Web Development

Swoon Reads Announces First Novel
February 17, 2014

The rise of self-publishing has already catapulted a few lucky writers to the top of bestseller lists. And major publishing houses often try to woo these stars into their fold. Swoon Reads, a new young adult romance publisher, is taking this dance a step further. It has added crowdsourcing to the mix, promising a contract to the writer whose book wins the hearts of a community of online readers.

On Friday - Valentine's Day - Swoon Reads announced the winner of that contract: Sandra Hall a teen librarian in Morristown, N.J.

As The Line Between Platform And Publisher Continues to Blur, Who Wins And Who Loses?
February 10, 2014

As publishing tools have become cheaper and more distributed, many have benefited from this ongoing democratization of distribution - whether it's Twitter users posting newsworthy updates from war zones, or would-be authors publishing their thoughts on Medium. That's the power of a platform that allows anyone to publish. It's when the line blurs between platform and publisher that things start to get tricky, not just for writers but for readers as well.

Amazon Will Begin Publishing Veronica Mars and GI Joe Fan Fiction
February 6, 2014

Amazon's Kindle Worlds, the company's publishing arm for legally-sanctioned fan fiction, is expanding fast. The company announced today that it's adding seven new properties, including GI Joe, Veronica Mars, and the Pretty Little Liars spinoff Ravenswood. That brings the total number of fan fiction franchises available exclusively through Amazon up to 20. The announcement comes on the 50th anniversary of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. "Hasbro now enters a new segment of the business by embracing the concept of open-source storytelling, and officially unlocking the world of GI Joe to our fans through Amazon's Kindle Worlds,"

Nosy Crow Targets Reluctant Readers With Game-Like Apps
January 30, 2014

Swing a cat on the App Store - boots optional - and you'll hit hundreds of rubbish fairytale apps for kids. More grim than Grimm.

One of the publishers to have bucked that trend is Nosy Crow, the British children's publisher that has built its business on a blend of traditional (print) book publishing and a series of critically-acclaimed book-apps.

Its Three Little Pigs, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood show it is perfectly possible to make a fairytale app with craft and care, while ensuring that interactivity

Book Trailers Serve as a Multiplier for Book Discovery
January 29, 2014

A book trailer is a kind of content that supports a book promotional campaign. It started in the late 90s in the US. Since then, the type of content available on video format has become increasingly diverse. When we speak of book trailer, we are doing so more general terms and include audio-visual productions such as teasers, or video-interviews with the author or the publisher, video summaries, video recommendations from readers or literary industry players, etc..

Simon and Schuster Children's Books Launches the First Fan-Driven Cover Reveal
January 28, 2014

Simon and Schuster Children's Books today launched the first fan-driven cover reveal for a UK YA title, for global bestselling author Darren Shan's next novel, Zom-B Mission.

The book, which is the seventh title in the 12-part Zom-B series, will be published on 27th March 2014, but from today fans can take part in revealing the cover by visiting a dedicated website, www.zombreveal.com. Each fan can choose a square to reveal then share the page through their social networks to uncover a portion of the image underneath.

Finding Fortune With Predictive Semantics
January 27, 2014

Arguably, the largest missed opportunity for publishers in the digital revolution is in predictive analytics.  Predictive analytics is an algorithm-based science of deciphering captured data to discover probable customer actions. Capturing relevant data is severely limited with printed books as compared to ebooks.  Location, device, reader behavior, and demographics (attainable depending on device and app) are just some of the ebook data that can power analytics.

Are Recommended Reading Lists Worth Paying For?
January 27, 2014

We're sinking in a sea of content. It's impossible to keep up. Even very narrow, niche-oriented topics seem to have an endless supply of new content produced about them every day.

Oprah 2.0: Book Club Marries Magazine, TV and Digital
January 27, 2014

Reading the original Oprah Book Club list is like throwing yourself into a dizzying cultural time machine. From Charles Dickens to Gabriel Garcia Marquez to Toni Morrison, her Book Club picks from the platform of her storied ABC television talk show imprinted a new generation of readers with classics, both new and old. When her talk show went away, her Book Club did too after a long 15-year run that spread "The Oprah Effect" across the lucky publishers of roughly 70 books.