Content and Digital Asset Management

Dorling Kindersley, the division of Penguin that publishes children, travel and reference titles, made a strong case for how it is moving to a “flat” content model, where a printed book is only one of many output options. The digital publisher of DK also said that companies like his need to do this to be ready for the next big thing in books—whatever it is—but as is so often the case for old media industries, the change is “massive” and not easy for everyone in publishing.

At the end of last year, Longreads, one of the curators of lengthy, magazine-y stories that has sprung up to help fans of long-form journalism find great stuff online, released a list highlighting the top ten longreads of 2011.

The list included such savor-worthy pieces as Maria Bustillos' examination of David Foster Wallace's private self-help library, for The Awl; Jeff Wise's investigation into the crash of Air France 447, for Popular Mechanics; and Amy Harmon's exploration of adult autism, for The New York Times. The list was, in other words, fantastic.

From the Indiana University press release: As textbooks continue shifting to digital, Internet2, McGraw-Hill and Courseload today announced implementation of an eText Pilot Trial Pack to students and faculty at five universities for the Spring 2012 semester. The five institutions, also Internet2 members, include: University of California, Berkeley; Cornell University; University of Minnesota; University of [...]

Open Road Integrated Media (www.openroadmedia.com), a digital publisher and multimedia content company, announced today that Betsy Mitchell will serve as Strategic Advisor for Science Fiction and Fantasy. Mitchell, who has more than 30 years of publishing experience, will spearhead Open Road's acquisition and publishing of backlist science fiction and fantasy titles for its Author Brand Program.
 

San Francisco, January, 2011 – James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, world renowned authors and founders of the perennial best-seller: The Leadership Challenge, in conjunction with Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley, announce the launch of THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE MOBILE LEADER TOOL, a mobile app developed by Float Mobile Learning released in December, which is available for $4.99 in the App Store for the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

The University of New Mexico Press, University of South Carolina Press and Indiana University Press have selected Ingram Content Group Inc. CoreSource as their digital content distribution system. The University Press of Florida, University of Virginia Press, and Wesleyan University Press recently enhanced their CoreSource relationship with the CoreSource Plus option. 

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.

On PaidContent, Bill Rosenblatt looks at whether we can ever expect a universal format for e-books, equivalent to “MP3” for audio. He doesn’t think so. For one thing, he points out that MP3s aren’t actually used all that much in digital music sales.

He also points out something interesting about DRM and consumer lock-in. The obvious feature that gets blamed for lock-in is DRM, but it’s not the only way.

Governor Markell celebrated a technology milestone for Delaware libraries announcing that all Delaware public libraries now provide wireless access to the internet. In addition to wireless access, downloadable eBooks are now available as a beta test through the Delaware Library Catalog portal at www.lib.de.us. Thirteen hundred eBook titles are available, ready for library patrons to download to computers and eBook readers like Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, and Kobo eReader.

Walter Isaacson’s official Steve Jobs biography is a hefty old thing, which is probably why the ebook costs an eye-watering £12.99. If that seems too steep, however, you can now buy it digitally from the App Store for £4.99 …If you speak Russian.

The Russian translation has appeared on its native app store for £4.99 as a standalone app, for reasons we’re not quite sure of.