April 9th, 2011
An informative article in today’s Globe & Mail highlights the plight of Canada’s largest book chain, Chapters/Indigo (formally, Indigo Books & Music Inc.). Unlike in the United States, Chapters/Indigo is already the “last man standing” among bookselling conglomerates. It’s like Barnes & Noble would appear after it ate Borders. As with many flagship corporations Chapters/Indigo…
January 1st, 2010
Here at Osborne Manor in West Vancouver on the first day of a new year I stepped outside briefly to listen to the gentle sound of the waves lapping upon the shores of Burrard Inlet. Somehow this reminded me of Mike Shatzkin’s 13 predictions about what 2010 holds for eBooks. I read them on my…
November 29th, 2009
Mike Shatzkin once again nails a tough topic with his blog posting, “Some thoughts about piracy.” DRM remains a tough subject for all, be they music, film, periodical or book publishers. Of course each face the challenge in somewhat different ways, both by dint of economics and because of practical realities. As Mike points out,…
November 20th, 2009
I remember well, back in my days as Program Director at Seybold Seminars, where we all thought: OK, there’s print, and then there’s the web. So print will be repurposed to the web. Of course that was our print-centric viewpoint. It was shared by many. But these days web campaigns are usually planned before print campaigns,…
July 14th, 2009
There’s an interesting article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal called “Publisher Delays E-Book Amid Debate on Pricing.” Upon first read, or for those not immersed in the issues surrounding the retailing of eBooks on Amazon, it sounds like no big deal. The article starts with: A leading independent publisher is saying no to the e-book…