Video Killed the Radio Star? Who is primed to succeed as ereading evolves?

Though the holiday sales rush is over, there’s still no shortage of talk about ereading devices. The only problem? The market and technology has grown so much in the past year that “ereader” has come to mean so much more than dedicated devices such as the Nook Simple Touch or Kindle Paperwhite. This past month brought a lot of speculation as to whether or not the tablet has more or less killed the ereader. With tablet sales soaring, signs point to ‘yes,’ but some predict that ereaders will bounce back in the new year and that heavy book consumers still prefer the simpler device.

When we began this column, it seemed that the “ereader race” was a competition between companies such as Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Sony. But with the recent tablet boom (and the iPad offering more storage than ever before) and increasingly brilliant smart phones, this foot race has become the size of the New York City Marathon.

So what will proliferate and what will become a memory? Read on to draw your own conclusion.

“As more Android-based tablets are set to release in the coming months, Finvista Advisors’ analyst Sameer Singh believes that 2013 will likely mark the year iOS will lose its tablet dominance to the little green robot. However, that projection is based on an 18% drop in iPad sales for Q3 2012, when people were waiting for Apple‘s iPad mini announcement. Now that the mini has been released and deemed a bona fide success, it’s unclear if 2013 will be the tipping point, after all.”

Ron Lammle, Mashable (1/2/2013)

“‘What concerns us is that as the overall market gravitates toward color tablets, you’d have expected that Barnes & Noble would have been able to maintain its share because it introduced two new color tablets during the quarter,’ said Morningstar analyst Peter Wahlstrom. ‘They aren’t behind on the tablet front in the sense that their devices compare well with others, but they are behind in terms of marketing, awareness and adoption. And that’s critical.’”

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, Wall Street Journal (1/3/2013)

 “A chirpy Kobo has claimed it now has more than 12 million registered users, four million of them creating ebook buyer accounts with the company during 2012.

It lauded its device sales too – well, its e-ink kit, not its Android-based tablet offerings – insisting it had captured 20 per cent of the world ereader market in 2012.”

Tony Smith, The Register (1/17/2013)

“Sales of the iPad 4 were not expected to be harmed by the smaller, sleeker and cheaper iPad Mini. As the king of touch screen devices, Apple was thought to be the one company that could overcome any risk of cannibalization.

According to Reuters, that may not be the case. The publication reports that Sharp (one of Apple’s largest display suppliers) has significantly reduced the production of screens for the full-size iPad.”

Louis Bedigian, Forbes (1/1/2013)

“In November 2012, the Market intelligence & Consulting Institute (MWC) said it expected eReader shipments to rebound in 2013 with 18.2 million units shipped. E-Ink chairman Scott Liu is also optimistic, telling Digitimes the eReader market is expected to keep growing in 2013. Speaking of which, E-ink sales aren’t exactly drying up. E-ink revenue climbed a percentage point in December versus one month prior, and increased 141 percent year-over-year.”

Paul Lilly, Hot HardWare (1/25/2013)

“These days, excellence in a smartphone isn’t enough. Microsoft’s phone is terrific, too, and hardly anyone will touch it.

So then, is the delightful BlackBerry Z10 enough to save its company?

Honestly? It could go either way. But this much is clear: BlackBerry is no longer an incompetent mess — and its doom is no longer assured.”

David Pogue, The New York Times (1/30/2013)

People Roundup, February 2013

PEOPLE

Mary Ann Naples has been named the new Publisher of Rodale Books.  She was Chief Business Development Officer at Zola and previously VP Talent, Head of Curator Team at Open Sky.

Eric Price has been appointed Director of Sales, Marketing, and Publicity for Quercus‘ new US operation.  He was most recently at Grove Atlantic.

David Boyle joins HarperCollins in the newly created role of SVP, Consumer Insight, reporting to Chief Digital Officer Chantal Restivo-Alessi. In his new role Boyle, formerly SVP, Insight for EMI Music, will work with all divisions of HarperCollins.

Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA)’s President, Florrie Binford Kichler, will retire June 30, 2013. A search for her successor is under way.

Carissa Hays has moved to Crown Publishing Group as VP Executive Director of Publicity. She was at S&S first at Free Press and briefly at AtriaDavid Drake has been promoted to SVP and Deputy Publisher and Michael Palgon, current EVP and Deputy Publisher, is leaving at the end of the month. Jill Flaxman has been promoted to SVP Director, Publishing Operations (reporting to Maya Mavjee).

Elisabeth Dyssegaard, Editor in Chief of Hyperion, announced that Ruth Pomerance has joined Hyperion as Senior Editor, focusing on the acquisition and development for the Disney/ABC Television Group businesses. Most recently, Pomerance served as Executive Producer for the feature film adaptation of Judy Blume’s novel Tiger Eyes and consultant to various entertainment companies.  In a separate announcement, Kerri Kolen has left Hyperion to join Putnam as Executive Editor.

Margot Atwell has left Beaufort Books as Publisher. She may be reached at matwell@gmail.com. Beaufort President Eric Kampmann will be taking over as Publisher.

Caitlin Graf is leaving Basic Books to be the Publicity Director for the Nation magazine.  She was Senior Publicist for Basic Books and Nation Books.

Hannah Rahill will leave Weldon Owen Publishing after 18 years as its Food and Drink Publisher. Executive Editor Jennifer Newens and Associate Publisher Amy Marr will now oversee Food and Drink.

Scott Parris will join Oxford University Press USA as Executive Editor, Economics. He held the same title at Cambridge University Press. Read More »

The Art Book Biz is Booming. Just Ask These Publishers.

The topic at a recent American Book Producer Association (ABPA)’s  brown bag lunch panel – open to nonmembers for $20 – was art books, and three publishers spoke to the assembled group of packagers about what is working, where it’s selling, and what projects they‘re looking for.  Thames & Hudson’s President/Publisher Will Balliett, National Geographic’s recently named VP Editorial Director, Janet Goldstein, and Rizzoli’s Associate Publisher Jim Muschett engaged the audience in a lively, surprisingly upbeat discussion of what makes a successful art book.  It differed for the three:  for NGS, it was something that fit the Society’s mission and offered “value at a moderate price”; for Thames & Hudson, a multilingual, high quality book that could be sold worldwide was important; and for Jim Muschett, special sales opportunities were a big part of the successful book’s formula.

All agreed that social media is currently less important than reviews, or a book making a “best book of the year list.”  Ebooks have not yet proven themselves in this category – despite each having worked with Apple, at its inception, to create iBooks. On the other hand, high quality design and manufacturing is increasingly important and, for Rizzoli and T&H, price (even above $100) is less critical than it once seemed to be.  There were several reasons given for this, including decorators buying books for clients’ shelves – “books as staging,” one packager in the audience commented knowingly.  And an appreciation for quality seems to go hand in hand with a willingness to pay luxury prices for it.

The publishers  agreed it was important for packagers who want to do business with them to present a fully developed, well researched concept – “cook it a little more,” said Muschett, echoing an earlier comment from Goldstein – because with shrinking staffs, no one in house has the time to devote to creating a book from scratch.  It’s important, too, that  publisher and packager can work together to bring in the best book for the right price, which ABPA president Richard Rothschild referred to in his experience with NGS as “horse trading.”   There was a lot of openness to the possibility of a packager supplying all components of the book, or just the design or editorial, and also surprising willingness to discuss which foreign rights might be retained or returned, if not sold within a reasonable amount of time.

Meanwhile, ABPA announced that its website is being revamped, and will soon have information about its thirty or so members that includes their subject category specialties, samples of their books, links to their URLs, and contact information.  By the end of February, this will be available at their website, ABPAonline.org

The Cairo Book Fair 2013: Traditional Business in a Revolutionary World

Official poster for the 2013 Cairo International Book Fair.

The 44th Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF), scheduled to run January 23-February 5, 2013, is the second held since the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, but the first since the election of President Mohamed Morsi and his cabinet. More specifically, the Fair’s coincidence with the January 25th anniversary of the Revolution inevitably ties it to questions about post-revolutionary Egypt. “Irrespective of how many times you might have been to the CIBF, the situation in Egypt is evolving at such a rate that the Fair of three years ago would be very different from the Fair of today,” said Dr. Nigel Fletcher-Jones, Director of the American University in Cairo Press. “What the spirit of this year’s CIBF will be is anyone’s guess.”

The “spirit” of the Fair has had its ups and downs in the past 40+ years. The first CIBF hosted 8 countries, with 262 publishers in 1969, reports Samir Saad Khalil, a Cairo-based publishing consultant and the Fair’s Director from its launch in 1969 until 2002. By 1991, the CIBF had grown to host publishers from 92 countries, an international scope nearing that of Frankfurt at the time. During the deteriorating Egyptian political situation of the mid-90’s the Cairo Book Fair began to fall from prominence. The Cairo Fairgrounds which had long hosted the Fair fell into such disrepair that all Halls and outbuildings were dismantled. Though there had been plans to rebuild, “the budget for reconstruction disappeared in governmental upheaval during the 2011 revolution,” said Khalil, “leaving the grounds empty of any buildings.” Tents were nevertheless erected last year and again this year, and will function in place of the missing halls.

The book industry in which the CIBF boomed and faded–and the one to which it is attempting to return–is one in which fairs play a pivotal role. “There is still no book distribution system in the Arab world,” says Cornelia Helle, Frankfurt Book Fair Sales Manager for the Middle East and Iran. “The publishers absolutely depend on…the many book fairs for the purpose of buying and selling. They have to go there if they wish to survive.” Samir Khalil points out that most countries in the region have two fairs per year (the second Egyptian fair is held in Alexandria): “I know a lot of Arab publishers who move directly from one book fair to another for seven to eight months out of the year” in order to adequately distribute their books.

Read More »

People Roundup, Mid-January 2013

PEOPLE

Andrew Weber was  named Global Trade Chief Operating Officer at Macmillan. He was most recently at Bonobos.com and had been at Random House as VP Ops and Technology. He is taking on many of the duties of Brian Napack, who stepped down as President of Macmillan in December 2011 (and then joined Providence Equity Partners).  Weber reports to John Sargent. 

Egmont USA has hired Literary Agent Andrea Cascardi from the Transatlantic Literary Agency for the new combined role of Managing Director and Publisher, effective immediately. Previous she was Associate Publishing Director at Random House Children’s for the Knopf and Crown imprints. Current publisher Elizabeth Law is leaving after five years with the company. In a separate announcement, Fiona Kenshole will join the TLA, representing children’s illustrators and authors. She was most recently VP of Development Acquisition at Laika Inc.

Allison Devlin has been appointed VP Marketing Director at Running Press, succeeding Craig Herman, who may be reached at craigmichaelherman@gmail.com. She has been Marketing Director at Crown, overseeing Potter Craft, Watson Guptill and Martha Stewart books, and had previously been at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, HarperCollins Children’s Books and DK Publishing. Devlin will divide her time between the Running Press office in Philadelphia and the Perseus office in NYC.

Random House Publishing Group announced that it has decentralized trade paperback publishing, with each imprint publishing its own paperback list, and that SVP Publisher Trade Paperbacks, Jane von Mehren, has left the company.  She may be reached at janevonmehren@yahoo.com

Hyperion’s EiC Elisabeth Dyssegaard announced that Ruth Pomerance is joining the company as Senior Editor effective January 28, focusing on acquisition and development of new stories and author talent that will translate across the Disney/ABC Television Group businesses. Most recently, Pomerance was Executive Producer for the feature film adaptation of Judy Blume’s novel Tiger Eyes and a film consultant.

The Hachette Book Group announced it has completed the restructuring of its sales operation that began last October, appointing David Epstein as VP of Sales, Young Readers. Epstein was most recently Director of National Accounts for Disney. He will report to Chris Murphy, SVP of Retail Sales.

Jennifer Levesque, Abrams‘ Editorial Director, Adult Trade, has left the company and may be reached at jennifer.levesque@gmail.com

Brad Parsons has been hired for the new position of Director of Culinary Marketing at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, starting January 28. He was previously Associate Director, Online Marketing at Grand Central Publishing and had been Senior Books Editor at Amazon.  Anne Hoppe is joining HMH/Clarion Books as Senior Executive Editor. She was previously Executive Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she spent 18 years.

Barbara Lalicki , VP Editorial Director at HarperCollins Children’s Books, will retire at the end of January.  Lalicki came to Harper in 1999 during the merger with William Morrow, where she had been publisher of Morrow Junior Books.

Andrea Rogoff joined Picador as a publicist on January 8. She was most recently an Associate Publicist at S & S. Read More »

Sales Across Borders: International Ebook Sales at DBW 2013

The Digital Book World 2013 panels, “Sales Across Borders: Export” and “Sales Across Borders: Import” (back to back on Wednesday afternoon) were both concerned with the question of what new digital systems best allow books to travel across international boundaries—though their approaches were hardly two sides of one coin.

On the Export panel, there was more or less uniform agreement among the panelists (all of whom work for major US distributors) that successful digital export depends on three main components: globally integrated POD systems; platform agnosticism (referring here to a single system’s ability to distribute print or digital titles as needed), and good global partnerships with local etailers. In contrast, the Import panel focused on what made each panelist’s international ebook sales approach unique. Most ambitious is Bastei Lübbe’s International Digital department: since being founded in 2010, it has identified English, Spanish, and Chinese as its three target language markets, and is undertaking its own translations and negotiating sales relationships with etailers around the world. The next move, said Bastei Lübbe International Sales Manager Marion König, is to acquire original English-language content to sell around the world in the original English and in translation. A more hybrid approach is Open Road Media’s “publishing partnerships” with European publishers. While Open Road does the English-language marketing and distributing of various translated titles, translation and editorial remain the original publishers’ responsibility.

Read More »

Publishing Trends Annual Contact Sheet 2013

For more than 15 years, Publishing Trends has published a range of annually updated contact sheets, focusing on everything from Freelance Publicity and Scouting, to more recent additions, like the App Developer Roundup. However, none of our contact sheets is as popular as our general US publishing industry contact sheet, which features publishers large and small, accounts, trade associations, and more. This year, we are proud to offer our most comprehensive version as a free PDF download. Click the image below to download the Publishing Trends Annual Contact Sheet 2013.

Click on the image of the chart above for a full PDF version of the 2013 Annual Contact Sheet.

People Roundup, January 2013

PEOPLE

Charlie Conrad will be joining Gotham Books as Executive Editor; he was previously Vice President and Executive Editor at Crown Trade, a division of Random House.

Allison Devlin has been appointed VP Marketing Director at Running Press, replacing Craig Herman. She has been Marketing Director at Crown, overseeing the Potter Craft, Watson Guptill and Martha Stewart brand publications.

Amber Qureshi is joining Seven Stories as Associate Publisher and Executive Editor. She was most recently an Executive Editor at Viking.

Roger Cooper is launching a publishing consulting firm, Roger Cooper Associates; he was formerly the Publisher at the Vanguard imprint at Perseus. In his new venture, he will be working with publishers and literary agents with ebook publishing programs to acquire digital content, and with business authors and companies to develop print and digital properties. He can be reached at rcoopernyc@gmail.com.

Brendan Cahill has stepped down as CEO of NatureShare/Green Mountain Digital and will remain an advisor to the company’s Chairman. He can be reached at brendanjcahill@yahoo.com.

Andrea Vuleta will become Executive Director of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association in mid-January, Shelf Awareness reports. Most recently she was Store Manager at Mrs. Nelson’s Toy and Book Shop in La Verne, CA.

Barbara Lalicki, Senior VP and Editorial Director at HarperCollins Children’s Books, will retire at the end of January.  Previously she was Director of Children’s Publishing at the National Geographic Society, Editorial Director at Macmillan’s Books for Young Readers, and Editorial Director at Bradbury.

Esi Sogah has joined  Kensington as Senior Editor.  She was most recently Associate Editor at Avon.

Jacks Thomas, currently joint CEO of Midas Public Relations, has been appointed as Senior Exhibition Director on The London Book Fair replacing Alistair Burtenshaw.

Publicity firm, Media Connect (formerly Planned Television Arts) has 2 new staff members: Steve Matteo arrives as a Publicity Manager. Steve worked for nearly 11 years as the Publicity Manager for Barron’s. In addition, we’re joined by Associate Publicist Nicole Martineau in our Washington, DC office.

Emma Patterson and Emily Forland, formerly of the Wendy Weil Agency, will be joining Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents as Agents.

Jennifer Garza has joined the Simon & Schuster Publicity Department as a Publicity Manager. She most recently worked at Media Connect.

At Penguin Group‘s Portfolio, Sentinel, and Current imprints, Kristen Gastler has been hired as a Senior Publicist.  She had been at Doubleday previously. Margot Stamas has moved over to the group as a publicist from Putnam and Riverhead; Christy D’Agostini has been promoted to Senior Publicist; and Jacquelynn Burke has been promoted to Publicist.

Matt Shatz has left his position as Head of Content Relations at Nokia.

Director of Digital Publishing  David Schiffman has left Yale University Press and will work on “several key” university projects. Kate Brown assumes direct responsibility for all business development and product development activities at the Press.

Read More »