Archive
Free (conomics)
We’ve long, long, long-since argued that giving books away for free online is a great way to market them.
However, not all - in fact very few, possibly close to none - of our clients agrees, despite some great anecdotal evidence from the like of Corey Doctorow, Seth Godin and now, as fate would have [...]
Published: February 11, 2008. Read more →
Reaching Readers Online - follow up
So, a few technical hitches* aside, Thursday went well. The seminar was held at the London Stock Exchange, which was all very shiny and expensive and flash. (I particularly enjoyed seeing The Source sculpture first hand.)
All of the files presented are available here as PDF (with and without notes), and embedded Powerpoint.
My favourite bit was [...]
Published: February 4, 2008. Read more →
Reaching Readers Online - 2008
Update: All of my files from the presentation are available for download here
I’ve been asked back to The Bookseller’s Reaching Readers Online seminar, which takes place at the end of this Month.
There’s some really interesting people looking like taking part, including those within the publishing industry (from Penguin, Little Brown and Headline) and within the [...]
Published: January 10, 2008. Read more →
New project live: The Wisdom of Whores
If things have been quiet around here - in terms of blog posts at least - it’s because we’ve been running fast at a number of projects over the last few months. No excuse for paltry blogging, but we’re coming to the point where some of these projects are now going live.
The first out is [...]
Published: December 6, 2007. Read more →
Fair Trade Books?
Being green is high on the publishing agenda these days, thankfully, although which agenda is up for some debate.
The mainstream UK publishing industry has dipped a toe in the water with the no-returns initiative, and shouting about printing on recycled (or at least sustainable) paper. Both have had mixed successes and are far from being [...]
Published: October 18, 2007. Read more →
Freeconomics: Radiohead vs. Publishers
As we all know, last week Radiohead did something interesting. I’d like to acknowledge that it was a very smart (and lucrative) thing for an established band to do - and to use it as an entry point into debate about the future of the book and its distribution online.
To recap, from our perspective [...]
Published: October 9, 2007. Read more →
Interesting Times
What is it about smart, entrepreneurial and successful managers that is suddenly drawing them to the book business?
In a week not short of dramas - one that has seen the whole PFD drama and the defection of Richard Charkin to Bloomsbury - the gossipers (i.e. us) have had a hard time keeping up and knowing [...]
Published: September 28, 2007. Read more →
The 100,000 hits of Gil Scott Heron
Talking of Canongate. When I worked there (from 1997-2001), I came up with a crazy idea to reconcile my love for pop videos / the web with my frustration at publishing books that couldn’t reach a wider audience.
The idea was simple - give my film-maker /animator mates a copy of a Canongate book, a [...]
Published: August 26, 2007. Read more →
Pelicans and sinking feelings.
Just a brief one.
I was at a party on Saturday night, and ran into an old friend-of-a-friend, who is a freelance (books) journalist. He writes on publishing (and also reviews) for The Times, The Guardian, Time Out and a number of other well-respected publications. I reminded him what I do - the brief version, which [...]
Green Spin
It’s not often that I commend the publishing industry on a brilliant piece of tactical maneuvering. But I have to say that the recent spinning adopted [subscription required, sorry] (by John Makinson among others) to justify abolishing sale or return terms on environmental grounds is absolute genius:
Penguin c.e.o. John Makinson has mooted a move to [...]
Published: August 17, 2007. Read more →