Over the next few weeks (well, more likely, months), you’ll be seeing the new Nxtbook logo shared online. If you noticed we called it a Nxtbook, and not a NXTbook, you’re very perceptive, but that’s a post for another day. For now, here’s the official unveiling of our new logo: 

If you’re into logos, you’ll see the transmission beam after the "b". Graphics gurus say that’s very cool for publishers to use. The speech balloon refers to the fact that our technology makes it very easy for you to be part of the conversation online.

The reduction from 4 colors to 3 is because our controller asked us to save a little money. It was either do away with our aggressive trade-show schedule or trim a color off the logo. We’re certain we made the right call. :) 

Look for the new logo at a trade-show or inside a Nxtbook in the near future. As a matter of fact, I need to get our web guy to do it right here, too… 

We love it when publishers launch the right way. Once you hop on through the short gateway in the digital edition of SideXSide Action, here’s what you’ll see:

1) A very cool custom background promoting the brand.

2) Awesome welcome video, showing off the technology.

3) Very neat belly-band, promoting the digital edition.

4) A survey in the tool bar, asking readers if they’re on the right track!

Awesome job, SideXSide - they’ve done the right things and asked the readers if they agree. That’s the perfect way to launch a digital edition. 

• SWE - Fall 2007 - Page 2
  ad-jolt
  (tags: ad-jolt)

There’s some great reading over at the new Adobe Digital Editions blog. While much of the conversation is focused on the world of books (and not periodicals, as we tend to be at NXTbook), there are also some good philosophical questions re: the purpose, intent and future of digital editions. Adobe’s response (in part) focuses on the development of standards and the ability for books to be easily read on a myriad of devices.

Philosophically, we agree whole-heartedly, yet the future goes so much further than this. While cross-portability is how we can best replicate the features of print online that aren’t broken, the real future of digital publishing looks at the aspects of print which could be improved upon online.

Think about the things that print doesn’t do well:

* Enable collaboration both of readers (comments) and material (links)

* Enable archiving (beyond library cards)

* Enable various medias (audio, video and animation)

One commenter on the Adobe blog says that there is currently no e-book market and if he’s talking about selling replicated content to the same audience as he’s selling print, he’s right. That audience is already satisfied. But if a publisher tries to sell content that’s optimized for the web, or tries to sell it to markets where they can’t reach affordably quickly and affordably now (overseas or to a different audience), a value proposition is created. And where there is a value proposition, a product and an audience, there is a market.

If you’re in Florida, why not stop by and see us at the Florida Magazine Association show?

And if Florida in August isn’t your thing, you can catch us next month in New York at the Folio show, too. Click here for the show brochure, in NXTbook format, featuring Tony Silber, in live video!

A great digital edition needs to embrace the best features of the Web while overcoming the inherent limitations of print. Here’s the latest way we’ve done that: Introducing, NXTserve for Digital Editions.

Ad serving is a concept that’s familiar to most readers. Your web real estate cycles through a variety of messages, giving you the opportunity to either allow the same advertiser to freshen up their message or sell the same space to a variety of advertisers. Everyone wins: web sites look fresher and publishers make more money.

Until NXTserve, there’s never been ad serving within a digital edition. The real estate on the screen could only be sold once. Not anymore.

Using NXTserve is like using any ad serving technology. You load up the ads you want to run, the frequency you want to run them and - just like that - your content is as dynamic and ever changing as you’d like it to be.

Wanna see? Just click here to view the page of this publication. Then, turn a few pages forward and back and watch the ad change. A simple concept for the Web, but a revolutionary break-through for digital editions! Here are some basic applications:

1) Allow advertisers to send a variety of messages.
2) In digital only publications, limit ad real estate, instead using dedicated ad spots that rotate for a premium screen-optimized presentation.
3) Everybody loves the premium sponsorship position in a NXTbook. Why limit yourself to just one?

Contact your NXTbook rep today and ask about NXTserve!

Over at the Custom Publishing Council blog, Joe Pulizzi explains how to use a mini e-book to drive readership:

For this distribution model, you work with the client on five to 10
chapters, each about eight to 12 pages per chapter. Make sure that the
chapters all tie together around a central theme (i.e., Estate Planning for Seniors).
You promote the eBook as a series, and usually finish production of all
the chapters before the first one is released (it’s easier that way).

Joe’s gotten more clever about digital magazines of late and goes so far to say, "Basic eBooks can be housed as a traditional pdf file, although for
something a little snappier, you may want to use a digital magazine."

That being said, it goes way behind looking "snappy." Here are a just a few reasons a NXTbook makes more sense than a PDF:

1) Tracking - Everything inside the NXTbook is tracked: pages, clicks, time, etc.

2) Want to add video? No problem in a NXTbook.

3) Want to call special attention to sponsors (what custom publishing is all about)? You can do it in a NXTbook.

4) Viralbility. Did we just invent a word? NXTbooks can be spread easily via, single page uploading to Digg, del.icio.us and Facebook. 

• beretta arx160 - Google Search
  Using Hybrid Flash technology ensure that your content is indexed by search engines, even though it’s displayed inside a Flash-driven NXTbook.
  (tags: hybrid+flash seo google search search+index)
• panama canal cruises 2008 - Google Search
  All NXTbook content is indexed on Google via Hybrid-Flash technology. Here’s an example
  (tags: seo search+indexing Google Hybrid+Flash)

• The Boulders Executive Casita For Rent - Page 2
  Example of button to click on video, if there isn’t room to put the player on the page
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Seth Godin says that one of the most important ways to define yourself is by knowing what your opposite is.  Knowing this, it’s much easier to focus on where and how to improve.

As the number of digital edition providers continues to increase, that’s a great point, as it’s easy to get distracted by all of the new players at the party.

But Godin’s point is a valid one because, at the end of the day the opposite of a NXTbook is - and will likely always be - a printed magazine:

1. A printed magazine can only be shared with 1 person at a time, whereas a NXTbook can be forwarded, bookmarked and blogged about - to everyone in the world, in part or in whole.

2. A printed magazine is invisible to Google. A NXTbook isn’t.

3. A printed magazine can be read anywhere. A NXTbook requires some form of electronic product - laptop, PDA, etc.

4. A printed magazine has lousy tracking metrics. A NXTbook has hundreds.

5. Print is part of an industry where costs are increasing. A NXTbook is part of an industry where costs are decreasing. 

One of the things that makes us proud of the NXTbook is that we’re very aware of what our opposite is and what it isn’t. Knowing this helps define us and helps us to continuously refine our offering.