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whoelscher

Somebody please tell me the path to survival for the illustrated book business - The Sh... - 0 views

www.idealog.com/...-the-illustrated-book-business

publishing ebooks book illustrated

shared by whoelscher on 06 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • When they’re illustrated to better explain, such as showing you how to knit a stitch or make a candle or a piece of jewelry, wouldn’t a video be a better option most of the time?
  • Books are illustrated for two reasons: beauty or explanatory purpose, more the latter than the former.
  • But the illustrated books are in the single-digit percentages most of the time, with some of the more successful categories in the very low double-digits.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • This is in the US — two years or more after the launch of the iPad and Nook Color and nearly a year after the launch of the Kindle Fire. Poor sales of illustrated ebooks can no longer be attributed to a lack of devices that can deliver them effectively.
  • If the book you’re reading on an iPad or Kindle Fire or Nexus 7 gets boring or you get tired of it, you can switch to a movie, The New York Times, your favorite song, or Angry Birds with the same device. Or the chime on your iPhone will ring taking you out of your book to answer an email.
  • For the publisher of illustrated books, the book also must compete with media accomplishing the same purpose (how many new instructional videos of knitting stitches or jewelry-making techniques are posted to YouTube every day?) But they can’t do it for the same price, because that price is free.
  • So the illustrated book publisher not only has to learn how to make videos (a skill they were never previously required to possess), they also have to come up with a business model that enables their videos to be part of a priced commercial product, competing with legions of them that are free. And they have to finance a substantial creative component that isn’t contributing value to the print version at all.
  • Relevant piece of anecdata: I remember being told by somebody at Wiley a couple of years ago that a large portfolio of photographs added measurable revenue on their travel sites. For very little cost, they could make a selection of photographs available for browsing. People clicked through them pulling up a new ad each time they did. That’s the “illustrated book publishing” of the future, but it starts with having the audience.
whoelscher

The Digital Dilemma for Picture Book Publishers | Publishing Perspectives - 0 views

publishingperspectives.com/...ilemma-picture-book-publishers

shared by whoelscher on 03 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • Although children sometimes read picture books by themselves, most of the dearest picture book experiences arise from an activity shared between parent and child. The parent is an actor, performing for the child; the two are teammates as they jointly explore illustrations.
  • moving a work that relies heavily on visual and spatial elements from one medium to another is extremely hard to do well.
  • Publishers must commission some digital-only picture books to explore what the creative possibilities are when print is not the starting point.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • A straight e-book facsimile of a picture book pales in comparison to the print original and using one of these to compete with the various gorgeous iPad apps for children is like taking ink and paper to a video editing fight.
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