Don't you love my headlines? So specific. Anyhow ...
During a time when bookstores like Borders are filing for Chapter 11 (and B&N could follow suit -- maybe), news like this can hardly be considered welcome. Of course, we all know that Target and Walmart carry books, but Urban Outfitters? Hmm ... interesting.
Onto ebooks then ...
Did you know that Random House UK won't be adopting the agency pricing model? Did you now? Well, okay. Fine. Next!
Here's a wild notion. Form a fan club. Then mobilize it. Or to be more specific, network and mobilize it. The article speaks of an app called FanTrail that was set to debut this month. About said app, the article says as follows (quote):
Like MySpace or Facebook, FanTrail, which also has an Android version in the works, gives artists a simple template for creating an online home, in this case a free mobile app to keep in touch with fans. But FanTrail also includes several innovations that reflect the entertainment industry’s growing need to control the white noise of social networks.
One function, called LoveMail, allows musicians to record short audio messages to fans, a touch that the company, also called FanTrail, sees as more personal than artists’ sometimes ghostwritten Twitter feeds. Another feature, LoveMeter, ranks fans’ loyalty by measuring their activity in buying music and checking in at concerts.
All that love has real dollars-and-cents value, and for Joel Rasmussen, one of the developers, FanTrail solves one of social networking’s most persistent problems: distinguishing true, money-spending fans from all the rest.
On older social media platforms, the artist “doesn’t know if you friended once on Facebook and then walked away, or if you’ve been to every show and know the producer on every album,” said Mr. Rasmussen, 40, who produced and co-wrote a 2006 documentary about the industry’s problems, “Before the Music Dies.”
“This gives artists and fans a new tool to build that relationship to a level that hasn’t been possible before,” he added.
Now, call me a complete nut case (yeah, it's been done :)), but could something like this be adapted to serve author needs? Am I total visionary or just an idiot? Yeah, yeah, probably the latter ...
Meanwhile, according to this source, the European Commission confirmed that it raided several companies involved in ebook publishing.
It seems to involve the alleged violation of antitrust rules and ebook pricing and such. Apparently.
And speaking of ebook prices, would you pay $238 for an ebook??? Good God!!!
And, in conclusion, never piss off librarians. Period.
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