College textbook maker Pearson eyes NFTs to claim a cut of second-hand sales

NFT advocates often tout the technology's ability to grant the creator a cut of second-hand sales as one of its major attributes. Artists can earn from one of their digital creations years after first selling it. Others are looking at NFTs to earn a buck from the secondary market too, including the publishers of college textbooks.Pearson, which said in 2019 it would focus on digital textbook sales, wants a piece of the action. “In the analogue world, a Pearson textbook was resold up to seven times, and we would only participate in the first sale,” CEO Andy Bird told Bloomberg this week. “The move to digital helps diminish the secondary market, and technology like blockchain and NFTs allows us to participate in every sale of that particular item as it goes through its life."There's an obvious reason why students resell textbooks. They're expensive! Students often have to spend hundreds of dollars on required materials each semester — or even hundreds of dollars on a single textbook. Selling on a textbook when it's no longer needed just makes sense.Turning textbooks into NFTs and banking on the blockchain to track ownership of them (from “owner A to owner B to owner C,” as Bird put it) seems unnecessary, though. Digital rights management already exists and doesn't need to go anywhere near cryptocurrency. Pearson has a $15 per month subscription service for its textbooks as well.Bird could simply be bloviating about a zeitgeisty technology to try and keep Pearson's investors... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2022-08-03 20:10:20 UTC ]
News tagged with: #second-hand sales #nft advocates #major attributes #secondary market #analogue world #makes sense #pearson

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S&S Has Gains in Sales, Earnings in Q3

With sales of both print and digital books rising in the third quarter, revenue at Simon & Schuster increased 28.5% over the quarter ended September 30, 2109, and profits were up 5.5%. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-06 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Print Unit Sales Rose 9.5% At the End of October

With sales up in all categories, unit sales of print books rose 9.5% in the week ended Oct. 31, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-06 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette backs bookshops' online sales of Rowling's Ickabog

Hachette Children's Books has said the publisher will be "pivoting" promotional plans for J K Rowling's The Ickabog to support closed bookshops. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-05 10:01:07 UTC ]
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HBG Sales Rose 19% in Q3

Led by the megabestseller 'Midnight Sun' and 'The Return,' sales at Hachette Book Group jumped 19.2% in the quarter ended September 30, 2020, over the comparable period in 2019. Digital sales also had solid gains in the period. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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For Sale: Toni Morrison’s Apartment and Personal Library

The Nobel Prize-winning author edited as she read and alphabetized her 1,200-plus book collection by last name. The post For Sale: Toni Morrison’s Apartment and Personal Library appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2020-11-04 21:30:53 UTC ]
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HMH Trade Group for Sale; Archer Departs

In an attempt to become a "pure-play learning technology company," HMH is looking to sell its trade group, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media. Group president Ellen Archer has left the company. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-04 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury to repay staff £700K in pandemic wage cuts

Bloomsbury has announced it will repay almost £700,000 to staff who took a pay cut during the first months of the pandemic, following the publisher's most succesful interim results since 2008. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-03 08:01:03 UTC ]
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Retail site Bookshop makes £65k sales on UK launch day

New online retailer Bookshop.org secured sales of around £65,000 in its first day, making £16,000 for indies. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-02 12:21:42 UTC ]
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Johnny Depp loses libel case against Sun over claims he beat ex-wife Amber Heard

Pirates of Caribbean actor had sued newspaper publisher for damage to his reputationThe Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has lost his high-stakes libel action in the London courts against the Sun after the newspaper described him as a “wife beater”.The high court dismissed the claim by the Pirates of... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-11-02 11:23:11 UTC ]
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Memoir sales surge in post-Covid market

 Since lockdown ended, sales of biographies and autobiographies have spiked, rising 16% in volume and 20% in value against the same period last year. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-02 06:35:06 UTC ]
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Annie Bell | 'Cutting down on waste is an area where we can all contribute as consumers'

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-01 23:08:18 UTC ]
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Trade Publishing Sales Were Solid Through September

Sales of adult trade books rose 8.9% through the first nine months of 2020 over the comparable period in 2019, and sales in the children/young adult segment increased 7.7% for publishers that report sales to AAP’s StatShot program. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
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2019 North American Comics Sales Rose 11%

Combined sales of graphic novels and comics periodicals reached $1.21 billion in North America in 2019, a new record, according to a joint estimate by trade news sites ICv2 and Comichron. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Print Unit Sales Still Solid in Late October

Strong gains in all categories led to a 13% increase in unit sales of print books in the week ended Oct. 24, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Unit Sales Declined 5.1% Last Week

With declines in all categories except adult nonfiction, unit sales of print books fell 5.1% last week at outlets that report to BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter publisher says Covid has weaved magic over book sales

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[ The Guardian | 2020-10-27 12:22:12 UTC ]
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4 higher education experts on how COVID-19 is upending the college experience

Leaders from 2U, Global Citizen Year, Minerva, and Pearson reveal which elements of the higher-ed ecosystem are getting stronger and which are poised to collapse. For Fast Company’s Shape of Tomorrow series, we’re asking business leaders to share their inside perspective on how the COVID-19 era... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2020-10-27 07:00:15 UTC ]
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AT&T cuts more than 8,700 workers in third quarter amid Covid-19

The cuts are the biggest since the surge in employees at the time of the Time Warner acquisition in 2018. Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2020-10-26 17:04:42 UTC ]
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Online sales push Bloomsbury to best first-half since 2008

Bloomsbury Publishing has delivered its highest first half earnings since 2008, as "signficantly higher” online book sales and e-book revenues led to year-on-year profit growth of 60% to £4m in the six months ended 31st August 2020. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-26 15:50:49 UTC ]
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Print Unit Sales Rose 13.4% In Early October

Unit sales of print books increased 13.4% in the week ended Oct. 10, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, with three new titles topping the bestseller list. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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