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Link Roundup for the Week of September 23

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printing pressHere are just a few articles on publishing, technology, and other geeky things that caught my eye this week. If you follow me on Twitter at @contextual_life you’ll find some of these and many more. Link to your favorite stories of the week in the comments section.

E-books, Readers, and Apps

  • Jeff Bezos talks about the new Kindle Fires. Businessweek
  • Apple now holds a patent for a digital autographing app. TechCrunch
  • Earlier this summer HarperCollins invited app developers to reimagine how we discover books. The submissions are in. LitReactor
  • Best apps for serious readers. Gaget Lab

Tech

  • If you can’t operate your gadget, it might be the designer’s fault. The New York Times
  • What web developers need to know about iOS 7. Nieman Lab
  • Interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook. Businessweek
  • Tips for making the change to iOS 7. Bits

Social Media

  • Six Word Memoirs held their first Six Word Festival on Twitter. GalleyCat via Six Word’s press release
  • The government is cracking down on deceptive online reviews. Bits
  • A growing number of journalists are using Pinterest. Poynter
  • Apple used Twitter to send out their Kindle Fire press release. All Twitter

Media and Publishing

Writing and Grammar

Lifehack and Business

Podcasts

  • A discussion about John Steinbeck’s life and work. Great Lives
  • Cord Jefferson, West Coast editor at Gawker, talks about journalism. Longform
  • American Icons: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Studio 360

Misc.

  • Syllabus for MIT’s science fiction course. MIT
  • A.J. Jacobs 3-D prints his dinner. NYT Opinion
  • Farhad Manjoo says email will never die. Slate
  • Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (dubstep remix) YouTube
  • Follow Little, Brown on Tumblr. Here
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Written by Gabrielle

September 27, 2013 at 6:54 am

Link roundup for the week of September 16

with one comment

Carnival BarkerHere’s this week’s roundup of publishing and tech news. Link to your favorite stories in the comments section.

E-books and Readers

  • Trade e-book sales growth continues to slow through first half of 2013. DBW
  • Digital publishing in the developing world differs from that in the US. Publishing Perspectives
  • The future of art e-books. The Guardian

Apps and Tech

  • Laura Miller beta tests Oyster, the forthcoming iOS e-book rental app. Salon
  • So does Ian Crouch. Page-Turner
  • Nearly two-thirds (63%) of cell phone owners now use their phone to go online. Poynter
  • TV producers are experimenting with second-screen viewing opportunities. DBW

Social Media

Media and Publishing

  • Next year Americans will be allowed to enter the Man Booker prize. Telegraph
  • Netflix looks to pirating sites to see what shows to buy. Telegraph
  • Nick Bilton on online piracy. Bits
  • A House judiciary subcommittee hearing on intellectual property and piracy is set for Wednesday. AdWeek
  • The New Yorker, redesigned. New York Times

Writing and Grammar

  • Is it possible to “transcend genre?” a debate. io9
  • 25 things you should know about worldbuilding. Chuck Wendig
  • Grammar Pop: a word game app. Grammar Girl

Lifehack and Business

  • Wharton puts first-year MBA courses online for free. Businessweek
  • Retailers say Gmail’s new filtering system harms e-mail marketing efforts. New York Times
  • Tim Harford on mastering the technology around you. Financial Times
  • The upside of a messy office. Well

Podcasts

  • Mitch Joel and Michael Hyatt talk about the importance of building a platform. Twist Image
  • The Slate Culture Gabfest answers listener’s questions, one on media consumption. Slate
  • Good e-Reader has a radio show. Good e-Reader

Misc.

  • Clive Thompson talks about the benefits of tech; Joshua Glenn talks about reviving old scifi novels. Gweek
  • Ray Dolby, inventor of the Dolby noise-reduction system and Dolby digital surround sound died. New York Times
  • So did Hiroshi Yamauchi, President of Nintendo since 1949. Wired
  • Brooklyn Book Festival party at Greenlight tonight. Greenlight

Written by Gabrielle

September 20, 2013 at 6:57 am

Link roundup for the week of September 9

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gossipLots of interesting publishing news and opinions this week. Share your favorite articles in the comments section.

E-books and Readers

  • 71% of travelers prefer to fly with printed books. Good E-Reader
  • Tablet sales will outpace PC sales for the first time in the final quarter of this year. Traditional PC companies are without a viable strategy. The Guardian
  • If you have an Android you can customize the font on your e-reading app. TeleRead
  • An all-digital library opened in Texas. Good E-Reader

Apps and Tech

  • Apple’s App Store is not affected by the Justice Department ruling on price-fixing. Businessweek
  • Oyster, Apple’s iPhone App, will offer all-you-can-read e-books for $9.99/mo. ZDNet
  • On Monday, the F.C.C. and Verizon went to court over Net Neutrality. The New York Times
  • Timeline of Net Neutrality. Public Knowledge
  • The Readmill app allows e-book owners to share marginalia. Damien Walter wonders about future copyright issues. The Guardian
  • Twitter to sell ads on mobile app. Bits

Social Media

  • Facebook’s new Page Insights will allow businesses to track social media engagement. Poynter
  • Social analytics platform Topsy has archived every tweet in existence. Here are 10 ways to use it as a publicity tool. PR Newser
  • Rachel Fershleiser is leading Tumblr’s new book club. GalleyCat
  • Successful real-time marketing campaigns. AdWeek
  • How publishers can get the most out of Facebook marketing. Publishing Perspectives
  • The perfect social media post for multiple platforms [infographic]. All Twitter

Media and Publishing

  • What publishers can learn from the music industry about subscription models. Music Industry Blog
  • NewsHour Weekend reviewed. CJR
  • Sponsored content is on the rise. Digiday
  • Percentage of time given to reporting vs. opinion at CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. Poynter

Writing and Grammar

Lifehack and Business

  • Is there really such a thing as a ‘workaholic’?  The Atlantic
  • Five tips for better public speaking. 99u
  • A short tutorial on “Bullet Journal,” a new system for to-do lists. Co. Design

Podcasts

  • Cal Morgan spoke about publishing with Brad Listi. Other People
  • Alec Baldwin is getting his own show on MSNBC. Listen to his podcast Here’s the Thing. WNYC
  • What marketers need to know about Google+ Hangouts. Social Media Examiner
  • Mind and Machine, Part I. CBC Radio Ideas

Misc.

  • Emily Nussbaum on Pivot, a new TV channel for the Internet generation. New Yorker
  • “The purpose of multitasking had gone from supporting multiple users on one computer to supporting multiple desires within one person at the same time.” Elements
  • Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video recreated with LEGOs. DesignTaxi

Written by Gabrielle

September 13, 2013 at 6:52 am

Link roundup for the week of September 2

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MegaphoneHere’s some of the publishing and book news that caught my attention this week. Link to your finds in the comments.

E-books and Readers

  • Amazon is launching KindleMatchbooks, a program that bundles print and e-books. It’s retroactive. Forbes
  • The history and future of color e-paper. Engadget
  • Cory Doctorow has some thoughts on libraries and e-books. Locus
  • Esquire is launching a weekly tablet edition to reach a younger audience. The Guardian
  • Tablet owner demographics 2013. Pew Internet
  • Nicholas Carr talks about the history of paper and how we read digitally. Nautilus Magazine

What we’re learning now is that reading is a bodily activity. We take in information the way we experience the world—as much with our sense of touch as with our sense of sight. Some scientists believe that our brain actually interprets written letters and words as physical objects—a reflection of the fact that our minds evolved to perceive things, not symbols.

Apps and Tech

  • Apps are on the rise, possibly because they match the way our brain works. Wired UK
  • Google just launched “Chrome Apps.” Techland
  • Clive Thompson on Google Glass New York Times Magazine
  • Farhad Manjoo heads to The Wall Street Journal to report on tech. Digits

Social Media

  • Heineken and Weiden + Kennedy New York devised a scavenger hunt using Instagram. Digiday
  • Twitter is preparing to go public. Bits
  • You might be tweeting your location. Huffington Post

Media and Publishing

Writing and Grammar

Lifehack and Business

  • Advice to freelancers for pitching stories. Useful for placing op-eds and articles. The Atlantic
  • Magazines are experimenting with various subscription models. People is the latest. AdWeek

Podcasts

  • BookRiot has a podcast. It’s good. BookRiot

Misc.

  • Rebecca Solnit on technology’s influence on time. London Review of Books
  • Joan Juliet Buck on interviewing Bashar al-Assad’s wife for Vogue. Newsweek
  • Frank Bruni on bringing your digital comforts with you while traveling. New York Times
  • Take the Ishihara Color Perception Test. io9

Written by Gabrielle

September 6, 2013 at 7:01 am

Link roundup for the week of August 26

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Breaking NewsHere are this week’s best links collected from my daily scouring of the Internet. Share your favorites in the comment section.

E-books and Readers

  • Kobo keeps pushing boundaries. Techland
  • Kobo will offer magazine service on their devices starting in October. Good Ereader
  • Does it make sense to bundle print and e-books? Publishing Perspectives
  • The Oxford English Dictionary is not for sale (in e-book) but you can rent it. The Guardian

Apps and Tech

  • The paradox of wearable technology: can devices augment our activities without ­distracting us? Technology Review
  • Three apps to help declutter your work and life. Aliza Sherman
  • Five apps to help you dress for fall. AppNewser

Social Media

  • J Crew put their catalog on Pinterest a day before it was available elsewhere. BusinessWeek
  • Twitter will allow retailers to sell products and services within tweets. Bloomberg
  • Shoppers are turning to YouTube for product research before buying. AdWeek
  • Alexis Madrigal deconstructs the new blogging platform Medium. The Atlantic
  • How to choose a hashtag for your campaign [infographic]. All Twitter
  • How to get your client’s content into Google’s new “In-Depth Articles” PR Newser

Media and Publishing

  • NewsHour at a crossroads. CJR
  • Al Jazeera America began broadcasting last week. Here’s how to measure their success. Poynter
  • Al Jazeera America’s launch ratings. TV Newser
  • Four journalist secrets every PR person should know. Cision
  • Slate launched an LGBTQ blog, Outward. June Thomas is heading up the effort. Slate

Writing and grammar

Lifehack and Business

  • Shut down your browser tabs by accident? If you’re using Chrome, here’s a keyboard shortcut for full recovery. Slate
  • 5 ways to perfect an author reading. Huffington Post
  • Four steps to creating a documented procedure for delegation. Michael Hyatt
  • Public speaking lessons learned from touring college campuses. Fast Company
  • Four things to do before the end of each work day. MediaJobsDaily
  • LinkedIn etiquette. Good.co

Podcasts

Misc.

  • 35 innovators under 35. Technology Review
  • Three bookstores got into a Twitter fight. BuzzFeed
  • 101 best writers, reporters, and thinkers on the Internet. Wired
  • Five websites for your photojournalism fix. CJR
  • Are tech firms the new pop culture villains? GigaOm
  • 20 online talks that will change your life. The Guardian

Written by Gabrielle

August 30, 2013 at 7:01 am

Link roundup for the week of August 19th

with 8 comments

Breaking NewsAs a Publicity Manager specializing in online media for a publishing house, every week I’m required to put together a roundup of links to send out company-wide. Since everything looks like a blog post to a blogger I thought putting it here as well was a no-brainer. So, from here on out, I’ll have weekly link roundups featuring publishing and tech news. Please feel free to share your favorite news and sites in the comment section; I’m going to need all the help I can get!

 

E-books and Readers

  • PM Press in Oakland, Calif., is the first book publisher to bundle free e-books with nearly every one of the physical books purchased on its Web site. Publishers Weekly
  • How popular are digital magazines? The Guardian
  • Can traditional bookstores survive? A roundup of opinions. The New York Times
  • B&N reports a 20% decline in Nook revenue. AppNewser via B&N press release

Apps and Tech

  • There’s a new, free scheduling app that breaks down your day into people, places, tasks, and locations. Fast Company
  • Best Android Apps for writers. AppNewswer
  • This interactive device is threatening to kill the mouse. FastCoLabs

Social Media

  • Four tips for tweeting content. All Twitter
  • 10 social media tips from the Financial Times. Journalism.co.uk
  • How to use Google+ for book promotion. Digital Book World
  • 10 journalism sites and media people to follow on Twitter. PR Daily
  • Using multimedia in your tweets increases the chance people will share it. Poynter
  • How bookstores promote events today. Shelf Talker

 Media and Publishing

  • Conde Nast signed a distribution deal with Amazon that is the first of its kind. Conde Nast president Bob Sauerberg said, “We want to go from selling print subscriptions to selling access to all our content.” Fast Company
  • Listicles are here to stay, because the kids like them. DigiDay
  • Cory Doctorow on improving book publicity in the 21st century (spoiler: know who uses NetGalley). Locus Magazine
  • The “Today” show has a new book club. Publishers are happy. New York Times
  • A new online and print magazine called The Riveter highlights longform writing by women. Poynter
  • What’s up with cover reveals? Beyond Her Book

Writing and grammar

  • “Proofreading is the last line of defense for quality control in print and online publishing.” Here are 7 proofreading steps to make sure your writing is up to snuff. Daily Writing Tips
  • 9 tips for a better author bio. LitReactor

Lifehackery

  • What was once called “small talk” is now “conversational intelligence.” Here are five stages of a successful conversation. WSJ
  • If you still need help, here are six tips for having productive conversations. Fast Company
  • A critical look at Google’s “20% time,” which allows employees to work on hobbies during work. Harvard Business Review

Podcasts and Radio

  • What Lady Gaga can teach business about building and maintaining customer loyalty. Twist Image Podcast
  • Freelance book publicist Lauren Cerand shares some useful insight. Late Night Library
  • Media mogul and teen fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson talks to Books & Arts Daily. Radio National
  • Jeff Bezos, The Washington Post, and the Future of Newspapers. On Point

Misc.

  • Here’s why you’re oversharing on Facebook. Slate
  • The Cronut King talks about creativity, philanthropy and copycats. DigiDay
  • A handy infographic showing cell phone etiquette by country. Repair Labs

Written by Gabrielle

August 23, 2013 at 6:35 am

Wither Physical Space? A Bookstore Mystery

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Cafe-Librería El PénduloThis past week there were a number of articles that addressed the fate of bookstores, mainly announcing their impending demise. While this is nothing new—the topic has become a perennial favorite in the publishing industry now that the Digital Age is in full-scale disruption mode—this latest round struck a chord with me. As someone who spends many of her non-work hours in these shops—browsing, buying, going to readings—I give a lot of thought to the future of the bookstore.

I work for a publishing house, as do many of my friends; many of my other friends are booksellers and still others are authors. Admittedly, I have a stake in the bookstore’s survival beyond mere personal enjoyment.

I’m also aware that by living in New York City, a place teeming with bookstores, I am spoiled and possibly have a skewed view of their place in society. Nearly every one of these stores hosts an author event most nights of the week, giving me and the local community a reason to show up other than to buy a new book. They are a place to congregate, to catch up with friends, and occasionally meet new ones. They’re where you meet your favorite author and listen to poignant conversations among writers.

So, while I praise bookstores for doubling as neighborhood spaces and expound on how wonderful it is to have access to tens of thousands of square feet of books within a 10-mile radius, it would be narrow-minded of me not to acknowledge that there are people outside of my urban area who might not have one bookstore within driving distance. For that reason—among others—I am grateful for online retailers and ebooks.

Many detractors of bookstores often cite the seemingly infinite selection of and ease with which they can buy both print and digital books online as the main reason why bookstores are bound to go belly up. The first article I read was a recent post from Seth Godin. I’m a huge fan of Seth’s and always take what he says seriously, even if it sometimes makes me uneasy, like “The End of Books” did.

The death of the bookstore is being caused by the migration to ebooks (it won’t take all books to become ‘e’, just enough to tip the scale) as well as the superior alternative of purchase and selection of books online. If the function of a bookstore is to stock every book and sell it to you quickly and cheaply, the store has failed.

My argument is that the bookstore is not there to carry every book under the sun; they are there to curate a modest selection based on the demands of the community, the owner’s tastes (more so in independent bookstores than chains), possibly the staff’s tastes, and yes, based on the commercial success of a particular title at any given moment. Many stores, it should be noted, also sell ebooks through their websites and are happy to order a physical book that is not on their shelves.

In a recent episode of the Adventures with Words podcast, co-host Rob Chilver, a senior bookseller at a university branch of Waterstones, a British book retailer with nearly 300 stores in the UK and Europe, shared how he, as a book buyer for the store, decides which titles to stock.

When asked by people how he knows what books to buy he says, “It’s kind of a gut feeling. You get to know your shop. You get to know your customers. You get to know what people buy. … We occasionally get to see reps, these are reps from publishers. They walk you through the catalog, you can ask a few things.” He reads trade publications, pays attention to what’s getting covered in the media, and relies on an internal website where his coworkers discuss books they’ve read and what they’ve enjoyed.

Mike Shatzkin, a publishing theorist who specializes in digital changes in the industry, also discussed the future of the bookstore this past week in his post, “Losing bookstores is a much bigger problem for publishers than it is for readers.” He said:

The obsession with the false dichotomy between printed books and digital ones is beginning to give way to attention for the more important shift taking place between purchasing books online and purchasing books in stores.

… Online book buying — whether print or digital — takes business away from bookstores. So bookstores close or reduce shelf space. That decreases both their attraction and their convenience, which makes online buying increase even more. So bookstores close or reduce shelf space further. (This is called a “vicious cycle”.)

Shatzkin goes on to say that in this new world of online book discoverability—as opposed to the old way where people found books in stores—puts publishers on the defensive where they now have to explain how and why they’re still of value to authors. I can think of many: editors, publicists, sales reps, marketing and art departments, and distribution.

Shakespeare & CompanyHowever, the question of physical vs. digital availability is an important one. The future of the bookstore depends heavily on merging the physical showroom with digital technology. Interactive screens where stores maintain their curatorial nature—giving prominent visual space to select titles—but allowing an additional layer for increased selection is something I would like to see. With those screens would come a delivery service where those with ereaders could download books immediate, purchasing them from the store in which they stand. This latter part would be enforced either by blocking competitors’ sites within the store or by the honor code.

A recent episode of the Twist Image podcast addressed online shopping more broadly. Host Mitch Joel spoke with author and “retail futurist” Doug Stephens about the future of retail in our digital world. Stephens explained the impact of pervasive technology on consumer behavior and, in turn, on retail space. Because people can find what they want online he asks what the role of a physical store is now: “Is the job of a retail store still to distribute products? Or is it about distributing brand impressions? Is it about distributing relationships or connections?”

Just this past weekend, The New York Times took a look at the other side of retail development. Technology reporter Jenna Wortham explored in her article “Hanging Out at the E-Mall” one challenge facing online sellers: how to create a social experience.

The Web has yet to duplicate the real-world feel of a mall, where shoppers can pop in and out of multiple stores, easily browsing racks of clothing, display cases of jewelry and shelves of housewares. And online, friends can’t join you in a dressing room to help you avoid buying fashion faux pas.

Jenna highlights the problem of online discoverability and shows how a new crop of entrepreneurs are attempting to remedy it:

as more companies and shops migrated to the Web, it became harder to find cool, stylish and quirky items, giving entrepreneurs an opening. … The [new] shopping sites do not sell one type of item or good — instead, they mimic a bazaar where people can browse through bins at their leisure. … In addition, most social shopping sites let their users find and follow their friends and favorite brands or shops, which creates a feed akin to those on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. The feed is filled with new items that they might like to buy.

It’s often said that with disruption comes innovation. Do I think bookstores need to get creative if they’re going to survive, let alone thrive, as we become increasingly digitized? Absolutely. Are they doomed? I’m not ready to concede that just yet. I like to believe I live in a world that values in-person interaction and that readers, although a group known for its introversion, sees the benefit in moving these spaces into the future.

**Disclaimer: I work in publishing but am not a spokesperson for my company.

Written by Gabrielle

August 20, 2013 at 6:51 am

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