New Business Models

AL SPECI
Frankfurt Academy Quarterly
eBook Edition
business
2012 13
Models
INDEX
Preface
By Holger Volland
To Our Readers
Siobhan OLeary talks to Gus Balbontin
The Biggest Challenge is Mindset and Culture
Looking for a New Business Model? Just Follow the Customer

By Carlo Carrenho
Publush: Crowdfunding with a Social Conscience

By Siobhan OLeary
PaperPad: from Publishing to the Market in 16hs

By Marcelo Klein and Leila Jenkins
From Buying to Lending: Whats Next for E-Book Libraries?

By Siobhan OLeary
Dutch Delay App Gives You Stories Tailored to Your Free Time
By Emile Op de Coul
What Can Trade Publishers Learn from Fanfiction?

By Ana von Veh
Just Great Bookselling: Bilbarys Simple Vision, Big Ambition

By Roger Tagholm
Digital Publishing in the Developing World

By Octavio Kulesz
The Reinvention of the Bookseller

By Joe Wikert
The Future for Book Discovery

By Jess Johns
Amazon, E-Books and Advertising

By Joe Wikert
Similar Creativity & Low Barriers: Learning from the Music Industry
By Katharina Ewald
Die Herausforderungen fr die Verlage: Wertschpfung heute - die Modelle bei protoType
By Harald Henzler
Business Models Videoimpressions
PREFACE
By Holger Volland, VP Media Industries, Frankfurt Book Fair online bookstore and finally "Pasta do Professor"; Brazils answer to the formerly widespread textbook piracy in universities. In todays publishing business startups also play an important role of new thinking. The young company "Publush" tries to make some money from the "slush pile" whilst keeping authors and readers happy, and contributes to the higher goal of raising the level of literacy amongst children. How do they do it? CEO Jesse Potash explains that for his company, users are rather seen as members
Holger Volland
of the team than as customers. The business model behind this success story has only been made possible by the full digitalization of the value chain. Probably the biggest driver for new ideas in the publishing business at the moment. This is also the reason for startups being so much more agile than most established companies: They can develop all processes 100% digitally from scratch making them less resource intensive. "Skoobe" is one example in a series of technology-driven startups. The company offers reading experiences on a temporary basis (some would call it rental) and charges 9,99 per month for this service. "Delay App" is another example. The business is only app-based and started as a paid collection of quick reads for those many moments in our lives when we have to wait around or make time. But it soon after became apparent that it might be more profitable to offer the content for free and charge publishers instead for using the app as a promotional tool. New business models are often enabled by but not necessarily limited to digital. Publisher Anna von
In order to successfully implement new revenue strategies, companies need to invest in changing many internal processes; sometimes even look for new personnel. This might sound obvious but can be a tough job if every single aspect of the publishing value chain needs be touched. Australian travel publisher Lonely planet (LP) employs a full team to lead a very complex crossbusiness transformation initiative with significant operational restructuration (and ideally a minimum disruption of the business). Gus Balbontin from LP tells us how publishers can control a successful change process by thinking outside the box. The ability to constantly adapt yourself to changes is probably one of the most underestimated and yet most important skills for todays media managers to have. A restless life can be good training for that. Take Brazilian publishing entrepreneur Bruno De Carli: after a career in engineering, followed by becoming an advertisement professional, he then developed an
Veh shows in her contribution how Fanfiction can offer an alternative publishing model for community engagement, even if it seems paradoxical to mix the roles of fans and authors. But can you make money with it? Sure you can. Just rethink the idea of what a publication is or who sets the price. A different point of view is also suggested by Octavio Kulesz, who showed a truly global approach in his study about publishing in developing countries. But "developing" takes up a completely new connotation as Kulesz uses it to allege that instead of who the future Apple of China will be, we might soon be asking ourselves who the new Shanda of the US will be. Most booksellers did not seem too keen to embrace the digital business at first. But that is rapidly changing. With a myriad of services and
digital distribution platforms at their hand, they no longer allow amazon to be the autocrat in digital trade. And to make it even better, the contender is one of UK's most respected book personalities; Tim Coates. Read Roger Tagholms great Story on how Coates is reinventing the book selling business with a simple and convincing vision. Do you know how to take full advantage of the three new waves of book discovery? The short and concentrated burst of marketing support has a very narrow window to begin with, followed by a second wave of word-of-mouth support, and a third wave of persistent discovery only for those books and authors who managed to build enough equity. But what are the criteria for readers to buy a book and how can data help to set the perfect timing? Find the answers in our interview with Peter Hildick Smith about The future for book discovery.
Dear Reader, The Frankfurt Book Fair is not just the biggest platform for promoting new brands and innovative business activities. With the Frankfurt Academy, it also highlights opportunities and possibilities for you to successfully position yourself in the markets of tomorrow.
StoryDrive Conference Frankfurt, 11-12 October 2012 The all-media platform Frankfurt StoryDrive will highlight crossmedia business and cooperation models. This is the place to go to meet potential business partners from the publishing, film and games industries. Tools of Change for Publishing (TOC) Frankfurt, 9 October 2012 Tools of Change for Publishing (TOC) Frankfurt returns for a fourth year gathering the best and brightest in our global publishing and technology community for a full day of intriguing keynotes, sessions, and networking. The New Publishing Ecosystem with its shifts in business models and trends in e-commerce will be in the center of attention. Publishers Launch Frankfurt, 8 October 2012 Publishers Launch, the trade publishing strategy and tactics conference aimed at consumer publishing executives, agents, retailers and those who wish to do business with them is the can't-miss stop for an international trade or digital executive at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012. International publishing experts will discuss digital and new business experiments and global e-publishing strategies and data. Discover new worlds: Publishing meets merchandising, 12 October 2012 From books to t-shirts, characters to stuffed animals and vice versa. In the intensive three-hour programme Publishing meets merchandising, professionals from the publishing and licensing industries will discover how to successfully expand their business.
Did you know that as a reader of Frankfurt Academy Quarterly you are entitled to a 10% discount off Frankfurt Academy tickets? To register for the conferences please enter the promo code FAQ10BK, select the reduced price and get ready to expand your knowledge.
THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS MINDSET AND CULTURE

By Siobhan OLeary, literary agent, translator and writer based in Berlin
Interview with Gus Balbontin, Director of Transformation, Lonely Planet
Gus Balbontin is a strategy and innovation expert. He specializes in leading complex cross-business transformation initiatives that require significant operational restructuring with minimum disruption to the business. He has a knack for incubating and integrating new products, market opportunities, platforms and technologies into existing businesses. Gus is playing a lead role in Lonely Planets transformation from print publisher to multi-format publisher.
Gus Balbontin @ TOC Latin America
Q: How important is it to think and work internationally when publishing multimedia and multi-format products, not just in terms of licensing, but also in terms of co-production, collaborations, etc.?
These days its easier to think and work internationally. Publishing an e-book in various territories, for example, is as simple as uploading it and ticking a few boxes, while in the past you needed people in each territory with relationships that sometimes took years to build. Your question was how important it is. Well, this depends on what type of publisher you are, where are your customers, etc. It isnt important for everyone. Lonely Planet has its customers spread all over the world. They need solutions to problems they face before taking off,
while they are on the road and when they come back, so for us to be global, collaborative and so on, is critical.
Q: In your opinion, what has changed the most about the process of publishing travel guides in recent years?
We have enjoyed a few decades of publishing improvements driven mainly by efficiency and effectiveness (better layout tools, better writing tools, better transport, better stock management, etc). We are now entering a world of change driven by customers accessing and using content in different ways. This latest shift is much more fundamental and comes from advancements in telecommunications, the internet, devices such as phones and tablets, and so on.
Q: How has the publisher-author relationship changed, if at all?

The information a traveler needs to solve his or her problems remains relatively unchanged. How a publisher gets this information who they get it from and how they get it is certainly changing. For example, do you contract an author to write a book, or to write about a place that may end up on a website, an app and an e-book? Do you get all the information from an author or use some UGC [user generated content]? As a publisher, do you stand between authors and travelers (the readers), or do you become a platform to enable a direct relationship?
places that you may have missed before. But the way people travel is more impacted by wars, economic changes, etc., than by the actual travel guide itself.
Q: How do you envision the future of multimedia publishing, particularly in the travel category?
There will be a huge shift once the cost of roaming on phones and tablets decreases and more travelers start consuming their travel content live, on phones, tablets, laptops and books! Travelers will be able to combine great, rich content from a variety of providers to solve their problems seamlessly.
Q: You are responsible for managing innovation and change at Lonely Planet. Can you name some of the biggest hurdles you face in the transition to multimedia and multiformat products? Do some of the challenges relate to the cost of producing such products and the price customers expect to pay for them?
The biggest challenge is mindset and culture. The rest is no different than any of the puzzles businesses solve regularly, i.e. cost, margins, profits, etc. Is it true that in the publishing industry were all a little out of sync with the market (i.e. the cost of making something vs. the price people are prepared to pay)? Yes, but again, these are puzzles businesses are relatively good at solving. On the other hand, changing mindsets and the culture of a place is much harder. Primary competitors still come from the traditional publishing industry still but not for much longer. Yes, all the time. My RSS feed is built with tech updates, media related news, financial news, and more. I look at the gaming industry, music, TV and even car manufacturing for clues and inspiration.
Q: Do you look to other models in publishing or other creative industries for inspiration? Where do you learn about the latest trends in publishing and beyond?
Q: Do your primary competitors come from the traditional publishing industry or other industries?
Q: How are multimedia travel guides changing the way we travel?

They arent yet, really. Some of the more social guides like Wenzani will be able to get you to
Q: What distinguishes Lonely Planet from foreign publishers in the travel field, like MairDumont, or from others in your domestic travel guide scene?
The main difference between us and the rest is that we are independent (we take no commissions for adding information to our guides), and we know because we go (we still send authors every two years to survey the world). MairDumont are our foreign partners in Germany. They translate and publish our guides for the German market. Baby phase definitely.
Q: If you had to compare Lonely Planets, or the overall industrys level of multimedia publishing development to a human growth stage, would you say were in the baby phase, or the terrible twos; are we toddlers, teenagers, or adults?
This article was originally published in FAQ Magazine 03/ 2012.
LOOKING FOR A NEW BUSINESS MODEL? JUST FOLLOW THE CUSTOMER

By Paulo Carrenho, PublishNews In earlier days, Brazilian students photocopied the books they needed as the only alternative to purchasing them. Thats until a new service called Pasta do Professor offered a legal alternative to book piracy with a huge success. Pasta do Professor has been on the road for over 6 years already and sometimes it is good to stop for a little while to look back and evaluate what has been done since the beginning. I am frequently asked about how we reached to where Pasta do Professor is today and my answer has been very simple: we have just followed the customer. In fact, we havent invented any new concept but rather just put certain concepts that were already known in the publishing industry together in a different way. Pasta do Professor is based on two main concepts: custom publishing and on demand printing. These concepts were already known in 2006 when I started developing our first business model; but who helped me the most was in fact our main customer: the college student. We started off because we were looking for alternatives to offer in that specific market, in which way fighting the illegal photocopying of university textbooks. This has been and remains a main and very important issue for all textbook publishers in Brazil, representing a market at least 2 or 3 times bigger than regular sales. The same can be said for only when I need it: the entire content is normally used throughout a 4 to 6 month period. If students buy books as they are sold by the publishers in bookshops, the value of the whole book has to be paid at once and the entire content (including what will not be used) has to be carried around throughout the whole period. What the student was trying to tell us was Talking to many college students revealed that the main drivers that were always behind their visits to the copy shops was stated as only what I need, only when I need and, of course, for a reasonable and better price. Or in just a single word: cheap. Most publishers always tell me price is the ONLY reason for so many illegal copies but I decided to take a deeper look: I believe price can be explained as the result of only this. In other words, only what I need means I can buy less. And buying less, of course, means less money (price). And even more and most importantly: Brazilian professors dont normally use the entire content of the adopted textbooks. And to make it worse: they are asked to consider more than one author, using chapters by diversified authors, what is believed to give the student the possibility of a broader view in any subject, and is also a reason for students to look for the cheapest way to get purely what they need, instead of buying entire books.
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that buying the content in many parts reduced the amount paid per purchase (once again the perception of price) and also allowed him to carry less weight on the daily basis. So, my conclusion after hearing what the customer had to say was that price is unsurprisingly quite important, but could possibly be handled in a smarter way if our focus was changed to the reasons behind the price itself. To get even closer to our customer, we discussed in length about what the name of the project should be. We had discussions among the publishers, where the better ranked ones proposed names always somewhat related to the word library. We werent able to reach a consensus on any of the proposals; but suddenly a bright idea came up: why not adopt the name of the system that had already been running in photocopy shops all over Brazil for so many years: Pasta do Professor. Pasta is the Portuguese word for Folder and Pasta do Professor means a plastic folder, with a tag on it, identifying the discipline and the professors name. Inside each of these plastic folders were photocopies of chapters from different books suggested by each professor (though ironically, most of such copies were taken from the evaluation copies professors ask from the publishers and get in most cases for free). So, for students, Pasta do Professor means the same as bibliography. And so, just by understanding the customer, Pasta do Professor was born, offering students a legal alternative to get legal copies only of the desired chapters chosen by their professors, printed in loose sheets and stapled on the corner; exactly what they had before, but in this way paying also for authors copyrights. It looks simple but I can confirm simple fits only to the involved concepts. A lot of work had to be done in order to convince publishers and authors to accept splitting
their content into chapters; though this had kind of been going on at copy shops for years, most of them were simply unaware of it or had unnoticed it. On the publishers side the biggest challenge was related to technology: how could we assure we would not simply be giving away the content in PDF files? It took us a lot of technological development but in the end all of them found it comfortable to send their files to our servers. Later on, whilst on the road trying to take the project to more and more universities, we realized a different business model was needed, so we reformatted again trying to adjust to our different customers real needs. Our first model was a B2C model, but depended on the engagement on universities behalf to adapt the bibliography of their different courses to the content available on our servers. The new challenge was to adapt what we had (textbook contents split into chapters and print-on-demand availability) to a new B2B business model. One of the leading private universities decided to enlarge its proposal, offering all its students not only the same its competitors were offering (classes, professors, tests, pedagogic model, etc), but also all the necessary content for free; printed and delivered to their home addresses in the form of brochures. The proposal in fact took effect but their next challenge became how can we get all these different academic contents in a single place, not having to engage in discussions and negotiations with all the publishers that supply in so many different knowledge areas? (Many universities in Brazil have been producing their own content for some of their courses, even though they know the quality of such content is very poor compared to bestselling textbooks available in the market). The fore mentioned university was then told about Pasta do Professor
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and in mid-2009 after 6 months of hard work, we began to deliver content for 6,000 students. Right now the project has already reached more than 170,000 students, each of them with specific needs between over 1,000 different titles from the 1,300 different disciplines. Since the first group of 6,000 students, we have delivered more than 475,000,000 pages (the equivalent of 1,200,000 academic books) to a market which wasnt normally a textbook buyer. Right now our challenge is to find the business model that will better fit the new electronic media. Our same main B2B customer has started a new form of delivery; using tablets with content for the 70 imprints held in Pasta do Professors servers.
Weve been on the road one year already with this specific business model but are fully aware that technology itself wont be enough for the customer. I am sure the customer is expecting much more than text scalability, zoom, portability, text search capabilities and other features normally linked to tablets as we know them right now. Rather than looking for a different business model, it seems that publishers and I will have to re-invent the way in which knowledge is brought to our customers. I can assure we will continue to observe them closely and try to fulfill their needs.
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PUBLUSH: CROWDFUNDING WITH A SOCIAL CONSCIENCE

By Siobhan OLeary, literary agent, translator and writer based in Berlin How can you make money from the slush pile? And, at the same time, keep readers and authors happy, while contributing to a great cause? Pubslush tries to make the seemingly impossible a reality on a global scale.
Jesse Potash is the founder and CEO of Pubslush, a crowdsourced publishing platform exclusively for authors to raise funds and build an audience for new book ideas. Jesse hails from a financial services background but has also worked across a wide array of industries, including publishing, fashion and advertising. He was recently named by mediabistro as one of its 5 eBook Publishing Experts to Watch. He also serves on the board of directors for the Pubslush Foundation, which is committed to supporting childrens literacy initiatives worldwide. He is a native New Yorker, a yogi, a boxer and an avid traveler. Pubslush is still in its beta phase, having started
in 2011. It operates an independent publishing imprint, Pubslush Press, that acquires books from the online platform, and for every book sold it donates a book to a child in need. Theres certainly no shortage of crowdfunding platforms out there, but the Pubslush model evolved from the teams discussions with authors, when they realised there wasnt a platform available that actually catered for their specific needs. we work with in our literacy programmes, says Potash. The objective, he adds, is to harness the power of digital reading technology to reach some of the nearly one billion people in the world who are illiterate and the more than a hundred million children who dont have access to books.
Pubslush works as a hybrid, for-profit and nonprofit enterprise. Our goal in operating in this fashion is to create a sustainable brand of nonprofit that purposefully involves the consumer, Potash added. In fact, Potash doesnt think of
Kickstarter, perhaps the best known crowdfunding

platform, recently revealed that less than 32% of its publishing projects actually get funded. The firms philanthropic focus started when Jesse and his partner Hellen visited an orphanage in Kenya, at around the time the company was launched. The orphanage became the companys first charity partner. Theres no question that the main motivation behind Pubslush is the children
Pubslush users (slushers, as theyre called) as

customers. They are part of our team, he says. They are the ones who are actually making the industry more democratic and philanthropic. The
Pubslush model also guarantees a certain level of

transparency in terms of what readers want and what they are willing to pay for it.
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The role of technology and social media

Pubslush is powered by technology. While we striveto keep the books on our site to high standards, those
standards are primarily technical (formatting, grammar, spelling, etc.). Weve passed on the job of judging content directly to the readers, explains Potash. Digital publishing has certainly led to an explosion of content, but it also opens the door for readers to choose what they actually want to read. Our concept is based on social networking, he adds. Authors submit their book to our site, and whilewe have established a core constituency, successful authors always harness social media to their own advantage. Authors work to raise funds and build momentum for their books, usually starting with their own social network. As a book gains traction, it trends higher and becomes more visible to slushers. Social media has already enabled readers and authors to communicate directly with each other. But Potash notes that Pubslush is taking this a step further, by enhancing that connection with the ability to raise funds and actually understand the analytics of social media interactions in an actionable way.
Global reach for crowdsourced authors

Pubslush plans to launch in several additional languages in the coming months. My dream for five years is
that we will have books from literally every country in the world on our site, says Potash. In addition, the company handles rights and licensing for titles published by its imprint, Pubslush Press. Our publishing imprint operates uniquely, in that we actually build a freelance, project-based team around each book... One of the members of this team is a rights specialist who looks after these transactions. One of the most interesting changes hes seen in rights and licensing is that authors are now taking an increasingly proactive role a sign that traditional publishers often fail to meet the changing expectations of their authors. When we acquire books, he says, we dont just think of them as books, but as content that must translate across entertainment mediums and languages. Although the company performs almost all its operations in house, it is about to announce a new trusted partner network a group of affiliate companies that provide services that can greatly benefit their authors. Potashs greatest wish is to take Pubslushs literacy programmes to the next level. It is my personal goal that the phrase children without access to literature will be a phrase of the past, and that every child will have access to an e-Reader (and ideally have their own), essentially giving them not only a librarys worth of books, but also the tools (text-to-speech, dictionary, built-in light, etc.) to learn and empower themselves to build a fantastic life.
This article was originally published in FAQ Magazine 04/2012.
STORYDRIVE
LICENCE TO TELL
1114 OCT 2012
Tell your story across all channels! The all-media platform Frankfurt StoryDrive is your key to crossmedia success: A marketplace for media rights, a think-tank for transmedia projects, a forum for the media business of the future and a meeting place for anyone who wants to make more of their stories. Frankfurt StoryDrive Maximise your story, maximise your business. www.storydrivefrankfurt.com
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PAPERPAD: FROM PUBLISHING TO THE MARKET IN 16HS

By Marcelo Klein, Marketing Manager at Pigmalion Studios and Leila Jenkins, TOC Latin America In response to the growing need for quickly adapting to changes in the world of publishing, and as a result of the dreams of visionary engineers who believed they could change the world by bringing their ideas to life, Pigmalion Marcelo Klein, lets us in on how this idyllic system works The innovative proposal suggests selling your content through your own application rather than making it available on known virtual stores where it would compete with an endless list of others titles and become less discoverable. In this way users may effortlessly and rapidly find As avid readers and tech fans, Pigmalion Studios founders realized that carrying piles of books around whilst traveling was quite inconvenient, so they decided to buy an iPad. But the device was lacking a good reading application which would let them make the most out of all of iPads capabilities. Being the techies they are, they then came up with a self-publishing, multi-compatible product; your products all at the same spot, and purchase them with a credit card within seconds whenever wanted. And you can make it all work in three simple steps: convert your content to PDF format; upload the file(s) to your content management system, and get yourself selling away all over the world in no time, waving goodbye to distribution costs. It takes 2 weeks to publish the app, and content from 12 to 16 hours from publishing to availability. Just deal with your content and leave the tech bits to Pigmalion Studios.
Studios was born. And their plan is exactly that: to

generate ideas to change peoples ways of working, playing and communicating,
PaperPad. An easy and fast way to sell and

distribute your publications on tablets and mobile devices. Pigmalion Studios marketing manager,
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Your application, customized with your logo, branding and colours, will be available to download at most leading virtual stores such as Apples AppStore or Google Play, and will be compatible with all iPad, Android, Google devices; and even through the web in the future. And your books, magazines or newspapers will be purchasable from within the app. All protected under Pigmalions own DRM.
View and manage your sales report, product prices and catalogue from Pigmalions web-based
platform, which stores your content; creates and

maintains your application; deals with payments, and deposits your earnings into your account monthly. And rather than charging you for the service of providing the application and making it widely available.
Sounds good so far? How about this; dont think of this concept as selling your content through an app; think of it rather as selling yourself as a
engage your readers with social sharing on major social networks like Facebook or Twitter; be it pages or news theyd like most. Advertise yourself on social media monsters and spread the word. You need not special equipment, or millionaire budgets; but purely the conviction and the want to do so. To stay ahead, be ahead. The future is applications. Overcome paper boundaries. Welcome to the digital era.
brand including everything you have to offer. Add

anything from a photo gallery, to videos, or your bio add new titles; re-sell your old ones reviving them in digi-format include free digests of your publications for users to look at before they decide to purchase the full versions offer users the possibility to subscribe to your issues when suitable, for periods of 6 months, 1 year, or the timeframe of your choice and whats more;
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NeW YoRk NeW Delhi CAsAblANCA so PAulo beijiNg bueNos AiRes FRANkFuRt ACADemY
With its range of conferences, workshops, and seminars, the Frankfurt Academy offers guidance for the media and publishing industries worldwide.
From 10 14 October 2012, the Frankfurt Book Fair will be the meeting place for the industries leading minds. See you in Frankfurt! Publishers Launch Frankfurt (8 October 2012) Tools of Change for Publishing TOC Frankfurt (9 October 2012) International Rights Directors Meeting RDM (9 October 2012) Innovative Teaching and Learning Conference (10 October 2012) StoryDrive Conference (11 & 12 October 2012) Frankfurt Academy Professional Programme (10 13 October 2012) Reserve your space today: www.frankfurt-academy.org
Guest of Honour New Zealand
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Use it, dont own it! under this slogan borrowed from the collaborative economy a number of lending models have recently emerged for eBooks. Skoobe is the latest in a series of technology start-ups that offer digital reading experiences on a temporary basis.
By Siobhan OLeary, literary agent, translator and writer based in Berlin.
FROM BUYING TO LENDING: WHATS NEXT FOR E-BOOK LIBRARIES?
Christian Damke is the managing director of Skoobe. After completing his studies in economics at Brunel University and earning an MBA at the IESE Business School, he got his start at Bertelsmann in 2005. Starting in 2006, he supervised the digitisation of books as director of business development for Verlagsgruppe Random House. He is responsible for cooperation with publishers, marketing and finance.
Christian Damke, CEO of Skoobe
In mid-June, Penguin and 3M announced a deal with the New York and Brooklyn Public Libraries to make Penguins e-book catalogue available for lending. Amazon recently signed an exclusive license with Pottermore to make all seven Harry Potter eBooks available for free through the Kindle Owners Lending Library. Bilbary.com launched its US bookstore and library in March and its UK platform this month, with more languages and territories on the way. eBook lending is certainly a hot topic in the US and beyond, although according to a poll by the
to be avid e-book buyers. Launched in February 2012, the German mobile eBook library Skoobe is betting on eBook lending as a viable commercial model. Skoobe is the brainchild of
Verlagsgruppe Random House, Holtzbrinck and arvato. It offers readers a new form of access to the
world of electronic books one that raises interesting questions about the meaning of ownership in the age of digital reading. As managing director Christian Damke explains, Readers do not buy single titles, but become members of an ever growing mobile library. They can borrow titles... and read them immediately on their smartphones or tablets. Skoobe has a limited introductory offer that allows its first 10,000 readers
Pew Internet and American Life project, 58% of

library patrons dont know they can borrow e-books from their library and only 2% of people aged 16 or older in the US have ever borrowed an e-book. The same study showed that e-book borrowers also tend
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to borrow any number of new books each month for 9.99 euros a month, until 1st March 2013. Readers may keep up to five borrowed books in their personal libraries at any one time. When the introductory offer ends, members will be allowed to borrow two books per month for the subscription fee. Publishers get an undisclosed share of revenues based on how many times each of their books is borrowed. In developing Skoobe, says Damke, we have tried to understand the special needs of eBook readers better. Now, browsing, reading and organising ones own library, and the possibility of using the books on up to three devices, all offer a rewarding reading experience.
The Skoobe app is currently one of the highest ranked book apps in the Apple store (with 4.5 stars) and can be installed on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch using iOS 4 or later. It will be available for
Android devices later this year. Another goal is to

encourage price- conscious readers to use their smartphones or tablets to read eBooks, maybe even in combination with the printed versions at home. To date, high prices have been a major deterrent for potential eBook readers in Germany. Although Skoobe does have a strong publishing connection, given its founding companies, it is still a very new player in the market. According to Damke, it is an ongoing challenge to raise awareness for the brand through marketing, press and social media. We have a very active community on Facebook, and we use Twitter and other social media channels to talk with our potential customers. They even invite their customers to visit the Skoobe offices in Munich, and they actively request feedback. More than anything else, says Damke, our customers value the ease of use, as well as the simplicity with which they can access a great catalogue. The willingness to pay depends on the size of the catalogue and the type of reader. Skoobe is, above all, a technology company that aims to meet the changing demands readers make of the eBook market, while offering a rewarding reading experience.
Skoobe currently works with nearly 100 publishers

and it adds new titles and imprints every week (all in German at present). We are [also] in discussions with many international publishers and intend to intensify our talks at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2012, says Damke. eBooks still represent a very small slice of overall book sales in Germany - around 1%, as a recent study by the German Publishers and Booksellers
Association revealed. But Skoobe views itself as a

way of attracting customers who wouldnt otherwise have purchased books for their mobile devices, and it hopes to have a positive effect on the industry as a whole by making it easier for people to discover titles. Our goal is to help people find new books and e-books using smartphones and tablets, by offering a very simple, free app which provides immediate access to book extracts, explains Damke.
This article was originally published in FAQ Magazine 04/2012.
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DUTCH DELAY APP GIVES YOU STORIES TAILORED TO YOUR FREE TIME
By Emile Op de Coul, Rights & New Business Manager at Querido, Nijgh & Van Ditmar and Athenaeum publishers. AMSTERDAM: The omnipresence of smartphones and tablets has led three Dutch literary publishers, Querido,
Nijgh & Van Ditmar, Athenaeum, to create an app for reading on the go. The first idea was to do something
with the lost time when waiting for a bus or train that is running late. A lot of people turn to their smartphone in those situations, checking the news, the weather forecast or even worse, their email.
As an alternative, the Delay App offers stories and novel-excerpts tailored to your delay: as a reader you can choose between stories that take you 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. minutes to read. Stories and books in the app vary from classic to modern, written by both Dutch and international authors, such as Arnon Grunberg, Anna Enquist, Roddy Doyle, Franz Kafka, Elia Brcelo and many others. Its different than having an e-reader or tablet with your own collection of e-books on it, since the app offers a (surprise) collection of stories from authors that you do and dont know, enabling you to discover forgotten classics, rising new authors or the first two chapters from a bestselling writer. I suppose the quote from a Dutch newspaper says it best: If your train or bus is late, your mobile phone transforms into a book.
The Delay App was published as a digital collection of stories, selected on reading length and not as a reissue of a previous collection in print. The publishers chose a paid model, selling the app for 2.99 and 0.79 at the time of introduction. The price was much lower than most e-books of that volume (the Delay App contains over 300 pages of literature), but was in line with other book apps in the Apple App Store. Consequently, we the publishers offer a royalty of the income made through Apple to the authors whose books or stories are featured in the app. Some might argue that the app is also a promotional tool and that this could be an argument not to pay royalties, but as long as we are offering it as a paid app, the
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publishers feel they should pay royalties just the same as you do when publishing an e-book. Publishers abroad recognized the potential and have bought licenses to publish the app in their language. German and Swedish editions of the app have already been released by Kiepenheuer & Witsch (German) and Bonnier (Swedish). Both companies have initially chosen to use the paid-for app as a model, with the Swedish version, Dtid, reaching #1 of all paid book apps in Sweden. Were also confident that more publishers will follow. The creators of the Delay App have learned an important lesson from their pioneering year as well. Even though the number of 10,000 paid downloads in a year is nice enough for a collection of stories that is also a promotional tool -and one that vied with Angry Birds for the top spot in the Dutch app store during its first week of release- the revenue was always going to be modest, especially at the low price of 2.99 and 0.79.
It then took just one experiment to convince the publishers that the freemium model was the right way forward. After offering the Delay App for free during a single day resulted in 10,000 downloads in 24 hours! Obviously, a free app will mean reaching a much larger reading audience. The concept is the same or even better, as the content in a free edition will be refreshed regularly instead of having to pay for a new set of content. In a larger context, the app changes from a form of new publishing into a tool for marketing and sales, since a free app will mainly be apart from being a nice service to the mobile reader a promotional tool for selling e-books. The first year has proven that the concept is appreciated by almost everyone who tries it out and that theres a huge potential of readers who will use it so long that its free and offers updated content. We believe its a very versatile app that can be filled with new stories and novel-excerpts by publishers, no matter the language.
This article was originally published at www.publishingperspectives.com .
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WHAT CAN TRADE PUBLISHERS LEARN FROM FANFICTION?

By Anna von Veh, co-founder, Say Books
Fanfiction has current notoriety in the publishing world because of the almost outrageous success of the Fifty Shades series. The first book was allegedly based largely on erotic Twilight fanfiction that the author had
written. Im not going to discuss the merits or otherwise of the book itself, but it raises the point (so to speak) of issues that are becoming ever more pertinent in the digital world, and boundaries that once seemed clearly defined are becoming increasingly blurred.
Nathan Fillion poses as fiction writer Rick Castle
I am a fan of ABCs TV show Castle and tweet about the show using a Castley pseudonym. I fangirl with the best of them (English majors, doctors, teachers, film/media people, teenagers, and of course, Fireflyfans). What has become increasingly interesting to me as Ive watched the show and followed fans on Twitter over the past year or two is the way the show crosses the usual boundaries of fandoms, age groups, media types and genres, with reading being central to it all. ...and, since it's TV, he has the hottest fans. Much has been written about the dearth and death of reading, and I became fascinated with how a show about a crime writer and his muse seemed to be encouraging the shows fans, and many younger fans, to read long-form narrative, a form some
might not have read otherwise, if they read books at all. It is all very meta. On the one hand, there are the very successful, high profile, official tie-in Nikki Heat novels by Richard Castle complete with a cover photo of Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle, published by Hyperion. On the other hand, there is fanfic, fan-written fiction that flies under the radar and lives on the web. As I became engrossed in the show last year, I kept seeing references to fanfic on my Castle Twitter timeline and decided to take a look. Expecting the worst (and believe me, the worst is there too), I was delighted to find not only OK writers, but truly excellent writers, such as the fabulous chezchuckles (it took me a while to get the Edith Wharton reference).
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Fanfiction sits at the margins of mainstream creative

endeavour, and interrogates established views of what it means to be a writer; the meaning of intellectual property, creativity, originality, ownership; and traditional boundaries surrounding these concepts, as well as the whole vexed issue of international rights. As a publishing person and daughter of an artist, I have an uneasy relationship with how Fanfiction steps on these well-established fences, particularly with regards to the Fanfiction based on novels, rather than TV or films. (The latter seems more legitimate, but that might just be justification for my own interest.)
In many ways, Fanfiction is, and has been for many years, ahead of its time in terms of its embrace of the possibilities and potential of digital technology, of community and niche interests, its very questioning of established domains of knowledge and right/s, and its acknowledgement of the role reading plays in writing. As Saul Bellow said, A writer is a reader moved to emulation. The leaching of boundaries described above is exemplified by the infinite trail of hyperlinks on the web (Derrida anyone?). It is therefore apt that Fanfiction should exist online, and make use of the technology that allows deferment of meaning and certainty; a metaphorical and literal leaking of content from the container (c.f. Brian OLearys Context First, Revisited).
Fanfiction as an alternate publishing model

Fanfiction as digital Text also embodies a paradox:
it harks back to the days of Dickens in the way it is written and published, and it shows a potential path for mainstream trade digital publishing. The longer fanfics are serialised, with the popular ones being updated every day or so. Many chapters end on true cliff-hangers; and readers are included in the writing process. Writers include disclaimers about copyright ownership and many write author notes at the beginning and end of each chapter (many of which are very entertaining in themselves). The writers invite their readers to review each chapter and sometimes even to suggest pointers for the narrative arc. Beta readers, who qualify for the role by being experienced Fanfiction writers themselves, edit the chapters before they are posted. An incredible community is built around the stories, and Tumblr and Twitter are alive with cross blogging, reviews, and accolades for favourite writers. The popularity of individual stories or writers largely depends on discovery provided by the web through And the fans read and read. reader recommendations, both on the Fanfiction sites and on social media. Once a year or so, readers vote on the best Fanfiction in a number of categories, and there are curated lists of recommendations too. And disclaimers are included at the beginning of each chapter, with many being very entertaining.
Fanfiction shows that the web need not be just a

technology for making or distributing books (e-books and print), or for social marketing, but a home, distribution and communication technology for longform narrative content itself. Fanfiction and its fans take the web seriously; it is the default mode, not an afterthought. The online platform means that readers can be based anywhere in the world and are defined by their interest in the particular fandom and genre, rather than by their own geographical or political location. Might is not right in this environment. The idea that someone might limit the
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right to read a fanfiction to a particular region or country would be regarded as ludicrous and tantamount to abusive behaviour towards readers. There is a lesson here too for publishers.
day about the latest chapter is also a way of marketing the book beyond the subscribers themselves. So as well as being a serious fan of Castle and its
In publishing today, we can no longer rely on selling individual products that may or may not succeed.
Fanfiction, the mechanics of Fanfiction interests me

as it meshes with my interest in web technology and digital publishing. And of course, I love good writing. After having read a few stories by chezchuckles last year, I wrote to her to ask if she had written any of her own material, and it turns out that Laura Bontrager, an unassuming school library assistant (I just knew she had read widely) from Memphis, Tennessee, had indeed written an original, unpublished romance. Laura was willing to improvise with us (Say Books) in an online Fanfiction model for her novel and we were delighted.
Fanfiction suggests another way: a model based on

the web, based on the ideals/ideas of community, which encourages readers to interact with authors, editors, designers, perhaps where they can contribute photographs and advertise wares (if related to the story), etc. The online presence also means that publishers have tools such as Google Analytics available, providing real-time statistics of engagement and traffic. A subscription model allows publishers to get early revenue for the author (and themselves) and early marketing too. Tweeting each
The Say Books fanfiction model

We decided to make the first chapter of Fences publicly available on the web fences1saybooks.pressbooks.com with subscription instructions at the end of it. We let subscribers decide how much they wanted to pay upfront for online access to the rest of the chapters which were uploaded daily, with readers who paid more than $5 getting the e-book at the end. Over 80% of our subscribers paid at least $5. We used Pressbooks, started by Hugh McGuire, because it is a simple, web-based book production platform with some of the features I was looking for (including a commenting system, the ability to create a working e-commerce model, and the production of valid EPUBS). The other advantage of the Fanfiction web-based publishing model is that one can look outwards to the world and not be limited by location. We are a publisher from New Zealand; use technology from Canada; have an author in Tennessee, USA, (and soon And returning to Fanfiction itself, it can be seen as free marketing for the original content; for instance it has been acknowledged by the writers and cast of others from elsewhere); and have subscribers from all around the world, including Mexico, the Ukraine, France, the UK, Canada, Australia, and the USA. It is a wonderful thing to be part of.
Castle that fan power, particularly on Twitter, played

a huge role in getting ABC to retain the series after its modest first season (a fifth season has recently been confirmed). So perhaps we should be more accepting of Fanfiction and its authors who are often brilliant, witty, intelligent, and very literate, and who in the
Castle Fanfiction world at least, write with

admiration for and acknowledgement of the original creators. Yes, much of Fanfiction revolves around romance and M-rated stories (and theres a whole book to be written about that). However, focusing only on the
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subject matter and traditional boundary issues obscures what Fanfiction has to offer us as publishers: a model for community engagement,
online interaction between readers, writers and publishers, and a new way of thinking about and doing business.
You can meet Anna von Veh as a speaker at Tools for Change in Publishing (TOC) Frankfurt 2012 at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Germany. Tuesday, 9 October 2012 , 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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JUST GREAT BOOKSELLING: BILBARYS SIMPLE VISION, BIG AMBITION

By Roger Tagholm, Freelance writer and journalist contributing to a variety of print and web publications, including the Guardian, the Bookseller, Publishing Perspectives and the Herald (Scotland).
LONDON: There is no one quite like the UKs Tim Coates in the book industry. He has been a bookseller, an author, a library campaigner and a publisher. Now, with the launch of Bilbary.com the international eBookstore and library that went live in the US in March and opens for business in the UK and Europe in June to that list must be added the description digital innovator, though Coates smiles at the suggestion. As he sees it, he is simply doing what he has done many times before building a bookshop.
Tim Coates
Bilbary.com allows users to download titles to any device PCs, laptops, tablets, anything Android, Sony
Readers, Nook, Kobo, even the Kindle, although Coates concedes that you have to be a little bit techy to make it work. Currently, it has some 320,000 e-books from around 2,300 publishers chiefly academic houses, small presses and specialist publishers. But by the end of May a further 110,000 titles will have been added from the big six: Penguin, Macmillan, Random House, Hachette, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, and he has hopes for many, many more.
A viable alternative to Amazon

He has a simple, open access vision for the site, borne of frustration at the walled garden systems that are proliferating in the digital space. We want Bilbary to be a place that people who like reading, who love books, can come and find things and read them on whatever they have. Naturally, he wants the site to differentiate itself from Amazon a considerable challenge. Here he starts to sound both evangelical and frustrated. Amazon is not a site where you want to hang around. Theyve done a brilliant job in promoting Kindle theyve made e-books a proper, viable proposition and theyve forced publishers to act. But what they havent done is force backlist to emerge. Were really only just getting started when it comes to e-books. A lot of what Amazon offers is self-published. You can find something to read, but the real quality is not there.
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So at Bilbary we have this relentless pursuit of content. We want to replicate the sort of quality and range you find in Foyles or a huge Barnes & Noble and the text of all our books will be searchable too. Id say that at the moment, only 30% of a large, stockholding bookshop is available in digital format. There are vast riches out there. How many Penguins are there as e-books? There are only about 9,000. But how many Penguin titles have there ever been? So were speaking to them about Pelican, about the classic green crimeYou can go to the big six publishers and its the same story. Publishers obsess about their front lists a certain author is about to publish their fourth novel or whatever. Then they let things go out of print and forget they ever had them. Publishers think their job is to keep publishing, but their job is also to sell what theyve already published. Instead, theyre always looking for the next pot of gold.
Publishers blame agents for lack of eBooks

He maintains that publishers blame the agents for the lack of digital titles. They say they havent been unable to negotiate a digital deal. Well, they should sort it out. If print is going to decline, if that industry is going to collapse, then lets manage the transfer to digital properly. We need a massive digitisation programme. Publishers will say it is happening, but Im saying to them where are the titles? Why is so little Marquez available digitally, for example? I really dont think weve got started yet.
Bilbary will also carry reviews, as well as recommendations and comment from booksellers and teachers and
experts in their field. It has a library which has a link on the homepage that takes browsers to an interactive illustration of an old, small town library. We want people to have fun here, says Coates. This is somewhere they can go for a good rummage around, just as in a physical library. You enter through some swing doors and well have things like a science room where you can see the books being converted into digital in pickle jars. Well even have a cat on the rocking chair outside. Jo Budler at the State Library of Kansas [which has recently signed a deal with Bilbary] said librarians have a great affinity with cats. Users of the State Library of Kansas who do not want to wait for one of the handful of digital files provided by Overdrive are given the option to buy a title, with a percentage of the revenue going back to the library. If he sounded critical of publishers above, its more a case of urging them to act on the treasures they have. In fact, he despairs at some of the animosity that is currently around. We want to be nice to publishers, not at war with them. Publishers produce absolutely wonderful material. There are people who say why do we need publishers, I can publish a book but they cant. What they produce is awful. Its just that at the moment, you have publishers at war with librarians over lending, and at war with agents over digitisation contracts. And everyone is at war with Amazon. That hostile world is awful.
Bilbary has private backers, including John Bartle of advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty and a staff of
around 14, including representatives in Beijing, Delhi and the US. Its home is in Londons glorious Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, just along from agent Ed Victors office and directly opposite Bloomsbury Publishing. Occasionally, the sound of a cello can be heard from an adjacent room, which means Coates younger son Oliver is practising. Hes a professional musician, artist-in-residence at the South Bank Centre and winner of
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the Royal Philarmonic Societys Young Artist award earlier this month. Coates other son, Sam, is Chief Political Correspondent of the Times.
A long, personal commitment to bookselling

At the age of 62 Coates is embarking on a big project at a time when many might feel like sitting back. Perhaps its a case of Yorkshire grit, as the English phrase has it, but this unusual figure is quite happy tackling new ventures, taking on new challenges. The son of amateur musician parents his mother was a school teacher he grew up in Huddersfield and studied maths at Oxford, during which time he became active in musical theatre and composed. Classical music remains a passion today. After university, he joined WH Smith as Marketing Planning Manager, thus beginning his 40-odd years in the industry. He ran the Smiths-owned Sherratt & Hughes chain of more upmarket bookshops, which was eventually subsumed into Waterstones where Coates was briefly MD. Disagreements between Waterstones shareholders and WH Smith shareholders led to his departure, with subsequent years seeing him establish Uncovered Editions, which published government reports unearthed in the archives, such as the Titanic enquiry. Exploring these archives led him to Mary Cornwallis West, mistress of Edward VII, whose story he began writing for his own enjoyment. Bloomsbury heard about it and the house that is now his near neighbour published Patsy (her nickname) in 2003. He combined these publishing and writing activities with a growing interest in the fate of the UKs libraries, an interest that led him to some impassioned campaigning which gained him enemies and friends in equal measure. In more recent years he ran Baker and Taylors UK office for academic library supply.
E-Lending is a Mess, this may be an answer

The idea for Bilbary arose out of his involvement in libraries, with Coates seeing its model as a solution to the current mess that is e-lending. The last year has seen him visit the US frequently, speaking to publishers and librarians and getting his mind around the complexities of the US tax system. He owns a Sony Reader, currently loaded with Henry James Portrait of a Lady (beautiful) and he has a lifelong love of Josef Svorecky and other Eastern European writers. I do like Czech writers very much they are subversive in a way that English and Americans dont quite know how to do. People are watching Coates and Bilbary with interest. Publishers would all like to see a competitor to Amazon, but the Seattle giant is a mighty body to take on, with a name embedded in consumers minds. And yet there was a time when Twitter was a start-up no-one had heard of. Coates has taken the bold step of building Bilbary in public, so we can learn from people as we go along. He is also not taking himself too seriously in the process. John Sargent at Macmillan in New York said to me.
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Well, this is different. Im used to having fresh-faced MBA students come and tell me how they can save publishing I dont usually see a grey-haired industry veteran from across the Atlantic
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DIGITAL PUBLISHING IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD: IMITATION OR AUTONOMOUS EVOLUTION?

Excerpt from Digital Publishing in Developing Countries by Octavio Kulesz, Editorial Teseo and Digital Minds Network
Octavio Kulesz, Editorial Teseo and Digital Minds Network
Many assume that the digital models that work in the United States and Europe can easily be applied to China, Latin America, and elsewhere in the developing world. This could not be more wrong, argues the study Digital Publishing in Developing Countries, carried out by Octavio Kulesz in October 2010, and commissioned by the International Alliance of Independent Publishers, with the support of the Prince Claus Foundation. The report covers developments in Latin America, the Arab World, Sub-Saharan Africa, Russia, India and China.
comes to testing out hardware, software and new digital publishing business models, which means that companies like Amazon, Apple, Google or Sony are taken as references in the media and at professional events all over the world. Now, it is clear that in the case of countries from the South, infrastructure limitations and low rates of human development hinder the advancement of electronic publishing such as it is known in more advanced regions. And certainly what little news that comes out about digital publishing in the developing world is usually related to incursions undertaken by those same actors from the North.
In the last 15 years, the digital revolution has thoroughly modified the way in which cultural assets are produced and distributed. Music was probably the first industry affected, but the impact has now reached all sectors, and in particular the book world. Indeed, e-books, audio books, print on demand, virtual stores and the expansion of cellular phones have profoundly transformed the means of circulating texts. Digital publishing models that work in the United States and Europe cannot always be applied to China, Latin America and the developing world. As is well known, there are marked contrasts in the assimilation of these technologies from region to region. The industrialized nations in particular the US, Canada, Europe, Japan and South Korea- have access to extremely efficient Internet services and plentiful human resources. Their firms therefore enjoy a considerable margin for action when it
Thus, the conclusion reached in numerous articles and international conferences is that, in order to promote electronic publishing, the countries of the South have no choice other than to await the arrival of successful models from the North. However, this assumption is highly objectionable. For a start, so far
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it has not proven easy to identify a successful system of digital publishing, even in advanced countries; indeed, the sales figures for publications through Amazons Kindle Store or Apples iBooks are not widely available, which prevents us from knowing the extent to which in themselves these publishing platforms constitute as lucrative a model as is publicized. In fact, the constant changes in setting sale prices, defining formats and applying digital rights management (DRM) or not- show that even the major players are still feeling their way. Secondly, we must ask ourselves how useful it would be to reproduce the prototypes from the North in the South, as in addition to the disparities in infrastructure, there are also enormous cultural, linguistic and even religious differences. Lets not forget that digital models represent more than just a tool: with a notable dose of egocentrism contained in its very name and the attraction produced by a logo that refers, amongst other things, to biblical sin, an iPad may well captivate a young Westerner educated in a particular tradition, but it wont have the same effect on someone from India or the Cameroon. And, as we will point out later, the experience of reading from the screen of a cell phone means something very different to a Chinese user, for example, than it might do to a European one, due to
the qualitative difference in the characters used in each case. Of course, a company like Apple will certainly find a highly profitable niche among the most affluent classes in developing countries, since the cultural and consumption patterns of these sectors merely imitate those of the North. But the interesting thing would be to find out what digital models might be a hit not just with the wealthiest 20% of the citizens of developing countries, but with the rest of the inhabitants, that is to say with the bulk of humanity. Thirdly, given the enormous population, and above all the accelerated economic growth observed in many countries of the South, it is hard to believe that the developing world isnt making its own contribution to the electronic age. In addition to the countless IT service providers in India and hardware manufacturers in China that support the Western platforms from behind the scenes, there are original and innovative digital publishing projects being carried out at this very moment in the South - local platforms that will one day be able to compete with foreign ones. In fact, some of these ventures are so dynamic that instead of debating who will be the
future Apple of China or the Amazon of South Africa,

perhaps we will soon be asking ourselves who will be
the Shanda of the US or the m4Lit of the UK.
A Matter of Enormous Significance

The development of electronic publishing in the South proves therefore to be a topic that is in itself worthy of discussion in global forums. But, more importantly still, it constitutes an absolutely vital issue for developing countries themselves. On the one hand, according to the observations of the main actors involved, many of the typical obstacles of publishing in countries of the South can be overcome by incorporating digital technology into the book chain. Indeed, if the Internet connection Likewise, the electronic solutions that certain countries of the South have implemented to tends to be defective in these regions, then the infrastructure of the book sector distribution, retail sales and printing is even worse. In some cases, then, certain technologies can be employed to help skip the Gutenberg stage and work directly in digital form by making use of the equipment already available.
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overcome their problems of content distribution can also serve as a model for others, thus facilitating SouthSouth knowledge and technology transfer. For example, the rich prospects for mobile phones in India, China and South Africa represent a fruitful precedent for the Maghreb and the Middle East. Lastly, the rapid economic growth experienced by many nations in Latin America, Asia and Africa has increased the funds states have available to them to invest in infrastructure, training and research and
development (R&D). Sooner or later, these countries will have to ask themselves what kind of digital publishing highways they must build and they will be faced with two very different options: a) financing the installation of platforms designed in the North; b) investing according to the concrete needs, expectations and potentialities of local authors, readers and entrepreneurs. Whatever the decision of each country may be, the long term impact will be immense.
Note: For the sake of expediency, we have eliminated the footnotes, which can be found in the original text. The full report can be read free of charge in Spanish, French and English.
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THE REINVENTION OF THE BOOKSELLER

By Joe Wikert, General Manager & Publisher at OReilly Media, Inc. If youre a brick-and-mortar bookseller, does your blood pressure rise when you think about e-retailers and their deep discounts? Do you look at ebooks as a threat or an opportunity? Depending on how you answered those questions, you might need to ask yourself another one: What business are you really in? If youre simply in the business of selling books, I believe youre thinking too narrowly. Think of the story of the successful tools salesman who explained why he was able to sell so many drills: My competitors sell the drill while I focus on selling the hole. In other words, he emphasizes the benefits What are the benefits youve successfully provided in the past? When I think of my local bookstore, some of the key benefits I see are personalized service and community. If I want to know more about a book Im considering, Id rather talk with a real person than simply trust a bunch of reviews on a website, especially if some of those reviews might be planted by the author or publisher. The main advantage a physical bookstore has over an online one is the inperson advice and support the former can offer. while others are busy trying to sell a bunch of meaningless features.
A lesson from Apple

Despite the sluggish economy of the last few years, some brick-and-mortar retailers have found ways to grow their businesses. Apple is a terrific example. Regardless of whether youre an Apple fan, theres always something new and interesting to discover in an Apple store. I cant tell you the last time I felt that way about a bookstore. Im not talking about eye candy or glitzy merchandising; when you enter an Apple store you know youre in for a treat. Wouldnt it be awesome if customers entering your bookstore had that same feeling? I realize Apple can invest a lot in its store experience because its selling higher-priced items, but maybe that means you need to look beyond simply selling $20 or $30 books. Im not talking about adding stationery and toys, like some bookstores have done over the years. Its time to think much bigger. These days most bookstores have some sort of coffee shop or snack bar. Years ago it was a brilliant move to add that dimension, as it helped turn bookstores into a hangout rather than just an in-and-out retail destination. If in-store coffee shops were the gamechanging idea of the 90s, whats the new one for the current decade? Heres one possibility: an instore self-publishing resource. Self-publishing is red-hot and still gaining momentum. But whats sorely lacking in the self-publishing world is a reliable place to go to ask all the questions. How do I get started? Whats the best platform? How do I create a marketing campaign? Self-publishing enthusiasts are left with a slew of questionable online options and a few in-person events. Why not
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create an in-person self-publishing resource within your store? Take a page out of Apples playbook and create a Genius Bar service for customers interested in selfpublishing. Establish your location as the place to go for help in navigating the self-publishing waters. Remember, too, that most of the income earned in self-publishing is tied to services, e.g., editing, cover design, proofreading, and not necessarily sales of the finished product. Consider partnering with an established expert in these areas or build your own network of providers. The critical point is to evolve your business into something more than just selling books. This doesnt mean you need to invest in selfpublishing equipment to enter the field, but its interesting to hear from someone who has. I spoke about this with Chris Morrow, co-owner of Northshire Bookstore in Vermont, which has had an Espresso Book Machine for a number of years. According to Morrow:
The Espresso machine has allowed us to create a self-publishing business and more. It has changed how customers view the bookstore. The selfpublishing business is a complementary business that takes advantage of technological developments while being true to our mission. If my self-publishing suggestion isnt the best option for your store, dont simply give up and assume youll always have a future in selling print books. Its clear to me that the number of brick-and-mortar bookstores will continue to decline; more specifically, the number of brick-and-mortar bookstores that mostly rely on selling print books will continue to decline. Bookstores have always been a source of inspiration and an important community resource for their customers. Think about your own stores unique attributes and how they could be extended as print sales decline. If you go about it the right way, the digital reading revolution wont be a threat but rather a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reconceive your business.
This post originally appeared on Publishers Weekly.
You can meet Joe Wikert as a speaker at Tools of Change for Publishing (TOC) Frankfurt 2012, at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Germany. Tuesday, 9 October 2012 , 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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THE FUTURE FOR BOOK DISCOVERY

In interview with Peter Hildick-Smith
By Jess Johns, Director of Operations, Publishers Launch Conferences Peter Hildick-Smith of the Codex Group has been conducting consumer research for the trade book publishing industry since 2004. He believes that publishers face an increasing challenge now and in the years to come in getting readers to find, and ultimately buy, newly published books online. According to Hildick-Smith, the life cycle of a book includes three key waves of discovery. The first, which he calls flash discovery, is the short, concentrated burst of marketing and merchandising support when pre-press marketing and publicity, early bookstore placement, promotions, blogs and book reviews all work together to capture book buyers attention. For a new book by a new author, you have 4 to 5 weeks where it has the advantage of being new, and has its greatest chance to be seen. Its a very short period of time where debut works and authors are found. That narrow window is the first wave, the little flash of time where the book alone must attract an audience all by itself. The second wave kicks in 4 to 8 weeks after a book is in the market and once enough book buyers have had the time to read and complete the book. People start talking about it, people whove read it and liked it. Thats the real word-of-mouth that sells books. Publishers, says Hildick-Smith, cannot directly influence this wave as much because 90% of heavy book recommenders make their recommendations in person, only 17% through social media. This organic word-of-mouth is dependent on the quality of the read itself for the initial audience Codexs most recent survey of nearly six thousand heavy book buyers shows a marked erosion of discovery through physical bookstores. In February 2011, 27% of respondents first discovered their last book purchased in a bookstore. Just a year later, in February 2012, that number had dropped to 19%. In the shift to online discovery, the Janet Evanoviches will continue to do very well, maintains Hildick-Smith. Its the flash discovery thats challenged. Thats where publishers and bookstores are struggling. Debut authors and new fiction, he says, still rely heavily on physical bookstore merchandising and traditional media outlets for discovery. As these traditional channels fade away, so too does the publishing industrys ability to help those books reach their audiences, particularly in fiction and narrative nonfiction. Wave three persistent discovery applies to the brands, series, and authors that readers already know and like. Once an author has built enough equity, the discovery process is not necessarily triggered by any particular event. Thats the lockin, says Hildick-Smith. When a reader is actively looking for your next book, choosing to stay connected to you, or continually recommending you on an ongoing basis, they are no longer reliant solely on a publishers discovery campaigns to find you. that discovered it in the first wave. If publishers have done their job right in the flash discovery phase, then word-of-mouth will follow.
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Source of discovery of book last bought Feb 2011 Physical bookstore Personal recommendations Analog publicity Internet bookseller browsing Author website, blog, email Professional recommendations (teachers, librarians, booksellers) Other online (book blogs, online reviews) Reading groups, analog book clubs Online search Social media Online video/trailers Source: Codex Group, Feb 2011, Feb 2012 27% 14% 10% 8% 5% 4% 4% 3% 0.9% 0.7% 0.2% Feb 2012 19% 20% 10% 10% 5% 5% 4% 4% 2.1% 1.4% 0.4%
The online book discovery experience is a fundamentally different, less spontaneous activity than more traditional discovery mechanisms like bookstore browsing. Among Kindle owners for example, nearly two-thirds (62%) already knew what book they wanted to buy on their most recent online bookseller visit. In contrast only one-third of them (32%) went to a physical bookstore knowing what book they wanted to buy, making them two times more open to discovering new books in a bookstore. Discovery is conditional on where youre shopping, says Hildick-Smith. You dont know whats not there, and you have to know a book exists before you can go search for it.
Book shoppers openness to discovering new authors also varies dramatically by book category. In their February survey, Codex found that in nonfiction three-quarters (75%) of Diet/Health/Fitness/Medicine buyers last book bought was by an author that was new to them; while in fiction, three-quarters (74%) of genre fiction buyers last book bought was by an author they already knew. Fiction buyers stay with the authors they like, and are simply less open to discovering new authors than nonfiction buyers are, says Hildick-Smith. For nonfiction books, people are more interested in solving a problem. The author is less of a priority.
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Books purchased last % Written by unfamiliar author Non-fiction (overall) Health and medicine Fitness and diet Biography Entertainment/celebrity 48% 75% 75% 51% 25%
Fiction (overall) Historical Womens Literary Genre Source: Codex Group, Feb 2012
32% 47% 46% 42% 26%
Digital sales channels, like Kindle and Nook, skew significantly toward fiction sales in general. Just 24% of purchases on Nook and 26% on Kindle were of nonfiction titles. Physical stores on the other hand were more evenly balanced, with nonfiction representing 46% of purchases at Barnes & Noble stores. As more discovery and purchasing of books shifts online, Hildick-Smith is concerned not that readers will not be able to find new books to read, but rather that they will simply find more of what they already know they like. As more people read digitally, they read more of what theyre already familiar with, and as a result are discovering fewer new books and authors.
view and create encounters with over 35 million different products. By necessity, Internet search, list-based browsing, and even permission-based marketing work to navigate this long tail purgatory by narrowing the scope and range of discovery. People opt in to what they know and like. Its selffulfilling, says Hildick-Smith. So, genre fiction readers, enthusiast communities, and devoted author fans will be able to find new books and even new authors. But as physical book outlets diminish, other categories of books like narrative nonfiction or literary fiction will become increasingly difficult to chance upon and discover. You dont have the same brand or author equity with literary fiction as with a genre author. Every book is different. There are no easy answers, but Hildick-Smith
The paradox is that in an online market with nearly endless book choices, we have one tiny screen to
encourages publishers to pay attention to the data on how and where consumers find new books and
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other products. He tells a cautionary tale about Amazons original Kindle launch in 2007. At that time Amazon aggressively marketed the Kindle within the Amazon ecosystem but did not pursue any traditional marketing and discovery channels. After a full year of online marketing, the majority of book buyers still didnt even know that the Kindle device existed. Amazon realized online discovery was not enough to ensure Kindles success, and aggressively expanded their Kindle marketing and discovery strategy to include TV advertising, publicity and physical retail distribution in their direct competitors Target, Best
Buy, Staples and others. Thats when Kindle sales really started to take off. Publishers should not underestimate the power of traditional marketing and merchandising techniques, and Hildick-Smith encourages the industry to continue to look for ways to support physical bookstores. But publishers also cannot forget that discovery is just the first step. Discovery by itself wont solve the problem.
Three criteria that must be met before a reader buys a book:

Discovery: the book consumer has to first know a book exists. Conversion: the book consumer must be intrigued enough by the books story or message to want to make the effort to browse and hopefully buy. Availability: the book consumer has to be able to purchase the book in whatever format and outlet, whenever they want it.
You need all three elements to sell books, says Hildick-Smith. Discovery is only the first step. You can discover anchovy pizza for the first time, but that doesnt mean you want to buy it. And thats precisely where he has an encouraging message for publishers. Readers respond to the quality of content: The best discovery in the world wont make a reader buy a book, but a great story just might!
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AMAZON, E-BOOKS AND ADVERTISING

By Joe Wikert, General Manager & Publisher at OReilly Media, Inc. It all started harmlessly enough with Amazons Kindle with Special Offers. Thats the cheaper Kindle that displays ads when the device is in sleep mode or at the bottom of the screen when paging through the owners catalog of books. It is very unobtrusive and, since it lowered the price of the device, has made that Kindle an extremely popular device. Now there are rumors that Amazon is selling ad space on the Kindle Fires welcome screen. That sounds pretty reasonable, too, as its a simple way for Amazon to drive a bit of additional income thats pure profit for them. Given that Amazons goal is to offer customers the lowest prices on everything, whats the next logical step? How about even lower prices on ebooks where Amazon starts making money on in-book ads? Think Google AdWords, built right into the book. Of course, Amazon wont want to use Googles platform. Theyll use their own so they keep 100% of the revenue. The changes the DOJ is requiring for the agency model means a retailer cant sell ebooks at a loss, but they can still sell them for no profit, or break even. In other words, the 30% the retailer would keep on an agency ebook sale can be passed along to the customer as a 30% discount on the list price, but thats as deep a discount as that retailer can offer. The rules are different with the wholesale model. Amazon already loses money on sales of many wholesale-model ebooks. Lets talk about a Make no mistake about the fact that Amazon would love to see ebook pricing approach zero. Thats right. Zero. That might seem outlandish, but isnt that exactly what theyre doing with their Kindle Owners Lending Library program? Now you can read ebooks for free as part of your Prime membership. The cost of Prime didnt go up, so theyve essentially made the consumer price of those ebooks zero. So, whats preventing Amazon from taking an even bigger loss and selling that ebook for $4.99 or $0.99 instead? In the wholesale model world, the answer to that question is: nothing is preventing them from doing that. And if selling ebooks at a loss for $9.99 makes sense, especially when it comes to building market share, why doesnt it also make sense to sell them at $4.99, $0.99 or even free for some period of time? It probably depends on how much pain Amazon wants to inflict on other retailers and how much attention theyre willing to call to themselves for predatory pricing. hypothetical wholesale model title with a digital list price of $25. Amazon is required to pay the publisher roughly half that price, or about $12.50 for every copy sold, but that ebook might be one of the many that are listed at $9.99 for the Kindle. So every time Amazon sells a copy, they lose $2.51 ($12.50 minus $9.99). Amazon has deep enough pockets to continue doing this, though, so theyre quite comfortable losing money and building market share.
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Why wouldnt they take the same approach with in-book advertising?
At some point in the not-too-distant future, I believe well see ebooks on Amazon at fire-sale prices. Im not just talking about self-published titles or books nobody wants. Ill bet this happens with some bestsellers and midlist titles. Amazon will make a big deal out of it and note how these cheaper prices are only available through Amazons in-book advertising program. Maybe theyll still offer the adfree editions at the higher prices, but you can bet theyll make the ad-subsidized editions irresistible. Remember that they can only do this for books in the wholesale model. But quite a few publishers use the wholesale model, so the list opportunities are enormous. And as Amazon builds momentum with this, theyll also build a very strong advertising platform. One that could conceivably compete with Google AdWords outside of ebooks, too. Publishers and authors wont suffer as long as Amazon still has to pay the full wholesale discount price. Other ebook retailers will, though. Imagine B&N trying to compete if a large portion of Amazons ebook list drops from $9.99 to $4.99 or less. Even with Microsofts cash injection, B&N simply doesnt have deep enough pockets to compete on losses like this, at least not for very long. What do you think? Why wouldnt Amazon follow this strategy, especially since it helps eliminate competitors, leads to market dominance and fixes the loss-leader problem they currently have with many ebook sales? By the time all that happens, Amazon will probably have more than 90% of the ebook market and a nice chunk of their ebook list that no longer has to be sold at a loss. And oh, lets not forget about the wonderful in-book advertising platform theyll have built by then. Thats an advertising revenue stream that Amazon would not have to share with publishers or authors. That might be the most important point of all. At the same time, Amazon will likely tell publishers the only way they can compete is by significantly lowering their ebook list prices. Theyll have the data to show how sales went up dramatically when consumer prices dropped to $4.99 or less. I wouldnt be surprised if Amazon would give preferential treatment to publishers who agree to lower their list prices (e.g., more promotions, better visibility, etc.).
This post originally appeared on Joe Wikerts Publishing 2020 Blog Why Advertising Could Become Amazons Knockout Punch. This version has been lightly edited.
You can meet Joe Wikert as a speaker at Tools of Change for Publishing (TOC) Frankfurt 2012, at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Germany. Tuesday, 9 October 2012, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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SIMILAR CREATIVITY & LOW BARRIERS: LEARNING FROM THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
By Katharina Ewald, Interim Director German Book Office New Delhi
Interview with Josh McIvor, SONY Musics Vice-President of Corporate and Business Development for Europe and Africa
Katharina Ewald spoke to Josh McIvor at GLOBALOCAL 2011.The theme of the conference was Crossing
Currents looking at how content is being produced, packaged, sold and consumed differently in the current
world of increasing digitization. The conference was organized by the German Book Office New Delhi.
Q: What can the digital publishing industry learn from the music industry?
The overwhelming lesson is to listen to your readers. They will tell you how they want to interact with content online. The trick it to monetize around that usage rather than attempting to dictate business models that arent a joy for readers. The music industry did a poor job of listening to music fans in the nascent era of digital music. As a result, we alienated potential consumers by not providing the right digital products at the right price. Were getting much better at listening now and so were seeing music fans paying for music in all sorts of innovative ways based on their preferred digital consumption habits.
digital music retail, the major labels insisted on restrictive DRM. Unfortunately, there was no consistency as to which DRM was being implemented by different hardware manufacturers and music retailers. As a result, music fans were driven away from legal DRM services and towards piracy as they became frustrated with the inability to transfer music between devices and share purchased content with their friends. Recognizing this trend, the major labels removed their insistence on DRM for album and track downloads in 2007-2008. The lesson for the publishing industry is, to either come to a consensus on a universal DRM with reasonable usage allowances or dont use it at all.
Q: How difficult was it to change the publics perception about paying for digital music downloads and can the same be applied to the publishing industry?
If the music industry is being honest with itself, there is still a lot of work to be done to meaningfully change public perception towards paying for digital music. Exponentially more fans continue to get their
Q: DRM has evolved significantly over the years in the music industry which has limited the advent of piracy. Can the same DRM tools be applied to the publishing industry?
Well, actually DRM for download purchases has devolved in the music industry. During the advent of
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music illegally rather than paying through legal services. Luckily for the music industry, Apple, the dominant digital music hardware manufacturer, has been incredibly successful at convincing a decent portion of their customers to purchase music from within their eco-system. In order to convince the broader public, we need to and are embracing several different types of services and ensuring that they are a pleasure to use. The growing success of models such as ad-supported services and unlimited all-you-can-eat paid subscriptions are a promising development. Copyright legislation and piracy awareness campaigns have an effect but the best solution to piracy is to license and support services that are superior to the pirates.
Q: Do you see a new model emerging in digital publishing where people will only pay for selected content within a book similar to how people now purchase individual songs as opposed to entire albums?
I cant imagine a world where people will pay a-perchapter cost for Great Expectations or the new Dan Brown novel. However, I think that technology will start to influence the structure and limitations of a traditional linear narrative. In the music industry, we are starting to see incredible innovation away from the traditional canvas of an album. An excellent example is Icelandic singer Bjorks new work which was released as an iPad application. The free mother app featured a cosmos filled with experiences involving her music. Each week, fans could pay to introduce a new planet into the cosmos. Each planet featured a song along with other interactive features. Similar creativity and low barriers to entry will allow publishers to charge micro-payments for selected content.
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The following text is in German, as it is part of the german protoTYPE project initiated by Brsenverein des deutschen Buchhandels. For more information please contact http://www.innovation-prototype.de/
. Die (neue) Wertschpfung der Verlage

Von Dr. Harald Henzler, Grnder der smart digits GmbH. Er hat mehrjhrige Erfahrung in der Entwicklung digitaler Geschftsmodelle als Produktmanager, Verlagsleiter und Geschftsfhrer bei Carl Hanser und Haufe-Lexware
Die Herausforderung fr Verlage liegt in der Entwicklung ihrer Wertschpfung im digitalen Umfeld. Digitale Produkte werden zunehmend genutzt. Gedruckte Werke werden nicht verschwinden, aber ihre Bedeutung im Markt wird sinken. Fr Autoren und andere Anbieter von Inhalten stellt sich deshalb die Frage, was Verlag fr sie leisten. Digitale Werke knnen leichter selbst produziert und vertrieben werden. Zahlreiche Plattformen bieten Dienste fr die Produktion an und die groen Plattformen wie Apple, Amazon und Co. auch die entsprechende Reichweite fr die Distribution. Fachverlage haben meistens schon einen direkten Zielgruppenzugang aufgebaut. Publikumsverlage beherrschen das Zusammenspiel mit dem Sortiment, aber verfgen meist nicht ber den direkten Kundenzugang. Zwar werden einzelne Programme und Verlage fr bestimmte Zielgruppen positioniert, aber die Vermittlung erfolgt immer ber Hndler. Fr Autoren gibt es zwei wesentliche Dienstleistungen, die Verlage fr sie erledigen knnen: Sie knnen den immer komplexer werdenden Prozess der Produktion, Distribution und Vermarktung von gedruckten und digitalen Werken anbieten. Sie knnen eine erhhte Reichweite versprechen durch die Kombination der Medienformen und den eigenen Zugang zur Zielgruppe. Der Autor kann sich hhere Einnahmen erhoffen bei weniger Aufwand.
Die knftige Wertschpfung

Die Alternative liegt fr Verlage in der Spezialisierung nur auf das gedruckte Werk. Damit geht allen Prognosen nach auch eine Reduktion der Umstze einher. Will man aber die oben genannten Aufgaben lsen, mssen zwei Voraussetzungen geschaffen werden:
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Branding und Reichweiten-Steigerung

Der Ausbau der eigenen Marke in die Zielgruppe im digitalen Umfeld und die Entwicklung eines geeigneten Instrumentariums, um eine erhhte Reichweite bieten zu knnen, ist notwendig, um Umstze zu steigern und Autoren zu gewinnen bzw. zu binden. Zum geeigneten Instrumentarium gehren social media-Marketing, der Ausbau der eigenen Kundendatenbank und der Aufbau eines Netzwerkes von Kooperationspartnern (wie Zeitschriften, Portale, Firmenpartner). Dadurch wird die Abhngigkeit von globalen Anbietern vermindert, direkte Rckmeldungen der Kunden sind mglich und Kunden knnen frhzeitig in die Entwicklung digitaler Produkte eingebunden werden. Die Aufgabe besteht in der Festlegung, wie viele Marken entwickelt werden mssen. Denn fr den Endkunden werden die Werke und Autoren im Vordergrund stehen, fr die Autoren aber die Verlage. Verlage sehen sich immer in der Aufgabe, neue Werke in den Markt zu bringen. Deshalb wollen sie sich nicht auf wenige Zielgruppen und Themen reduzieren lassen, sondern mit den Markttrends gehen knnen: Sie sorgen fr neue, anregende Inhalte und Produkte. Bcher werden langfristig im Spektrum aller Medien fr vertraute, bekannte Produkte stehen. Wollen Verlage auch Treiber und Sprachrohr des Neuen sein, dann mssen sie auch digitale Produkte entwickeln. Es empfiehlt sich, mit Partnern, die ber entsprechende Zugnge zu den Kunden verfgen, gemeinsame Programme aufzubauen. Die Qualitt der Werke und der Beratung des Kunden muss hier vom Verlag bernommen werden. Von den groen Plattformen und dem Handel wird sie nicht mehr erfolgen.
Kompetenz und Kollaboration

Der Aufbau von Projektteams fr die Produktentwicklung bentigt internes Change Management, Weiterentwicklung und Fortbildung der Produktmanager, Redaktionen und Produktioner die das Portfolios an digitalen Produkten konzipieren und umsetzen. Diese werden ber reine eBooks hinausgehen und knnen zahlreiche Dienstleistungen fr die Zielgruppen umfassen. Um Inhalte in verschiedenen Formaten anbieten zu knnen, mssen sie mit den entsprechenden Metadaten versehen werden. Das ermglicht eine gezielte Nutzung fr die Vermarktung und zielgruppengerechte Beratung und die hufigere Verwendung in einem anderen Umfeld. Bei Fach- und Sachthemen wird dies zwingend ntig sein, um kontinuierlich Themen aktuell und vernetzt zu halten und weiter zu entwickeln mit und fr die Zielgruppen. In der Belletristik kommt dies weniger deutlich zum Tragen, wenn das Einzelwerk im Vordergrund steht, kann aber fr Fortbildungswerke, Themenwelten und Genreliteratur wichtig sein (Beispiele sind Pottermore und Perry Rhodan). Die Wertschpfung der Verlage wird deshalb in Zukunft auch in der Strukturierung der eigenen Inhalte, dem Aufbau der richtigen Metadaten und der direkten Vermarktung an die Zielgruppe liegen.
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. Curation oder knnen Algorithmen die Verleger ersetzen?

In der Verfilmung von 2002 des Klassikers "Die Zeitmaschine" von H.G. Wells ist es ein Avatar, der in einer fernem Zukunft die Kinder lehrt. Er verfgt ber das gesamte Wissen der nicht mehr existierenden Bibliotheken und fhrt geschickt alle Informationen zusammen. Er ist das Schreckgespinst aller Verleger! Was, wenn ein Algorithmus all die Mhen eines Verlages ersetzt? Wenn der Leser der Zukunft von einem Computerprogramm geleitet immer genau das erhlt, was er braucht, was er wnscht? Wenn er nicht nur wie bei Amazon andere Titel empfohlen bekommt, sondern direkt zu dem gefhrt wird, was er wirklich will? Algorithem statt Verleger. Die Herausforderung fr Verlage lsst sich so auf den Punkt bringen: Warum sind die Inhalte, die mir ein Verlag anbietet, besser als die, die ich im Netz kostenlos erhalte, bzw. die mir von anderen Anbietern wie Firmen, Universitten oder Autoren angeboten werden? Warum soll ich als Autor zu einem Verlag gehen? Irgendwas muss ja ein Verlag besser machen in der Selektion der vorhandenen Informationen als eine Suchmaschine und ein Autor im Eigenverlag. Der Verlag hat sich im Laufe von Jahren eine Marke aufgebaut, die fr bestimmte Inhalte und eine bestimmte Art der Qualitt steht. Er hat die Vorschlge von Autoren geprft und abgewgt und sie dann durch das Lektorat, die Gestaltung und die Vermarktung zu einem guten Produkt gemacht. Er hat fr den Leser selektiert. Und fr den Autor vermarktet.
Die Grenzen der Suchmaschine

Jetzt sorgen Suchmaschinen in Kombination mit all den von Kunden selbst abgegebenen Daten dafr, dass sie mehr wissen als jeder Verlag. Aber sie knnen sich nur auf die Vergangenheit beziehen. Und so wie kaum ein Controller fr die Innovationen in einem Verlag verantwortlich zeichnet, so werden auch Suchmaschinen nicht in der Lage sein, Neues zu produzieren. Sie knnen Fundstcke aus dem Netz miteinander verknpfen, weil diese mit denselben Metadaten versehen wurden. Aber den inneren, logischen Zusammenhang, der zu einer Innovation fhrt, der kann nur zufllig erfolgen. Sie knnen im Wesentlichen nur Zugang verschaffen. Es bleibt also die Aufgabe der Verlage, den Kunden, den Leser zu berraschen. Durch neue Gedanken, durch eine berraschende Kombination von Vorhandenem, die mehr als eine Zuflligkeit ist. Und durch die kritische Prfung dessen, was sonst so im Netz kostenlos eingestellt wird, so wie es Corinna Milborn am Beispiel eines Fotos aufzeigt. Im Journalismus ist man oft bei der Formulierung des eigenen Mehrwerts im Netz schon einen Schritt weiter als in den Buchverlagen, weil die Konkurrenz der Hobbyreporter schon lnger zu spren ist als die der Hobbyverleger. Was bedeutet das fr die multimediale Aufbereitung von Inhalten und der guten Verlinkung dieser Inhalte mit dem Wissen im Netz? Verlage verfgen ber das Know How, Inhalte so zu veredeln, dass Wissen daraus wird. Sie sind die Experten der Vermittlung. Aber sie mssen die multimedialen Plattformen bedienen lernen. Und sie mssen die
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Grenzen ihrer eigenen Arbeit akzeptieren und den Leser zu anderen Quellen fhren. Denn kein Verlag wird gleichermaen gut Texte, Bilder, Filme und Audio beherrschen. Er wird mit diesen Spezialisten zusammenarbeiten mssen. Er wird kooperieren mssen mit anderen. Das fllt schwer, weil man bisher die Oberhoheit hatte, die schpferische Leistung und Botschaft des eigenen Autors unters Volk zu bringen.
Die Vermarktung
Bisher war der Autor glcklich, wenn ihm der Verlag das Buch gedruckt und in den Handel gestellt hat. Ein eBook kann er selber herstellen. Es bei Amazon oder Apple in den digitalen Handel zu schleusen ist ein Kinderspiel. Seinen Freunden auf Facebook kann er auch davon erzhlen. Und jetzt will er wissen, wo der Verlag das Buch vermarktet. Konnte der Einkauf von Bchertischen bei Thalia und Hugendubel bisher dem Autor noch als Geheimwissenschaft verkauft werden, so steht der Verlag jetzt gehrig unter Druck. Er muss beweisen, dass er die Botschaft des Autors noch besser aufbereiten kann als dieser selbst, und dass er auch besser an die Zielgruppen gelangt als die Autoren.
Der Verleger muss sein Team neu formieren

Wir mssen Abschied nehmen von einem lang gepflegten Bild, dass das Abendessen mit dem Autor, dem Experten, dem Wissenden auch die Geburt des Neuen ist. Das zhe Ringen von Lektor und Autor sind nur noch ein Teil einer Wertschpfung, die im digitalen Umfeld ein ganzes Team von Kreativen fordert. Die Veredelung der Information braucht heute mehrere Teilnehmer als bisher. Und den stndigen Austausch von Wissen. Das kann keiner mehr alleine. Das heit Curation: Das Richtige auswhlen aus der Flle der Informationen, es gut aufbereiten und in einen neuen Zusammenhang stellen und es gut zugnglich machen fr die passende Zielgruppe. Hier liegt die Chance fr das, was in fnf Jahren vielleicht noch Verlag oder Medienhaus heit, aber eine andere Wertschpfungskette anbieten wird. Immerhin ist das noch mehr als in der Verfilmung "Die Zeitmaschine" von 1962, in der die Bibliothek zu Staub verfllt. Und damit fr immer verloren ist.
. e-Books machen so etabliert man ein dauerhaftes Geschftsmodell

eBooks machen in den meisten Verlagshusern noch weniger als 10% des Umsatzes aus. Das Geld wird fast berall noch mit den gedruckten Werken verdient. Aber es ist klar, dass das nicht mehr lange so sein wird. Welche Strategie eignet sich zur Implementierung der neuen Prozesse? Soll eine kleine Truppe Verschworener zu Experten werden oder gleich eine neue Firma aufbauen, die sich nur mit digitalen Themen befasst? Oder soll crowdsourcing gleich zu Beginn in der eigenen Firma funktionieren?
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Der Inkubator
Ein beliebter Weg ist die Beauftragung einer Person, die das jetzt "richten" soll. Klingt vernnftig, denn die Margen sind noch zu gering, um damit einen ganzen Stab auszustatten. Und es folgt dem Prinzip, dass zunchst nicht die ganze Belegschaft durch das Neue irritiert werden soll. Abgesehen davon, dass es nicht alle wollen oder knnen, wird so die Kompetenz schrittweise bei einzelnen Personen aufgebaut. So vernnftig dieses Vorgehen ist, weil man nicht gleich alles auf eine Karte setzen will und der first mover nicht immer der Gewinner ist - einige Risiken sind zu bedenken und bei der Umsetzung im Auge zu behalten: Wenn die erwhlte Person das Haus verlsst, weil der Aufbau einer eBook-Struktur auch fr andere Verlage nach einer attraktiven Stellenbeschreibung klingt, gert der Betrieb ins Stottern. Ein Backup, um in der Sprache der digitalen Medien zu bleiben, erscheint deshalb dringend geboten. Digitale Produkte sind neu im Markt. Anders als bei etablierten Prozessen ist deshalb nicht vorherzusehen, wo und wann die nchste Frage um die Ecke kommt. Eine Person allein wird nie alle Themen beantworten knnen, sondern "nur" managen. Sie ist der Projektleiter. Aber dazu braucht sie auch gute Projektteilnehmer. Und je besser die Verantwortung auf alle Schultern verlagert wird, desto effizienter und schneller werden Lsungen gefunden. Dies trifft vor allem auf die Weiterentwicklung zu. Keiner wei, wie eBooks in drei Jahren aussehen, ob sie alle "enhanced" sind, es ein paar Produktformen nur noch als Apps/enhanced eBooks gibt (wie Reisefhrer, Lehrbcher, Ratgeber...) oder ob doch noch viele Texte genau so gelesen werden wie jetzt in gedruckter Form. Die Schlagzahl der Neuerungen ist hoch und auf dieser See werden nur die berleben, die als Team unterwegs sind. Dies fhrt unweigerlich zum zweiten Ansatz, dem klassischen "Change Management" des gesamten Hauses.
All together now

Auch dieser birgt natrlich Risiken. Die Beschftigung mit dem Neuen frisst Arbeitszeit, die bei sinkenden Erlsen im Printbereich doch dringend bentigt wird, damit man gegen den Strom nicht zu viel verliert. Und es ist nicht immer sofort einzusehen, warum man jetzt als Bester in der Sparte "Gedrucktes" pltzlich hinter den digital natives herlaufen soll. Aber: Wie soll die Wertschpfung von Verlagen neu definiert werden knnen, wenn nicht alle im Unternehmen mitziehen? Eine Chance der Verlage besteht ja gerade darin, seine Kompetenzen (Auswahl von Themen, Bearbeitung von Themen und Inhalten mit den Autoren, Aufbau einer Marke mit einem klaren Profil zu bestimmten Themen...) auch auf digitale Produkte zu bertragen. Man wird knftig Gedrucktes und Digitales bewltigen mssen, sprich auf mehreren Hochzeiten tanzen lernen. Das geht nur, wenn man nicht mehr so lange auf einem Fest verweilt und sich die Zeit besser einteilt. Und wenn alle den Tanz beherrschen. Immer nur einen auf die Reise zum Mond zu schicken wird diesen nicht bevlkern.
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Gerade digitale Produkte verlangen Know how aus verschiedenen Bereichen. Nicht nur die Technologie, auch die Didaktik, die Kompetenz in der Aufbereitung verschiedenster Medien, die effizienten Produktionsprozesse, die neuen Vermarktungsformen und das Wissen um realisierbare Geschftsmodelle sind zwingender Bestandteil des Vorgehens. Die Entwicklung der Strategie, die Implementierung und die kontinuierliche Erweiterung ist in den Zeiten des Wandels zwingend eine Aufgabe aller. Vor allem, weil natrlich die Angst umgeht, man werde seinen Arbeitsplatz verlieren. Und dieser ist am besten mit Tatkraft, Schulungen und gemeinsamen Entwicklungen zu begegnen. eBooks sind nur ein Schritt in Richtung Digitalisierung. Die Flle der Mglichkeiten zeigen sich auf jeder re:publica, Next Berlin oder K5 (um nur die aktuellen Kongresse zu nennen). Je frher die Verknpfung der
old school mit dem new business erfolgt, desto eher werden die richtigen Geschftsmodelle entwickelt. Da
viele Mitarbeiter privat auch schon Kunde und Nutzer von Smartphones und Tablets sind, knnen sie viel beitragen zur Entwicklung. Und wer will schon in einem Unternehmen arbeiten, das selber die Mglichkeiten des Smartphones und des Tablets gar nicht nutzen will? Gleich welchen Weg man nun whlt: Die Digitialisierung wird fr die nchsten Jahre eine dauernde Herausforderung sein. Dabei mssen parallel verschiedene Fragen beantwortet werden: . Technologie: "Brauche ich ein CMS ber alle Produkte? Lohnen enhanced eBooks jetzt schon und wie lange wre denn die Entwicklungszeit? Soll ich auf native Apps setzen oder webbasierte?..." . Methodik: "Mit welchen Tools werden digitale Produkte entwickelt? Brauche ich ein neues Projektmanagement? Auf welchen Plattformen tauschen sich die Mitarbeiter aus?..." . Geschftsmodell: "Ist crossmediale Vermarktung wirklich sinnvoll? Bietet der App-Markt ausreichende Erlse? Sind Kooperationen zwingend ntig?..." Die Geschftsmodelle der Zukunft werden andere sein. Um crossmedial publizieren zu knnen, braucht man andere Strukturen, andere Verrechnungsmodelle, ein anderes Portfolio. Reichweite und Kundendaten gehren zu den wesentlichen Assets eines Medienunternehmens. Hier muss Know how aufgebaut werden.
"E-Mind" kommt nicht ber Nacht

Die Entwicklung hin zu digitalen Medien muss von vielen getragen und das Know-how muss an vielen Stellen aus- und aufgebaut werden, weil kaum jemand der Spezialist fr alle Fragen sein wird. Inkubatoren sind wichtig und hilfreich. Sie drfen auf keinen Fall allein gelassen werden. Das Interesse fr und das Verstndnis ber den digitalen Markt fr Verlage wird dringend fr einen erfolgreichen Change-Prozess bei Verlagen bentigt. Er entwickelt sich nicht ber Nacht und schon gar nicht nur in einzelnen Kpfen. Der gesamte Verlag muss sich auf die Vernderungen einstellen knnen und wollen. Erst dann erhalten Verlage eine entscheidende Kompetenz im Markt: Sie knnen das komplexe Zusammenspiel von gedruckten und digitalen Produkten managen. Wenn nicht, droht die Agonie der Zeitschriftenverlage in den USA: She, not busy beeing born, was busy dying. (Bob Dylan)
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Dieser Artikel beruht auf den Markforschungen der smart digits GmbH und fasst Beitrge des Blogs www.smart-digits.com sowie anderer Verffentlichungen und Vortrge zusammen.
. protoTYPE - Eine Entwicklungsschmiede fr die Verlagsbranche

ber Innovationen und die Zukunft der Branche sollte nicht nur geredet werden. Deshalb ging Anfang Mrz das vom Brsenverein des deutschen Buchhandels initiierte Projekt protoTYPE an den Start. Bei protoTYPE sind kluge Kpfe aus verschiedenen Bereichen der deutschen Buchbranche versammelt. Gemeinsam arbeiten sie an neuen Geschftsmodellen und geben damit Denkanste und schaffen die Voraussetzungen fr neue zukunftstrchtige Entwicklungen. Nach dem Motto Schluss mit reden, Zeit zu handeln! startete protoTYPE nach dem Auftaktwochenende im Mrz mit 7 Projekten in die Realisierungsphase. Die Projekte sollen bis zur Frankfurter Buchmesse beispielhaft (digitale) Innovationen in der Branche beflgeln und werden im Rahmen der Frankfurter Buchmesse prsentiert. Die einzelnen Projekte und Prsentationstermine finden sie hier.
Einblick in die Entwicklungsschmiede Chancen und Herausforderungen Klarheit gewinnen

Jeder Projektleiter wei, dass es ein klares Ziel braucht, um auf dem Weg greifbare Resultate zu erzielen. Die sieben Gruppen haben sich je ein solches gesetzt. Sie mussten zgig im Elevator Pitch ihre Ideen anderen prsentieren und Zustimmung finden. Die Kleistsche allmhliche Verfertigung der Gedanken beim Sprechen war aus Zeitgrnden gar nicht zu umgehen. Die Projektgruppen mssen ihre Ziele definieren und Meilensteine festlegen. Und sie mssen konkret werden, sei es in Form eines Konzepts, einer Demoversion oder einer Handlungsanleitung. Dadurch werden die eigenen Gedanken geschrft. Und selbst wenn in der Krze der Zeit das Ergebnis im Herbst 2012 in Frankfurt noch nicht ganz so weit sein sollte, wie von allen Teilnehmern erhofft - es wird sehr viel weiter sein als beim Auftakt in Leipzig. Ein rein geselliges Plaudern ber die Digitalisierung ist nicht mglich. Die Flucht in den Konjunktiv ("man sollte doch, knnte man nicht") wird vermieden. So werden die Ergebnisse angreifbar. Und fruchtbar.
Kooperation und Austausch ber die Grenzen

Unsere Branche sieht sich als Frderer der Kultur und ist zugleich kleinteilig. Ihre Geschftsmodelle fordern oft eine starken Abgrenzung: Das ist mein Autor, mit dem ich einen Vertrag habe und dessen Ergebnisse ich erst nach Abschluss mit einem groen Tusch der Allgemeinheit prsentiere. Aus der Sicht der "Textproduktion" verstndlich. Die Darstellung von Hftgelenkoperationen erfordert andere Autoren und Inhalte als ein Kinderbuch. Das fhrt dazu, dass man sich schwerer tut bei der Entwicklung von Lsungen, die einer allein nicht stemmen kann. Die technologischen Herausforderungen fressen Geld. Viele Lsungen werden nur mglich sein, wenn man sich die Kosten teilt. Allein bei Apps oder enhanced eBooks knnten beispielsweise aber bei der Entwicklung und Darstellung eines guten Storyboards Medizin- und Kinderbuchverlage kooperieren, denn die
51
Anforderungen an die didaktische Klarheit sind dieselben. Viele teure Lsungen knnten durch Kooperationen ermglicht werden, ohne dass man das eigene Geschft torpediert. Die bisherigen Grenzen werden jetzt auch bei der Produktentwicklung und Vermarktung aufgeweicht. Die Teilnehmer kommen alle aus unterschiedlichen Bereichen der Branche und darber hinaus. Und sie erkennen Synergien und schaffen sich ein Netzwerk, auf das die Branche in Zukunft schon aus Grnden der Kooperation im technischen Umfeld nicht verzichten darf.
einen Plan. Ungewohnt fr eine Branche, die seit hunderten von Jahren ein Produkt verkauft, das mehr oder minder gleich geblieben ist. Standard fr alle, die je digitale Produkte entwickelt haben. protoTYPE ist auch ein gemeinsames Lernen on the job. Ein In-Projekten-Denken, natrlich vernetzt ber Facebook, SkyDrive, Twitter etc. Bisher auch in vielen Verlagen keine Selbstverstndlichkeit.
Know-how aufbauen
Niemand wird am Ende des Projektes dmmer sein. Jeder hat seine Idee besser durchdenken knnen, weil er prsentieren musste und er die Rckmeldung von anderen erhlt. Alle Teilnehmer werden mit neuen Technologien, neuen Vermarktungswegen und damit auch mit neuen Geschftsmodellen konfrontiert. Auch das hilft, die digitale Zukunft leichter zu verstehen, leichter zu bewltigen. Davon wird auch der Arbeitgeber profitieren knnen. Das Team des Brsenvereins arbeitet hier sehr engagiert und will sich an Ergebnissen messen lassen. Es verfllt nicht in die so naheliegende Lethargie vieler Verbnde, die vor lauter Abwgung aller Interessen der Stakeholder zwei Schritte nach links, zwei nach rechts gehen, um in der Mitte zu verharren und nur ja nicht voranzugehen.
Projektmanagement und vernetztes Arbeiten

Unsere Branche ist aufgewachsen mit dem Bild des vertrauensvollen Gesprchs des Verlegers mit seinem Autor beim Italiener oder in der exklusiven Villa. Der Rest war mehr oder minder Standard. Softwareprodukte, multimediale Produkte sind nur im Team zu stemmen und deshalb hilft von Beginn an nur ein Vorgehen: gutes Projektmanagement. Es braucht Organisatoren und Wadenbeier, kreative Kpfe und Streitkultur, Moderation und Motivation und und und. Und der Start ist wichtig. Lieber vorher noch einmal Hirnschmalz reinstecken, bevor man an das Lastenheft geht und hinterher merkt, dass ganz banale Punkte bersehen hat. Man braucht also
Aktuelle Informationen gibt es auf http:/ www.innovation-prototype.de, der Facebook-Gruppe http://www.facebook.com/groups/innovation.prototype/ oder auf den Seiten des Brsenvereins http://www.boersenverein.de/de/portal/Forum_Zukunft/175359
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NEW BUSINESS MODELS VIDEOIMPRESSIONS
Get some new perspectives on how to successfully position yourself in the markets of tomorrow provided by our conference speakers and exhibitors.
He believes the most successful game format is online playing due to its world-wide accessibility, and his main concern is to maintain a quality standard, being the game a result of the digitization of a book or movie, a form of advertisement, or whatever else Richard Tsao, Managing Director for Ubisoft China Give a man a fish and hell eat once; teach him how to fish and hell eat for life. Talk about Crossmedia connecting people globally..! Thats what the StoryDrive Festival is all about.
Ubisoft Chinas Managing Director strongly believes

in co-operative minds. As he puts it himself, 1000 brains are better than one and no one knows better what game players thrive on most than players themselves. So hes convinced that real investment; the future; is in providing players with the tools to further develop user-generated-content. The importance of changing with change is best explained at the TOC (Tools of Change) conference. eBookPie is an e-book store and developer of innovative tools for publishers, such as the groundbreaking eBookSlicer and eBookRemixer, which enable publishers to instantly slice e-books, then mix and match content iTunes-like.
Nils Holger Henning, CCO at Bigpoint in Germany As a CCO, Nils main interest is the Customer. He works at BigPoint: a videogame company, which makes the Customer the Player. 24symbols is a service for reading and sharing digital books. 24symbols is to books what Spotify is to music or Netflix to movies. It is a multiservice, multi-publisher service that enables users to read
53
in the cloud and via a subscription model.
Since 2007 comiXology has been developing the technological infrastructure to bring comics into the digital mainstream and expose new audiences to the rich history and culture of the industry. Through partnerships with top comic book publishers including Archaia Entertainment, BOOM! Studios, DC Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, IDW Publishing, Image Comics and Marvel Comics as well as their own mobile and web apps which host over 16,000 digital titles, comiXology has become a leader in digital comic book proliferation.
54
IMPRINT
Publisher
Frankfurt Academy Quarterly / Frankfurt Book Fair
Holger Volland, Frankfurt Book Fair
Chief editor FAQ Magazine

Nina Klein
Project editor
Kerstin Rothkirch
Production editor
Frederik Fensch, Leila Jenkins
Contributors
Carlo Carrenho, Katharina Ewald, Harald Henzler, Nils-Holger Henning, Leila Jenkins, Jess Johns, Marcelo Klein, Nina Klein, Octavio Kulesz, Siobhan O'Leary, Emile Op de Coul, Roger Tagholm, Richard Tsao, Anna von Veh
Art Direction
Dipl. des. Manuel Rauch www.manuelrauch.com
Production & Design

Alexandre Vallette, Jouve www.jouve.com
Media Information
Contact mailto:faq@book-fair.com www.book-fair.com/academy Ausstellungs- und Messe GmbH Frankfurt Book Fair Braubachstrae 16, 60311 Frankfurt am Main Sales Tax ID: DE 114109154 Register of Companies No. AG Ffm HRB 6882
Disclaimer The articles are property of the author. Ausstellungs- und Messe GmbH (Organizer of the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Frankfurt Academy Conferences) is not responsible for the quality, correctness or completeness of the information provided by the author. Any third-party trademarks and logos are the property of their respective owners. Ausstellungs- und Messe GmbH does not review or monitor any web sites linked to this e-book and is not responsible for the content of any such linked web sites. We also cannot be held responsible for the information on such other sites and will not be liable for any damages arising from access to linked sites.
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AL SPECI

Frankfurt Academy Quarterly

The Biggest Challenge is Mindset and Culture

Looking for a New Business Model? Just Follow the Customer

Publush: Crowdfunding with a Social Conscience

PaperPad: from Publishing to the Market in 16hs

From Buying to Lending: Whats Next for E-Book Libraries?

What Can Trade Publishers Learn from Fanfiction?

Just Great Bookselling: Bilbarys Simple Vision, Big Ambition

Digital Publishing in the Developing World

The Reinvention of the Bookseller

The Future for Book Discovery

Amazon, E-Books and Advertising

Business Models Videoimpressions

THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS MINDSET AND CULTURE

Interview with Gus Balbontin, Director of Transformation, Lonely Planet

Gus Balbontin @ TOC Latin America

Q: How has the publisher-author relationship changed, if at all?

Q: How are multimedia travel guides changing the way we travel?

This article was originally published in FAQ Magazine 03/ 2012.

LOOKING FOR A NEW BUSINESS MODEL? JUST FOLLOW THE CUSTOMER

PUBLUSH: CROWDFUNDING WITH A SOCIAL CONSCIENCE

Kickstarter, perhaps the best known crowdfunding

Pubslush users (slushers, as theyre called) as

Pubslush model also guarantees a certain level of

The role of technology and social media

Global reach for crowdsourced authors

This article was originally published in FAQ Magazine 04/2012.

PAPERPAD: FROM PUBLISHING TO THE MARKET IN 16HS

Studios was born. And their plan is exactly that: to

PaperPad. An easy and fast way to sell and

platform, which stores your content; creates and

brand including everything you have to offer. Add

t miND Ne t Whe oRk

Guest of Honour New Zealand

FROM BUYING TO LENDING: WHATS NEXT FOR E-BOOK LIBRARIES?

Pew Internet and American Life project, 58% of

Android devices later this year. Another goal is to

Skoobe currently works with nearly 100 publishers

Association revealed. But Skoobe views itself as a

This article was originally published in FAQ Magazine 04/2012.

This article was originally published at www.publishingperspectives.com .

WHAT CAN TRADE PUBLISHERS LEARN FROM FANFICTION?

Nathan Fillion poses as fiction writer Rick Castle

Fanfiction sits at the margins of mainstream creative

Fanfiction as an alternate publishing model

Fanfiction shows that the web need not be just a

Fanfiction, the mechanics of Fanfiction interests me

Fanfiction suggests another way: a model based on

The Say Books fanfiction model

Castle that fan power, particularly on Twitter, played

Castle Fanfiction world at least, write with

This article was originally published at www.publishingperspectives.com .

JUST GREAT BOOKSELLING: BILBARYS SIMPLE VISION, BIG AMBITION

A viable alternative to Amazon

Publishers blame agents for lack of eBooks

A long, personal commitment to bookselling

E-Lending is a Mess, this may be an answer

This article was originally published at www.publishingperspectives.com .

DIGITAL PUBLISHING IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD: IMITATION OR AUTONOMOUS EVOLUTION?

Octavio Kulesz, Editorial Teseo and Digital Minds Network

future Apple of China or the Amazon of South Africa,

the Shanda of the US or the m4Lit of the UK.