I’ve recently done a spate of media interviews wherein the main topic was the “rise” of self-publishing. It’s an interesting media trend, founded largely by the appearance and development of innovative new web communities that are focusing on bringing together those interested in creating great books—who may or may not already consider themselves book professionals.
Online Marketing (for the Kids!): HarperCollins' Amanda Project
New Publishing Business Model #6: IndieBound
IndieBound.org was founded almost a year ago by members of the American Bookseller Association looking for a way to work together with other indie booksellers and other locally owned businesses.
New Publishing Business Model #5: HarperStudio
Kids These Days, Not So Much with the Piracy (Yar!)
New Publishing Business Model #4: Smashwords
In May of this year, Smashwords, an eBook publishing platform originally set up to serve as a channel for self-published authors, expanded to offer services designed for publishers.
Case Study: D&M Does Free Right
In March 2009, the Greystone Books title Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent was the subject of an online publicity campaign led by the marketing staff at D&M. It’s a really inspiring example of how digital strategy can be used in three really important ways: first, getting the book out there in the hands (or RAMs) of readers, second, measuring how you did and thrid, creating a baseline to compare how any kinds of books do with the same treatment.
New Publishing Business Model #3: The Tor Store
Mike Shatzkin of Idealog has long been arguing that commerce in books needs to go ‘vertical’—that readers will gather at sites where their interests are served. Publisher branding doesn’t matter as much as putting the right combination of books together for a one-stop shopping experience.
Tor Books has effective done just that with their new online store.
New Publishing Business Model #1: Symtext
It Takes a Village to Create an O'Reilly Book
O’Reilly Media is no stranger to reader collaboration. Their first open-source initiative, Rough Cuts allowed books-in-progress to be purchased, read and commented on while still in process of being written, thus enriching the work and creating a community of dedicated readers.
Open Feedback Publishing System (OFPS), the new O’Reilly experiment, takes things a step further…
