Medium founder and CEO Ev Williams disclosed today in a blog post that his four-and-a-half-year-old company is eliminating 50 jobs and shutting down offices in New York and Washington, D.C. In a philosophical letter to the public, he recounted how his team's ultimate goals had gotten off course thanks to the monetization model known as advertising. "We set out to build a better publishing platform—one that allowed anyone to offer their stories and ideas to the world and that helped the great ones rise to the top," Williams wrote. "In 2016, we made big investments in teams and technology aimed at attracting and migrating commercial publishers to Medium. And in order to get these publishers paid, we built out and started selling our first ad products. This strategy worked in terms of driving growth, as well as improving the volume and consistency of great content." While it appears Medium is doing away with its sponsored posts ads product, he wrote that 2016 was his company's best year in terms of key metrics. For instance, published posts jumped roughly 300 percent year over year, and monthly visitors reportedly reached 60 million in December, representing a 140 percent year-over-year increase. Medium, a digital storytelling platform, has even attracted scores of public figures—most notably President Barack Obama—to get their messages out. Meanwhile, publishers of all sizes have been able to try to make money off their Medium stories, which have been sponsored in... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'
[ AdWeek | 2017-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The New York Times is one of the initial major publishers to unveil a Google Glass app, which will allow the currently scant number of users of the wearable device to access stories on the go. The app's audio component reads headlines and story summaries aloud and provides breaking news alerts. ... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2013-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter has often been cited as anathema to long-form journalism, but one of the social giant's co-founders thinks the two concepts can work together. Medium, a content production and delivery platform started by Twitter and Blogger co-founder Ev Williams, has acquired the sci-tech long-form... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2013-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The books series cited as being most often subject to complaints in 2012, as determined by a study by the American Library Association, wes Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants books. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As World Book Night approaches again, a list of rankings shows where volunteers – who give away free books on April 23 – are most heavily clustered in the US. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Medium's hypothesis has always been that people create better things when they work together. The publishing platform's newest tool helps its authors do just that. Biz Stone and Ev Williams' founding mantra for Medium, the publishing platform they launched last August, was, "People create... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tribune Co. has promoted Kathy Thomson, president and chief operating officer of the Los Angeles Times, to the newly created position of chief operating officer of Tribune’s publishing division. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Flipboard latest update democratizes content curation on the service, introduces search, and provides integration with Etsy. With 50 million users, Flipboard, the social news magazine available on the iPhone and iPad, has become a dominant player in content curation. Now, with competition in... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A start-up is hoping to create a new digital publishing platform for independent authors that... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A preview of the 50th Bologna Book Fair includes the TOC Bologna program, Sweden as the Guest of Honor Country, and a list of award winners recognized during the fair. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fairfax Media is rolling out a number of initiatives this year as part of its ‘Fairfax of the Future’ strategy which aims to streamline operations and support the publisher’s shift to multi-platform delivery. The compa ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For many children's book industry professionals around the globe, a trip to the Bologna Children's Book Fair has become a familiar, and always welcome, rite of spring. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quercus Children's is planning to expand its list by 50% over the next two years, with growth... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Biz Stone's and Ev Williams's fledgling online publishing platform takes a few more social steps toward maturity. Medium, from the same minds that brought us Twitter, is already a new kind of online publishing platform...and now it's trying out a novel commenting system for published pieces:... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Possibly the most successful house maid in the world, the children's book character Amelia Bedelia turns 50 on Tuesday. More than 35 million copies of the books have sold. Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2013-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Libraries in York could be run by community or social enterprise, after the city's council... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Dispatch Publishing Group is shutting down production of The Other Paper. Once Columbus’s only alternative weekly, the Dispatch bought The Other Paper in 2011 from American Community Newspapers. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The New York Times is getting into the ebooks business through partnerships with digital publishers Byliner and Vook. The Times will up to 12 original e-singles through Byliner on a variety of topics including culture, sports, business, science, and health. The first Byliner title, "Snow Fall:... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Magazine closures were down nearly 50 percent from last year, while launches declined 5 percent, according to a recent report released by online periodicals database Mediafinder.com. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Employees at book publisher Random House are getting a little something extra in their fishnet Christmas stockings this year, a $5,000 bonus. The bonus, which will be the same for top editors as their secretaries, follows a particularly good year for the publishing house in... Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2012-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp. said on Monday that it is shutting down The Daily, its ambitious but expensive attempt to create an iPad newspaper, on Dec. 15. The decision follows a 22-month effort that delivered both some significant achievements—developing the iPad as a publishing platform, for example, and... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2012-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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