John Wiley & Sons

Judging from the prognostications that Pat Schroeder remembers hearing at publishing conferences a decade ago, most people today ought to be reading e-books and regarding print as a quaint relic of the past. That hasn’t happened, of course, and the president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) sees that fact as a useful caution when trying to predict the future of the industry. It’s easy to identify key factors, but misjudge their effect; trends that seem vitally important now could fade into obscurity, and the course of publishing could be shaped by things currently on no one’s radar screen.

In the course of its history, John Wiley and Sons Inc. has seen 40 presidents come and go. Forty U.S. presidents, that is, in the span of more than 200 years in the publishing business. From humble beginnings in a print shop in Lower Manhattan, through eras of momentous change and extreme economic ups and downs, the company has stuck by its core principles: building relationships and meeting customer needs. “The overarching goal for us is not about books and journals or the Web, it’s about promoting knowledge and understanding, continuously adapting to change, and meeting the needs of the customer,” says William

It was only 26 years ago that Leonard Shatzkin, the legendary, former Doubleday manufacturing director and industry consultant, wrote that the book industry’s use of computers to “measure the effect of forces amenable to management’s control … is close to zero” (“In Cold Type,” 1982, Houghton Mifflin). The last 25 years have seen the deficiencies discussed by Shatzkin dramatically addressed, and he would have to be impressed at the pervasive uses of the computer today. In part one of this series (“From Book Proposal to Profit,” Book Business, February 2008), I described in some detail the integrated, computer-coordinated workflow-management systems perfected by two university

Travel-guidebook publisher Frommer’s and Whatsonwhen, a leading provider of online travel products and services—both John Wiley and Sons imprints—have created the Borders Trip Recommender for Borders’ new Travel Kiosk. The kiosk has been installed in a Borders concept store in Ann Arbor, Mich., and will be rolled out nationwide over the next several months. The Borders Trip Recommender consists of several digital travel-information and -planning tools that will allow customers to plan a vacation that matches their interests and budget, and get recommendations on destinations around the world, as well as suggestions for guidebooks with more detailed information. The Trip Recommender prompts the

John Wiley & Sons Inc. and Fisher Investments, a Woodside, Calif.-based independent money-management firm, announced the launch of a new Wiley imprint, Fisher Investments Press. The imprint will draw on the expertise of Fisher Investments and its founder and CEO, best-selling author Ken Fisher, to educate a broad audience on investing. “The money management expertise of Fisher Investments paired with Ken Fisher’s track record in financial journalism makes for a powerful combination to launch a business imprint,” says Joan O’Neil, Wiley vice president and executive publisher. Fisher has written the “Portfolio Strategy” column in Forbes magazine for the past 23 years, and his latest

John Wiley & Sons Inc. has reached an agreement with Safari Books Online, an on-demand electronic reference and learning platform, to offer selected Wiley business and technology titles in Safari’s Books Online Library (www.SafariBooksOnline.com). As a result of the deal, Safari customers now will be able to access and search the contents of these titles, including Wiley’s “Bible” and “For Dummies” series. Sebastopol, Calif.-based Safari Books Online is a joint venture of two other technology publishers, O’Reilly Media Inc. and Pearson Technology Group. Safari’s library offers a fully searchable database of titles from these two publishers, as well as its other publishing

It’s a good time to be a professional publisher. This industry segment continues to post above-average sales growth, while many of its publishers are at the forefront of the digital revolution that has been transforming the way we publish and read books. According to the Book Industry Study Group’s “Book Industry Trends 2007” report, sales of professional books increased by 3.2 percent in 2006 over the previous year, from $8.6 billion to $8.9 billion. This increase ranked professional publishing as the third-largest growth segment in dollar sales, behind only religious books (5.6-percent growth) and adult trade (3.9-percent growth). A ‘Glutted’ Market While the

Book Business spoke with Sesha Bolisetty to learn how Wiley Global Education has developed under his leadership and to discuss the future of the education publishing sector.