Can Data Help Maker Studios Guarantee a Hit for The Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman?

In a heated exchange before a judge, YouTuber Commander Holly (real name: Holly Conrad) faces off against actress Tina Huang. The issue at hand is one that has divided many a Trekkie: William Riker, yay or nay? Welcome to Nerd Court, where arguments that one might normally witness at a comic book store instead are heard in a "court of law," à la The People's Court or Judge Judy. (Other raging debates include Star Wars vs. Star Trek, and which film series features better magic, The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.) The six-episode Web series, which premiered March 4, is a passion project of Maker Labs, a division of Disney-owned multichannel network Maker Studios, and Skybound Entertainment, the media company owned by Robert Kirkman, executive producer of AMC's hit zombie thriller The Walking Dead and creator of the comic book series on which the show is based. "It's a whole tongue-in-cheek show, but it's a lot of fun," says Kirkman. The combination of Kirkman, the creative force behind one of television's top series, and Maker Studios—which, with more than 11 billion monthly views, is the largest content distributor on YouTube—pretty much ensures Nerd Court will attract a degree of viewership. And yet neither side wants to leave that to chance. The Maker Labs model will give Skybound, on whose YouTube channel the show runs, an expansive layer of data based on social media insights to inform its creative decisions. Maker believes that formula will enable Kirkman's... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2015-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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L.A. Times Festival of Books Hits the Mark Again

The spirit of literary camaraderie makes itself known at the 19th L.A. Times Festival of Books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors Guild Hits Back at Google Ruling

Late Friday afternoon, the Authors Guild filed its appeal in its copyright infringement lawsuit against Google. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Graywolf Has Hit with 'Empathy Exams'

Leslie Jamison’s collection of nonfiction essays about pain, "The Empathy Exams," is hitting a nerve in more ways than one: the April 1 Graywolf Press release is landing on bestseller lists and has gone into a sixth print run. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors on the Air April 11, 2014: Robert Dawson

Robert Dawson, author of "The Public Library: A Photographic Essay" (Princeton Architectural Press, 9781616892173), will appear on "Weekend Edition Saturday" on Saturday, April 12. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: Big Data: Should Publishers Even Care?

Like many people across the business world, publishers have a skeptical view of so-called Big Data, seeing it as “the next big hype.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Print isn't dead after all; mags record upbeat quarter

The struggles of print media are far from over, but the first quarter of 2014 has been a particularly upbeat period for the magazine business, and not just because 35 titles launched, compared with... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2014-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Print isn't dead after all, magazine biz shows signs of revival

The struggles of print media are far from over, but the first quarter of 2014 has been a particularly upbeat period for the magazine business, and not just because 35 titles launched, compared with... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2014-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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William Morrow Finds Sleeper Hit in ‘Orphan Train’

Sixty thousand is the number of copies Christina Baker Kline thought her newest book, "Orphan Train," might sell in her “wildest dreams.” For a midlist author on her fifth novel, it was a lofty number. It turns out, it was also way too low. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why top digital publishers are betting on data dashboards for reporters

A breakdown of which publishers share traffic data with their own writers -- and which don't.The post Why top digital publishers are betting on data dashboards for reporters appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New data says less than 3 percent of children's books surveyed in 2013 were about black people

The Cooperative Children's Book Center of the University of Wisconsin – Madison found that of the new children's books they received at their center, less than 3 percent focused on black people and even fewer were by black authors (about 2 percent, according to the CCBC.) Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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War hero depicted in hit TV miniseries Band of Brothers dies at 90

William 'Wild Bill' Guarnere fought in some of Europe's toughest battlesWilliam "Wild Bill" Guarnere, one of the second world veterans whose exploits were dramatised in the TV miniseries Band of Brothers, has died. He was 90.His son, William Guarnere Jr, confirmed on Sunday that his father died... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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March 2014 Audio Books: In the Studio

Kay to give the play-by-play of Rivera’s ‘Closer’ and more in this month's audio book news. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Touré Roberts: Focusing Through Faith

Touré Roberts excelled in business, but ended up founding a church in L.A. with many musicians and actors in the congregation. Now his business savvy and unique pastoral experiences have led to a book he hopes will help readers “understand how to move in one direction," using faith to conquer... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Guardian digital revenues hit £70m

Publisher of the Guardian and Observer to announce 25% rise in revenues in year to end of March 2014The Guardian is expected to report an increase in digital revenues of more than a quarter to almost £70m in the last year, as the future of its national newspaper titles is secured for the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What Do Data Brokers Know About Me?

This essay is excerpted from Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance, by Julia Angwin, published by Times Books. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2014-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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UK Startups Tackle Ebook Gifting, Data Mining

Tech is returning dividends to publishing, with Valobox's 'Gift an Ebook' program and Bookseer's advanced social media data mining and price analytics. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Peanuts Gang Hits Sourcebooks' Digital Platform

Sourcebooks announced this morning that the Chicago-based publisher is adding the Peanuts gang to its Put Me in the Story digital platform, which allows parents to create personalized versions of children's books as an app or in print format. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook must comply with German data protection law, court rules

Facebook has to comply with German data protection law, the Higher Court of Berlin ruled in a decision that directly contradicted an earlier decision by another court.The Berlin court confirmed a 2012 verdict that found that Facebook’s Friend Finder violated German law because it was unclear to... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2014-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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JK Rowling to publish second novel as Robert Galbraith

The Silkworm focuses on killing of a vindictive novelist who has written character assassinations of his peersThe new novel from JK Rowling, written under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith, will feature a novelist who is brutally murdered after writing poison pen-portraits of nearly everyone he... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The beautiful magazines setting out to prove print isn't dead

A new wave of publishers is bucking the digital trend with stylishly printed magazines that are as much a joy to hold as beholdSee a gallery of some of the best-looking new magazinesThe magazine is dead, long live the magazine. It's not so much a resurrection of the magazine in the digital age... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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