November 21st, 2011
In an age of ebooks, do we need the bookstore?
See below for full author details. As book sales plummet and famed shops close, brave entrepreneurs are trying to reinvent the model. Is it too late?
The Future Of Publishing Blog by Thad McIlroy
Blog
November 21st, 2011
What Can the Music Business Teach the Book Business?
In a word: Plenty. I’ve got an overview of the music business on this site, but it touches only briefly on the vast overlap in the modern evolution of the music business and the book business. It’s a subject that could easily fill a book, but I’ve rarely seen it more than briefly mentioned. I’ve…
November 16th, 2011
Books are Optimized for No Participation
Over at PressThink Jay Rosen observed that professional journalism has been optimized for low participation. He explains that “until a few years ago, the ‘job’ of the user was simply to receive the news and maybe send a letter to the editor.” This was a logical outcome of the available technology. “Journalists built their practices…
November 9th, 2011
What Makes an e-Book Cover Unique?
I’ve seen two principal schools of thought surrounding covers for e-books. Theory One: Book covers don’t really matter much any more. Theory Two: Covers for e-books still matter a lot. They matter in a different way, and we’re not quite sure what makes it different, but they certainly do matter.
October 25th, 2011
Amazon.com Continues to Flow
If you run a $50 billion company and announce that your sales are up 44% going into the holiday season shouldn’t Wall Street give you a standing ovation? Not if you’re Amazon and your profit margins are, once again, taking a short-term hit for the long-term gain. What part of this 2009 message from Jeff…