bookseer.com - recommends books with simple interface
25thestate.com - animation
feels book value is going down, but technology can bring it back
new company: enhanced edition - splits: consultancy developer marketer
key decision: be premium
be intuitive as possible
features: use ePub - synchronize audio to text
concept to product = one year
enhanced-editions.com
challenges: disintermediation, shift to digital, drm, price, rights territory, strutter
"publishing is currently a very linear process" (author -> agent -> publisher -> retailer -> consumer)
EE is author agent publisher reader network (author connects to network and vice versa)
the new way is not linear, though not circular, but definitely iterative
eInk is not as compelling as enhanced eBook
it is time to rethink: rights (sell vs. consolidate)
the skills will be different, but cheap to acquire (such as SEO) it just needs to be nurtured by the house
some big name authors are going on their own to have new technology built for them
it is not to replicate the current experience, but innovate the next experience. the best technology is invisible, so focus on user interface was key
"what matters most is how you walk through the fire" - Bukowski
we encourage you to download an enhanced edition eBook, but not on the TOC network as it is rather large - andrew savikas
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william patry (of Google) "law is not a business solution"
though its not what you'd expect a lawyer to say, not all problems should be solved with law. if there are non-legal ways to solve problems then we should use those. Not a lot of people have respect for how the legal system solves problems, it may the single worst place to find closure on a topic. some feel the better our copyright laws. "people don't copy stuff that they don't watch". don't blame problems on copyright which are actually marketing issues. strong copyright won't make people want to watch a show they don't want to. people see copyright as a way to preserve where they are now. sending a 20 year old kid to jail won't save your bottom line. it won't make people go to more shows. its not commercial success. "regulatory capitalism" = incumbents succeed through law instead of innovation. regulation is too often used a shield to protect the status quo from new competition. rather than innovate and respond to consumer needs, incumbents seek to criminalize threatening behavior from new comers. copyright law can stop people from doing some things, but it can't make consumers buy things. no copyright law will turn a failing business around.
increasing penalties or jail time does not make a crime go away. copyright cannot create economic value. giving something copyright status does not imbue it with value.
the united states has become the fat detroit of nations. we are loosing our desire to innovate (achieve?) and instead are milking aging cows until they run dry
it takes a real manager to manage the downcycle of a product.
macmillian offered dynamic books which allows professors to edit textbooks without the permission of the original author. the ebooks are $45 instead of around 120 or so. if you have a lawful copy of something you can give it or sell it to someone else (resale, protected by copyright law, first sale doctrine). publishers have tried to recapture the lost value of resale by upping initial cost. by making the dynamic books course specific, they have little resale value hence the initial price can be set low. rather than try to break the first sale doctrine they have an innovative strategy. instead of "compete with free" they side step it.
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skip richard (ingram) "are ebooks dead?"
media habits change quickly and adoption is rapid because of broadband
the ebooks of today which are a carbon copy of the old books will be gone and the enhanced ebook will take its place
3 trends: growth of online retail ('write this one down: "there is no fundamental right to survive"', "people are willing to pay if the price is right and the convenience is there"), device change (cross media reading experiences), generational differences (the line between physical and virtual is blurring, like webkinz - skip's daughter saw no distinction between the stuffed animal in her hand and the digital product on the screen)
anecdote of man in hot air balloon who's lost and calls down to guy in
suggestions to managers:
1. simplify (be awesome at just one thing - don't do everything - have unique differentiator)(a study of jams - we all love choice, but we can have analysis paralysis, so limit the variables - see also 12, less books, one a month and have 8 bestsellers - get back to basics, help content reach its destination, create innovative content - move from defense to offense with eBooks)
2. connect (find customers and know them, know who controls your destiny: the waiter controls the butter not Senator Bill Bradley who wants butter and asks don't you know who I am - watch periphery, we take our social queues from others and diminish change, just as there's defused responsibility our industry should not just watch what others are doing)
3. conquer (get out of your comfort zone - forward momentum is often slowed by self - new players change things faster because they don't know what the "limitations are supposed to be" - Art Tatum learned to play piano by following a recording of two people on a player piano and did what was previously thought impossible)
if you hear the excuse "that's the way we've always done it" then you know you're causing your own problem
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sameer sharif (impulses) "the new dynamics of publishing"
content development and audience development are the two places for innovation
audience development: social networking opens up dialog like never before. it means B2B is gone and we need to connect to audience (track & measure, optimize, maximize ROI). rather than broadcast, communicate. we move from B2B to B2C and from manufacturing to service industry. social marketing seems to work as displayed by metrics.
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arianna huffington "publishing is dead"
"books don't end in print, books don't end with the printed page"
"you cannot enter into the same river twice" - ?
this is now the golden age of engagement for the consumer
"the medium is definitely not the message"
"unplug and recharge" - disconnect from devices and everyday preoccupation and concerns, and a book is the best way for that
this "magical pubdate" forget about it. there are not three days between pubdate and oblivion. start talking about your book earlier. you may have put your career on the line, why not talk about that book. don't be anonymous, the age of anonymity is over. very often its the interns that will be running the publishing house a few years down the road. the first book does not need to be a new book. online we will discover new books and old books. this idea of focusing on the new book needs to go away.
"we believe nothing is more important right now than rediscovering empathy"
"the message is platform agnostic"
we ask why people blog for free, but no one asked why they watch tav for free. also blogging is the new audition platform.
open up about your struggle and others will share. talk about your own fears and create intimacy. its less polished, first thoughts best thoughts
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