Publishing News: The standards of aggregation

Jim Romenesko quits after his attribution standards are questioned, Rakuten buys Kobo, and readers will wait for ebooks.

Here are a few stories that caught my eye in the publishing space this week.

Jim Romenesko and the standards of aggregation

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In a bizarre turn of events, Jim Romenesko, the renowned blogger at Poynter who was on the brink of retirement, quit his post after Poynter ran a story about attribution inconsistencies in his writing — 12 years into his blog.

The Poynter post states:

Though information sources have always been displayed prominently in Jim’s posts and are always linked at least once (often multiple times), too many of those posts also included the original author’s verbatim language without containing his or her words in quotation marks, as they should have.

Calling Romenesko out raised eyebrows and ire. No one ever thought Romenesko was trying to take credit for others’ work, but then again, some argue that aggregation should be held to journalistic standards. This is a much larger question than it may appear on the surface. Felix Salmon over at Reuters has a nice analysis on the issue and points out, “[Poynter’s Julie] Moos is using the standards of original journalism, here, to judge a blogger who was never about original journalism.” (He’s referring to Moos’ original post about the offending attribution errors and Poynter’s guidelines.)

So, does aggregation require a new set of rules and standards, or should the traditional journalism guidelines apply? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Kobo gets new owners — and perhaps a larger playing field

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Probably the biggest industry news this week was the sale of Kobo to Japanese e-retailer Rakuten. The deal was summed up nicely in an All Things Digital headline: “The Amazon of Japan Buys the Kindle of Canada.”

For Indigo, the majority shareholder in Kobo, the sale was about refocusing its core business. Brand strategist Anthony Campbell told the Globe and Mail:

Taking on Apple and Amazon and Google isn’t just a distraction, it puts Indigo in a position where the brand would completely lose focus. By maintaining its focus, Indigo’s better prepared to take on the likes of Target and other retailers who are trying to corner the lifestyle space.

For Kobo and Rakuten, the acquisition means expansion — for Kobo, geographic expansion; for Rakuten, market expansion. Michael Serbinis, Kobo’s CEO, told the Wall Street Journal: “This is not a one-country game. Two-thirds of the book market is outside North America. We’re going into countries where we will be No. 1.” And according to All Things Digital, “[Rakuten] said the acquisition of Kobo will assist the company in its move to provide downloadable media to consumers, starting with e-books.” Perhaps it won’t be long before the “Japanese Amazon” is making a major play against the U.S. Amazon.

For more on the situation, there’s a nice Q&A over at Canadian Business with Serbinis and Indigo CEO Heather Reisman about the sale and what comes next for both companies.

BISG study highlights the growth of ereading

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The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) is getting ready to release results from a new study that show the rapid growth of ereading. Highlights from the final survey in volume two of the “Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading” report include:
  • “… nearly 50% of print book consumers who have also acquired an e-book in the past 18 months would wait up to three months for the e-version of a book from a favorite author, rather than immediately read it in print.”
  • “Amazon.com continues to be the preferred source for ebook acquisition (holding steady at 70%) and ebook information (44%). Barnes & Noble comes in second at 26%, with Apple in third.”
  • “… although the cost of e-reading devices remains a reported concern, the single most popular answer to the question of what hinders respondents from reading more e-books was “nothing” at 33% (up from 17.6% a year ago)”

The full report is available for pre-order now. It will be published on November 21.

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