Workflow

Content is still king in book publishing. The challenge to publishers today is to move, manage, exchange and manipulate that content in the most efficient and profitable ways. In the age of new media, publishers must be able to accept content from external sources, traffic it through all the pre-publishing phases and then be agile in the way they output it, so that it’s cost-effective but also meaningful to readers. As with any new technology, publishers should evaluate software solutions with these basic considerations in mind: Functionality: What solutions out there have the types of capabilities your company needs? Once the field has

WASHINGTON -- It’s tough to select the top news originating at Book Expo 2006, held May 18-21 at The Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., especially when you brush sleeves with the likes of Newt Gingrich (who was there signing his new book “The Creator’s Gifts,” published by Integrity Publishing), and Queen Latifa, who gave the keynote address for the African American Book Industry Professionals program ... and when you brush fur with a dancing dog, who pirouetted (really) to help promote the forthcoming book “Dancing With Dogs,” published by Thunder Bay Press. But since it would be impractical to list everything notable, here

Earlier this week, leading society publisher Blackwell Publishing announced the selection of Techbooks, with whom the company has had a relationship for several years, to digitize hundreds of journals as part of the publisher’s Journal Backfile Digitization Program. Alan Bacon, Blackwell’s head of production systems, spent time with Extra! discussing the role Techbooks will play in Blackwell’s latest ambitious initiative. Extra!: What was involved in the vendor-selection process? What specifically were you looking for and what about Techbooks made for a good fit? Bacon: We moved to offshore typesetting vendors in 2002 of whom Techbooks was one. ... At the time, backfile digitization was very

Some interviews stick out in an editor’s memory long after the story has been sent to press. My interview with Dominique Raccah, president and CEO of Sourcebooks, will be one of those (page 33). Her energy and enthusiasm leaves little question as to how she built a multimillion-dollar business, and why her books continue to see double-digit sell-through increases. But she did leave me with another question: With the primary book-reading audience (baby boomers) aging, what will happen when that audience is gone? A year and a half ago, the National Endowment for the Arts released the results of a survey called “Reading at

Fantagraphics, publisher of "The Complete Peanuts," had a limited marketing budget. Here's how the company turned the comic strip into a best-selling book series without spending big bucks.

Thomson West is a leading provider of integrated information solutions to the U.S. legal market, selling legal books and online services to law students, lawyers, and law librarians. It has 2,000 sales representatives, tasked with promoting the company brand and selling a wide range of legal products. As in any company, each sales representative relies on marketing material to help him achieve his sales goals. These materials can include: direct mail, product collateral, and event invitations and signage that is customized for their target audiences and product lines. Traditionally, the sales representatives would work with Thompson West’s creative services department to create marketing pieces

Oxford University Press implements a new system to launch new products quickly, reducing 3 weeks of work to a single search command.

As professors begin creating their course plan for the year, often they’ll select a title that they once used during their days as an undergrad or graduate student, not realizing that the title has been pulled from the backlist of the publisher as ‘out of print.’ The advent of short-run digital technology has allowed publishers to offer books that are no longer in print in quantities anywhere from one to a few thousand. The technology in recent years also has opened up custom publishing divisions at major educational publishers. Pearson Education is one of several large educational book publishers to offer such a

Anthony Crouch has a long line of publishing blood in his family, and now a major industry award under his belt. Anthony Crouch has lived and breathed publishing all his life. "I was drawn to the world of print and publishing through strong family connections," Crouch recalls. "My grandfather was a typesetter … and my grandmother was a bookbinder. My parents were both heavily involved in publishing." As an adolescent, Crouch founded a newspaper for his middle school. He was a bit apprehensive, however, when it came to pursuing publishing as a profession. "I tried several other possible career paths in England before

The 18th annual Gold Ink Awards honor the truly exceptional among more than 200 pieces submitted in the book categories. As the weather heated up in the early part of June, so did the excitement around the offices of North American Publishing Co. (BookTech's parent) as judges from varied backgrounds in the graphic arts industry convened to judge the 18th annual Gold Ink Awards. This year's judges had their work cut out for them as almost 1,500 entries were submitted into the competition, with 203 pieces entered into the eight book categories alone. Over the course of four days, the esteemed judges pored over