Publishing News Highlights
E-books: stupid or not?
Stupid, according to Chief Executive of Hatchette Livre Arnaud Nourry, who expressed concern with the current state of e-books, stating that “there is no creativity” involved in the production of e-books and that he hopes for a better use of digital properties https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/20/ebooks-are-stupid-hachette-livre-arnaud-nourry
Not stupid, says author Erin Kelly (He Said/She Said), who weighed in with a counter argument – applauding e-books for what they offer the industry. Talking from her own experience, Kelly describes the wider readership that she was able to reach through the e-book version of He Said/She Said and also cites functions such as the one-tap dictionary as an example of the creativity and additional content that e-books offer https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/21/ebooks-are-not-stupid-theyre-a-revolution-erin-kelly
Will PubLaunch be the new self-publishing revolution?
The soon promised launch of online community PubLaunch has received some recent media attention. In January, Greg Ioannou (CEO Iguana Books) was interviewed by Carla Douglas at publishingperspectives.com where Ioannou detailed the aims of this new venture. PubLaunch intends to be a place where self-publishers can connect with professionals who have the skills to help get their books published. Everything from editing to marketing services will be available, and the business model is based on using crowdfunding as one of its major sources of revenue. As a business model, Ioannou is confident that using crowdfunding will prove successful but the impact on the industry remains to be seen. It presents smaller author service companies with a choice; will they carry on with their own models of providing the same services that they always have done, or will they join the supplier list of PubLaunch in the hope of making their work more financially viable? There is also the question of quality of work and whether this new business model will stifle excellence in author services. The full interview can be found here: https://publishingperspectives.com/2018/01/canada-crowdfunding-author-services-startup-publaunch/