Why Is Modern Publishing Industry a Risky Business - Essay Example

Contemporary Publishing Today’s publishing industry is no longer about disseminating knowledge and information but about making money or profits. Like most enterprises, publishing houses now have become an industry that produces books and printed material to make money. İt is about making profit but it is a risky business (Otas & Ogulesi, 2010). Commercialization has great impact on how the books are received, produced and distributed. Like a wal-mart type store, they can produce any genre of book as long as it is promising. They accept manuscript that they see can produce bestseller. Books are received and approved if they seem to be promising and have commercial values. After being produced, many do not go through the same process as the traditional publisher do (Lopez, 2010). Contemporary publishing represents a relationship between cultural and economic values (Piazza, 2010). Different from the traditional method of book publishing, The New York of the online “book review section” said that contemporary publishing is a trend that gives a challenge of a combination between new technology and the traditional book publishing. This combination initiates and promotes quality content, gives constructive and compassionate editing, gives imaginative design, and provides courageous gatekeeping. Besides the publishing companies, libraries as well enter into publishing industry to increase the dissemination of knowledge and information and to reduce the barrier to access to information. Libraries bring in their capability in processing scholarly information, including expertise in processing digital information, close contact with the authors and the readers, and commitment to preserve the information they have. To get into contemporary publishing, they develop expertise in content acquisition, editorial management, contract negotiation, marketing, and subscription management. Technology also makes it possible for publishers to produce books in different form either in printed form or in digital form without providing mass marketing but through direct marketing, online marketing, direct mail, or through other media marketing that cost less. Since publishers are reducing cost, contemporary publishing allows them to produce more genre and obtaining higher profit by producing books that promise bestseller even going digital. While the publishing depends on research and scholarship of the past, authors form good relationship with the libraries to promote their books to the readers. Libraries work with the authors to inspire them and to get their books into the readers’ hand and at the same time, they study the inspirations of the authors and keep their work saved from being pirated. There is mutual benefits between the authors and the libraries. Since the author does most of the setting because they do their using computer, the publisher can publish the manuscript upon acceptance without going through a rigorous process of peer review as commonly done through the traditional publishing especially for the scholarly one. The scholarly publisher that provide contemporary publishing service can also provide quick decision of accepting a manuscript and publish it through online process even though the manuscript should go through a peer review. Peer review gives an opportunity for the authors to have their work scrutinized by expert but the greatest disadvantage is that it takes a long time to have the work published. Contemporary publishing has some disadvantages. Besides risky, it is not as successful conglomerate publishers. Most successful publisher in the United States are conglomerate and they dominate the publishing market and the profit. However, important and good books are produced by small publishers or a contemporary ones. Even though the return of financial gain is less impressive, contemporary publishing house keeps producing books that are important for knowledge and education with high quality production. Notes from the Underground reveals a new style or a fresh breed of literary magazines that targets young audience. These magazines give the opportunity to the to-be authors or journalists to have their work published. The magazines are disctributed in a printed form, online or sent electronically via email to its readers free of charge. Some do have a price. As new style of literary magazines, they offer creative and distinctive designs, and very fashionable styles and contents. They are designed and presented in such a way that the readers may read them as fun. Some of the new contributors now are even known authors, novelists, journalists and other known writers. These new types of magazines are floshy, fashionable, flexible and attractive. Though they provide little information, the readers tend to find these magazines as attractive, easy to read and digest, and most of all, they are fun to read, said the author of the author of Notes from the Undergroun, They are very attractive regardless the contents. References Flood, A. (2010 , July 22). Celebrated authors bypass publishing houses to sell eBooks via Amazon. Lopez, K. (2010, January 27). Collecting First Edition. International League of Antiquarian Booksellers. Retrieved October 24, 2010 from http://www.ilab.org/eng/documentation/183-collecting_first_editions.html Newman, J. (2010, Jul 27). Stieg Larsson Sells One Million Kindle: The author of the Millennium Trilogy becomes the first platinum seller on Amazons e-reader. PCWorld. (2010, July). Notes from the underground: A fresh breed of literary magazines. Retrieved October 24, 2010 from http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/books/11066/notes-from-underground Otas, B. & Ogunlesi, T. (2010, April 27). Feeding the African Imagination: Nigeria’s Cassava Republic. Publishing Perspectives, Online Piazza, R. (2010, September). The Learning Region between Pedagogy and Economy. European Journal of Education, ), 402–418, Social Networking 5 Lessons in Social Networking. Insurance Journal. By Morgan, R. (2010, September 10). Social networking has benefit businesses and individuals. İn the insurance industry, it provides a special touch to combine business and personal. In order to be successful, you need to (1) know the strategy; (2) understand the impact of technology and sociology; (3) obtain permission and preserve privacy of the users; and (4) know that it is direct marketing. Your strategy, goals and tactics should be congruent with those of the business. People and technology are important, learn how people communicate and interact with each other, the way they shop and sell, how they obtain informations, and how they build and maintain relationships. Social networking is a direct marketing tool but it requires permission from participants and their privacy should be protected. Word count: 120 Social Networking Scripts – Are They Any Good? By Rylan Clayne (2010, June 27). Social networking has been very popular and the users are increasing. These sites can be personal and business. People use these sites to share communications, share ideas, concepts, and for the business sites, they are for promoting, marketing, and selling products. While the sites for personal use such as Facebook are free and people can organize the contents according to their own liking or concept, the business sites such as LinkedIn are not free. Participants are required to pay certain fees in order to be registered in the sites. These sites are used for commercial purposes and the fees are usually paid on yearly subscription and participants do not have the flexibility to organize the sites according to their own concept. Word count: 120 http://www.rylanclayne.com/networking/social-networking-scripts-are-they-any-good Social Media Minute: Facebooks Permanence and the Globes Most Social Regions By Jason Harris (2010, Oct 13). Facebook has been the most common social networking site for personal. However, it has suffered some drawbacks in its reputation despite the number of users is increasing. İn recent months, it has been charged for breach of privacy as participants’ private information can be read by other users. With this event, participants should not to post their personal information on the Facebook or even on other social networking sites. Different from Facebook, Twitter is another social networking site. If Facebook gives faster response, Twitter’s response is very low. Despite social networking has been popular around the globe, Japanese are not attractive in using social networking as people in other part of the world. Most prepare using email or SMS. Word count: 120 Social Media Minute: Yammer and LinkedIn Offer Redesigns, Twitter is Number 3 By Jason Harris   September 29, 2010 Yammer is another social networking site similar to Twitter and commonly used by organizations. It represents an Intranet type of communication where co-workers are able to continue their dialogue in a more private space without interupting their daily routine. Following Facebook, Twitter has become the most visited site especially after it added new features to its site, one that mimicking Facebook. Like Twitter, LinkedIn as well redesign its site. İt gives the users the opportunity to add more information about them and their business. This site also has more capabilities and it allows the participants to expand their post from blogs to job vacancy, to news, and so on at users’ discretion. The question is exposing more information a good idea? Word count: 120 http://www.cmswire.com/cms/social-media/social-media-minute-yammer-and-linkedin-offer-redesigns-twitter-is-number-3-008728.php Stieg Larsson Stieg Larsson by the woman who shared his life By Rachel Cooke (2010, February 21). The Observer Behind a successful man, there is a woman. Eva Gabrielsson is the woman who helped Larsson working on his works but she is struggling, suffering and in grief for his flame. Larsson’s first novel gave very poor sales because of bad reviews. Being a heavy smoker, Larsson died suddenly after completing three novels. The publication of these three novels brought him to the Kindle list and is also known as the Trillogy that makes him to become famous while the books become number one bestsellers over 42 countries. Although working with Larsson to complete all his novels, Gabrielsson never received any compensation from his work because his son inherited his fortune and his family prevented her from receiving any compensation. Word count: 120 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/21/stieg-larsson-eva-gabrielsson Stieg Larsson Sells One Million Kindle Stieg Larsson is the first author who has sold one million books on Amazon’s e-reader. He is the author of the Millenium Trilogy and the first to be called the “Kindle Million Club.” He was honored by the Amazon as the first author who was able to sell over one million copies of his books for the Amazon e-reader across 42 countries. Unfortunately, he died of heart attack, never received his price, and enjoy his fame. His famous crime novels The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Net are among the top ten best sellers and are classified in Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and Sony’s e-reader. Word count: 120 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/21/stieg-larsson-eva-gabrielsson The Girl Who Played with Fire By Mad Cow 18th August 2010 From crime novel to a crime silver screen. That is Larsson’s The Girl Who Played with Fire. İt is the second sequel of the Trillogy but it stands alone. İt pictures a vulnerable woman called Lisbeth. Though she looks vulnerable, she is very strong in mind and in mental. She is accused of murdering a journalist. The novel or the film mingles back and forth some side of her private life in which she is involved in lesbian love affair with Miriam, beautiful setting, and the violence as she has to face several muscular male adversaries and this is the book and the movie is all about. İt depicts more thriller, more violence, and more “Go get the girl!” Word count: 120 http://www.madcowmoviereviews.com/tag/stieg-larson THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST By DAVID KAMP (2010, May 28). The third of the Trillogy, The Girld Who Kicked the Hornet has been sold millions of copies across the world. Lisbeth, the main actor, a vulnerable woman who has dark and complex past, has the skills and is able to manage the wiles of the corrupt government officials. She is able to free herself of the corrupt government officials who are also involved in sleazes and sex crime activities, and yet, she has to vace muscular men who are hired by government officials as their goons. Different from the Girl With the Dragon Tatoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet, represents the climax of all three. İt is pulse racing narrative and a smash. Word count: 120 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/books/review/Kamp-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine Enviromental impact of printing Environmental Impact of Printing Inks: Printing Note. British Coating Care. By BCF (2010, March). The level of carbon print is different from country to country. Managing environmental impacts on inks including primers, sealers, overprint varnishes, and washable materias have been its important features. This important feature follows through a routine step – from raw material to manufacturing, to application, and it is eventually disposed or recycle and if not properly done it will have significant impact on the environment. Although there is no single solution to solve environmental impact on inks, industry are3 routinely conducting research to evaluate the level of carbon footprint of the total ink including the manufacture of the raw material used and try to reduce the level of cabon footprint on its products and finding the most efficient way to dispose it without damaging the environment. Sustainable Printing: The Environmental Impact of Your Printer By Imran Ali (2010, Jan. 27) Despite the e-book, e-paper, e-mailings, printing of paper is still the most important part of workflow. There is no doubt that the used of paper and ink for the printer has economic and environmental impact to the society. But paper leaves a trail and it is very crucial for accountability. The University of Cambridge found that two percent of greenhouse gases are resulted from paper consumption and Counsell research is studying recycling and reusing paper, ink, and toner. Ali argued about the cost and benefit analysis of using ink. Are you ready for paperless? Mathew Robinson;s Garamond may give you the answer if you want to reduce the amount of ink used but going paperless? The disadvantages may override the advantages. Word count: 120 http://gigaom.com/collaboration/sustainable-printing-the-environmental-impact-of-your-printer/ Xerox tool calculates environmental impact of printers tool helps one company cut energy consumption by 27 percent By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service (2010, 25 March) Calculate the environmental impact on printer? Get real! But a software calculator produced by Xerox called “Sustainbility Calculator” can tell you how you can reduce the environemntal impact of printer, copies, inks, and cartridges. “Sustainability Calculator” uses “priprietary alogorithms and documents assessment research to suggest ways to reduce energy and paper consumption from office devices.” “If the device is color or mono, how fast it produces pages, how many of those pages are printed per month and whether the device uses the Energy Star power-saving guidelines.” İf you want to “Go Green,” you may start thinking of using “Sustainable Calculator” to work for you. İt helps you to monitor energy consumption, paper consumption, green house gases, and solid waste produced. Word count: 120 http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/it-business/8162/xerox-tool-calculates-environmental-impact-of-printers/ Epson still test-markting cartridge free printer - OEM shows eco-friendly products at the Eco Products Exhibition 2009 12 January 2010 Japan’s Eco Product Exhibition is growing and bigger than ever. One of its biggest achievement is having Epson to reduce the life cycle of CO2 emission across its inkjet printer products since 2006. You want cartridge free printer, one that you don’t have to change ink at all times. Epson is inthe production of paperless printer. Epson model for cartridge less printer is not just for glossy appearance. But it also helps the company to reduce paint usage by 2,600 tons over two years. İts technology is polished by master craftsmen. From Epson to Canon. Both are amining at increasing efficiency. Though it may seem a long way yet, the printer has already in Japan’s Eco Products Exhibition. Word count: 120 http://www.therecycler.com/news/13689/Epson-still-test-marketing-cartridge-free-printer.aspx Appendices Notes from the underground: A fresh breed of literary magazines Mixing DIY ethics, rocknroll and searing new writing, a fresh breed of literary magazines is breathing life into the publishing industry, says Rob Sharp Monday, 5 July 2010 Retrieved October 24, 2010 from http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/books/11066/notes-from-underground Theres an empty slot on the bookshelf between your pristine copies of McSweeneys Quarterly Concern and Granta. Youd be forgiven for believing, what with all the nay-saying surrounding the publishing industry, that the best use for the space is as a cubby hole for your shiny new iPad. Think again. Stemming from the edgiest enclaves of the book-loving universe, a glut of new literary magazines is giving a home to freshman writing and established prose. From the cool, rocknroll aesthetic of Pen Pusher, to the DIY origins of Litro and the fizzing poetry-illustration formula of Popshot, bookworms are corkscrewing into virgin habitats everywhere. "There has been a great resurgence in magazines looking at the same literary areas," says Craig Taylor, author and editor of Five Dials, launched by Hamish Hamilton in June 2008 to showcase short fiction, essays, letters, poetry and reportage. While the magazine is distributed via email, its founders intend it to be flexibly consumed – either printed out or viewed electronically. "As conventional magazines are dying out, or chasing celebrity, theres an excellent little gap in the market," continues Taylor. "I went to NatWest the other day and their in-house magazine had the same celebrities on the cover as all of the weekend colour supplements. I remember standing there and thinking, thank God I dont have to be the same as everyone else, schmooze the PRs, play the game. Its a great time to be doing something different." These publications spawn from creative hubs, like Soho members clubs (as in the The Drawbridge) or publishing houses, as with Five Dials, or the minds of former publishing nine-to-fivers, like Anna Goodall, the editor of Pen Pusher. This handsome magazine was founded in January 2006 by Goodall, a former Phaidon Press employee and her ex-colleagues Felicity Cloake and Hape Mueller. The first issue was launched three months later, and they have since showcased up-and-coming writers and poets like John Osborne (not that one), Joe Dunthorne and Luke Kennard. "A lot of people who work in publishing are dissatisfied," says Goodall. "Many of us got into it thinking it would be creative, but it actually isnt, and its frustrating because you come into close contact with a lot of people who are doing creative jobs, and that can be quite annoying. So some friends and I had an idea to give people an outlet. The first issue was mostly our friends. It was saddle-stitched; it wasnt photocopied but it had that kind of look." Goodall convinced Ricky Wilson, lead singer of Kaiser Chiefs and, lesser known, a talented graphic designer, to design Pen Pushers distinctive monochrome nib logo. Such connections help the magazine target a younger audience. "Its a niche market, definitely," she continues. "It appeals to young people with an interest in literature looking to get published. People starting out arent going to get something into The Paris Review." That said, at least two of its former contributors – Pia Chatterjee and Nikesh Shukla – have gone on to secure agents and publishing deals directly as a result of appearing in Pen Pusher. Indeed, the editors of these fledgling organs claim that low budgets spur inventiveness. While Five Dials inaugural issue contained an 1852 letter from Flaubert to Louise Colet, the first in a series of "exemplar letters", in more recent times it has juxtaposed articles on gangster rap with more high-brow fare. "Its good to try to challenge the more established magazines," says Taylor. "They dont always deserve to be there. You need newer titles with new ideas; there needs to be movement in that world. We are trying to show you can still have Susan Sontag alongside NWA, a huge mix of writers and topics. At worst, people arent reading literary magazines because they dont think theyre fun. We have to hustle and the stakes arent as high. A lot of the more traditional magazines are wedded to a certain aesthetic and its fun not having to pay attention." Litro is similarly democratic. Its inaugural editor, south London resident Mike Fell, launched the magazine in 2005 as a folded sheet of photocopied paper with a single story that he distributed on Friday mornings outside Tube stations. It is now owned by the publishing house Ocean Media, after Fell met the companys publisher, Eric Akoto, at a London book fair. The free magazine is now distributed monthly in print and online, containing four or five short stories, flash fiction and poetry. Recent contributors have included writers, novelists and playwrights such as Etgar Keret, Benjamin Zephaniah, Glyn Maxwell and Yiyun Li. "Its about the shape of a brochure and has a few ads every time; thats how we survive," says editor Sophie Lewis. "Its not over-slick, but is attractive and it has hidden depths." Inventiveness comes in the selection of words and design, as well as the marriage between them. This is especially true of Popshot, founded in October 2008 by 22-year-old Jacob Denno, which has full-page illustrations and modern typography. Published twice a year, it mixes illustration, design and contemporary poetry. The latest edition contains the work of poets Jack Stannard (Vogue thinks hes someone to watch this year) and Inua Ellams, fresh from a one-man-show at the National Theatre, as well as Helen Mort (five-times Foyle Young Poets of the Year winner). "When we first had the idea of creating Popshot, we wanted to reach an audience that many of the poetry magazines werent reaching," says Denno. "Personally, I have a strong interest in poetry and I still find it hard to stomach those poetry magazines that continue to print pages upon pages of poetry in Times New Roman on book paper stock. Design plays a gigantic part in packaging up something as more desirable. The process of breaking up a text with photographs, illustrations or even just well-placed paragraph breaks, can make it so much easier to digest. We are more likely to pay attention to a publication, a product or even a person, if they are packaged well. This is even more applicable when it comes to poetry or literature, which in the past have largely overlooked design. In order to engage with younger audiences, poetry and literature has to think about how to present itself. In my opinion the old phrase dont judge a book by its cover is absolute nonsense. Always judge a book by its cover." Whatever their eventual success, all of these magazines embrace, rather than eschew, new technologies – something some of the old guard within the literary world are keen to avoid. Most of them have well-designed websites wholeheartedly vaunting their connections to social networking in order to aid subscriptions and spoken-word events – at music festivals and at one-offs – which help to boost their readership. "The flexibility is pretty cool," concludes Taylor. "I read some things on an iPhone and its fine but its not like Im only going to read things on there. Theres a false divide in peoples minds between electronic and paper and its just not the case. People read in different ways at different times. You read on the Tube in one way; in bed another. There is a better way of not preaching to people that the revolution is going to leave them behind." The same could be said for the fiction itself. If its unpretentious, flexible, accessible and young – is there anything not to like? New Word Order: The Hot Lit List Stingray Each issue is organised around an appropriate theme, like "community" or "travel". Founding editor Melanie Venables set up the magazine last year on a small budget with a spoken-word launch event. A biannual publication, the first issue came out in December, the latest is available now from independent bookshops for a suggested donation of £2. It features poetry, reportage, fiction and illustration. The next issue contains pieces on wild-flower erotica, translations of the diaries of a Hungarian writer living in Paris in the 1930s, and an article on Voyager Syndrome, or mental disorders related to travel. Gutter A Scottish new-writing magazine, founded in August 2009 by its current co-editors Adrian Searle and Colin Begg, both graduates of the University of Glasgows Masters in creative writing. Gutter is £5.99 per issue and is published twice a year. It contains new fiction – short stories, novel extracts – poetry and irreverent cartoons from writers and illustrators either born or living in Scotland. It just enjoyed a sell-out showcase at Glasgow literary festival Aye Write!, while in April Alan Bissett, author of Death of a Ladies Man and multi-tasking performer, hosted an evening at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. The Drawbridge Set up in 2006 by a group of friends who regularly socialise at the Soho literary drinking den Blacks. The magazine is £2.90, and is quarterly. It showcases short stories, essays, photographs and drawings dedicated to a different theme – recent choices have been "ego", "horror", "silence" and "first love". It takes the format of a full-colour newspaper (though doesnt have any news or reviews). Recently, contributor Etgar Keret interviewed Jonathan Safran Foer as part of Jewish Book Week. Ambit Ambit, while not new, still wields influence over younger agenda-setting magazines. Founded in 1959 by Dr Martin Bax, it once held a competition to find the best story or poem written under the influence of drugs and had its funding revoked as a result (in the end, the winning piece was penned by a woman on the contraceptive pill). Published quarterly, each issue of Ambit costs £7 for 96 pages, roughly a third poetry, prose and illustrations each. Alumni range from William Burroughs to Jonathan Lethem; poetry has been contributed by Fleur Adcock, Peter Porter and Judy Brown. J G Ballards late 1960s condensed novels first appeared in Ambit; Carol Ann Duffy also edited the poetry pages while Eduardo Paolozzi and David Hockney have had their art published on its pages. 5 Lessons in Social Networking By Rick Morgan September 20, 2010 Since its inception just a few years ago, social networking has provided both hype and hope for businesspeople. Social networking practitioners in the insurance industry have demonstrated over the past year how to deliver on the hope while moderating the hype. Theyve blazed a trail, showing how to combine the business aspects of social networking with the right amount of personal touch. Lets take a look at what the independent agency channel has learned and experienced over the past year in the world of the social Web. 1. Start with Strategy. Critical to success in social networking is having a clear strategy that is consistent with your business strategy. If you — as a professional or as an organization — want to use social networking for business purposes, you need to know where you are aiming so youll know when you have hit the target. Some vital considerations in a social networking strategy include: Goals. What you want to accomplish — these can be as simple as increasing Web traffic by x% or growing Facebook fans to a certain number. Tactics. What tools and activities you will use to accomplish goals. Its important that your success isnt necessarily measured by increased sales. Key goals can be centered on starting, building or strengthening relationships. In fact, expecting social networking to lead to a sudden boost in sales will create disillusionment with the social Web. When creating a strategy in social networking, an independent agency should look at its current successful marketing practices, agency culture and management style. In support of its strategy, an independent agency or other insurance organization also should create a social media policy or guidelines. This is a prudent risk-management step that defines how an organization and its employees will act and interact with others through the social Web. Much of an agencys work in developing guidelines already have been done; see www.IIABA.net/ACT for sample agency guidelines. 2. Sociology > Technology. In social networking, people are more important than technology. The technology is a conduit for connecting on a person-to-person, organization-to-person and person-to-organization basis. The technology is undergoing constant change and will continue to do so. Except for its founders, no one could have imagined a world with Facebook. Now its hard to imagine a world without Facebook. Yet, that massive social networking site (with more than 500 million users worldwide) is now under pressure for profit and privacy concerns, and venture capitalists and visionaries are looking beyond its flaws to speculate on what technology might challenge it. Currently, Foursquare (a geolocation service) and Tumblr (a visual blog) are hot, but rest assured that some new technology will come along. Even though software and Web sites are changing before our eyes, there are some long-lasting, core transformations that have taken place in our society and in our industry. Four examples include: 1. The way people communicate with each other. 2. The way people sell and shop. 3. The way consumers get information. 4. The way people build and maintain relationships. Technology has enabled a vital change in the business and consumer culture in the United States: People now trust online relationships almost as much as they do in-person relationships. 3. Permission and Privacy Are Paramount. Inbound, inquiry-based and permission-based marketing approaches are replacing mass marketing and interruption marketing. This trend began years ago when the abuse of mass mailing led to the government forcing marketers to use "do not mail" lists and "do not call" lists. Yet consumers and businesses still need each other, and are finding ways to work together. Businesses are positioning themselves to be "found" by consumers (through, for instance, search-engine inquiry results) when and where these consumers need products and services. Happy is the marketer who is answering questions and product/service requests from consumers who are able and willing to buy. Contrast that with days gone by: Marketers were limited to delivering messages via mass media in the hopes that consumers would remember them if and when they were ready to buy. 4. Social Networking is Not New. Only the Tools Are. We have done it all our lives, and so too did our parents and grandparents. The ageless concept of networking is cleverly captured in a new commercial for Coleman outdoor gear, which calls camping "the original social network." Social networking sites are enabling the person-to-person interaction that have long been the foundation of commerce. 5. Its Still Early. Facebook is only six years old, LinkedIn just celebrated its 7th anniversary and Twitter is a mere toddler. For the insurance industry, many agents/brokers, carriers and trade associations still are in the early phases of adopting social networking and integrating it into their brands. Yet, there are now "real world" examples of agents and brokers who are using these tools to build and strengthen relationships and grow their businesses. Morgan is vice president, new media at Aartrijk (Aartrijk.com), a branding firm specializing in the insurance industry. He owned a Colorado independent agency; was co-founder of The Automated Agency Report; originated transactional filing and co-developed Silverplume; and currently chairs the Agents Council for Technology (ACT) Social Web workgroup. Stieg Larsson Sells One Million Kindle The author of the Millennium Trilogy becomes the first platinum seller on Amazons e-reader. By Jared Newman, PCWorld Jul 27, 2010 The late Stieg Larsson has gone platinum in the e-book age, becoming the first author to sell one million books for Amazons Kindle. Larsson becomes the first member of what Amazon calls the "Kindle Million Club," honoring authors whose entire body of work has produced more than one million sales for the Amazon e-reader. The accolade applies only to paid books, not the 1.8 million out-of-copyright books available for free. Larsson, who died of a heart attack in 2004, is best known for the "Millennium Trilogy" crime novels, comprised of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl Who Played with Fire" and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest." Amazon says all three books are top ten all-time best sellers for Kindle. This is the second recent milestone for Amazon on the e-book front. Last week, the retailer announced that it sells more e-books than hardcover books. At the time, Amazon noted that Larsson and four other authors - Charlaine Harris, Stephenie Meyer, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts -- had all sold at least 500,000 Kindle books. Of course, e-books still have a long way to go before catching up with print. From the start of 2010 until May, e-books accounted for 8.48 percent of all book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers, compared to 2.89 percent during the same period last year. But the big growth is happening now, brought on by price cuts to the Kindle, Barnes & Nobles Nook and Sonys Readers, and new competition from Apples iPad and bargain e-readers such as Kobo. With Android apps arriving from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the pool of potential readers of e-books is getting a lot bigger. Lorraine Shanley, a publishing consultant and principal at Market Partners International, told the Houston Chronicle that she expects e-books to comprise 30 percent of fiction book sales by next year. Heres the kicker: According to the Association of American Publishers, sales of mass market, childrens and young adult books were down in May, and through the year-to-date, but the bigger markets of adult hardcover and paperback books are both up. Those are the same categories that I think would be cannibalized by e-readers, but it seems that both digital and print are doing well. If publishers can keep expanding e-book offerings without losing too much ground in print, itll mean more books for people to read on their Kindles, Nooks and iPads, and it wont be long before Larsson has a lot of company in the Kindle Million Club. BCF (2010, March). ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF PRINTING INKS PRINTING INKS INFORMATION NOTE - MARCH 2010 This Information Note has been prepared by the British Coatings Federation, on behalf of its printing ink manufacturing member companies. It provides an overview of the impacts that printing ink manufacture, printing and print can have on the environment, and has been prepared for manufacturers, printers and others in the print chain. This Information Note will be regularly reviewed, as new knowledge or information becomes available. INTRODUCTION Managing and reducing the environmental impact of printing inks has been an important feature of manufacturers’ activities over many years, and continues to be an on-going element of product and process development. In this Information Note, “printing ink” encompasses printing inks and other related products such as primers, sealers, overprint varnishes and wash-up materials, as typically applied on printing lines. When considering inks from a cradle to grave perspective, they can have a potential impact on the environment at a number of points in their use cycle. Raw materials  Manufacture  Application In-use & Disposal We will look at the Impacts associated with each stage in the life-cycle shown above. When assessing and comparing ink types it is essential the ‘big picture’ i.e. the potential impact on the environment in the WHOLE use cycle, is considered before coming to any conclusions. For example, the term “waterborne” suggests something environmentally friendly and likewise, “vegetable oil based systems” may be considered favourable because of their renewable source content. In some instances, however, these products may in fact need significantly more energy to dry than alternative materials and studying the ‘big picture’ may reveal that they have less of a beneficial environmental impact than first thought. Furthermore, the type of substrate may also influence the overall impact: significantly more energy is needed to dry waterborne inks on plastic or metal substrates, than on a substrate such as corrugated paper, In reality, no single ink technology or printing process will provide a universal environmental solution. The determination of the most appropriate option can only be identified by all parties involved in the particular process or product, taking the relevant factors into account. Studies carried out by bodies such as the Carbon Trust, identify that the carbon footprint of an ink in either packaging or newsprint applications is less than 1% of the overall footprint of the product. It should be noted that this analysis takes into account only the manufacture of the ink and its transport to the customer. The ink industry is currently undertaking a study to evaluate the carbon footprint of the total ink including manufacture of the raw materials used. The values obtained could vary widely from country to country inside Europe as electricity is the primary source of energy used in the manufacture of ink and materials; the actual carbon footprint of electricity varies widely across Europe depending on the percentage of low carbon footprint electricity production methods such as nuclear or hydroelectric power. It is not feasible to manufacture ink in low footprint countries as the carbon cost of long distance transport to the final user would more than outweigh any benefit obtained. The ink industry is committed to further reducing its carbon footprint, wherever technically possible. How do the Technologies Compare? The following table (page 2) has been produced to provide a very broad overview of the environmental impact of the different printing technologies. A traffic-light scheme is used to give a relative ranking of the impacts: red – yellow – green (shown here as 100% red, 50% red, 10% red). Please note that the rankings cannot be used as absolute or definitive values. As the table demonstrates, no single technology is “the best” from an environmental impact perspective. Consideration of environmental impacts has to be taken into account along with all other factors on an individual basis, when selecting the most appropriate choice of printing process. Read More