Category Archives for "digital"

Micro-niching the book

Yesterday I focused on the entrepreneurial aspect of Warren Knight’s story (you can listen to the full interview here), but today I want to mention an interesting aspect of his approach to publishing his book Think #Digital First: he very consciously took the decision to use a partner publisher, to buy in their expertise but […]

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The end of typing?

We’ve known for some time that the way we communicate on the internet is changing. For decades the dominant communication medium has been text: emails, web pages, chat. Gradually images, video and audio have been gaining ground, and the recent explosion of voice-controlled assistants mean that the primary way many people now interact with online […]

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The IKEA effect, part two

After I’d posted yesterday’s blog on the IKEA effect and how you can use it to your advantage when writing your book, it occurred to me that there’s another interesting was of leveraging the phenomenon in publishing: personalization, where the customer co-creates the book to some extent.  Two great examples of this are LostMyName, now Wonderbly, […]

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The internet is a beautiful place

There’s a lot of bad stuff on t’internet, not going to deny it. But this story in Wired is a cheering reminder that it’s not all trolling and spamming. Google News Lab collaborated with Visual Cinnamon to analyse translation patterns:  ‘Overall, six of the top 10 languages have a remarkably positive focus, with most frequently […]

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Ebooks – dead or alive?

An interesting article in the Bookseller’s Futurebook about the ebook, which 10 years ago seemed to represent the future of publishing and has so spectacularly failed to deliver – at least for traditional publishers.  Simon Rowberry makes some excellent points about why this has happened, and why the picture is rather more complicated than you […]

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The future of houses?

I’ve been intrigued by the possibiities of 3D printing for several years now, but I have to say, I didn’t see this one coming: a 3D-printed house, constructed in situ in 24 hours, costing around $10,000. Proof that no sector is immune from digital disruption…  

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Screen thoughts

I had a fascinating conversation this morning with one of my bootcampers in our one-to-one session. She’s worried about my daily blogging habit (and to a lesser extent the running).  ‘You need rest days,’ she said. ‘You need days when you put all the screens away and just disconnect.’ I genuinely can’t remember the last […]

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Rapid Liquid Printing

For many of us, 3D printing feels pretty cutting-edge. My daughter’s school has a 3D printer, which slowly, laboriously builds up layer by layer whatever design it’s fed. People are using it to produce prosthetic limbs, military equipmnent, works of art, My daughter’s class use it to create mini Minions. But as mind-boggling as it […]

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Schnitznel, Sachertorte and Sinofsky

Slightly surreal evening at the Austrian Embassy with an eclectic mix of Austrian and UK publishers, publishing tech folk, and international trade envoys. Surreal but jolly, lubricated by Austrian wine (who knew?), Schnitzel and Sachertorte. The Austrian Trade Commissioner, Christian Kesberg, gave an introductory talk to kick off the evening and set the tone, in […]

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