Religious publisher Thomas Nelson has amassed a list of select titles and will send review copies to bloggerswho agree to post a 200-word review on their blog and and 200-word review on Amazon. The company’s CEO has been an active blogger and tweeter for some time. So he seems to really get the power of the medium and the tools that his marketing department can use.I know a lot of publishers are active in social media, but do you know of any other houses that have an official program like this in place? Obviously, they can’t fill every request, but it’s a neat idea. Kind of like LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program, but they just don’t have to go through LT.
The folks over at GOOD Magazine are spinning a little Radiohead retail. That is you pay them whatever you want for a year’s subscription (starting at a dollar). Think they have too many charts and the traditionally $20/yr. rate was too high? Pay $10. You keep up with paper and gas prices and realize these probably couldn’t do anything else in life, but create a magazine that tries to create and be helpful, so they need a liferaft? Pay them $50.
Even if you’ve never picked up the magazine. How can you pass up an annual subscription for a dollar?
Their post asks readers to check back on October 22nd, for an update, on how this new plan is working out. We’ll pass along any news, of this great experiment.
Penguin has shared the top 25 designs (out of 300+ submissions) for Sam Taylor’s The Island at the End of the World. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when I clicked through, but these are some GREAT designs.
Though I liked #6 & #7 (I’m a sucker for die cut), my favorite is this one by Justin Walsh. The bleeding watercolor effect is almost too much, but I think the rest of it is executed wonderfully! It certainly stands out from the group.
The winner will be announced at a New York event on September 25th.
I haven’t tried it yet… but Penguin is now offering (what they call) ‘ebook tasters’. These are files are from upcoming or newly released books, in a digital download form. It seems they are only available in ePub format which means you’ll need an ereader or Adobe Digital Editions installed on your computer. I’m sure all of this is a DRM move, which I’m not sure is a wise thing, if you’re only giving away samples. Wouldn’t you want to make that as hassle free as possible?
