Publishing Portal

The Internet removed the stigma from vanity publishing and, more important, most of the cost. As a result, millions of people have fulfilled their dream of becoming an author.

Assuming you’re interested in the confluence of HTML5 and the monetization of digital publishing, you’ll definitely want to check out this recent Mashable article, which covers a panel that took place at the Mashable Media Summitlast Friday, November 30.Thinking Outside the App, as the panel was titled, appears to have essentially dealt with just one question, which Mashable reporter Laura Indvik puts forward in her post: “Given the amount of traffic publishers are seeing from mobile web-browsers, coupled with improvements in HTML5 … does it make sense for publishers to continue to invest in native apps for tablets and smartphones?”

Panelist Rob Grimshaw, the managing director of the Financial Times‘ FT.com website, explained that the paper chose ”to pull its native apps for iPhone and iPad devices last year because it ‘wasn’t right’ for the organization,” as Indvik writes.

Here’s the real jaw-dropper, direct from the article:

Since the app was pulled, the number of iOS subscribers to the FT has increased by 70%, Grimshaw said. In fact, nearly a fifth of new subscriptions are coming from mobile devices, he added.

Is our emerging digital culture partly a return to practices and ways of thinking that were central to human societies before the advent of the printing press?

Publishers and authors are shaping new standard contracts as the industry shifts toward digital-first and e-original book publishing.

As opposed to big publishers, which are thought to pay authors a standard ebook royalty of 25%, new independent ebook publishers like The Atavist, Open Road Media and OR Books, can and do pay authors substantially more. But, on what terms? And, royalties aren’t the only issue at hand as a new publishing landscape emerges.

There are six basic issues at stake in an ebook contract negotiation:

According to a 2012 government commission which surveyed 21,000 children, 18 per cent of boys said reading was ‘more for girls’ and labelled it as ‘nerdy’. Boys were also less likely to be encouraged by parents to read.

While there’s no magic solution to changing boys’ negative attitudes to reading, the study came up with some helpful suggestions to tackle the problem.