Harlequin

Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines, producers of the industry-leading Publishing Business Conference & Expo, have announced the editorial advisory board for their second-annual Publishing Business Virtual Conference, called "Digital Content Day @ Your Desk," on Sept. 16.

Self-publishing and online services, e-books, and digital demand printing are joined into a new and powerful sector that is transforming the industry. For industry professionals whose career satisfactions and livelihoods are bonded to the future of the book, this new sector offers a wild ride and a venturesome future.

Expanding its international operations, Toronto-based Harlequin Enterprises Limited has signed a deal to acquire full ownership of its German publishing business, CORA Verlag, from Axel Springer Verlag, pending German regulatory approval. Harlequin and Axel Springer have been joint venture partners in Germany since 1976.

Publishers are faced with strategy decisions like never before. As publishing options continue to grow and business models shift seemingly every few months with the introduction of new digital devices or growth of some external pressure, publishers must plan for the future while reacting to the present—a tough situation even without the need to deal with the effects of a down economy.

With ostensibly lower production costs and a rich vein of backlist titles to mine, it may have been inevitable that e-book publishers would leverage the advantages of their medium to 
offer authors a higher percentage roy-alty rate for their works. This did not make it any less of a jolt when celebrity 
author Stephen Covey signed a digital rights deal with e-book publisher RosettaBooks, garnering him more than half of net proceeds for e-book sales of two of his older backlist books, including the famous "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," which would be sold exclusively through Amazon.com for one year. (Covey's print books are published by Simon & Schuster, which released a statement reflecting its position that e-book versions of the company's print titles should remain part of the company's catalog.)

On Tuesday, April 6, at 2 p.m. EST, Book Business will present the HP-sponored webinar, "Making Books Social."

Recognizing the importance of social networking in the lives of today’s teen readers, publishers are blending Web sites and social media with new book releases to start conversations and keep them going. They are looking for opportunities for readers to not only order and review new titles online, but also to share their enthusiasm for books with fellow members of social networking sites; communicate with authors; and use a variety of up-to-date digital tools to express interests and opinions.

With the explosive growth in e-book sales and the entrance of multiple new devices and players, it seems like we are at the tipping point for e-books. But have any of us who are deeply involved in e-books—publishers, retailers, technology developers, standards organizations and writers—asked the question: What do e-book readers want?

While the term "self-publishing" still may carry a stigma for many in the book industry, the ranks of major publishers embracing the concept are on the rise, and Bloomington, Ind.-based Author Solutions Inc. (ASI) is a part of that turning tide.

For better or worse, Twitter has become part of our culture. While some people still may not see the value in engaging on the online social networking tool, many do. According to ComScore Media Metrix’s October figures, Twitter had more than 20 million unique visitors in the United States in September. Many businesses find Twitter useful for connecting with customers, and publishers are no exception.

I recently became a follower of Khaled Hosseini, author of “The Kite Runner,” on Twitter. I was shocked to see that he had only 920 followers. Not that 920 is necessarily a small number of followers … but it’s Khaled Hosseini, for heaven’s sake. I started looking for some of my other favorite authors. I couldn’t find Barbara Kingsolver (“The Poisonwood Bible” is one of my all-time favorites) on Twitter, but she did have a Facebook profile with 3,845 fans (now 3,846).