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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Publishers launching titles on the new Apple interactive textbook platform [part of the iBooks 2... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A group of writers in India have set up a petition calling for the lifting of the country's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The actress Jennifer Lawrence in a scene from the movie adaptation of "The Hunger Games." Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rupert Murdoch's US media giant News Corp is expanding its presence in the Middle East media market and beyond by agreeing to acquire a minority stake in Dubai-based media company Moby Group. Under the deal, News Corp will relinquish its 50 per ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble shares under pressure as company explores Nook ebook business options Continue reading at MarketWatch.com
[ MarketWatch.com | 2012-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstone's m.d. James Daunt has called for the government to intervene over tax rates, as... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury has readied a slew of publishing to tie into the latest movie from the team behind... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Mon, 14/11/2011 - 08:15 Templar plans to grow its fiction output to 35 titles by 2013, following its move into fiction last year with an initial seven titles. The biggest growth will be in young fiction, although commissioning editor Helen Boyle said... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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We believe contextualized commerce is the future, says Michela OConnor Abrams, president and publisher of Dwell. We believe everybody, no matter from which point theyre starting, now is going in that direction. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 11/11/2011 - 07:35 The Booksellers Association is calling for the end of tax and business rate concessions for charity bookshops, saying that they represent "unfair competition" to high street booksellers. The call comes amid claims... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Gayle Feldman Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 17:18 Barnes & Noble is to expand its ebook service internationally next year, the company's chief executive has revealed. The development was revealed at the company's New York press conference at which it unveiled its $249... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 08:45 Amazon has acquired a memoir by bestselling author Dr Deepak Chopra and his brother Dr Sanjiv Chopra. Amazon's Larry Kirshbaum and David Oldawer at Amazon's New York publishing imprint bought world English rights for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 04/11/2011 - 15:27 World Book Day is set for a 2012 revamp, with new management, branding and digital promotional ideas hoping to achieve more than one million book token redemptions. WBD will return on 1st March 2012led by childrens marketing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 21/10/2011 - 11:35 Vampirates author and long-time children's book publicist Justin Somper has set up Author Profile, a training company aimed at helping authors navigate the media and social networking. Writers including Damian Kelleher,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 07/10/2011 - 14:39 Independent publishers are predicting that ebook sales may make up as much as 15% of their total sales by the end of 2011, as FutureBook's Digital Census reveals that a quarter of UK publishers now have ebook sales which... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 29/09/2011 - 08:20 Independent booksellers are lining up special events for Haruki Murakami's eagerly awaited 1Q84 (Harvill Secker) with Foyles planning a midnight opening. The book, Murakami's first since 2007's After Dark, will be published on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Yahoo is gearing up to launch an HTML 5-based system called Livestand for magazine publishers wanting to cut the costs of getting onto iPad and Android apps. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2011-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page and Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 15/09/2011 - 09:51 Publishers are being kept waiting for the conclusion of the Office of Fair Trading's investigation into ebook prices, begun at the start of this year, with the OFT now in the process of assessing all the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 14/09/2011 - 09:00 Internet venture Afictionado plans to launch a pay-monthly ebook library in 2012. The company is yet to approach publishers to take part in the scheme, but is promising to offer "strong returns" to publishing partners, paying... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Following the call for a break-up and reorganization of McGraw-Hill Cos. by investors last month, McGraw-Hill announced today that it will split into two separate public companies: McGraw-Hill Markets, focused on the capital and commodities markets, and McGraw-Hill Education, focused on... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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