Archive for the ‘General Publishing’ Category

John Curran and Caroline Todd discuss the Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie pt.1
Agatha Christie historian and Bestseller Caroline Todd talk about the life and works of Agatha Christie.

MPA – 2011 Overall Magazine Advertising Revenue Flat
The consumer magazine industry generated $20,086,199,882 in full-year 2011 print advertising revenue, a slight $8 million increase compared to 2010’s advertising revenue of $20,078,0916,149, according to the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB).  Pages dipped 3.1% from 169,552 in 2010 to 164,225 in 2011.

Thrown Overboard: Publishers Feel Abandoned by the U.S. Postal Service
Until recently, Postal Service executives talked about periodicals as “the anchor in the mailbox.” But lately, says one publishing executive, it seems that “the USPS just tied us to the anchor and threw it overboard.”

• RT @MichaelHyatt: Who reads more,e-reader owners or physical book readers? [Infographic] | http://t.co/7vA2ASQR ->the answer is obvious
• RT @tonyeldridge: How Much Should You Price Your E-Book? http://t.co/eVWINIkc -> Thanks. Some good ideas here.
• RT @e_reading: Amazon’s Android Kindle tablet: coming on Wednesday to New York? http://t.co/EaIxRz0i <–Can’t wait to see it

• The Most Powerful People in Books Don’t Write Many Books – Entertainment – The Atlantic Wire http://t.co/onupzWQe

• Amazon founder heads digital advance on Guardian books power list http://t.co/BJNGfH19 via @guardian

A recent report by media and publishing forecast firm Simba Information found that even though bookstores have lost some of their customer base over the years, the channel feeds into the e-book universe by serving as a ‘book showroom’ for the roughly 10% of U.S. adults who buy e-books.

“Believing that adults will begin taking to e-books in large numbers because of Borders’ liquidation is a dangerous assumption,” said Michael Norris, senior analyst of Simba Information’s Trade Books Group, commenting on the report. “Since most adults buy books from multiple channels and enjoy using bookstores for browsing, the loss of a ‘book showroom’ can impact print books and e-books in unexpected ways.”

Data from Simba indicates that the more channels a consumer uses, the more likely he or she is to buy — even though bookstores are sometimes cut out of the action. In a Simba survey of over 110 bookstores across the country, 38% indicated that their (former) regular customers who own a Barnes & Noble Nook or an Amazon Kindle ‘often or very often’ return to browse without buying anything. 43% of the same booksellers also said non-regular customers often or very often come to browse before leaving to buy from another retailer.

“Publishers should be working around the clock to find ways to make chain and independent bookstores stronger, and not for reasons having to do with sentimentality,” Norris said. “If the only retailers left selling books are those that don’t need to, publishers will lose their power and relevance overnight. I genuinely worry that books may follow the same dreadful path of music, where gadgets like the iPod spring up to make consumption easy, the showrooms for media discovery close, piracy becomes a cultural expectation and the market shrinks by billions as more people buy less.”

The report, “Trends in Trade Book Retailing 2011,” also shows the interconnected world of retailing with thorough profiles of the bookstore, online and other major retailing channels, outlining key demographic details and trends unique to each, including the gender, age, household income, education level and purchasing habits of the buyers. The significant influence of non-bookstore physical store retailers like Walmart and Target and the influence of e-book sellers like Amazon.com are also covered.

SOURCE: Simba Information

Entertainment studio The Shadow Gang has unveiled “GoBZRK,” a groundbreaking interactive story experience built around BZRK, the upcoming young-adult book series from best-selling author Michael Grant. Turning the traditional book publishing model on its head, GoBZRK was visualized and developed by The Shadow Gang and Michael Grant, from storyline inception, to be a transmedia experience that deepens and enhances the narrative adventure well before, and beyond, the launch of the book series. GoBZRK reaches across community websites, character blogs, interactive games, graphic novels, mobile apps, social networks and online video, culminating with BZRK the book. Targeted at young adult science fiction, mystery, gaming and adventure enthusiasts, the story will unfold and draw fans into the strange, gritty and compelling world of GoBZRK through the release of BZRK book one on February 28, 2012 from publishing house Egmont.

In the coming months, the GoBZRK plot will be uncovered at NexusHumanus.com, SocietyTwins.com and DeathOrMadness.com, and other story-related sites, via character blogs, videos and embedded clues that guide players deeper into the mystery of Nexus Humanus, an international organization that claims to be dedicated to fostering world peace through the creation of “sustainable happiness.” A comprehensive out-of-fiction hubsite, GoBZRK.com, provides continuity for the entire experience. A GoBZRK mobile game for iOS and Android-compatible devices is also in development and will be available in October.

“GoBZRK was specifically designed to appeal to an audience that has grown up with technology seamlessly intertwined into their lives. These digital natives are open to and excited by a new model of narrative distribution that lets them choose how they want to interact with the experience and how engaged they want to be,” said Alex Lemay, CEO and founder of The Shadow Gang. “By partnering with Michael Grant and Egmont, before pen was set to paper, we have been able to craft GoBZRK as the most ambitious, detailed and fully formed interactive story experience ever to be built around a book. As a result, we’re able to provide virtually unlimited in-game potential for the audience and let fans ultimately decide how robust and interactive they want their experience to be.”

The multi-layered GoBZRK experience quietly kicked off in August with a social media whisper campaign and has already created an enthusiastic fan base that is eagerly awaiting the full gameplay, which begins in earnest today. Following the release of book one, GoBZRK will continue to cultivate the audience across the release of two more books in the BZRK three-book series, with new social and gaming components helping to keep the story alive between installments.

Michael Grant, BZRK’s author, and writer of the best-selling GONE series of young-adult supernatural books said: “I’ve been fascinated for years by the challenges I saw coming for publishing. And at the same time I was determined to find new ways to tell a story. I saw my own kids reading my manuscripts on their iPhones and thought: Wow, I need to go there. So the idea with GoBZRK is to create a story that stretches across multiple platforms. GoBZRK is a fictional universe that lives in a role-playing game, and as an iPhone/Android app and on multiple sites — and of course in the actual books that will be coming in February from Egmont Press. It was very important to me that each element contribute, that they not be just copies of the books. I wanted each element to be unique, to stand on its own, and yet enhance the books, and then to pick up the story and carry it on between books. I took this concept to The Shadow Gang and, working together, we are hoping GoBZRK will entertain and amaze.”

Vampires and Cells
Monster Science (Graphic Library)
By: Agnieszka Biskup
Illustrations by: Jok
ISBN: 9781429665834
Publisher: Capstone Press
Publication Date: August 1, 2011
Pages: 32

Vampires and Cells is a wonderfully illustrated graphic non-fiction book about cells, with vampires adding humorous commentary. The information presented about science is nicely paced, and the accompanying art is fantastic.

Since the reader needs to read the science material in order to understand most of the commentary from the vampires, there is little concern that the meat of the text will be skimmed over. The comic action, for the most part, reinforces the science text, and both should work together to help the child absorb and retain the material.

Suitable for ages 8 to 12, and great for reluctant readers, this, and the rest of the Monster Science series, should be a welcome addition to any Middle School Library.