‘Busting the myths’ might have been more than we could expect. But in the subscriptions panel at the Publishing for Digital Minds conference Monday here at Olympia London, we had a reminder of last week’s #FutureChat on subscriptions. You can look back on the conversation in that #FutureChat in #FutureChat recap: All-you-can-guess about ebook subscriptions. Mofibo’s… Read More
All-you-can-guess about subscriptions
Publishing can be forgiven for its mixed response to the ebook-subscription issue. Not only does the all-you-can-read construct for selling books run contrary to traditions in bookselling — and reading — but even some of our sister media disciplines, much deeper into their experience with subscriptions, are still trying to parse the effects of similar models. Just… Read More
Are publishers getting the #authorsay message?
The real irony here, it turns out, is that it wasn’t the publishers calling the questions: 75 percent of responding authors said they have never been asked for feedback from their publisher 7 percent said that publishers pay writers well 32 percent said that the prestige of having a deal with a traditional publisher was important to them… Read More
Do you subscribe to subscriptions?
Many young, digitally oriented companies enjoy taking a specific kind of staff photo these days, I’m sure you’ve seen it. In such a photo, everyone is happily gregarious but individualised. Several staffers laugh together. Two or three peer at some paperwork as if it were intensely interesting. Another small knot of employees watches something on a screen.… Read More
#FutureChat Recap: #AuthorSay — but which #authors do?
Is self-publishing a matter of choice? Or of necessity? Or of do-it-yourself pride? In interviewing the Indian author of the Shiva Trilogy, Amish Tripathi, on Wednesday for the London Book Fair’s Publishing for Digital Minds Conference virtual stream, an interesting line came over the ether from Mumbai. I’d asked Tripathi about the tactic he and his agent… Read More
Who's afraid of self-publishing? #authorsay
‘Either neutral or horrified at the thought of taking control’ My favourite line in my good colleague Philip Jones’ early look at traditionally publishing authors’ responses to the ongoing survey was just that: When asked about the possibility of self-publishing, only a minority of authors were excited at the prospect, with the majority (75%), either… Read More
How widely does Kindle's garden really grow?
We know what Kindle can do for a single title. It was the Kindle Daily Deal for [Gail Carriger’s] Etiquette & Espionage that happened last week. Thousands and thousands of ebook copies sold during a short period of time. As we can now see from yesterday’s news, it was enough to propel the whole “Finishing School”… Read More
Putting a finger on imprints
‘Does anyone really care about imprints outside of the book trade?’ When Canelo publishing director Michael Bhaskar starts his essay for us here at The FutureBook with that question, he could well be referencing the range of perceptions and issues we found waiting in #FutureChat. Prompted by my colleague Philip Jones’ good column, The imprint of… Read More
Could imprints get publishers' readers in a row?
Join us each Friday for our live #FutureChat with The FutureBook digital community at 4 p.m. London (GMT), 5 p.m. Rome, 11 a.m. New York, 8 a.m. Los Angeles. You’ve heard it. I’ve heard it. Imprints are done. Right? Maybe not. Imprints are all around us — and in fact growing in number and importance.… Read More
Women in publishing — achievements and challenges
Here is an important and sensitive subject, one that can become emotionalised — for perfectly understandable reasons. As is made clear in The Bookseller’s 13th February edition, the UK publishing industry can be proud of a distinction many other businesses can’t claim: its women are in the forefront. In their lead story, Felicity Wood (pictured right) and Sarah… Read More