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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.

Why Indies Don’t Have to Compete With Big Publishers
February 6, 2014

There is a comparison to be made (surprisingly, and even absurdly), between the growth of the publishing industry-aggregate commercial and indie-and the growth of Apple during its famous expansion from IPods to IPhones and IPads. Just like business analysts were surprised that Apple's (sometimes similar) products didn't cannibalize each other to a significant degree-and indeed, seemed to accelerate each others growth-the boom in best-selling indie titles has not hurt the mainstream publishing industry, but has potentially helped it.

Amazon’s Stock Price Stumbles After Hours On Revenue, Earnings Miss And Weak Guidance
January 31, 2014

Today after the market close Amazon reported its fourth quarter financial performance, including revenue of $25.59 billion, and earnings per share of $0.51. The company has operating income of $510 million in the period, up 26 percent year over year.

The street had expected Amazon to report revenue of $26.06 billion, and earn $0.66 per share. Put another way, in a quarter of strong GDP growth, Amazon managed to miss expectations on both its top and bottom lines.

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.

How The 'Netflix of Books' Won Over The Publishing Industry (Q&A)
January 27, 2014

Oyster has grown its library of books available to its all-you-can-eat subscribers to more than 100,000 titles. CEO Eric Stromberg told CNET how it happened, and how the company is changing the world of reading.

The world in which people have to rent movies one at a time from a video store, or buy individual songs from iTunes has come and gone. These days, Netflix, Spotify, Rdio, and other services are making it easier and easier for people to subscribe to all-you-can-eat plans.

Is Your Content in All The High Visibility Areas?
January 20, 2014

What's your strategy to get your content discovered and read? Most publishers follow the "if you build it, they will come" philosophy. Many of those same publishers won't be around in a few years.

Oyster Raises $14 Million to Expand Library
January 15, 2014

With Netflix soaring, investors are betting that a start-up based on the same business model - but for e-books - will succeed as well.

Oyster, which gives customers access to more than 100,000 books for $10 a month, has raised $14 million in a new round of financing. The new investment was led by Highland Capital Partners and included additional capital from an existing investor, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.

That raises the company's total fund-raising to $17 million.