Content Wise

Notable Links: October 8, 2009

• Publishers are building an online store for magazines: Time Inc., Condé Nast, and Hearst are reported to be collaborating on an iTunes-style plan. (FT.com)

• The Time Inc./Condé Supergroup Conundrum: How many platforms and formats will consumers play with? (Foliomag.com)

• New Amazon Kindle to download books beyond the U.S.: New version of the Kindle can wirelessly download books both in the United States as well as in more than 100 other countries. (NYTimes.com)
  

• Simon & Schuster creating "hybrid books," video included. (NYTimes.com) Demo at vook.com.

• Disney announces online subscription service for kids' E-books. (NYTimes.com) Demo at Disney Digital Books.

Twitter as Publishing: Tim O'Reilly's Take

Tim O'Reilly runs a successful and innovative company that covers technology through many platforms: books in print, books online, Web sites, Webcasts, and real-world conferences. He also thinks of Twitter as a form of publishing, but not in the way that most conventional publishers might.

Rather than spewing headlines or self-promoting, O'Reilly suggests that publishers use Twitter and other social media for "curating and amplifying" the voices of the communities that they serve.

Sure, it's about aggregating and distributing content, but according to O'Reilly the driving motivation should be, as they like to say around his company, to "create more value than you capture." O'Reilly outlined his philosophy—or is it a clever business strategy?—at the recent 140 Characters Conference.

Here's the video of his 15-minute talk. (You might want to duck out for a cup of coffee during the 1 minute and 50 seconds of intro.) The O'Reilly Radar blog also has a written transcript.

Stanford Writers Workshop for Book Authors and Magazine Journalists

Magazine writers and book authors: Wouldn't you like to spend two days this summer honing your craft, learning some business tips, and getting smart about digital tools that can help you become more visible online? How about hanging out on a gorgeous university campus here in Northern California?

If that sounds tempting, please join me at the very first Writers Workshop presented by the Stanford Publishing Courses. I'll be teaching some of the magazine writing and new media sessions, and the book sections will be led by two real stars in the field. Alan Rinzler, executive editor at Jossey-Bass, the West coast imprint of John Wiley & Sons, will be covering books for adults, both non-fiction and fiction. Deborah Brodie, who spent 22 years at Viking and cofounded Roaring Brook Press, will spearhead the program on books for children and young adults.

Alan, Deborah, and I will be joined by an impressive roster of additional speakers and panelists--accomplished authors, editors, publishers, and agents. We will cover everything from pitching to writing to video to blogging and, yes, Twittering.

• Friday & Saturday, July 31 & August 1, 2009, at Stanford University
• See the full schedule of sessions.
• Read about the workshop leaders and speakers.
• Visit the workshop's social network.
• Register here.

See you on campus?

Stanford Publishing Course: Two Days Left for Discount

Heads up: Wednesday is the last day to get a 10 percent early-bird discount on tuition to this summer's Stanford Professional Publishing Course.

We enjoy teaching at this intensive program every year--the sessions, the faculty, and the participants are always enlightening and often inspiring. Being on the stunning, sun-washed Stanford campus for a week isn't bad, either.

This year, appropriately, the course is emphasizing the re-invention of media in a digital world. We hope you can join us.

• Main Course: July 11-17, 2009
• Pre-Course for Internationals: July 9-11, 2009
• See the list of speakers
• See the session topics

Surveying the Digital Revolution in Book Publishing

The International Herald Tribune just published a good roundup of the digital developments that are reshaping book publishing.

Reporter Eric Pfanner starts with Google's recent deal with American authors and publishers allowing the company to sell electronic versions of titles that are out of print. That covers most of the world's books, he points out.

"But the agreement is only one of many initiatives under which books are making what may be the biggest technological leap since Gutenberg invented the printing press."

He goes on to survey predictions of digital sales, trends among suppliers and consumers of mobile readers, and digital programs undertaken by European libraries.

Computer-Generated Books, First in a Long Line of "Pub Apps"

Here's an intriguing (bizarre? scary?) new twist in publishing: books created by computer algorithm.

Entrepreneur and management science professor Philip M. Parker has "automatically" generated more than 200,000 books with the help of 60 or so computers and a half dozen programmers. Most cover arcane, under served topics such as the market outlook for small bath mats in China. And Parker is selling them through Amazon's print-on-demand book service, BookSurge.

Parker's titles sell only dozens or in some cases hundreds of copies. But as today's New York Times report suggests, that could be a viable business model:

"His company, the Icon Group International, is the long tail of the bell curve come to life — generating significant total sales by adding up tens of thousands of what might be called worst sellers."

We hereby declare a new category of coverage in this blog—"Pub Apps"—to track such digital techniques, widgets, and applications. Somewhere in the never-ending stream of these innovative curiosities are sure to be ideas that will help shape the future of publishing.

S&S Lets the Public Choose the Next Big Book

Simon & Schuster is tapping into the wisdom of the crowd in an attempt to identify book ideas that could turn into blockbusters.

The company has partnered with newly launched Media Predict, an online "prediction market" modeled after similar systems that successfully forecast which candidates will win political elections and which movies will generate the highest box office receipts.

In essence, Media Predict is an online game in which traders use a limited number of virtual dollars to buy shares in book proposals that they believe will be successful. The proposals are submitted by literary agencies as well as individuals.

And who are these traders? Anyone with an interest in media who cares to register on the site.

Let's all head over there, sign up as traders, and take this intriguing tool for a test drive. It looks like a useful way to get first-hand experience in the power of user participation--for anyone who publishes anything on the Web.

Here's how Simon & Schuster plans to use Media Predict. In October, it will choose one proposal from among those that are most highly valued by the "market." Touchstone, an S&S imprint, will then publish the book, assuming, as the company puts it, "the completed manuscript satisfies Touchstone’s publishing criteria."

In addition to books, Media Predict traders currently can bid on musical groups (will they get a record deal?) and television pilots (will the series get produced?). Eventually the site may expand into many more areas of media.

You'll find a fuller explanation, including helpful videos, at How Media Predict Works.

$1,000 Discount on Stanford Publishing Course

The Stanford Professional Publishing Course is a nine-day extravaganza of skills-sharpening, state-of-the-industry briefings, strategy sessions, and networking for experienced pros in magazine and book publishing. It takes place on the University's gorgeous, sun-drenched campus from July 13 to 21.

We would highly recommend it even if we weren't on the faculty.

We're offering one lucky reader of our blog a $1,000 scholarship to reduce the tuition from $4,350 to $3,350. Please send us an e-mail (<--by clicking on that link) saying that you're interested. We'll throw your name in the hat.

We must receive your e-mail by midnight (Pacific time) on Tuesday, May 1, which is the deadline for applying to the course. We'll announce our randomly chosen winner here soon after that.

By the way, even if you've already applied and been accepted to the course, you may use this scholarship to lower your cost.

For information on session topics, activities, and logistics, check the conference Web site and brochure (a PDF file).

Make Your Message Memorable

Why won’t that ridiculous urban legend about kidney kidnappers ever die?

There are several good reasons, all of them instructive for those of us who spend our days trying to craft engaging content and messages with staying power. You can learn the key to the kidney legend, and a bunch of other strategies for developing riveting ideas, in a useful new book:  Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Some Die.

Following their own advice, authors Chip and Dan Heath explore six basic principles of stickiness in an entertaining string of practical, surprising, authoritative, and, yes, memorable case studies, exercises, and guidelines. Some highlights:

• When searching for a powerful example, check the possibilities using the "Frank Sinatra test."
• Did you know that the "curse of knowledge" threatens to doom your article, your headline, your presentation, the title of your book, the organization of your Web site, and pretty much anything else you're trying to put across to an audience?
• Assignment: Using Bambi as your focus, develop an unforgettable message about the low risk of shark attacks.

(Visit the Made to Stick site for a generous excerpt, which includes the kidney caper.)

We're putting Made to Stick on our bookshelf next to that other indispensable little guide about compelling communication by Strunk and White. We’ve nicknamed the Heath brothers' new volume "The Elements of Stickiness."

Book Publishers Adopt "Search Inside" and Video

Several book publishers are adopting Web-savvy marketing strategies, the N.Y. Times reports.

Harper Collins is introducing a "Browse Inside" function on its Web site. Similar to programs offered by Amazon.com and Google, Browse Inside permits visitors to see the first three pages of most chapters. (Read the press release.)

And large publishers including Random House, Workman, and Scholastic are posting video "trailers" to promote books on their own sites as well as on "social video" gathering spots such as YouTube and Yahoo.