What happens next? FutureBook 2013

Insights into Amazon, partnering with tech firms and the perils of self-publishing are just some of the key themes we are building this year's FutureBook Conference around.

Taking place on 21st November, the conference will include speakers from a wide array of sectors, job descriptions and backgrounds tackling the core issues facing the book business today, bringing together industry data, first-hand experience and case studies. Read more »

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Why Netflix for eBooks won’t work. Today.

 

It seems that not a week goes by recently when we hear about a company that is “Netflix for eBooks” or “Spotify for publishing”. While I think that the industry desperately needs innovation and fresh thinking, I have my doubts about this type of model ported from other media areas. It may very well be where the industry ends up in time, but I think for the next 2-3 years these start-ups will find it tough.

So here are some questions that we should maybe consider when discussing Spotflix for books; Read more »

Plan 9 from the interweb

There are some days in publishing where there is an unmistakable whiff of a paradigm shift. Today is one such day. Read more »

Co-Publishing: The Third Way between Traditional Publishing and Self-Publishing ?

INTRO Thanks to the digital revolution new opportunities have arisen for both the traditional publishing and the self-publishing industries. The two businesses so far have been developing on two orthogonal paths without any relevant crossing. Read more »

You know what's cool? A billion dollars, that's what's cool.

I’ll let you in on a secret. Nothing gets me hotter than a big juicy subscription based revenue stream. It’s not just me, anyone who can read a balance sheet feels the same way.

Every CFO in the world nurses a secret fantasy of taking subscription revenues out for a lobster dinner and maybe a show – then slipping back to the boardroom for a bit of show and tell with the shareholders. Read more »

Shock and awe at W H Smith

The W H Smith offensive content affair is the car that keeps crashing.

The W H Smith website has been offline since Sunday at what ought to be one of its busiest periods—just to be clear, this is the entire website, not just the e-book section.   Read more »

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Of snake oil and self-publishing

I have several clients who self publish their books, some of them extremely successfully. I won’t pretend that hasn’t at times felt a little odd, but by and large we’ve coped with new situations pretty well and in principle I am genuinely delighted they are earning good money from their writing.

I also attend many writers’ events and am in daily contact with many writers. It’s the job. I am asked about self publishing all the time. No one likes to be rejected and self publishing offers a release from the treadmill of disappointments that can be the unpublished writer’s lot. Read more »

FutureBook Innovation Awards shortlists

If there's one constant in the publishing business right now, it is the growing recognition of the importance of innovation. Read more »

The second wave

What do you do when digital adoption slows? Move on.

With e-book growth officially slowing now in both the US and UK, much of the talk at the pre-Frankfurt digital shows Publishers Launch and Contec was about where to go and what next? Read more »

Publishing on the Curve

From the instant we acquired The Curve, a mould-breaking book on the future of business, we knew we’d have to break the mould when we published it.

At its heart, Nicholas Lovell’s idea is that all businesses need to face up to a stark reality: your core, essential products are soon enough going to be worth nothing (or very little). A lethal combination of digital filesharing and 3D printing means that the threats we’ve long agonised about in the book industry are coming to everyone, whether they make T-shirts or toasters. Read more »
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