So Misguided

RyanSpoon.com: Great post on Kindle Sales

Amidst all of the discussion about the iPhone 3G that hits stores tomorrow, another industry changing gadget is getting overlooked. According to Time Magazine:

“On a title-by-title basis, of the 130,000 titles available on Kindle and in physical form, Kindle sales now make up over 12% of sales for those titles…. At a technology trade conference in May, CEO Jeff Bezos said that Kindle sales accounted for 6% of book titles sold for the Kindle and in print. So Amazon appears to be selling more e-books.”

Those are big numbers. 12% of sales for books that are available in print AND on the Kindle are purchased for the Kindle

Read the full post ...

The Long Tail theory, as explained by its creator, Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson, holds that society is “increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of ‘hits’ (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail.”

Anita Elberse, a marketing professor at Harvard’s business school, argues that the hits are still holding true online. See the full article here. The most popular YouTube items tend to concentrate on a few. The hits and blockbusters are still how we operate as a society.

This may be true but one of the things Anderson argues in the Long Tail, which business are definitely seeing, is that the hits are becoming smaller because the audiences are more fragmented. So although the hits are still working, the question for me is “for how long?”

The other part of the Long Tail is that businesses need to stop thinking about marketing only in the mindset of the hits. For example, the tv ad, the Grand Central print ad placement, the NYTimes ad. Less and less effective.

I’m glad these discussions are still going on. To me it shows that there’s something great opportunity to fix the way marketing works today.

Source: Thanks to Dan Wagstaff

WSJ.com
TheLongTail.com
Harvard Business Review

Hey Darren Barefoot just pointed me in the direction of Zoomii.com.

Zoomii bookstore shelves are pulled from Amazon data and you can zoom in, scan the shelves and click for book details. This is a cool idea: browse 22,060 books, search 156,580 books.

Got feedback? Pop over to the forum.

Know all those photos, music files, documents and videos on your PC? Are they backed up regularly?

I’m a bit lazy when it comes to protecting my stuff. It’s like I’m in my teenage, invincible years. I haven’t been bitten yet by losing stuff.

One of my Boxcar Marketing clients, PutPlace is running a photo contest for a chance to win 100 GB of free storage and a $200 Amazon gift certificate.

You “Pull a Face” for PutPlace. I had some fun creating my own short photo story. And now I’m downloading PutPlace ...

Quillpill is a micro-blogging site, which is currently in private beta. The service lets users write and read content on mobile devices. Yes, it’s another version of Twitter, but Techcrunch had an interesting article about how Quillpill takes a totally different approach by wanting to know what stories you would like to tell. The site is primarily aimed at aspiring authors and readers of fiction.

See the full TechCrunch article ...

Quick post of links I want to share and remember for later…

Borders is finally free of Amazon and has launched its own ecommerce site.

US Bookstores are looking for ways to pull people into the store: tvs, music and other digital bits. The US publishing industry is worth $37-billion according to this LA Times article. Good info about online marketing activities of publishers and who’s doing what.

E-books still unnerving publishers. “Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, spent much of a packed session on Friday evangelizing about the Kindle, which he said already accounts for 6 percent of his company’s unit sales of books that are available in both paper and electronic formats.”

Carolyn K. Reidy, the chief executive of Simon & Schuster, said “electronic book sales last year totaled about $1 million, a sliver of its annual sales of roughly $1 billion.”

And here’s something ironic. Despite the fears of e-books, “Electronic readers have nevertheless gained many fans in the publishing industry. Random House and Penguin, among others, have equipped their entire sales force with electronic-book readers, allowing them to avoid having to lug around as many preview editions of books. Editors at many of the larger publishing houses also use the devices to read manuscripts submitted by agents and authors.”

The National Book Critics Circle’s Campaign to Save Book Reviews is meant to thwart the disappearance of book review sections in newspapers and magazines.

More stats and facts about the declining coverage for books in the Columbia Journal Review. Interesting reader comments follow.

Wall St Journal on how the scarcity of ad revenue endangers newspaper book review sections.

New York Times on “Are Book Reviewers Out of Print?”

Fascinating look at Pan MacMillan’s publishing manifesto. Also interesting reader comments.

I was speaking to Nicola Furlong the other day about her new mystery novel which is newly published as a Quillr. A Quillr is a multimedia version of a book that uses actors to portray certain scenes, audio effects, text and images.

Then I saw mention of it in the Globe & Mail yesterday. Nice coincidence!

Nicola and I were talking about other works that experiment with multimedia, in particular two of my favourites:

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
WorldWithoutUs.com/multimedia.html

This book is a study in what what world would look like without humans. The book is one of James’ favorites. It stimulates a lot of thoughts and questions about the world. The website is a multimedia experience that extends your ability to explore the ideas in the book. There are podcasts, interactive google maps (which are pretty cool--and my favourite part of the site), flash-based book trailer, an interactive slideshow, and audio clips.

Hot Springs by Steve Zio
HotSpringsNovel.com

Zio calls his work an iNovel. The physical book references the website and you can move back and forth between the two to listen to the music referenced in the book or other elements.

Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman, produced by DNA Media
This is the closest I’ve seen to what Nicola is doing and unfortunately DNA has gone bankrupt and you can no longer access the site. There was a website, DVD and book. The website moved you through the novel in a fascinating way, it was all done in Flash I believe and it was a really integrated story experience. You were able to “choose your own adventure” which was part of reading and understanding the work. I loved the music in it and am very sad that it’s lost.

Now about Nicola ...

Here Ends the Beginning by Nicola Furlong
HereEndsTheBeginning.com
Nicola’s latest novel, a supernatural thriller entitled Here Ends the Beginning, is available online in a multi-media storytelling format that she calls a Quillr.

Nicola says:

Much more than a conventional e-book, a Quillr is an innovative and interactive fusion of book, movie and soundtrack. The text of Here Ends the Beginning is punctuated throughout with video clips and photographs of actors recreating the characters and scenes. Music and sound effects further enhance this novel experience ...

Here Ends the Beginning is a dramatic, compelling story about the devastating consequences of manipulating science and desecrating the laws of God and nature.

The first five sensory-enhanced chapters are offered for free online at http://www.hereendsthebeginning.com, with the full 43-chapter entertainment package available for $12.95 Canadian.

What do you think of the site? Feedback for Nicola?

Post your comments here. 

Cross-posted on Boxcar Marketing ...

This Sunday was the 2008 AGM for the Association of Canadian Publishers. I moderated the first professional development session of the day, which was a panel discussion on online marketing.

The panelists were:

• David Caron, co-publishers of ECW Press
• Lynn Henry, publisher of House of Anansi Press
• Rick Wilks, co-founder and director of Annick Press

There were several interesting sites mentioned in the session that I’ll post here for audience members interested in following-up on those discussions. I plan to post some notes about our session too.

Annick Press Livebrary Blog: A great resources for publishers, educators, librarians and anyone interested in what’s happening online in children’s publishing.

Emarketing101.ca: A fantastic source of information on search marketing, pay-per-click campaigns, search engine optimization and anything related to search--the most cost effective online marketing spend.

SeenReading.com: Julie Wilson, also of House of Anansi, keeps a blog that is a perfect example of how to play with books and the web. Simple. Engaging. One of my favourite web sites.

MyNameIsKate.ca: Marketing and Technology Consultant Kate Trgovac’s personal blog, which is a hotbed of links and brilliant posts on marketing and technology.

W8NC is a Canadian marketing and communications company specializing in emerging technology.President is Wayne MacPhail.

OneDegree.ca: The best and most interesting source of marketing news, case studies and interviews related to marketing in Canada.

Boxcar Marketing’s Underwire Newsletter: Full-Support for Non-Techies: Monique Trottier’s monthly newsletter on online marketing, technology, social media tools and tips for web design and email marketing. Free advice. What more could you want?

HorsePigCow.com: A marketing blog for those who see the online world as a place for creativity, community, conversation and collaboration. This girl has it together. Another of my daily blog reads.

Follow the AnnickPress Twitter feed. See how it’s done.

Monique’s presentation to the Centre for Chief Marketing Executives: A list of Social Media Marketing Tools. See the list and examples of the tools being used by businesses.

Microsoft closes online library ...

Microsoft announced Friday that it is taking down its online library of books. They are no longer going to try competing with Google Book Search.

“Live Search Books and Live Search Academics projects are being cancelled and the websites will be taken down next week, Microsoft senior vice-president of search Satya Nadella said in an online posting.”

According to the Vancouver Sun today (Vito Pilieci), the federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws, laws that could allow border guards to check private gadgets for material that infringes copyright.

I’d like to know how a border guard is going to determine if I’ve ripped a movie or not. If that’s all my music or not. Did I buy that ebook?

The article also says that the deal could “impose strict regulations on Internet service providers, forcing those companies to hand over customer information without a court order.”

What kind of police state is this? Aren’t their drugs and other things they should be paying attention to?

The agreement is called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and federal trade agreements do not require parliamentary approval.

The deal would create a international regulator that could turn border guards and other public security personnel into copyright police. The security officials would be charged with checking laptops, iPods and even cellular phones for content that “infringes” on copyright laws, such as ripped CDs and movies.

The guards would also be responsible for determining what is infringing content and what is not.

The agreement proposes any content that may have been copied from a DVD or digital video recorder would be open for scrutiny by officials—even if the content was copied legally.

Apparently anyone with infringing content in their possession, or content that could be acquired illegally, regardless of whether it was acquired legally, will be questioned and open to a fine.

The leaked document also says that “they may also have their device confiscated or destroyed, according to the four-page document.”

Where do we live, again? 

Two sites of interest today:

Flat World Knowledge is a resource site for finding free, open, online college textbooks. There is a little promo video that explains what the site is about.

Juicespot.ca is a place for book readers to go when they are looking for the next good read. You can Dig or Dis a book, create your own page, see what others are reading, review books, answer polls and win stuff.

I found it hard to find this press release so I’m reposting it here.

2008 Manitoba Book Award Winners Announcement
April 27th, 2008
Wolves prowl at Book Awards!

WINNIPEG—The Winnipeg Art Gallery was the scene of a momentous occasion last evening. For the twentieth consecutive year the Manitoba Book Awards honoured its best and brightest in the writing and publishing community. While there were no runaway winners, poet and academic, Alison Calder took home two awards for her collection of poems, Wolf Tree. With long-time author and editor Wayne Tefs winning Book of the Year for his fictionalized true-life survival tale, Be Wolf, and former Attorney General of Manitoba, Roland Penner, winning the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award for his memoir, A Glowing Dream, Manitoba has a healthy and diverse writing and publishing community that will know doubt thrive for twenty more years and beyond.

And the winners are…

McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award ($5,000)
Winner: Be Wolf by Wayne Tefs, published by Turnstone Press.

Other finalists for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award:
So this is the world & here I am in it by Di Brandt, published by NeWest Press • The Penance Drummer and Other Stories by Lois Braun, published by Turnstone Press • The North End: Photographs by John Paskievich, introduction by Stephen Osborne, published by University of Manitoba Press.

McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award—Older Category ($2,500)
Winner: Sandbag Shuffle by Kevin Marc Fournier, published by Thistledown Press.

Other finalists for the McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award—Older Category:
Mistik Lake by Martha Brooks, published by Groundwood Books • Exploits of a Reluctant (But Extremely Goodlooking) Hero by Maureen Fergus, published by Kids Can Press • The Whirlwind by Carol Matas, published by Orca Book Publishers • Dear Canada: Not a Nickel to Spare by Perry Nodelman, published by Scholastic Canada.

John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer ($2,500)
Winner: Carolyn Gray, author of The Elmwood Visitations.

Other finalists for the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer:
Alison Calder, Poet • Brenda Hasiuk, Novelist.

Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher ($1,000)
Winner: The North End: Photographs by John Paskievich (University of Manitoba Press), introduction by Stephen Osborne.

Other finalists for the Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher:
Framing Identity: Social Practices of Photography in Canada (1880-1920) by Susan Close, published by Arbeiter Ring Publishing • The Land Where the Sky Begins: North America’s Endangered Tall Grass Prairie and Aspen Parkland photographs by Dennis Fast, text by Barbara Huck, published by Heartland Associates • Sunny Dreams by Alison Preston, published by Signature Editions.

Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry / Le Prix Lansdowne de poésie ($1,000)
Winner: Wolf Tree by Alison Calder, published by Coteau Books.

Other finalists for the Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry / Le Prix Lansdowne de poésie:
heures d’ouverture by Charles Leblanc, published by Les Éditions du Blé • Exaucée by Christian Violy, published by Les Éditions des Plaines.

Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction ($3,500)
Winner: The Penance Drummer and Other Stories by Lois Braun, published by Turnstone Press.

Other finalists for the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction:
A Possible Life by Simone Chaput, published by Turnstone Press • Twenty Miles by Cara Hedley, published by Coach House Books • A Feast of Longing by Sarah Klassen, published by Coteau Books • Be Wolf by Wayne Tefs, published by Turnstone Press.

Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-fiction ($3,500)
Winner: Canada’s Wheat King: The Life and Times of Seager Wheeler by Jim Shilliday, published by the Canadian Plains Research Centre / University of Regina.

Other finalists for the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-fiction:
Building Communities: The Changing Face of Manitoba Mennonites by John J. Friesen, published by Canadian Mennonite University Press • Take Comfort: the Career of Charles Comfort by Mary Jo Hughes et al., published by The Winnipeg Art Gallery • Influenza 1918: Disease, Death and Struggle in Winnipeg by Esyllt W. Jones, published by University of Toronto Press • Paddling South: Winnipeg to New Orleans by Canoe by Rick Ranson, published by NeWest Press • Imagined Homes: Soviet German Immigrants in Two Cities by Hans Werner, published by the University of Manitoba Press.

Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award ($5,000)
Winner: A Glowing Dream: A Memoir by Roland Penner, published by J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing.

Other finalists for the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award:
Influenza 1918: Disease, Death and Struggle in Winnipeg by Esyllt W. Jones, published by University of Toronto Press • Holding My Breath by Sidura Ludwig, published by Key Porter Books • The North End: Photographs by John Paskievich, introduction by Stephen Osborne, published by University of Manitoba Press • The Winnipeg Jets: A Celebration of Professional Hockey in Winnipeg by Scott Taylor, published by Studio Publications.

The Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book by a Manitoba Author ($1,500)
Winner: Wolf Tree by Alison Calder, published by Coteau Books.

Other finalists for the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book by a Manitoba Author:
Framing Identity: Social Practices of Photography in Canada (1880-1920) by Susan Close, published by Arbeiter Ring Publishing • Influenza 1918: Disease, Death and Struggle in Winnipeg by Esyllt W. Jones, published by University of Toronto Press.

Manuela Dias Book Design of the Year Award
Winner: Take Comfort: the Career of Charles Comfort, designed by Frank Reimer Design, photographs by Ernest Mayer, published by The Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Other finalists for the Manuela Dias Book Design of the Year Award:
Architecture University of Manitoba: Catalogue ‘07, designed by Evan Marnoch and Zach Pauls, published by the Department of Architecture, University of Manitoba • Framing Identity: Social Practices of Photography in Canada (1880-1920), designed by Zab Design, published by Arbeiter Ring Publishing • Gertrude Unmanageable, designed by Zab Design, published by Arbeiter Ring Publishing • Marconi in the Sculpture of John McEwen, designed by Lisa Friesen, photographs by Ernest Mayer, published by The Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Best Illustrated Book of the Year Award
Winner: Take Comfort: the Career of Charles Comfort, designed by Frank Reimer Design, photographs by Ernest Mayer, published by The Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Other finalists for the Best Illustrated Book of the Year Award:
heures d’ouverture, designed by Bernard Léveillé, illustrated by Brigitte Dion, published by Les Éditions du Blé • The North End: Photo graphs by John Paskievich, designed by Steven Rosenberg (Doowah Design), photographs by John Paskievich, published by University of Manitoba Press.

The Manitoba Book Awards is co-produced by the Manitoba Writers’ Guild and the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers. Nominees and winners are selected by juries comprised of members of Canada’s literary community. The administrators gratefully acknowledge the support of The Manitoba Foundation for the Arts, The Manitoba Arts Council, Manitoba Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport, the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council, The Winnipeg Foundation and Friesens.

- 30 -

For more information, please contact:
Jamis Paulson, Programming and Outreach Director
Manitoba Writers’ Guild, 206-100 Arthur Street, Winnipeg, MB. R3B 1H3
(204) 947-5273; toll free (888) 637-5802

I have been remiss in my duties.

SoMisguided is my external brain. I like to post things here about clever online marketing campaigns and the book business but the first part of the year has totally had it’s way with me.

If you have a clever online campaign or if you’ve seen one your really liked, please let me know what I’ve missed. In turn, I promise to pay attention.

Here are 2 big ones I failed to write about in a timely fashion.

Penguin UK, We Tell Stories, http://www.wetellstories.co.uk
Penguin has a fantastic story generator on their website. Fairy tales and other works are revealed based on user input. I love it, really fun idea.

Harper Collins Canada March Mystery Madness
6 weeks, 64 books, 4 conferences, tonnes of “games,” and 1 winner. Deanna from Harper says, “essentially, it’s the NCAA basketball tournament only with mystery books.” A perfect description. I’ve totally missed on this one, but I understand there are 2 books left and you can still vote for your favourites in the poll here: http://www.harpercollins.ca/marchmysterymadness/poll.html

One person wins 64 books.

Know about a clever online marketing campaign involving books? Let me know.

BC Book Prize Soirée is tonight from 7:00-9:00 pm and it’s FREE.

Location
Metropolitan Hotel, 645 Howe Street, Vancouver (downstairs, Cristal Room)

Full details on the BC Book Prizes website.
* Music by Ron Johnston
* Food by Diva at the Me
* Silent auction
* Shortlisted authors

One of the publishing circles that I’m involved with is organizing a meet-up for young(ish) publishing folk.

You’re experienced, gifted and… an assistant. Or an intern--for the third year in a row. You’ve got big ideas and know that someday there’ll be a place for you at the top. Maybe you’re even thinking of starting your own publishing enterprise.

Are you ready? Is the industry ready?

The issue of succession is on the horizon. You’re the future of the Canadian publishing scene, but are you getting the training, opportunities and recognition you need? How can we make sure our industry thrives in the face of new technology, shrinking grants and a diversifying workforce? How can we become the next industry leaders?

Join us for a brainstorming session. We’ll be presenting ideas to the ABPBC and others and we want your input!

Thursday, April 10, 7:30pm at the Legion - 3917 Main St (@ 23rd)