Publishing Update March 14

I’ve run across several really good articles — and some stories you may have missed — that broaden your understanding of the publishing scene as it unfolds … * Who Else Wants to Write Better Email Copy? * Seven Reasons Newspapers Are Not Rebounding Financially * Facing A Dire Financial Situation, USPS Emphasizes Its Eco-Friendly Efforts * Google launches eBooks, cross-platform e-bookstore and reader * iPad publishing: time to switch to v2.0 * Making all postage ‘forever’ is right move * E-book sales outdo print * Analysis: Book publishers may suffer in world without Borders * For Magazines, a Bitter Pill in iPad…

Fred Showker's Publishing Update I’ve run across several really good articles — and some stories you may have missed — that broaden your understanding of the publishing scene as it unfolds … * Who Else Wants to Write Better Email Copy? * Seven Reasons Newspapers Are Not Rebounding Financially * Facing A Dire Financial Situation, USPS Emphasizes Its Eco-Friendly Efforts * Google launches eBooks, cross-platform e-bookstore and reader * iPad publishing: time to switch to v2.0 * Making all postage ‘forever’ is right move * E-book sales outdo print * Analysis: Book publishers may suffer in world without Borders * For Magazines, a Bitter Pill in iPad…

For Magazines, a Bitter Pill in iPad

The frustration that the country’s magazine and newspaper publishers feel toward Apple can sound a lot like a variation on the old relationship gripe, – can’t live with’em, may get left behind without’em.
      Since Apple introduced the iPad last year, publishers have poured millions of dollars into apps in the hopes that the device could revolutionize the industry by changing the way magazines are read and sold to consumers.
READ THIS REPORT Full story : New York Times

iPad publishing: time to switch to v2.0

There is no way around this fact: the first batch of magazines adapted to the iPad failed to deliver.
      Six months after the initial excitement, the mood has turned turned sour. See the figures below, they show the downturn in circulation for the much publicized iPad versions of a few American magazines
READ THIS REPORT Full story : www.mondaynote.com

Google launches eBooks, cross-platform e-bookstore and reader

On Monday morning, Google officially unveiled its entry into the hotly competitve e-book market with an e-reader app called Google eBooks and a store called the Google eBookstore. The products are not new, but are rather a unification of many of Google’s digital book efforts.
      Like Amazon has done with its own Kindle platform, Google eBooks is a cross-platform solution for reading digital books across multiple devices. Currently, users can read Google eBooks in JavaScript-enabled browsers, in iOS and Android-powered devices, and on any e-reader supporting Adobe’s eBook platform (which includes Barnes and Noble’s Nook, Sony’s Reader, and at least one of Borders’ many e-readers.) There is not yet support for the Amazon Kindle, Kobo, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile 7.
READ THIS REPORT Full story : Tim Conneally | www.betanews.com

Who Else Wants to Write Better Email Copy?

VR Retention Marketing Specialist, Amber Cleave, recently attended a DMA copywriting seminar in NYC. She came back with a ton of great insight, ideas and tips on how to improve our email and online copy.
      Here are Amber’s top 13 picks from the seminar to help you instantly improve your email copy
READ THIS REPORT Full story : verticalresponse.com

Seven Reasons Newspapers Are Not Rebounding Financially

This was to be a year of convalescence for newspapers, not a total recovery but a dramatic improvement on the dismal results of 2008 and 2009. However, with third-quarter earnings in and just seven weeks left in 2010, the industry’s vital signs are distinctly mixed.
      The good news first. Newspapers are solvent and profitable, often quite profitable on an operating basis.
READ THIS REPORT Full story : www.poynter.org

Dire Financial Situation: USPS Emphasizes Its Eco-Friendly

Facing a flood of red ink, the U.S. Postal Service is advertising its – green – side this Christmas season. That includes a boast that thousands of mail carriers make their deliveries on foot.
      – We’re one of the greenest mailing and shipping companies in the world,” said Sam Pulcrano, the Postal Service’s vice president of sustainability in a news release on Monday. He touted the Postal Services – eco-friendly – shipping supplies, free package pickup and holiday cards printed on recycled paper.
READ THIS REPORT Full story : www.cnsnews.com

Making all postage ‘forever’ is right move

Like many industries, the U.S. Postal Service has been in upheaval over the past decade. Increased shipping competition has cut into its business, along with the double whammy of the economic recession and increased use of the Internet. USPS has been forced to slash expenses and bolster revenue wherever possible.
      One has to go no farther than the local post office to see how the agency has implemented new products and practices to achieve greater efficiency as well as enhance customer service.
READ THIS REPORT Full story : www.battlecreekenquirer.com

E-book sales outdo print

Millions of gift-wrapped iPads, Kindles, Nooks and other digital reading devices resulted in an unprecedented surge in sales of e-books last week.
      USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list shows digital’s new popularity: E-book versions of the top six books outsold the print versions last week. And of the top 50, 19 had higher e-book than print sales.
READ THIS REPORT Full story : www.usatoday.com

Analysis: Book publishers may suffer in world without Borders

Book publishers reeling from low sales and lower prices of electronic books will suffer more if the United States’ second-largest chain of bookstores goes out of business.
      Last week, Borders Group Inc (BGP.N) said it was delaying payments to some of its vendors, including book publishers and distributors, as it searches for new financing to avoid violating the terms of its credit agreements early in 2011.
READ THIS REPORT Full story : www.reuters.com


GO
SEE the previous PUBLISHING UPDATE

And, thanks for reading

Fred Showker

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