European Digital Reading Lab, IDPF, Readium Foundation host first EPUB Summit in Bordeaux in April - TeleRead News: E-books, publishing, tech and beyond The European Digital Reading Lab (EDRLab), the Paris-based non-profit hub for digital reading and publishing development, has announced that it is partnering with the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) and the Readium Foundation to hold the “first edition” of the EPUB Summit, which will take place in Bordeaux, France, on April 7-8, 2016. EPUB “is becoming the reference format for the digital publishing industry,” proclaims the announcement, and the first EPUB Summit will consider “strategic questions” about the standard, and digital publishing in general. What is the development roadmap of the EPUB standard and its companion Readium open-source software? The creators of EPUB and Readium will be there to describe their progresses and plans. What is the future of EPUB? Advanced user experiences and W3C Portable Web Publications will be presented to the public. Which use of EPUB in education? The latest developments of the EDUPUB initiative will be detailed by its main stakeholders. How to create powerful EPUB publications? Cutting edge editorial tools will be demonstrated on stage. What about digital distribution of EPUB documents? European publishers and distribution platforms will share their key learnings and future developments.
Germany's fixed-price laws extended to e-books | The Bookseller Germany's fixed-price book laws are to be extended to e-books. The German cabinet announced that the law, intended to promote diversity within the trade, should be extended to electronic books yesterday (3rd February). Culture Minister Monika Gruetters said that the new rule will apply to cross-border book sales to buyers in Germany, regardless of where the seller is based, reported Reuters.
Predictions for the Digital Publishing Industry in 2016 The global audiobook industry is currently evaluated at 2.8 billion dollars and this is primarily due to the sheer amount of new titles that were produced in 2015. 43,000 new audiobooks were released this year, which is a slight increase from the 36,000 that came out in 2014 and a far cry from the 20,000 that were issued in 2013. According to a recent report by the American Association of publishers downloaded audio had the highest growth in the first eight months of 2015. The number of audiobooks sold increased 43.3% in August, compared to August 2014. This brings the year-to-date growth for this format to 37.8%, compared to the same timeframe in 2014. Publishers are willing to experiment with different models for audiobook distribution because they don’t abide by the same agency model that applies to e-books. Companies like Blackstone Audio, Gildan Media, Hachette Audio, HarperAudio, and Naxos Audiobooks have all committed themselves to audiobook subscription services and bundling.
Federation of European Publishers – Fédération des Editeurs européens 31, Rue Montoyer – 1000 Brussels Tel 32-2-770-11-10 – Fax 32-2-771-20-71 Website www.fep-fee.eu
The (Real) Future of Publishing | Digital Book World Markus Dohle, the CEO of Penguin Random House, recently said that “tech firms are a huge opportunity for publishers, they provide us with the opportunity to reach even more readers, and the book consumer base is growing by 25 million people a year, and so we need each other, and the relationship between tech firms and publishers should not be confrontational but collaborative.” His words were wise, with both a splash of optimism and warning. Publishers and authors who are only reading the headlines and examining the next fiscal quarter will miss the signs. But those who carefully examine the changing landscape have a distinct opportunity to prepare for a very different publishing world. Don’t be disillusioned. There was nothing wrong with email, public transportation or cameras, but they were all flipped upside down by Facebook, Uber and iPhones. Digital will change publishing. In fact, it already has.
BBC - Future - Are paper books really disappearing? “I think printed books just for plain old reading will, in 10 years from now, be unusual,” Shatzkin adds. “Not so unusual that a kid will say, ‘Mommy, what’s that?’ but unusual enough that on the train you’ll see one or two people reading something printed, while everyone else is reading off of a device.”
Libraries Lend Record Numbers of Ebooks and Audiobooks in 2015 | Digital Book World Ebook circulation was 125 million (19-percent growth over 2014) • Digital audiobook circulation was 43 million (36-percent growth over 2014) • Streaming video circulation was up 83 percent over 2014 • 33 library systems circulated 1 million or more digital books in 2015 • Lending of digital magazines and newspapers grew significantly in 2015 (introduced in late 2014) • Reader visits to OverDrive-powered library and school websites was 750 million (up 14 percent from 2014)
L’Uberisation de l'edition n'est pas pour demain | Livres Hebdo Une part de l’appétit pour le numérique va vers des produits qui ne sont pas proposés par le marché traditionnel, vers ce continent mal connu, où le pire voisine avec de rares pépites, où des marchés de niche viennent se loger, et qui entrent mal (ou pas du tout) dans les statistiques de l’AAP. Ce serait la part « ubérisée » de la production de livres, qui se traduit par des prix cassés, de la désintermédiation, et une forme de retour au capitalisme sauvage, indifférent aux critères de professionnalisation et de qualité qui ont prévalu auparavant. L'uberisation du monde éditorial pointerait alors son nez à la marge, du côté de l'autoédition.
Ebook reader powered by the sun will let you read forever without plugging in - Pocket-lint Hoping to let you read in the sun for days, ebook reader maker Bookeen has created a new case for its Cybook Ocean ebook reader that lets you keep the battery topped up via the sun. According to the company, the new cover can provide up to a days reading from just 1 hour in the sun meaning you'll probably never have to charge it again. ADVERTISING The new cover features "invisible" solar cells on the back. The solar cells are actually printed optical network combined with solar modules enabling to recharge the e-book thanks to photovoltaic effect (production of electricity thanks to a light source).
Federation of European Publishers – Fédération des Editeurs européens 31, Rue Montoyer – 1000 Brussels Tel 32-2-770-11-10 – Fax 32-2-771-20-71 Website www.fep-fee.eu
FLORENT SOUILLOT, MADRIGAL: « LE NUMÉRIQUE CONCERNE TOUTES LES FACETTES DU MÉTIER D’ÉDITEUR » « Il faut bien comprendre que le numérique impose de se poser des questions structurelles sur les différents métiers : on ne parle pas de court terme et d’opportunités commerciales directes, mais plutôt de garantie de pérennité à plus long terme. Et ça, ça parle aux éditeurs car l’édition est un secteur où les projets sont à maturation longue.
Amazon Education to Launch New Website for Open Education Resources - Market Brief Amazon Education is working on a new platform that will allow schools to upload, manage, share, and discover open education resources from a home page that in some ways resembles the one shoppers are accustomed to accessing on the massive online retailer’s website. School administrators learned about the site, to be called Amazon Inspire, during a “Transitioning to OER” session Friday as part of the National Conference on Education of the AASA (...) The new platform is in beta testing now, and is scheduled to be released publicly within the next two to three months, according to Andrew Joseph, vice president of strategic relations for Amazon Education. Users of the site will be able to add ratings and reviews, and to receive recommendations based on their previous selections. Educators will be able to curate open resources, self-publish material they have developed, and put a school’s entire digital library that is open and freely available online (...)
A teacher gave her 8-year-old students iPads and discovered one huge drawback - Quartz A lot of good things happened with the devices. Her students “made faux commercials that aired on our school’s morning news; they recorded themselves explaining math problems; they produced movies about explorers, complete with soundtracks. I recorded mini-lessons for my students to watch at home, so we could ‘flip our classroom’ and discuss the information in small groups the next day.” But there was a cost. Kids stopped conversing with each other as much. Sure, maybe they didn’t argue, or hurt each other’s feelings as much— something that happens a lot on third grade—but that’s because they weren’t engaging with each other as often. She recalls one rainy day when her students came into the classroom after lunch and she pulled out a box of LEGOs, which only a weeks earlier had been cause for celebration. No one wanted to play with them. They wanted their iPads. The classroom went silent.
L'âge digital du guide gastronomique Gault & Millau Gault & Millau, guide gastronomique apôtre de la nouvelle cuisine, a aujourd'hui 43 ans d'âge. Pour que ses critiques ne soient pas rangées dans la case musée par les amateurs de bonne chère, l'entreprise a dû basculer au numérique. Le chiffre d'affaires lié à son métier historique, celui de la vente de guides papiers en librairie, baisse en effet de 10 à 15% chaque année. Et l'entreprise fait face à l'émergence de nouveaux acteurs sur le marché du conseil à la restauration, comme le pure player indien Zomato. Fondée en 2008, la société opère aujourd'hui dans 23 pays. Cette licorne, valorisée plus d'un milliards de dollars, a levé depuis sa création 223,8 millions de dollars (dont 60 millions en avril 2015 et à nouveau 60 millions en septembre 2015). "Notre positionnement est différent de celui de ces nouveaux entrants, qui tissent des accords commerciaux avec les restaurants", souligne Côme de Chérisey, arrivé il y a quatre ans à la tête de la société.
Federation of European Publishers – Fédération des Editeurs européens 31, Rue Montoyer – 1000 Brussels Tel 32-2-770-11-10 – Fax 32-2-771-20-71 Website www.fep-fee.eu
Immatériel dans PNB - Aldus - tout sur le livre numérique, depuis 2006 En attendant les titres du catalogue Hachette, les éditeurs distribués par Immatériel entrent désormais dans l'offre de prêt numérique en bibliothèques (PNB). De très nombreux éditeurs, citons entre autres Bragelonne, Phébus, Buchet-Chastel, Libretto, L'Atalante, Petit Futé, etc. Le cap des 35.000 titres français disponibles pour les bibliothèques partenaires a été franchi, voir le catalogue ici.
Startup of the week: Publishizer | The Bookseller Born in India and bred in Silicon Valley, the matchmaking service for authors and publishers has already earned 130 authors $464,000 in pre-orders, produced six Amazon #1 bestsellers and secured $100,000 funding in its quest to become "the world's first true crowd-publishing platform".
Federation of European Publishers – Fédération des Editeurs européens 31, Rue Montoyer – 1000 Brussels Tel 32-2-770-11-10 – Fax 32-2-771-20-71 Website www.fep-fee.eu