The big news about Barnes & Noble is that after twenty years of battling with Amazon they have finally made a competitive move that Amazon cannot match. Barnes & Noble, with 640 bookstores in 50 states, is giving self-published authors a chance to get access to their hallowed bookshelves. Meanwhile, Amazon runs one bookstore in Seattle (albeit with 3 more slated). Barnes & Noble…
Litsy is a social community app that some have described as the “Instagram” of the book world. The goal of the iOS app is to fuel book-related conversations through visual, 300-character posts which users tag to a specific book. Litsy users can follow their favorite authors, share book quotes, and more easily discover their next…
While the technology industry is abuzz with new opportunities created by advances in artificial intelligence -- from intelligent web search to voice recognition -- book publishing has yet to feel the full impact of AI. Neil Balthaser intends to change that through his machine learning software Intellogo. Intellogo uses technology that can analyze and understand…
An algorithm recently bought me a Father’s Day present I didn’t need or ask for, using my own money. You see, my wife was buying sheets from Amazon when they presented her with the book The Arm by Jeff Passan (HarperCollins) as a Father’s Day suggestion. $27.95 later my charge card was hit with the…
Did you make the same mistake I did and assume that podcasts are yesterday’s platform, that interest in them has plateaued (at best), and that they’re not worth thinking about today? If so, here’s a short article that might help you re-think your stance. If you’re still not convinced have a look at the infographic…
Negotiating a large-quantity book sale to a corporation or government organization can be a rewarding process. If you successfully describe how your content can help prospects solve their business problems, they sign on the dotted line and become customers. However, the euphoria of knowing you will soon receive tens of thousands of dollars could blind…
The news from American malls just keeps getting worse, with long-time anchor stores Macy’s, JCPenney, and Sears reporting ongoing closings and bad results. Yet, we heard a leak earlier this year from General Growth Properties, one of the largest mall operators, that Amazon might be opening 400 mall stores. They quickly retracted this leak, but…
In the “data wars” being fought today, hackers are targeting computer systems and individuals’ accounts, meaning that consumers are often their top targets and victims. But that does not mean that businesses are immune -- far from it. Businesses are composed of people and the most valuable data, and the richest targets available, relate to…
Many publishers believe that building a Facebook audience is a wise way to market books. Let’s run with that assumption for a minute. What if you succeeded in attracting a lot of Facebook fans? I mean really succeed, such amassing over 1,000,000 likes to your Facebook page. You’d probably feel happy about your social media…
Co-founder and CMO Aby Mathew says that the TaleHunt app is breaking new ground in literature, championing very short stories or “flash fiction” for aspiring and professional authors. The app, which launched in January and has about 10,000 users, is the first dedicated platform for flash fiction, limiting stories to just 250 characters. Mathew says…
