App Development

Following the addition of its one-thousandth title, DailyLit (www.DailyLit.com) has launched a site redesign that will include customer ratings and online book reviews. The redesign also more prominently features book covers, highlights the most popular titles in each category, and offers featured book lists that include titles selected by the DailyLit editorial staff. With over 125,000 subscribers who have subscribed to over 250,000 copies of books, DailyLit allows books to be sent in short, serialized installments via e-mail/RSS feed according to the schedule set by the reader or on demand. These can be read wherever e-mail/RSS feeds are received. DailyLit offers both classic and

Borders and Vuguru, an independent media studio owned by Michael Eisner, will distribute a Web series, “Robin Cook’s Foreign Body: The Prequel,” through the retailer’s newly launched Borders.com site. The series, which will consist of 50 two-minute episodes, is a prequel to Robin Cook’s new novel, “Foreign Body,” which will be released by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Aug. 5. The first two episodes of the series premiered Tuesday at www.BordersMedia.com/foreignbody, where customers also can pre-order copies of the book. New episodes are available daily, culminating in the final installment airing Aug. 4, the day before the release of Cook’s book. “By teaming with Vuguru

“Today the book business stands at the edge of a vast transformation, one that promises much opportunity for innovation: much trial, much error, much improvement.” —Jason Epstein (“Book Business: Publishing Past, Present and Future,” Norton 2001) That was seven years ago, and today, innovation and experimentation—trial and error—is the theme of the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) report “From Experimentation to Innovation in the Digital Age.” The report contains the results of a survey on the industry’s attitudes and actions pertaining to experimentation (more on page 7). It also contains case studies—based on interviews conducted by Mike Shatzkin, founder/CEO of The Idea Logical Co.,

Travel planning has never been easier. If you want to pack your bags and go somewhere—be it thousands of miles or only a few hours away—a simple Google search will bring you information from hundreds to thousands of sources. So how do travel publishers stay ahead of the Google game—and at the top of its results pages? Lauren Palmer, executive director of online strategy and business development for Fodor’s Travel—the largest worldwide publisher of English-language travel books and guides—is responsible for overseeing the company’s online property Fodors.com, including advertising and affiliate relationships, and digital licensing. And she knows a thing or two about

I recently attended the Book Industry Study Group’s Making Information Pay event (more coverage on pages 7 and 32), where Michael Cader, founder of Publishers Marketplace and Publishers Lunch, offered publishers simple, yet pertinent advice on engaging their audiences: “Leverage the damn book.” One example he gave: His son read a book from the “Alex Rider” series, so Cader went to the store to buy the series’ next book. To illustrate the point he was going to make, he projected a slide featuring the cover of every book in the series. There was nothing that told consumers which book to read next. The

BookLocker.com, a print-on-demand publisher located in Bangor, Maine, is suing Amazon.com over its decision to use one on-demand printer—its BookSurge subsidiary—exclusively for transactions sold and shipped from Amazon, the Associated Press reported earlier this week. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, seeks an injunction preventing Amazon from implementing its new policy, as well as monetary damages and legal fees, according to the report. A majority of BookLocker.com’s sales are through Amazon. The company stands to lose out on those sales if Amazon follows through with its threat to stop selling BookLocker’s books because it uses a competing on-demand printer, said BookLocker’s lawyer. “It’s

HarperCollins Publishers has announced the creation of an in-house Internet broadcast studio. The studio, modeled on a newsroom environment, has been developed to create author videos for sales, marketing and promotional opportunities, says the publisher. Marisa Benedetto, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, has been named executive producer of the studio. HarperCollins plans to produce about 500 videos—which will be available on HarperCollins.com author and title pages—per year. The publisher’s publicity and marketing teams will use the content to promote authors on blogs and Web sites, as well as to the media and to bookstores. “The studio allows us to be a

As the founder of Internet service provider Juno, Charles Ardai knows a thing or two about making a big splash on the Web. When Ardai sold his company in 2001, the entrepreneur and writer, then all of 32 years old, decided to pursue his dream of reviving the pulp-fiction genre by starting his own publishing company, Hard Case Crime. He knew from the beginning that success would require good online-selling tools. “It’s a pretty popular genre,” Ardai notes, “but it is a genre, and there is a certain fan base that loves this stuff. If you can find one of those fans, the

AUSTIN, Texas– April 23, 2008 – Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. has selected the LibreDigital Internet Digital Warehouse solution to provide readers with new ways to access Harlequin titles across digital channels, including online and mobile. Beginning April 2008, Harlequin will make some of its most popular series—such as Harlequin Presents and books by New York Times bestselling authors like Debbie Macomber, Heather Graham and Mercedes Lackey— available for browsing online. “Romance readers are having a love affair with digital,” said Brent Lewis, Vice President Internet & Digital, Harlequin. “With technology from LibreDigital, we can give readers an experience similar to walking into a bookstore and

PMA, The Independent Publishers Association, which represents more than 4,000 independent publishers, has issued a statement denouncing Amazon’s recent policy aimed at publishers who use print-on-demand (POD) technology to sell directly on Amazon.com. The online retailer has directed that these publishers must either print their POD titles exclusively through Amazon’s BookSurge subsidiary for fulfillment of orders placed through its Web site, or incur additional cost to print elsewhere and maintain inventory with Amazon. “This policy imposes a significant financial burden on tens of thousands of small and independent publishers who can least afford it,” says Terry Nathan, PMA executive director. “Without the opportunity to