Back in early September, before The New Publishing Standard went live, news broke that the publisher and distributor Euromedia was looking to buy the Czech bricks and mortar bookstore chain and online book and ebook retailer Neoluxor. The move is on hold pending a review by the Czech competition authorities so I’d been waiting for Read More …
One of the biggest surprises for me after the collapse of Borders in 2011 was the failure of Barnes & Noble to step in and grab those customers. But at the time Barnes & Noble seemed so enamoured with its Nook project that it was busy looking the other way as Amazon upped its print Read More …
The future of Waterstone’s (aka Waterstones sans apostrophe) is in question again as it emerges Britain’s largest book chain may be up for sale shortly. Cutting a long story short, Waterstone’s was rescued from near bankruptcy several years back by a Russian billionaire who handed day to day management to James Daunt and between the Read More …
It’s perhaps a sign of the times, and of the way the centre of digital gravity is shifting in a publishing world once so easily mapped, that the world’s first virtual reality book emerged last year not from Silicone Valley or from South Korea or Japan, but from the deserts of the Middle East. As Publishing Read More …
Attracting reluctant readers to books is a worldwide problem for publishers. Comics and graphic novels are one way to bring more readers to books. That’s not their only benefit – comics and graphic novels can make you smarter in other ways, if this post on Geek and Sundry last year is to be believed. In Read More …
Full disclosure: I’m not a big sports fan. While I understand why professional sportsmen and women choose to kick a ball around a field or run in circles or swim at full pelt from one end of the pool to the other, or whatever else they need to do to win fame, glory and the Read More …
India is now officially a bigger smartphone market than the USA, and while the US is close to stagnation, with few people left who haven’t connected, India is barely out of first gear. Not for nothing do I constantly say India is the most exciting prospect on the planet for future digital engagement by the Read More …
As reported here last week, the Chinese e-commerce titan Tencent is throwing $40 million at Wattpad, at a time when Wattpad is seeing 60 million people a month use the site. Over at Publishing Perspectives today, Porter Anderson carries an interview with Wattpad’s Ashleigh Gardner which offers some statistical insights into Wattpad users. Fan-fiction (fanfic) Read More …
Earlier this month the Dutch ebook subscription service Kobo Plus, run in tandem by Rakuten Kobo and Bol.com, launched an exclusive new series by Dutch thriller writer Linda Jansma and an exclusive pre-release title from another Dutch thriller writer Willem Asman, in cooperation with the authors’ publishers. Both authors have seen considerable success with digital Read More …
It’s been more than four years since Amazon launched in Mexico in 2013 with its spearhead Kindle ebook store, branching out into physical goods in 2015. This week Amazon finally bowed to the inevitable next stage of glocalisation and started accepting cash payments to try hold its own against rival Walmex, as WalMart’s Mexico arm Read More …
