Brave New World

Topical items and views on the impact of digitisation on publishing and its content and the issues that make the news. This blog follows the report 'Brave New World', (http://www.ewidgetsonline.com/vcil/bravenewworld.html ), published by the Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland and authored by Martyn Daniels. The views and comments expressed are those of the author.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

2012 Digital Perspectives: The Publisher

This week we have written a series of short articles titled, ‘2012 Digital Perspectives?’ These have looked at what we believe are the short...

Thursday, December 29, 2011

2012 Digital Perspectives: The Bookseller and Librarian

We have written a series of short articles titled, ‘2012 Digital Perspectives?’ which we shall publish this week. These will look at what we...

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

2012 Digital Perspectives: The Consumer

We have written a series of short articles titled, ‘2012 Digital Perspectives’ which we shall publish this week. These will look at what we ...

The Ghost of Christmas Past

Perhaps someone at HarperCollins had just read 'A Christmas Carol' and wanted to be Scrouge and to be visited in the night by the gh...

2012 Digital Perspectives: The Author

It is easy to predict that 2012 will see us celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, see the US presidential elections and enjoy the London ...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Santa Delivers VAT Present?

The rules on VAT on ebooks is about to become very interesting. In 2015 EU consumers will pay the VAT rate based on the country they live in...

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Wanna Make the World Read

Jessie J’s ‘Price Tag’ has been a huge hit, but how many of us have enjoyed the catchy tune and been oblivious to the lyrics? The message of...

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Technology Competitors?

Christmas is the time to think about others less fortunate than oneself. Well one has to think that the spirit of Christmas doesn’t extend t...

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Microsoft to 'Silently' Kill Off IE6

The number of browser we have to support may be small but the versions within these can be a pain as new versions of some browsers appear to...

Don't Forget The Digital Back End

We have long recognised the issue of the lack of effective and consistent digital sales reporting. Its as if the standards bodies and consul...

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Bifurcation

Last week we had two viewpoints expressed in Digital Book World which raised much debate and further amplified the gulf of dialogue and th...

The Digital Jungle Book

The news last week was again littered with the impact on how the publishing industry deals with new entrants and in particular the Gorillas ...

Friday, December 09, 2011

The Legacy of Mark Hodder-Williams

Yesterday I learnt of the sad death of Mark Hodder-Williams, who was the original MD and driver of the publishing service First Edition in t...

Thursday, December 01, 2011

Spotify Redefines Music - Again

"We want music to be like water -- available everywhere, available seamlessly," Spotify CEO and founder Daniel Ek. There has been ...

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Tax Can Be Taxing

Tax and laws created before there was an Internet often can create conflict often between bricks and motor stores and online eretailers howe...

Australia Lifts Samsung Ban

An Australia court has overturned an earlier ban on the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy tab in the country. Apple had previously won an injunction ...

Monday, November 28, 2011

Can eBooks Meet Changing Social Demand?

Three stories catch our eye that all point to a significant trend in the demand to loaning and renting ebooks. Some can be seen to be respon...

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Does the Kyobo Reader Pass the 'So What' Test?

If we had a colour ‘eink’ ereader device some 18 months ago we world may have been different today. If we had a colour ‘eink’ ereader device...

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Spotify Delivers Pay Subscribers

Some 4 years ago we awaited the launch of Spiral Frog’s music streaming service but . Unfortunately when it finally it came to market it wa...

Buffy the Facebook Mobile Slayer?

Will Facebook’s ‘Buffy’ be the vampire mobile slayer or a step too far? Facebook are widely reported to be working with HTC to create i...

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Cybercrime, SOPA and Copyright

Cybercrime takes many different forms and always happens to someone else. We can take precautions against it but when it happens its impact ...

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About Me

Martyn Daniels: Before entering publishing I worked for many years as a Senior Executive in blue chip organisations in the retail, oil and automotive sectors. My publishing induction was initially as Director of Strategic Development at VISTA. There I was responsible for, and a contributor to, their highly acclaimed ‘Publishing in the 21st Century’ research series, the primary creator behind publishing services PubEasy and ‘batch.co.uk’, the initiator of the development of new Front Office systems to support publishers. In 2006 I joined Value Chain International(VCIL) initially as VP Marketing, Media and Publishing before becoming their President in 2009. In July 2011 the company's operations were acquired by Syncordia. I hold two non executive positions with publishing industry players Bibliophile Ltd and Haven Group and currently setting up Read Petite a service focused on providing digital short form material online via subscription. Email mdaniels@opus57.co.uk

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