The conga line forms here. If you’ve been with us in the past few days here at The FutureBook, you’ll know that we’re tripping the estimates fantastic in terms of just how large a market we’re talking about when we say “self-publishing” in the UK and US markets. As the author Hugh Howey has pointed… Read More
At BEA's IDPF Digital Book Conference: Youth Reading – Or Not
“How many of you think of your customers sitting in a chair reading a book?” Bookigee founder and CEO Kristen McLean got a goodly show of hands with that question as she opened her session on youth reading in the States at BookExpo America (BEA) on Wednesday (27th May). McLean focused on trends in young readers’ and teens’… Read More
Illustrating a need for publishing reforms
Yes, she has to draw you a picture. Since our #FutureChat of Friday (15th May), we’ve had the news that illustrators Axel Scheffler, Chris Riddell, Birgitta Sif, and others — including the irrepressible Sarah McIntyre — are among contributors featured in a new book, Creatures, to be published by Macmillan Children’s Books in September. As our colleague at… Read More
This Illustration Is By Sarah McIntyre
It’s from her new book, just out, Dinosaur Police. And no sooner had Sarah McIntyre agreed to join us in our discussion [on 15th May]than my Twitter stream — and The Bookseller’s and The FutureBook’s — lit up with this great banner. Give me artwork for #FutureChat and I’ll follow you all the way to 4 p.m. London time.… Read More
The winter of our discontent with the ISBN
ISBN: Not much more traction than the first snowfall on London I’m just glad Amazon & B&N do reveal overall sales ranks so we can measure their mix of sales that way. Other retailers, including Apple, do not, limiting us to only estimating the very top books in a limited number of categories on those… Read More
AuthorEarnings: ISBN On Ice!
Everything’s Coming Up Indie. Right? As slippery as the business of publishing-industry statistics is, the author Hugh Howey and his unnamed associate referred to as Data Guy have now given us a year of AuthorEarnings.com reports. This is a good thing. Despite Howey’s detractors and some of their misgivings, the AuthorEarnings series of interpretive essays have… Read More
#DBW15: Can eBooks Steamroll Print?
‘What Sells in Print’ – eBooks’ impact on the market Not so fast, it seems we’re hearing from several directions. Today, our colleagues Tom Tivnan and Felicity Wood at The Bookseller are writing Print and digital help the book market in 2014. Here, from that story is an “e” and “p” — ebooks and print… Read More
‘Murder, She Read!’ Taking A Deep Dive Into Mystery With Nielsen
Do We Have A Clue What’s Happening In Mystery/Crime Reading? Their safe and secure lives rocked by a shocking revelation! Their routines turned upside down! Their world wracked by fear of the unknown now stalking them all! No, not the characters in a Dorothy Sayers mystery. I’m talking about the publishers. As I wrote in… Read More
Torchin' For Books Data
Nobody came forward to say we have too much books data. The fact that we cannot see the size and shape of the publishing industry today, however, strikes some as more problematic than others. And shortly after The FutureBook.net community’s #FutureChat on the problem of missing data, I was reminded once more of how many folks… Read More
A Dim View Of Missing Books Data
Got a light?… Just as The Bookseller’s Philip Jones was aptly saying that the publishing industry is “looking at its market by candlelight,” I was reminded that, in fact, book publishing isn’t the only industry suffering this problem: Amazon never releases sales figures for any of the hardware it builds, but that isn’t stopping others from making their best guesses… Read More