Marketing

HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, one of the five largest book publishers in the world and a subsidiary of News Corp., is strategically focused on a digital evolution that will shape the company’s goals and mission in the future. The foundation of this evolution can be traced back 10 years to when Jane Friedman was hired as the company’s president and CEO. According to Friedman, in the past 10 years HarperCollins has increased profits by more than 1,000 percent and its total revenue went from $600 million to $1.3 billion in 2006. The company publishes an average of 4,300 titles globally per year, with 3,100 employees

You only have so many titles to market to the public. How do you choose the right ones and how do you further their cause? It’s never an easy decision. One title you might acquire reads beautifully, but where’s the platform for marketing it? The author doesn’t exactly seem television-interview friendly. Another title has a famous person behind it, but it’s missing a little thing called substance. These are the dilemmas publishers face every day, and although choosing a title is certainly not easy, several publishers with a number of best sellers under their belts say that there are certain steps you can

Champaign, Ill.-based Sports Publishing LLC got its start in 1998 as a spin-off from Sagamore Publishing—publisher of parks, recreation and leisure textbooks—when the company published a biography of University of Illinois men’s basketball coach Lou Henson, a legend among basketball fans throughout the Midwest. The book was an instant hit, and a new company was born. Today, Sports Publishing puts out 80 titles annually, spanning college and professional teams and star athletes in almost a dozen sports. As vice president of sales and marketing, Dave Hulsey has been in sales and marketing since graduating from the University of Missouri in 1981. His career

O’Reilly Media, Inc. and CMP Technology, the co-producers of the annual Web 2.0 Summit and Expo, recently announced a new conference and trade-show that is aimed at bringing together top leaders and technologists who are building and driving the European Web economy. The Web 2.0 Expo Berlin is scheduled for Nov. 6–8, 2007, and will take place at the Fairground Berlin, Germany. “Web 2.0 Expo is a global phenomenon. Network effects don’t have national boundaries. But the collective intelligence harvested by the most interesting and innovative Web 2.0 applications often has a local flavor,” said Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media. “We’re

Barnes & Noble announced that all previous records for pre-ordered books have been broken with J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” with less than 100 days to go before the July 21 publication date. Barnes & Noble has taken more than 500,000 pre-orders and expects this number to surpass one million. The book has also been ranked No. 1 on BN.com since it become available for pre-order on Feb. 1. Barnes and Noble has launched a “Waiting for Harry” book club trying to capitalize on the hype. Not to be outdone, Amazon.com announced it is looking for the “Harry-est Town” in

When it comes to incorporating multimedia—such as blogs, webcasts, e-newsletters, social networking, video, among others—into the business model, Christian publisher Baker Publishing Group is well ahead of the curve. Book Business Extra spoke with two executives from Baker’s different divisions: Jim Hart, the Internet marketing manager at Baker’s Bethany House Publishers, and Twila Bennett, the senior director of marketing at its Revell, Baker Books and Chosen divisions. In this exclusive interview, Hart and Bennett share their insights behind the company’s innovative marketing tactics. EXTRA: From a marketing and sales perspective, describe some of the innovative ways you are using blogs to increase your

Warner Books announced earlier this week that the New York-based publishing company is changing its name to Grand Central Publishing. The name change was agreed to in the acquisition last year by the French company Hachette Livre. The new title notably drops the word “books” to embrace publishing in the broader sense of content delivery. Book Business Extra spoke with Senior Vice President and Publisher Jamie Raab, the creator of the new name, to gain insight on the process of rebranding a well-known publishing company. Book Business Extra: Warner Books hired paid consultants and solicited Warner authors for ideas for a new

The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), a nonprofit organization that serves the industry of supplemental education publishing, has announced the launch of Go Global, a program designed for educational publishers to expand business through marketing and sales of intellectual-property rights internationally. The program is an extension of a previous successful international partnership with Bologna Children’s Book Fair. This new venture expands international potential for its members to the world’s largest book fairs. “A number of our AEP member companies have been selling international rights for some time, and the sale of those rights now contributes 5–15 percent directly to their bottom lines,” says

Dwight Baker, president of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Baker Publishing Group—the third-largest publisher in the Evangelical Christian publishing market—arrived in his position from a different starting point than most publishing company presidents, and he’s using that fresh perspective to put his own personal spin on religious publishing. His approach seems to be working. The company’s annual sales in 2006 surpassed $50 million, four of its publishing divisions saw double-digit growth, and it has a current New York Times Best Seller on the market with 1.4 million copies sold. The family business was founded in 1939 by Dwight’s grandfather, Herman Baker. When Dwight was a teenager, he

The secret to publishing a runaway best seller is out, and you won’t need to read a book or watch a DVD to get in on it. “The Secret,” a self-help book by Rhonda Byrne, is perhaps the most controversial chart-topper since Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code.” By now you’ve probably heard its premise—that your own thoughts hold the key to a happy, healthy and successful life. Positive thinking attracts positive results, preaches Byrne and a team of “teachers” featured throughout the book. They call it the law of attraction. Your business didn’t fail because you missed a quota or hired the