Things have come a long way for e-singles over the past year. At last year’s Tech Forum, we heard from Laura Hazard Owen of paidContent about the American market for e-singles and then The Atavist talked about their business model. Since then, more Canadian companies have entered the e-singles fray, all trying different tactics in an effort to explore the possibilities of this growing market.
Our 2013 Technology Forum panel featured Nick Garrison (Penguin Group Canada), Susan Renouf (Abanaki Editorial and Consulting) and Robert Wheaton (Random House of Canada), in conversation with BookNet’s Samantha Francis about the pleasures and challenges of publishing long-form journalism, short-form novels, and whatever else may fall under the “e-single” banner in the future.
In this video, our panel tackles acquisition, revenue models, measures of success, market positioning, and what types of content are resonating with readers.
Here are some highlights to get you started:
9:03 - Market positioning: How do you let readers know that this is an e-single, and not a full-length book?
13:37 - Branding: How e-singles can help a publisher brand their content.
20:32 - Promotion: What e-single publishers are trying, what’s working best, and the special risks of promoting short publications.
26:37 - Acquisitions and editing: How author and editor experiences are different from the print world.
32:27 - Measures of success: Revenue, readership, or going viral?
36:40 - Predictions for the future of Canadian e-singles.
Sneak a peek at buying and borrowing numbers for Canadian titles to see how that has evolved over the last five years.