Recently, I had a great opportunity to write a piece for the LA Review of Books about what constitutes reading and literature. Here is an excerpt (click here for the full article). IN MID-OCTOBER, the Nobel Committee for Literature awarded the Nobel Prize to Bob Dylan, “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” The announcement came … [Read more...] about The Fate of Reading in a Multimedia Age on LA Review of Books
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Guest Post: TaleHunt, An App That Brings Out Your Inner Storyteller
By Aby Mathew - Co-founder and CMO of TaleHunt TaleHunt is an app that features stories 250 characters or less. The platform has built up a community of writers and readers. Imagine how amazing it is for us to craft a story and others to get enraptured by our imaginary world of tales? The most powerful way to articulate our lives is by writing a story. Writing helps us to … [Read more...] about Guest Post: TaleHunt, An App That Brings Out Your Inner Storyteller
Taking Stock of Industries Related to Book Publishing and How That Relates to the Future
Book publishers can learn a lot from their media counterparts. As the world becomes more connected, the lines between these industries is getting blurred. Keeping on top of trends then can be really helpful, in terms of getting ideas of what can be done and what to expect in the future. Here are a few headlines from other forms of media that can help inform people in book … [Read more...] about Taking Stock of Industries Related to Book Publishing and How That Relates to the Future
Looking for Innovative Stories? Here’s a List of Ebooks, Apps, Websites, Games, and More
Ebooks, or maybe I should say stories, come in all shapes and sizes: EPUB, apps, virtual reality, games, and more. If you want to see some exciting, innovative new forms of storytelling, check out this list (sure devices have some limitations and enhanced ebooks haven't exactly taken off yet, but there are ways to make ebooks great): Ebooks "A Digital Mozart Book That … [Read more...] about Looking for Innovative Stories? Here’s a List of Ebooks, Apps, Websites, Games, and More
Reading Ebooks on Your Smartphone
Smartphones have exploded in popularity in the last few years, and because so many people own smartphones, publishers are now thinking about how to best deliver digital content to the small screen. As a side anecdote, four years ago (2011) I was sitting in a marketing class at NYU, and the lecturer was telling us about how she read all five A Song of Ice and Fire books (you … [Read more...] about Reading Ebooks on Your Smartphone
New Ebook Fonts Make Ereading More Like Print
The average reader probably doesn't think a lot about fonts, but they are important contributors to the reading experience. A few weeks ago, Google announced a new typeface for Google Books, called Literata. The Next Web goes into more detail, but the gist is Google ebooks now have a font that distinguishes it from ebooks read on a Nook or Kindle, and it was created to give … [Read more...] about New Ebook Fonts Make Ereading More Like Print
Social Reading and Writing
Ebooks open up a whole range of possibilities, from how people consume stories to how they talk about books they've read, and even how they find new works to read. Because ebooks are digital, authors and readers have many opportunities to be social with their books. One example is annotating books online. Tools like AnnotateIt and Annotator allow readers to mark up and share … [Read more...] about Social Reading and Writing
PressReader: Connecting People Through News
PressReader is an innovative app that connects readers with more than 2,400 newspapers in 57 languages. The app can auto-deliver content, save articles, and share via social media. Earlier this year, the company released an interesting graphic of the top stories of 2013, along with facts about how and when people read. Nikolay Malyarov, EVP, Chief Content Officer and General … [Read more...] about PressReader: Connecting People Through News
Taking a Short Break, and Reading Short
Well it's almost Christmas, and for the next couple weeks I'll be taking what I've heard other people call a digital break so I can regroup and be back in full swing come the new year. I might have a couple posts here and there, but for the most part, I won't be around again until January. And so, in the spirit of taking a break, and because I'll be using that time to read a … [Read more...] about Taking a Short Break, and Reading Short
E-Reading Reviews: A Roundup of the Latest E-Book Readers
By Tom Erik Dale – Sainsbury's eBooks With the holidays come new and improved e-readers, with better screens and more features to make reading more pleasurable. Tom Erik Dale, from Sainsbury's eBooks, has written a helpful guide detailing the pros and cons of the three most popular new e-readers. Read on. E-books are great. Not so much for swatting those off-putting flies, … [Read more...] about E-Reading Reviews: A Roundup of the Latest E-Book Readers
Reading E-Books, for Beginners
E-books are wonderful. It took me a few years after they became popular to make the transition from print to digital (though I still have many, many print books), but now that I've gotten used to digital, I prefer reading e-books. Granted, there are still some issues (since I make e-books, I own a few different devices, so I'm not a big fan of DRM), but I think overall there … [Read more...] about Reading E-Books, for Beginners
New Ways to Read
You've heard it all before. Startups, new websites, and even big powerhouses are all developing technology to disrupt how we collaborate, publish, and read. Today I want to focus on all the new ways we can read and absorb content. Sure, there are e-books, and there are even enhanced e-books with videos, but I've compiled a list of sources that have created either new ways to … [Read more...] about New Ways to Read
Book Discoveries and Recommendations
For self-publishers, after writing a book, the next biggest step is making people aware that it exists and is worth reading. But in such a saturated market, it can be hard to get your book discovered. Here are three book recommendation tools. Word of mouth is still the most effective way to make a book go viral, and many people recommend books via email (this may be because … [Read more...] about Book Discoveries and Recommendations
What’s Going on With Readers Today?
What's Going On With Readers Today from Goodreads A while back, Goodreads asked publishers what questions they would like to ask readers. The results of the Goodreads survey from December 2012 are now up, and there are some interesting finds. I do wonder, however, how accurate these findings are. Yes, Goodreads has a huge base of readers, but the ones who decided to answer … [Read more...] about What’s Going on With Readers Today?
Trends and Startups in Book Publishing
The last couple years have been a time of change for the publishing industry, and I expect this year to be the same. Every few weeks I've been hearing about new startups and ventures that expect to--and probably will--disrupt publishing. I think it's worth sharing some of them here, and what their success could mean for publishing, both traditional and indie. … [Read more...] about Trends and Startups in Book Publishing