I finally had time to read this very interesting article in the Huffington Post written by Mark Coker about the  Smashwords study conducted to analyze self-published book sales data.  Coker highlights seven key findings from the study and includes his slides from a presentation at the RT Booklovers Convention earlier this year.  It’s worth a read if you are interested in self-publishing.

The seven key findings include:

• Ebook Sales Conform to a Power Curve
• Viva Long Form Reading: Longer Books Sell Better
• Shorter Book Titles Appear to Have Slight Sales Advantage
• How Indie Authors are Pricing Their Books: $2.99 is the Most Common Price Point
• How Price Impacts Unit Sales Volume: Lower Priced Books (usually) Sell More Copies
• The Yield Graph: Is $3.99 the New $2.99?
• A Closer Look at the Yield Graph Reveals Why Indie Ebook Authors Have a Competitive Advantage over Traditionally Published Authors

For those interested in self publishing, Coker offers a free ebook, The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success.

Last February, Gale announced a large-scale Gale-Smithsonian Institution partnership to digitize content. Today, Gale announced the availability of the first product in the line -  Air & Space and Smithsonian Magazine Archive.   This resource includes the complete back files of both magazines.  The full press release is below.  NSR’s Mirela  Roncevic featured a story on Gale’s partnerships with the Smithsonian and others recently if you’d like to read it for more context.

Farmington Hills, Mich., May 29, 2013 — Gale, part of Cengage Learning and a leading publisher of research and reference resources for libraries, schools and businesses, today announced the availability of Air & Space and Smithsonian Magazine Archive, the first resource in the line of Gale – Smithsonian Institution collections. Launched as part of a partnership agreement announced earlier this year, the new archive will include the complete back files of both magazines as well as Gale’s advanced research tools, and will support cross-curricular and interdisciplinary studies in schools and in academic spaces. [Read more →]

Last week Ingram announced a new program called Life Print.  This service manages the complete lifecycle of print materials. Today, they are announcing another new program called IngramSpark.  This program offers independent publishers access to Ingram’s distribution network for print and ebook content.  The platform is due to launch in July of this year.  More information below from the press release:

IngramSpark Service Offers New, Simple Path to Publishing – Publish On Demand SM platform to launch in July

NASHVILLE, TN – Ingram Content Group Inc., today announced plans to launch its IngramSparkSM offering, a new Publish On DemandSM platform. The easy-to-use, online publishing tool provides independent publishers with simple, cost-effective access to Ingram’s global distribution network for print titles and e-book content. [Read more →]

Big news today from EBSCO.  They will begin to index the metadata from Gale databases, ebooks, and archival collections.  More information, including the full list of Gale resources included in the agreement, is below.  Gale announced a similar partnership with OCLC for WorldShare program in January of this year.

IPSWICH, Mass. / BIRMINGHAM, Ala.  — May 28, 2013 — EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) and Gale, part of Cengage Learning, have agreed to make Gale databases and archives discoverable through EBSCO Discovery Service^™ (EDS). The agreement allows EBSCO to index Gale metadata and make it discoverable for mutual customers through EBSCO Discovery Service. [Read more →]

The third supplement on ebooks and digital content from American Libraries examines both the big picture and the nitty-gritty of libraries and publishing, looking at how libraries are evolving in response to the digital revolution, from taking advantage of opportunities in content creation to advocating for equitable access to ebooks produced by the world’s largest book publishers.

Read it online here or pick up a copy at ALA Annual Conference in Chicago at the Office for Information Technology Policy programs and in the ALA Membership Pavilion.

• James LaRue, director of Colorado’s Douglas County Libraries system, discusses how libraries can—and should—become local community publishers
• Clifford Lynch, executive director of the Coalition for Networked Information, provides an overall assessment of the library ebook situation
• ALA President, Maureen Sullivan, ALA Executive Director, Keith Michael Fiels, and Alan S. Inouye, director of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy look at how libraries can collaborate, manage, and lead through this period of possibilities.

You can read this supplement in the easy-to-use Zmag web browser format, or download it as a PDF for offline reading. Click here to get started.

I received this news release from Ingram this morning about their new service, Life PrintSM.  This service will manage the distribution of a print title, using one electronic file and order process.  It merges print on demand with outside book printing companies.  It sounds really interesting to me.  I’ll be anxious to see how it progresses. Here’s the press release:

Ingram Expands Publisher Manufacturing Services with Life PrintSM Program – Full-service program centralizes title management and integrates flexible costs with service levels

NASHVILLE, TN – Ingram Content Group Inc., today announced the launch of its Life PrintSM program, a comprehensive solution for publishers to manage the complete life cycle of print books.  [Read more →]

Earlier this week Byron Shattuck, Director of Business Development for Emery-Pratt, stopped by Wright State to visit with us.  I was able to have a quick interview with him to discuss the ebook offerings available from Emery-Pratt and discuss the  implications of a used ebook market and the most popular business models in our industry.  Byron’s interview can be found on the NSR interviews page, along with 50+ others from librarians, publishers, and information industry professionals.

More on Emery-Pratt:

• book distributors since 1873
• over 9 million titles in print/e formats in the Emery-Pratt catalog
• work with ebrary, EBL, and MyiLibrary platforms or individual publishers
• multiple business models available, including patron driven
• public, academic, and hospital library content

SIPX, Inc., a company providing web based service for digital copyright management and delivery, announced today several new library and publishing partners.  SIPX (pronounced SIP-ex) developed from a research project at Stanford university just nine months ago.  It appears they are off to a great start.  The press release about the new partners is below.  If you’d like a more first hand, personal account of SIPX, then I encourage you to listen to the interview I had with Franny Lee, a SIPX Co-Founder and VP of University Relations and Product Development.  Franny and I discussed the services, business model, and benefits of SIPX for libraries, MOOCs, and publishers.

Franny Lee’s interview and 50+ more are available on the NSR interviews page. [Read more →]

This is a great idea.  I hope many of you will read the book and promote it to your patrons.  I look forward to seeing the results of this pilot program. Follow the program on twitter – #BigLibraryRead.

Cleveland, May 16, 2013 – Today, more than 7,500 libraries around the world are participating in the Big Library Read, a two-week pilot program launched yesterday that enables millions of library patrons to simultaneously access and read a single eBook title until June 1, 2013. The selected title, The Four Corners of the Sky, by Michael Malone, is available in OverDrive Read, Kindle (U.S. only) and EPUB formats and can be read on virtually any device.

[Read more →]

Library vendors bringing e-content to libraries have in recent years taken different routes to draw attention to their long-term business strategies. Some have aggressively pursued new publishing initiatives — releasing more original content and adding it to their e-offerings; others have focused on perfecting the functionalities of the digital products already available to libraries. Gale’s mission has been distinct its own right and deserves a closer look, namely owing to the series of announcements in the last year pointing to the company’s newly formed alliances with some of the world’s most reputable organizations, including  The National Geographic, the Smithsonian, and, as of April 2013, the Associated Press.

Just what is the ultimate long-term goal behind these partnerships for a library vendor already known for a robust list of library-oriented products and services? Is Gale’s main mission moving forward to cement its role as the preeminent distributor of the world’s journalistic and historical content? Can we expect more partnerships in the future? NSR reached out to Jim Draper, VP and General Manager for Gale (part of Cengage Learning), to shed light on what these partnerships mean for the future of Gale, its partners, and the wider research community.

Note: This interview does not include any discussion of the recent “restructuring news,” as Gale is currently not providing information beyond what’s already been released to the public last week. Per CEO Michael Hansen’s prepared remarks, we can “expect to see a real shift to a user-and sales-led culture [at Gale] that is focused on delivering innovative customer solutions. We have placed an emphasis on coordinated speed across the organization to accelerate innovation.”–MR

[Read more →]