An ebook companion site

This is a companion Web site for Ebook Publishers to Watch: 2012, an ebook that describes what's happening on publishing's digital frontier by identifying the most active and adventurous players in ebook publishing.

Click on the "call to action" box, above right, and you will be delivered to a store where you can buy this ebook and download it to your computer or mobile device. ("Call to action" is a new concept to me. Can you feel it beckoning you towards the store? How about now?)

In the dojo of Ebook Ninjas

Submitted by admin on Sat, 12/31/2011 - 21:00

ebook ninjas logoListen closely, and you can detect a hint of laughter during the opening of this eBook Ninjas podcast, with "Guest Ninja" D.C. Denison.

That's because we're winging it.

Lead Ninja, Joshua Tallent, was on a client call until just a few minutes before air time. As soon as he hung up, we were off and running, with just the barest of preparation.

"Just say your name after we say ours," Joshua told me. That was about it. 

And we were launched, the Ninjas clearly amused that we were off the ground. 

The Ninjas, who all work at Ebook Architects, can pull this off.

HOLIDAY SALE! Extended. Ebook Publishers to Watch now 99 cents!

In response to popular demand, this sale has been extended indefinitely. I've sold more than four times as many ebooks at this new price, so I'm sticking with it. 

With the new year approaching, many in the publishing industry are doubtless asking themselves: whom am I going to watch next year?

That's beyond the purview of this site, but if you're wondering which ebook publishers to watch in 2012, we can help you.

And now, just as the calendar is about to flip, we're offering you this valuable information at a new low price: 99 cents! 

Take advantage of this offer in our own spartan ebookstore, in the Amazon Kindle Store, or on Scribd (where you'll pay a penny more because of Scribd's $1 minimum).

The Atavist

This is a free, sample chapter from Ebook Publishers to Watch: 2012. For more information, check out our preview.

The Atavist approaches ebooks from a magazine point of view: specifically a New Yorker/Wired/New York Times Magazine perspective. Long form narrative nonfiction. That's what it's called, right?

This makes sense: the features in these magazines are long enough to stand on their own. Many of them might have even been better before they were excessively groomed to fit the style of these glossy publications.

The Atavist idea: if the topic grabs you, why not just pay $2.99 ($1.99 on the Kindle and Nook) and read it without having to leaf past dumb watch ads, and front-of-the-book items on shiney stuff to buy, and sycophantic celebrity profiles?

Liberate that story! Get it away from Nicholas Cage and his giant, garish, MontBlanc watch. Gross.

And if you're going to leave that glossy world behind, why not add some extras that are unavailable to the magazine reader: video, audio, documents, etc.

Not a bad idea.

Arthur Atwell

A reader suggests...

Readers of Ebook Publishers to Watch can click a link in the ebook and submit promising ebook publishers I may have overlooked. You can do that from here too, by using this online form.  Anyway, this nomination just came in, from an ebook reader:

You should consider Arthur Atwell, who started Paperight, an online platform that transforms copy shops into book stores.

Actually, anyone who can print and bind books can license content via the Paperight system. Publishers can pay copy shops to sell their content instead of suing them for copyright infringement.

As Arthur himself notes, this isn't necessarily a project about ebooks; rather, Paperight uses electronic delivery for print books (sounds weird, I know!).

This business model works especially well in parts of the world where there isn't a well-established delivery infrastructure for paper books to begin with!

As an avid ebook reader, I'm constantly frustrated with the message: "This title is not available in your region: Africa". Often, I want to buy the ebook version of a print book just to avoid the 2-week shipping delay.

Trip Adler

This week's free chapter: Trip Adler, co-founder and CEO, Scribd. Plus an added bonus: A Field Trip!

The original idea was just okay, and the revenue part was sketchy, but Scribd has evolved: from a lightweight, possibly illegal Web 2.0 confection with a dubious hook -- "a YouTube for documents!" -- to an emerging player in the e-publishing world. Co-Founder and CEO Adler deserves some credit for navigating the transition.

New updated, expanded edition of Ebook Publishers to Watch: 2012

Submitted by DC on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 09:13

Now available, for an unlimited time only, the latest edition of Ebook Publishers to Watch: 2012.

What's your ebook's keyword?

Submitted by DC on Mon, 10/11/2010 - 10:42
Ben Finklea's inscription

Be optimized!”

That's what Ben Finklea scrawled on the title page of his book, Drupal 6 Search Engine Optimization as he stood in the lobby of MIT's PeeWee's-Playhouse-like Stata Center on the second day of a weekend Drupal Design Camp, where I went to hear him speak on search engine optimization (SEO).

A preview of Ebook Publishers to Watch

Submitted by DC on Mon, 08/16/2010 - 12:07
The Ebook Publishers to Watch: 2011 companion website now sports a preview. Thanks Paul Biba for the suggestion.
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