3rd Party Amazon Sellers Shipped Two Billion Items in 2014

Amazon had a banner year in 2014 with over two billion items shipped worldwide by 3rd party sellers. This is a staggering number, considering there are only two million registered vendors who use the service. 3rd party sellers accounted for over 40% of all items sold on Amazon over 2014. Products such as books, movies and trading cards were shipped from 100 different countries around the world fulfilled orders to customers in 185 countries. The e-tailer proclaimed that the largest growth was primarily due to China and Hong Kong-based sellers whose international sales grew 80% year-over-year. One of the ways sellers have been able to crank up the volume orders on Amazon is due to the Amazon Seller App. It is available for Android, iOS and Fire phone, and makes it easier for sellers on Amazon to quickly manage inventory, source and list new items, and quickly respond to customer inquiries. It's been a record-setting year for selling on Amazon. We're seeing strong growth from sellers listing their items across our global marketplaces. In fact, there are now more than a billion offers for customers to browse from sellers who are listing items for sale outside their home country," said Peter Faricy, VP for Amazon Marketplace. "The growth of mobile and the introduction of the Amazon Seller App have also been a big win for sellers this year. Sellers are constantly telling us they value the flexibility of managing their businesses on-the-go from their tablets and mobile devices." 3rd Party Amazon Sellers Shipped Two Billion Items in 2014 is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/business-news/3rd-party-amazon-sellers-shipped-two-billion-items-in-2014

e Ink Color Changing Walls Unveiled at CES

e Ink is primarily known for their e-paper displays found on the Kindle, Kobo and Nook e-readers. The company has been trying to diversity their portfolio with niche market uses for their EPD’s. One of the the new ways they managed to pull it off is with color changing walls using a new technology called Prism. Prism material lets buildings subtly change colors and patterns on the spot, without having to rely the more traditional LCD displays that are found at the O’hare tunnel walls in Chicago. Prism can be configured to respond to people just walking by, setting up Waypoints  or can be used for elaborate art projects. E Ink is proclaiming that not only walls and flexible furniture can be adapted to use this technology, but also movable kiosks & exhibits. I think its really important to stand out in the crowd and being able to capture peoples attention with animated colors is really important. Each of the E Ink-powered Plexiglas tiles are roughly 16-inches by 16-inches and can show off a range of colors. The company is only demonstrating red, white and pink, because its eye catching at CES. I was informed that more colors are available, which leads me to believe they are using re purposed e-Ink Triton technology to provide the color. Sadly, e Ink is not going to be marketing this stuff directly, instead, it's working with third-party design and material partners to get it in airports or inside corporate buildings. e Ink Color Changing Walls Unveiled at CES is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-paper/e-ink-color-changing-walls-unveiled-at-ces

2014’s top ideas to kick-start digital reading in your school

2015 is here. Whether your school is heading into the second half of or getting ready for a new school year, January and February are great times to promote the eBooks you have available to your students. In 2014 we saw more schools than ever come up with creative ways to build awareness of their eBook offerings, and here are some of the best ideas from the past year: Grand Island Senior High School in Nebraska held a "Books and Bites" campaign where they held a bake sale and all proceeds went to their content budget. If you have titles that were purchased through donations or special funding, you can highlight them by creating and posting a curated collection via Marketplace. Lemon Bay High School in Florida held a device raffle in conjunction with a survey for students, which not only increased their usage, but also gave them valuable information on what their students want to read. We created a custom graphic for them, as well as for Thompson School District R2-J in Colorado who did a summer reading raffle, to post on their site during the raffle period for increased visibility. The Middle School of Plainville in Connecticut is conducting a Read Right Run program in which students must read 26 books, run 26 miles, and do 26 "right" deeds from October 1, 2014 – April 1, 2015. Their OverDrive-powered website plays a supporting role by giving students easy access to read eBooks that count toward the program at any time, any place. San Dieguito Union High School District in California uses the Simple Login feature to give their students increased access to titles they need for research projects. With physical books or two-three week lending periods of digital titles, sometimes students can't get the books they need. Creating curated collections specifically for the research projects and giving them one-hour checkouts during class ensures that books aren't tied up for weeks at a time (and gets students familiar with the eBook program). For more information on Simple Login, contact your Account Specialist. Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar School in Australia decorated their Library Resource Center windows with pictures of book covers, complete with QR codes to give students easy access to borrow from their school's digital collection. The Gilbert School in Connecticut has been bringing their Reading Dog, Gummy Bear, into the classroom. The students love to borrow and read an eBook on their device with Gummy Bear on their lap, seemingly reading along. Did you have any successful campaigns in 2014, or perhaps one that you're getting ready to roll out? We'd love to hear about them and help in any way that we can. If you have any questions on marketing or promoting digital reading, you can always reach out to your Account Specialist. We also have many resources on the Partners Portal including the seasonal promo kits and program and event ideas like post-holiday training sessions (which would be perfect for right now!). We expect 2015 to be another banner year for our school partners, so let's start it off well together!

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalDistributionBlogOverdrive/~3/WzEmB7hP-_A/

A “hello” from a hobbyist-turned-evangelist

Hello! I’m Matt Richardson, the newest member of the Raspberry Pi team. I’m so excited to be on board because I’m such a big Raspberry Pi fan. Ever since I first got my hands on a board in May of 2012, I've been doing a lot with Raspberry Pi. I made projects like this bicycle accessory, I produced videos about Raspberry Pi, wrote articles, gave talks, and even teamed up with a friend to write a book about how to get started with Raspberry Pi. There's still so much that I want to do, which is why I’m so glad to be a part of the team. A selfie with my first Raspberry Pi taken in May of 2012. Before coming to Raspberry Pi, I was a contributing editor for Make: Magazine, the premier magazine for makers. Raspberry Pi was my beat for a majority of my time there, so I kept an eye on Pi projects, hardware, and accessories. I also had the chance to go to many Maker Faires to give talks and meet fellow makers. As part of my new position, I'll continue to go to Maker Faires, but now I'll help carry the Raspberry Pi banner in an official capacity. I’m based in San Francisco and as a Raspberry Pi Evangelist, I’ll be responsible for outreach with a focus on the United States. I’ll connect with organizations, talk to people about how they use Raspberry Pi, and make regular appearances here on the blog. If you’d like to connect with me, I’m on Twitter, where I post about Raspberry Pi and all my other interests including technology, making, art, design, travel, airliners, ham radio, television, and a small dash of politics. I’m looking forward to being involved in all that lies ahead in the realm of Raspberry Pi!

URL: http://www.raspberrypi.org/a-hello-from-a-hobbyist-turned-evangelist/

Amazon Sending Customers Reminders about e-Book Settlement Credits

Amazon is sending a new batch new emails reminding customers that they have credits in their account based on the number of e-Books they have purchased from April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. The reminder should not be taken in earnest because all credits expire March 31, 2015. If you are a very casual digital book buyer and have a Kindle you should have some credits in your account. Anyone who has purchased an e-Book from Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin or Macmillan between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012 gets a credit of $3.17 if that book was a New York Times bestseller and a credit of $0.73 if the book was never a NYT bestseller. The credits can be used to buy any e-book on the Amazon ecosystem and does not have to be used with the particular publishers involved in the court case. Amazon Sending Customers Reminders about e-Book Settlement Credits is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/amazon-sending-customers-reminders-about-e-book-settlement-credits

Lenovo Announces e Ink Fitness Band at CES

E Ink is looking to expand its business beyond e-readers and focus more on niche devices like the Sony Smartband Talk smartwatch and YotaPhone 2. These alternative markets saw the e-paper company experience 40% growth in the third quarter of 2014. The Lenovo VIBE Band VB10 wearable accessory is designed to let users live their lives more connected and with less worry. Equipped with features like E Ink display, up to seven-day battery life with the display and Bluetooth always turned on, fitness functions, phone notifications and waterproofing, the VIBE Band helps users stay fit, connected and in the know anywhere they go. The E Ink display means no glare and a clear display – even in sunlight. Users can receive instant notifications – calls, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, WeChat and more – with space for up to 150 characters on the crisp display, while fitness functions & tracking monitor fitness levels and activity to help users stay focused on their health goals. The Lenovo VIBE Band VB10 works with any Android or iOS mobile device and is competitively priced at $89. Users will be making obvious parallels between the Vibe Band and the Pebble.  Wrist notifications, waterproof for 30 minutes at up to a meter, weeklong battery life, fitness tracking, low-powered screen, and an affordable price point. The Pebble has an extensive ecosystem of apps that likely Lenovo won’t be able to match, and doesn’t have a true e Ink display.  I think the only way the Lenovo band will be relevant is if this is the first product of an upcoming product line, and not a one time thing. Lenovo Announces e Ink Fitness Band at CES is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-paper/lenovo-announces-e-ink-fitness-band-at-ces

Lenovo Windows App Enables Handwriting Entry for Text Fields

In a digital world, we’ve been doing the best we can to avoid ever having to hold an actual pen again. The problem is, there are some times that it would be handy to use an actual writing device –something Lenovo understands. They also know that we don’t want to open up a special app to do a little doodling, so their latest app offering called WriteIt taps into the accessibility layer in Windows 8 in such a way that you can enter handwriting into any text field (whether it is on a webpage or an input field inside any other piece of software). WriteIt is very flexible and easy to use, so much so that you don’t even have to keep your handwriting within the boundaries of the input box you are working with (as long as you start inside the lines). Sophisticated optical character recognition will do its best to figure out what you were trying to write –and initial reviews say it is pretty accurate (though I’d like to see how well it does with the strange tilt and form of my father’s left-handed scribbling). I’m thinking that for the average person, this app isn’t something that would be used very often… but in a world where our signatures are held in such high regard, it might bring comfort to the idea of using tablets in more official capacities (signing contracts, purchase orders, etc.). Lenovo Windows App Enables Handwriting Entry for Text Fields is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/spotlight-on-android/lenovo-windows-app-enables-handwriting-entry-for-text-fields

Google Cast for Audio Announced

Apple has been offing iTunes Match for a few years now, so it was about time Google stepped up to the plate and joined the music-streaming-from-the-cloud game. Offering you the ability to stream music from your devices (including smartphones, tablets, and laptops –including those powered by iOS, MacOSX, and Windows as well as Chromebook), Google Cast is all about crisp and high quality sound for compatible speakers, sound bars, and A/V receivers. Combining iTunes Match with AirPlay capabilities, Google Cast is app-independent… meaning you can use you choice of a growing number of music and audio-related apps, including: Deezer, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio, NPR One, Pandora, Rdio, TuneIn. Initial hardware will be available from leading brands like Sony, HEOS by Denon, and LG as early as Spring 2015. If you’re curious, take a look at the official launch video linked below for a more detailed look at Google’s new service. Google Cast for Audio Announced is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/spotlight-on-android/google-cast-for-audio-announced

e-Book Prices Stable After VAT Increase

Many readers were concerned that when the VAT increased on e-Books all over Europe they have to have to pay more. This was not the case as retailers and publishers have helped cushion increase in price, so little has changed. Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo all based their European headquarters in Luxembourg where the VAT was only 3%. This allowed these companies to sell digital books all over the continent at reduced prices. The VAT structure changed on January 1st 2015 where the amount of tax people pay is now defendant on the country they live in. The Bookseller conducted a survey of 168 e-books taken across-genres and from frontlist, mid-list and backlist and ranging from large to independent publishers (including those on agency), Amazon-published and self-published authors has found little change in prices from 23rd December to 2nd January and from 2nd to 5th January. The price stability suggests retailers, perhaps in conjunction with publishers, have worked together to cushion the extra tax costs. Of the 17 traditionally published e-books available on Amazon.co.uk only two went up in price – You Are Here by Chris Hadfield (Macmillan), which rose from £6.29 to £6.64 and The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (Vintage), which rose from £5.99 to £6.29. Among the smaller publishers, of the 12 titles recorded, just two rose in price; The Gods of Olympus: A History (Profile) and The Swimmer by Joakim Zander (Head of Zeus). Readers can now rest assured that the e-book prices have not increased by 20% and e-Books basically cost the same amount as before, and in some cases have only risen slightly. e-Book Prices Stable After VAT Increase is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/e-book-prices-stable-after-vat-increase

Pioneer Library System combines innovative ways to access physical and digital content

The Pioneer Library System (PLS) in Central Oklahoma made headlines when it became the first library in North America to install the EnvisionWare 24-Hour Library, an automated outdoor kiosk that dispenses books, audiobooks and DVDs to patrons at any time. True to their innovative spirit, the PLS staff wasn't satisfied with providing their community with groundbreaking technology for borrowing just physical materials. So in early June, PLS integrated onto their two EnvisionWare vending machines the OverDrive Media Station (OMS), a touchscreen that allows patrons to browse the library's OverDrive digital collection and send titles to their preferred devices for borrowing. "This is a library that's changing with the times, and we're really looking to be that store that's always open, so to speak," PLS Assistant Director Lisa Wells said. Located on the east and west sides of Norman, OK, PLS' EnvisionWare-OMS systems are situated on the campus of a middle school and outside a new library branch, respectively. PLS Visual Library Coordinator Adriana Edwards-Johnson said the OMS component has served as a "great introduction" to PLS' OverDrive digital collection. After browsing the collection and making selections, patrons are taking advantage of the systems' secure WiFi connection to safely borrow digital titles with their devices, she said. "People just love it. They love having that ease of access," she said. The OMS' popularity is reflected by PLS' digital circulation numbers. Since June, the month OMS was integrated onto the vending machines, the library has averaged 2,400 more monthly checkouts than its previous record. More patrons are using PLS' digital services, too. From June-November, the library exceeded its previous monthly record for patrons with a digital checkout by an average of almost 500. "This is a great example of how OverDrive is developing products and working with partners to bring a library's OverDrive collection to more people in more places," said Clay White, OverDrive Product Owner. In recognition of its leveraging of emerging technology to better serve the community, PLS was a finalist in local news organization The Journal Record's "Innovator of the Year" awards. Wells said she appreciates OverDrive's support in moving PLS' vision for a "one-stop-shop" for library services forward. "I think our customers are the real winners when we're able to pull together two great resources at one location," she said.   Brian Byrne is a Marketing Communications Specialist at OverDrive.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalDistributionBlogOverdrive/~3/zSevZQI394o/

Blackberry Abandons Flash in their Internet Browser

Blackberry has officially abandoned Adobe Flash in their main internet browser for all Blackberry 10 enabled smartphones.  This move was prompted by Adobe ceasing active support for the platform as the industry seems to have embraced HTML5. When users upgrade to the BlackBerry OS 10.3.1 update for all supported phones it now removes support for Adobe Flash on the Blackberry browser. Some users were wondering why this happened and initially thought it was a bug.  BlackBerry has now offered an explanation as to why this has occurred. According to BlackBerry, "BlackBerry 10 OS has been on the market for the past two years, and we continue to have the highest mobile HTML5 test score. We understand how important web browsing is to you, which is why we have always invested in giving you the best possible web browsing experience." If you need to have a Flash enabled internet browser there are many to choose from. You might want to check out Dolphin Browser, which continues to be the most popular ones out there. Blackberry Abandons Flash in their Internet Browser is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/smartphones-2/blackberry-abandons-flash-in-their-internet-browser

Das Wordclock

We loved this project from Bernd Krolla – it’s beautiful, it’s useful, it taught him some stuff he didn’t know already – and it’s way, way cheaper than buying something like this ready-made in a store would be. This is not the first Wordclock we’ve seen, but it’s by far the most elegant, and it’s beautifully made. It does more than tell the time; you can change the colours using capacitive touch, display low-res images on it using each letter as a pixel, and send ticker-style messages. Bernd sent this video to me just before Christmas, and I was planning on blogging it this week anyway – but he surprised me this morning with a GitHub repo where people wanting to make a Wordclock of their own can find all the code they’ll need. He’s also made a build writeup available. If you want an English layout, the ability to add more words to the set, or a differently shaped display, check out Miniature Giant Space Hamster’s instructions on using genetic algorithms to create an optimal layout in your own language. (Go for the eyes, Boo!) Or you could just adapt a layout you find online – but where’s the fun in that?

URL: http://www.raspberrypi.org/das-wordclock/

Collection Highlights: World Languages

Do you have any Spanish, Chinese, or Japanese speakers (or learners) in your community? If so, make sure to check out our World Languages edition of OverDrive Collection Highlights, above, where we share some of our favorite Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese-language content for sale in OverDrive Marketplace. We've got thousands of wonderful titles in these popular languages, including bestsellers, children's books, cookbooks, and more! Note: For the best audio experience, we recommend watching this presentation in Chrome. Carrie Smith is a technical writer at OverDrive.

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalDistributionBlogOverdrive/~3/SUSwm8QUVjw/

Good e-Reader App Store Enhanced for Speed

Its the New Year and we have been working very hard on making our Good e-Reader Android and Blackberry App Store faster than ever. We have put a priority on refining the way we handle images and serve our downloads. The end result is a more robust website and for anyone using our App Store Android App, you will notice a dramatic increase in performance. One of the ways we handled the speed increase was pushing more of our image assets to Amazon S3. We did this because its more scalable to have Amazon deliver the content faster to users in the US and overseas. We have also adjusted the way we handle our SQL queries. As most of you know, WordPress is very database intensive and being able to balance thousands of users online at once is very challenging. It comes down to this, in the past the website took around 15-20 seconds for the entire app store to load. Now that our enhancements are live this has been reduced to five seconds. The App Store client has also benefited from this speed increase and it should immediately open, instead of having to wait ten seconds for everything to load. Now that we got the performance issues out of the way we got some big plans for 2015. The major thing we are working on is paid app support for developers. This will really boost our library of quality content, to insure that the latest AAA games will be available. A few months ago we completed work on our virtual wallet system, so users can pay for apps, check their balance and add funds to their account. Phase 2 is paid app support and we have some big name developers getting games ready for our launch. We hope to have this all done in the next four months! We hope you all dig the speed increases we have made and invite you to check out our app store website at http://apps.goodereader.com and if you have an Android phone or tablet or a Blackberry 10 enabled device, you can download our app store right to your device. Good e-Reader App Store Enhanced for Speed is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/spotlight-on-android/good-e-reader-app-store-enhanced-for-speed

Copyright Law to be Amended in Japan to Combat e-Book Piracy

Japan is planning on augmenting their copyright law in early 2015 so publishers can actually go after e-Book pirates. This should assist the entire industry and hopefully speed up the rate in which e-Books are produced. The old copyright law just protected physical books from unlawful print and distribution by people who did not have the right to do so. This caused difficulties for publishers who made e-book versions or sold digital manga. If an e-Book was found on a file sharing site, or if the author bypassed the publishers traditional content delivery channels and sold the e-Book on their own, there was little the publisher could do. Only the copyright holders were able to go to court. This made it difficult for e-book publishers to properly deal with an unauthorized digital publication, which led to the proliferation of pirated content. Once this new amendment to the copyright law is complete the Japan Patent Attorneys Association is recommending changes to author contracts so it falls in line with the recent changes made in France. It is important to have separation between the traditional publishing contract and the digital side of things. Currently in Japan most authors have the exact same royalty rate for print and e-Books. Copyright Law to be Amended in Japan to Combat e-Book Piracy is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/copyright-law-amended-in-japan-to-combat-e-book-piracy

Honto Pocket e-Reader Released in Japan

Dai Nippon Printing has released their first e-reader called the Honto Pocket. It has been available in Japan for the last few weeks and the company intends on making a number of e-book anthologies available to purchase by the end of January and will be opening up an online bookstore in February. The Honto Pocket basically has no place in the modern world, it is a throwback to how e-readers were made as cheaply as possible five years ago. This little device has a five inch screen with a resolution of 800 X 600. It does not have a touchscreen, so you will have to navigate around with the D-Pad. It does not have wireless internet access and many bloggers in Japan are saying once books are loaded on it, there is no way to actually delete them. Oh, best of all, it has two AA batteries to power it. This e-reader is available at many different bookstores in Japan.  There are a few e-Books that come loaded on it, but the publisher is trying to get people to buy a few anthologies.  You can buy 100 titles by Agatha Christie for ¥74,800 or 43 books featuring detective Hercule Poirot for ¥ 32,800. In a few months the company will be launching an online bookstore, where you can purchase content to your computer and then plug the e-reader into it to sync over all of the e-books you buy. Not very intuitive. I would not recommend this e-reader to anyone. You can buy plenty of great devices in Japan such as the Sony, Kindle or Kobo e-readers. They all have WIFI and allow you buy books right on them. The Honto Pocket is certainly budget friendly, but so was the Extaco Jetbook Mini, and that didn’t sell well. Honto Pocket e-Reader Released in Japan is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/honto-pocket-e-reader-released-in-japan

French Publishing Contracts Now Have a Separate Clause for e-Books

There has been a dramatic change to French Intellectual Property Code in regards to publishing contracts being offered to authors. Any new contract that publishers give to an author will now include a provision for digital distribution in e-Book form. The amended French Intellectual Property law clearly states that a publishing contract not only covers the "manufacture of copies" but also the "realization in a digital form". How does this new change effect French authors? Well, when they get a contract from a publisher to distribute their book to bookstores all over France there has to be a new provision about e-Books. The contract will now be divided into two different segments – traditional and digital. This will hopefully put authors at ease, because in the contract it will be established what the digital royalty rates are and how much they stand to earn when someone buys the e-book. The publishing contracts entered into before 1st December 2014 will comply with this new obligation of separate parts, only if these contracts are amended for a specific reason. I think its great that publishing contracts have separation between digital and physical distribution. Before, everything was just lumped into the one category and hopefully now authors will see a better royalty rate for their digital book sales. French Publishing Contracts Now Have a Separate Clause for e-Books is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/digital-publishing/french-publishing-contracts-now-have-a-separate-clause-for-e-books

Crunchyroll Continues to Experience Outages

The Crunchyroll anime and manga streaming service continues to have intermittent connection issues and has been down the last twelve hours. The website and streaming video library has been experiencing a Denial Of Service Attacks by malicious hackers. Crunchyroll has incurred the ire of computer hackers when it started sending out DMCA notices to internet service providers and the users. Also, the anime company has been really going after hacking forums that specialize in password generators or selling user account information. These two things combined has resulted in a massive botnet attacking them. During the last few days videos have worked sporadically but many users are facing constant freezing every few minutes. Sometimes the video will freeze but the timer will continue and then fast forward five or ten seconds. In other cases just the audio will be playing but the video will be blank. Currently all platforms such as xbox 360 and Xbox One, Apple TV, Chromecast, PS4, PC and the official mobile apps are not working. The official e-commerence store is also down, so no purchases can be made and some of the incentives the company was providing due to the outages cannot be redeemed. Crunchyroll Continues to Experience Outages is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/technology/crunchyroll-continues-to-experience-outages

Facebook Launches a New Book Club – A Year of Books

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg set a personal challenge for himself in 2015, read a book every other week. He has leveraged his social networking site to create a virtual book club for everyone to read his selected book in tandem and foster discussion. Zuckerberg has created a Facebook group, simply called “A Year of Books,” for anyone hoping to follow along, and blasted it out to his 30 million followers. So far, more than 50,000 people have signed up to read the first tome, “The End of Power” by Moisés Naím. Anything to encourage people to read is a good thing, and bookstores should benefit because everyone buying the same book should stimulate sales. Hopefully major e-book retailers will be paying attention to each of the books being read and discount them in order to appeal towards deal hunters. Facebook Launches a New Book Club – A Year of Books is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/bookselling-3/facebook-launches-a-new-book-club-a-year-of-books

Hearst Intends on Launching a New Magazine in 2016

Hearst Magazines, the company behind Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Good House Keeping is planning on launching a new publication in 2016. President David Carey  made the bombshell announcement in his end of the year memo to employees. “We hope to enlarge our print portfolio, through new joint ventures, spinoffs from existing titles and strategic acquisitions,” Carey wrote in the note. Hearst Magazines has had success rolling out new print titles with launch partners, such as Food Network Magazine and HGTV Magazine, which are joint ventures with Scripps Networks Interactive.  The company also released Dr. Oz THE GOOD LIFE , piloted TrendingNY, a free-to-the-reader fashion, beauty and pop-culture magazine for millennial women, and reintroduced Town & Country Travel. “Our goal is to launch another new title in early 2016, and we’re in conversation now with possible joint venture partners,” Carey added. Hearst Magazines has had a tremendous year with their digital endeavors. They are in year two of their ambitious reset of their digital operations, with impressive results. One of the ways they are doing this is bringing all of their online properties managed by a custom CMS. The publisher has also seen accelerated demand for their flagship publications, such as Cosmopolitan and Elle on the Apple Newsstand, Google Play Magazines and their international editions on Pressreader. Hearst has also seen modest success with their part ownership of Next Issue, which is seeing an influx of venture capital being poured into it, so facilitate further growth. Hearst has also invested heavily in their editorial teams and the new centralized U.S. news operation, has driven impressive audience growth. In the U.S., monthly unique visitors have doubled, to 112 million, and social media followers have increased 90%, to 63 million. I think part of the reason why the social media numbers are up, because of the robust sharing on sites like Facebook. I have noticed in the last few months a number of friends sharing links to articles of a sexual nature.  Most of them have heavily click baited titles, which leads me to believe Hearst is paying attention to what Buzzfeed is doing. “Looking back, 2014 was a real roller coaster of a year for the media business,” Mr. Carey also noted. “Here at Hearst Magazines, we experienced a mix of both growth and turbulence.” Hearst Intends on Launching a New Magazine in 2016 is a post from: Good e-Reader

URL: http://goodereader.com/blog/digital-magazine-news/hearst-intends-on-launching-a-new-magazine-in-2016