There was an interesting article in yesterday's Morning Links about the 'gamification' of books. I had first heard this term in response to the Reading Life feature on the Kobo platform, which awards you 'badges' for such activities as reading at a certain time in the day, reading a certain number of books, using a dictionary or bookmark feature, and so on. But this article was coming at it from a different aspect: using the 'concept of game mechanics' to 'pull the reader through a book.' Jeremy Greenfield of Digital Book World, the article's author, suggests applying these strategies to children's...

Bookish has launched with much fanfare. Some good. Some bad. Nate over at The Digital Reader had an amusing look at their terms of service. DBW has three reasons they will succeed and three reasons they will fail. Hedging their bets much? So I decided to try using the site and assess it from a usability perspective. The first thing I tried didn't work out so well. There's a big box in the middle of the page that says "Enter a Book." I assumed I would enter a book title and get some recommendations based on that title. Failing that, I thought at...

Well here's a terrible idea. DBW just posted a press release about Edition Guard, which brings Adobe DRM to indie authors and small presses who want to sell books direct from their website. Have we learned nothing in recent years? DRM doesn't stop piracy. It's ridiculously easy to crack. All DRM does is punish non-tech savvy readers who don't know how to seek out the tools to get rid of it. Even if DRM worked, Adobe DRM is a terrible platform. It only allows activation on six devices. So what happens when you purchase your seventh device? You have to contact Adobe...

Digital Book World posted an excellent article today about the Barnes & Noble elephant in the room at DBW 2013. The big takeaway from this article was this statistic: "According to the most recent Codex survey, online selling accounts for 61 percent of book sales, but only 7 percent of discovery." That's huge. I'm one of those 61 percent. Sure, I buy all my books online, but I find new books and authors by browsing my local Barnes & Noble. And what happens if that local Barnes & Noble goes away? It's not looking good for them as a business right now. Well,...

Our friends over at Digital Book World are partnering with PlayScience, a New York-based children’s entertainment and education research company, to produce a free hour-long webinar, The ABCs of Kids & Ebooks. The webinar, which will look at the e-reading habits of children aged two to 13, is scheduled to take place from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, January 29. [caption id="attachment_77480" align="alignright" width="180"] J. Alison Bryant, Ph.D.[/caption] According to DBW, which recently conducted a "nationally representative survey" with PlayScience, "it was found that 55% of all children aged 2-to-13 in the U.S. read ebooks." PlayScience president Dr. J. Alison Bryant, Ph.D., will...

Brett Sandusky at Digital Book World has an interesting write-up on digital subscriptions. He ruminates on the pros and cons of two different models: the 'modular' subscription, where customers subscribe to one thing at a time, as they wish, versus the bundle model, where customers pay a fixed amount for a package deal which includes the content they want, plus other stuff which they may or may not want (for instance, when you purchase phone service just to get a cheaper deal on the Internet and cable). Sandusky prefers the 'modular' model. He aims to treat his customers like grown-ups who know...

By Eugene G. Schwartz Where is the book industry going; what will my workplace and career opportunities be like; what do I need to know to keep up with the times? Or, in a more cosmic vein, what does the future hold? In an effort to answer these questions, publishers have settled each year into a series of industry meetings of general interest. Each has a unique theme, as noted below. They make the effort to bring together a cross section of publishers, associations, service providers and media professionals to connect with audiences ranging from first-time aspirants to seasoned managers and executives...

This year's installment of the Digital Book World Conference + Expo came to a close two days ago, and not surprisingly, video highlights from the event have been popping up online all week long. Those of you with a bit of extra cash to spare (or, more realistically, a corporate account) might consider purchasing an on-demand video of the conference, which is already available at the DBW website. For U.S. $295, you'll be able to watch 20 general session events from the first two days of the conference, along with a half-dozen breakout sessions. Head over to YouTube if you'd like to check out a few...

New Report Suggests 54% of US Kids Now Read eBooks (The Digital Reader) Kobo Customers Read 22 Million Pages on Christmas Day (Kobo) In Battle for Listeners, Audiobook.com Switches to Audible's Pay by the Book Model (Paid Content) Kindle Daily Deals: Breaking Night by Liz Murray (+ 3 others)...

Digital Book World just published a report that piracy does harm sales and backed it up with a list of 25 studies that prove the point. Okay, splashy headline. You can agree or disagree with it, your choice. What I found interesting were the recommendations to publishers: 1. Make content available online 2. Use existing anti-piracy laws Those are excellent suggestions, and, oh, by the way, the exact suggestions many in the e-reading world have made for years. As I said in my introduction post, I used to be a pirate. Why did I stop? Because the books I wanted finally became available in...

• Publishers Are Optimistic About Digital Transition, Say E-Readers Will Soon Be Irrelevant (Digital Book World) • Coverage of the opening day of DBW2013 (Digital Book World) • Children still prefer reading physical books, finds Scholastic (The Bookseller) • Kids' eBook Consumption  Has Doubled Since 2010 (App Newser) • 54% of U.S. kids have never read an ebook: New report (Paid Content) • With release in hardcover, 50 Shades completely flips traditional publishing cycle (Paid Content) • Emailing Jeff Bezos Every Time You Read a Book on Kindle Is the Best Art Project (Gizmodo) • Kindle Daily Deals: Agenda 21 by Glenn Beck (+ 3 others)...

Ten Bold Predictions for Ebooks and Digital Publishing in 2013 (Digital Book World) Top 12 #DigitalPublishing Twitter Accounts to Follow in 2013 (Digital Book World) How the Publishing World Acclimated to the Digital Revolution: Part 1 (Highbrow magazine) 'Boycott Amazon' campaign launched (The Bookseller) Kindle Daily Deals: The Final Piece by Maggi Myers {and} Snake Skin: A Lucy Guardino FBI Thriller By CJ Lyons; and dozens more, son ! * * *    ...