[stylist] [Text from that EBook report in this message

[Robert Leslie Newman]

Angela and others:
 
This is the report that Donna Hill sent to the list as an attachment. Maybe you all got the attachment opened, but just in case and for anyone else who didn't open it and are curious of what was in the report:

The eBook Platform Landscape
8 Trends and 29 Companies Shaping a Market
August 2012
By Chris Rechtsteiner
Founder, Chief Strategist
BlueLoop Concepts, Inc.
www.blueloopconcepts.com
chris at blueloopconcepts.com
BlueLoop Concepts, Inc.
An Introduction
>From A Simple Question Came Complex Answers
When executing a relatively simple search query - publish an ebook - you are met with over 30M
results from Google alone. If you are slightly more specific, say you know you're looking for a
specific ebook publishing process and query - ebook publishing software - you get a smaller set of
results, only 2.44M. If you are confident you're looking for a platform solution, you can narrow your
search down to - ebook publishing platform - and receive only 1.65M results.
The moral of this story is that the processes by which ebooks are created and published is
seriously confusing. Besides an unmanageable volume of readily available resources, the ebook
market is evolving in leaps and bounds on a nearly daily basis.
In mid-July, 2012, BlueLoop Concepts asked our contacts in the publishing industry a related, also
relatively simple question: Which companies are developing ebook authoring platforms or offering
independent authors ebook production services?
The answer to this question...
“I don’t know. Lots of them. When you find the list, will you share it with me?”
This report seeks to begin answering this question. Our intent is to provide insight on a highly
dynamic market and its participants - the organizations that are actively shaping the publishing and
ebook markets - the organizations that will hopefully continue to do so for many years to come.
Please note this report is not a complete analysis. It was not intended to be one. Rather, this report
was designed to serve as the beginning of an ongoing conversation that can help all of those who
participate in and care about the publishing and ebook markets better understand the landscape,
its direction and the myriad opportunities available to authors, illustrators, storytellers, publishers,
marketers, retailers and distributors.
Welcome to the conversation. Your comments and insights are truly encouraged.
Chris Rechtsteiner
Founder & Chief Strategist - BlueLoop Concepts, Inc.
e: chris at blueloopconcepts.com
Skype: chris.rechtsteiner
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Methodology
The Process
BlueLoop Concepts developed a list of target organizations with a self-expressed or self-defined
solution / service for independent authors or publishers.
>From this list, formal briefing / interview requests were made and conducted as follows:
92 Organizations were identified
60 organizations received a formal briefing / interview request
34 briefings / interviews were conducted
29 profiles created and included in this report
Each briefing was conducted with the same questionnaire, focused on capturing insights into the
company’s vision and business model.
Please Note: These one-page profiles are designed to provide an introduction to
each company. These profiles are not intended to, nor should they represent, an
analysis of the company’s vision or business model.
Upon completion of a briefing, each organization was asked, again, to confirm their interest in
participation in the report. Five (5) companies who provided briefings were not included in the
report. They were purposefully (and jointly) omitted as their focus or status extended beyond the
desired bounds of this study - production-level independent ebook author or publisher platforms
and services.
Each company was provided with the opportunity to fact check their Company Profile to ensure
they were not misrepresented in the creation of this report.
To conclude the research, a series of key findings from the briefings have been extracted and
further analyzed, independent of these companies. These analyzes are contained in the Key Trends
section of this report.
Larger, more established organizations including, but not limited to, Adobe, Amazon, Apple,
Barnes & Noble, Google, Kobo and Sony were purposefully not included in this report as their
market presence is generally well recognized and understood.
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Key Trends
What Can We Learn?
In conducting 34 individual briefings it was surprising to see such consistency in the identification
of key trends for the sector. While dozens of topics were introduced, the following trends were
most frequently cited:
A Dynamic Definition of Cloud
Meta Formats v. Rapidly Evolving Standards
Quality Matters for Sustainable Market Growth
Multimedia v. Interactivity
Non-Traditional Distribution
A Global Game
Shorter Attention Spans Require Different Structures
DRM
Taking this list as a baseline, BlueLoop Concepts’ conducted its own primary research on each of
these key trends to provide the following analysis, insights and opinions.
BlueLoop Concepts’ analysis, insights and opinions are not intended to directly reflect the
participating companies position(s) on these trends. This section reflects BlueLoop Concepts’
position(s) on these trends.
For additional information regarding the BlueLoop Concepts analysis of these trends, please
contact us.
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Trend: A Dynamic Definition of Cloud *
The definition of, and requirements for, the cloud are rapidly redefining the ebook sector.
Once merely a buzzword, the cloud has become the key to at least four core components of
ebook success:
• Collaboration. Enabling all participants in the composition and production process to work
together, seamlessly, from anywhere in the world. This collaboration enables authors and
publishers to work with the highest quality people to provide the highest quality content
both of which contribute to stronger recognition, sales and reader satisfaction; 
• Discovery. When a book is in and of the cloud, the book is able to leverage one of the core
strengths of the cloud - search. The more easily a book can be indexed and cataloged, the
more effectively it can be found, evaluated and (ideally) acquired or recommended. When
books are available in the cloud, either in part or in whole **, discovery can extend well
beyond the walled gardens of traditional ebook retailers and reach broader potential
audiences and expand control and engagement to the author;
• Distribution. No longer are books confined to a particular geography or a limited set of
ebook retailers. The best works by the best authors will be available around the world,
accessible instantly by the widest possible audience. This will be a key to long-term author
success as new markets are tapped and new sales opportunities introduced;
• Connection. When a book is in and of the cloud, the book is able to leverage another of
the core strengths of the cloud - social. When a book is a living and breathing work it can
connect not only the story but its author with readers around the world, in real-time. This
connection enables authors to engage with their global audience with as much personality
as they see fit to achieve their objectives, whatever they may be (e.g. financial success,
total readership, etc.).
The commitment being shown to leverage the cloud in these ways (v. a more simplified universal
access mechanism) is significant. Simply put, it has proven extremely difficult for content to outrun
the web - and books will not be an exception. Authors and publishers should see their cloudbased
efforts begin to deliver benefits in the next 3-4 months. Those who are sleeping on this trend
are going to find themselves in peril in very short order.
* For simplicity, consider the use of the term “cloud” interchangeably with the term “web”.
** Availability of the work in part, or in whole, to aide in discovery will need to be provided at the
discretion of the author and/or their publisher.
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Trend: Meta Formats v. Rapidly Evolving Standards
The race to establish best-of-breed meta-formats (the formats used by a platform to standardize
inputs before creating the KF8, ePub3, etc. outputs) will continue to be fierce. This is a battle that
will shape how publishers and service providers differentiate their services / platforms in the near
term. These formats will have an impact on the end product’s quality and ability to quickly and
easily support major distribution platforms.
As the ebook reading / rendering formats continue to evolve in capability and complexity (see
ePub3, KF8, native apps, etc.) the meta formats that stay as close to standards-based HTML5 and
CSS3 will ultimately prove the most effective for meeting the changing needs of the ereading
platforms. This is a highly technical outlook but it is one publishers are going to have to become
comfortable with in support of their authors and one independent authors are going to have to be
aware of in making informed platform / partner selections.
Ultimately this issue will be resolved as standards are recognized and adhered to - but it’s going to
take some time. Expect this landscape to remain shifting for at least the next 2-3 years. As
unfortunate as this is (requiring this level of technical expertise in the author community) it’s going
to be unavoidable as standards continue to shake out and retailers seek defensible product
differentiation.
Look for savvy authors and publishers to seek platform solutions that stay as true to core HTML5
and CSS3 standards as possible. This will provide them with the most future-proof foundation to
support the escalating battle on the ereading application front.
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Trend: Quality Matters for Sustainable Market Growth
Quality, while typically a buzzword (just like cloud), is of paramount importance to sustainable
market growth. The ability for authors and publishers to deliver consistent quality across divergent
ebook platforms (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Google Books, Sony, etc.) is going to be critical.
Readers will not stand for poor quality products that do not work properly within their desired
reading application (e.g. scale, flow, image presentation, etc.). Instead of accepting such errors as
a matter of course (which early adopters did in spades), mass market readers will quickly be turned
off from the ereading experience and exit the market altogether.
A belief that if a web page can be properly formatted for reading on a mobile device, so can a
book, is far more pervasive than many people are willing to acknowledge.
Every briefing touched on the importance of the quality of the output (the actual file that is read /
engaged with by the reader). It's easy to say, "we deliver quality outputs". It's an entirely different
thing to do it and to stand by it - especially as the ereading platforms continue to push standards in
highly customized ways. The authors, publishers and retailers who make a strong commitment to
end-to-end quality will be well rewarded. Those who don’t aren’t likely to last long.
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Trend: Multimedia v. Interactivity
When the topic of enhanced ebooks comes up, the default reaction is to assume the book will
include multimedia - specifically embedded video, audio, photo galleries, maps, timelines, etc. This
is quite different than the inclusion of interactivity - where assets in the story (characters, locations,
objects, etc.) are able to be engaged in and of themselves as part of the story. 
Right now it's most common to see ebooks (or enhanced ebooks) heading the multimedia
direction. This is where the rapid evolution and adoption of the ePub3 standard continues - and
rich media assets are most easily implemented.
It's far less common, at least today, to see true interactivity coming into play. This is likely the result
of a number of factors including: 
• Expense. It remains quite costly and difficult to design engaging interactive elements; 
• Engagement. It remains (and will remain) extremely difficult to intelligently weave interactive
elements into stories where these elements are adding to the experience v. detracting from
it; and
• Platforms. ebook development and ereading platforms - those with the ability to develop
and support embedded interactive media development - are rare today. When these
capabilities are supported, they are supported in inconsistent ways that make it extremely
difficult for authors and publishers to deliver high-quality products.
Questions regarding viability of (and interest in) enhanced ebooks will remain for quite a while yet
(perhaps 2-3 years) as everyone (authors, publishers, illustrators, animators, etc.) continues to
grapple with the opportunity (and limitations) of multi-media interactivity.
However, within the next 9-12 months, expect to see a number of extremely well thought-out
platforms brought to market that will make the creation and embedding of interactive elements
easy enough for authors and publishers to seriously consider including these capabilities in their
work. These works will all initially be focused on presenting the outputs as apps to ensure the most
consistent (and quality) reader experience. Ideally these apps will evolve into ebooks as the
standards support for interactivity continues to increase.
What remains to be seen is whether interactivity and multimedia will be a retrofit (e.g. added after
the story is written) or a core development component (e.g. created inline with the story itself) and
whether there will be consistent support for presentation of these elements in ereading
applications.
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Trend: Non-Traditional Distribution
To date the ebook market has been dominated by large players. Whether it’s Amazon, Apple,
Barnes & Noble, Google, Kobo or Sony - in each case we’re talking about multinational
organizations with significant reach and resource availability. For mass market titles (best sellers)
expect to see these players continue to gain share.
For niche readers, those focused on a specific genre, non-traditional distribution points are going
to play a far more significant role in a reader’s discovery, acquisition and consumption of ebooks.
As authors and publishers looks for new points of distribution that offer them more control over the
presentation of their works (and more direct connections to their customers, the readers), look for a
number of non-traditional sources to become major players in key niches including sports, news /
politics, non-fiction, science fiction, high-tech, finance and romance.
The opportunities these non-traditional distribution partners will offer authors and publishers to
engage their audience will quickly outpace anything possible from the incumbent ebook retailers.
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Trend: A Global Game
As books become more cloud based (as defined above), the ability to reach a global audience
becomes inherent. Savvy independent authors and publishers are going to recognize the
opportunity to add a 5% - 10% increases in sales of their titles by opening their distribution to a
global audience, and do so on day one.
The competition for reader’s attention and money in a global market will increase dramatically as
well. Improved quality of content and ebook “files”, improved quality and availability of metadata
through search and social channels and a holistic embrace of the cloud (again, as defined above)
to support and author-to-reader engagement will all be critical success factors.
The broader the market becomes, the more important it will become for readers to feel connected
to their authors and for authors to feel connected to their readers. This connection is the strongest
way to establish recurring purchase relationships.
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Trend: Shorter Attention Spans Require Different Structures
Reports of the book’s death are greatly exaggerated. There will remain markets for long-form works
for generations to come.
This being said, we are also seeing a tremendous (and accelerating) discrepancy in the information
consumption habits between generations. Consequently we will continue to see a tremendously
rapid rise in short-form works, led by younger generations (those under 30 years of age).
These requirements will be met in a number of ways including, but not limited to: social reading /
authoring communities (e.g. Wattpad); short-form fiction / non-fiction specialists (e.g. Atavist,
Byliner, Kindle Singles.) and, perhaps most importantly, segments of longer-form works.
Short-form works are self explanatory. Segments of longer-form works aren’t quite as clear cut.
Retracing steps back to the Cloud and Non-Traditional Distribution trends, look for chapters,
excerpts, works-in-progress and other custom slices of longer-form works to become far more
prevalent in the next 1-2 years. Available as both free and for-purchase works, these smaller pieces
will aide in discovery, improve reader engagement and enable a broader selection of readers to
meaningfully engage with authors in tighter time intervals than traditional novels allow.
There are many moving (and converging) parts here, but recognizing and capitalizing on shorter
attention spans and new book structures are going to be critical to long-term author and publisher
success.
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Trend: DRM
It is noteworthy that while Digital Rights Management (DRM) was highlighted as a key trend in a
number of briefings, it wasn’t discussed with the same frequency as the other trends noted above.
It is also impossible to have a discussion about eBook trends and not have any reference to a topic
as polarizing as DRM.
While generally lauded as an inhibitor to a number of market growth and customer satisfaction
opportunities and initiatives, DRM appears to be comfortably accepted as a necessary component
of the ecosystem - for now. It should be noted, however, that those who discussed DRM as a key
trend all saw DRM as clearly being on its way out, albeit via a very slow moving and painful
process.
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Company Profiles
A Look At Organizations Shaping The Industry
The best way to tell a story or share a vision is to do so in the creator’s words.
The following organizations have graciously agreed to be profiled. Without them, and their support
for the process, this report would not have been possible.
52 Novels Ingram Content Group
Aerbook Liibook
Arcade Sunshine MAZ
Atavist Meograph
ASI / Booktango Moglue
BiblioCrunch Pressbooks
BookBaby Publification
Booktype SharedBook
Contentment / Padify Slicebooks
Demibooks Smashwords
eBook Architects Unbound
eBookIT! Vook
Graphicly Wattpad
Hyperink Werdsmith
Intuary
We have attempted to provide as clear and concise an introduction to each company as possible.
If you would like more information on a particular company, please visit their websites (included
with each profile).
Additionally, if you have a specific requirement (e.g. are looking for a particular partner, solution
provider, etc.) or would like additional information about the report, please do not hesitate to
contact BlueLoop Concepts. We will do our best to help guide you in the proper direction(s).
For more insight on each company, please read on or click through to their individual profiles.
The eBook Platform Landscape Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States | © 2012 BlueLoop Concepts, Inc.. | 1
Company Profile: 52 Novels
Briefing: Rob Siders, Founder
Location: Sylvania, Ohio
URL: 52Novels.com
Tag(s): eBook Design / Production
Introduction
Founded in 2010, 52 Novels provides turnkey ebook design and production services for
independent authors and publishers. The company utilizes a proprietary workflow and technologies
to transform manuscripts into XHTML and CSS and deliver major retailer-ready eBook files.
Detail
52 Novels provides authors and publishers hand-built eBook files optimized for each major
distribution platform including Amazon, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Google, Kobo, Sony and
more. All of the development work is done internally, including quality assurance, via a clear,
simple, easily understood and transparent collaboration with the author or publisher.
The company is committed to working closely with each author / publisher so that they receive the
best possible digital product for their work. Whether it's guidance and coaching to help the author
or publisher stay on the right path with respect to their digital works, or helping them create a
distinctive voice and tone for their works when they're presented on a screen, the 52 Novels team
is there with the author / publisher each step of the way.
While it may take a bit longer (and costs a bit more) for 52 Novels to fully understand the intentions,
desires and goals of their authors / publishers - and to provide hand coded ebooks created by
designers who take deep pride in their craftsmanship - the company has built a very solid and well
earned reputation for its work.
The company's commitment to this level of personal engagement and high-quality, artisanal work
delivers a very strong product that any author or publisher would be very proud to call their own.
What To Watch
As likely to pass on a project as they are to accept it, 52 Novels efforts to help authors and
publishers find the tone for their digital works are exceptional. As interactivity and graphical / visual
capabilities within the ePub standard increase, watch for a series of very high quality works to
originate from 52 Novels. The company won't be the first to provide authors / publishers with these
products, but when they do, they will truly be works of art.
--- End 52 Novels Profile ---
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Company Profile: Aerbook Cloud Publishing
Briefing: Ron Martinez, Founder & Principal
Location: San Francisco, California
URL: Aerbook.com
Tag(s): Authoring Tools, Visual / Graphical / Interactive Content
Introduction
Founded in 2011, Aerbook is designed to support authors and publishers in their creation of visual
books and ebooks and apps - without writing code. The Aerbook Maker platform works where
layout truly matters to the quality of the story and the story is equal parts visual content and text.
Detail
At its core, the Aerbook Maker platform has been architected and designed exactly as you would
design a publishing platform for a web-based, cloud-driven, socially networked planet - one where
print is an important output but not a fundamental pillar of the industry.
Equally important to the technology is a the company's core tenant that Aerbook Maker be a
rational basis for a sustainable, cross-platform P&L for authors and publishers.
The platform establishes all works in a lightweight, proprietary XML format. This is the foundation
from which platform-specific assets are built to accommodate multiple points of distribution and
consumption including Amazon's Kindle, Apple's iBooks & iOS App Store, Barnes & Noble's Nook,
Google Play Books, Kobo and Sony - as well as standard ePub, print-ready PDF (coming soon)
and HTML. Any title developed in Aerbook can also be exported as a true native app project for
easy compilation using popular mobile development platforms.
Interactive elements can be custom designed by authors and publishers or selected from a rapidly
expanding list of "stock" elements offered within the platform.
Perhaps most importantly, authors and publishers can enable the sharing of any component of the
work on the web from within the Maker platform. By establishing a phrase, page, section or
chapter as "discoverable" a link is generated which enables a reader to access the particular
section of the work. This is a not copy of the complete work. Rather, this is a specific page,
indexable by Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, etc. to aid in potential reader's discovery and evaluation of
the work itself.
--- Aerbook Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
The completeness and vision of the Maker platform is substantial. Coupled with the founding
team's experience in architecting and delivering massively scalable cloud services, the statement
that Aerbook is re-modeling the publishing industry as a series of highly social, web-connected
cloud services is certainly true. An acute awareness of and responsiveness to the economic and
expressive needs of publishers and authors as new platforms (and technologies) like Aerbook
arrive is also worth noting.
--- End Aerbook Profile ---
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Company Profile: Arcade Sunshine
Briefing: Aziz Isham, President
Location: Brooklyn, New York & Washington, D.C.
URL: arcadesunshine.com
Tag(s): Creative Services, Multimedia Production, Publisher
Introduction
Founded in 2010, Arcade Sunshine was established to help non-profit institutions, authors and
organizations produce the media necessary to tell their story, the way they want it told, via apps,
enhanced (multimedia) ebooks, social media TV and the web. Technology is just another vehicle for
storytelling. Arcade Sunshine will build new tools when they're needed, as well as employ of
existing technological architectures.
Detail
A boutique multimedia publishing and production company, Arcade Sunshine believes in the value
of platform agnostic storytelling, as well as the need for efficient marketing practices during this
period defined by discoverability issues. Their goal is to help storytellers operate successfully at the
intersection of books, movies and video games, especially for mobile platforms (e.g. Tablets,
Mobile Phones, etc.) and to take advantage of these opportunities, not shy away from them.
While some organizations and storytellers will approach the company with a clear vision of the
enhanced / multimedia / interactive elements of their work, many seek Arcade Sunshine's creative
expertise in developing various media assets.
Arcade Sunshine will be ideally suited for organizations seeking expert production help in telling
their story – with a background in non-fiction television, they are equipped to field high-quality
video production, animation and design teams, not just coders. However, given the engaging and
high quality of their work, it's not likely to be long before we hear Arcade Sunshine's name popping
up more and more in relation to mass-market enhanced (multimedia) ebook projects.
What To Watch
What makes Arcade Sunshine unique is their focus on both the successes and the failures that will
need to occur as this transition to enhanced (multimedia) ebooks and interactive storytelling
continues. A clear recognition that there will be many failures along the path to success in this new
arena - many of them public - bodes extremely well for their clients as they will be selecting an
organization unafraid of taking risks and unafraid to put their names and efforts on the line to push
forward brand new storytelling experiences.
--- End Arcade Sunshine Profile ---
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Company Profile: Atavist
Briefing: Stefanie Syman, Head of Strategy & Business Development
Location: Brooklyn, New York
URL: atavist.com
Tag(s): Authoring Tools, Interactive Content, Publisher, eBook Store
Introduction
Founded in 2010, Atavist set out to develop a platform capable of helping anyone tell rich, beautiful
and entertaining stories on mobile devices (phones and tablets). Today, the platform is used not
only to support Atavist authors but a number of major publishers who seek to produce enhanced
content once and publish it anywhere as an app, eBook (ePub) or on the web (HTML).
Detail
In order to build the initial Atavist app, the company had to build the publishing tools and platform
to deliver on its vision of enhanced, rich-media storytelling that can be produced once and
published anywhere. 
Today, there are three (3) core components to the platform that are available to all authors and
publishers: 
• A content management system for authoring, editing and asset management;
• The ability to produce native Apple iOS apps; and
• The ability to produce eBooks (ePub, KF8, iBooks, etc.) and audiobooks (MP3) for
distribution on all major ebook retail platforms (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, etc.)
The Atavist platform provides an author and publisher friendly platform where any HTML5
compatible interactive elements are capable of being embedded within a work. The Atavist
platform then produces retail platform specific files which utilize the rich media capabilities as
supported by the reading applications.
In addition to the core / traditional publishing assets for an eBook, enhanced eBook or app, the
Atavist platform also supports a number of unique social hooks which enable a reader to quickly
and easily share elements of a story on Facebook, Twitter and the web. These capabilities, when
properly utilized by the author / publisher, should have a material impact on discoverability of a title.
--- Atavist Profile Continued---
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In addition to the platform, the company also produces The Atavist. The Atavist publishes
nonfiction stories that are longer than a typical magazine article yet shorter than a typical book. The
Atavist published selections are a great barometer of how far the platform can be pushed.
What To Watch
The intersection of platform and publisher for Atavist is quite interesting. As the social and
marketing capabilities of the platform continue to evolve (further aiding discoverability of titles), and
the strength of (and recognition for) The Atavist published works continues to increase, the
company is going to be in a very unique and enviable position - especially with the upcoming
introduction of a web viewer capability and native Android app.
The experience the company can bring to authors and publishers in understanding exactly how
short-form nonfiction works, how works can be optimized by platform to best engage readers and
what's needed to be sure authors are building proper brands and supporting readers will be a
significant asset to the entire Atavist ecosystem.
--- End Atavist Profile ---
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Company Profile: Author Solutions / Booktango
Briefing: Keith Ogorek, Senior Vice President of Marketing
Location: Bloomington, Indiana
URL: AuthorSolutions.com / Booktango.com
Tag(s): eBook Design / Production
Introduction
Author Solutions introduced their do it yourself (DIY) book and ebook publishing platform,
Booktango, in 2012. This new DIY platform has been designed from the ground up to utilize Author
Solutions' decade plus of experience in assisting self-published authors bring their works to market
around the world.
Detail
Authors begin working with Booktango by uploading an existing manuscript (in Microsoft Word
(.doc, .docx), ePub, RTF or TXT format). 
Once the manuscript is onto the platform, authors have a choice between three (3) different levels
of service:
• Freetango: Including a free ISBN assignment, online ebook editor, online cover designer
and direct connections to sell the work through to major ebook retailers.
• Time Saver: Freetango in addition to formatting and correction services, interior images and
a free copy of the ebook, for $49.00; or
• Trendsetter: Freetango, Time Saver and U.S. Copyright Registration and 20 BookStubs
(ebook gift cards), for $189.00
In addition to these basic service packages, there are a host of additional publishing, publicity,
video and promotional services that authors can select depending upon how aggressively they
wish to pursue them. Author's can select something as (relatively) simple as cover design or select
a custom set of services (editing, line editing, press release design) to be sure they are producing
the highest quality of work possible - and reaching the largest possible audience.
Once the book is complete to the author's satisfaction, it is a push-button process to have the
digital (or physical) book distributed through all major distribution platforms in the U.S., UK,
Singapore, Australia / New Zealand and Spain.
--- Author Solutions / Booktango Profile Continued ---
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Each Booktango service is built on top of Author Solutions' decade plus of experience in
publishing print and digital books - and is available for author's and publishers at their
discretion. Booktango simply breaks out (fractionalizes, if you will) these various services and
enables authors to select exactly what they want to produce their desired work.
What To Watch
Booktango represents a pretty significant departure from the traditional Author Solutions lines of
business. From its strong experience in assisted self publishing to a completely do it yourself
platform with Booktango, the company has taken a major stride to bring its expertise to the widest
possible audience. While competition for authors attention is certain to continue to increase, the
recent acquisition of Author Solutions by Penguin certainly won't hurt Booktango's position as
author's see a more clearly defined path to garnering major publisher attention (and hopefully
interest).
--- End Author Solutions / Booktango Profile ---
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Company Profile: BiblioCrunch
Briefing: Miral Sattar, Founder & CEO
Location: New York, New York
URL: BiblioCrunch.com
Tag(s): Author Services
Introduction
BiblioCrunch is a book publishing marketplace where independent authors can identify and engage
with freelance talent to help them create their book or app and get it to market. 
Detail
Each author and freelancer is pre-screened by BiblioCrunch to ensure all members of the
community are qualified and capable contributors. The BiblioCrunch market consists of hundreds
of book publishing professionals who have hands-on operational and management experience in
the industry and thousands of experienced authors. 
Whether it is authors looking for an editor, cover designer, proof reader, ebook formatting /
conversion, marketing / publicity assistance or any number of other services or freelancers looking
for quality authors with whom to work, BiblioCrunch members can be sure they are working with
and receiving high quality services.
To begin, both authors and freelancers create profiles on the BiblioCrunch platform. When an
author is looking for a particular service (or set of services) they simply create a project request and
freelancers can bid on the project. Authors are provided detailed pricing comparison tables, service
provider ratings - everything they need to make a well informed selection.
After a freelancer is selected, the BiblioCrunch platform provides a complete set of collaborative
tools to keep everyone connected and the project on time (and budget). All financial transactions
are completed using the BiblioCrunch platform so both parties know they will be efficiently billed /
paid upon the completion of each project. 
Once the projects are complete and the author has their finished work (either eBook or app), the
BiblioCrunch platform supports one-click publishing in the three major formats (ePub, KF8 and
PDF). These files can then be submitted by the author to their desired distributors / eRetailers as
well as offered for sale in the BiblioCrunch ebook store.
--- BiblioCrunch Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
Today the BiblioCrunch marketplace focuses on independent authors and freelance service
professionals. As the market for independent authors continues to mature, there's certain to be an
opportunity for more established service providers (and authors looking to get out on their own) to
become a part of the BiblioCrunch market / community. The fast and efficient provision of highquality
services from vetted service providers is a value that will only increase in importance for all
members of the ebook and publishing sectors.  
--- End BiblioCrunch Profile ---
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Company Profile: BookBaby
Briefing: Brian Felsen, President
Location: Portland, Oregon
URL: BookBaby.com
Tag(s): eBook Design / Production, Publishing, Marketing Services
Introduction
Established in 2010, BookBaby is a member of the CD Baby family. The company brings over a
decade of experience working with major physical and online retailers, distributors and content
creators to help authors bring their books to market and promote them.
Detail
>From conversion, formatting and cover design to publishing, print-on-demand, large print runs and
distribution to the world's largest ebook retailers (including Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony,
Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker & Taylor and eBookPie), BookBaby provides a complete suite of
high-quality services for independent authors.
One factor that truly sets BookBaby apart is its customer support team. Authors can call to speak
with a real live BookBaby representative (M-F, 9-5 PST) who'll help them work through the entire
process of bringing their book to market.
While this approach requires additional resources (and cost for BookBaby), the company believes
providing step-by-step assistance, guidance and advice to deliver the highest quality support for
an author (and the best possible final work product) are paramount to the author's and the
company's success.
Authors then upload their manuscript to BookBaby (in Word, PDF, Text, InDesign, Quark, etc.).
BookBaby then converts that manuscript into an attractive eBook and delivers the finished product
to any/all of their distribution partners (iBooks, Kindle, Nook, etc.). BookBaby provides these
services for a flat fee, ensuring the author receives 100% of the available royalties from each sale of
the book.
The BookBaby platform also provides authors with a detailed accounting dashboard. This
dashboard enables the author to track and manage all of their assets and sales performance
across each of their retail / distribution channels in one place.
 --- BookBaby Profile Continued ---
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Another unique feature of the BookBaby platform and service offering is author websites. Powered
by HostBaby (another CD Baby company), author websites are professionally designed sites
enabling authors to have a high-quality web presence in a matter of minutes (not days or weeks).
What To Watch
BookBaby's history in understanding digital content and long-standing working relationships with
distributors and retailers puts the company in a unique position to capitalize on a rapidly changing
market. Understanding how companies like Apple, Amazon, etc. operate and work with digital
content is a baseline of experience that can't easily be recreated. This experience should continue
to yield quality results for BookBaby authors throughout the continuing evolution of ebook formats.
--- End BookBaby Profile ---
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Company Profile: Booktype (Sourcefabric)
Briefing: Adam Hyde, Project Lead
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
URL: Sourcefabric.com/en/booktype
Tag(s): Authoring Tools
Introduction
Booktype (Booki) was initially developed and implemented in 2007 by FLOSS Manuals. The
solution was renamed and brought to market in 2012 by Sourcefabric. The company wanted to
build a platform that allowed creators to create the way they wanted to / needed to. Coming from
outside the book publishing industry, Booktype has evolved based upon the needs for creators
and publishers today, not retrofitted to meet a series of processes that were, or should be. 
Detail
At its core, Booktype is all about collaboration and the web.  A complete workflow solution for
authors and publishers, Booktype seeks to bring as many assets into the development process as
needed, when and where they are required. 
The platform is built upon a completely federated, standards-based architecture designed to
leverage everything the web has to offer an author and publisher in the creation of a story. Because
Booktype is developed on top of well known, standards-based technologies, the solution can be
customized to meet many different workflows and use cases.
Whether it's writing and editing, peer review, mentor collaborations or final file production (iBooks,
ePub, KF8, Print-Ready PDF (in one of thirty pre-set size formats), Screen-Ready PDF or Open
Document format), Booktype delivers a complete workflow for author and publishers . To support
these output capabilities without standard conversion processes, the company utilizes standard
HTML, JavaScript and CSS for the creation of web and ereader friendly works vs. proprietary XML
schemas. 
The platform may be used as a SaaS offering (both free and professional versions are available) or
downloaded as open source software for implementation by an author or publisher.
Booktype is truly focused on the browser as the next step the evolution of the type setting machine
- as well as being the "front-and-center way" creators will create and readers will read going
forward. In this evolution, a book will become a collection of assets that live on the web in and
beyond the traditional definition of a book itself. 
--- Booktype Profile Continued ---
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The company sees participation in the creation process becoming far more valuable - and far more
sought after by creators. The desire to work with peers of a high caliber to produce super high
quality work - this is where the book itself and authoring / publishing is really going to evolve.
The company and platform openly (and aggressively) ask authors and publishers how they can
challenge the definition of an author, a publisher and a book - and from this challenge utilize a new
series of collaborative tools to create the highest possible quality works. 
What To Watch
Booktype helps authors and publishers get beyond the vision of a creator sitting in solitary, writing
and brings forward a platform to meet the needs of the next generation of writers and publishers.
The company fully recognizes that Booktype is working on a problem many authors and publishers
have yet to recognize - a way of publishing few have yet to adopt. However, as discoverability
becomes an increasingly difficult and critical aspect of author's and publisher's success, the truly
open nature of Booktype is setting the platform and company up for considerable success.
--- End Booktype Profile ---
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Company Profile: Contentment / Padify
Briefing: Michael Kowalski, Founder & CEO
Location: Shoreditch, London, England
URL: Getcontentment.com / Padify.net
Tag(s): Authoring Tools
Introduction
Launched in 2012, Contentment's first product, Padify, is a low-cost, low-risk platform architected
to help publishers extend their existing workflow and production processes to support digital and
enhanced (multimedia) digital publications including ebooks, periodicals (e.g. magazines, news)
and corporate documentation. 
Detail
Padify delivers three (3) types of stock output formats: 
• HTML5 - for use on the web or within a native mobile app framework
• Flow Layout ePubs - for traditional novel style works; and
• Fixed Layout ePubs - or replica-style works
These stock output formats are extended by the platform's plugin support where Contentment
(and others) can add interactive or enhanced features to the content  to help an author quickly and
easily add to their vision of their story (e.g. movie elements, interactive maps, etc. if applicable) .
The goal of the plugin-based architecture is to provide as rich a resource as possible for off-sheshelf
and custom animation / interactive elements built both by Padify and by other developers
who wish to make their applications / services available from the platform. 
All formats are available with the end product returned to the publisher / author for their
management and submission to distribution.
What To Watch
Contentment has invested heavily in the platform's ability to support both traditional ebooks and
digital magazines as well as enhanced (multimedia) works. Noting the importance of responsive
design for managing multiple screen sizes across all types of media, Contentment's experience in
helping small and mid-sized publishers extend their workflow should result in extremely friendly
independent author tools in the near future.
--- End Contentment / Padify Profile ---
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Company Profile: Demibooks
Briefing: Rafiq Ahmed, CEO, Co-Founder
Location: Chicago, Illinois
URL: Demibooks.com
Tag(s): Authoring Tools, Visual / Graphical / Interactive Content
Introduction
Founded in 2012, Demibooks delivers software and services to help independent storytellers and
publishers deliver engaging, visual/graphical and interactive book apps for mobile devices.
Demibooks aims to empower everyone to be able to author and create their interactive stories and
content - regardless of age or skill - without having to write a single line of code.
Detail
Demibooks made a conscious decision to enable Apple's iPad as the initial point of creation for
interactive book apps with its Composer platform. The iPad is a device where content can both be
created and consumed. Composer allows story creation right on the iPad in a simple, clean and
easy fashion - with interactivity - enabling anyone to bring a story to life. The democratization and
ready availability of these capabilities is at the core of the company's mission, vision and daily
operating objectives.
The company provides a free version of Composer, as well as the upcoming paid Composer Pro.
Books created with Composer can be published to the App Store via the Demibooks Printshop
service. Demibooks has also recently launched its own ebookstore, Demibooks Storytime, a
curated multi-publisher marketplace for books created with Composer. 
While the expectations of and comfort level with interactivity in ebooks continues to grow,
Demibooks will (in parallel) expand its partnerships with print and ebook distributors, designers and
developers to provide its clients with an increasingly complete suite of code-less creator
tools. Demibooks is extremely open to working with illustrators, authors, developers and others to
help expand these capabilities as the company clearly recognizes it is not feasible to provide all of
these capabilities itself.
--- Demibooks Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
It is easy (perhaps too easy) to view Demibooks only in light of children's stories. The company's
Composer Pro creation platform however, is well suited to developing any type of highly-visual
content for easy mobile / tablet consumption. As the company continues to mature, watch for the
evolution of the Composer Pro suite to incorporate additional capabilities to support creative
requirements well beyond those needed (and expected) for just children's stories.
For a glimpse of this vision, and its implication on more traditional ebook content, take a close look
at the company's Silkscreen platform.  
--- End Demibooks Profile ---
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Company Profile: eBook Architects
Briefing: Joshua Tallent, Founder & CEO
Location: Austin, Texas
URL: eBookArchitects.com
Tag(s): eBook Conversion, eBook Formatting, eBook Process Development 
Introduction
Founded in 2009, eBook Architects (eBA) is an eBook service firm that provides conversion,
formatting and consulting services which deliver high quality, QED-certified, future-proof assets for
all ebook distribution platforms. For eBA, ebook development is as much design as it is code - an
artisanal approach to creating timeless works.
Detail
The company's 100% U.S.-based staff works with authors and publishers to deliver fully
compliant, responsive ebooks guaranteed to display properly on all ebook distribution platforms.
 All eBA ebooks are QED certified independently via a partnership with F+W Media. This unique
feature enables authors and publishers to know they are receiving the best possible products for
their customers.
Whether it's a fixed layout, a reflowable layout or a custom specification for a truly one-off work,
each eBA ebook is built with the unique requirements of the author or publisher in mind. The
company utilizes its own internal technology and staff to simultaneously create ePub and KF8 files
with complete and proper platform-specific support for interactive, graphical, and tablet / graphbased
elements.
eBA is committed to delivering a complete suite of services for authors and publishers. The
company enables its author and publisher clients to do what they do best - write and distribute /
market books - not worry about the myriad technical requirements necessary to deliver premiumquality
products to market.
What To Watch
eBA's greatest asset (beyond the quality works for which they are widely known
and well respected) is its responsiveness. Authors and publishers have the ability to reach out to
their project team at any time and get an expert on the phone - someone to help them resolve any
issues associated with the creation of their eBook - someone with multiple years of experience in
creating hand-crafted ebooks. 
--- End eBook Architects Profile ---
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Company Profile: eBookIT!
Briefing: Bo Bennett, CEO & Founder
Location: Sudbury, Massachusetts
URL: eBookIT.com
Tag(s): eBook / Audiobook Conversion, Design, Production and Distribution
Introduction
eBookIt was founded in 2011 to enable independent authors and publishers to efficiently and cost
effectively create quality books, ebooks, audiobooks and get them into major U.S. distribution. 
The company believes the writing, look, feel and overall technical quality of a work all reflect the
values of an author or publisher - and that each of these components must be optimized in order
to develop a proper audience and a sustainable and profitable author / publisher business. 
Detail
The company's focus on being a full service provider is based upon hands-on experience with the
costs and inefficiencies of working through the book creation and distribution processes. eBookIt
seeks to provide a complete solution for authors and publishers enabling them to focus on what
they do best - writing and publishing / marketing (respectively). 
eBookIt complete in-house process delivers quality works, regardless of format (print, digital (ePub,
KF8, PDF, HTML, etc.), Audio (MP3)) to all major U.S. distributors. This is all executed by a U.S.-
based staff at what are very market-competitive prices.
The scope and depth of eBookIt's services is quite unique as it crosses digital, print and audio
production - enabling authors and publishers to have a single partner for these key services. 
What To Watch
One of eBookIt's key benefits for authors and publishers is the ability to reach a team member on
the phone when they need help resolving issues associated with the creation of their work. 
As authors and publishers become more familiar with the technical requirements of digital products
(and seek to gain additional control of and involvement in their production processes), look for the
company to bring it's policies, processes and tools to market to empower its clients to do as much
of the work as they like - while eBookIt takes care of the rest.
--- End eBookIT! Profile ---
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Company Profile: Graphicly
Briefing: Micah Baldwin, Founder, CEO & Chief Community Caretaker
Location: Palo Alto, California
URL: Graphicly.com
Tag(s): eBook Conversion, Visual / Graphical / Interactive Content
Introduction
Founded in 2009, Graphicly has evolved considerably from its original vision as a marketplace for
visual / graphic content. Today the company has opened its platform to independent authors and
publishers as a simple, fast and easy way to convert their visual / graphic content to the most
popular eBook marketplace formats. For Graphicly, it's all about how they can make authors and
publishers better - and get more people creating high-quality stories - be making the development
of enhanced ebooks simple.
Detail
The Graphicly engine, the core of the company's conversion process, is completely focused on
supporting authors and publishers with post-creation processes. Each submitted work is
automatically converted to a standard Graphicly-designed ePub format. It is from this format that
each work is run through a manual QA process to ensure the highest quality asset. From here
distribution platform specific files are created, as requested, for Apple iBooks and native iOS apps,
Barnes & Noble Nook, Amazon Kindle, Google Books, Kobo, Print-Ready-PDF or HTML for use on
the web and Facebook's nascent app market as well as other ebook marketplaces. The process is
wrapped up with push-button submission of the book to the author's or publisher's  desired digital
marketplaces.
Graphicly is committed to remaining as invisible as possible in the production process. To this end
the company seeks to empower authors and publishers by integrating the Graphicly engine into
their existing workflow and platforms - establishing the most effective toolset for the delivery of
high-quality, visually intensive digital works.
What To Watch
Recognizing the need to and pivoting an organization, as smoothly as Graphicly did, is not an easy
task. The company's experience with and understanding of the tools and features needed by
independent authors and publishers to be successful in the visual / graphic content sector is
second to none - and the desire to be the toolset, not the focal point of the process - should serve
the company well. Additionally, don't underestimate the company's early recognition of and
experience with Facebook's app market. 
--- End Graphicly Profile ---
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Company Profile: HyperInk
Briefing: Kevin Gao, Co-Founder
Location:San Francisco, California
URL: HyperInk.com
Tag(s): eBook Conversion, Visual / Graphical / Interactive Content
Introduction
Launched in May, 2012, Hyperink is a digital book publisher designed to help authors and
publishers with text heavy content and large audiences (e.g. web traffic) curate and repurpose their
content as ebooks and bring this content into new distribution channels. Hyperink provides the
curation, editing and marketing services to help their partners get their ebooks to market quickly.
Detail
In somewhat traditional publisher fashion, Hyperink works with a selective set of authors and
publishers. Submissions to work with the company are reviewed internally with roughly 10% - 15%
of submissions making the cut.
The Hyperink platform, an in-house designed and developed solution, enables the company to
cost effectively create high quality ebooks for distribution in all major print book / ebook retail
environments, including their own ebookstore. 
Hyperink takes care of everything for their authors / publishers and shares revenue from sales at a
50/50 split with the creator. There are no up-front fees for authors or publishers as the company is
steadfast that it should only share in the success of a project, not create an author or publisher
facing fee structure for experimentation.
The company's business model (financially and its focus on enhancing and repurposing existing
content) enables the Hyperink brand to standout in an increasingly crowded market. They've
worked with many big bloggers including Penelope Trunk, Alexis Ohanian, and Brad Feld. The
company is completely committed to reflecting a guaranteed level of quality for ebook content as
well as the finished ebook product itself.
What To Watch
Behind the scenes, Hyperink maintains a very robust database of book selling data. Their
continuous analysis of what's selling well, why, where and key topics of interest and opportunity is
a guide to help their authors and publishers understand what they should be focused on
publishing, when, where and why.
--- HyperInk Profile Continued ---
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The company's ability to assist authors and publishers in quickly putting together ebooks that will
sell successfully is an asset in and of itself - one that shouldn't be overlooked. The ability to
produce a high-quality work in hours or days (not weeks, months or years) is another strength -
and an industry trend that is only going to accelerate.
--- End HyperInk Profile ---
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Company Profile: Intuary / FarFaria
Briefing: Ajay Godhwani, CEO & Co-Founder
Location: San Francisco, California
URL: Intuary.com / FarFaria.com
Tag(s): Visual / Graphical Content, Publisher, eBook Subscription Service
Introduction
Intuary released its flagship app, FarFaria, in 2012 to build a better story time for parents /
guardians and children and - most importantly - to get children excited about reading. The
company firmly believes that a love of reading begins at an early age and is the result of positive
parent - child interactions around story time. The company has built FarFaria and the story
discovery process to accomplish this goal.
Detail
FarFaria is offered as a subscription service (a Netflix for story time, if you will) for a very important
reason - to enable parents and children to cost effectively explore a wide variety of books that are
age, category, length and topically appropriate. For $3.99 per month, subscribers receive a robust
library of over 200 stories - plus the release of five (5) new stories each week. FarFaria makes sure
subscribers are receiving their money's worth each and every month.  
Stories are released into one of nine (9) different "lands" which are tightly focused genres / themes.
Books range in reading level from pre-readers to fluent readers.
The company closely watches the engagement with and response to each story and "land" so that
it knows what to create, when and in what order. This process, as well as the company's
commissioning of each story from both established and up-and-coming writers, is designed to
provide the highest quality experience - one that truly engages both parents and young readers.
The adventure of finding a book is a quality that is core to developing a love of reading and one not
to be overlooked. With FarFaria, Intuary delivers a strong balance between the fun of finding a
great story to read without getting lost in the process itself.
--- Intuary / FarFaria Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
With FarFaria there is always something new to engage young readers. As the depth and quality of
the catalog and daily engagement factors continue to increase, look for the platform to expand
with a tighter integration into the educational process as well as collaborations with publishers to
enhance the platform and reading experience. 
Reading is too important to the educational process, and the company too focused on its
importance, for a vision this well defined and executed to not become a critical component.
--- End Intuary / FarFaria Profile ---
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Company Profile: Ingram Content Group
Briefing: Marcus Woodburn, Vice President, Digital Products
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
URL: IngramContent.com
Tag(s): Book / eBook Distributor, Digital Asset Management, Print-On-Demand, Wholesale
Introduction
Ingram Content Group Inc. is one of the world's largest distributors of physical and digital
books. Ingram provides the industry with integrated print and digital services paired with
comprehensive, global distribution. The company provides print-on-demand and distribution
through its worldwide network of global manufacturing facilities and channel partners, and it also
provides e-book conversion and e-book distribution services to a substantial retail network.
Through its diverse operating units, the company provides books, music and media content to
over 38,000 retailers, libraries, schools and distribution partners in 195 countries, and, more than
25,000 publishers use Ingram’s fully integrated physical and digital programs to realize the full
business potential of books.
Detail
Through its operating units, Ingram Content Group offers integrated digital, print, wholesale and
distribution services for publishers of every size. It’s digital and print-on-demand offerings are
highlighted in this report.
Digital: Ingram provides services that allow publishers to provide their e-books and metadata to a
worldwide network of up to 200 retailers, library providers and other e-book sales points through
its CoreSource® system. Used by many publishers, including some of the largest publishers in the
industry, at the time of writing, over 1800 publishers use CoreSource as their e-book platform.
CoreSource also offers options that allow publishers to integrate with their distribution network
without having to negotiate and sign direct agreements with each retailer.
Print/Distribution: More publishers (both large and small) are utilizing a print-on-demand model for
the physical side of publishing. Through Ingram’s Lightning Source®, books are manufactured ondemand
as orders are placed from the publisher, or books are manufactured on behalf of the
publisher as retail orders are placed. What sets Lightning Source apart from other book
manufacturers is the seamless link to the industry’s largest book distribution network. From the
largest of the big-six publishers, to independent publishers of any size, Lightning Source has print
and distribution solutions to match any need.
--- Lightning Source / Ingram Content Group Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
While many independent publishers and authors may be wary of working with such a large
company, the ability to increase sales an additional 5% - 10% by expanding title availability globally
and extremely mature PoD solutions demands attention.
--- End Lightning Source / Ingram Content Group Profile ---
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Company Profile: Liibook
Briefing: Federico Roma, CEO
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
URL: Liibook.com
Tag(s): Authoring Tools, Publisher, eBook Store, eBook Library
Introduction
Founded in 2009, Liibook was established to deliver a complete ecosystem for independent
authors to write, publish and sell their digital books in Argentina (and ultimately beyond). The
company believes authors should maintain complete ownership of their works and receive 100% of
the royalty for their sale - and has developed a business model, platform and virtual currency that
supports this vision.
Detail
Liibook has created a unique business model where readers, through the purchase of a proprietary
virtual currency on the Liibook platform, are the source of Liibook's revenues. 
When a reader purchases credits, Liibook takes a small commission on the sale of the credits to
fund the business. This, in turn, enables Liibook to deliver a platform for the creation, publishing,
sale and management of books without having to receive payment from the creators (author and
publishers) for the provision of the tools and market. This unique model enables Liibook to ensure
proper tools are available for authors / publishers while executing their vision of delivering 100%
royalties to the creators.
Authors and readers are able to use credits to promote books on the site or through an upcoming
featured called SocialBids which are book promotions presented on Liibook's public social
timeline.
Layered within the platform are a number of collaborative tools to support both the author /
publisher in the creation process as well as enabling authors / publishers to engage with readers
(should they choose). Books may be produced as ebooks or paperbacks and can be purchased
without geographic restrictions / territory rights.
Liibook is ideally suited for independent authors looking for a platform to engage their readers and
develop a global audience.
--- Liibook Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
Liibook has two unique assets that are worth watching.
1. The Business Model. Liibook makes money not from providing services to authors and
publishers, but realized revenue from the sale of a currency that delivers 100% royalty to
the authors and publishers. While it can be argued that this feature can be easily copied,
it's a difficult value proposition for an organization not fully committed to the betterment of
authors and publishers.
2. AuthorScore. Liibook has created an author / publisher facing rating system called
AuthorScore. This is used to help an author/publisher understand exactly where they rank
on the platform relative to other contributors. AuthorScore is a pretty complex ranking
algorithm taking into consideration the number of reads and downloads or an author/
publisher's works, the quality of comments, the number followers on Facebook and Twitter
(and their sentiment) and other proprietary influence metrics relative to the platform. Today
the AuthorScore feature is unique to the Liibook platform. However, in the near future, look
for this capability to be significantly extended beyond Liibook to other platforms.
--- End Liibook Profile ---
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Company Profile: MAZ
Briefing: Paul Canetti, Founder & CEO
Location: New York, New York
URL: MAZDigital.com
Tag(s): Authoring Tools, Visual / Graphical / Interactive Content
Introduction
Founded in 2010, MAZ developed its platform to help authors, journalists, storytellers and other
creative professionals create high quality, interactive digital products without having to write a single
line of code. 
What happens if a book never ends? What happens when a work remains eternally in progress as
it follows history, a life in progress, etc.? What happens when this work is best consumed on a TV
and a tablet? These types of questions are at the core of how MAZ seeks to enable authors /
creators.
Detail
MAZ is a simple, easy to use and cost effective platform for content creators. Authors / designers
create their works in whatever tools they wish (inDesign, Word, etc.). Once the work is complete
they upload their file to the MAZ platform where they have the ability to add any interactive
elements they want within the work including audio, video, images, web pages, etc. Adding
interactivity or rich media elements is as easy as creating a Tumblr post. It's super simple.
Once added to the work, all of the interactive elements are hosted in the MAZ cloud and cached
within the app (on-device) when downloaded. When the app is launched (and the device
connected), the app will look for any updates to the content. This unique architecture enables
authors to create completely live content which can update as frequently as they desire - without
requiring a reader re-download the app itself. 
All aspects of the content's engagement (e.g. app use) generate statistics for the author which are
available via the MAZ platform. Whether it's time spent reading, time on page, number of
engagements with an interactive element or simply how many times an author's app is opened,
MAZ offers a very robust set of analytics to help authors better understand and meet the needs of
their readers.
Presently the MAZ platform output is confined to native Apple iOS apps which the author / creator
submits to Apple for approval. Native Android apps will be an available output option later this year.
--- MAZ Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
With the depth of analytics and ease of use of adding interactivity, it will be worth watching, closely,
the types of works coming from the MAZ platform. The company's experience in working with all
types of content (books, magazines, catalogs, news, etc.) provides authors / creators with an
incredible amount of flexibility in how they tell their stories. Perhaps most importantly, the real-time
visibility of reader engagement will help them know they are on (or are not on) the right path.
--- End MAZ Profile ---
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Company Profile: Meograph
Briefing: Misha Leybovich, Founder & CEO
Location: San Francisco, California
URL: Meograph.com
Tag(s): Authoring Tools, Visual / Graphical / Interactive Content
Introduction
Founded in 2012, Meograph seeks to become the standard storytelling layer for any digital objects.
Regardless of the content, whether it's locations / maps, timelines, multimedia, links or text,
Meograph enables anyone to quickly and easily tell high quality, interactive stories without writing a
single line of code. 
Detail
Meograph delivers a foundation for rapid story development - one that is predicated upon
engaging readers / viewers with interactivity and multimedia. The company believes creative
expression won't have a "winner takes all" platform - simply because the bounds of creativity are
too broad. 
Meograph has architected its platform to help authors / publishers accomplish the development of
interactive stories without having to know or understand complex interactive development
environments and their capabilities (e.g. timing, transitions, etc.). These capabilities are core to the
platform and designed to be used when and where the storyteller sees fit from a library options.
Instead of being presented with a blank screen upon which a story must be created, Meograph
prompts the storyteller with a series of simple inputs (facts, locations, links, etc.) to automatically
render a rich media consumption experience.
The ideal Meograph author / publisher is an individual (or organization) who has a clear story to tell
and is seeking an elegant and efficient way to tell it vs. becoming bogged down in the technical
details of creating proper interactive / animation / workflow for their story.
By removing the technical aspects of the creation process, Meograph has created a welcoming
environment for journalists and storytellers of all ages and abilities - one that can be integrated with
existing author and publisher workflows to improve reader engagement.
--- Meograph Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
With the addition of more sophisticated prompts to engage storytellers in the creation process
coming online soon, watch for the platform to quickly expand beyond its journalism roots. The
ease of use of the platform will make entertainment-based storytelling a simple extension of its core
value - one that will fit in extremely well with expectations of today's web-first / mobile-first readers. 
--- End Meograph Profile ---
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Company Profile: Moglue
Briefing: Taewoo Kim, CEO & Chris Riley, CMO
Location: New York, New York & Seoul, South Korea
URL: Moglue.com
Tag(s): Authoring Tools, Visual / Graphical / Interactive Content, eBook Store
Introduction
Founded in 2010, Moglue is an interactive ebook / app authoring platform designed to help
storytellers bring their works to life on mobile devices (phones and tablets) without writing a single
line of code.
Detail
Utilizing the free MoglueBuilder application, authors and publishers can quickly and easily load their
existing assets and begin to layer in interactivity. Whether it's simple movements, sounds and
buttons or a more complex full-motion activities, the MoglueBuilder application provides a true
WYSIWYG foundation for building interactive stories.
With a robust set of standard actions, sounds, images and animations, MoglueBuilder is more than
robust enough to enable authors and publishers of any age to begin working with interactive
stories. The platform truly does support as much sophistication as an author / publisher would
want - including the ability to upload completely custom visual, audio and animation / motion /
interactive assets for inclusion in the story. Previews of the app are available for the author /
publisher on their mobile devices so they can see and experience exactly what they are submitting
to the app stores.
When the author / publisher is finished with their work, they receive a file from Moglue that can be
submitted to the Apple iOS store for certification. Should an author / publisher choose, they may
also save their books to the MoglueViewer app's library, for offline viewing and sharing of these
enhanced works. Beginning September 2012, native Android apps will be available as an
additional output format as well as preview capabilities for the author / publisher on their Mac or
PC.
What To Watch
Moglue is deeply committed to the extensibility of their platform. Watch for an increasing number of
third-party visual / graphical, audio and interactive assets to be added to the platform in the next
twelve months, including a formal "app store" where more sophisticated assets may be purchased
or requested from contractors.
--- End Moglue Profile ---
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Company Profile: Pressbooks
Briefing: Hugh McGuire, Founder
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
URL: Pressbooks.com
Tag(s): Authoring Tools
Introduction
Officially founded in 2009, Pressbooks believes that it is only when books live on the web and are
fully networked that authors and publishers can truly look at new ways of making and defining
books AND THE NEW BUSINESS MODELS THAT GO WITH THEM. Once books are fully
networked (with the content, metadata, etc. available to the web at the author or publisher's
discretion), monetization models (purchases, subscriptions, advertising, paywalls, etc.) can be
layered on top of the content based upon the author's or publisher's specific objectives. 
Pressbooks is designed to support authors and publishers efforts as the business models for
books and publishing are re-written.
Detail
Pressbooks is built on over 5 years of hands-on experience architecting and delivering open
source publishing tools - and this is clearly reflected in the simple elegance of the platform. 
When looking at the best possible platform architecture, the team decided to focus on Wordpress
Core (because of its extensibility) instead of building completely from scratch. This decision was
made to reflect an author's and publisher's familiarity with Wordpress-style tools as well as to
enable the team to focus on what matters most - collaboration in authoring and discovery - not
core editing functions.
Pressbooks delivers a fully networked versions of ebooks whether the final output format is
an ePub, HTML, PDF, Mobi file, KF8 file, inDesign-ready XML, print-on-demand or another, yet to
be defined, custom format. This core capability of the platform enables authors and publishers to
leverage the power of the web in helping to aid discovery of the work whenever (and at whatever
levels) they choose.
The company's business model is based upon providing a free service and extending the
capabilities of the platform with a suite of premium services for authors and publishers - similar in
fashion to Wordpress.
--- Pressbooks Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
Pressbooks delivers fully networked versions of ebooks from the start - whether the final output is
destined to be ePub, PDF, Mobi, KF8, print-on-demand or other, to be defined custom formats.
This enables an author or publisher to define exactly how discoverable each component of the
book is (e.g. sentences, paragraphs, sections and chapters can be available and accessible
without exposing the whole work). 
Pressbooks is a useful tool right now, with something more radical behind it: the belief that in the
long run the open web is where books will have to be to compete for attention.
The Pressbooks platform and business model have been built with the next step in mind - with a
clear understanding that the uncertainty and rapid evolution of the market will have a significant
impact on authors, publishers and readers in ways that can't (yet) be fully defined. Their
commitment to leveraging everything the web has to offer relative to creation, collaboration and
especially the connection between readers and writing is a model that authors, publishers and
readers, alike, would be well served to get behind.
--- End Pressbooks Profile ---
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Company Profile: Publification
Briefing: Yrjö Ojassar, Co-Founder & CEO
Location: Tartu, Estonia & Newcastle, England
URL: Publification.com
Tag(s): Author Tools, Distributor, eBook store
Introduction
Founded in 2011, Publification seeks to democratize the publishing business by connecting
authors directly to their readers. By leveraging a socially-enabled, HTML5 (browser-based)
authoring and reading experience, Publification helps authors create and promote ebooks that can
open with just one click on over 2 billion devices worldwide and can deliver a completely social
reading experience where readers can interact with each other and the author in real-time within
the eBooks.
Detail
Publification has spent an incredible amount of time and energy getting the authoring process and
author dashboard just right. It's simply beautiful.
Whether it's providing incentives to write by highlighting potential reach (and monetization
opportunity), showing you exactly how far you are down the book writing path or presenting realtime
statistics about engaged readers and unit sales, authors should find the experience very
rewarding (and motivating). 
The entire creation process is controlled by the author from within their browser. Whether it's
enabling co-creators and editors to help in the creation process, opening up limited peer reviews or
providing for the open, public sharing of a work in progress, it is at the author's discretion to decide
just how collaborative and social their works become before, during and after the creation process.
Once a book is created, an author has the option of putting the book up for sale on the
Publification store as well as one-click submission to Amazon, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble,
Sony and others. The Publification platform creates the native ebook file formats for each platform
and submits them to the retailer on the author's behalf.
When a book is sold through the Publification platform (and read on it's browser-based ereader),
readers have real-time social interaction with each other and the author. Authors also receive realtime
statistics on reader engagement, comments, etc. so they have complete visibility and control
of the entire experience. Books sold through third-party retailers (noted above) do not yet support
these social and analytics features - much to the chagrin of the company's founders.
--- Publification Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
Publification's focus on mobile reading (reading that occurs away from desktops) and ever
shrinking attention spans (met with shorter fiction / non-fiction works) should be watched closely.
They are ahead of the curve in recognizing the creation and consumption requirements necessary
for success in meeting both of these trends. The completeness of the company's vision, platform,
social integration - coupled with its overall execution to date - should bode well for Publification's
success.
--- End Publification Profile ---
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Company Profile: SharedBook
Briefing: Caroline Vanderlip, CEO
Location: New York, New York
URL: SharedBook.com
Tag(s): Publisher
Introduction
Founded in 2004, SharedBook helps companies, institutions, educators and consumers to
dynamically produce personalized and customized books and documents. Whether it's a collection
of chapters, presentations, web pages or other documents (HTML, PDF, .DOCX, etc.),
SharedBook pulls it all together regardless of source or format and publishes the work as a print or
eBook. 
Detail
To begin working with SharedBook is beyond easy. Customers simply upload their works,
regardless of format, and within approximately 30 seconds they will receive back their book
complete with pagination, a table of contents - everything they would (and should) expect to see in
a print or eBook. This entire process is completed for an astoundingly low price of roughly $7.95
per file.
Should a customer wish to have their book physically printed, SharedBook works with  Print-On-
Demand partners to print and deliver the physical work,  typically within 5 days.
Everything about the SharedBook platform is built for speed, ease of use and convenience -
regardless of the complexity of the desired output. This is accomplished via the company's
patented publishing and compilation platform which performs all of the tasks necessary for their
customers to receive a finished work in what has to be record time.
In the Academic market, with their product AcademicPub (http://www.academicpub.com),
SharedBook allows professors to create custom course materials. In this case, qualified users can
select content from the AcademicPub Library of more than 5 million chapters and journal articles
from more than 150 academic publishers, all copyright cleared for use in the classroom.
Additionally, for companies and institutions, the SharedBook platform has a fully developed and
documented API which enables anyone to embed the SharedBook capabilities to create a book
from their content - within any desired (business) processes.
--- SharedBook Profile Continued ---
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All completed works (whether physical or digital) are returned to the customer with complete rights
- enabling the customer to take their work anywhere they want or pursue any type of distribution
relationships desired. 
What To Watch
While the transition to digital continues to increase, we're likely a long way away from print
disappearing. The ability to create a physical work for display and/or distribution is still an incredibly
important aspect of the authoring process. With an inherent ability to use chunks / slices of content
to create completely new works quickly and cost effectively, SharedBook is incredibly well
positioned to meet the rapidly increasing print and digital demands of educational institutions and
corporations for proprietary content bundles.
--- End SharedBook Profile ---
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Company Profile: Slicebooks
Briefing: Ron Tomich, Co-Founder & President
Location: Denver, Colorado
URL: Slicebooks.com
Tag(s): Authoring Tools, eBook Store
Introduction
Founded in 2011, Slicebook's delivers an Apple iTunes-like platform enabling authors and
publishers to make any trade book, textbook or journal available for purchase either in parts
(slices), whole, or customized (remixes) - just like songs, albums and playlists.
This platform offers web tools publishers and authors can use to quickly slice or remix their works
into completely new, purchasable forms.
Detail
Slicebooks has developed a simple and very clean process for slicing existing works into fully
packaged and publishable micro content. Whether it's a single page or chapter, multiple chapters,
or a collection of connected (or disconnected) pages from one or more works, Slicebooks makes it
easy for authors and publishers to slice content, edit metadata and create custom remixes by
mixing and matching content from various sources in minutes - all within just a few simple mouse
clicks.
What you want, when you want it, on any device you need it are the core tenants of the Slicebook
platform (including ePub, iBooks, PDF, Print-Ready PDF, KF8, HTML). Authors and publishers can
download their new digital products and place them for sale wherever is appropriate for their
readers - as well as placing them on Slicebook's eBookPie.com ebook store - currently the only
ebook store designed to present ebooks whole or sliced on one product page.
The Slicebooks service is currently available to publishers and content owners only. However, later
this fall the company will be introducing its Remix Service API which will enable publishers and
ebook retailers to integrate the Remix tool on their own websites so their customers can create
their own custom ebooks. It is at this level that Slicebooks ability to serve its customers will truly
shine.
--- Slicebooks Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
Not surprisingly, professional and educational publishers have been quick to embrace the
Slicebooks service, while traditional trade publishers have been more cautious about the concept
of slicing and remixing. But bottom-up customer demand for more flexibility and choice in gaining
instant, searchable access to micro and customized content is pushing trade publishers to slice
and remix their catalogs as well.
Given the massive demand for fractional works in educational and professional publishing, and its
resulting trickle-down to personal (trade publication) reading, it shouldn't be long before we see the
slice concept taking a significantly more aggressive hold across the ebook landscape at the author,
publisher and retailer levels.
--- End Slicebooks Profile ---
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Company Profile: Smashwords
Briefing: Mark Coker, Founder & CEO
Location: Los Gatos, California
URL: Smashwords.com
Tag(s): Independent eBook Publisher / Distributor
Introduction
Founded in 2008, Smashwords is the largest indie ebook distributor in the world. The company
makes it fast, free and easy for independent authors and publishers to reach all major ebook
retailers with a single file upload - including the centralized management of all book and metadata
for each of these distribution channels. As of August, 2012, the company has published over
140,000 ebooks from over 45,000 authors around the world.
Detail
For four years, Smashwords has helped independent authors and small independent publishers
get their works into the world's major ebook retailer catalogs. The company has done this with a
business model solely predicated upon the success of the author / publisher. In the Smashwords
model, the company doesn't make any money until an author's or publisher's ebooks sell. Only at
the time of sale does the company nominally share in the net proceeds from the sale of a work. 
Smashwords believes it is the authors' / publishers' job to create a great work, one that is well
written and will resonate with readers. Author's and publishers shouldn't have to know all of the
technologies necessary to make an eBook. In an ideal model, these aspects are hidden in the
process - one that is designed to deliver the best possible reading experience for consumers.
Authors / publishers upload their work to Smashwords via the company's website and submit all
relevant metadata for the title. The company then provides all of the conversion services necessary
for each work to be presented in all proper formats (ePub, MOBI, PDF, etc.) for inclusion in each of
the major ebook retail catalogs including the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, and
many others. At present, Smashwords distributes only a limited subset of its titles to Amazon,
pending Amazon’s creation of bulk ingestion tools. Smashwords also distributes to libraries via
library aggregators such as Baker & Taylor.
For Smashwords, it truly is all about making it fast, free and easy for authors / publishers to reach
the widest possible global audience.
--- Smashwords Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
What isn't readily apparent to the average Smashwords.com visitor is the strength of the global
Smashwords author / publisher community. Whether it's Facebook, Twitter, Smashwords.com or
any number of other platforms, the number of people work together to support each other, and the
Smashwords platform, is staggering. When an author / publisher chooses to work with
Smashwords, they are also availing themselves of one of the widest peer resource and reference
groups on the planet - should they wish to participate.
--- End Smashwords Profile ---
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Company Profile: Unbound
Briefing: Justin Pollard, Co-Founder & Creative Director
Location: Salisbury, United Kington
URL: Unbound.co.uk
Tag(s): Crowd funded eBooks, Publisher
Introduction
Unbound was founded in 2011 by three writers who felt they could continue to listen to
complaining about publishers and the economics of the industry, or they could do something to
change the game. The company reverse engineered the author / publisher processes, found out
where the inefficiencies existed (and the money went / was lost) and built out a completely new
type of publisher - one that is sustainable for authors and their readers.
Detail
Unbound is committed to helping authors bring books and apps to market in a financially
sustainable fashion. To accomplish this, the company went back to the soul of the earliest book
creation processes - patrons - and brought this forward to the social age via crowd funding .
Unbound is about helping authors be present in a community of invested readers - about working
for someone who wants to see what they're writing come to life.
When an author's work is selected to be published by Unbound, the author is engaged in a
completely transparent and well-defined production and economic processes to bring the book to
market. In addition to helping authors get their books funded, Unbound provides all of the behind
the scenes services necessary to get the book publisher including editing, type setting, printing,
binding, ebook development and distribution. Unbound is a complete turnkey solution for authors.
To begin, a book is presented to the Unbound community and readers are able to invest in the
works they wish to see published. Once a book reaches its minimum support level (determined by
Unbound and the author for each work), the formal creation process begins.
During the creation process, the Unbound platform supports an authors ability to share their works
at any point in the process - in any way they wish. This may include providing early access to a
chapter, whatever the author desires. 
--- Unbound Profile Continued ---
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Once the book is finished there is a specific distribution path to help maximize awareness and
availability of each work. Hardbacks for each funded work are created and are presented to the
people who invested in the project. Trade editions are a slightly lower spec and are distributed
through larger publishers who sell-in on Unbound and the author's behalf to UK and online
booksellers, help establish and manage foreign rights, etc. Digital editions (both eBooks and apps)
are done in partnership with Padify and submitted to online distribution - including the Unbound
website.
Unbound and the author split the royalties 50/50 - which covers all of the publishing, marketing,
etc. needed to bring the work to market - while requiring no upfront investment from the author.
What To Watch
With Unbound each book becomes a social object - an active form of participation in a tightly
defined, closely-knit social group - one with high relevance and engagement. As discovery and
author-to-reader engagement become increasingly important (and expected with the purchase of a
work), look for these core social tenets of the platform to set a completely new stage for authors
and readers alike.
--- End Unbound Profile ---
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Company Profile: Vook
Briefing: Brad Inman, CEO & Founder
Location: New York, New York
URL: Vook.com
Tag(s): Authoring Tools, Publisher, Visual / Graphical / Interactive Content, eBook Store
Introduction
Founded in 2009, Vook was established to integrate the video and interactive capabilities of mobile
devices with the tradition of text and deliver a complete storytelling experience. The company
began with hand-built experiments to gauge author / publisher and, most importantly, reader
response. The success of these experiments evolved into the platform offered to authors and
publishers today. 
Detail
Vook as a company and a platform, is all about enhanced ebooks. The company has architected
its platform to be a open, simple and easy to use for everyone from independent authors to Big Six
publishers. 
With a singular objective to help their customers bring their enhanced ebooks to market, Vook
provides the end-to-end capabilities necessary for authors and publishers to succeed including:
• Enhanced eBook Authoring Tools providing WYSIWYG capabilities for all features, including
interactivity / multimedia 
• Landing pages for authors and publishers to promote their work, including an HTML5
reader for reader accessibility in the discovery process
• The Vook store where readers can purchase content directly from the author / publisher
• Direct connections with all major eBook distribution platforms
• A real-time sales dashboard for managing all aspects of a book's progress
Vook is committed to delivering authors and publishers an open platform - one that enables the
creation of what books are today as well as what they will be in the future, regardless of format,
while retaining ownership of the work and 85% of their royalties when sold through Vook and
100% of the net royalties when sold through Vook's direct connections to eTailers.
--- Vook Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
Vook's encouragement of and support for experimentation in the burgeoning enhanced ebook
market is a critical success factor. Assisting in authors and publishers experiments to help them
push the envelope as far as it can be pushed is a hidden gem of a feature of the platform and
company.
Expect the Vook platform too see continued, aggressive development from the company as well as
an increase in third-party developers who are working to extend the capabilities available to
authors and publishers (and being aggressively recruited by the company).
--- End Vook Profile ---
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Company Profile: Wattpad
Briefing: Amy Martin, Product Marketing Manager
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
URL: Wattpad.com
Tag(s): Authoring Tools, eBook Reading Platform
Introduction
Founded in 2006, Wattpad is the world’s largest community of readers and writers. These readers
and writers spend over 2 Billion minutes per month on Wattpad reading over 5 million total stories -
and posting over 500,000 new stories each month.
Detail
Wattpad is 100% focused on the mobile reading and authoring experience. Whether it's short-form
fiction, romance, fan fiction, science fiction or any other genre you can think of, there are countless
works to choose from - and a global audience equally ready for and awaiting your unique
contribution.
Wattpad’s model is based on free, user-generated content. What also sets Wattpad apart from
many other authoring tools and ereading platforms is the fact that everything contained on the
platform is optimized for mobile (tablet or phone) consumption. Whether it's discovery, reading,
writing or engaging with other Wattpad members, the entire experience is as (or more) compelling
on a mobile device as it is on your desktop.
To date, many writers have written and published their works on Wattpad because it is their hobby.
While most writers don't see themselves as professionals, they care so much about creating that
they want to contribute to the strength of the very supportive reading / writing community in which
they participate. Authors also deeply value the immediate and thoughtful feedback they receive
from their fellow Wattpad members when they do contribute.
An increasing number of self-published writers are also working to build their personal brands on
Wattpad and see the platform as a new marketing tool. So, the company's hobbyist-first model, is
evolving quite dramatically. A recent partnership with acclaimed author Margaret Atwood is serving
as the catalyst for this rapid transition. Ms. Atwood's validation of the platform has drawn
significant attention to Wattpad as a community for writing, reading and literary exploration.
Wattpad hopes to see this transition occur as an even larger number of readers become writers
and continue to contribute meaningfully to the global community.
--- Wattpad Profile Continued ---
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What To Watch
Wattpad's free, mobile-first approach to writing and reading perfectly positions the company for
growth on a global scale - one where the primary computing device is a smartphone. The
company was founded, and the platform developed, to reach the next generations of authors and
readers - not to reach backwards.
Already looking well beyond North America, expect to see the depth of Wattpad's opportunities
(and the strength of its success) come from a well balanced global footprint. While the company
has yet to pursue its monetization strategy, there should be numerous possibilities and
opportunities at the ready when they decide the time is right.
--- End Wattpad Profile ---
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Company Profile: Werdsmith
Briefing: Nathan Tesler, Founder
Location: Sydney, Australia
URL: Twitter.com/nathantesler
Tag(s): Authoring Tools
Introduction
Created in 2011, Werdsmith was developed to provide one place, accessible from a mobile device
(iPhone or iPad), where all of an author's writing projects and ideas could live. Werdsmith was built
to be as useless as possible for a lawyer or account and a useful as possible to a creative writer.
Detail
Werdsmith is designed to "just make sense" for authors. The native Apple iOS app is structured the
way a write things about their works - as drafts, ideas for future drafts and completed works. 
The app is super clean and easy to use with a really handy "writing ritual" feature. This feature
enables you to set reminders that it's time to write at any time(s) you configure. Additionally, each
work contains a progress meter designed to help the author quickly and easily see exactly where
they are relative to each work in progress.
All works are able to be backed up to the author's account for safe keeping in the Werdsmith
cloud. Additionally, coming soon, Werdsmith will be introducing a desktop writing tool to
complement the iOS apps.
What To Watch
The continued excitement for and growth in short-form fiction and non-fiction shows no signs of
abating. Apps like Werdsmith, created by a writer for writers, should increase in popularity and
prominence as smaller and smaller segments of works are presented for feedback (and even sale)
throughout the authoring process. With an increasing amount of complexity being added to writing
platforms, Werdsmith is clearly taking the less is more approach - and succeeding.
--- End Werdsmith Profile ---
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End Notes
Open Research
This research report is published under the principle of Open Research.
Open research is research conducted in the spirit of free and open source software. Much like
open source schemes that are built around a source code that is made public, the central theme of
open research is to make clear accounts of the methodology freely available via the internet, along
with any data or results extracted or derived from them. This permits a massively distributed
collaboration, and one in which anyone may participate at any level of the project. (via Wikipedia)
Funding
This research report was funded in its entirety by BlueLoop Concepts, Inc.
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--- End of Section ---
The eBook Platform Landscape Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States | © 2012 BlueLoop Concepts, Inc.. | 1
About BlueLoop Concepts
Who Are These Guys?
BlueLoop Concepts is a boutique research and advisory firm focused on the mobile and digital
media markets. Located in suburban Chicago, IL, we help companies evaluate market
opportunities, design and launch products, and establish defensible competitive positions in global
markets.
The company was founded in 2003 by Chris Rechtsteiner, a 20+ year veteran of the mobile, digital
media and global software markets. We invite you to learn more about BlueLoop’s founder and
chief strategist via LinkedIn, his blog, Twitter and his newsletter, Thinking Out Loud.
For more information on BlueLoop Concepts, please contact Mr. Rechtsteiner via email
chris at blueloopconcepts.com or via Skype at chris.rechtsteiner.
--- End of Section ---
--- End of Report ---
The eBook Platform Landscape Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States | © 2012 BlueLoop Concepts, Inc.. | 1

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Classemt at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2013 4:24 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [stylist] stylist list

please put in body of e mail can not open attachments.  list of self 
publishing. 
 
 
In a message dated 5/14/2013 6:47:22 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
penatwork at epix.net writes:

Since we  normally can attach files on this list, I thought I'd share this
report  which I found online. It's a report by BlueLoop which covers 29  
eBook
companies. It's a PDF and it works with Jaws, though I'm not fond of  the
layout. If you have problems with it,  go to File and down to  "Save as" and
select .txt.
HTH,
Donna

-----Original  Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf  Of
Classemt at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 11:21 AM
To:  stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] stylist list

Does any one have  the list of the publishing  companies? please send to
classemt @   aol.com _______________________________________________
Writers Division  web site
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