You Can Quote Me on That!

Editors’ Picks: Quotes that we love … or at least think are pretty cool (from the past year in Book Business). And, they actually paint a pretty accurate picture of the state of things.

"The market for digital books … has been roughly doubling every 18 months."
Andrew Savikas, vice president, digital initiatives, O'Reilly Media; Book Business feature, "Are We on the Verge of an E-book Explosion?" (Oct. '09)

"The list of things that are different now than they were … is pages long. Most importantly, however, in this marketplace, anyone choosing reclusivity or anonymity over engagement chooses irrelevance."
Carolyn Pittis, senior vice president, global marketing strategy and operations for HarperCollins Publishers; Book Business Guest Column (May '09)

"If you are thinking about books that are going to sell in places other than bookstores, then you are not just competing with other books. You are competing with T-shirts and fart makers and candlesticks and music and DVDs and all these things."
David Borgenicht, president, Quirk Books; Book Business feature, "The Two Sides of David Borgenicht" (August '09)

"… [Improving inventory productivity] … remains one of our key priorities. … We believe returns are not productive for the industry as a whole, and looking at a wide range of alternatives to returns is something we support."
Anne Roman, Borders corporate affairs; Book Business feature "The Point of No Returns" (March '09)

"Prices of e-books should be shaped by cost structures and customer demand rather than by comparison to traditional p[rint]-book pricing. … There is no reason, moreover, why e-books could not be priced dynamically, as are most products in an online world—the initial release price for Dan Brown's new novel, for example, could start at $39.99, rather than the announced $28.99, for the first 24 hours to reflect the pent-up demand and the relative price insensitivity of his most devoted fans, dropping swiftly as demand declines."
Peter Olson and Bharat N. Anand, Book Business Guest Column (June '09)

"E-book sales figures don't necessarily include revenue from other ways publishers are making money from digital content, such as licensing agreements, ad-support sites … for example."
Michael Norris, senior trade book analyst, Simba Information; Book Business feature, "Are We on the Verge of an E-book Explosion?" (Oct. '09)

"If publishers don't reinvent publishing, somebody else will."
Andrew Brenneman, Book Business Digital Directions column (June '09)

"The days of estimating how many books a publisher should sell and then printing 10 percent or 15 percent above that are gone."
Marianne Bohr, senior vice president, National Book Network; Book Business feature, "Today's Retail Scene" (Oct. '09)

"You have to continue to focus on the future and try not to get into too much of a bunker mentality."
John Edwards, president and CEO, Edwards Brothers Inc.; Book Business feature, "Top 30 Book Manufacturers" (June '09)

"The traditional supply chain model is blown up in the e-world. Back in the good, old days, you had publishers publishing books, … retailers selling books, and … printers printing books. Now, you have retailers and e-tailers that are device manufacturers, … distributors that are also content platform providers, … mobile companies that want a slice of the pie. …"
Kelly Gallagher, vice president, publisher services, Bowker; Book Business feature, "The Future of the Industry: Whose Hands Is It In?" (Jan./Feb. 2010)

"Plenty of publishers are worried about the publishing landscape of the future, but survival of the fittest is not about being the biggest or strongest; it's about being most able to adapt."
Tanya Hall, business development manager, Greenleaf Book Group; Book Business feature, "The Future of the Industry: Whose Hands Is It In?" (Jan./Feb. 2010)

"Whether you agree or not, covering your eyes at this point would be a mistake. The e-book market is growing, and it's worth taking a good, hard look at it to see the opportunity it presents."
Noelle Skodzinski, Book Business editorial director, Book Business Editor's Note (March '09)