ON SUNDAY, JUNE 3:

uPublishU at BEA (formerly known as DIY Authors Conference & Marketplace)

Date: Sunday, June 3

Location: Javits Center, NYC

Events: Self-publishing panels including Break Through & Publish YOU! Be In Control—Be Read, Reviewed & Become A Success! and Amazon: Maximizing Your Book & Kindle Sales.

Price: $150.

Important Links:

Schedule Information
Exhibitors
Registration

STARTING MONDAY, JUNE 4:

Publishers Launch BEA

Date: Monday, June 4

Location: Javits Center, NYC

Events: Publishing industry panels including Book Publishing in 2012 with Michael Cader; Remaking the Publishing House with host David Wilk,  and panelists Carolyn Pittis, Chris Bauerle, Joe Mangan, Sara Domville; and Agents In Transition: Direct publishing, new deals, and rethinking sub-rights with Laura Dail, Simon Lipskar, Tim Knowlton.

Price: $495.

Important Links:

Schedule Information
Registration

Book Expo America Education Program

Dates: Monday, June 4 – Thursday, June 7

Location: Javits Center, NYC

Events: Educational programming includes social media, library, bookselling, and publisher tracks, as well as the popular Editors’ Buzz sessions (Editors’ Buzz on Monday, June 4, at 4:15 pm – 5:30 pm in Rooms 1E14/1E15/1E16; YA Editors’ Buzz on Tuesday, June 5, at 10:00 am – 10:50 am in Rooms 1E14/1E15; and Middle Grade Editors’ Buzz on Wednesday, June 6, at 11:00 am – 11:50 am in Rooms 1E24/1E13).

Price: Free for BEA attendees.

Important Links:

Schedule Information

International Digital Publishing Forum (IPDF) Digital Book 2012

Dates: Monday, June 4 – Tuesday, June 5

Location: Javits Center, NYC

Events: Panels including The Attention Economy with Seth Godin (Bestselling Author); How Consumers Discover Books Online with Otis Chandler (Goodreads); and Google Play, and Google Books Going Global with Tom Turvey (Google).

Price: $279 for IDPF Members. $339 for Non-Profit Attendees. $399 for Non-IDPF Members.

Important Links:

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Registration

BEA’s New York Book & Media Week

Dates: Monday, June 4 – Friday, June 8

Location: Various spaces around NYC

Events: Author events including comedians with books in a stand-up show, Richard Ford and Joyce Carol Oates in conversations, and Word for Word with Jen Lancaster and Jennifer Weiner.

Price: Free.

Important Links:

Schedule Information

BEA Bloggers Conference (formerly Book Blogger Convention)

Dates: Monday, June 4

Location: Javits Center, NYC

Events: Blogging panels including So You Want to Make Money?: Syndication, Monetization and Affiliate Programs for your Blog with moderator Scott Fox (ClickMillionaires.com), and panelists Rita Arens (Senior Editor, Blogher.com), Ron Hogan (Beatrice.com), Thea James (Co-Founder, The Book Smugglers), Sarah Pitre (Blogger, Forever Young Adult); Demystifying the Book Blogger & Publisher Relationship with moderator Derek Stordahl (Global Publishing Expert & Blogger), and panelists Lucille Rettino (Vice President, Director of Marketing, Simon & Schuster), Lindsey Rudnickas (NetGalley),  Jenn Lawrence (Blogger, Jennsbookshelves.com); and an opening keynote by Jennifer Weiner (Bestselling Author).

Price: $99 (for attendees who are not press or bloggers).

Important Links:

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Registration

Global Market Forum: Russia

Date: Global Market Forum on Monday, June 4, with additional programming Saturday, June 2 – Thursday, June 7

Location: Javits Center and various spaces in NYC

Events: Panels on the Russian book industry including Russian Literature In The United States Market, A Critical Review of Russia’s Policy on Copyrights and Piracy, and Technological Advances In Russian Distribution & Print On Demand.

Price: Free.

Important Links:

Schedule Information for Global Market Forum
Schedule Information for Additional Events

ABA’s 2012 Day of Education

Dates: Monday, June 4

Location: Javits Center, NYC

Events: A day of bookselling-related programming including Why Indies Matter, Indies International: Bookselling in Other Countries, and Putting the “Sell” in Bookseller.

Price: Free for all BEA attendees.

Important Links:

Schedule Information

2012 Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC)

Dates: Monday, June 4

Location: Javits Center, NYC

Events: Audiobook panels including a publisher roundtable with Dan Balow (eChristian, Inc.), Ana Maria Allessi (Harper Audio), Dick Heffernan (Penguin Audiobooks), Amanda D’Acierno (Random House Audio), Kevin Colebank (Tantor Audio); Casting the Voice: Audiobook Matchmaking with Karen Dziekonski (Harper), Claudia Howard (Recorded Books), and moderator Paul Ruben; and Voice & Breathing: Keeping it Healthy and Quiet with Dr. Michele Yagoda and Robin Miles.

Price: $300 for members, $400 for non-members.

Important Links:

Schedule Information
Registration

STARTING TUESDAY, JUNE 5:

BookExpo America (BEA)

Dates: Tuesday, June 5 – Thursday, June 7

Location: Javits Center, NYC

Events: BEA Exhibits and author events including author breakfast with Junot Diaz, Stephen Colbert, Barbara Kingsolver, and Jo Nesbo.

Price: $99-$375 per person, depending on badge status and how many days are included in the pass.  Full chart with pricing for BEA only can be found here. Additions for concurrent events can be found here.

Important Links:

Schedule/Exhibitor Information
Livestream Feed
Registration
The Bean by BEA Show Director Steve Rosato
BEA Education Programming (including Editors’ Buzz 2012)

BlogWorld & New Media Expo

Dates: Tuesday, June 5 – Thursday, June 7

Location: Javits Center, NYC

Events: Social media panels including Building An Authority Brand: 10 Must-Do’s For Serious Bloggers with Chris Garrett, John Rampton, Syed Balkhi, Zac Johnson; Make Money With Your Blog Using Affiliate Marketing with Missy Ward; and Future of Content Creation: What is Next?  with Shane Snow and Andraz Tori.

Price: $397 for a 3 day blogger/podcaster/web TV pass, $1,097 for the Social Media Business Summit, and $77 for exhibits only.

Important Links:

Schedule Information
Exhibitors
Registration

ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6:

ABC Children’s Institute

Dates: Wednesday, June 6

Location: Javits Center, NYC

Events: Includes access to BEA Children’s Breakfast, a speed dating lunch with children’s authors, and ABA/CBC tea with authors/illustrators.

Price: $99 for ABC group members and $149 for ABA members.

Important Links:

Schedule Information
Registration

Scholastic has named Jenny Frost as ePublisher and SVP, eBook Strategy. She has been consulting since leaving Crown Publishing Group, where she was President and Publisher, in January 2010.

Sara Nelson, book editor for O, The Oprah Magazine, is moving to Amazon where she will be Editorial Director, Amazon.com Books. The press release announces that Nelson “will be leading our editorial vision for books in the print and Kindle bookstores on Amazon.com.”  Recently, Liz Egan joined Amazon Publishing’s New York imprint as Senior Editor, focusing on fiction, memoir, and parenting. Previously she was the books editor at Self Magazine for seven years.

Leigh Ann Ambrosi has left Sterling for Crown Publishing Group, where she will be VP, Brand Publishing, reporting to Tina Constable.  She was VP Marketing and Publicity at Sterling.  Kimberly Snead is the new Director, Brand Strategy at Crown, reporting to VP, Business Development Ranjana Wingender. Snead was Director, Consumer Marketing at Nickelodeon/MTV Networks.

Roland Lange has left the Google Books team, where he was Strategic Partner, Development Content Partnerships, and is now Major Accounts Lead at YouTube (also owned by Google).

Retail and marketing consultant Bill Miller has been named President of Galison Publishing, a division of The McEvoy Group, whose properties include include Chronicle Books, Princeton Architectural Press, and becker&mayer!.

Joshua Kendall will join Little, Brown on May 29 as Editorial Director of Mulholland Books suspense fiction imprint, reporting to Judy Clain. Previously Kendall was Senior Editor at Viking/Penguin, and fills the position held by John Schoenfelder, who left to work for film producer Scott Rudin.

Valentina Rice Head of International Sales for Penguin USA has left to found Many Kitchens, LLC, an online marketplace for artisanal foods.  She may reached at valentina.rice@gmail.com.

Karen Rinaldi announced that Julie Will is joining HarperCollins starting May 14 as Executive Editor “working closely with me in acquiring and editing titles in the health and wellness area.”  Will was most recently at OpenSky.com, and previously at Rodale.

Frances Gilbert announced that she will be leaving Sterling, effective Friday, May 18 and moving to Random House to be Editorial Director of Doubleday Children’s Books, reporting to Mallory Loehr, VP Publishing Director of Random/Golden Books.  She begins mid-June.

Debi Fine recently left the company Direct Brands, the company that runs Book-of-the-Month and numerous other clubs. The new CEO is Daniel Shum; he comes from the Najafi Companies, where he is a Partner. 

Laura Dawson will be starting a new position at R. R. Bowker, handling product management for DOI, ISNI and ISTC.  She was Communications Chief at Firebrand Technologies.

Melville House announced a number of recent new hires. Sal Robinson has joined as an editor from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where she was most recently an associate editor. Founder and publisher of Dark Sky Press, Kevin Murphy, has been named Digital Marketing Manager, as well as Managing Editor of the MobyLives blog.

The Overlook Press announced that Jill Lichtenstadter has been appointed Sales Manager. She was previously Director of National Accounts at Hachette Book Group.

Jon Thurber, who has been books editor at the LA Times since 2010—his latest posting in over 40 years at the newspaper—is leaving the company.

Kathy Davis has joined Harlequin as Acquisitions Editor, supporting the newly acquired Heartsong Presents program.  She had been a freelance writer and editor.

Peter Collingridge is the latest well-known epublishing recruit for Safari Books Online, where he will serve as VP of Product Development. He will work out of London initially, but will relocate to the San Francisco Bay area this summer.

Eric Brandt has joined Yale University Press as Senior Editor, Humanities. He was most recently Senior Editor at HarperOne.

Tattered Cover Manager of Operations Neil Strandberg has relocated to New York to join the ABA‘s staff in the new position of director of member technology.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Daniel Nayeri has been promoted to the new position of Digital Editorial Director of the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group, where he will oversee the e-book publishing, as well as acquiring e-original content and developing multimedia projects. He was previously editor at Clarion Books, an HMH imprint.

Peter Hubbard has been promoted to Executive Editor at William Morrow, where he started as an editorial assistant in 2004.

Random House Children’s Dominique Cimina was named Director of Publicity and Corporate Communications; Paul Samuelson has joined the company as Senior Publicist. He was most recently at Media Connect (formerly Planned Television Arts.)

DULY NOTED

Louise Burke, Executive Vice President and Publisher, announced that Pocket Books has re-launched its Pocket Star line as an eBook-only imprint. As it did in print, Pocket Star will continue to feature bestselling and debut authors in popular genres including women’s fiction, romance, thrillers, urban fantasy, and mystery. The imprint will be run by Editorial Director, Lauren McKenna.  She was Executive Editor at Pocket.

The Association of American University Presses (www.aaupnet.org) is looking for an Executive Director to serve as the Chief Operating Officer of the Association, to “provide visionary leadership to the organization and its constituent members.” The position is based in the AAUP New York City office, and the successful candidate will start spring 2013. The position reports to the AAUP Board of Directors.

The American Jerusalem International Book Fair (JIBF) Advisory Committee announced that the deadline for applications for its popular Editor and Agent Fellowships for the 2013 Fair has been set for July 16, 2012.  The Fair dates are February 10-15, 2013, with the Fellows’ week-long program beginning two days earlier, on February 8.  The 2013 JIBF will mark the 26th anniversary of the Fair, which was established in 1973. Applications are available at http://jibffellowship.com/

UPCOMING EVENTS

May 17 – May 20
Book World Prague 2012
400 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions from all over the world are represented at the fair. Guest of Honor: Romania.
Prague Exhibition Grounds, Prague, Czech Republic

May 20 – May 23
National Stationery Show
The world’s most comprehensive collection of stationery and related products.
Javits Center, New York, NY

May 24 –May 27
Thessaloniki International Book Fair
Four day festival focused on books. Guest of Honor: Serbia.
Thessaloniki, Greece

May 29 – May 30
StoryDrive China
The first all-media platform in Asia dedicated to exploring new forms of collaboration and business models across media boundaries.
China National Convention Centre, Beijing

May 30  – June 2
CLA 2012
Canadian Library Association National Conference and Trade Show.
Ottawa, ON, Ottawa Convention Centre

Jun 4 – 6
Book Expo America
Guest of Honor: Russia.
Javits Center, New York, NY

June 12 – June 14
Licensing International Expo
“The World’s Brand and Property Marketplace”
Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV

June 18 – June 20
AAUP Annual Meeting
“Igniting the Future”
June 21 – 23
National Museum Publishing Seminar
» Both events held back-to-back at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza, Chicago, IL

With this post, PublishingTrends.com continues its regular column in which it reviews, explicates and excerpts books that we think will resonate with people in the business of publishing and media. 

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John B. Thompson, University of Cambridge-based sociologist and author of Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century (Plume, trade paper, 2^nd Ed. [1^st US], April 2012) has spent the last decade making the book business his academic specialty. The first half of this research—on educational and academic publishing—was published in Books in the Digital Age in 2005 (Polity Press, UK). Thompson has since moved on to trade publishing, and in Merchants of Culture has created a book devoted to the subject. Most of the factual information (copious though it is) won’t be news to industry veterans. However, the care with which Thompson has gathered together so many familiar factors—from sales figures, to legal landmarks, to first-hand accounts—in one place is indisputably impressive and valuable.

Through decades-worth of data and hours of interviews with key players (all of whom remain anonymous according to standard sociological methods), Thompson fleshes out major events of the recent past as they’ve affected retail, agenting, corporate acquisitions and standards for growth, publicity and marketing, legislation, author-publisher relations, and yes, the digital revolution. The majority of Thompson’s examples come from the US, though he does address some issues unique to the UK, (such as the dissolution of the Net Book Agreement in the 90’s), but is always very clear about what generalizations apply to both countries and which do not.

While his exploration of all factors (and the caution with which Thompson always weighs any broad conclusion) are praiseworthy across the board, we found his treatment of the book industry’s struggle to find its place under corporate ownership especially telling. For Thompson, most large publishers’ patterns of acquisition and sales are born out of a traditionally non-data-centered business grappling in recent decades with an unprecedented array of numbers. From within the industry comes increasingly exact data made available by the advent of Bookscan. From without, come standards of growth upheld by the non-publishing public corporations that have acquired most of the Big Six publishers within the past thirty years. Thompson is careful to note, too, the ways in which these corporate-driven patterns affect the entire playing field—even for small independent publishers not directly beholden to stockholders. This meeting of worlds can result in business practices verging on the paradoxical. Thompson cites cases of editors straining to meet corporate demands for an exact quarterly growth percentage by making irrational, knee-jerk acquisitions—and lots of them. Says one CEO: “When we look at books that were bought late in the cycle, they’re almost never profitable, almost never.” Merchants of Culture is also concerned with the way this push and pull between corporate numbers and editorial “gut” molds company culture. It’s a topic to which Thompson returns throughout the book, memorably quoting one senior editor on “the mystique of the imprint, ‘and the one thing corporate owners are scared shitless of is messing with mystique.’”

Although Thompson’s assertions of what publishers “should do” or even of what is “really happening” are cautious and delivered sparingly, his discussion of the digital revolution offers one of his most vivid depictions of how publishers can grapple with a future where book-business is intertwined with companies and concerns whose primary business is not books:

[Publishers] are in the position of a water company who owns and controls the water supply but doesn’t own the pipes that deliver the water to the consumers. If some consumers decide that they would prefer to receive their water through a different kind of pipe, then the company needs to be in a position to supply it for that pipe. They don’t necessarily need to build a new pipe themselves—they can let others for it and take the risks. But they do need to make sure that their water can be pumped through the new pipe and that those who own and control the pipe don’t have a stronghold on the supply chain.

With a few exceptions (such as the above) Thompson’s “diagnostics” are all corralled in the last chapter of the book “Trouble in the Trade”. By the time the reader reaches this point, he or she is likely to be convinced enough of Thompson’s grasp of the factors to read his opinions with interest, if nothing else. He addresses “short-termism” (whose symptoms include, among other things, neglect of backlist and increasingly poor acquisition choices); treatment (or maltreatment) of authors, and that celebrity du jour, discoverability.

Thompson’s motivation may be sociological in nature, but in this uncertain moment for the publishing industry, there’s no reason why his project—to explain how an industry explains itself to itself—should not be of interest to those professionals making it their business to know publishing inside and out.

A new pair of trends is cornering the self-help business book market, and because they juxtapose entrepreneurialism with an appreciation for the current economic conditions — the pillars of today’s workplace — we think they’re worth noting.

Both trends saw their genesis in a book published by Crown last Fall, The Lean Startup by Eric Ries.  Many in the media industry saw Ries attempt to reinvent publishing in talks he gave at Tools of Change.

The logical next step in this nascent trend was Mark Nager‘s Startup Weekend, about — yes — “How to Take a Company From Concept to Creation in 54 Hours,” which came out last November.  Earlier this year LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman published The Start-up of You, about developing career goals, which elicited this blurb Mike Bloomberg: “Whatever career you’re in — or want to be in ­–The Start-Up of You holds lessons for success.”

Meanwhile, in April O’Reilly published  Ash Maurya‘s Running Lean (part of a new “Lean Series” curated by none other than Eric Ries) and next Fall comes The Lean Entrepreneur.  So it’s no surprise that Portfolio just published a book called The Ultra Lite Startup, about launching a business with absolutely nothing.

But probably the book that speaks loudest to publishers is another O’Reilly book, Todd Sattersten‘s Every Book is a StartUp, which takes the agile startup approach in allowing readers to buy copies and give feedback for a final version due out at the end of the summer.  Given O’Reilly’s interest in entrepreneurs (the company hosts an annual Startup Showcase), and their clear appreciation for all things lean, perhaps it’s not too late to change the title to what all publishers can relate to:  .  Now that’s a title that might outsell sex.

“It’s still early for digital in the book space.  There’s frankly not a huge amount of people with a lot of the right experience,” said Bob Nelson, President of the Digital Group at Baker & Taylor. “Digital books have really just emerged strongly over the last 3-4 years.  So, we look for people who were pioneers in that space.  People with content distribution, publishing, or digital media background.”

For David Bronstein, recently appointed Chief Talent Officer at Perseus who also has a background in the advertising and music industries, there are many ways to approach building a digital infrastructure within a company. “For some, digital is being woven into the existing business—that’s one hiring model. Others think that digital needs to be placed on a separate track for the near term while its revolutionary potential is developed.”  In the case of creating digital departments separate from other aspects of the business, the question of leadership is key.  “Each company will have to decide how to lead the transformation – with or without cross-functional teams, for example, and / or dedicated leadership at the C-Suite level (e.g. Chief Digital Officer.)  These are important decisions that will shape your strategy and execution.”

In its People Roundup feature from 2011, Publishing Trends reported on 45 people who have moved into digital positions, 14 of which were newly created. Random House had the most with 10 hires. 7 of those 10 were filled in June with the creation of a digital channel and marketing development department within the corporate digital group, which was organized under Madeline McIntosh. Norton and Simon & Schuster also underwent reorganization, with Norton’s College division appointing four emedia positions to meet increased demand for digital products, and at S&S, Samantha Cohen’s promotion to Director, Digital Content Development positioned her to staff, train, and manage the dedicated Digital Content Development department.

External hires for executive digital positions also indicated that there is a trend of publishers hiring from outside the industries. Jeff Dodes headed the Marketing and Digital Media department for Sony’s Jive Label Group before being hired as EVP, Marketing and Digital Media Strategy for St. Martin’s, and Peter Phillips became the SVP and GM of the Digital Media Group for Marvel after serving as EVP for the digital customer service channel, LivePerson. “Frankly any media background would be relevant – physical or digital – including music, video and gaming,” said Nelson. “The key is someone with a lot of fresh ideas, who can grasp the complexity of the publishing industry.  In terms of getting the big ideas implemented, we hire a lot of development people – preferably from a media background as well. They need to be technically proficient and able to synthesize a lot of requirements. The concept of ‘digital’ goes way beyond the book, into how stores are merchandized, what formats the content is available in, and when and where consumers want to consume that content.” Just this past month, Chantal Restivo-Alessi was hired as Chief Digital Officer at HarperCollins, taking over many of the duties held previously by Charlie Redmayne.  She was most recently Head of Media Corporate Finance at ING Bank, and has a background at EMI Music and consulting.

When hiring from outside publishing, leadership and communication skills are as important as technical know-how. “We want someone who can think strategically and has a vision,” Bronstein explained. “We need leaders who can articulate that vision and translate it to practical application. We also go for digital people with business acumen, who can ground digital experiments and plans in a business context that can actually be executed, monetized, and implemented. Candidates should also have at least 10 years of expertise for an executive position.”

“It’s an interesting time in publishing, as the industry is seeing that digital platforms and channels are affecting how consumers are discovering, evaluating, and purchasing products,” added Kate Hartnick Elliott, President  of  Hartnick Search, who has done executive searches  for a range of industries and positions, including ecommerce, marketing, media, and nonprofit . “Publishers are looking to senior marketing managers to evaluate how those platforms and channels should be incorporated into their business planning; how they should (or should not) change the ways in which they engage with consumers. Publishers are open to hiring people who are not from the publishing world, but have successful track records of helping organizations in other sectors negotiate the strategic and operational shifts necessary during similar transitions.”

What other trends has this past year held for digital executive hires? “In the past few year, companies were able to take their time hiring; this is less true this year. Companies that delay interviews and making decisions are finding that candidates are being offered and are accepting other first rate offers, said Hartnick Elliott, commenting on the increasing speed in which publishers need to act now to secure top digital candidates. “The caveat is that we are still in a touch-and-go economy, and a number of external events could cause a change in business confidence, which would of course slow hiring once more.”

Bronstein agrees that speed to market is important, not just in the amount of time it takes to make an offer, but to the industry as a whole: “Things are changing so unbelievably rapidly that if you lose 6 months in the game due to bad decisions, it could set you back six years.” He also added that, in addition to speed, salary is also an important aspect of hiring top candidates. “If you want top notch talent because they bring something that you haven’t seen in the industry, you may have to pay more,” he said.

There seem to be positive hiring numbers overall and with increased ereading devices on the market, the need for digital-savvy leaders is not decreasing. “Companies need people who understand and value content and who also understand that the world is changing,” Hartnick Elliott insisted. “It’s about understanding the existing culture and protecting and nurturing what’s strong about it, while leading the organization through times of necessary evolution.”

First up was Jake Freivald from Information Builders, who talked about how important it is to present data in a visual way, centered on a few key data elements — especially the more unwieldy and complex it is.

Kyle Marx of Readerlink Distribution Services (which used to be Levy Home Entertainment and still claims to be the largest full-service print book distributor, with 100 publishing partners) also spoke of making data accessible to customers.  Only 1% of shoppers buy books at Readerlink serviced retailers (which include many big box stores), so anything that moves the needle helps.  For instance, shoppers repeatedly mention they look for books in certain categories like mystery and romance, so now those sections are highlighted on the store floor. Marx says they have reduced 300 metrics to 15 critical ones that are available on a dashboard. Echoing Freivald, he said that clients wanted more curated information, rather than having to ferret it out and analyze it themselves.  He mentioned his favorite site for pricing data is Camelcamelcamel.com, which tracks Amazon pricing over time.

UK startup Bookseer‘s Peter Colleridge talked about the need to switch from publishers’ focus on demand, rather than its traditional focus on supply.  Bookseer collects social media and pricing data in real time — “data exhaust” — to gauge the effects of book marketing campaigns.

Metadata guru Brian O’Leary presented his work for BISG, a survey of publishers on what metadata they track, use, and want. His report will be released soon, but he gave the audience a précis on what the issues are – faster data processing updates, use of ONIX 3.0, uniformity of metadata, etc.  (For a fuller presentation, click here.)

Kyushu Chung, VP Biz Dev at Goodreads talked about how consumers discover books online. Goodreads claims 8 million registered members, plus 20 million visitors globally.  Almost 300 million books have been added to members’ bookshelves since it launched in 2007.  Only 5% of those come from the top forty bestsellers.  Almost 20% of books added to the “to read” shelf come from Goodreads recommendations. But Goodreads purposely skews the list to midlist, not bestsellers, on the theory that discovery is what it fosters.  With some books – he used Alan Brennert‘s Moloka’i as an example – 50% of members who put it on their shelf say they first heard about it from Goodreads.  Members surveyed say that after ‘known author,” and “friend’s (offline) recommendation,” Goodreads’ recommendation is the most important.  With, for instance, romance and mystery, readers take member recommendations even more seriously.  (Interestingly, mystery readers also love their favorite authors’ own websites.)

Chung used The Power of Habit* as an example of how a publisher can aid discovery of a book.  Random had 15 reviews on Goodreads before the third advance copy giveaway.  When it was released, there were already 26 reviews. Those recommendations and an NPR Fresh Air interview got the book into the “Movers & Shakers” list, so it was mentioned in email newsletters.  Random created a poll for Goodreads members, which went viral and catapulted the book into “to read” shelves and presumably, sales.

BISG’s Executive Director Len Vlahos reviewed a consumer purchases and attitudes study from Bowker, which suggests the ebook sales are growing incrementally, no longer dramatically.  Only 46% of Tablet owners use the device for reading ebooks.

The final speaker was Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and NYT reporter, who used a Prezi presentation to engage his audience in understanding how — literally — enthralling the “habit loop” is. While the bulk if his talk was taken from his book and, though entertaining, wasn’t relevant to media, he ended by telling publishers how they could use the “cue” and “reward” system that triggers most powerful habits, to keep people reading.  Readers need, he said, surprise rewards — plot twists (he cited Hillary Mantel’s Wolf Hall as an example), maybe embedded video or anything that challenges and delights the readers.  Ah, yes, and publish only good books!

Disney Publishing Worldwide President Russell Hampton will step down on May 4 after six years in the position.  Recently it was announced that the company is transferring over 100 DPW employees to Glendale, CA. The company expects to complete the transfers by September 30 at which time that office will be closed.  About 50 employees, including sales and marketing staffers, of Disney Publishing book imprints – Disney Editions, Disney-Hyperion, Disney-Jump at the Sun, and Disney Press – will move back to New York City, where a number of DPW Editors had remained.

HarperCollins  announced that Chantal Restivo-Alessi has been appointed to the position of Chief Digital Officer reporting to CEO Brian Murray.  Restivo-Alessi will be responsible for the global digital strategy for the company. SVP Leslie Hulse will report to her.  Restivo-Alessi joins HarperCollins from ING Bank in London, where she was Head of Media Corporate Finance. She has an MBA from Columbia University, a Masters in Foreign Trade and International Marketing from ICE Italian Institute, and an MA in International Political Sciences from University of Rome.  She replaces Charlie Redmayne, who left HarperCollins for Pottermore.

Lisa Tomasello will join Macmillan‘s sales department as a National Account Manager for adult trade titles, including distribution titles, calling on Costco and BJ’s. She was previously with Simon & Schuster.

Liz Scheier joined Brilliance Audio as Senior Product Manager. She was previously Editorial Director, Digital Content at Barnes & Noble.

Claire Taylor will also join the Macmillan sales department as a National Account Manager selling Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and Macmillan distributed publisher children’s titles to WalMart, WalMart Canada, Sam’s, Costco, and their distribution partners. She was most recently a National Accounts Rep at Candlewick.

Open Road Integrated Media  announced that Stephanie Gorton has joined the company as Acquisitions Manager. Gorton, a former Editor at the Overlook Press, will help acquire backlist titles for Open Road’s Author Brands program and will also be involved in the acquisition and publication activities for Open Road Publishing Partners and frontlist E-riginal titles. Gorton reports to Tina Pohlman, Publisher.

Books-A-Million has appointed R. Todd Noden as Chief Financial Officer. He will report to Terry Finely, CEO and president of BAM. Noden will replace current CFO Brian W. White. Most recently, Noden was CFO of Dobbs Mills.

PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES

Colin Shields has been promoted to VP, Director of Digital Sales at S&S. He will continue to have responsibility for the print business at Amazon.com, as well as digital sales for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, and others. In other promotions at S&S, Jessica Abell and Rachelle Andujar have been promoted to Associate Marketing Manager, while Nick Greene has been promoted to Assistant Editor. David Hillman has been named Executive VP and General Counsel he was most recently the Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Executive VP, Business Affairs for Dial Global.

Also at S&S Audio, Robert Riger has been promoted from Director to VP, Director of Pimsleur Language Programs.

Tina Andreadis has been promoted to VP, Senior Executive Director of Publicity for Harper, Ecco, Amistad, Harper Perennial, Harper paperbacks, Harper Audio, and, effective immediately, It Books, and Harper Design.  She has been at Harper since 2005.

Steve Wasserman, Executive Editor-at-large for general interest books at Yale U. P. has moved to a full-time role, effective May 1. Wasserman was most recently a partner at the literary agency of Kneerim and Williams.

Ann-Marie Pucillo has been promoted to VP, Executive Managing Editor, now overseeing ebook editorial operations for the adult and children’s imprints at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She remains Executive Managing Editor for the children’s book group as well.  Also at HMH, Mary Huot has been promoted to Managing Editor; and Sarah Iani has been promoted to Associate Production Editor in the adult trade group. Ron Hussey has been promoted to Director of Permissions and Susan Canavan has been promoted to Senior Executive Editor. Peter Bohan has been promoted to Associate Director of Marketing in the children’s division.

Sourcebooks has promoted Barbara Briel to SVP, Chief Operating Officer, “responsible for oversight of Sourcebooks’ daily operations, including driving performance measures and strategic planning activities throughout the company.” She joined the company in 2004 as Accounting Manager, and in 2007 was named VP, Director of Administration and Finance.  Additionally, Nick Martinelli has been promoted to Web Development Manager; Danielle Jackson moves up to Senior Publicist.

Laura Keefe has been promoted to Director of Digital & Trade Marketing for Bloomsbury’s adult group, and Jonathan Kroberger has been promoted to Associate Publicist for Bloomsbury Children’s and Walker Children’s.  Katy Hershberger has been promoted to Director of Publicity.

Andrea Fleck Nisbet has been promoted to Executive Director, Digital Publishing at Workman. She was previously Director, Digital Publishing.

Martina Challis has been appointed Publisher at Weldon Owen, the Bonnier Publishing-owned children’s reference publisher in the UK. She was Publisher at Kingfisher.

DULY NOTED

The Association of American University Presses (www.aaupnet.org) is looking for an Executive Director to serve as the Chief Operating Officer of the Association, to “provide visionary leadership to the organization and its constituent members.” The position is based in the AAUP New York City office, and the successful candidate will start spring 2013. The position reports to the AAUP Board of Directors.

Broadthink (broad-think.com), a branding and new business development media company that represents Dean Koontz and others, is launching an online romance hub TruLOVEstories.com through its through its newest company BroadLit, featuring ebooks, casual digital games, customized avatars, licensed merchandise, and other features.

The American Jerusalem International Book Fair (JIBF) Advisory Committee announced that the deadline for applications for its popular Editor and Agent Fellowships for the 2013 Fair has been set for July 16, 2012.  The Fair dates are February 10-15, 2013, with the Fellows’ week-long program beginning two days earlier, on February 8.  The 2013 JIBF will mark the 26th anniversary of the Fair, which was established in 1973. Applications are available at http://jibffellowship.com/

The Workman Speakers Bureau has officially launched under the direction of longtime publishing veteran, Carol Schneider, representing authors from the five publishers under the Workman Publishing banner: Workman, Algonquin, Artisan, Storey and Timber.  Its roster of seventeen authors includes Patricia Schultz (1000 Places to See Before You Die) and Bob Nelson (1501 Ways to Reward Your Employees)—and some of Algonquin’s most dynamic novelist/speakers—Heidi Durrow (The Girl Who Fell From the Sky), Tayari Jones (Silver Sparrow) and Naomi Benaron (Running the Rift).

IN MEMORIAM

A memorial service for Barney Rosset will be held on Wednesday, May 9, in New York at The Great Hall at Cooper Union (7th St. between 3rd and 4th Avenues.) The ceremony will begin at 5:30.

UPCOMING EVENTS

April 30 – May 6, 2012
PEN World Voices Festival
Writers from around the world convene in New York City to celebrate the power of the written word in action.
New York, NY

May 17 – 20, 2012
Book World Prague 2012
400 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions from all over the world are represented at the fair. Guest of Honor: Romania.
Czech Republic

May 20 –23, 2012
National Stationery Show
The world’s most comprehensive collection of stationery and related products.
Javits Center, New York, NY

May 24 –27, 2012
Thessaloniki International Book Fair
Four day festival focused on books. Guest of Honor: Serbia.
Thessaloniki, Greece

May 29 – 30, 2012
StoryDrive China
The first all-media platform in Asia dedicated to exploring new forms of collaboration and business models across media boundaries.
China National Convention Centre, Beijing

May 30 – June 2, 2012
CLA 2012
Canadian Library Association National Conference and Trade Show.
Ottawa, ON, Ottawa Convention Centre

Jun 4 – 6, 2012
Book Expo America
Guest of Honor: Russia.
Javits Center, New York, NY

So which ereader has the brightest future? Read on to decide who you think standing out in the crowd.

“So here’s the upshot: for one-third of what I paid for the new iPad, I can accomplish 95 percent of what I want to do with a tablet, and with a smaller design I find more appealing. Different strokes for different folks, of course, but for me this is a no brainer: I’m returning the new iPad and jumping into the Fire.”

– Rick Broida, CNET (3/30/2012)

“LG last month announced it has begun manufacturing a flexible plastic e-ink display with a 1024 by 768-pixel resolution. The durable yet thin screen, which doesn’t need a sheet of glass for protection, is slated to arrive in Europe as early as this month.

Finally, the future may bring hybrid, switchable displays that offer the best of both worlds: color LCD for tablet-oriented tasks such as games and video; and monochrome e-ink for reading, predicts IDC analyst Bob O’Donnell.”

– Jeff Bertolucci, PCWorld (4/6/2012)

“Rumors relating to a new Kindle, or three, land in our inbox with surprising frequency, but when they come from our brethren at TechCrunch, we’ll definitely give it a listen. Devin Coldewey reports how he was lucky enough to snatch a glance at an in-development Kindle, which sports an illuminated screen. “

– James Trew, Endgadget (4/7/2012)

“This is an increasingly difficult device market to classify as each subsequent generation of e-reader turns more tablet-like, but one thing is clear. Kobo appears to be trouncing Kindle [in Canada]. Just one year ago, Ipsos found the Sony eReader, the Kobo, and Amazon Kindle to be virtually tied for market penetration at 28%, 27% and 25% respectively. But in 2012, Sony slipped a massive 15 percentage points while Kindle also slipped by one, and Kobo grew by 18 percent.

At the trailing end of 2011, Kobo introduced its answer to the Kindle Fire, called the Kobo Vox, an Android-powered e-reader/tablet that retails for $199. But the major boon for Kobo has been its exclusive partnership with Indigo books, Canada’s largest book retailer, and the third largest book retailer in all of North America.”

– Tim Conneally, BetaNews (4/20/2012)

“For many people who are already devoted e-book readers, the Nook-or-Kindle conundrum boils down to a simple question: which bookseller have you been buying from? Most digital tomes are locked up with copy protection that only lets you read them on devices and apps supplied by the company that sold them to you. And as cool as GlowLight is, it’s unlikely to get Kindle customers with substantial investments in Amazon e-books to switch. They’d lose access to their library unless they bought everything all over again from Barnes & Noble.”

– Harry McCracken, Time (4/24/2012)

“And thus, so sayeth I: The NOOK Simple Touch With GlowLight does Winneth the e-reader Wars, for the inability to read in the Dark was the Largest Problem with e-readers, and now that Problem had been Extinct-ed by Barnes & Noble.”

– Jason Gilbert, Huffington Post (4/24/2012)

“But the Nook family offers the only reader with a far more important feature: a glowing E Ink screen. Of course, this is a long and exciting horse race, and it’s not over yet; rumors of a new glow-screen Kindle are already buzzing online. And I’m guessing Amazon’s pricing czars would sooner eat Barnes & Noble’s cafe muffins than let the Nook’s price advantage stand.”

– David Pogue, The New York Times (4/24/2012)

It isn’t that there is a poverty of library resources and developments across the board, says Scarlet He, General Manager of Founder Apabi, a Chinese-based company that offers digital services to publishers and libraries alike. The problem is “regional”, with some regions largely or completely unserved, while others—namely, the two main urban centers of Shanghai and Beijing—develop their systems rapidly.

When it comes to expanding access, one of the simplest—and most palpable—changes came to the Shanghai Public Library earlier this year: in place of the old fee-based system, library cards and entry to the library are now offered to the public at no cost. Ongoing success, though, will require “special efforts to measure the new and different needs of information, because Shanghai is changing so rapidly as it reaches a population of 22 million,” says Robert Baensch, consultant at Baensch International. Even for a library that claims to be the “tallest in the world” (at 24 stories), China’s numbers-issue remains:  The average 8,000-10,000 daily visitors often have to wait in long lines just to get through the front door.

This rapid growth of the major urban libraries throws into even greater relief the vast number of Chinese readers who are underserved by the library system. Hong Kong-based writer and editor Andrew Schrage says that some trace regional gaps in library service back to the governmental reforms of 1978, when local governments, suddenly given more power over their budgets, poured all available funds into things like tourism and commerce. There are those, however, who see even the dazzling metropolitan libraries as falling short of the standard of public service a library should offer—more like a “book museum” than a public library. “Book museum” is the turn of phrase used by the Chinese author and activist popularly known as “Xinran”, when speaking about the majority of public libraries: “They offer hardly any open and free services to ordinary Chinese,” she says.

A Rural Children's Library Founded by Mothers' Bridge of Love

Although not classified as public libraries, the 505,000 “Bookrooms” founded by the Nationwide Reading Project are working to bring books to all parts of the country, and Robert Baensch reports that Bookrooms are now in 84% of administrative rural villages in China.  A different “party” in the field of Chinese public libraries comes from outside the government—indeed, from outside the country altogether. Xinran, whose own nonprofit, Mothers’ Bridge of Love (MBL), is registered in the UK, told PT about the influx of foreign NGO’s who have worked to found libraries in rural areas in the past ten years. The majority of these privately/internationally funded libraries—including the fourteen started by MBL—are focused on serving children and youth, the population that, along with parents, makes up a majority of library users across all of China, according to Scarlet He.

To help alleviate physical constraints of libraries, initiatives for digital expansion are moving quickly: this year’s London Book Fair marked the launch of Publishing Technology and the China National Publications Import and Export Corporation’s (CNPIEC) joint project, The Digital Gateway. Publishing Technology and CNPIEC have been delivering Chinese content to libraries through their ingentaconnect.com platform since last year, but The Digital Gateway, with both English and Mandarin interfaces, will serve to bring international content to more than 10,000 institutional- and public-library users in China.  Additionally, Andrew Schrage points out that as far back as 2010, the Beijing Public Library system had an in-library ereader lending system—though this service is only available to those “owning” an “E-class” library card). The system has 50,000 titles available as ebooks, a number expected to grow by 20% in 2012. Shanghai now offers Bambook ereader rentals, but in keeping with its new policies of widened access (and in contrast to Beijing), this service is free to all its cardholders.

Even if digital does help widen the reach of content to remote areas, Henen Sun, CEO of Publishing Technology China, and George Lossius, CEO of Publishing Technology spoke to how the Chinese Government understands—and is trying to meet—the need for a library’s physical space: all libraries are expected to be “a public space where [patrons] can not only read, but also meet people and discuss ideas and issues.” Perhaps the greatest balancing act ahead for Chinese public libraries is determining the areas in which digital developments can meet readers’ needs, and which require creating and maintaining enough physical space.

The concept of customer service has come to the forefront for businesses hoping to assert themselves in a growing digital marketplace where a customer has access to whatever they want, whenever they want. Jeff Bezos said customer service plays a major role in Amazon’s success, and curation/bookseller recommendations have often been cited as bookstores’ strength. One company that has a reputation for their customer service is Nordstrom—you know, that high-end department store often flanked at the mall by a coffee shop or a pretzel stand. The culture of this Fortune 500 company has warranted a book by Robert Spector with Patrick McCarthy, now on its second edition, titled The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence (Wiley, 2^nd ed., published March 2012). Proclaiming to be “the handbook for becoming the ‘Nordstrom’ of your industry,” one can’t help wondering what it means to be a ‘Nordstrom’ of publishing, or distribution, bookselling, agenting, etc. —or whether that is even something to aspire.

Much of The Nordstrom Way details the company’s emphasis on customer service, from the chain’s family-owned/operated history to countless anecdotes about salespeople going above and beyond in their duties. Take, for instance, the group of employees that rifled through vacuum cleaner bags to find a customer’s lost wedding ring, or the team of salespeople who made a house call to make sure that a customer was dressed in time for an event after a shipping snafu lost her dress in the mail.

Almost all of these “heroics,” as Nordstrom calls them, can be traced back to an inverted triangle organization of priorities, with salespeople at the top and executives at the bottom. Through this business structure, sales associates on the floor are empowered like entrepreneurs, given tools like well-stocked stores, digital customer profiles, and thank-you notes to keep track of and service individual customers in the interest of long term relationships.

High-tech inventory and replenishment systems are some of the most important tools with which Nordstrom equips its employees:

All full-line stores have Wi-Fi connectivity, which provides the foundation for many customer-facing tools, such as mobile point-of-sales devices (Mobile POS), which make it easier and more efficient to locate items and check prices for customers, whether in their individual store or within the Nordstrom inventory system…

To become even more efficient, Nordstrom employees are using a variety of other portable electronic devices, such as smartphones, laptops, handhelds, and media tablets. These tools contribute to making the store a gateway to the entire retail supply chain rather than the final destination. (p. 157-158)

When it comes to social media, Nordstrom extends its idea of salespeople as entrepreneurs by encouraging salespeople to interact with customers directly through social media accounts, rather than relying on a company-wide account.

Perhaps the most salient portion of The Nordstrom Way, especially in this recently updated version, is the section discussing how their customer service philosophy operates in a multichannel world. In fact, the book points out the problem with Barnes & Noble treating their website as separate from their brick-and-mortar stores with separate inventories, in comparison to Nordstrom’s single view of inventory in which stores also operate as online fulfillment centers in addition to distribution hubs. This helps expand Nordstrom’s inventory, both online and in-store, by allowing customers easy access to stock from multiple locations. Nordstrom also expanded its internet presence in the online retail space by acquiring fashion flash sale site HauteLook Inc.

Regardless of industry, The Nordstrom Way does offer insights into customer service possibilities and long term goals in building customer relations. Whether being applied to booksellers or sales reps, what “The Publishing Way” will be remains to be seen.