Happy Friday! Here’s what’s happening in the publishing world this week:
- Black Friday was good to the tablet market. iPad sales were up 68% and the Amazon Kindle Fire had its best day ever, thanks to the post-Thanksgiving super-sale ritual. No word on how Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color or Nook Tablet performed in comparison to the iPad and Kindle Fire.
- Time Inc. saw a significant change-up in leadership, as a permanent replacement for departed CEO Jack Griffin was announced. Griffin left the company in February, and temporary leadership has been in place while the search for the new CEO has been under way. Laura Lang, chief executive of digital advertising firm Digitas, will be taking over the CEO position at Time beginning in January.
- Digital content is paying off for The Economist Group. The company’s digital-only sales have reached 100,000. Three million people have downloaded the Economist app, and The Economist Group’s managing director, Paul Rossi, sees those 3 million people as a very important market. “One of the strongest mechanisms to get people to subscribe or buy a single copy are the people who already have the app,” he says. “They will then be prompted to buy a subscription or single copy.” Find out more about how The Economist Group is making digital work.
- Do you expect digital magazines to provide an interactive experience, or is limited functionality acceptable? Publishers are split on the issue.
- Nxtbook Media published the results of its State of the Digital Edition Industry 2011 survey, and the report includes a lot of interesting statistics about publisher attitudes toward digital editions. According to Folio magazine, “Sixty-one percent of [survey] respondents say their digital magazine can be a revenue generator but are unsure how to get to the next level.” What’s your biggest digital edition challenge?
This Week in Publishing appears every Friday on the TFP blog. Every week we compile interesting and noteworthy stories from the publishing world and put together a wrap-up to help our readers stay up-to-date. Think we missed something great? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Posted by: tfpadmin