Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 2/3-2/7

number_5_redEvery week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know. 

Why should publishing companies build communities among authors and readers, and what benefits would those communities yield to the publisher?

Will celebrity cameos increase the visibility of book trailers?

In hopes of stabilizing its publishing industry, Slovenia passes fixed book price law.

Could Sony and Kobo’s recent deal be a model for Nook?

TechCrunch tracks shares-per-story for both old and new media outlets.

People Roundup, February 2014

PEOPLE

Larry Kirshbaum will join the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency as a Senior Agent starting February 24, the WSJ reported. Scott Waxman says, “He’ll be an independent agent building his own list like every agent does.” Kirshbaum was an agent for his own firm, LJK Literary Management, between 2005 and mid-2011 before becoming President of Amazon Publishing. (His former colleagues at that agency reconstituted as the Einstein Thompson Agency when Kirshbaum left.)

George Coe has been announced as President and CEO of Baker & Taylor following the retirement of Arnie Wight.  He has been President of B&T’s Library and Education division since 2000.

Earlier in January it was announced that Bill Saperstein, Barnes and Noble VP for Digital Products Hardware Engineering “is no longer with the company.”  Jim Hilt VP and GM for Global Ebooks and MD of the international Barnes & Noble unit based in Luxembourg, was leaving as well.  Michael Huseby, former CEO of the Nook division, moved into the top CEO spot left by William Lynch, who has been hired as CEO of Savant Systems, a home-technology automation company.

Tim Bartlett has gone to Macmillan as Executive Editor at St. Martin’s Press. He had been an Editor at Oxford University Press, Random House, and Basic Books. Meanwhile, Macmillan VP, Director of International Sales Judith Sisko will retire after this year’s London Book Fair in April, after more than 22 years with the company. Prior to Macmillan, Sisko worked at Henry Holt, WH Smith and Simon & Schuster.

Namrata Tripathi will join Dial for Young Readers as Editorial Director, reporting to Lauri Hornik, helping to oversee the acquisition and development of Dial’s list in addition to editing her own projects. She was previously Executive Editor at Atheneum.

Nicole Melander has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as SVP, Digital Strategy, reporting to CEO Linda Zecher. Melander who was previously Chief Technology Officer at Achieving the Dream, will work closely with the company’s content, marketing, alliances, and technology.

Alexis Gargagliano has been named Executive Editor at Atavist Books. She was formerly Senior Editor at Scribner, and she will specialize in acquiring literary fiction and nonfiction manuscripts for her list.

Michelle Komie will join Princeton University Press as Executive Editor for Art and Architecture. She previously worked in the same position at Yale University Press. Anne Savarese is now Executive Editor for Literature at Princeton University Press.

Marisa Vigilante will join Rodale as Senior Editor, effective February 5. She was most recently an editor at PRH.

Beth Vesel has joined the Irene Goodman Literary Agency as a Senior Vice President. She previously ran the Beth Vesel Literary Agency for ten years, and before that was a Senior Agent at the Sanford J. Greenburger Agency for fourteen years.

Laurie Muchnick is joining Kirkus Reviews in February as Fiction Editor, following the resignation of Elaine Szewczyk. Muchnick has written and edited book reviews for more than 20 years, most recently at Bloomberg News, and currently serves as the President of the National Book Critics Circle.

Publishers Lunch reports that ICM Agent Heather Schroder left the firm recently to start her own agency, Compass Talent. Her first deal under the new banner is with Flatiron Books.

Brooks Sherman has joined the Bent Agency. Sherman was previously an Agent at FinePrint Literary Management.

Molly Barton, Global Digital Director at Penguin and founder of Book Country, has accepted a faculty position at Wesleyan University. She will also consult for publishing-related start-ups.

Jane von Mehren has joined Zachary Shuster Harmsworth as an Affiliate Agent after more than 25 years as an Editor and Publishing Executive, most recently as an SVP and Publisher, Trade Paperback at the Random House Publishing Group.

Justin Hargett has joined the Portfolio, Sentinel, and Current imprints as Senior Publicist. Previously he was a Publicist at Basic Books.

Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP (CDAS)  announced the addition of publishing attorney Alex Gigante, formerly Executive Vice President for Legal Affairs for Penguin Group (USA), who has joined the firm as Special Counsel. Through October 2014, he also will continue his association with Penguin Random House in the part-time position of Senior Counsel.

Kelley L. Allen has been named Director of eBooks at Humble Bundle. Allen was formerly the Director of New Media at Random House and Director of eBook Acquisition at Sony, and she was most recently at Kobo. Read More »

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 1/27-1/31

number_5_redEvery week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know. 

A breakdown of the differences in capabilities and sales expectations with ebooks, enhanced ebooks, and apps.

The 2013 holiday sales data is in, naming Mircosoft and Amazon the winners in the tablet market.

The Families and Media Project released a study stating that children between the ages of 2 and 10 read an average of 40 minutes a day.

As budgets for libraries get smaller and smaller, the need for libraries to go digital grows drastically.

Literary Agent David Godwin predicts that, with the influx of large publishing houses, India will become a “dumping ground” for American literature.

Partners’ Corner January 2014

Partners’ Corner is a place where the principals of Market Partners International can share their observations of the publishing industry for the month.

Recently we have been speaking to people outside publishing who might be candidates for a position we are recruiting.  They express concern about moving from whatever medium they are currently in – television, digital, music — to the world of book publishing.  In our recent series, Off the Beaten Path, which profiled publishing professionals taking their skills to other types of companies and media positions, former publishers expressed similar concerns. With many people moving out of the industry, it’s easy for outsiders to wonder if book publishing is a dying industry they should move away from, not into.

However, we have found ourselves answering these queries with a surprising optimism, as we explain that the advent of digital has had an enormously positive impact on profitability. In effect, publishers have successfully converted 20-30 percent of their business to a high margin, low risk model that has allowed for new audiences and platforms. Even back in December 2011, Jeff Dodes, EVP, Marketing and Digital Media Strategy at St. Martin’s (and a music industry immigrant) remarked in an old Publishing Trends article (from our printed newsletter) that “on the whole publishers seem to be embracing digital and restructuring their companies around the future at a faster pace than the music business did.” While digital may have been daunting when it first disrupted the industry with the Kindle, publishers have been able to adapt over the past five or so years.

Plus, where else can passionate book readers find work that requires them to read and talk and market (e)books?

International Bestseller Lists, January 2014

Every month, Publishing Trends runs fiction international bestseller lists from four territories–France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. This month, our four regular territories are joined by two more: Switzerland and Australia.  Those books that have been published in English are listed with their official English-language title. All others are translated as literally as possible from the original. Where applicable, the US publisher is listed after the local publisher, separated by a “/”. The lists are taken from major newspapers or national retailers, which are noted at the bottom of each list.


BestsellerJanuary2014.France

BestsellerJanuary2014.Germany

BestsellerJanuary2014.Italy

BestsellerJanuary2014.Spain

BestsellerJanuary2014.Switzerland

BestsellerJanuary2014.Australia

 

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 1/20-1/24

number_5_redEvery week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know. 

What would a truly worthy rival of Amazon look like, and where would it come from?

The Oxford English Dictionary’s new Chief Editor plans a new trajectory for the prestigious publication in digital and print to match the evolving English language.

To understand the future of bookstores, the future of publishing must first be uncovered: a look at what may come for brick and mortar stores.

A recent survey of ebook buyers indicates strong loyalties to a chosen retailer, pointing to some clear implications for ebook retailers both small and large.

There is no clear answer on solving the issues of discoverability when selling a book as an ebook versus an app.

Top 5 Publishing Articles/Blog Posts of the Week 1/13-1/17

number_5_redEvery week, we recommend 5 publishing articles/blog posts that supplement the major news for the week. Whether data or industry commentary, we hope these 5 links will be a simple way to keep you in the know. 

A recent study from the Pew Research Center reveals that despite the growth of ereaders, print books remain present in American households.

Digital Book World 2014 focused on an industry in transition, citing new data tools, and growing digital and foreign markets.

The National Book Critics Circle Award nominees were announced for 2013, revealing that 2013 was perhaps a great year for women writers.

The amount of children reading on ereaders is on a steady rise according to a study from PlayCollective.

Why are digital sales of Mein Kampf suddenly so high?

The Subscription Prescription?: Subscription Services at DBW 2014

The word on everyone’s lips during the 2014 Digital Book World conference seemed to be “subscription,” whether it was in the context of the inevitability of Amazon launching their own book service or Michael Cader’s comment at the CEO Roundtable that there are lots of opportunities for subscription models at the niche level. DBW hosted two dedicated panels on January 15th exploring subscriptions for books: the first, from the publisher’s point of view, with F+W’s Sara Domville, Scholastic’s Deborah Forte, HarperCollinsChantal Restivo-Alessi, and Diversion BooksMary Cummings; and a later panel  moderated by Devereux Chatillon, that included Entitle BooksBryan Batten, Scribd’s Andrew Weinstein, Oyster’s Matthew Shatz, and 24symbolsJusto Hidalgo.

The first panel, moderated by Market Partners International’s Lorraine Shanley, focused on how publishers viewed partnering with subscription services, as well as what plans they had for their own direct-to-consumer programs. Mary Cummings commented that, in offering readers a monthly all-you-can-eat subscription as Oyster and Scribd do, it takes the pricing of individual titles out of the equation, thereby offering readers – and publishers – a chance to look the book from a more purely editorial perspective.

Deborah Forte used Scholastic’s relationship with Netflix to argue that the partnership did not have to cannibalize sales – and that it actually enhanced them. HarperCollins has been known for striking deals with a few of the newest subscription startups like Oyster ad Scribd, and Chantal Restivo-Alessi talked about the benefits of subscription services to promote backlists. Sara Domville talked of the many ways in which F+W creates subscriptions for its vertical communities, including very successful how-to videos. Read More »

All About the Kids: Launch Kids 2014

It was a lively gathering at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in NYC on January 13th, as professionals from the children’s book industry gathered for the Launch Kids conference as a part of Digital Book World. Early on in the program, Nielsen Book’s Jonathan Nowell and Jo Henry presented data stating that the main means of discovery for parents buying books for kids ages 7-12 comes directly from the child. While it was just one of many stats presented in a data-packed morning, it proved to be a common theme throughout the conference. If kids themselves are driving sales, how should publishers be reinventing themselves to reach their target audience?

Indeed, it seems like kids are being put at the forefront when it comes to all aspects of book business. On the retail side, Tara Catogge of ReaderLink highlighted the third and fourth rows of a typical retail book display, calling it the “buggy level,” an area where children in strollers had access to grabbing books off the shelves.  This idea was also echoed throughout the day with other ideas that put children in positions of choice: Deborah Forte highlighted a mobile Scholastic Book Fair app that let children scan books for their wish lists; Marjan Ghara presented her startup BiblioNasium, which acts as an online social recommendation site for kids a la Goodreads; and Dominique Raccah talked about the increasing success of Sourcebooks’ Put Me In the Story that creates a narrative around the reader itself.

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When it comes to marketing, being able to communicate directly with kids was also a focus. Rebecca Levey of KidzVuz talked about her Youtube-like platform, the only COPPA-compliant video website available for kids where books are the most popular category on the site, making peer-to-peer book recommendations possible over the web. Author Sarah Mlynowski presented the various social media platforms she uses to communicate with her middle grade and YA audiences, demonstrating how hashtags and giveaways can spark viral interest. Random House’s Anna Jarzab and Wattpad’s Ashleigh Gardner also echoed the importance of personalized voices for every social media platform where a company has a presence, stressing the fact that young users should be made to feel special. Read More »

People Roundup, January 2014

PEOPLE

Barnes and Noble has moved Michael Huseby, former CEO of the Nook division, into the top CEO spot left by William Lynch, who vacated in July.

Craig Bauer, SVP Publishing Operations and Strategic Planning at Hachette, will be leaving HBG to become SVP of Global Publishing Operations at Macmillan Science and Education. His last day at HBG will be Friday, January 17.

As part of Macmillan’s acquisition of Cookstr, Will Schwalbe will continue in his current role, while taking on the additional title of VP, Editorial Development and Content Innovation for Macmillan, where he will acquire books to be published across Macmillan’s publishing imprints. Kara Rota, Director of Editorial and Partnerships for Cookstr, continues in her existing role.

Shannon O’Neill, previously Editorial Director and Agent at The Sagalyn Agency, has joined Lippincott Massie McQuilkin as Agent. O’Neill will remain based in DC, focusing on projects in narrative nonfiction, popular science, current affairs, and the history of ideas, as well as literary and upmarket fiction. She can be reached at: shannon@lmqlit.com

At the start of 2014, Jim Becker stepped down as President of becker & mayer!  Becker founded the book packager more than 30 years ago with Andy Mayer, and was succeeded by Mike Oprins who had been COO of the company. Becker is moving into the new role of Creative Director of SmartLab, becker & mayer!’s educational toy division.

At Scholastic, Durya Aziz has been promoted to SVP, International Education Publisher in the International Division.

Cathy Gruhn has left Hilsinger Mendelson East to become the Associate Director of Lifestyle Publicity at Little, Brown and Company.

Neil Levin has become the VP, Strategic Alliances at Librify; previously, he was President of EverPub LLC. Read More »