Amazon’s Fifth Stage
Amazon’s options and pattern of doing business suggests the STM publishers had better prepare for a dramatically more digital future.
Amazon or Apple: Choose Your Invader
A writer for “Fast Company” accidentally reveals that there may be no respite for publishers as pure digital invaders come to plunder them.
O’Reilly to Amazon: Open the Kindle!
Part 1 of a 3-part series — Amazon’s proprietary e-book platform needs to open up in order to truly thrive.
Playing Two Ends Against the Middle
Anderson says Free is the “future radical price.” Gladwell says free may not be the future. Godin simply says “Malcolm is wrong.” Why are all the arguments so polarized?
Paying for Peer-Review — or, What We’ve Learned from Financial Watchdogs
A common systemic problem links oversight of financial risks and author-pays peer-review. Both are potentially calamitous.
The Freelance Fireworks Hall of Fame
The founders of the Freelance Fireworks Hall of Fame wish us all a Happy Fourth of July.
Successful Web 2.0 Business Models
We’ve all read declaration after declaration that the publishing business model is dead and needs to be replaced by a new one. So far, no one seems to have any idea exactly what that new business model should be. A few recent examples are examined….
Gladwell & Nielsen: The Fixed Costs of Fixed Ideas
Gladwell tackles Anderson, Nielsen tackles Christensen. Both provide useful insights for publishers today.
Chaos Still Publishing Former Editor’s Work
The journal that sparked a peer-review controversy has resumed publishing its ousted editor’s work.
Open Access on a “Level Playing Field”
In creating a ‘level playing field’ for open access publishers, we put non-profit publishers at a great disadvantage.
Will Form Follow Function?
Will e-book readers lead to a new form of expression? Should they even bother trying to mimic the paper and ink format they’re replacing?
The Impact Factor: A Tool from a Bygone Era?
With scientific information propagating in new ways, is the Impact Factor measuring what it was intended to measure?
iPhone-casting: A New Door Opens?
A new iPhone application lets you podcast from wherever you are. The results may open a new door on audio expression for many of us.
Redefining Cubism — Rubik Cubism, That Is . . .
Rubik cubes in the hands of an artist — amazing!
The Freedom of Not Owning Books
Thinking about the Kindle as an e-book reader rather than a wireless reader makes you miss some of the benefits of not owning books.