This week I had the bad sense to click on this headline: "These six tragic revelations from Carly Simon’s memoir will make you ashamed to be a man (if you are a man)" I won't link to it for reasons that will become plain below. The article is about the troubled romantic life of Carly …
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Like most of you, I’m sure, I had a very full week that pushed thoughts of publishing out of my head. Mostly. Thinking about publishing is too deeply ingrained in my mind to shove it out entirely, so here are a few thoughts about Thanksgiving and publishing. The Threat of Free. I’ve never felt that …
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On a family vacation in Florida when I was a boy, there was this gaudy, colorful building sitting off by itself on the side of the road. I think it had a big “free admission” sign on it, because someone remarked on it to my father, and Dad said, “It’s free to get it, but …
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Last week I was in Ft. Lauderdale at the Business Information and Media Summit, a publishing industry conference. It’s a good conference, and if you haven’t heard of it you should consider attending next year. (Here’s a slideshare of the presentation I did with Education Week’s Matthew Cibellis.) Whenever I go to an industry conference …
I’ve mentioned that I’ve written a few books as a hobby. Fortunately, as you’ll see below, I’m not trying to make a living at it. I’m pretty good at the writing, editing and formatting part of it (or so my reviews say), but I’m not that great at the sales part. I’m trying to learn …
Next week at the Business Information & Media Summit, Education Week’s Matthew Cibellis and I are going to speak on this topic. The Winning Equation: Marketing + Editorial + IT = Breakthrough Results Publishers Love. The internet and ubiquitous digital delivery of content is putting the publishing industry through some interesting changes. Change can be …
Continue reading ‘Is it time to shake up your publishing company?’ »
Last week’s post was about the influence of social media on branding. A related topic is the influence of social media on specific products. Today I’m discussing the impact of online reviews on book sales. Amazon has made itself indispensable in a few ways. One of the main things is that they have just about …
I saw this quote on LinkedIn. “A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is — it is what consumers tell each other it is.” — Scott Cook As with most things related to social media, that strikes me as a bit of an exaggeration. Consumers certainly have a much larger role …
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Facebook is experimenting with a new way to react to a post. Rather than just “like,” people can pick an emoji that better expresses their reaction — when “like” just doesn’t fit. I don’t know if this will work, but it’s smart for Facebook to experiment with new things. Their model is based on engagement, …
Continue reading ‘The future of reading and content creation’ »
Many publishers are struggling with whether to participate in Facebook’s Instant Articles program. The Washington Post is the latest to sign up. Under Instant Articles, publishers post stories directly on Facebook rather than linking back to their own sites. The social network has sold the program by saying it will substantially reduce load times for …
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