MESSAGING APP ‘WECHAT’ COMES OUT WITH INTRESTING IDEAS FOR PUBLISHERS AND BLOGGERS…AND MORE EXCITING NEWS.
Publishers hire ‘sensitivity readers’ to screen manuscripts for offensive content. Authors and publishers are increasingly hiring “sensitivity readers” to screen books for culturally offensive material before sending them to market. A cultural climate that has the publishing industry increasingly under the microscope by fans has created a demand for specialized book scanners. Individuals are paid a small fee, roughly $250 per manuscript, to look for content deemed problematic. “The industry recognizes this is a real concern,” children’s book author and editor Cheryl Klein recently told The Washington Post. Some of the red flags for sensitivity readers include stories on transgender issues, Islamic communities, and individuals with terminal illnesses. “Books for me are supposed to be vehicles for pleasure, they’re supposed to be escapist and fun,” librarian and sensitivity reader Dhonielle Clayton told the newspaper Feb. 10. (Full Report: https://goo.gl/hb3viM )
WeChat, the massively popular messaging app with over 800 million active users mainly in China, is testing out a paywall that will allow media outlets and bloggers to set a pay-per-read price. Like Facebook, WeChat has brand accounts used by media outlets, celebrities, bloggers, and companies of all sizes. A spokesperson at parent company Tencent confirmed the long-rumored move to Tech in Asia today (hat-tip to Yicai for spotting this) but declined to give details as it’s still in a trial phase. The paywall follows WeChat’s move mid-2015 to allow users to tip publishers and writers anything from US$1 to US$30 using the social network’s built-in wallet function. The media paywall will likely be similar, except it won’t be discretionary. The paywall gives publishers an alternative to WeChat ads and tips for monetization. Some bloggers also resort to sponsored posts for major companies. (Full Report: https://goo.gl/JM9VTc )
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, wants to bring Audible, its audio books streaming service, to India. For that it has been talking to the biggest book publishers in the country, such as Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, as well as the Chiki Sarkar-led start-up, Juggernaut. Executives in charge of Amazon’s global operations were recently in India to talk to book publishers, said two persons in the books industry. A spokesperson for Amazon India declined to comment. (Full Report here: https://goo.gl/99UjRV )
For an island nation of 23.5 million people, Taiwan has a surprisingly high publishing output: about 100 active publishers offer approximately 40,000 new titles annually. But market conditions supporting such impressive title output have been deteriorating. The ongoing disappearance of bookstores raised an alarm that went all the way up to the island’s Ministry of Culture. Until then, the government had paid scant attention to the book retail business beyond collecting taxes. TAIBC is a four-year-old nonprofit organization whose joint presence at the 2017 Taipei International Book Fair with the Indie Publishers Association was partially funded by the ministry. Currently, new titles in Taiwan are typically offered at a 21% discount off list price; older books have lower discounts. Taiwanese booksellers and publishers have been talking about fixed book pricing, a strategy to prevent large retailers from driving indie bookstores out of business, since 2007, and the ministry—new to the issue—has conducted several polls to gauge public sentiment. (Full report: https://goo.gl/lU3H4l )