Encyclopaedia Britannica, the 244-year-old company, recently announced it would stop printing encyclopedias. Of course this triggered a flurry of talk about the end of printed books, magazines, and newspapers and a once-great company humbled by shifts in technology. But to fall into that narrative is to miss the greatest lesson of the story. Innovating, creating something new, playing the beginning of the game is the easy part. Britannica offers us invaluable insight into the much harder half of the innovation process: how to play the end game.You see, every game--chess, tennis, business--has an end. Every business will eventually die. We cannot escape this inevitability. Yet we hold on to the fantasy that somehow OUR company will be different, that our company is “built to last.” The key to long life in business is knowing how to play the end game so that you can position yourself to play the next game. Britannica seems to be doing that well.The Wi-Fi PatternTo understand what is going on here, think about Wi-Fi (wireless Internet) service. Ten years ago when you walked into a Starbucks you had to pay for Wi-Fi access. Now you get it for free. If something doesn’t cost anything to provide, eventually someone will give it away for free. Or as an economist would say, over the long run, the market price of any competitive product or service reaches its margin cost.Wikipedia has proven that there are lots of smart people out there who are willing to write content for free.... Continue reading at 'Fast Company'
[ Fast Company | 2012-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The NEA’s Read Across America program continues through Saturday with a number of locations around the country celebrating children's literacy. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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South End Press, Boston-based press that folded last year, has struck a deal to have four of its stranded titles distributed by Duke University Press. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lots of good news for indies this week, from a 27% increase in the number of new member stores since 2009 to the re-opening of Bonnie Slotnik Cookbook’s in New York City’s East Village. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s trade division sales fell 4% in 2014 and it had a $2.9 million net loss in 2014 compared to net income of $6.5 million in 2013. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Winter weather continues to affect bookstores and other small businesses, particularly in the Boston area, which is winding down its celebration of Valentine's Week. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Faber is ending its partnership with American publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) after 17 years, ahead of announcing new plans for its business in the US. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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They were three college students reading magazines like Cosmo, Marie Claire and Vogue. And they just knew: Something was missing. They were craving content geared specifically to college women, and as they investigated further, they realized they had found a hole in the media... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2015-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Orion has bought two gift humour books, including a cookbook inspired by "Game of Thrones". Anna Valentine, publishing director, non-fiction, bought world rights directly from Rory Scarfe at Furniss Lawton for Game of Scones: All Men Must Dine by Jammy Lannister, and Motivational Quotes to Help... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A flurry of bookselling events took place this week, including the introduction of carefully culled French sections, or "corners," in seven indies around the country. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In popular genres such as sci-fi and fantasy, fan fiction based on the Wattpad model could easily disrupt the publishing industryFor a few years in the mid 2000s, I was the young librarian who got sent to schools to convince kids they really did want to read books. The truth of my experience was... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chicken House and Altitude, a film production company, are teaming up to develop book and film projects simultaneously. “Instead of waiting for a final book to take into movie production, we will find scripts or treatments together and develop them at the same time,” said Barry Cunningham, m.d.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The BBC has changed the “bleak” ending of J K Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy for its TV adaptation, due to be screened this month. Screenwriter Sarah Phelps told the Telegraph that she had had to come up with a redemptive ending for the story, set in the fictional village of Pagford. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After attracting more than 50m monthly readers on tablets and smartphones, US startup smashes down its walled garden and hopes partners will see the potentialFlipboard came to prominence as a news-reading app for tablets and smartphones, attracting more than 50 million monthly active readers by... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With the addition of 59 new store members to the ABA last year—the most since 2008—this has been a good week for booksellers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Protestors in Cardiff will use National Libraries Day this weekend to raise awareness of cuts facing the city's library service. Campaigners in Birmingham have already announced their own plans to protest on the day, forming a human chain "hugging" the threatened Library of Birmingham. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A blizzard that dumped 19 inches of snow on Chicago on Sunday disrupted the travel plans of publishers in town for the library conference. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With Snapchat Discover launching earlier this week, publishers now have a new way to tease their content on social media and find backing from brands. The new offering allows marketers to directly sponsor stories on the platform, getting their names in front of a younger audience. We spoke to... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2015-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The indie bookstore revival continues with a newly opened store in Plattsburgh, N.Y., and new stores slated for Detroit and Decatur. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Crime writer Ian Rankin is working on a new Rebus novel. The author gave hints about the new book to his Twitter followers, writing: “So much *plot* in this new book I'm doing, I'm having to focus on that so it doesn't wriggle away from me. Character/nuance/etc for later.” He continued: “Once I... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British children’s book start-up Lost My Name is planning to expand into several new territories in 2015 after claiming it outsold Julia Donaldson’s Superworm in 2015. The company sells personalised picture books via its website www.lostmy.name. Customers create a book by entering the name... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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