What if publishers could sell more books by learning the secrets of selling chicken sandwiches? In my hometown of Atlanta, GA, Chick-Fil-A is the dominant fast-food restaurant chain. Started in 1967, the company’s annual sales now eclipse over $6 billion. In addition, their stores generate more revenue per restaurant than any other fast-food chain in…
An analysis of the Future Today Institute report, summarizing key technology trends and what they mean for book publishing.
As a consultant whose primary business focus is educational publishing, I try to read as widely as I can about developments in K-12 education and educational technology. Three articles I read recently, addressing seemingly unrelated topics, led me to draw some conclusions about the future of K-12 education publishing. The headlines of these articles (which…
Long considered nothing more than a gimmicky fad, it turns out that augmented reality (AR) is actually alive and well. At least that’s the case when it’s associated with a brand as large as Pokémon. By now you’ve undoubtedly heard all the Pokémon Go stories and maybe you’ve even dodged a player or two, overly-focused…
Change has always been a constant in the publishing business, and of course change is a natural state in all of our lives. What’s different today is that change is occurring faster than it ever has before. Carolyn Pittis, director of Welman Digital, pointed out at the Yale Publishing Course on Monday, that the Agricultural…
I remember the first time I heard the phrase “info snacking” back in 2007. It was when the Kindle launched and Jeff Bezos said his newfangled device would slow the info snacking trend and enable deeper engagement with content. The Kindle platform certainly launched the ebook revolution but it’s interesting that it didn’t halt short-form…
In an earlier blog post I made the statement that in the age of open education resources (OER), curation, not content, will be king. My thesis was that the sheer abundance of available content -- some produced by for-profit publishers and some from other sources -- reduces its value. The real providers of value, I…
U.K.-based Novellic is tackling the dual challenges of book discovery and connecting with like-minded individuals through its newly launched book club app. It's part meetup tool for users to organize book club meetings and book recommendation platform where different clubs can review and share their latest reads. The app launched on the UK App Store…
Even though they’re gaining momentum I’ve never been a big fan of audiobooks. Amazon, of course, owns the market with both Audible and Brilliance. Although it didn’t receive a lot fanfare last week, Audible introduced one of the most interesting and long overdue services that I’ve seen in a long time. I’m talking about Audible…
Litsy is a social community app that some have described as the “Instagram” of the book world. The goal of the iOS app is to fuel book-related conversations through visual, 300-character posts which users tag to a specific book. Litsy users can follow their favorite authors, share book quotes, and more easily discover their next…
