Email marketing revival

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Retrieving email is no longer a deskbound task – emails can now be accessed on-the-go via increasingly sophisticated and varying types of mobile devices. In spite of the plethora of new social media, instant and direct messaging options, email messaging (created in 1971) remains a versatile and reliable communication system that is enjoying a renaissance amongst both new and old consumers, and consequently also with digital marketers. With the exception of organic SEO (search engine optimisation), well-executed email marketing campaigns still manage to deliver higher ROIs than any other digital marketing tactic.

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As BookExpo America Opens, Industry Concerns Remain Largely Unchanged

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The opening keynote of BookExpo America suggests the top concerns facing the US book market in 2013 remain much the same: ebooks, self-publishing, and how to win readers.

Read the full report on www.publishingperspectives.com

The Library of the Future

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Library bodies and campaigners have responded to Arts Council England’s (ACE) Envisioning the Library of the Future research, with many welcoming the findings but demanding that it leads to greater action.

ACE’s research project, begun in January 2012, was released yesterday, outlining four key priorities for for developing public libraries, including placing libraries at the heart of the community, making the most of digital technology, ensuring that libraries are sustainable and delivering the right skills for those that work in libraries.

Read more on the Bookseller.com

Independents flock to NBT’s eBook Shop

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More than 130 independent booksellers have signed up to the new Indie eBook Shop already, with the figure expected to increase to around 400. National Book Tokens (NBT) launched the service at the London Book Fair in April, giving independent booksellers 17.5% commission on e-book sales through the site, which is powered by Gardners.

Read more on thebookseller.com

Amazon’s new world

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Amazon shocked and impressed the publishing world yet again yesterday with the launch of Kindle Worlds, a self-publishing platform specifically for fan fiction. The company has arranged deals with rights holders for several popular genre series that authors can now use as a jumping off point for creating original work for sale.

The move gives Amazon yet another conduit into the productivity of authors; it gives authors another way to monetize their output; and it gives rights holders a way to further monetize their intellectual property as Amazon will pay royalties to both the authors of the new works and the rights holders for the original works.

Read more on www.digitalbookworld.com

E3 software for Literary Rights Management

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Ten years ago IT experts Carlos Martínez and Raül Cavaller were asked to develop a program to help a Barcelona literary agency automate its admin tasks and also to manage actions involved in selling rights to their clients’ books, and their dealings with co-agents. Out of this project grew E3 The Rights Manager, a specific but highly customizable piece of software expressly for the use of literary agencies. After honing the program in the Spanish market over the last ten years, they are now launching it internationally.

Read the full review by Daniel Kalder on publishingperspectives.com

Dr Ramphele keynote speaker for African Education Week

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African Education Week has announced Dr Mamphela Ramphele as the keynote speaker for 2013. Continuing with the theme of ‘Positive Leadership’ this year, Education Week believes it to be apt for the inspirational figure, Dr. Ramphele, to be present and address the people who directly serve and influence the learners and students of South Africa. Dr Ramphele’s exceptional example of leadership has been witnessed throughout her formidable career in education, politics, medicine and business.

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Publishing e-books on paper

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Arthur Attwell, founder of Paperight, explains why his company has leveraged the network of photocopy shops throughout South Africa to cater to hard-to-reach readers. Read this profile piece on publishingperspectives.com

Bookly: A library on your phone

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Thanks to NATIVE’s new Mxit app, bookly, author Fiona Snyckers can now launch her book to an audience of 7.3 million monthly active users and do it three weeks before the real-world launch in bookstores.

bookly is the most sophisticated e-reader app available on the Mxit platform. NATIVE began developing the app in early 2013, and was eager to bring suitable partners on board as quickly as possible. Publishers Random House Struik and Modjaji Books stepped up as partners creating an appropriate focus on serialised South African novels.

Read the full review on bandwidthblog.co.za

World Book Day 2013: Competition

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The SA Booksellers Association is very pleased to announce the winner to the World Book Day competition. Tumi Motswenyane took the R1000 book voucher prize for his inspiring quote:
Inspiration and freedom, poetry and wisdom, laughter and motivation, humility and art. Books are weights for the mind and wheels for education. I also find fun family activities and cultures long lost through word of mouth. Books are the essence of evolution and power to understand ourselves as individuals and a united people.

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