EContent Solutions Directory

Aptara announced it has expanded its offerings to provide end-to-end solutions for information providers and all businesses involved in content production. Aptara says its solutions and services will enable its customers to find new ways to monetize their content assets, measurably improve performance, and increase revenues across their entire operation.

The 2013-2014 EContent 100, a list of the 100 Companies that Matter Most in the Digital Content Industry.

The 2012-2013 EContent 100, a list of the 100 Companies that Matter Most in the Digital Content Industry.

Author J.K. Rowling knows how to cast a spell on readers with her enthralling stories. But she and her publisher probably wish they had a magic wand that could undo the troublesome technical defect in the faulty first run of the ebook version of her new novel, The Casual Vacancy.

Aptara, Inc. was acquired by iEnergizer Ltd. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Aptara will continue to operate as a standalone entity and retain its name. Sara Latham, chairman of the board for iEnergizer, and Anil Agarwal, its founder, will join Aptara's board of directors.

Aptara, Inc. released an updated version of its PXE web-based digital publishing platform. PXE4.1 is designed to streamline the production process, accelerate the delivery of digital and mobile content, improve content flexibility, and extend workflow capabilities.

Book publishers are an endangered species. That's right. The producers of textbooks, romance novels, and cookbooks aren't long for this world. Their likely extinction is both predictable and preventable. Even if they put up a good fight, it's unlikely they'll survive in their current form for one reason: They are slow to evolve.Case in point: Two years ago, while book publishers were busy conducting business as usual, an outsider invaded the industry and reshaped it in the publishers' image. The invading force was Apple, a fierce predator with a history of conducting well-orchestrated, highly publicized takeovers. And take over it did.

Social networks are changing the way consumers obtain information about products and services. Nearly everyone -- except for Prince, who declared the internet dead -- is getting in on the action.Consumer research indicates that members of social networks are more likely to purchase products and services referred to them by their friends, fans, and followers. In fact, 90% of consumers say they trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust opinions of unknown users. 71% claim reviews from family members or friends exert a "great deal" or "fair amount" of influence on what they purchase, while the same number of consumers don't believe the claims made in traditional advertising messages at all.

Publishers of all types have been scrambling to stay ahead of-and in some cases, just keep up with-emerging digital content technologies and to position themselves as leaders in the changing content market. Now publishers are turning the page on a new chapter - most likely of an ebook - at least according to The Gilbane Group. A division of Outsell, Inc., Gilbane released its report "A Blueprint for Book Publishing Transformation: Seven Essential Processes to Re-Invent Publishing" on November 2.

The Gilbane Group, sponsored by Aptara, released a new report, titled "A Blueprint for Book Publishing Transformation: Seven Essential Processes to Re-Invent Publishing." The report explores the book publishing industry and examines how leading publishers are modifying their business to adjust to the realities of a digital and mobile-centric society.

The SLA elects a new president, Twitter's CEO steps down, and Aptara staffs up its digital solutions division. Get the full story in this week's Peopleware.

Bebo hires Akash Garg as its new CTO, while Susan Sachs becomes the new president and COO of Common Sense Media. Plus new hires from Aptara, Knewton.com, Managing Editor Inc., and EMC in this week's Peopleware.

enkHouse, a new digital division of Brown Books Publishing Group, is launching a joint venture with KiwiTech to develop enhanced ebooks and film-based applications for the mobile market. The partnership will give film and television producers new ways to market content by packaging existing video and audio into enhanced ebooks.

Ebooks have moved out of the niches and into the mainstream, and this panel demonstrated how players of all types are examining the opportunities they present. Not surprisingly, one of the primary concerns forum expressed is confusion given the number of devices and competing standards on the market It is time to rebuild the ebook infrastructure from the ground up.

Aptara, a digital publishing solution developer, is helping VitalSource, part of Ingram Content Company, make publishers' content accessible to readers with disabilities. By providing content development and conversion services that include tagging specifically for Section 508 of the Federal accessibility guidelines, Aptara's publishing customers will be able to take advantage of VitalSource's Bookshelf e-textbook platform.

Before Apple CEO Steve Jobs even officially announced the iPad on Jan. 27, the publishing world was a twitter with theories about how the device would revolutionize the industry. Likely to be on the market in late March, iPad started making an impact before it even hit the shelves. Meanwhile, the industry scrambled to predict just what the iPad and accompanying iBook store would mean to the industry: Will this new device do for ebooks what the iPod and iTunes did for music?

Aptara announced the release of eGen, a new ebook production platform. eGen is a web-based technology for converting high volumes of content into the ePub format for distribution to multiple ebook readers.

Aptara and ScrollMotion have partnered to create an end-to-end ebook publishing solution to streamline the publication of interactive content on the iPhone.