Publishing revolution: learnings from the Frankfurt Book Fair

Oct 17, 2012

Posted by: Rachel McAlpine

Filed under: accessible content,  books,  conference,  psychology

  1. Metadata matters more. Books need more and better metadata for fast search-and-find. This includes chapter titles. International standards coming up.
  2. Short stories come into their own at last as perfect mobile content for killing time in queues and waiting rooms.
    Bookslinger sends new short stories to the user's mobile device every week—free. Read one, buy the rest in a print book or ebook.
  3. Academic digital adventures. Richard Charkin, Executive Director of Bloomsbury, "points out that academic publishing is now a 90% digital business, with trade (in English) "lagging" at 15-20%." Digital Publishing: Lessons Learned, by Amanda deMarco, Publishing Perspectives Show Daily, 11 Oct, 2012
  4. Publishing power shift. "[T]he moment the people who play with lucrative multi-media begin to talk not about 'content' but about ideas and stories is really coming." Peter Florence, Director of the UK's Hay Festivals. Publlshing Perspectives Show Daily, 11 Oct, 2012
  5. Fiction dominates ebook market. "Commercial fiction is clearly the 'classic' e-book seller. Non-fiction, reference and children's all struggle to sell the volume achieved by fiction, a pattern seen around the world." Peter Florence, Director of the UK's Hay Festivals. Publlshing Perspectives Show Daily, 11 Oct, 2012
  6. Indian market for ebooks. The one country you should watch? India, says OUP strategist. A rising middle class, looser regulations and e-book growth put India ahead of China on many publishers' agendas. Daniel Kalder. Publlshing Perspectives Show Daily, 11 Oct, 2012
  7. Synergy of self- and standard publishing. What author could possibly need a publisher? Let's see... E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey. First self-published as Twilight fan fiction. Then reworked and published as an ebook and POD title by the Writers Coffee Shop, a virtual publisher based in Australia. Sold well: 100,000 (?) copies with blog promotion and word of mouth. Then the book was picked up by Random House, published 50 million copies around the world. See Edward Nawotka, Editor in Chief, Publlshing Perspectives Show Daily, 10 Oct, 2012
  8. Genre-busting book trends. UK Hodder Publishing Director Carolyn Mays notes how fantasy and science fiction have moved into the mainstream: "We're not only being shown more of these books, we're also going out and looking for them." Publlshing Perspectives Show Daily, 10 Oct, 2012
  9. Progress and stalemate in accessibility of e-books says Alistair McNaught, senior advisor at JISC TechDis, a leading UK advisory service on technologies for inclusion. Frankfurt Show Daily, Publishers Weekly, 10 October 2012
  10. Audiobook sales dropping in Germany. Audiobooks are too expensive because the norm is to use a famous actor. Instead the future starts with a basic ebook with rich media additions, says Jolanta Gatzanis, publisher.

Photo of banners flying at the Frankfurt Book Fair, who I presume own copyright.

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