No surprise here: publishers of all shapes and sizes are making e-books. Still, making e-books is one thing; selling them is another. While direct e-book sales may seem like a dream come true for any publisher with their eye on the margins (no discounts, distribution, or inventory), the reality is that partnerships are MUCH more beneficial than going it alone, especially on the expansive interweb. Exposure and discoverability is key. By partnering up, companies can pool their resources for the greater good of the collective, get noticed, and hopefully see some returns on their technology investments.
Printed Catalogues Makin’ My Life Difficult
Give the Backlist a Chance
Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. This has me thinking about backlist. We spend a lot of time talking about the future and worrying about the frontlist, but what can set a publisher apart from the rest is a profitable backlist and arguably what can set a bookseller apart from the rest is thoughtful curating of backlist titles.
Increase Sales and Lower Costs with Better Metadata
More and more digital platforms are sourcing their content from ONIX files, which makes it easy for publishers to take part without increasing their workload. The catch, though, is that the information needs to be in the ONIX files to be shared, and currently most publishers are not including enough information in the files they’re creating.
New Research Study: Do You Know What to Expect When a Movie Adaptation Comes Along?
Midlist: I Will Survive!
Chelsea wrote about James McGrath Morris’s piece in HuffPo last Tuesday and made some really enlightening observations (“Every title is ‘face-out’ online’—Chelsea, you’re blowing my mind!).
It’s true that metadata, a.k.a. the ONIX files that publishers craft so carefully and thoroughly, can actually make midlist authors more visible online. This not only impacts ebooks, but regular books too.
Midlist Authors Might Actually Be More Visible Online: A Rebuttal to HuffPo
BNC 101: What Is ONIX?
ONIX for Books is an international standard for exchanging important information about books and related products.Here we take you through the basics: what you need to know about ONIX and how to use it.
Metadata Standards Visualization
The sheer number of metadata standards in the cultural heritage sector is overwhelming, and their inter-relationships further complicate the situation. A new resource, Seeing Standards: A Visualization of the Metadata Universe, is intended to assist planners with the selection and implementation of metadata standards.
With Digital Publishing, Bad Data = Lost Sales
Kobo gives us some examples of how data issues can impact your book sales in the digital market.Sending good quality metadata in the first place will help you get your books to your readers on time. And that’s what we all want, right?
I asked Michael to list the most common metadata issues they see at Kobo. Here is his list (in order).
