Has Social Media Made Search-Driven Publishing Irrelevant?

The growing importance of social media, coupled with the powerful wrath of Google, have shaken the once-hot world of cheap search-driven publishing. About.com recently dumped its CEO. Yahoo’s $100 million acquisition of Associated Content (now Yahoo Voices) has yielded a network of 700,000 freelancers who produce secondary content on sites like Yahoo Sports and OMG, but advertisers say they haven’t heard about it in more than a year. Meanwhile, AOL’s Seed project is essentially in limbo. In fact, visitors to Seed.com are currently greeted with the message "We are in the process of reformatting Seed.com and new assignments are currently on hold." In a statement, AOL said it has reduced the number of Seed freelancers “as we evaluate how best to integrate its strengths within [the company].” And then there’s Demand Media, which pioneered the practice of churning out thousands of articles based on Google search data. Last week, three of Demand’s founders exited, a year after its underwhelming IPO. Its signature property, eHow.com, is still massive (around 50 million unique users) but has lost about 10 million users since Google adjusted its algorithm to weed out low-quality content. Demand has very publicly pivoted to celebrity-centric content and splashier design to attract advertisers. Still, Facebook and Twitter likely have more to do with the category’s decline than Google. Wetpaint and BuzzFeed are among a new breed of publishers mastering the creation of highly... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2012-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #necessarily viewed #selling point #horizon media #founders left #team monitors #fans react #specific characters #smart strategy

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Has Social Media Made Search-Driven Publishing Irrelevant?'


Despite Google Changes, Demand Media Foresees Q1 Growth

In a statement released yesterday, Demand Media reaffirms the financial outlook for fiscal year 2011 given on February 22, despite the Google algorithm change which took place in late February. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #late february


The Advocate Chooses DTI's Cloud Publishing Platform to Future-Proof Operations

The Advocate, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana newspaper owned by the Manship family is managing its content publishing infrastructure with DTI ContentPublisher and DTI Cloud. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #baton rouge


London Book Fair: 'Back with a vengeance', say publishers

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 09:05 read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


LBF: Execs say governments must be ?"made to listen" on copyright defence

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 13/04/2011 - 14:11 The industry must make a stronger case to government for strengthening safeguards on copyright, with the protection of authors at its heart, said senior international publishers speaking at London Book Fair's 40th anniversary... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #stronger case


Mehta hails publishing after lifetime award

Written By: Felicity Wood Publication Date: Wed, 13/04/2011 - 14:00 Sonny Mehta, editor-in-chief of Alfred A Knopf, has said publishing's editorial, marketing and publicity standards would guarantee the sector's relevance, as he was awarded the eighth LBF Lifetime Achievement Award in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Tynt Offers Tracking Tools for Publishers

A San Francisco-based company called Tynt is determined to allow publishers the opportunity to take full advantage of copy and paste user action. Already used by 600,000 publishers, the company released the Tynt’s Publisher Tools set in early February. The currently free suite of four tools... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #full advantage #company released #early february #free suite


Campaigners says publishers 'not interested' in library fight

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 13/04/2011 - 11:06 Library campaigner Tim Coates called on publishers to get involved in the fight to save public libraries, warning that the 500 currently threatened with closure will be followed by many more without action to protect the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #public libraries #london borough


LBF: Change needed, but publishing still vital

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 12/04/2011 - 09:29 Profile m.d. Andrew Franklin has dismissed self-publishing as irrelevant in a heated debate on the relevance of publishers. The discussion, held at yesterday's London Book Fair, was between Franklin, Bloomsbury's executive... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #andrew franklin #heated debate


LBF: Territoriality "key" for UK publishers

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 12/04/2011 - 09:28 Controlling world English-language rights is key to taking advantage of the global book economy for UK publishers, delegates have been told. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #uk publishers #taking advantage


PA backs publisher admission over piracy costs

Written By: Philip Jones and Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 12/04/2011 - 09:15 Publishers are having to spend more money to keep up with the pace of piracy, the chief executive of the PA has said, as robust debates over piracy affecting royalty rates dominated the first day of London Book... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fighting piracy #philip jones #richard mollet #david shelley #digital conference


Publishers back new PEN freedom initiative

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 11/04/2011 - 15:34 Penguin, Hachette Livre and Random House have all joined with PEN International for the launch of the literature-championing organisation’s latest initiative, the PEN International Publishers’ Circle. The scheme will see... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hachette livre #random house #pen international #financial support


Agents Keeping Foreign Publishers on Digital Leash

As the London Book Fair goes through its annual run this week, American agents are trying to figure out the best way to sell digital rights to foreign publishers in markets that are far behind the U.S. in ebook sales. Even though many international publishers are just starting to dabble in... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #foreign publishers #ebook sales #international publishers #digital books #local market #major houses #foreign deals


London Book Fair 2011: Social Networking for Bookworms

Until recently, reading a book had resisted technological advances, but like everything else, this has started to evolve and now we are embracing technology. Books are now more easily available in electronic format and sharing your opinion about a title – print or ebook – is more popular. So... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book lovers #social networking #electronic format


Publishers gloomy on Borders' turnaround plan

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 07/04/2011 - 09:05 US publishers have dismissed Borders' recovery plan, which includes revamped stores and increased online sales, as unrealistic and are increasingly gloomy about its future. The New York Times reports Borders senior... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #random house


Wink Publishing launches for budding authors

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 07/04/2011 - 15:58 A husband-and-wife team has launched an e-publishing company for new authors. Cornwall-based lawyers Nigel and Abbie Flanagan are calling on unpublished writers to submit the first 50 pages of their work to Wink Publishing.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #budding authors #husband-and-wife team #unpublished writers #public vote


Advantage Business Media Buys "Continuity Insights" Portfolio

Advantage Business Media, a b-to-b publisher targeting the communications, manufacturing, design and science markets, has purchased the assets of Continuity Insights from Gardner Publications. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Coronet to publish Tess Daly fiction

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 05/04/2011 - 16:11 Coronet will publish "Strictly Come Dancing" presenter Tess Daly's first sashay into fiction, having acquired The Camera Never Lies by the TV host. Editor Charlotte Haycock acquired British Commonwealth rights to the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #tv host


Historian Weir's backlist to be published digitally

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 13:02 Cornerstone and Vintage are planning to release historian Alison Weir's backlist in ebook format for the first time. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #published digitally #ebook format


Media Cache: Playing Catch-Up in E-Books

Outside the United States, the digital book business is still in its infancy and has problems to resolve before taking off. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #media cache #playing catch-


A Young (and Very Ambitious) Group of Publishers

The current crop of Russian publishers is collectively on the young side, many of them born shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Then, teething problems were many and the growth path rocky at times. But today these publishers produce nearly 120,000 new titles per year,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #young side #russian publishers #publishers produce #born shortly #soviet union #global ranking