Gene Therapy: Managing Workflow: How Top Publishers Keep Their Houses in Order
According to Claudia L. McCowan, business manager of publications and creative services, “our best-selling title, ‘Countering the New Terrorism,’ has sold over 10,000 copies, and our average best-seller sells about 2,000 copies.”
Nonetheless, its workflow burden of 150 new list titles is demanding for accuracy and production quality. Print-ready PDF files are delivered to the company’s printers from an FTP site, mostly to fulfill on-demand orders. “We are advocates of the long-tail theory, and we do very few reprints for inventory. We are tied to a demand model and pour over lists weekly to anticipate demand printing needs,” McCowan says.
- Companies:
- John Wiley & Sons
- Simon and Schuster Inc.
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.