<![CDATA[BISG.org > Latest News]]> http://www.bisg.org/ en-us Copyright 2007 BISG.org Sun, 15 Feb 2009 15:15:31 EST BISG.org > Featured News http://www.bisg.org/images/logo.jpg http://www.bisg.org/ <![CDATA[E-Book 'Power' Buyers Buy Less Than Their Print Counterparts]]>
About 35% of e-book buyers purchase about 60% of all e-books, representing about 48% of e-book revenue, according to new research from the Book Industry Study Group and Bowker, two organizations that study and measure the book publishing industry. Compare this with 22% of print-book buyers buying 53% of all print books, representing 50% of print-book revenue..."

View Full Article]]> Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[E-Book Bummer: Growth Slower Than Thought - 'Incremental, Not Exponential' ]]>
To be sure, this growth varied by genre, noted Bowker's Kelly Gallagher at Digital Book World this morning. (Bowker conducted this research with the Book Industry Study Group.) E-books now make up 26 percent of adult fiction purchases, compared to 11 percent of children's book purchases and 3 percent of cookbook purchases..."

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]]> Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[Building Community at Winter Institute]]>
So far the show has been earning high marks from booksellers. 'I love it. I'm completely geeking out,' Stacie Williams of Boswell Book Company, in Milwaukee told PW. She praised the educational sessions for being more focused this year than in the past. 'I'm on overload,' said Sue Boucher of Lake Forest Books in Lake Forest, Ill. 'It's so nice to see people are so up, thinking outside the box...'"

View Full Article]]> Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[<small>BISG Bulletin *EXTRA*</small><br>Rights Royalty Report Message Formats Published]]> Published: January 19, 2012
BISG and the international standards organization EDItEUR have been developing standardized computer-to-computer message formats for royalty reporting between licensees and licensors or their agents.

As part of this ongoing initiative, a model of the data content and structure that might be used as the basis for future computer-to-computer royalty reporting messages has now been published. The document can be downloaded from the BISG website.

The aim of this draft is to provide the underlying data elements needed for the development of royalty reporting message formats that meet different application requirements. BISG and EDItEUR intend to test the model through a pilot message exchange using subsets of its content.

Much of this work was based on an analysis of actual royalty reports made available to EDItEUR in confidence by a number of publishers and agents in the US and the UK, whose assistance is gratefully acknowledged.

Click here to learn more about the proposed pilots.

For more information on the activities of BISG's Rights Committee, or to participate in the pilot program, please contact Karen Forster at karen@bisg.org or 646-336-7141.]]> Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[A Study Confirms What We've All Sensed: Readers Are Embracing Ereading]]>
In the following interview, BISG's deputy executive director Angela Bole reviews some of the study's data and addresses growing trends in ereading..."

View Full Article]]> Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[BISG Bulletin - January 2012]]> Published: January 12, 2012

In this issue:

  • "Technology Must Follow Learning," An Interview with Dr. Bror Saxberg
  • BISG Partners with Digital Book World on a Series of Education Webcasts in Support of EPUB 3.0
  • BISG Considers New Research Into Faculty Attitudes Toward Content in Higher Education
  • News Briefs
  • Industry Conferences
  • BISG Commitee Spotlight: Getting to Know XBITS
  • Upcoming BISG Meetings
]]> Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[BISG Explains Digital Books Policy Statement in Webcast ]]>
After a brief background on ISBN's last few years (including the revision of the ISBN standard's language), Madans laid out publisher responsibility, which is that they assign, maintain, and disseminate accurate metadata for all digital books released into the supply chain, as well as third party responsibility, which is to update the original metadata and disseminate accurate metadata, to ensure the link to the publisher-provided ISBN is maintained..."

View Full Article]]> Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[Barnes & Noble Seeks Next Chapter]]> BookStats, a joint-research venture between the Book Industry Study Group and the Association of American Publishers. One publisher predicted Thursday that e-books could account for as much as 40% of total revenue by the end of the year.

Although Barnes & Noble was late to the game, its devices have won critical praise, and publishers estimate today that it controls as much as 27% of the digital-books market. 'We saw more growth with e-books with Barnes & Noble this Christmas than anybody else,' said the publisher..."

View Full Article]]> Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[Tablets, E-readers Closing Book on Ink-and-Paper Era]]>
Nearly half of print book buyers who also got digital works said they would skip getting an ink-and-paper release by a favorite author if an electronic version could be had within three months, a BISG survey showed.

'The e-book market is developing very fast, with consumer attitudes and behaviors changing over the course of months, rather than years,' said BISG deputy executive director Angela Bole..."

View Full Article]]> Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[Make It Work: Publishers Need to Embrace Ebooks]]> The New York Times. Most importantly, I think, we hit the tipping point in terms of wider acceptance by the general public...

Even more promising ebook news can be found in the industry study BookStats, a joint venture between the Book Industry Study Group, Inc. (BISG) and The Association of American Publishers (AAP). It highlights some of the major gains that ebooks have made in the past 3 years. According to the survey, ebook market share increased from 0.6% in 2008 to 6.4% in 2010, and net unit sales increased more than 1,000% to 114 million..."

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]]> Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[Nook Coming to the UK in 'Not Too Distant Future']]>
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]]> Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[BISG Bulletin - December 2011]]> Published: December 14, 2011

In this issue:

  • Representing All Corners of the Supply Chain
  • Policy Statement on Identifying Digital Products
  • MIP for Higher Ed Publishing
  • News Briefs
  • Industry Conferences
  • Launching Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading, Volume Three
  • BISG Partners with the Publishing Innovation Awards
  • Upcoming BISG Meetings
]]> Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[<small>BISG Bulletin *EXTRA*</small><br>Statements of Support: BISG Policy Statement on Identifying Digital Products]]> Published: December 13, 2011

New Policy Statement is intended to clarify best practices and outline responsibilities in the assignment of ISBNs to digital products

Last Wednesday, December 7, 2011, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) published Policy Statement POL-1101: Best Practices for Identifying Digital Products.

Policy Statement POL-1101 is applicable to content intended for distribution to the general public in North America, but could be applied elsewhere as well. BISG recommends implementation of this Policy Statement as soon as practical, with a target for new product introductions of no later than March 2012.

The following organizations have indicated support of Policy Statement POL-1101:
  • Book Industry Communications (BIC)
  • BookNet Canada
  • IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association
  • National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
  • U.S. ISBN Agency
Below are specific statements from some of the companies above.

Book Industry Communications (BIC):

After a long process of research and data gathering, the Book Industry Study Group in New York has now published its policy statement on the identification of digital products.

We are happy to report that the findings have supported BIC's view and that of the International ISBN Agency that in order to future-proof the extended supply chain a high level of granularity is necessary in the identification of digital products; and that the guidance given in the statement does not differ in any significant way from the advice we gave to BIC members in our own code of practice two years ago. If anything, it goes further than we did in defining individual products and the processes which should be followed to ensure unique identification. Consequently we are happy to endorse the BISG document as representing best practice.

National Information Standards Organization (NISO):

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) is pleased to support and endorse the Book Industry Study Group's new policy statement, Best Practices for Identifying Digital Products. This helpful publication will help to clarify the increasingly complex problems associated with the identification of electronic books in the supply chain.

The rules for assigning International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) have been inconsistently applied to electronic books and this variability is beginning to create problems with distribution systems based upon ISBN. The new BISG policy statement, when broadly adopted, will standardize the rules for applying ISBNs to e-books and alleviate today's confusion.

Todd Carpenter, NISO's Managing Director, served as a member of the working group that developed the guidance. "With the onset of mass e-book distribution, we need to be clear what we are identifying and how products differ, so that it does not cause confusion in the marketplace," said Mr. Carpenter. "The lack of a clear code of practice for identifying e-book products is leading to multiple versions of these products being distributed with the same ISBN, despite a variety of meaningful differences in the products. I am pleased by the outcome of these recommendations and hope that publishers act quickly to adopt them."

U.S. ISBN Agency:

In its role as the ISBN Agency for the United States and its territories, Bowker, a leading global provider of bibliographic information solutions and services, welcomes the BISG Policy Statement on Best Practices for Identifying Digital Products. "While there are a few areas where the US ISBN Agency would have chosen a slightly different approach, in particular around how Digital Rights Management (DRM) affects digital product identification, we believe this document offers the publishing community good guidance and information on how to identify e-books in the supply chain," said Beat Barblan, Director of Identifier Services at Bowker.

"We commend the BISG for its relentless efforts to bring all stakeholders to the table and to keep the discussion going until a policy statement acceptable to all parties was hammered out. Bowker has been an active participant in this process and we hope that the BISG community will continue to fine tune best practices as we move forward in an increasingly complex world of digital publishing."

If you have questions about the Policy Statement, please contact Angela Bole, BISG Deputy Executive Director, at angela@bisg.org or 646-336-7141.]]> Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[<small>BISG Bulletin *EXTRA*</small><br>BISG Partners with the Publishing Innovation Awards]]> Published: December 13, 2011

Awards honor innovative e-books, enhanced e-books, and book apps

BISG is pleased to announce its partnership with the Publishing Innovation Awards (PIAs). Now in their second year, the PIAs seek to highlight outstanding publishers and authors, encourage new thinking, and improve the reading experience in the digital age. As such, the awards honor the most innovative e-books, enhanced e-books, and book apps currently on the market. A PIA winner is well-designed, user-friendly, and - above all - innovative in both content and presentation.

Joining representatives from Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Sony (among others), BISG Deputy Executive Director Angela Bole will sit on the Advisory Council and participate in judging the awards. Judging criteria for the PIAs were created in partnership with digital production and design experts from all ends of the book industry. The Advisory Council provides valuable and ongoing input into these standards, helping the PIAs grow along with the evolving digital space.

New to the awards this year is the QED seal, which honors Quality, Excellence, and Design. Titles entered into the Publishing Innovation Awards will go through a 13-point review focusing on readability across multiple formats and devices. The QED seal of approval lets readers know that a given title will render well regardless of their choice of e-reading device.

BISG is pleased to be a supporting organization of the Publishing Innovation Awards. More information about the awards is available at publishinginnovationawards.com.]]> Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:00:00 PST <![CDATA[New ISBN Recommendations to Lay Groundwork for Future Publishing Innovations]]>
After years of debate in the industry as to how e-books, apps and other kinds of digital editions should be classified, the BISG has set guidelines for publishers and their partners as to assign separate ISBN numbers for each version of a book - hardcover, paperback, ePub, PDF, for example.

While the guidelines address the many new formats that exist today because of the proliferation of e-readers and tablets, they are also designed to address future formats that could be invented..."

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