Content and Digital Asset Management

Metadata and the National Book Awards
November 22, 2013

Noted in NPR's Thursday, November 21 report on the National Book Award winners was that "a visibly shocked (James) McBride accepted the fiction prize. Considered the clear underdog, he said he wouldn't have minded if any of the other finalists won because they 'are all fine writers.'"

McBride's novel The Good Lord Bird is about a young slave (delightfully named 'Little Onion') who joins the abolitionist John Brown in his anti-slavery mission.

Trove of Emily Dickinson Manuscripts to Appear Online
October 24, 2013

Emily Dickinson was well known for her reluctance to publish her work. Only a smattering of her poems appeared in print during her lifetime, anonymously and likely without her knowledge. A fellow author scolded her for her reticence: "You are a great poet - and it is a wrong to the day you live in, that you will not sing aloud."

How Games Inspire Breakthrough Thinking—And How Publishing Can Benefit
October 14, 2013

Look around. Games are everywhere. Start with that carton of orange juice in your fridge, which might advertise it's worth three points, redeemable for discounts and prizes. It's a game. What about frequent-flier miles, which are games that reward loyalty? Mega Millions, Powerball, Take Five and other state lotteries? Games. Nissan has an in-car gaming system that encourages drivers to compete for best efficiency levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum). Talk about a mobile game. You could look at Twitter as a game, the pay off being more and more followers and greater numbers of retweets the more you use it.

Subject-Specific Solutions
October 1, 2013

The advent of digital media has presented educational publishers with opportunities not only for the delivery of effective teaching and learning solutions, but also with significant challenges that are well known by readers of this column. These challenges include the need to acquire new competencies within the organizations, the creation of new partnerships with service providers and the need to sort through a range of technical issues.

STM and Tech Expert Sam Molyneux Shares His Insights on Personalized Content
September 11, 2013

With less than two weeks until the Publishing Business Conference & Expo, we're eager to share with you what's new at this year's conference. In addition to the traditional Book and Magazine sessions, we're excited to introduce the new STM and Scholarly track, in which speakers will cover topics including: agile content management, UX, personalization, multi-channel delivery systems, data analytics, and more.

Conversations We're Not Having on Open Access
September 9, 2013

On more than one occasion in the past year, I've overheard a publisher or librarian note that there is an important topic in the library world, one that has major implications for libraries' futures, and for librarianship in general. Yet, these observers have noted, very few librarians are willing to publicly discuss this topic. The topic is how open access (OA) threatens to defund libraries and marginalize their librarians and staffs.

Audio Publishers Make More Than Noise
August 22, 2013

Audio publishers are moving way beyond their core audience to capture sales to both libraries and consumers. In June, Random House Audio Group launched an online/radio/print ad campaign that reinforces what librarians already know: you don't have to be a commuter or road-tripper to listen. Working out? Knitting? Ironing? The campaign website, TryAudiobooks.com, even features a "personal audiobook assistant" that can match how long your project will take to titles of similar length. The ad campaign caught the attention of the New York Times.

Helicon Books to Launch New Social DRM
August 21, 2013

Helicon Books, an ebook technology and services company from Israel, announces a new service for publishers: Social DRM. This service will be announced during the upcoming Frunkfurt Book Fair on October 9-13. Most publishers complain about high DRM prices, the fact that DRM is not a real protection, and that it punishes the legal buyer. Social DRM is a solution for publishers who wish to protect their ebooks and prevent copyright violation at reasonable prices.