Had Kindle Killed the Book Cover?

This article brings to light the shift between hard cover and digital book covers. A particular case was studied-the cover of Daylight Savings. This cover allowed for a count-down of the book's release as well as an interactive element; it allowed users to drag their finger along the cover, creating a water ripple and splashes. This innovation poses the question: what exactly is the limit of digital covers?
Carin Goldberg further explored this idea with her design students, challenging them to incorporate animations, unique typography, and audio into digital book covers. Designers must not get swept up by the new gadgets and functions, however. A book cover must remain legible and accessible. This digital growth allows for the idea of cover testing, a practice usually utilized by magazines. Magazines design 10-20 covers and release all of them, watching closely to see which sells best.
All of this innovation brings to mind the early stages of eBooks; originally, eBooks did not include a cover. Being immediately thrust into a book, without a cover/introduction page, made many uncomfortable, as the lead-in into a book is traditional and expected.

"Increasingly, instead, they scroll through Amazon's postage stamp-sized pictures, which don't actually cover anything, and instead operate as visual portals into an entire webpage of data (publication date, reader reviews, price) some of which can also be found on a physical cover and some of which cannot."
"The cover "functions as an emotional visual touchstone," Goldberg says."

This article has been my favorite so far. I think it is important for reads and traditional designers to stop and realize eBooks aren't necessarily the demise of books. eBooks have revealed new ways to design and market, not destroyed an old one. The idea of adding animations to a book cover is so interesting to me, it is a form of growth, a new platform for designers to toy with and perfect.

Works That Works

Heller, S. (2015, January 1) A Design Magazine That's More Than Just Pretty. Retrieved January 23, 2015

Works that Work is a magazine built for the design community. Not only does it have a unique, accessible layout (pandering to the graphic design community), but it's articles feature intriguing photographs of new/upcoming technologies. It is available in print and digital as well as a hybrid print-digital format. Although the 'digital era' is here, their audience much prefers the print version of the magazine, even though it is twice as expensive as the digital version.

This magazine does something else differently: they don't use a middle man in their distribution. This allows them to save money on distribution while also gaining some free publicity.

"Over 90 percent of the sales come from the print edition, even though it is twice as expensive as the e-book version."

"“It probably has to do with the fact that the magazine is impeccably produced,” Bilak says, “And long-form essays are easier to read on paper.”"

This magazine intrigues me. Even though it costs €30,000 to print one issue, the magazine continues to break even due to their method of distribution. I would think that a middle man would be necessaryto make a profit, but if WTW continues to do well, it's possible that other magazine companies should consider their 'social distribution' concept.

Book Sales on Twitter?

Alter, A. (2014, December 8). Hachette to Experiment With Selling Books on Twitter. Retrieved January 15, 2015

There is yet another platform that authors can sell books! Authors with an established Twitter following are participating in an experiment with the Hachette Book Group to engage their audiences in a new way to buy books. An argument can be made against this experiment, however. Some say Twitter is primarily a space for socializing and status-updating, not a market place or book store.

“Authors with large Twitter followings, like John Green and Paulo Coelho, have become publishing powerhouses.”

“But some authors say they are eager to try anything that will help them sell more books.”

“Many social media users still see sites like Twitter, which introduced a buy button this fall, as a place to share ideas and experiences, not to sell merchandise."

The idea of yet another book-selling platform in competition for sales is somewhat tiresome. It would require a new way of formatting the book covers (new dimensions, new designs)

Implementing this program would cause for more advertisements and sponsored messages on users' timelines-the idea that authors will limit themselves to only their followers in doubtful.

Print Books Are Here to Stay

Fallon, C. (2014, October 6). Print Books Outsold Ebooks In First Half Of 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2014

When Amazon first launched the Kindle in 2007, bibliophiles everywhere worried about the closing of book stores. Print books were exceedingly less popular in the years following the new technology; however, recent studies show that the spike in eBook sales have leveled off and even dipped. Both hardcover and paperback books outsold eBooks, claiming 67 percent of the market.

"If the new trends continue, such warnings of the death of print books, and their potential benefits, may prove to have been greatly exaggerated."

"Recently, however, ebook gains seem to have stabilized with hardcover and paperback books still comfortably dominant."

Honestly, this article gave me peace of mind. As a lover of tangible books, the issue of eBooks taking over the world of reading made me apprehensive. For the past few years, I have bought books solely from bookstores in an attempt to save them from Borders' unfortunate fate. Hopefully these eBook-dwindling trends will continue, and we won't have to give up the comforting smell of books too soon.