Book Expo America

As a writer, I have been a member of MySpace.com for several years and have been taking advantage of the social networking opportunities that exist. When I joined, the site had around 70 million members; today it has surpassed 183.7 million members. Many in publishing are realizing the value of making a connection via social networking. At this year’s Book Expo America, authors and publishing executives shared social networking tips at a session titled “MySpace for Authors and Publishers: Everything You Need to Know to Make it Payoff.” The panel included Richard Nash, publisher of Soft Skull Press; Barry Lyga, author; Josh Kilmer-Purcell, author;

The Book Industry Study Group Inc. (BISG), a trade association for book industry standards, policy and research, is scheduled to announce its annual book sales estimates and forecasts in both dollars and units for the time period of 2005–2011, today during BookExpo America (BEA) at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. The estimates are part of the 2007 edition of “Book Industry Trends,” BISG’s research publication that has provided a view of U.S. book publishing sales for the past 30 years. The preview at BEA will feature highlights from the new publication, a description of the research methodology and sources of

Book Expo America (BEA) has announced that the conference keynote by former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Dr. Alan Greenspan has been moved to the Special Events Hall at 5:15 p.m. on Friday, June 1. Reportedly the session was moved to a larger venue at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Center convention facility in anticipation of a large turnout. Dr. Greenspan will be interviewed by Andrea Mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News, who is also Dr. Greenspan’s wife. The interview will focus on the process of writing his new book “The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World,” which is

While digital toner and inkjet based color has been available for years, Lightning Source’s announcement at Book Expo America of its four-color one-off production line exponentially expands the base for untapped publishing business opportunities for mid-range, independent and high-end publishers. It also shines the light on the transformation of manufacturing business models in the past 10 years, providing a price-list-based, sophisticated manufacturing service that simplifies the supply chain process without sacrificing quality controls. Buying color in Asia or Europe in sufficient quantities to bring the unit cost down and allowing for the weeks of turnaround time need no longer be a barrier to the

Environmental advocacy groups were likely breaking out the champagne as Random House Inc. (www.RandomHouse.com)—the world’s largest English-language trade book publisher and the U.S. division of Random House, the largest trade book publisher in the world—­announced its plans for a tenfold increase in its use of recycled paper. The company says that within four years a minimum of 30 percent of the uncoated paper it uses to print the majority of its U.S. titles will be derived from recycled fibers (as opposed to its current 3 percent). The announcement marks the most substantial environmental initiative in the company’s history, and considering the fact that

The book-publishing industry faces a new challenge: to improve its ecological footprint—significantly. The call was brought upon the industry by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Green Press Initiative—a nonprofit group that promotes environmentally responsible practices in the publishing industry—and was announced at the recent Book Expo America in Chicago. Currently, the industry uses less than 5 percent recycled paper. That's 5 percent of an average of nearly one million tons of paper consumed each year by the book-publishing industry alone. The industry's consumption of non-recycled paper produces 5.2 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions and the loss of 19 million trees