A Call for Participation — A Survey on Book Discovery
A call to participate in a survey on how books are discovered and ultimately purchased. The survey is being conducted in cooperation with O’Reilly Media.
Six Mistakes Your Sales Reps Are Making
While your sales reps are doing a great job overall, here are six mistakes that can creep into their interactions with buyers.
Ask the Chefs: "What's the Most Important Print Subscription You Haven't Canceled?"
Even in the digital age, some print products are hard to give up. What is the allure?
New Media and New Markets — Making Sense of the Possibilities in Publishing
In order to take best advantage of new digital technology, a publisher must identify new places and ways that products can be sold. New media requires new markets or the investment in digital media will simply be an unwelcome additional expense.
Amazon Enhances Its Position in Academic Markets with Launch of Its Whispercast System
Amazon’s new local distribution technology allows academic institutions new levels of control.
What Can Publishers Learn from Indie Rock?
While the recording industry generally gets a bad rap for managing the transition to online distribution, there is one niche that has flipped the model and uses old distribution techniques to sell music across multiple formats. That niche is indie rock and there are some lessons for publishers.
How Valuable Is PubMed Central's Early Publication of eLife Content?
What is the likely value of what PubMed Central is providing to eLife by publishing them free online, providing PubMed indexing without delay, and getting them into the market six months early?
What PubMed Central's Drag on Publisher Traffic Could Mean Financially
When you think through all the effects stealing traffic has on online publishing businesses, PubMed Central’s competitive presence looms large — whether you sell subscriptions, ads, or APCs.
Springer Establishes a Beachhead on the Desktop with Acquisition of Papers
Springer’s acquisition of Papers shifts the publisher into the workflow, and provides a unique opportunity to become a unifying resource.
Why Did Publishers Get So Big?
The recent announcement of the merger of Random House and Penguin prompts an essay on why publishers get big. Surprisingly, their own greed has little to do with it.
These Data Are Different from Those — Data Equivalence and Identification Issues
As communications in science begin to incorporate data elements more routinely, the standards for describing these, versioning these, and preserving these have to be considered. And we will all have to learn how to use data labeling processes correctly.
Why E-book Distribution Is Completely and Utterly Broken (and How to Fix It)
A recent incident involving Amazon and a Norwegian reader has highlighted the sad state of ebook distribution on many levels.
Open Access — What Do Authors Really Want?
Open access publishing is a viable option, with gold OA gaining traction. But concerns remain, and funding is uncertain.
Twilight of the Promotional E-book
As e-books have become mainstream, the art of using free e-books to drive print sales is coming to an end. But there are next steps for those who wish to think ahead.
CC-Huh? Fundamental Confusions About the Role of Copyright and the Reuse of Data
A fundamental confusion between articles and data leads to a call for more CC licenses and less copyright. But why are data being closed down while articles are being opened up? Is there a fundamental misunderstanding of copyright, licensing, and rights?