One possible effect of the growing popularity of these sites is an opportunity for book marketers to more easily reach potential readers who aren’t frequent bookstore browsers, an often elusive and expensive crowd to access.

“One of the challenges of buying a table at Barnes & Noble is that you are able to tap into people who are interested in books, but not tap into people who are interested in cinema,” says Ami Greko, GetGlue’s Director of Business Management (and previously Digital Marketing Manager at Macmillan).

GetGlue, which has 500,000 users, allows marketers to cherry-pick the taste profiles of the people they want to reach, said Greko. She cited a recent campaign by Scribner for Chuck Klosterman’s rock chronicle Eating the Dinosaur that targeted people who favorited songs from the band Guns N’ Roses.

“We got these great responses from people who said, ‘I’ve never heard of this writer before, but if he’s writing about Guns N’ Roses, I want to read more,’” she said.

GetGlue currently has partnerships with Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Hachette.

GetGlue is also riffing on FourSquare’s “badges,” offering profile “stickers,” small, branded graphics that users can earn for their devotion to a particular show or author. “There’s an inherent human element in wanting to gain recognition or earn an achievement,” VP of Business Development Fraser Kelton said. “It taps into ego, it taps into pride, and frankly it’s also fun.”

Amazon’s “Customers Also Bought” referral feature doesn’t offer much help to readers looking for their next literary fix, said Greko. “The challenge with Amazon is that you don’t know what this computer knows about you,” Greko said. In contrast, GetGlue’s recommendation engine pulls from what Greko describes as “the full taste profile”—encompassing a user’s favorite movies, books, shows, and music—and provides suggestions that include justifications for why the item was referred to the user. Perhaps in response to this challenge, Amazon recently announced apartnership with Facebook, and can now offer recommendations to users based on information from their Facebook profiles.

But not everyone believes that breaking down verticals is a savvy move. For example, a new entry in vertical social media, Pocket Tales aims to get kids (and parents) involved in sharing reading experiences by making reading into a game, complete with points and quizzes. And Goodreads.com, which has over 3.5 million registered users, isn’t interested in becoming “all things to all people,” according to its Community Manager, Patrick Brown. Brown says Goodreads users enjoy the very specific purpose that the site serves. “They like that it’s a site where they don’t have to deal with anything else,” he said. “They don’t want to have a discussion about what the latest movie is.”

Brown added that all-encompassing social media sites don’t offer the depth of reviews or interactivity that specialized sites do. “Rather than really going deep and having some kind of actual substantial conversation, it’s kind of a surface glossing,” Brown said. In contrast, he said, Goodreads allows for users to find reviews of even obscure books and contact those reviewers for more information and in-depth discussions.

Brown added that previous ideas for expansion that were floated to Goodreads users, like sections on movie adaptations, were not received well. “A lot of people are readers only; those people feel like they have a home with us,” he said. “If we became all things to all people, those people would feel that we were losing them.”

Random House SVP and Editor-in-Chief Susan Kamil has been given the additional position of Publisher of the Random House and Dial Press imprints. Tom Perry, EVP, Deputy Publisher of the Random House Publishing Group, will join her at the Random House imprint and will also become Publisher of the Modern Library. Theresa Zoro has been promoted to SVP, Director of Publicity for RHPG and Susan Corcoran has been promoted to VP, Director of Publicity for Ballantine Bantam Dell.

Ben Loehnen and Jofie Ferrari-Adler have been hired as senior editors at Simon & Schuster, reporting to EVP, Publisher Jonathan Karp. Loehnen was most recently at HarperCollins, and Ferrari-Adler was at Grove/Atlantic. Longtime senior editor Amanda Murray has left.

Helen Atsma will join Grand Central Publishing as a senior editor at the end of August, reporting to VP, Editor-in-Chief, Hardcovers, Deb Futter. She was at Henry Holt.

Evan Schnittman has been named to the newly created position of Managing Director, Group Sales & Marketing, Print and Digital, Bloomsbury Publishing, reporting to CEO Nigel Newton. Succeeding Schnittman at Oxford University Press, David Bowers has been promoted to VP, Global Business Development.

Peter Kay has assumed the newly created position of Director of Digital Marketing and Strategy at Norton. He was VP for Product Development at MTV, and prior to that was at Random House as Director of Interactive Media.

HarperCollins Director of Publicity Gretchen Crary is leaving the company after six years to start a book publicity and online marketing firm, February Partners. Future partners will be announced shortly. E-mail gretchen [at] februarypartners dot com.

John Groton will be joining National Book Network as VP of Sales. Groton has held senior and executive sales positions at Simon & Schuster, Random House, Globe Pequot, and most recently Nicholas Brealey. He will be based in Stonington, CT.

Michael Sittenfeld has joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art as Managing Editor, a position recently held by Margaret Chace, who moved to Rizzoli/Skira. Sittenfeld was Director of Publications at the Jewish Museum.

Kaplan has hired Jennifer Wendell as Sales and Business Development Director. She was most recently Marketing Manager at DK. Also at DK, Lauren Steffens has been hired as Licensed Marketing Manager. She was at DC Comics.

Matt Brown has been named SVP, Scholastic and President of Klutz. He takes over from recently retired co-founder John Cassidy. Brown was co-founder and “Play Czar” of big BOING, LLC.

Abrams Artists Agency announced that Steve Ross, former President and Group Publisher of the Collins division of HarperCollins and Publisher of Crown, is joining the company as Director of the newly formed book division. He may be reached at steve.ross [at] abramsartny.com.

Stacy Boyd has been named Senior Editor at Silhouette. She was editor of feature and custom publishing at Harlequin. Krista Stroever has started as Senior Editor at Harlequin’s Mira. She was Senior Editor at Silhouette Desire.

Lisa Richards has joined Macmillan as National Account Manager, representing the Children’s Publishing Group imprints to retail accounts serviced by Levy, including Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and Target. She reports to Director of Children’s Sales Mark von Bargen. She previously worked for TOKYOPOP, Viz, and Prima.

Charlie and Jeremy Nurnberg, who founded Imagine Publishing and recently sold it to Charlesbridge Publishing, have both joined Charlesbridge. Charlie will be VP, President and Publisher of the imprint, and Jeremy will be VP, Sales. Father and son previously worked at Sterling, Charlie as CEO and Jeremy as VP Sales.

Mindy Chon has been appointed as Manager, International Sales Operations for Random House, reporting to Cyrus Kheradi. She was most recently Assistant Manager of International Sales at Simon & Schuster.

Janet Corson is heading a new venture called Educational Initiatives for becker&mayer!. She was COO and Publisher at Eaglemont. Kjersti Egerdahl has been promoted to editor at becker&mayer!.

Jenny Wapner has gone to Ten Speed Press as Senior Editor. She was Senior Acquisitions Editor at University of California Press.

Reka Simonsen has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s as Executive Editor. She was Senior Editor at Holt Children’s. Ayesha Mirza has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as Marketing Manager in the adult marketing department, in the New York office. She was most recently a marketing manager at Macmillan.

Simon & Schuster Children’s has hired Deane Norton as Associate Director of Sub Rights. She was most recently Sub Rights Manager for Macmillan Children’s FSG and Roaring Brook Press imprints.

Adam Friedstein has joined Anderson Literary Management as an agent. He was previously at Trident Media Group. . . . Jason Pinter will join the Waxman Literary Agency as an agent on August 2. He was most recently a writer, and previously an editor at St. Martin’s and Crown . . . Rachel Vogel has been named Associate Agent and International Rights Manager at Movable Type Literary Group. She was an assistant at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin. . . . Foladé Bell has joined Serendipity Literary Agency as an associate agent.

John W. Byram has been named Director at University of New Mexico Press. He had been Editor-in-Chief and Director of Development at University Press of Florida.

Bess Braswell has joined Scholastic as Associate Director of Marketing, Paperbacks. She was a Marketing Manager at Simon & Schuster Children’s. David Sandler has joined Scholastic as Associate Director of Digital Marketing & Advertising. He was Manager of Marketing and Social Media for American Express’s Establishment Services.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Lots of promotions in children’s books this summer: Candlewick Press President and Publisher Karen Lotz has been named Joint Group Managing Director of the Walker Group, consisting of Candlewick, Walker UK, and Walker Australia, effective immediately. In July 2011, David Heatherwick will step down after more than 20 years as Group Managing Director and Lotz will become sole Group Managing Director. Heatherwick will continue with the Walker Group as Group Finance Director.

Farrin Jacobs has been promoted to Editorial Director at HarperCollins Children’s and continues to report to SVP and Associate Publisher, Fiction, Elise Howard. She was Executive Editor. Also at HarperCollins Children’s, Erica Sussman has been promoted to Senior Editor, Jean McGinley to Director of Subsidiary Rights, and Alpha Wong to Assistant Director of Subsidiary Rights. . . . Casey McIntyre has been promoted to Publicist at Penguin Young Reader’s Group, from Associate Publicist. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has promoted Connie Hsu and Kate Sullivan both to Associate Editor; they were assistant editors. . . . At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Bernadette Cruz has been promoted to Associate Publicist. . . . Lisa Sandell has been promoted to Executive Editor, Scholastic Press.

At McGraw-Hill Professional, Mary Glenn has been promoted to Associate Publisher, Business Management and Finance, from Editorial Director.

Jennifer Banks has been promoted to Senior Editor at Yale University Press, where she was an editor.

At Random House, Karen Fink has been promoted to Publicity Manager, and Maria Braeckel and Kristina Miller have moved up to publicist positions. Moises Martinez has been named Director, Spanish Language. He was Sales Manager.

At Kaplan, Brett Sandusky has been promoted to Director of Marketing. He was Marketing Manager.

DULY NOTED

The LA Times has named Jon Thurber as its new Books Editor. The position was previously held by David Ulin, who was recently named book critic. For the past year, Thurber worked as Managing Editor, print. Prior to that, he spent eleven years as obituary editor.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Great American Bargain Book Show takes place in Boston August 19–20. In conjunction, ShelfAwareness notes, the New England Independent Booksellers Association, New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, and Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance are jointly sponsoring two workshops: “Remainder Buying—Plain, Simple and Profitable,” and “EESY CHIT: Easy, Effective Strategies You Can Happily Implement Today.”

The 24th annual Goddard Riverside Gala takes place on October 19 at 583 Park Avenue (rather than the past venue of Tavern on the Green), and honors Clyde Anderson, Chairman, President and CEO, Books-A-Million.

The International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations will hold its Annual General Meeting, hosted by the Copyright Clearance Center, in Boston October 25–28.

IN MEMORIAM

Les Pockell died on July 26 after a long illness. He was VP, Associate Publisher for Hachette Book Group, and an author. A funeral will be held on Saturday, July 31, and a memorial service is to be scheduled for a later date.

Remember this term: Peer39 explained semantic search, which improves search accuracy by understanding searcher intent and the context within which search terms appear.

The 3 million iPads sold as of June were a major topic of discussion at two conferences this month: The Big Money’s Untethered 2010: Profitable Media in the Tablet Era, and the Digital Publishing and Advertising Conference. Untethered was aimed more directly at book publishers, and its “Future of Book Publishing” panel included publishing head honchos like Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy, HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray, and Perseus CEO David Steinberger. But the session covered no new ground, and perhaps its only real surprise was Murray’s estimate that 40–50% of HarperCollins’s business will be digital within the next five years. Meanwhile, DPAC’s audience and panels contained few familiar faces, and its sessions moved beyond piracy and e-book pricing to provide some refreshingly new takeaways for book publishers.

BUYING REAL SHOES WITH FAKE MONEY. ON FACEBOOK.

Just got around to creating a page for your company on Facebook? Sorry: Fan pages are “very 2009,” said Lisa Marino, CRO of RockYou. Facebook now has over 400 million users sharing over 25 billion pieces of content every month, and publishers must be on top of the really new trends. First, recognize the importance of social gaming—playing games within Facebook. The three most popular games are all made by Zynga: Farmville has over 18 million daily active users, followed by Texas Hold’em Poker (5.5 million daily active users) and Treasure Isle (5.1 million daily active users). Facebook has made a “huge commitment” to social gaming—outsourcing gaming on the platform but aggressively growing it. 17 of the top 20 games are dominated by women. 76% of women play electronic games and most of them are within the “mom demo,” 35–50-year-old women who just happen to control the household pocketbook (and have always been the group that reads and buys the most books). This demographic plays games between two and three times a day, spending up to 20 minutes playing, and is a “captive audience” that brands can work with, Marino said. Furthermore, the affluent and urban are more likely to be on social networks, and the time they spend there is up 82% year on year.

Gamers are willing to engage with brands inside social games, in order to earn the “virtual currency” that allows them to advance. Users can also advance by spending real money—but 97% of social gaming women would rather earn virtual currency. To get it, they accept branded offers (like taking a survey—the most popular option, preferred by 34% of women—watching a video, or downloading a coupon). A 2009 survey from Q Interactive showed that nearly 80% of women playing social games have signed up for offers in exchange for more virtual currency, and 67% of those said they found the offers useful. Marino said the Facebook video ads resulted in a click-through rate in the 0.08-to-0.1% range, a marked improvement over traditional banner ads, which usually have a click-through rate of 0.05% or less.

Facebook has rolled out a “Facebook Credits” pilot program over the last 90 days and is “spending a tremendous amount of effort getting users to be comfortable using virtual currency on the platform” and accustoming them to earn credits by completing tasks like those mentioned above. Brands shouldn’t just think of these credits as in-game virtual currency: Starting in 2011, users will be able to exchange Facebook credits for real products, like shoes, as the Facebook platform will allow inventory uploads. “Getting involved in Facebook credits now will pay off as a strategy down the road,” Marino said.

Companies can engage with the games in other, “non-incentivized” ways as well. RockYou worked on a campaign for Coke inside of the Zoo World game, where users could buy a Coke vending machine for their zoo. Over 2 million vending machines were bought in the first five days of the campaign, and “impression counts for advertisers continue well beyond the flight of the campaign as users keep them in their games,” Marino noted. How about selling a virtual version of a hot new bestseller?

MOBILE > PC

In a panel called “How Do You Make Real Money on Digital Content?” David Mason, SVP, AOL Content Platform, recommended changing the cost structure of content creation. AOL relies on over 40,000 professional freelance writers, photographers, and videographers to create content at a significantly lower cost than if the same were done in-house (plus, as Mason helpfully pointed out, you couldn’t fit 40,000 people in a single office building). But the panel was quickly taken over by discussion of the iPad, a seemingly unavoidable topic these days. Moderator Dave Hendricks, COO of LiveIntent (a company that helps publishers develop engaged audiences on social media platforms), asked panelist Ernie Cormier, CEO of mobile advertising solutions company Nexage, whether Apple or Amazon’s business model is “smarter.” “If you want to take who is on the defense versus who is on the offense as a sign of who’s smarter, Amazon is on the defensive,” said Cormier, pointing to the Kindle’s recent price drop.

Apple is also leading the new transition from content creation for standard broadband internet to content creation for mobile devices, including the iPad (the transition from print to digital is so yesterday). Wired magazine’s iPad edition sold almost exactly the same number of copies in its first month as the print edition. “Does it make sense for businesses to invest in device-specific versions of technology in order to get alternate spending from customers?” Hendricks wondered. Yes, Mason said: “What Wired is doing is the perfect thing to do.”

Mark Weinberg, VP Programming and Product Strategy for Hearst, was crankier. “What Wired did is insane,” he said, calling their app “overly featured and overly expensive” and the iPad itself “a $700 toy.” “Just because people bought [the Wired app] tells you nothing about what the future of that business is going to be. Turning your subscription data over to Apple is not a great model.” What he didn’t mention was that the people buying the Wired app were not necessarily the same people who subscribe to the magazine—and that’s important for book publishers to remember. Creating an app can open up your product to an entirely new audience.

Don’t limit yourself to the iPad, though, cautioned Cormier, who said that publishers could spend the money they’d spend on a single iPad app to reach many other kinds of mobile devices. Within the next year or two, he said, smartphone sales will exceed desktop PC sales, and eventually the total smartphone base will exceed the total computer base. “Make sure your lens is broad enough to take in that whole world out there.” (For more on publishers’ efforts to create mobile content, click here.)

LEGACY MEDIA

“The Next-Generation Digital Content Platforms: Can You Use Just One?” might have been the only session of the day that was primarily about “traditional” (nostalgically referred to as “legacy”) media—i.e., content created primarily for an existing tactile surface. It helped that the panelists were all passionate about their respective media—Doug Carlson, Managing Director of Zinio, about magazines; VP Michael Tamblyn about Kobo; and Barnes & Noble‘s Anthony Astarita about the Nook. Catherine Balsam-Schwaber said iVillage users claim to interact with five separate devices in one day, so it is critical for them to be able to port their content around. “Content should be device-agnostic,” she said. Tamblyn agreed that “your books should be able to follow you.” Carlson noted that Zinio and similar apps allow instant global availability of content. A colleague who runs several ski magazines told Carlson that, while he used to mail those to his subscribers around the world (only 20% of skiers live in the U.S.), now he saves air freight costs—and those subs are receiving their magazine in a timely manner. “You start thinking about a golden age” of publishing, he said.

Tamblyn was interested to see what we would learn about how each device opens up a different book buying audience and how purchase frequency differs between devices and platforms. Balsam-Schwaber mentioned that iVillage is negotiating with publishers on interesting share models that would allow books to be published in the iVillage environment, regardless of device. Nevertheless, Tamblyn noted that content has to be appropriate: “I’m not certain Moby Dick would be better if you put whale sounds in it.”

Nevertheless, the museum publishing business has been greatly affected by advances in web technology. Museum-owned material that was once rarely viewed by the public is now accessible via the web. Therein lie many problems. Since the founding of the National Endowment for the Arts in the early 1960s, which meant government dollars for the arts and led to the “invention” of the blockbuster exhibition, print publications have literally grown exponentially. With advances in printing and the decline of the costs of color reproduction, documenting and cataloging of museums’ own collections has become a mega printing industry, with books getting larger and larger (and heavier and heavier). The seminar focused on how to move print to the web (in books, marketing, and sales); how to get visitors to museums’ websites—and then to the museums themselves; and how to facilitate digital workflows and web design.

A project originated and partially funded by the Getty Foundation, the Getty Online Scholarly Catalogue Initiative, allows participating museums (ten at last count) to build a highly developed scholarly infrastructure and searchable database sample materials (a Rauschenberg painting at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; an out-of-print book on 17th-century Dutch painting at the National Gallery of Art).

As e-reading devices become more sophisticated (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is already optimizing its web pages for the iPad), questions arise surrounding the conversion of materials. Should there be a POD component? How to clear rights and reproductions for electronic uses when works are not part of a museum’s permanent collection? And then there’s the single greatest rights hurdle—artworks by a living artist, including film and performance art. In addition, curatorial involvement and the role of the museum director in the publishing process remain a constant issue.

The Met’s ten-year-old Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (TOAH), presented by founding project manager Teresa Lai, represents how huge these projects can be. The Met has a collection of 2 million objects, but so far curators have selected only 6,500 to appear in the TOAH, along with 900 separate thematic essays. The TOAH is a major resource, receiving over 11 million hits a year and 150,000 cut-and-pastes each week, but it is not currently connected to the Met’s content management update system (though it will be in a few months) and most visitors find it via Google or Wikipedia, not directly from the Met’s website.

Michael Edson, Director of Web and New Media Strategy at the Smithsonian, quoted a web consultant who warned, “You’ve got about three years before you become a room full of stuff on the mall” if you don’t do something to open up your museum to the new. It is possible for TOAH to become interactive, though the system is currently closed. But as a two-way conversation means giving up curatorial authority, the curators must be in agreement. At many levels, we are not there yet.

Cloud computing and web security were briefly touched on, along with the costs of digitizing material and the prospect of changing digital standards. The Library of Congress’s Director of Publications, Ralph Eubanks, explained that due to these changing standards, the LOC had to rescan a large number of images for downloading, use in books and brochures etc. The LOC does not store all of its material in the cloud, because it does not consider the security sufficient.

The New York Times’s Virginia Heffernan and Modern Art Notes blogger Tyler Green urged their audience to stop “lurking” and interact and participate, “make an intervention and make a contribution” to grasp the spirit of the internet. Museums must actively engage in drawing the public to their websites, and should also make a greater push to syndicate their content on websites like Yahoo!, Green said. Think a daily Twitter feed, “why this work of art is important today” in no more than 140 characters. And don’t underestimate the audience for art. When writing for the web, “don’t dumb down, just realize who the audience is and say what needs to be said in precisely the number of words required,” recommended Mike Spiegel, a freelance creative director who recently gave the National Geographic website its first redesign in twelve years.

Considering the star power of the participating scientist/authors—Brian Greene, Stephen Hawking, Marvin Minsky, Oliver Sacks, among many others—what was perhaps most surprising about the 2010 World Science Festival was how few opportunities attendees had to purchase books by the minds they came clamoring to hear. Now in its third year, the festival once again demonstrated the public’s near insatiable appetite for science. With its budget nearing $5 million, WSF presented more than 40 events at 17 venues around the city over five days in early June. Many of the events cost $25, but 25 of them sold out and the “unofficial” estimate is that 170,000 science enthusiasts of all ages attended.

WSF is the nonprofit brainchild of bestselling author and physicist Brian Greene and his wife, TV producer Tracy Day, and aims to explore “the unfolding of the greatest and grandest of all mystery stories as our species seeks to grasp itself, the world, and the larger universe.” While the number of new sponsors and partners increases every year, the only media companies participating this year were Scientific American, New Scientist, The Week, and ABC News. Where were the publishers and booksellers? Even Bantam Dell’s announcement of Hawking’s new book, The Grand Design, missed the festival, but the book’s pub date isn’t until September.

However, some scientist-authors were not shy about promoting their work. In one spirited exchange during “The Limits of Understanding” panel, AI expert Marvin Minsky seemingly grew exasperated with philosopher/novelist Rebecca Goldstein over why science cannot explain consciousness. “There are 26 different meanings for the word ‘consciousness.’ See chapter 4 of The Emotion Machine. We need to treat each meaning as a separate problem to solve.”

WSF makes a point of celebrating science’s long-standing, if not always reciprocal, relationship to art. As physicist Lawrence Krauss put it: “Artists are inspired by physics even when they get it wrong.”

The most difficult aspect of the WSF was choosing what to see. On Thursday, for instance, attendees had to choose between sessions on scientific innovation (“Modern MacGyvers”), science and art, the human genome, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the science of sound, black holes or brutality and the brain. The first event to sell out every year is Nobelist William Phillips’s Saturday afternoon science talk, this year called “Einstein, Time, and the Explorer’s Clock.” Phillips related clock making to the calculation of longitude to why you need four satellites for a GPS system. Discussing how we might slow down cesium in an atomic clock led to live demonstrations of what liquid nitrogen does to flowers, rubber balls, balloons, and even marble stairs. Young scientists scrambled to catch the prize frozen balloons Phillips flung into the audience.

Only slightly less popular was “Astronaut Diary,” where astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson spoke to children live from the International Space Station about life in space. Space Station astronauts Leland Melvin and Sandra Magnus were at the Kimmel Center live to answer dozens of questions, including the most asked one: how do you go to the bathroom in space? (Answer: air suction replaces gravity and astronauts use video cameras during training so they can learn perfect positioning.)

On the last day of the festival, booths ringed Washington Square Park offering science-related merchandise and activities aimed at “children of all ages.” Authors of science-related children’s books filled most of the schedule at “Author’s Alley” on the eighth floor of the Kimmel Center, where talks and book signings occurred. The NYU Bookstore’s selection of titles here was the only festival-related venue for book buying.

Jonathan Karp is now settled in as EVP and Publisher of the Simon & Schuster trade imprint. Karp, who succeeds David Rosenthal, came from Twelve, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group that he founded in 2005. A new Publisher for Twelve is actively being recruited.

Isabel Swift, who was Editor Emeritus at Harlequin, has launched her own media and communications company, Swift Global Media, and will consult on literary projects and programs. She may be reached at isabel [at] swiftglobalmedia [dot] com.

Suzanne Murphy has started at Disney Publishing Worldwide as VP Publisher, reporting to Jeanne Mosure. She had been VP, Publisher of Trade Publishing and Marketing at Scholastic. Coincidentally, Ellie Berger, Scholastic’s President of Trade Publishing, announced that Miriam Farbey has been hired to the newly created position of Global Publisher, Nonfiction, for the Trade Publishing division. Meanwhile, Cecily Kaiser, who was Editorial Director in the trade division for Cartwheel and Little Scholastic, joins Abrams in the new role of Publishing Director of books for kids under five.

Denise Cronin, VP and Director of Random House Subsidiary Rights, announced that Toby Ernst has been hired as the Random House Publishing Group Domestic Rights Manager. She was previously at Sterling.

Sheryl Stebbins has joined Kaplan on a permanent basis as Executive Director of the editorial group. She had been a consultant for the company. Previously, she was Director of Author Marketing Solutions at Author Solutions.

Judith McCarthy, Publisher, Consumer Group at McGraw-Hill, has left the company to attend Rutgers University School of Law. She had been at McGraw-Hill since 2005.

Helen Boomer has been named VP, Director of Subsidiary Rights at Penguin Children’s. She had been Executive Director of Subsidiary Rights at HarperCollins. Nancy Conescu will join Dutton Children’s as Executive Editor on July 6, reporting to President Lauri Hornik. Most recently, she was Senior Editor at Little, Brown Children’s.

Macromark, Inc., an “acquisition, retention, and monetization media agency,” announced that Brian Murphy has become its new Director of Interactive Technology. He was a Web Development Manager at Scholastic.

John Wicker has been named head of the publishing segment for the North American Consulting Media & Information Services group of Tata Consultancy Services. He was most recently EVP of Sales at Klopotek.

Continuum’s Sales & Marketing Director, Ken Rhodes, has taken on global oversight of sales from the UK. Thomas Willshire, US VP Sales, has left the company and may be reached at twill44 [at] verizon [dot] net.

Susan Renouf, VP and Associate Nonfiction Publisher at McClelland & Stewart, has retired. She plans to focus on freelance consulting and editing and may be reached at susan [at] abanakiconsulting [dot] com.

Lauren Wohl is stepping down as Associate Publisher of Roaring Brook Press/Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers/First Second, but will continue to consult for Macmillan. She may be reached at llwohl [at] aol [dot] com.

Peternelle Van Arsdale has left Putnam to become a freelance editor and ghostwriter. Her new company is called pva books, inc., and she may be reached at pva [at] pvabooks [dot] com.

In other editorial news, Catherine Onder has been named Senior Editor at Hyperion. She had been an editor at HarperCollins. . . . Niki Papadopoulos has moved to McGraw-Hill from Public Affairs. . . . Holly Halverson has been named Senior Editor at Howard Books. She was an editor at Hachette. . . . James Jayo has joined Globe Pequot as an editor at Lyons Press. He had been an associate manager of foreign rights at Crown. Anna Bliss is also joining Lyons Press, as an editor-at-large. She previously held positions at Overlook, HarperCollins, and Sobel Weber Associates.

Hachette has hired two new senior-level employees in its New York office. Kate Hartson is now Senior Editor for the Center Street imprint, and Andrea Glickson is Marketing Director for the FaithWords and Center Street imprints. Both report to SVP Rolf Zettersten. Hartson most recently owned her own company, Yorkville Press. Glickson was most recently Director of Publicity and Marketing for Octopus Books USA.

Other Press has hired Sarah Reidy as Director of Publicity. She had been an Associate Director of Publicity at Gallery/Threshold Editions/Pocket.

Literary agent Paul Fedorko has left Trident and joined the N. S. Bienstock Talent Agency.

Allison Korleski is joining Interweave as Acquisitions Editor for the book division, a new position. She was a book buyer at Barnes & Noble.

Adrienne Schultz, who was an editor at Penguin’s Portfolio imprint, has left to become a freelance editor.

Recent departures for as yet unnamed greener pastures are Denise McGann from Rodale, where she was Director of Rights Acquisition, and Judi Powers from DK, where she was Director of Marketing and Public Relations.

Promotions and Internal Changes

Borders’ Mark Bierley has become COO and continues as CFO. He started at the company in 1996.

As is appropriate given the ethereal nature of the job, Penguin is moving Dan Ruffino, who is based in Australia as Marketing and Publicity Director, to New York to assume the position of Group Digital Director for Penguin Group Worldwide, and reporting to John Makinson, who is based in London.

Crown VP, Digital and Marketing Strategy and Publisher, eBooks, Philip Patrick announced that Donna Passannante has been named Deputy Marketing Director, Crown Publishing Group, responsible for the marketing of Clarkson Potter, Potter Style, Potter Craft, Watson-Guptill, Monacelli Press, and paperback programs. Jay Sones takes on expanded responsibility as Marketing Manager for Three Rivers Press and Broadway paperbacks and eBooks. Jacob Bronstein is now Digital Marketing and New Product Development Director, and Patty Berg is Marketing Director, Crown Publishers and Broadway Books. Meredith McGinnis was appointed Marketing Director, Crown Archetype and Crown Business.

At Hachette Digital, Neil DeYoung has been promoted to Executive Director, Liz Kessler moves up to the new position of Digital Managing Editor, and Alessandra Aliquo becomes Digital Operations and Client Services Coordinator.

At NBN, Catherine Forrest Getzie has been promoted to Director of the newly created Electronic Publishing Department. She was Fusion Services Manager.

Jon Ackerman has been named Sales Director at Adams Media. He had been National Accounts Sales Manager.

Megan Wilson has been promoted to Senior Publicity Manager at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Heidi Graynor has been named VP of Sales Administration at Penguin. She had been Director of Sales Administration. Camilla Sanderson has been named VP Digital Business Development at Penguin Children’s, from VP Subrights.

Christina Amini has been promoted from Senior Editor to Executive Editor, Formats, at Chronicle. Beth Weber has been promoted to Associate Publishing Director, Custom Publishing, from Publishing Manager.

Carrie Swetonic has been promoted to Associate Marketing Director at Dutton. Krista Marino has been promoted to Executive Editor at Delacorte.

Viking Penguin has promoted Liz Van Hoose to Editor. She has been at Viking since 2008.

Matt Schwartz, VP, Director of Digital Marketing & Strategy at Random House Publishing Group, announced that Lisa Turner has been promoted to Digital Project Manager. She has been Associate Managing Editor for Ballantine and its imprints since 2007.

Christine Gillespie has been promoted to VP, Associate Publisher for Knopf, Pantheon, and Schocken, continuing to report to Patricia Johnson.

Frank Nunez has been promoted to VP, Business Operations at Simon & Schuster, reporting to Joe D’Onofrio.

DULY NOTED

Ex-Random House CEO and current CEO of AKS Marketing & Media, Markus Wilhelm, wins the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation’s Vision Award.

Congrats to Shelf Awareness, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this month.

http://gilbane.com/blog/2010/04/now_live_the_gilbane_groups_web-based_blueprint_survey_for_book_publishing_professionals.html

The survey “seeks to gain detailed information about what is really happening among the full spectrum of book publishers related to ebook and digital publishing efforts, and will identify the “pain points” and barriers encountered by book publishers when it comes to their developing or expanding digital publishing programs.  Issues such as royalties, digital format choices, and distribution difficulties are addressed.” Everyone who takes the survey will receive a copy of the results.

But these are not your Baby-Sitters’ Club of yesteryear: “Harry Potter turned the whole paperback series notion on its head,” says Megan Tingley, SVP, Publisher, Little Brown Books for Young Readers. “The strategy used to be predicated on the idea that these were the kinds of books people wanted to read once, read quickly and move on. Harry Potter and Twilight created a market for hardcover series with more complex, substantive storylines where readers could live in the world a bit longer. I think people came to want something different out of their reading experience, and it became more about depth than speed.”

The perception of what a book is has changed, agrees Susan Katz, President and Publisher of HarperCollins Children’s Books. “The same way kids watch a movie they love many times, they read the books they love over and over, and I don’t know if that was the case with [series like the Baby-Sitters Club].”

“Series were and still are a great way to market a property and to engage readers,” says Dan Weiss, Publisher-at-Large at St. Martin’s. However, he says, today “the main impulse is to try to make the books as distinct as possible because they need to stay on the shelves longer. We’re publishing in more expensive formats and the monthly cycle we did back then is no longer driving it, so the books have to be a little ‘bigger.’” Here’s the new face of series publishing.

Trends in 2010

“It’s very rare for a book to start out as a single volume these days,” says Katz. “Most of the proposals we get for teens and tweens now are proposed to us from the first as series, and trilogies are very common.”

“When we bring an author’s proposal or manuscript to acquisition, often sales will ask if there are more, and we’ll sign them up as a series from the beginning,” says Stephanie Lurie, Editorial Director of Disney-Hyperion Books for Children. “Other publishers might be more cautious at first and they’d rather see how the first book does before taking on more.”

The long series that were popular in the eighties are “just not possible anymore,” says Amy Berkower, President of Writers House. “In the age of Sweet Valley High and BSC and Choose Your Own Adventure, publishers discovered they could publish originals very effectively to their target audiences. At the time there were lots of bookstores in malls, so that girls who went to buy makeup or hang out [could also buy books]. Since then, the mass market has consolidated and made it hard to get out a book a month.”

“Sixteen years ago, nearly anything on Saturday morning television could be turned into a children’s book or series,” says Susan Knopf, SVP, Director of Marketing and Development, at packager Parachute Publishing. “Our first printing of Power Rangers books was about two million copies.” She says that over the next couple of years, as TV lost its power over the children’s marketplace because of market fragmentation, less advertising money, and competing entertainment sources, Parachute began to seek out other licensing opportunities. Inspired by Knopf’s four-year-old nephew, they created a John Deere for Kids franchise. “Unlike a licensed property, where there are existing characters, places, style guides, and art, we took a brand and created all of those assets ourselves. When we sat down to work out the characters, we found ourselves having long conversations about things like whether there would be humans in Johnny Tractor’s world. If so, would JT and his friends talk to the humans?” The series has over fifty titles, a board game, puzzles, children’s dinnerware sets, and toys coming later this year.

For older readers, “what seems to be selling at very high revenue dollars is the hardcover series that follows up in paperback,” says Katz. “In some cases, we are selling more hardcover.” Berkower agrees that “what we see happening now is really the hardcover trilogy. [Writers House] recently sold three big trilogies and we’re about to sell a fourth. Two of those were YA dystopian, and two were middle-grade fantasies. I think the series formula has now migrated to hardcover.”

However, the more frequent, paperback model isn’t dead. Scholastic VP, Publisher Suzanne Murphy pointed out that with the company’s relaunch of the Baby-Sitters’ Club, one title will be reissued, in paperback, every other month. “We’ve planned out at least a year ahead,” Murphy says. The company has also seen success with its series for middle-grade girls, Candy Apple. The books are written by different authors and published every other month. Scholastic will launch the paranormal series Poison Apple, aimed at the same audience, this summer. Knopf says that “for all the change, some things remain remarkably similar.” Parachute relaunched Goosebumps in 2008 with R. L. Stine’s new Goosebumps HorrorLand, a bi-monthly series published by Scholastic.

“We have to publish at most one year apart, and if the author isn’t able to keep up with that, their sales suffer,” says Lurie. “Harry Potter and other literary series have established a one-a-year expectation, so the publisher has to figure out how to introduce the series the first time, build word-of-mouth among kids, teachers, librarians, and booksellers, and then make sure it stays in people’s minds after that.”

Want to look at the various types of series production from an academic point of view? Amy Pattee, an Assistant Professor at Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science whose dissertation was entitled “Everywhere, Or a Reflection? Describing The ‘Sweet Valley High’ Experience” and who writes the YA review blog YA or STFU, sees two current trends. “The ‘media product’ series novel is created and marketed for mass appeal and multimedia potential,” she says. “These series are marketed directly to the consumer—young adults—and tend to bypass the traditional gatekeeping structures associated with library and scholastic publishing.” She associates the second mode mode with “the more supposedly ‘literary’ end of publishing,” series “that either take advantage of the popularity of an author, like James Patterson’s Maximum Ride, or build on and from the popularity or notoriety of broad trends in YA publishing. Hunger Games, Uglies, Chaos Walking, and Maze Runner have certainly responded to and stoked the dystopian trend in YA fiction. These novels seem to appeal to both adult gatekeepers and YA readers and are not marketed through popular media in the same way that the media product series are.”

Oh, and the Headless Girl Thing Is Over

“People are seeing there might be a crossover for an adult readership, so now you tend to see fewer characters on YA covers, more metaphorical covers, more black covers,” says Tingley. “Middle grade is tougher because the general thinking is that the readers like to see the characters on the cover, so those tend to be illustrated rather than photographed.”

“The biggest issue is that these books have to look different enough so that the consumer doesn’t think they already have it at home, but similar enough so they’ll know it’s part of a series,” says Katz. “And what’s more important, the series title, or the title of that particular volume in the series? If you go down the road with a certain look, is there going to be enough left for books two, three, and four?”

“If we know how many books are in a series, we might think about the look for all three of them from the beginning,” says Lurie, “how the spines are going to look when the books are placed spine-out and if we can do a photoshoot with the characters for all three books at once.”

“Nothing beats a great logo and series name,” says Murphy. “Creative packaging is key, too—special effects, foil, embossing, glitter. You want to use the bells and whistles where you can.” Knopf says she is “excited by some of the creative ways type, or text, is being incorporated into the covers of books just hitting the market.”

We Need a Novella, Quick

“The web has become an incredible tool for serving up and attracting fans to continue their lovefest between books,” says Katz. “Once a group of readers like a series, they want to meet in a place where they can extend their love of the property and interact with other fans.” HarperCollins published The Amanda Project, whose website has grown 500% since its launch.

“Sometimes the suggestions come to us from booksellers,” says Lurie. “They’ll say they’re seeing so much demand for a series that they need a book to help them bridge the time between books two and three, so we have to come up with new content that’s related to the series. We might do a short story collection or a novella [or both for the Melissa de la Cruz series Blue Bloods] or a lost chapter, and make it available only online or do a custom edition for Barnes & Noble or Target. We’re working on graphic novels of the Percy Jackson series, Young Bond, and Artemis Fowl to help satisfy some fans and appeal to new ones.”

“As you build a series, it’s important to commit to at least four to six books up front and stick with it,” says Murphy, “and if you’re lucky, in books three or four, you’ll see things start to grow.” She says that most of the time, in order for a series to be able to extend its brand to toys, clothing, and other products, media tie-ins like television shows or movies are essential “to enter the consumer product realm in a big way.”

The new series have been widely successful internationally. “These books seem to travel very well,” says Berkower. “Sweet Valley High and BSC sold all over the world, but I don’t think they were as successful in their respective territories as these hardcover trilogies seem to be. They seem to be like the Dan Browns; they take on worldwide cult status.”

If You Like Thomas Kinkade, You’ll Love This

The publication of the BSC prequel and the announcement of a St. Martin’s Sweet Valley book for adults created excitement among twenty-something bloggers who read the books as kids, and with its reissue of the Dear America series (including new titles by authors like Lois Lowry and Kirby Lane Larson), Scholastic hopes to reach former fans, “readers who are now grown up and either teaching or parents themselves.” Twilight and Harry Potter obviously appeal to multiple generations, but it remains to be seen whether current series like 39 Clues will inspire adult bloggers to wax nostalgic in the 2020s. So what about creating series for adults themselves?

“When characters start young and have a period of time to grow older, they can grow up with the reader,” says Weiss. “We’re trying to coin the phrase ‘new adults,’ and we’d like to see more of it. I think it’s an overlooked category.” Lurie notes that Hyperion Adult recently signed Blue Bloods author Melissa de la Cruz to write a witch series for them, “and we’re hoping to expand the universe of both series.” (For more on crossovers, see here.)

“People see potential because of the books that have crossed over,” says Tingley. Besides the obvious, she mentions The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Lovely Bones, and The Life of Pi as titles that attracted strong teen readership. “That said, I am pretty skeptical,” she says. “I just read [a manuscript] that people were buzzing about as being [right for] either adult or children’s, and I don’t know why. Most books do fall squarely in one category or another, and in the bookstore there’s an adult and a YA section.”

But Berkower believes we are going to see more series for adults. “Look at series like Lost and The Sopranos and The Wire,” she says. “It’s not only kids who want to get lost in a world and look forward to the next book. It makes sense to do more adult series. There are a lot being done in the paranormal today—I have The Fever series [by Karen Marie Moning]. The fans are called ‘Moning Maniacs’ and they’re panting for the next one.” Knopf mentions Parachute’s Cape Light, “a series for adult readers for which we developed a world and characters as they might exist within a Thomas Kinkade painting. Berkley is publishing the eleventh title in the Cape Light series in the fall and just launched the first of our Cape Light spin-off series Angel Island.”

Berkower notes that while many thriller writers have done continuing character series, “in that world, the brand is the author as opposed to the series itself. It’s great to brand the author, but the market might take note of how successful series publishing in the kids’ world has been. I wonder if there’s a little bit of stigma attached to doing series which the kids’ market has overcome and the adult market might look at seriously.”

In April, Libby McGuire was promoted to SVP, Publisher of the newly formed Ballantine Bantam Dell. As a result of the merged imprints, Nita Taublib has stepped down as EVP, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Bantam Dell. In other Random House news, Kendra Harpster is joining the Random House imprint in May as a Senior Editor, reporting to Susan Kamil. She was most recently an editor at Viking. Ranjana Wingender has been promoted to Director, Corporate Development, succeeding Nina von Moltke, who was recently promoted to VP, Digital Publishing Development. Thomas Lueke was appointed Manager, Corporate Development. Milena Albert is promoted to the newly created position of VP, Mergers and Acquisitions. Jaime De Pablos will succeed her as Director, Spanish-Language Publishing, Vintage Español.

Michele Martin has left Langenscheidt, where she was Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, and is now agenting under the rubric MDM Management.

Sean McDonald, who was Executive Editor at Riverhead, has gone to Farrar, Straus & Giroux (which Lorin Stein recently departed) as Executive Editor and Director of Paperback Publishing.

New York Times book publishing reporter Motoko Rich is moving over to the Times’ Business Day section to write about the economy, and will also work with Catherine Rampell, an economics writer who edits the Economix blog, reporting to Winnie O’Kelley.

Pablo Defendini has been named Interactive Producer at Open Road Integrated Media. He had been producer at Tor.com.

Seth Russo rejoins Simon & Schuster as VP, Director of International Sales. He held the same title at the company from 1992 to 1997. Russo was most recently the principal of Edureach International Consulting.

Sarah Knight has been named Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster. She was an editor at Shaye Areheart Books.

Colin Fox has been named Executive Editor at Hyperion. He was a Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster.

Marcy Posner, formerly agent and foreign rights director at Sterling Lord Literistic, has joined Folio Literary Management as an agent.

Lottchen Shivers has joined Abrams in the new position of Executive Director of Adult Marketing and Publicity, reporting to Mary Wowk. She had been running Lottchen Shivers Communications. Meanwhile, Susan Van Metre has been promoted to Publisher of Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books, replacing Howard Reeves, who been made Editor-at-Large.

Jeanne Emanuel has joined Perseus Books Group as VP Special and Gift Sales, a new position. She will be based in the Cambridge, MA office. She was most recently VP, Sales for Candlewick Press.

Cal Barksdale has started as Senior Editor at Tuttle Publishing in Vermont. He was at Arcade Books.

Jennifer Graham has been named Production Editor at Avalon and Lia Brown has been named Editor. She had been Managing Editor at Oxford University Press.

Jim Benjamin has started his own consulting company, JAB Associates, focused on finance and operations. He was CFO at Sterling. He may be reached at jabenjamin [at] verizon [dot] net.

Jocelyn Schmidt has been named Director of Brand Management at Penguin Children’s. She was VP and Director of Sales at Random House.

Dedi Felman has left Times Books and may be reached at dediaf1 [at] gmail [dot] com.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Ballantine Bantam Dell Publisher Libby McGuire (see above) has promoted Jennifer Hershey, SVP Editorial Director, Random House, to SVP, EIC, Ballantine Bantam Dell. Scott Shannon adds the title of Publisher, Ballantine Bantam Dell Mass Market, to his current role as VP, Publisher, Del Rey/Spectra. Kim Hovey, VP, Associate Publisher, Ballantine will now fill that position at BBD. Gina Wachtel, Bantam Associate Publisher, takes on the new role for BBD. Mark Tavani has been promoted to Executive Editor. He was Senior Editor.

At Random House Children’s, Till Wirth has joined New Media Marketing in the new position of Manager, Digital Content and Product Development.

At Oxford University Press, Tim Barton, who is ascending to the role of Managing Director of OUP USA, the UK Academic Division, and Oxford Journals, announced that Niko Pfund will now run US books and journals publishing across Academic and Trade, Medicine, and Law, in the Academic Research group. Scholarly Reference is run by Casper Grathwohl, also Online Publisher, OUP USA; and Higher Education by John Challice.

At Other Press, Paul Kozlowski, Director of Sales and Marketing, has been promoted to Associate Publisher. Editor Corinna Barsan has been promoted to Senior Editor and Katie Henderson to Editor.

At Shambhala, Sara Bercholz has been promoted to Executive Vice President and will also become the family owner representative.

Grace McQuade has been named Managing Director at Goldberg McDuffie Communications. She was Executive Vice President. Goldberg McDuffie also announced the launch of GMC Consulting, a new division aimed at helping “authors, agents and publishers develop creative strategies to meet the challenges of the digital era.” GMC Consulting “will provide authors and agents with guidance from the beginning of the publishing process.” In addition, the division will offer consulting services to authors on positioning and publicity for the launch of a book. Megan Underwood Beatie has been named Deputy Director of GMC Digital. Angela Baggetta Hayes has been named Director of GMC Digital. Both had been VPs at Goldberg McDuffie.

At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Carla Gray has been promoted to Director of Marketing, Adult Books; Candace Finn has been promoted to Subsidiary Rights Manager, in charge of selling all children’s rights; and Emer Flounders has been promoted to Publicist.

At HarperCollins, Lisa Sharkey announced that Matt Harper has been promoted to Senior Editor and Amy Bendell to Associate Editor.

DULY NOTED

Yale Publishing Course Director Tina Weiner announced that the new course, which runs July 18–23, will be titled “Leadership Strategies in a Time of Transition” and will concentrate on “the business of publishing as a global enterprise.”

Erstwhile Publishers Weekly Publisher George Slowik has purchased the magazine from Reed Elsevier and confirmed the recently appointed management of current Publisher Cevin Bryerman and co-editors Jim Milliot and Michael Coffey.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sandbox Summit, which focuses on children’s media, books, toys, virtual worlds, and education, takes place May 18–19 in Cambridge, MA. A panel entitled “A New Chapter for Books: Innovative Approaches to the Oldest Form of Media” will be moderated by Alexandra Kennedy, Executive Director, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art; panelists include Lisa Holton, Founder and CEO, Fourth Story Media; Peter H. Reynolds, children’s book author and illustrator and founder of FableVision; and Ben Vershbow, Digital Producer, NYPL.

The Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup takes place May 24–25 in San Francisco, CA. Speakers include Guy Kawasaki; Sean Horvath, EVP, Branded Entertainment, Alloy Media + Marketing; and Publishing Trends alum Ariel Aberg-Riger, Creative Development and Marketing Director, Fourth Story Media.

IN MEMORIAM

A memorial service will be held for Knopf’s Nina Bourne, who died on April 9, 2010 at the age of 93. The service takes place Wednesday, May 19 at 4:00 p.m. at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.

Bill Goldstein, Book Reviewer for Weekend Today in New York and founding editor of the books website for nytimes.com, moderated the discussion. Panelists Michael Oreskes, Managing Editor of Associated Press; Josh Greenberg, NYPL Director of Digital Strategy and Scholarship; Brian Napack, President of Macmillan; and Virginia Rutledge, lawyer and art historian explained and, at times, defended, their respective industries.

In some ways, Josh Greenberg explained, librarians are stewards of intellectual property, giving them a role in the “care and feeding” of a library’s contents, but not one in defending them.

Napack, who has taken public stands on piracy on behalf of the book industry, was unapologetic about the publisher’s interests: “We have no moral right—it’s a business. We make money off the buying and selling of IP.” He made a clear distinction between piracy and, for instance, the reselling of used books: “The used book business—I can’t stand it as a publisher, but I have no moral problem with it.” On the topic of recouping monies through advertising, he claimed that Macmillan has received a total of $10,000 in advertising fees over its three years with Google, despite millions of searches.

Oreskes and Rutledge argued about Shepard Fairey’s use of AP photographer Mannie Garcia’s iconic Obama picture, for which AP is now suing the artist over “fair use.” Rutledge claimed that modern art would not exist today under current expectations of IP, while Oreskes (who could not be too specific given the pending litigation) argued that the case isn’t a good example of what constitutes fair use. Oreskes also said—and other panelists agreed—that “most of the panic in the world right now is about business models, not about intellectual property.”

Rutledge reminded the audience that recent problems surrounding copyright have arisen because “the internet is global” while intellectual property law is applied locally—but that even enforcing what laws do exist in countries like China and India would not be enough.

When it was time for questions, a couple of students in the audience expressed hope that the iPad will be a savior for publishers, citing the success of iTunes, which has made it easier to buy music than illegally download it—and has exposed audiences to new artists. But Napack said that the music industry has shrunk by half and that the big artists get bigger, while little ones find it harder than ever to rise to the top. Midlist authors have similar difficulty breaking out. Napack said that blatant piracy (not things like mashups) is responsible for the biggest problems: “It’s the clear cases that are causing economic stress for our authors.”