News Articles

Contentnation.com , an online community of social media enthusiasts focused on developing a new book on social media, was launched earlier this week at the annual Buying and Selling eContent conference [conference wiki ] in Scottsdale, Arizona by content industry expert John Blossom, President of Shore Communications, Inc., a leading consulting and research company servicing the electronic publishing industry. Mr. Blossom is the author of an upcoming book on social media to be published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. using materials developed on Contentnation.com by Mr. Blossom and its community members.

The book being developed on Contentnation.com, to be entitled Content Nation: Surviving and Thriving as Social Media Changes our Work, Our Lives and Our Future, focuses on the broadening impact of social media as its availability through online publishing technologies enables both individuals and major institutions such as corporations and governments to communicate more influentially without using traditional media outlets. By Mr. Blossom's calculations based on recent market research there are now 73 million people worldwide using social media to influence others, a number approaching the population of Egypt, the world's 15th largest nation.

Contentnation.com offers free membership for those would like to create content and makes the developing content of the Content Nation book available on a free basis in Web page format.

Contentnation.com is being hosted by Near-Time, Inc., a leading provider of social media publishing technologies. The Near-Time publishing platform combines the capabilities of wikis, weblogs, forums, tagging, bookmarking, embedding content and other key social media publishing technologies with easy-to-use features and sophisticated administrative features that enable the rapid development of highly valuable social media for enterprise, ad-supported and premium online communities. "The Contentnation.com Web site is an excellent example of how our integrated social media publishing technologies can enable the rapid construction of many forms of highly valuable content," said Reid Conrad, CEO of Near-Time, Inc. "Near-Time has worked closely with Mr. Blossom to help make the Content Nation project a success and has benefited from his insights into leading publishing technologies."

Web 2.0 extends to mobile devices with the release of Near-Time Connection

Members of Near-Time spaces can now access content and participate in the community from their smart phone using Near-Time Connection.  This newly available feature is optimized for phone browsers and gives users full read, download, and comment access.  

For publishers, this extends the availability of content and community interaction beyond simple web access.  Community members can stay up-to-date on discussions and developments from their iPhone, BlackBerry, Treo, or other smart phone device.  Visit Near-Time for a complete Connection feature tour --> Near-Time Connection.

Members of this space can access the mobile version by clicking the "Mobile Device" link in the right-hand sidebar. 

With the release of Connection, the company also announced that they are bringing Web 2.0 content and community interaction to homepages everywhere with the addition of an iGoogle gadget.  iGoogle users can access and participate in their community directly from the iGoogle homepage. 

Read more in the article from Publishers Weekly

(Authorlink February 14-21 Edition): Today’s publishers face a gaping landscape of technological change, from everywhere they turn-- in writing and development, production, distribution and consumption, in bean counting and legal departments. These transformations are no longer theoretical. They’re well past a tipping point, and are shaping every aspect of the publishing industry of tomorrow.

In New York this week, at the second annual O’Reilly Tools for Change Conference, publishers have been gathering the tools they need to understand, embrace, and prosper from the tectonic shifts affecting their industry.

On the conference floor, we’ve been talking with innovators in the exciting and passionate future for books. Listen in to some of the people we have spotted as key innovators in the unstoppable movement toward the books of tomorrow, and consider how these transformations may affect you as an industry profession.

 
Visit Authorlink to hear interviews from the floor of O'Reilly Tools of Change -

• Digital Strategy and Action - Brent Lewis - Harlequin Enterprises
• How Open Does "Open" Need to Be, in the Universe of Free? - Michael Jensen - The National Academies
• Digital Publishing Beyond eBooks - Bill McCoy - Adobe Systems
• Collaborative Content - Joel Bush - Near-Time
• SEO for Book Publishers: Beyond Book Search - Jamie Low - SearchEngineMarketing.com 
  

Online community enables readers to have accelerated access to prepress content and interaction with authors

Near-Time and O'Reilly Media today announced the prepress launch of Software Craftsmanship on the Near-Time platform.  The site, (http://softwarecraftsmanship.oreilly.com) features the entire book contents and includes interactive components powered by Near-Time.

Software Craftsmanship: Apprentice to Journeyman is a forthcoming title from O'Reilly Media, authored by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye.  The corresponding site is designed to enrich the content by encouraging reader participation through forums, commenting, and other interactive features. Reader feedback and updates to the content will drive content development before the book goes to print. 

"Needless to say, O'Reilly get's the future of publishing. It's about customer interaction, accelerating time to market and expanding the product lifecycle. It's a new game and we are excited to help define it with O'Reilly", said Reid Conrad, Near-Time CEO

Near-Time is a leading interactive publishing and collaboration platform. Near-Time combines wikis, weblogs, forums, and other advanced web technologies, along with built-in monetization options, giving publishers a wealth of options to build on-demand interactive publishing sites.  Publishers are leveraging this powerful platform to add value to their projects throughout the content lifecycle - Prepress, Frontlist and Backlist.  Near-Time's ease of adoption and community building features deliver high-margin revenue and power direct relationships with readers. 

"O'Reilly has been on the forefront of collaborative development experiments for some time," said Allen Noren, Director of Online Marketing and Digital Initiatives at O'Reilly Media. "Those have required the cobbling together of multiple tools that don't always work well together. What the Near-Time system does is integrate those tools--an authoring platform, blog, a forum, a robust permission system, as well as a for-pay and subscription gateway-in one integrated platform. I'm very interested to see how our readers respond to this."

Could not generate link to image with ID: M&A+Book+Cover.png align="left" alt="M&A Book Cover.png"   Tom Taulli, a well known analyst and author covering technology, media and finance topics is moderating the forum which accompanies online access to his book The Complete M&A Handbook - The Ultimate Guide to Buying, Selling, Merging, or Valuing a Business for Maximum Return.

This unique community oriented site leverages many new features of the Near-Time Premium platform, including role-based access tied to various subscription price levels.  Subscribers to the site (MergerBook) can choose to simply access the entire book contents in wiki form, or they can join the community forming around this perennial business topic.  Book access and read-only access to the forum is $40 per year - participation in the forum and book access is $80 per year.

Related Links:

MergerBook: www.mergerbook.com

MergerGuru: www.mergerguru.com

Near-Time: www.near-time.com  

Each year, EContent Magazine publishing a list of 100 companies that matter most in the digital content industry.  In the words of EContent Magazine editor-in-chief, Michelle Manafy,

It seems like the whole world is creating, tagging, and delivering content these days. Once the domain of trained professionals, content is now everybody's business. In many ways, the general public leads the publishing industry in its comfort with, and usage of, digital content tools - from blogs to podcasts to wikis.

However, this does not make these consumer-only tools. Those of us in the industry well know we need to tap into the iterative process that characterizes Web 2.0 - which means we need to play on the same field, using many of the same toys and tactics.

I particularly appreciate the fact that this list bridges several gaps.  It takes into account what consumer tools are doing. A lot of innovation happens at the consumer level - the risk factor to releasing content or publishing information at the individual level is much more manageable than it is at the corporate level.  It also takes into account what tools and platforms are useful for enterprise content management as well as for publishing in a more traditional sense.

Let's face it, the lines are blurring all around us and the tools on this list are enabling innovative, creative, outside-the-box people and organizations to apply massive leverage around massive amounts of digital information.

EContent 100 list on their site

EContent 100 introduction and category descriptions

EContent 100 judging team

EContent 100 companies by category 

"Near-Time helped Wrox get a previously-published 1200-page book onto their wiki based community platform extremely quickly,” said Jim Minatel, Acquisitions Director for Wiley Technology Publishing/WROX Press. “This new online format for the book gives readers a completely new ability to comment on any section of the book and makes it easy for us to keep this content up-to-date as long as it is in demand. Working with the Near-Time platform has been simple, and provided us the fastest way to meet the continued demand for Wrox content from the developer community."

The Near-Time interactive publishing platform helps publishers maximize online revenues and provide a richer experience for their readers. Near-Time provides a variety of monetization options for publishers which support the complete life cycle of content products and bring currency to content that is not possible in print or other eBook formats. With Near-Time, publishers can quickly deploy and control content online in an environment that encourages participation and engages readers in forums, commenting, ratings and other ways that bring communities together.

“Near-Time’s interactive Wiki technology transcends what has been possible with digital publishing because of its rich, collaborative features,” said Joe Wikert, Vice President and Executive Publisher, Professional/Trade Division, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. “The Near-Time platform goes a step further – offering a catalyst for true community-building. We chose Near-Time because it allows us to provide a richer experience for our readers with content that is more relevant and valuable, rejuvenate old titles, expand market reach and inject new life into backlist titles.”

”We are thrilled to partner with Wiley and Wrox in the development of interactive communities for the publishing industry. Near-Time offers a flexible, interactive publishing platform that enables publishers and content providers the ability to create new business models,” said Reid Conrad, Near-Time’s CEO. ”With participation already in over 60 countries, the Near-Time based Wrox communities are becoming a strategic, global technology resource.”

Near-Time enables publishers and content owners to make available and sell directly to consumers and gain competitive advantage. Consumers can interact with authors and other readers who share their interests. Unlike the linear experience of traditional eBooks, Near-Time enables dynamic content organization based on reader interest. Near-Time extends the life cycle of content products and helps make each phase more profitable. During pre-press, content gets to market faster and enables a community of interest around a topic, giving technology and STM publishers a distinct first-to-market advantage. When a title reaches backlist, online distribution allows publishers to capitalize on the long tail of the topic.

Built on the Near-Time platform, Premium is the only turnkey Web 2.0 solution that makes it possible to create, publish and monetize content online. The platform includes everything necessary to create and publish content, build community and monetize access and interaction. Site owners can create multiple custom pricing plans based on monthly, annual or one-time fee structures and receive 80–90 percent of all membership and subscription fees.

About Near-Time

Near-Time is the leading Web 2.0 platform for cross organization collaboration. Business professionals can quickly create rich interaction with their prospects, customers, partners and suppliers. Near-Time integrates wikis and weblogs to enable groups to work together more effectively in a secure, hosted environment. Near-Time users can securely share information, files and create group calendars. Near-Time is in use in over forty nations by thousands of businesses, academic institutions, government agencies and nonprofit organizations, to maximize internal and external collaboration. Near-Time Premium leverages the Near-Time platform to enable organizations to monetize their communities and content. For more information, go to http://www.near-time.com/.

About Wrox Press

Written by actual programmers, Wrox books offer the benefits of real-world experience and road-tested examples that really work. "Beginning" books provide a complete working knowledge of the subject, using hands-on lessons and proven training techniques. "Professional" and "Expert One-On-One" books are loaded with practical, focused information from leading technology experts. "Programmer's Reference" books are invaluable for their detailed, on-the-job reference support. "Problem-Design-Solution" books analyze development problems programmers encounter and supply solutions that work. Wrox books help programmers get the job-then do the job better. For more information, visit http://www.wrox.com/. Wrox is an imprint of Wiley.

The trade book publishing industry is a complicated and competitive marketplace.  This is not news.  The news is that the landscape is changing and mandating change in this centuries old business.  Traditional publishing companies are finding themselves in competition with (product) channels and information sources that weren't even on the radar screen 1, 5 or 10 years ago.  This is great for consumers, authors, and believe it or not, great for publishers! 

Innovative publishers are driving innovation and leveraging Web 2.0 technologies to differentiate their product, increase publishing profit margins, and develop a long-term relationship with their readers.  In many cases, they are turning a one-time book purchase into monthly or annual recurring subscription revenue.  

In her Book Business Magazine article titled Increasing Sales, One Chapter at a Time Janet Spavlik makes a great case for this evolution as it pertains to Professional Publishers --

While professional books have built-in market of readers, they attract a larger number of titles and demand that professional publishers do a better job of differentiating their products. 

As I see it, there are several key factors to successfully bridge print and digital:
(3 here, more will follow)

Print and Online content should be complimentary - Releasing content in both print and online forms is not a canibalistic play - it is a differentiation play.  Print has certain inherent values that online cannot emulate - I hate the example, but everyone will tell you you can't read your computer in the restroom.  Likewise, online content can have many values that print cannot.  If done correctly, making content available online also makes it searchable, and gives the reader the opportunity to organize the content in ways that best suit their needs.  Effectively leveraging these diverse mediums in a complimentary fashion can not only improve the reader's experience, they can add value and drive revenue.  

Ideal Scenario: Back-cover copy drives print customer to the updated version of a book they purchased online. Customer uses a discount code provided by the publisher (for book owners) to access the online content. Customer appreciates the online experience (improved ability to discover relevant, updated content, etc.) and becomes a monthly (or yearly) subscriber to the online property. You've just extended the life of the content and built the foundation for a direct relationship with your reader.

Give away (some of) your content - Free content drives online discoverability.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a riddle that is constantly changing.  One thing that remains constant in the SEO universe is that quality content drives search engine's ability to find you.  This should equate to the online version of flipping through the pages of a book in a brick and mortar bookstore.  Give your readers a taste of the book, let them see that a vibrant community is coming together around the topic and they will want to be part of it.  

Ideal Scenario: The online version of your book is partially public and partially private ($). An interested reader visits Google to find information on the topic of your book and finds the online version of your book. It is apparent by the number of comments and other things happening around the site that it is engaging and people are into it. Reader joins the site on a monthly basis and becomes a direct customer.

Print and Online should have unique content / qualities - Although it is not always the case, availability of content in two forms can be canibalistic.  It is recommended that the print edition have certain content that is not available in the online edition, and visa versa.  Complimentary products present a unique and effective method of cross-promotion that, when done correctly, can dramatically increase profits.  

Ideal Scenario: Print customers are driven to the online version of the book because of your great back cover copy. Something along the lines of "The online edition includes 8 chapters that aren't in this book" or "Join the online community for this book and access 8 more chapters" (hopefully yours is better than mine). Customer visits the site, samples the content, and joins the site. Not only have you increased revenues on the title, you now have a direct relationship with this customer.

Near-Time Premium Offers Publishers an Innovative Way of Monetizing Content,

Extending the Life Cycle of Books Using Wikis and Web 2.0 Technologies 

Chapel Hill, NC - September 10, 2007 * Today Near-Time and The History Press announced a new online book community (www.truerichmondstories.com) powered by Near-Time Premium.  The news precedes the availability of True Richmond Stories, a book by Harry Kollatz Jr., scheduled to launch next month. This release will include the entire contents of the book, additional stories, movies, audio interviews from the author and more. It represents the first in a series of online releases for The History Press to monetize content and communities in innovative ways and extend the life cycle of their authors’ books.

"We chose Near-Time because it is the fastest way to create an effective online presence for our books, our authors and our readers," said Brittain Phillips, Sales and Marketing Coordinator for The History Press. "Near-Time Premium enables us to provide a much better experience for our customers over print alone and to increase profits for us and our authors."

""The History Press understands that the convergence of print and digital markets offers publishers great leverage," said Reid Conrad, Near-Time’s CEO. "The Near-Time wiki represents a platform for publishers to provide more dynamic organization and interaction with their respective markets. Near-Time Premium provides publishers a faster way to increase profitability when compared with advertising-only services."

Near-Time Premium helps publishers and content owners sell directly to consumers and gain competitive advantage. Advanced roles and permissions let publishers and authors retain control over content and community. Consumers interact with authors and other readers who share their interests. Unlike the linear experience of traditional books, Near-Time Premium enables dynamic content organization based on reader interest.  

Near-Time Premium extends the life cycle of a book and helps make each project more profitable. During pre-press, content gets to market faster and enables a community of interest around a topic, giving technology and STM publishers a distinct first-to-market advantage. When a title reaches backlist, online distribution allows publishers to capitalize on the long tail of the topic.

Built on the Near-Time platform, Premium is the only turnkey Web 2.0 solution that makes it possible to create, publish and monetize content online. The platform includes everything necessary to create and publish content, build community and monetize access and interaction. Site owners can create multiple custom pricing plans based on monthly, annual or one-time fee structures and receive 80-90 percent of all membership and subscription fees. 

About Near-Time

Near-Time is the leading Web 2.0 platform for cross organization collaboration. Business professionals can quickly create rich interaction with their prospects, customers, partners and suppliers. Near-Time integrates wikis and weblogs to enable groups to work together more effectively in a secure, hosted environment. Near-Time users can securely share information, files and create group calendars. Near-Time is in use in over forty nations by thousands of businesses, academic institutions, government agencies and nonprofit organizations, to maximize internal and external collaboration. Near-Time Premium leverages the Near-Time platform to enable organizations to monetize their communities and content. For more information, go to http://www.near-time.com/. 

About The History Press 

The History Press, based in Charleston, South Carolina, and Salem, Massachusetts, brings a new way of thinking to history publishing: producing regional history titles by excellent historians and striving to make these books available to a wide audience. By publishing high-quality history and heritage titles with a strong regional base, The History Press plays a part in the revival of interest in local and regional history that is underway.  For more information, to to http://www.historypress.net 

About the Author-Harry Kollatz Jr. 

Since 1993, Harry Kollatz Jr. has recorded the lesser-known heritage of Virginia’s Holy City for his "Flashback" column in Richmond Magazine. From the inauguration of the world’s first practical electric trolley system and early civil rights activists, to a psychic horse and a wild ride on a sturgeon, he’s covered it all. Compiled for the first time in this volume, True Richmond Stories is a selection of articles sure to delight all who love Richmond by shedding light on some of the city’s historical nooks and crannies.

###

Spotlight on selling content online with Near-Time Premium

Near-Time Premium is a hosted publishing platform that includes wikis, weblogs, contextual navigation, and other Web 2.0 technologies.  The platform also features a fully integrated eCommerce engine that makes monetizing content and interaction easier than ever before.  

Shore Communications' New Online Community Offers Content Industry Professionals Access to Exclusive Industry Insight

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina - September 4, 2007 -Today Near-Time announced that Shore Communications Inc., the award-winning research and consulting firm for publishing and content technology executives, has adopted the Near-Time Premium publishing platform to create ShoreViews, a new paid subscription content and collaboration service. Near-Time is a hosted collaboration and publishing platform employing wikis, weblogs, and other Web 2.0 technologies that represents a new way for the publishing industry to monetize content and community.

ShoreViews (http://shoreviews.shore.com) is a new online community enabling publishing, media and content technology professionals to share information and insights with other community members and Shore Communications’ leading analysts. Powered by Near-Time, the ShoreViews collaborative web site provides exclusive research reports, event reports, new analysis