Macmillan ceo John Sargent’s blog post from yesterday has drawn over 50 comments, spanning the typical online range from reasonable to ranting. Importantly, Sargent has posted back twice, indicating: “Thanks for the comments. I’ll get back to you as time allows. I’ll also try to gather groups of questions that indicate I have not been clear enough and answer them in my next post.” A number of posters don’t fully understand that the new pricing has not begun yet, even though the original piece indicates things will change “starting at the end of March,” and ask about the publisher’s historically […]
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Understanding the Digital Divide for Smaller Publishers
The rise of digital publishing and the coming of the agency sales model raise all kinds of urgent issues for publishers of all sizes. What applies to the biggest publishers may not be the same for smaller companies. Earlier this month Perseus surveyed its approximately 300 distribution clients (over 100 of whom use their digital distribution service Constellation) to learn more about their digital views. The approximately 70 responses provide an interesting glimpse of the “digital divide” between large and small publishers. One big, unanswered strategic question for the company is how to deal with the agency sales model. Will […]
Sargent Blogs on Pricing
Macmillan ceo John Sargent has taken up the call to speak to readers directly about ebook pricing with a new posting on the company’s blog. He notes that the agency model will eliminate any delayed releases of new books in ebook editions: “Readers were clearly frustrated at the lack of availability of new titles, and the change to the agency model will solve this problem.” And he underscores, as we have mentioned before, that hardcover NYT bestsellers will cost $12.99 or less under the new model. He points out to readers that the company is providing “a tremendous discount” on […]
Random House Is Developing Video Games
The Random House Publishing Group has set up a unit to develop video games, first reported in WSJ and then confirmed in a press release, run by director of creative development Keith Clayton and director of business development Mikita Labanok, who report to Del Rey/Spectra publisher Scott Shannon. The announcement says the unit will create “original transmedia intellectual property–story content that can be accessed through multiple media sources including video games, social networks on the web, mobile platforms, in print and on film–that will be developed and marketed in partnerships with other media companies.The group will also offer editorial services […]
O'Reilly: Stay Focused On the "Boring Stuff"
O’Reilly Media ceo Tim O’Reilly provided a commanding ending to the company’s multi-day Tools of Change conference yesterday, where organizers said they had over 1,250 attendees. Curiously, however, in speaking to the core strengths of what a publisher does, O’Reilly seemed to rebut much of what had been presented during the conference itself. He made it clear that it is virtually impossible for publishers to “be the winners in a technology race.” So publishers should spend less time chasing what’s cool and what’s new and focus instead on the nuts and bolts of nurturing audiences and sales channels and delivering […]
Textbook Publishers Win Preliminary Injunction in Germany Against RapidShare
Two weeks ago, textbook publishers won an important victory in German court against Swiss file-sharing site Rapidshare, in the form of a preliminary injunction ordering Rapidshare to prevent the illegal sharing of 148 copyrighted works named in the suit. The ruling indicated “it is not only necessary to promptly block access to the specific file, but rather to also take precautions going beyond this in order to prevent to the largest possible extent the occurrence of further similar infringements.” The court awarded the plaintiffs legal fees of 7.2 million euros, and said violations could incur fines of 250,000 euros per […]