Book prices are much influenced by the cost of production. Magazines are different, the most successful magazines have their size limited by the quantity of advertising that they can attract at an appropriate rate. For this reason, very large fashion magazines can be priced quite low on the street. Book publishers will say that they price to ‘the market’, and it is a naive mistake to suppose that one can publish profitably be achieving adequate margins at 5, 6 or … Keep Reading
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If you value your position in the market it may be a mistake to control too much. Amazon’s eBook system the Kindle does not allow the user to purchase eBooks from suppliers other than Amazon. The Kindle rather tightly controls the environment in which eBooks can play. Sony has a rival eBook reader, which seems to be very similar but may have been losing ground to the Kindle. Perhaps the realisation that they cannot beat the Kindle at the game … Keep Reading
The Exact Editions platform has worked on the iPhone from the start. Here is a shot of a search on a Berkshire Publishing title, The Berkshire Encyclopedia of Extreme Sports
Notice the search terms highlighted in blue. But the iPhone has some peculiar features and the question is ‘How much should a platform which addresses the universal web try to accommodate the peculiar strengths and limitations of the iPhone?’ Especially since it seems quite likely that Apple will soon produce … Keep Reading
We have developed an e-commerce service for Profile Books who do a series of books sponsored by The Economist. It is a great series with concise and highly informative coverage of key management and business topics. For some reason the title which particularly caught my fancy was The Economist Guide to Management Ideas and Gurus. I am a sucker for quick guides to gurus and key ideas. It is a very well written and clear book. The style is … Keep Reading
The in-flight magazine may be on its last legs. In yesterday’s Guardian Media Section Conor Purcell speculates that environmental pressures and the cost of fuel will render the in-flight magazine obsolete. Emirates will soon drop its house magazine:
… Keep ReadingAccording to Emirates’ president Tim Clark, the decision to ban all onboard paper will lighten the aircraft by a tonne. “It’s 2kg per seat and 500 seats, a worthwhile saving,” he says. “We are doing it because of fuel prices and the