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More than 1,000 publishing industry professionals converged on New York’s Marriott Marquis, March 5-7, braving a windy Times Square to attend the 2007 Book Business Conference and Expo. The future of print was a primary theme throughout both the exhibit hall, which housed approximately 100 industry suppliers and services, and the conference program, which was packed with more than two dozen sessions, roundtables and panel discussions relevant to book publishers looking for tools to manage their businesses in an ever-changing industry. “The conference hit on so many of the most significant issues facing book publishers that attendees and speakers alike were truly energized by

Springer Science + Business Media does not view Google Book Search as a detriment to its business, but rather as a valuable marketing tool for its popular science, technology and medical (STM) titles. Paul Manning, vice president of book publishing for Springer, attributes much of the recent growth of the company’s back catalog of older titles to its participation with the controversial program. With more than 30,000 titles available in Google Book Search, the publisher saw more than 1 million views in a one-month period, and 20 percent of its “buy this book” clicks on the search were for titles older than 10 years

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Book Business magazine proudly announces Google’s Jim Gerber as keynote speaker for the upcoming 2007 Book Business Conference and Expo, scheduled for March 5-7, 2007, at the New York Marriott Marquis, Times Square. Gerber, director of content partnerships at Google, will present the Keynote Address on Tuesday, March 6, 2007 at 9:15 a.m. The Keynote Address is open to all registered attendees. “We are thrilled to have Jim give the keynote address at the Book Business Conference and Expo. There are few companies that have as profound an influence on publishing today as Google, so it’s a major boon for our audience of

In an effort to reach more potential readers on the Web, two of the world’s largest trade publishers have released their own unique viral marketing tools intended to help disperse searchable samples of their book titles across the Internet. Several years after cyberspace mainstays Amazon.com and Google began offering searches for visitors to take a look inside the cover of books, Random House and HarperCollins became the first trade publishers to introduce their own transportable search functions for both retailers and consumers. Unlike those previous available search tools, the two new applications, called widgets, allow users to copy and paste content onto Web sites, blogs

The hot-button issues in the book industry today surround an increased focus on content and alternative forms of distribution. Publishers are still keeping a watchful eye on the Internet and the fear that it may replace the print-based distribution business in the future. But there appears to be a greater acceptance and realization that “content” is a publisher’s real asset, and that the delivery method means nothing if the content isn’t outstanding. An increased focus on content, book search tools, digital distribution, a declining print readership, increased used-book sales, rising fuel and paper costs, and decreasing bookshelf space in retail superstores are all

Book Business magazine has announced Google’s Jim Gerber as keynote speaker for the 2007 Book Business Conference and Expo, March 5-7, at the New York Marriott Marquis, Times Square. Gerber, director of content partnerships at Google, will present the Keynote Address on Tuesday, March 6 at 9:15 a.m. The Keynote Address is open to all registered attendees. “We are thrilled to have Jim give the keynote address at the Book Business Conference and Expo. There are few companies that have as profound an influence on publishing today as Google, so it’s a major boon for our audience of publishing executives to be able to

Book Business introduces a new feature to its Web site—a job search, featuring the hottest available employment opportunities in the publishing industry. Here’s three of the top jobs featured right now: Marketing Director - Harvard Business School Press Harvard Business School Publishing Editorial Director, Electronic Media University of California, Berkeley Google: Book Search Operations Supervisor - Palo Alto Google Inc. Take a look at how to apply for these and other positions in the “Job” section of BookBusinessMag.com right now.

Google suffered another setback in its efforts to defend its digital book library when rival Yahoo declined to provide information to assist with an upcoming copyright infringement lawsuit revolving around its digital-book scanning program. Yahoo responded to a Google subpoena and objected to providing information for two upcoming court battles Google will face against the Author’s Guild and McGraw-Hill Companies. The plaintiffs accuse Google of digitizing material without prior consent from the copyright holder. Google had hoped to gain information about how its competitors had undertaken similar projects. Yahoo said in its Nov. 20 filling to the United States District Court in the Northern District of

Don’t be afraid of electronic distribution—make your content available online, because it’s the best way to appear on radar screens these days. For smaller marketing departments, it’s the best way to market your books. So says the National Academies Press’ (NAP) Michael Jensen. “You have to give material to search engines to munch,” he says. “Content is its own best advertising. That’s only going to increase in significance. Most people feel like once the PDF gets out there, suddenly the market will dry up, [but] it’s demonstratively not true. I don’t know of an instance where somebody made the material available for free

Despite reports of increased earnings in nearly all of New Corp.’s properties, first quarter profits for its its book publishing unit declined. HarperCollins reported first quarter operating income of $55 million, a decrease of $15 million versus the same period a year ago that included strong sales of several key titles. The decline occured despite having 33 books on The New York Times bestseller list, including two books that reached the No. 1 spot. However, News Corp., as a whole, saw an $843 profit. Although Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corp. did not directly address HarperCollins, his comments showed an increased push for growth