Scribd, HarperCollins deal casts long digital shadow

Whether publishers want it or not, the Netflix model is coming to the book business.The San Francisco startup Scribd, best known as a site for posting PDFs of documents, announced Tuesday it is launching a multi-platform digital book subscription service that will provide access to a wide range of titles for $9 a month. Users can read ebooks on iOS and Android devices, as well as on Web browsers, and keep as many as 20 titles available for reading offline.Unlike other Netflix-like services that have launched recently, including Manhattan-based Oyster, Scribd is starting with thousands of titles from HarperCollins, or the majority of the publisher's backlist up until July 2012. Getting the cooperation of the so-called Big Five New York publishing houses has been the holy grail of subscription-service startups, and having even one of them represents a significant advance.More than 30 smaller publishers are also working with Scribd, including Sourcebooks, Workman and Kensington.Scribd, founded in 2007, also starts out with a high profile and an enormous user-base: It claims 80 million active readers monthly, and says that the subscription service—which soft-launched in January—has been growing by 60% every month. The company declined to provide subscriber numbers."There's never been an access model rolled out with this level of support and scale," said Trip Adler, Scribd's 29-year-old CEO and co-founder.Publishers have typically shied away from subscription services on the... Continue reading at 'Crains New York'

[ Crains New York | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Catching the Digital Wave

In the early days of the digital revolution, most independent publishers were moving slower than the larger houses in getting on the ebook bandwagon. That period has clearly passed. With only a couple of exceptions, the publishers that made it onto this year’s edition of PW’s fast-growing small... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-Books on Tablets Fight Digital Distractions

Reading a book on a tablet like the Kindle Fire is “like trying to cook when there are little children around,” David Myers said. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2012-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital Self-Publishing: Should Publishers Be Worried?

Self-publishing an essay through Amazon is a reminder of the benefits of a traditional publishing house. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2012-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With FUSION, Zinio Adds DIY Digital Publishing

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[ Folio Magazine | 2012-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jackie Collins enters digital self-publishing

Jackie Collins is going into self-publishing, with plans to release an ebook version of The... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-book deal's the steal of the century; 4000 pirated books

An Australian group-buying site owned by Microsoft and Nine sold ebook readers bundled with a treasure trove of thousands of pirated books including the full Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald

[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2012-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Dow Jones Digital Boss Gordon McLeod Lands at Krux

Gordon McLeod, the former head of Dow Jones's digital publications, has a new job, at an ad tech start-up. He's now president at Krux, a two-year-old "data management platform" that helps publishers control "cookie" data that tracks Web surfers' movements. Last fall, Krux raised $11 million in a... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2012-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Daily-deal sites offer magazines circulation growth

Daily-deal sites like Groupon have proved a challenge for restaurants that can't handle the influx of hundreds of customers redeeming deals all at once. Publishing companies, however, are built to scale their audience as needed. For the past two years, there's been a healthy amount of debate—and... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2012-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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GateHouse Media to use SAXOTECH to Manage Print and Digital Content Across Publishing Platforms

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[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pearson sees digital profits rise

Educational publisher and FT owner, Pearson reports a rise in profits thanks to improved digital sales and growth in emerging markets. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2012-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Adobe Technology Powering Massive Growth in Digital Publishing

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[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Top Digital Marketing Strategies

For businesses outside of publishing, creating a digital marketing strategy is a rather straightforward endeavor — use digital media to introduce and marry the supplier of the good or service with a consumer. For publishers, however, devi ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amanda Knox signs book deal

Knox, who had her murder conviction overturned in October, will publish a memoir through HarperCollins. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two-book deal with Barden for Ebury

Ebury Press has signed a two-book deal with Jenny Barden, who is this year's organiser of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen King to release audio digital story

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Libraries, Tech-Smart Authors, and the Coming Digital Apocalypse

Whatever else can be said about Tools of Change, O’Reilly Media’s traveling road show on publishing and technological change, it seems to come along just when a concentrated dose of discussion—or perhaps muted confrontation—is needed. Over the course of the three-day conference in New York City,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media Decoder Blog: HarperCollins Is Said to Acquire Rights to Amanda Knox Memoir

Many in the publishing world were convinced that Ms. Knox's story would be a huge best seller, overcoming concerns that she may not be a sympathetic figure to some of the public. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2012-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harvill signs two-book deal with Neville

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers need to expand digital backlist, says Bilbary founder

Publishers need to place a greater emphasis in getting their backlist titles published digitally... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bedford Square Books strikes exclusive Tesco deal

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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