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 bankruptcy court overseeing Cengage Learning’s Chapter 11 proceedings has approved the company’s plan of reorganization. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Campaigners are planning to picket the re-opening of the Women's Library tonight (12th March... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Still captivated by the distinctive small Virginia town where he grew up, Billy Coffey returns to its proxy in his latest novel, which explores what happens when 20 years’ worth of guilt about a young man’s untimely death overtakes three high school classmates. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW and the U.K.’s BookBrunch are once again teaming up to produce three print Show Dailies for the London Book Fair as well as a supplement focused on the fair’s digital events. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Let Books Be Books campaign wins instant repsonse from publisher Usborne, in time for International Women's DayA campaign to break down gender divides in children's publishing has met with instant success, after one of the publishers under fire announced they will stop producing titles labelled... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tribune Company has named Jack Griffin CEO of its publishing unit, the company said Thursday. His first day is April 14.The publishing unit, which consists of eight newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, was formed last July when Tribune announced its intention to spin... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With Spring just around the corner, here are some of the best cold-weather comics to see out the end of the season. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sephora has released a makeup line based on the upcoming movie 'Divergent,' adapted from the young adult book of the same name by Veronica Roth. Fellow young adult franchise 'The Hunger Games' also had tie-in makeup products, as well as a clothing line. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Heavy Metal Magazine has been purchased by two show-biz veterans who have an ambitious plan to relaunch it. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sephora has released a makeup line based on the upcoming movie 'Divergent,' adapted from the young adult book of the same name by Veronica Roth. Fellow young adult franchise 'The Hunger Games' also had tie-in makeup products, as well as a clothing line. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Writing for The Guardian, Robert McCrum observes that “the credit crunch and the internet are making writing as a career harder than it has been for a generation.” Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Military history publisher Osprey Publishing is to create a dedicated games division to develop... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Celebrating great writing by women and taking it to a wider audience than ever before are the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pocket Gems, the San Francisco-based mobile gaming company, has launched Episode, a new mobile gaming platform, that includes a writer’s portal that will enable anyone to utilize the platform to create their own animated story. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Since Valve released the first stable version of Steam for Linux a year ago, the number of Linux-supported games has grown more than fivefold.Valve's digital game distribution service now hosts 333 games for Linux, compared to 60 games last February. (Strangely, Steam's store page claims that... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2014-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Currently soliciting crowdfunding, scheme hopes to transpose website's 2.6bn words onto paper for touring exhibitionIt would run to over a million pages, featuring more than four million articles by 20 million volunteers: an "record-breaking" new project to turn Wikipedia into 1,000 books has... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When it comes to online publishing, building an audience organically with compelling content and monetizing it successfully with ads from big-name brands is extremely hard work. Luckily, there's a much easier way to make money: Arbitrage.The post Tricks of the trade: How to game the publishing... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Crime writer Lynda La Plante has launched a new company, La Plante Global, which will control all... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Marie Claire is a highly polished magazine; its recent foray into digital video was not.The Hearst-owned title live-streamed its first dating show "The Love Match" on Friday, where three women "looking to find love" were paired with one of three eligible bachelors. Marie Claire staffers... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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