Bowker and the Association of American Publishers are offering a webinar on October 22nd, 2009: “The Big Picture” on U.S. Consumer Book Buying. Here’s the lowdown.
ONIX 3.0: “Working to create a more informed, empowered and efficient book industry supply chain for both physical and digital products.”
In partnership with the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), the BISG presented the third in their series of ONIX 3.0 educational webcasts. David Martin from EDItEUR’s ONIX Support Team and Brian Green, Executive Director of the International ISBN Agency focused mainly on how ONIX 3.0 provides new support for digital publishing.
New Publishing Business Model #8: Gamers Become Readers
While it’s not exactly a new thing for publishers to publish game manuals (whether of the video variety or other, like Magic: The Gathering which all the SUPER-cool kids were really into when I was growing up and, frankly some of my friends kind of still are), the game (punny!) changes when big entertainment companies like Nintendo start opening up shop within bookstores.
ONIX 3.0 Free Webinar from IDPF and BISG
2D Barcodes
At this year’s BISG Annual Members Meeting Carolyn Pittis gave an excellent presentation on QR Codes [Wikipedia link] (2D barcodes that can repesent text) and how they are being used by Harper Collins to link books to mobile websites and extended content.
O'Reilly Announces New E-Book Conference
As the BookNetter in charge of running the BNC Tech Forum, I’ve often thought the only way our annual conference could be better is if I didn’t have to strap on heels, make-up and generally just look better than I would if I were just sitting around in my pajamas all day. O’Reilly Media has found a way to bring the best of the conference and lounging world together—an e-book conference that you can participate in remotely.
EPUB Is Growing Up
It was nearly two years ago that the IDPF released version 1 of the EPUB suite of standards and since that time the race to digital has been going full steam ahead and a lot has been learned by people and organizations who have implemented EPUB support in the real world. With that in mind the IDPF has struck up a working group for the next release of the EPUB standard. Now granted a suite of standards isn’t as sexy as releasing a new iphone app or a dedicated ereader or even debating what ebooks should cost, nevertheless standards are what drive the internet and standards will drive digital publishing and electronic reading.
New Publishing Business Model #7: Textbook Rentals
Cengage Learning is turning the unique features of the higher education market into a completely different model for students and publishers: textbook rental. For 30-70% of list price, students are able to use a textbook for a set period of time before having to make the decision to give it back or buy it.
B&N Officially Joins E-Reader Race
After the announcement earlier this summer of the new Barnes and Noble eBookstore, it was only a matter of time before a device partnership was made formal.
New Sony Reader Offers Free Library Checkouts
Good for Sony for jumping out with a totally different use case for eReaders: library books. The new Reader Daily Edition is set to be released in December 2009, will retail for around $300 USD and will allow users to get a digital ‘library card’ and borrow books from such stalwart institutions as the New York Public Library.
