What is our core value proposition? It's a business jargon-y type of question that the editor in me shudders to hear, but it stuck in my mind -- in a good way -- when I heard it asked this week at our Book Business Live event on March 31st. Clancy Marshall, VP of core systems at Pearson posed the question during the day's first panel which discussed transforming publishing companies in order to thrive in the digital era.
Every year it seems our cell phones take on new roles in our lives. Long ago flip phones merely enabled you to make calls. Today's smartphones are loaded with sensors to do everything from track your health to tell you about a sale at a local store.
I think it's time for our phones to do even more and this involves the convergence of content and technology to automatically create the digital story of your life.
Is the survival of print a good thing or a bad thing? Rather than worrying about that one, here's the question we really need to think about: Why do we treat these two formats as mutually exclusive?
Depending on what they're doing, why do consumers tend to use either print or digital but almost never use print and digital for the same product?
The latest EU ruling which excludes ebooks from reduced VAT rates follows a long battle between the European Commission and two EU member states: France and Luxembourg. As it stands, paper books continue to qualify for reduced tax rates while their electronic counterparts are now subject to full VAT. This price increase for ebooks isn't just a blow to ebook publishers but a blow to the publishing industry as a whole.
Have you paid much attention to the various pricing options used in the streaming content space? A recent article on Re/code talks about the challenges the music industry faces as it wrestles with free, ad-subsidized streaming services. In short, the article says free is bad and paid is good. I'd add that's true for everyone but the consumer, of course.
A recent article in The Washington Post explained why most students prefer print textbooks over their digital equivalent. There's no disputing the fact that print still dominates the textbook sector. That article correctly identified the "what" but I'm not convinced they thoroughly uncovered the "why" behind this phenomenon.
You've undoubtedly heard all the hype by now. Sensors will be everywhere and we're about to sink in the sea of data they'll produce. Don't just view the Internet of Things (IoT) as how your coffeemaker connects to the web though. This phenomenon means so much more, especially for content creators and distributors.
Simon Dunlop, founder and CEO of ebook subscription service Bookmate and co-founder of emerging markets music streaming service Zvooq, discusses how changing consumer behavior calls for a different approach to ebook pricing.
The date was April 8, 1927 and the front page of The New York Times featured this headline: FAR-OFF SPEAKERS SEEN AS WELL AS HEARD HERE IN A TEST OF TELEVISION. Click here to read a PDF version.
I read that 1927 article recently, and I couldn't help but wonder how confused the public was with this newfangled television thing. After all, radio had been popular for several years and few probably even imagined the need for a more powerful and engaging communication and entertainment vehicle. In fact, the article notes the following:
Back in January, at the Digital Book World Conference Nielsen Book president Jonathan Nowell, shared the results of the annual industry report Nielsen BookScan. Nowell packed a ton of information into the 20-minute presentation, tracking how the print market has changed in the U.S. since ebooks rose to prominence. Although print has been negatively impacted, ebooks have actually boosted overall book sales. And some genres are doing better in print than they ever have before.
