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The present paper uses Twitter to analyze the current state of the worldwide, Spanish-language, independent publishing market. The main purposes are to determine whether certain Latin American Spanish-language independent publishers function as gatekeepers of world literature and to analyze the geopolitical structure of this global market, addressing both the Europe-America dialectic and neocolonial practices.

After selecting the sample of publishers, the authors conducted a search for their Twitter profiles and located 131; they then downloaded data from the corresponding Twitter APIs. Finally, they applied social network analysis to study the presence of and interaction between the sample of independent publishers on this social media.

The results provide data-based evidence supporting the hypothesis of some literary critics who suggest that in Latin America, certain publishers act as gatekeepers to the mainstream book market. Therefore, Twitter could be considered a valid source of information to address the independent book market in Spanish. By extension, this approach could be applied to other cultural industries in which small and medium-sized agents develop a digital presence in social media.

This paper combines social network analysis and literary criticism to provide new evidence about the Spanish-language book market. It helps validate the aforementioned hypothesis proposed by literary critics and opens up new paths along which to pursue an interpretative, comparative analysis.

It is proposed that public libraries have a duty to collect material from alternative publishers (in both fiction and non‐fiction and in all media) to better reflect the diversity of their communities. This paper aims to investigate the links between alternative publishing and public libraries in Scotland.

Two surveys (based on the 1979 Alternative Acquisitions Project) were carried out of alternative publishers and public libraries in Scotland. Questions were based on those in the 1979 survey, except where updated to accommodate new technologies. A literature review was also carried out to contextualise survey findings.

While alternative publishers and public libraries were aware of each other, alternative publishers faced many hurdles in getting their material in public libraries. For their part, public libraries were constrained by budgets but wanted to extend support for alternative publishing.

This paper re‐uses a previously tried and tested methodology to create a comparable and up to date study of an area of publishing often overlooked. Alternative publishing is revealed as a flourishing area, despite trends towards fewer and larger publishing outlets. Public libraries are seen as having a vital role to play in giving an outlet to alternative publishing.

Industry platforms can alter relations among exchange partners in such a way that the industry structure is changed. The focus of much industry platform research has been on how platform creation and leadership offers advantages to the most central firms, but platforms can also be advantageous for small specialist firms that compete with the most central firms. We examine book publishing as an example of an industry in which the central players – large publishing firms – are losing power to self-publishing authors because the distributor Amazon has a powerful platform for customers to communicate independently, and the non-publishing platform Twitter also serves as a medium for readers to discuss and review books. Our empirical analysis is based on downloaded sales statistics for Amazon Ebooks, matched with Amazon reviews of the same books and tweets that refer to the book or the author. We analyze how Ebook sales are a function of publisher, Amazon reviews, and tweets, and we are able to assess the importance of each factor in the sale of book titles. The main finding is that Amazon reviews are powerful drivers of book sales, and have greater effect on the sales of books that are not backed by publishers. Twitter also affects book sales, but less strongly than Amazon reviews.

This paper is part of a larger study on the market for scholarly journals in mathematics. This paper describes the current market trends for mathematics journals, the pricing of electronic journals, and examines electronic publishing alternatives for independent journal publishers in mathematics. Independent journal publishers can either produce an electronic journal in‐house or use the services of Highwire Press, Catchword, or Project MUSE. This paper examines these alternatives and their pricing models.

The aims of the present paper is electronic publishing has transformed the business model of publishing houses in Spain in such a way that two models currently coexist. The specificities of each of these models were studied and the consequences of each model for the future of electronic publishing in Spain were analysed.

The first stage of this study consisted in locating studies that would allow the authors to obtain useful indicators and statistic data regarding publication in Spain. The second stage of this study consisted of extracting from the sources cited above all data relevant to the study. To wit, these were the number of electronic books published, the major publishing houses offering electronic publications, the major platforms currently selling electronic books, presently available electronic reading devices, the rates of reading on all devices, reading rates itemized by age and educational background and general tendencies in digital publishing and e-reading.

There are traditional publishers of mostly paper-based volumes, whose business models are based on having large catalogues of titles and large print-runs, though print-runs are increasingly smaller and bookseller returns increasingly larger. Intermediary agents operating under this model, for instance booksellers, are subject to ever-greater economic pressures, especially in the current crisis

In the study that follows, the authors attempt to analyse the characteristics behind these changes and learn to what extent these changes will affect the future models of publication and reading in Spain.

Poets House, a poetry special collection in New York, hosts an annual exhibit of the preceding year's poetry publications in the USA. This paper aims to offer a selection of recommended titles that reflect the range of poetry titles including single‐author works, anthologies, and prose about poetry.

The paper researched and requested donations of 2010‐2011 poetry titles from US poetry publishers to assemble and display a comprehensive collection of poetry publications, from which a selection of 50 titles was made. The selections should appeal to a range of poetry readers, from novices and students to poets looking to access the latest work from their peers.

Over 2,500 poetry titles were published and/or available to readers in the USA between June 2010 and June 2011. These titles range from mainstream publishers to independent presses to artists' collectives publishing works from established poets as well as emerging and international poets.

Without a budget for collection development, the exhibit and resulting titles represent those which publishers have opted to donate to the library. Every effort is made to be all‐inclusive, with the understanding that publishers may send only a selection of their list. The selected titles herein are based on the titles received for the exhibition.

For 19 years Poets House's annual Showcase has been the main collection‐development tool. Publishers donate copies of their titles, which are arranged by publisher for a month‐long exhibition. This approach enriches the poetry special collection, a unique poetry library built on community participation. The all‐inclusive collection‐development approach results in a full representation of poetry publishing.

A selection made from a comprehensive collection of the year's poetry titles offers a sample of poetry publishing from large to small presses and the self‐published in the USA.

This article reviews the various e‐book reading experiences, including dedicated reading devices; PDA‐ and PC‐based readers, Web readers, and the related issues of print on demand. Questions of format, emerging standards, and rights management solutions are described in general terms, with an eye toward important areas of divergence. The size and potential of the e‐book market is considered, in light of traditional publisher initiatives, independent e‐publishing and digital distribution. Also, important new mediators deserve attention as they struggle to niche themselves in this emerging industry.

The paper aims at dealing with the role of users in the creation (or curation) and distribution of digital contents. User generated contents (UGCs) refer to a variety of media such as Wikis, question-answer databases, digital video, blogging, podcasting, forums, review sites, social networking, social media and mobile phone photograph. It attempts assessing their potential role as co-innovators. The paper follows the progressive creation of a new space for users, tracking its specific forms in each subsector of the media and content industries. Each subsector reveals a disruption in the production and circulation of new content.

The paper is based on desk research, a review of literature, review of the technical journals, and analysis of annual reports. The paper is part of an on-going research project on media and content industries.

The paper argued that since 2007 (release of iPhone and Kindle) the landscape went through a dramatic change, scaling up. It illustrates how the entire value chain of content (production/distribution/consumption) has opened up. The amount of UGC produced triggered a qualitative jump, ushering in new modes of interaction between the customers and creators, without necessarily turning the consumer into a full-fledge producer. The UGC model adds another source of production, thereby increasing diversity, ushering in new ways for talent scouting. It reveals various forms of co-creation and the role of a community model while also showing its limits.

This paper concentrates on digital media and does not deal with any other aspect such as knowledge sharing (Wikis). The paper does not cover the reactions of traditional industry players to UGC (some elements are given for newspaper), neither possible policy and regulatory responses The paper relies mostly on reports from news agencies, consultancies or annual reports from companies so as to delineate the main trends.

It shows that the role of customers did change within this context. The new channels offer novel ways to produce, curate and disseminate contents. It offers a range of examples from different industries.

The paper documents the participation of consumers in the production of content. it hints at the evolution of labour, alludes to the issue of diversity and of creativity, but does not address other societal issues.

Some reports were devoted to UGC in 2007 (OECD) and 2008 (Idate-IVIR-TNO) but in spite of the major changes that took place over the past decade, the research has been scarce, or has concentrated on a specific segment of the media industry. The paper is trying to offer a comprehensive overview of the various segments. Each sub-segment of the media industry illustrates a specific dimension.