June 29, 2006 • 2:49 pm 0
Some thoughts on Updike and Kelly.
Here
Richard Charkin ponders the wonders of Oxfordshire publishing prowess.
Here
Someone else learns from Slate magazine and publishes a magazine on iTunes (Does it make me out of date if this still confuses me?).
Here
Filed under: Authors, Books, Bookselling, Future of Books, Innovation, Find of the Month, Google Book Search, Publishing Companies
June 29, 2006 • 11:37 am 0
Google announced on it official blog yesterday that:
WBG, a German publisher, today decided to drop its petition for a preliminary injunction against the Google Books Library Project. WBG (whose legal action was supported by the German Publishers Association as an industry model) made the decision after being told by the Copyright Chamber of the Regional Court of Hamburg that its petition was unlikely to succeed.
The news is good for ordinary consumers and not as important for Google as it may seem. For the consumer it means that Google Book Search will become more effective over time as its right to display snippets seems to be now legally justified. Google Book Search has the edge in terms of search even if others have snazzier readers on hand. This change will not improve its offering to a great extent but perhaps it will free up resources within Google to concentrate on improving the overall product.
Businesses though, if they have any sense, will see this as spur to move ahead with their own projects to create digital databases of their own books, either singly or as part of a collective.
Filed under: Books, Bookselling, Business, Future of Books, Future of Publishing, Innovation, Business, Google Book Search
June 28, 2006 • 2:07 pm 0
Some of you may have noticed two recent additions to the collection of feed icons on the right hand column. If you have not, take a look. They are the results of a truly innovative site and company called xFruits.
One is a mobile version of my RSS* feed. The newest one however is something that amazes me. It allows you to export pages of my blog into a PDF file simply by clicking it. now it ain’t the fastest piece of technology in the world but then neither is PDF generating so I will forgive that flaw but god it is useful.
On my way home yesterday I wanted to look over my recent blog posts and see if they had hidden trends or really are as random as they seem to me. I click the button and printed the results. A crisp 6-page document was the result with the only price being the powered by xFruits sign at the base of each page.
xFruits have really impressed me with these two services and although I don’t use the others that they currently offer I can see the usefulness of them.
Go visit the webpage and enhance your site.
*Really Simple Syndication for the uninitiated. A way for you to get my blog on your desktop without visiting my website all you need is a feed reader. Use feedreader, its free and exceptionally simple yet has great features for the advanced user.
Filed under: General
June 28, 2006 • 1:44 pm 0
if:book has an interesting and thought provoking post on the future and purpose of peer review.
Here
While you are at it perhaps you should also be visiting the publication that is causing much of the trouble, Nature.
Here
I was in the mood to blog about bookselling and bookshops but having done some initial research I can see I need to do some more before reaching a conclusion so instead I will link to a fine article on Ganett about rural bookshops.
Here
Filed under: Authors, Books, Bookselling, Future of Books, Future of Publishing, Innovation, Publishing Companies
June 27, 2006 • 10:16 am 0
Having written many articles since my initial Trend VS Fad post I am happy to say that one idea is firmly entrenched in my mind, that Books and Publishers and the Web are now firmly and symbiotically locked together. The relationship has yet to resolve itself into a fully matured one but there can be no doubt that the book/Web convergence is a trend not a fad.
Before anyone jumps on me and says: “Well of course it is. How stupid do you have to be to doubt that?” I say nothing is inevitable. There are many reasons Publishers might resist the Web and some still do. Readers still feel threatened by the Web and online content and most companies are unsure how to react and interact with the network and their own customers.
Books as we know them will remain, possibly as the expensive niche product that they once were, but I feel sure that over time (and whether we want them or not) new types of Books will emerge that marry the certainties of paper with the potential of the network.
The Web and Online Books offer enormous benefits to everyone but as I discussed yesterday these benefits may not necessarily accrue to Book Publishers. Indeed new and dangerous competitors could emerge. Some we may not even have thought of yet.
It may well be that venerable names will cease to trade as they get their online strategy hopelessly wrong or invest too much in a technology before its time is due or even simply by being unfortunately un-hip.
But I can see no escape for publishers, I can see no other avenue for books and the web will be enormously enriched by the changing of attitudes this trend will enforce. As we grow used to the idea of Wikipedia and the web offering quality content, online books will support and indeed raise the expectation that online information is as good as that found in a book. Instead of being an almost forgotten section of a bibliography the web links consulted will become the primary and books the secondary.
There is no escape. It will happen. All that remains is the excitement of how, when, why, who and of course the winners and losers.
Filed under: Books, Bookselling, Future of Books, Future of Publishing, Innovation, Publishing Companies, Tech & Web stuff, Trend Vs Fad Watch
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