38enso Inc

This Sunday, millions will be watching the SuperBowl. Well, at least they will have the game on. The SuperBowl has become an American experience. Even those that dislike football, know of the game. It is impossible to get away.

The game has always been played on Sunday. It used to be in the afternoon, but now it starts around 6 PM Eastern. Prime-time dollars rule.

Because it is on a Sunday, many people work the next day, Monday.

I feel the Monday following SuperBowl should be a national holiday.

Call it “Hangover Monday” or “US Boxer Day” or “Super Monday.”

Or move the game to Saturday. But doubt that will happen.

I have never been to a SB live, Maybe one day — but maybe not.

The first Superbowl I remember is the Chiefs-Vikings. The final win for an AFL team. The league absorbed into the NFL the next year.

WIll be fun….

I had the honor of moderating a panel last week at Digital Book World. The panel was titled “Digital Shorts and Singles.” There were four members of the panel, Tim  Holman, publisher at Orbit; Carrie Swetonic, marketing director at Dutton; Jon Meacham, EVP and Editor at RH and Evan Ratliff, CEO of The Atavist. Two had book backgrounds and two came from magazines.

From a book perspective, these are ‘short-form.’  From a magazine perspective, these are ‘long-form.’  Call it whatever you feel appropriate.

A digital single is defined:

• Original work.
• 5,000-30,000 words.
• Priced between $1.99-$4.99 generally.

Digital singles are one of the great developments and advantages of the new technology. No longer are publishers forced to bulk up a book, add extra chapters, larger margins and additional blank pages to make a book “look good on the shelf.” The words determine the form, not the other way around.

Digital singles have also allowed established authors to explore a story line that may not have been big enough for a full-length book. Or to introduce a new idea or develop of minor character. It also gives the fans original work while waiting for that author’s next book.

Digital singles also create the ability to take current non-fiction and produce work that is more in-depth than a magazine article and more timely than a book.

One thing that was clear from the panel is regardless of what one is publishing, marketing is key. Either the author has a following that will come to the single or the topic is so timely it will be easily promoted.

All of the major eBook vendors sell these. Amazon Kindle has it’s own separate store just for Singles.

This new form is here to stay (maybe is was always here because it is just a short book or a long article.)

Digital opens so many opportunities. If a publisher is not producing singles, they need to start now. There is money here.

Been thinking of something to write. My last two posts were recaps and predictions of the publishing industry of 2011 & 2012. But as I closed my eyes and put on Pandora Radio to my Sublime+++ station, my focus went to Twitter.

I like Twitter. Sometimes I will tweet all day long (maybe 100 total), other days just a few times. I try to balance and tweet every day. It’s important to be consistent.

I have 629 followers at this moment. It will change in an hour. By Twitter standards, I don’t have a lot of followers. But I like it. I feel good about those that follow.

I have rolled up 6,600 individual tweets.

Everytime I tweet about an iPod, iPad or iPhone, I get 2-3 Spams offering me a free Apple product. Why? Does anyone believe these scams?

I get a lot of news from Twitter, I will click through to the stories that are of interest.

I don’t follow many celebrities. They are generally boring. I just don’t care that much about their personal lives.

I also prefer to follow industry professionals and not necessarily publishing company official twitter accounts. I like the individuality and not company opinions.

I have changed my profile picture 3-4 times. I probably should do it more often.

I try to keep those I follow to 500. But I have creeped over that to 534. Oh well, it happens. I like to follow friends, but if they only tweet once every month, I may drop. It’s not personal, but no need to follow people that don’t tweet.

Everyone should have an account. Don’t have to tweet — can just follow. That’s cool. But it’s important to be a part of it.

Please follow me : @38enso

At the end of every year, everyplace you look there are recaps of the best of the year. Some do the ‘worst’ and others the ‘most interesting.’ I am going to discuss some of the issues that drove the narrative in book publishing in 2011. I may forget many, I may overstate some, but these are the issues that are top of mind.

1. Amazon gets bolder than ever. 2011 was a year that Amazon turned up the pressure on the entire industry. In 2011, Amazon started the lending library with titles from publishers who said NO. Amazon was pushed back by Japanese publishers because of their terms of sale. Amazon refused to negotiate Agency terms of sale with publishers (other than the Big6). Amazon aggressively entered publishing by establishing numerous new imprints and a NYC office.
2. Borders, after years of mis-management finally died. Industry watchers have been predicting the demise of Borders for five years. It was obvious then that the chain was not making the right moves to survive. 2011, they finally had to pull the plug. Once upon a time, Borders was a wonderful bookstore chain. But near the end they had lost the innovation and were quickly found obsolete.
3. eBooks continued to dominate the discussion. Market share of eBooks for many publishers reached 20%. In 2010, it was 8%. In 2009, 3% and about 1% in 2008. The numbers continue to rise year over year, but there does seem to be some indications of a slow down.
4. Dedicated reading devices are starting to become old news. This Fall, the Kindle Fire tablet was introduced and now the largest eBook retailer’s main device also plays games and music. The B&N NOOK and Apple iPad have already this capability. So, the beginning of the end for the dedicated eReader has begun. Look for 2012 to see less and less eroding-only devices.
5. Publishers realized that Apps are NOT the answer. Only a handful of Book Apps worked. It is too expensive, the App store too vast, and the pressures to sell at 99 cents is high. Sure, some were successful, but publishers slowed the App development quite a bit.
6. More authors started to look to self-publishing. Publishers of all sizes have started to review eBook royalty rates and wiling to pay more (some as much as 50%). But the move away from publishers and to self-publishing continued to roll along. Expect even more in 2012.
7. STEVE JOBS biography was moved up in time to be ready for his death. The book is the biggest seller of 2011.
8. eBooks and libraries continued to be an issue. Publishers are still working on terms for libraries. Some refuse to sell at all for it is seen as cannibalizing sales. Others jumped in and willing to see what happens. Penguin and Hachette were once in and now debating. HarperCollins instituted a ’26-check out rule’ and Overdrive signed a deal with Amazon that was not received well by publishers.
9. Barnes & Noble grabbed a good chunk of digital market share. But the cost may have killed them for they lost records amount of money. But they have survived and are a bit of a balance to Amazon. B&N has the only national chain of stores. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2012.

2011 was a year of transition and turmoil. I expect 2012 to be the same. Just a few days ago, the first major lawsuit regarding eBook rights was filed. harperCollins is suing Open Road Integrated Media over an author. Amazon and B&N have made noises about wanted better terms and more co-op from publishers. It is a good time to be in publishing. But it is imperative to remain open and roll with the changes.

2011 was a fun year.

I am obsessed with Words With Friends. It is basically Scrabble with a grid that is a bit different. I am not sure if the letter quantities and values are the same as Scrabble, but the game is played the same way.

I started playing WWF when I got my iPhone. I started with random people. But then I quickly realized many of my friends were playing. I also connected with a lot of people via Facebook and Twitter. I started to study the game and figure out how best to play. Yes, I found it a good competitive outlet.

The game has 104 ‘letters’ including two blanks. Each player gets seven letters per turn in which to make at least a two-letter word. Knowledge of these two-letter words is one of the keys to the game. The other main key is to use TRIPLE WORDS and LETTERS as much as possible (and to keep your opponent from using these bonus spots).

It is like a basketball game. Some of the time the game is close throughout and the endgame (the last 5 minutes of a basketball game) is the determinate. You must plan a few moves ahead to make sure you can finish with a win. Other times one can get out to a huge lead and then it makes sense to play defensively. Try to maintain the lead and not allow your opponent to score a big word. All game styles are fun.

The Q, J and Z are worth 10 points. The two-letter words that can be made with these letters are QI; JO and ZA.

The X is worth 8 points. It can be used in five different two-letter words – AX; EX; OX; XI and XU.

The K, V, C are worth 5 points, But only the K can be made into two-letter words – KA and KI. The V and C have no two-letter combos. I think they should be worth more points and also have at least one two-letter word possible. Not being able to make a two-letter word greatly hinders the play of these letters.

There are 13 Es; 9 As; 8 Os; 8 Is and 4 Us. All vowels are worth 1 point except the U, which is worth two points.

There are 5 Ss and they are worth a single point. But they are very valuable for making words plural. Save the S for the right play. Don’t waste it on a small point value.

It is wise to hold letters for the right opportunity and to realize that some of the time the biggest play is not always the best.

I continue to learn how to play.

I enjoy it,

It takes decades to build trust in a brand.

It takes hours to destroy a brand.

Joe Paterno was a God-like figure at Penn State. He ran the university. He was there for half a century. He build the football program. He decided what happened. He had too much power, Give him credit, he took an agricultural school and built it to a national school. It took decades to build that up.

It took hours to destroy it.

Paterno was fired. He deserved it. The President was canned.

The Paterno brand is forever tarnished. His 50 years of building it are gone. His obit will lead with the cover-up and the dismissal. His fall from grace, Not his accomplishments.

The only way Penn State can start to re-build their brand is to ELIMINATE EVERYONE on the coaching staff and athletic department that was there. All of them need to be axed. A complete cleansing is the only way to rebuild. Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer said that ‘everyone on the staff had to have known.’ It is disgusting that this cover-up is so wide-spread.

Paterno is gone and his reputation is dead.

Penn State can re-build, but it must start fresh. All of the people associated with the program need to leave.

I also think the football program should get the death penalty and go on a two-year hiatus.

Over 20 years ago, mystery writer Sue Grafton came up with a tremendous hook to sell her stories. She titled them alphabetically. Starting with “A is for Alibi” and through the alphabet until she has hit “V is for Vengeance.”  So she has four left to complete this massive series.

All of the books are in print in mass market. Each of the mass market titles are $7.99. All about the same length and the covers all match.

But the eBooks pricing on B&N nook is all over the map:

A distro of the eBook prices:

• $2.99 – 3
• $3.99 – 2
• $4.99 – 3
• $5.99 – 2
• $6.99- 2
• $7.99 – 9
• $14.99 -1