Gaming the System: Do Promises of Citation Advantage Go Too Far?
Promises of more citations if authors pay are problematic in more ways than one.
Truth Trumps Fiction: Amazon Unveils Its Latest Kindle Innovation — Signed E-Books
An April Fool’s post is bested by reality — but that doesn’t mean the idea isn’t silly anyhow.
Traditional Publishing and Self-Publishing — Authors Now Call the Shots
A best-selling author turns down a $500,000 advance in order to self-publish, while a self-published author who has earned $2 million takes a book contract. What’s going on here?
The New York Times' B2B Opportunity
The New York Times is likely to introduce institutional pricing now that it is beginning to charge for consumer access.
Innovation & Longevity in Digital Publishing: Surfing the S-Curve
Innovation requires planning for adoption. Publishers can win in the long-haul by following maps others have drawn.
HarperCollinsGate: Some Thoughts
The HarperCollins e-book lending limitations provide lessons in how both sides typically deal with change.
UniPHY Promotional Video — And Who Said Scholarly Publishers Weren't Creative?
A clever marketing video from the American Institute of Physics and their UniPHY initiative.
Authors — Only One Reason Why the Revolution in Book Publishing Continues
The revolution in book publishing shares some aspects with revolutions everywhere. Here’s a short slideshow by the founder of Smashwords examining current motivations for authors.
Prices, Models, and Fairness: A (Partly) Imaginary Phone Conversation
[Phone rings.] Librarian: Hello? Sales Rep: Hello! Robert from Acme Scholarly Journals here. As you know, for the past year we’ve been working on a new pricing model for our journal package, and now that it’s ready my boss and […]
Can You Actually "Sell" an E-book? How You Answer Affects Your Revenue Assumptions
Customers have accepted the analogy that they “buy” e-books, but publishers may be faced with accepting the fact that they’re selling licenses. What this could mean to their bottom lines may not be the most painful part of this shift.
Providers vs. Platforms — Why Must We Move?
Apple’s apparent abuse of its platform dominance may signal a basic incompatibility between providers and platforms.
Pizzas and Publishing — Why Disruption in Publishing Isn't Coming from Within
Complexity, culture, and baked-in bias are limiting how publishers define value and approach the future.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Business Models: A Bestiary of Revenue Streams
Business models for publishers fall into four broad categories, defined by how revenue is generated. Some classes of content lend themselves to one model over another.
The Bigger Deal: One Scenario for How the Library Funding Crisis Will Play Out
Maligned though it often is, the Big Deal for journals is likely to get bigger, marginalizing the offerings of smaller publishers.