Random House has announced that it will be creating a Web site to market selected titles as print on demand. This has come under criticism in a number of quarters, not because POD is not fully appreciated but because of the truism that no trade publisher has a brand that means anything to a consumer. [...]
Digital media present intriguing growth opportunities for book publishers, but in some instances digital media may interfere with certain market channels. Developing digital marketing strategies requires a great deal of thought. It is important to resist the temptation of “digital millennialism” and assume that “If it’s digital, it must be good.” If not managed [...]
It was 51 years ago today, on July 6, 1957 (not 1955, as Time magazine subsequently reported), that on the fairgrounds in Liverpool, Paul McCartney met John Lennon for the first time. From that time through 1970, when the band formally broke up, musical and social history were made. Another kind of history was made [...]
The University of Pittsburgh Press has just made an extraordinary announcement. The Press plans to make its entire backlist available for free online two years after formal, print publication. Here is what the AAUP newsletter has to say about this: Recently, the University of Pittsburgh Press has announced that it is working to make its [...]
Creative Commons has announced a long-awaited (at least by me) addendum to its licenses. From the CC Web site: CC+ is a protocol providing a simple way for users to get rights beyond the rights granted by a CC license. For example, a work’s Creative Commons license might offer noncommercial rights. With CC+, the license [...]
Over the past week or so, I’ve been watching my daughter, who is a high school sophomore, doing research for a history paper on Danton and the French Revolution. The teacher told the kids to find, as sources, at least two books, two arcticles, and two reputable website (which, by his definition, doesn’t include wikipedia). [...]
Having gotten caught up to some extent in the Open Access debate over research publications, I am continually astonished by the lack of objectivity and the sheer partisanship of many of the participants. For those unfamiliar with Open Access or OA, this is the principle of “information wants to be free” applied to the world [...]