“Awesome,” should be the headline to describe the features and analytical power of the new AAP/BISG sponsored Bookstats report on industry sales and trends, for which the analytical work is managed by Bowker.
It is especially so when one looks back on the decades during which BISG struggled with data gathering and data analysis tools that were short of the task—resting on a lot of intuitive extrapolation; and the AAP contented itself with industry reporting that used actual returns from participating publishers and no extrapolations; and neither included most of the emerging vast universe of independent publishers. And publishers had two sets of figures to work with.Al Greco
Eugene G. Schwartz is editor at large for ForeWord Reviews, an industry observer and an occasional columnist for Book Business magazine. In an earlier career, he was in the printing business and held production management positions at Random House, Prentice-Hall/Goodyear and CRM Books/Psychology Today. A former PMA (IBPA) board member, he has headed his own publishing consultancy, Consortium House. He is also Co-Founder of Worthy Shorts Inc., a development stage online private press and publication service for professionals as well as an online back office publication service for publishers and associations. He is on the Publishing Business Conference and Expo Advisory Board.
US book publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) has moved quickly to secure funding after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy early this week. This means that many of its unsecured creditors - including printer RR Donnelley and print manager Williams Lea - will likely be paid some, if not all, of the millions of dollars owed them. In its original bankruptcy filing in New York's Southern District Monday, the Boston publisher of Mark Twain and Curious George listed $2.68bn in assets and $3.53bn in debt. Among its leading unsecured creditors are Chicago-based RR Donnelley and Williams Lea, who are each
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