People Magazine

Pub Expo: Book Printers and Publishers Are Alive and Well—Full Speed Into the Digital Age!
March 23, 2012

An energized Publishing Business Conference and Expo, Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines’ annual event at the Times Square Marriott Marquis, March 19-21, was grounded in optimism and realism, and primed for a promising future in the digital age for book manufacturing and print-based book production.

Addressing the overflow audience at the Marriott's Astor Ballroom, our very own Joan of Arc at the ramparts, Editorial Director Noelle Skodzinski—fully armed with the arguments of comon sense and history to support her—sounded a much-needed balancing and defiant keynote to prevailing “stiff upper lip” scenarios about the decline of the publishing industry. She reminded us, paraphrasing from both Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the Encyclopedia Britannica blog’s notice that it had discontinued its venerable print edition, that publishing is not dead, change is okay, and that the future is alive with new opportunities in our pursuit of continued success and excellence in the publishing business.

Seth Godin on Libraries, Literary Agents and the Future of Book Publishing as We Know It
March 5, 2012

When Seth Godin speaks, people sit up and listen, even if they’re the CEO of one of the Big 6 publishers. He raised eyebrows with his decision to leave the traditional book publishing industry in order to form his own entity called The Domino Project. But when he made the decision to move on after 12 bestsellers, tongues wagged. Had his precious experiment failed or, knowing Godin, was something greater in store?

How to Build a Successful Marketing Platform
March 2, 2012

Actors use a physical platform to raise themselves above their audiences, focusing the attention on themselves so that they can more easily be seen and heard. The concept of building a marketing platform is not dissimilar. Publishers generally assume that if their authors’ platforms are significant enough, potential buyers will either buy their book upon its publication or spread the word about it to others. But this is often not the case. Simply because people have heard of you or have befriended you on Facebook does not necessarily mean they will buy your book or support its introduction.

Ted Striphas: The Book Industry’s 'Moneyball'
February 7, 2012

Some folks have asked me how I came to the idea of algorithmic culture, the subject of my next book as well as many of my blog posts of late. Amazon wasn’t exactly what inspired me to begin writing about algorithms, computational processes, and the broader application of principles of scientific reason to the book world. My real inspiration came Orion Howard (O. H.) Cheney, a banker and business consultant whose ideas did more to lay the groundwork for today’s book industry than perhaps anyone’s.

How to Prepare for the future of eMedia: Small Demons' Richard Nash to Speak at the Publishing Business Conference & Expo
January 18, 2012

According to Richard Eoin Nash, vice president of Content and Community of Small Demons, the key to winning consumers' attention is to be innovative and discoverable. Nash, an industry veteran and well-known thought-leader, will be speaking at the Publishing Business Conference & Expo about strategies to revitalize the attention on books during his session, A New Way to Drive People to Content.

Study: Book Publishers’ ‘Optimism Waning’ As Digital Transition Continues
January 17, 2012

Depressing new research by Forrester indicates that book publishers are becoming increasingly disheartened about the state of the industry: Only 28 percent of publishing executives think their company will be better off because of the transition to digital, down from 51 percent a year ago.

The survey was conducted among book publishing executives at publishers across the U.S. that represent 74 percent of U.S. publishing revenues. Forrester will present the full results of the study at Digital Book World in NYC on January 24, but the initial findings are as follows:

Independent Bookstores: How To Compete With Amazon
January 16, 2012

If you’re reading this, you’re probably at least tangentially aware of what happens among readers, writers, publishers, and booksellers when someone says the word “Amazon.”

People get emotional. Of course, Amazon’s Kindle has revolutionized the booming e-book market over the past few years, and you can obsessively check your sales against that crappy no-good Billy Collins any time you want, but now there’s also this new mobile app that allows would-be patrons to scan a book on the shelf of their local retailer to check its price against Amazon’s offering.

Chinese Fume After Botched iPhone Debut
January 13, 2012

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc., whose skill at hyping new products helped make it the world’s most valuable technology company, became a victim of its own success after a botched introduction of its iPhone 4S in China led it to suspend sales. Would-be customers who waited overnight as temperatures dropped below minus 9 degrees Celsius reacted with fury after the company’s main store in Beijing’s Sanlitun district failed to open. The company sold out of the handsets at stores that did open and later halted sales of all iPhones at its five retail outlets in the country “for

The Evolving Role 
of an Audio Publisher
January 1, 2012

It's been a wild ride in publishing these past five years. The rise of e‑books and e‑audio, changing business models and the role of social media in marketing are just a few things we've taken in stride. Those on the inside of this $1 billion industry know audio is no doubt headed for further evolution, and we must keep tabs on our consumers to know how to best serve their needs and reflect their behaviors.