Jun 7 2012
Thursday Midday Links: LinkedIn passwords hacked, HBO direct to consumer not likely
8 million leaked passwords connected to LinkedIn, dating website (updated) | Ars Technica – “An unknown hacker has posted more than 8 million cryptographic hashes to the Internet that appear to belong to users of LinkedIn and a separate, popular dating website. … The massive dumps over the past three days came in postings to user forums dedicated to password cracking at insidepro.com. The bigger of the two lists contains almost 6.46 million passwords that have been converted into hashes using the SHA-1 cryptographic function. They use no cryptographic “salt,” making the job of cracking them considerably faster. Rick Redman, a security consultant who specializes in password cracking, said the list almost certainly belongs to LinkedIn because he found a password in it that was unique to the professional social networking site. Robert Graham, CEO of Errata Security said much the same thing, as did researchers from Sophos. Several Twitter users reported similar findings.”Ars Technica
How Much Would The Average Person Pay For A Standalone HBO GO Subscription? About $12 A Month | TechCrunch – “What would happen if HBO no longer had the pay TV industry’s marketing team propping it up all the time? The results would be disastrous, and there’s no way that HBO could make up in online volume the number of subscribers it would lose from cable. Which is why, even though some users would actually pay more for access to HBO GO without all the other cable channels, you won’t see it show up as a standalone service anytime soon.” TechCrunch The thoughts about going direct to the consumer and bypassing accounts can be applied to publishing.
Sony Launches a Browser Based eBookstore (Finally) – The Digital Reader – “Sony announced yesterday thattheir ebookstore was now available to browse and buy ebooks via any web browser. This is a stellar achievemnt for Sony, and it comes a mere 6 years after they launched the Reader Store.” The Digital Reader Nate’s being kind in his piece. 6 years, Sony?
Pan Mac launches search for readers panel | The Bookseller – “Pan Macmillan is searching for a panel of readers to help create reading group content for selected new titles. The panel, to be run in partnership with The Reading Agency, will read four Pan Macmillan and Picador books a year and contribute to the special reading group material included in the books, online, and in packs sent out to reading groups around the country.” The Bookseller. Harlequin is about the only other publisher I know of that runs a reader panel like this. You can click on the title of the news post to find directions on how to apply. This is a UK publisher so I presume that they want UK readers.
Big-Time Authors Aren’t Happy Either | | Venture GalleriesVenture Galleries – “A major survey of 323 authors, all of whom have been published by the big boys for years, has discovered serious levels of dissatisfaction with traditional publishers. The survey was conducted by The Writers’ Workshop, an editorial consultancy, with assistance from the Society of Authors, the Crime Writers Association, and the Romantic Novelists Association. . . The days of the big contracts have faded with the last sunset. As a rule, authors had seldom received advances in excess of five thousand dollars. . . . The authors in the survey had agents and major publishing houses. But almost seventy-five percent of them reported that they are considering cutting out their publisher altogether in favor of ePublishing.” Venture Galleries
Book Value – Forbes.com – “Smashwords publishes 127,000 titles by 44,000 writers, each of whom collects at least 60% of royalties–four times the amount offered by traditional publishers. The company takes a 10% cut of the proceeds from partner sales and 20% from books sold through its own website. … Romance and erotica books account for nearly 40% of sales–no surprise for a medium that lends itself to anonymity (no nosy cashier, no bodice-ripping covers).” Forbes
Value of Self-Publishing is the “Blind Spot in the Market” | Publishing Perspectives – “This year results won’t be available until July, but some preliminary data was made available. A total of 1,977 publishers submitted information to BookStats almost matching the inaugural year’s number of 1,963. This represented $16.7 billion in the source data compared with $14.8 billion. Eleven publishers participated who had more than $500 million in net sales and another 13 with sales of between $100–$500 million.In all there are 35,000 publishers with an active ISBN listed in Bowker’s Books in Print; 49 publishers have greater than 10,000 ISBNs; 364 with 1,000 to 10,000 ISBNs; and 1,500 with 100 to 1,000 ISBNs.” Publishing Perspectives
Self-publishing fuels growth of print books | Crain’s New York Business – ” Despite the rapid growth in e-book sales in recent years, print book output in 2011 grew by 6%, to 347,178 titles, compared to the prior year. … The preliminary numbers released Tuesday by bibliographic database Bowker are “the most significant expansion in more than four years” in the traditional publishing sector, the company said in its annual report on U.S. print book publishing. The uptick was driven entirely by self-published titles. Without them, the number of print titles would have been flat….”Much as e-books have been the sexier topic over the past few years, most people still read print books,” noted Michael Norris, a senior analyst with publishing research firm Simba Information.” Crains New York
E-books sizzle with steamy stories of romance – The Washington Post – “You won’t just find romance between the sheets . . . of a book. The country’s most popular genre in print was also one of the first to take e-reading by storm. Thousands are already enjoying romance novellas on their smartphones.” Washington Post. A list of romance recommendations from Sarah Wendell in the Washington Post
Survey Reveals 100% Increase in Publishers Making Double-Digit Annual Revenues from eBooks | Aptara, Inc. – ““eBooks have reached a tipping point,” said Dev Ganesan, President and CEO of Aptara. “The ‘more than 10% of revenue’ barometer has been used by analysts to indicate when eBooks will be considered big business for publishers. With more than a third of eBook publishers already there, I’d say it’s official.” Aptara and PW
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Send to Kindle
Jun 07, 2012 @ 11:11:18
I’m surprised that more of the really big name authors (like Nora Roberts) haven’t gone indy. they’ve got the name recognition, they don’t need the agents and publishers any more.
Jun 07, 2012 @ 12:04:12
@becca: They have no need to. Ms Roberts is on record as stating she has no interest in doing so (I remember because she was responding directly to me or at least, to my suggestion of that very same thing, a couple of years ago).
Jun 07, 2012 @ 12:39:23
@becca: Nora Roberts doesn’t get 6% royalties and less than $5000 advances, and whatever she does get, her publisher would throw more at her to keep her in the fold because she’s worth a thousand midlist authors to their bottom line. Her incentive to learn an entirely new business model at this stage of her career is pretty low.
Jun 07, 2012 @ 12:41:15
Big authors who have “the machine” behind them and WIDE print distriubution could, like HBO in the story above, lose out going indy. Plus, if they’re making a good living, there might simmply be no motivation for change.
Jun 07, 2012 @ 14:34:03
I’ve been a loyal Sony Pocket (PRS 350) user for a few years now, but I always hated having to use their software for the Reader Store. I was sure they’d be out of the game and my next ereader would be a Nook or Kindle, but this may help them stay around for a while.
Jun 07, 2012 @ 15:56:12
I noticed Sony’s browser-based site last night when purchasing Carrie Lofty’s novella. All I can do is say finally! Now Sony, let’s work on your pricing and getting indie books added to the catalogue quicker.
Jun 07, 2012 @ 20:39:16
Am I so old, that I’m one of the few that remember HBO as a stand alone service. My friend’s parents had it in the late 1970s. All was better then.