2014.

Here's your eldritch curio for the day: Random House UK -- yes, the book publishing giant -- has released a free-to-play interactive fiction game called "The Black Crown Project."

Penned by Rob Sherman, "The Black Crown Project" is a weird fiction tale about a newly-employed clerk at the mysterious Widsith Institute whose job it is -- so far -- to read read files. I've played enough to use all my available action points twice, which has allowed me to stab a dying pig with a ballpoint pen and be carried to my desk by some arcane horror.

When you negotiate a large-quantity book sale, price and delivery are two areas in which you may find yourself at odds with your prospect. When conflict arises, do not become argumentative, but do not let your prospect take advantage of you, either. Take the focus off price and place it on non-price issues. Focus on variables where your prospect’s interests and yours have more in common. Find and agree upon the best package of product, terms and service that most increases the value for your prospect without sacrificing your needs. Before you enter a negotiation, consider alternatives for each issue that might arise.

New York, NY --- October 2, 2012 --- Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL), the leader in converting content to new formats, and the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), which encourages and advocates for professional, quality content for teaching and learning, today announced the results of The Changing Face of Back to School Survey for the K-12 education market.

When you first publish, nobody has heard of the author or the book, so your initial promotion is the key to success. But if you focus only on social media you will miss many opportunities to reach prospective buyers. An assorted, persuasive and targeted promotional mix should maximize your sales, revenue and profits.

Promotion can use up your money faster than any other marketing tool. Use it wisely and your investment will pay off maximum dividends. These tips will show you how to do that:

• 26. Sell your book as a premium.  A premium is an item the recipient is given for doing something or buying something, i.e., a free gift—your book— in conjunction for your action.
• 27. Sell your book as an incentive. An incentive is something that you earn. It requires that you do something extra in order to deserve or be given that item. It is usually something of considerable value to the potential recipient – such as a coffeetable book.

Business buyers are professional people trying to make rational decisions for the good of their companies. The decision process can be lengthy since they have to justify the large expenditure. But if all goes as planned, you've not only sold a large quantity of books on a non-returnable basis, you have also set the stage for recurring revenue as they place blanket orders or buy other titles that you offer.

Earlier this month, a U.S. court of appeals ruled against a graduate student importing textbooks from Thailand and selling them online. This ruling may have far-reaching implications for libraries and secondhand book dealers.

There is a law called the First Sale Doctrine. According to the American Association of Law Libraries website, this means that "a person who buys a legally produced copyrighted work may 'sell or otherwise dispose' of the work as he sees fit, subject to some important conditions and exceptions."

With the expansion of the smartphone market, mobile seems poised to fulfill its promise as the next great frontier in publishing.