Publishing Friction

A very instructive discussion that was signalled to me from a ebook list but is really about retailing in general and bookselling in particular. The post idea of friction is applicable not merely to retail though but in my experience is evident thoughout publishing process - identifying the points of friction is necessary step to making a digital strategy work.

Publish then Select

"One of the effects of web development is an increasing number of people "talking" and a reduced number of people "listening". People have less time to listen, but seem to always have time to talk! .... If the volume of information ("people talking") continues to grow, ... so the question that I predict will be the "hot topic" in the future will be how information gets filtered... (ie publish then select)" in a posting by Pippa Smart (Research Communication and Publishing Consultant) on lib-licence list.

Academic publishing has always relied on an odd relationship betwwen supply (lots) and demand (less but predictable). The problem can be summarised as in a world of OA and even lower barriers to entry for the prospective suppliers - the supply has increased and the contol gate for demand has gone from selecting for publication to select from publications.

Ebrary global ebook survey

"The results from global eBook survey completed by 583 librarians
throughout the world is now publicly available no cost. Anyone
interested in receiving a copy may register here or visit the ebrary booth (#1000) at the 2007 ALA Annual Conference exhibit, June 23-26 in Washington D.C."


Nothing revolutionary here but clear signs in the responses of the successful evolution of books into a model where also being provided digitally is the normal....

1: 1/3 of the libraries have over 50k ebooks
3: Nearly 1/2 think current usage is good or better
9: Netlibrary is clear market leader amongst aggregators - ebrary numbers are exaggerated as it conducted the survey
10: Librarians are aware that direct from publishers can have a distinct value...
11: 1/4 accept duplication
12: Both purchase and subscription not either/or....
17-24: How do publishers feel about supplying content to libraries to delivery on local platforms?

Get content, get digital

A very interesting commentary from Galley Cat on a item in Publisher's weekly.

The irony of these "content-led" companies removing the sources of content is ultimately less interesting than the irony that perhaps one of the reasons that this is happening is that too many of the content creators and enablers simply don't get or don't want to get digital....

Who are the hosts....

Biological metaphors are coming to the fore in our post-mechanical universe.

"Google is a parasite, but it's a helpful parasite."

The Wall Street Journals' Kara Swisher.