Harlequin
As the e‑book market evolves, so do publishers' internal processes for producing them. Book Business asked Baker Publishing, Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. and Hacket Publishing Co. to pull back the curtain on how they handle e‑book workflows, from editorial and design through conversion, formatting, proofreading and distribution. The answers are varied, but all demonstrate an ability to make the best use of existing internal talent while strategically investing in additional or outside resources to create e‑books expertly and efficiently.
The year 2011 may well go down as the annum of the e-reader. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony and Kobo went all-in for holidays to get their e-readers, tablets and apps into as many hands, purses and briefcases as possible. In 2012, we'll see the results of that push, as publishers anticipate the next step in the digital evolution. Book Business interviewed executives across a wide swath of the industry, from giant trade publishers to university presses, educational outfits and upstart indies. We found that while digital is on the march, print is far from dead, and the next bold move in the industry may be maximizing the synergies between the two.
Extra caught up with Gillian Green, editorial director at Ebury, to ask about the finer points of launching Rouge Romance, Ebury's new, digital-first imprint, giving readers books "wherever they want, in whatever format they choose," and what makes a novel "sexier, longer and 100% more romantic."
For the fourth year, Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines are seeking nominations for their prestigious Publishing Innovator of the Year awards. The nomination deadline is nigh!
Publishing Executive and Book Business magazines, producers of the Publishing Business Conference & Expo, have named Bonnier Corp. and Scholastic Inc. as the Publishing Innovators of the Year.
INTERQUEST, a leading market and technology research and consulting firm serving the digital printing and publishing industry, today announced that Lulu.com
WOWIO, Inc. announced that they have entered into a deal with Ingram Content Group to add hundreds of thousands of titles from the Ingram catalogue to the WOWIO marketplace.
Debbie Macomber will join the Random House Publishing Group in 2012, to be published by its Ballantine Bantam Dell division's Ballantine imprint.
It's difficult to imagine that the International Digital Publishing Forum's (IDPF) Digital Book 2010 could ever be compared to Woodstock; but, in fact, this year's sold-out event had a few sessions that were so crowded that dozens of people sat on the floor in the back of the room so as not to be in the way of the standing-room only crowd lining the room's back wall. Michael Smith, IDPF's executive director, joked that it looked like Woodstock.
Digital book printing overall is experiencing double-digital growth. The recession, although unwelcome in all quarters, has provided a boost to digital book manufacturing as publishers take a harder look at their processes and cut back on inventory and waste. Since digital printing market- and technology-research firm INTERQUEST's last major survey of the market, conducted in late 2007, the industry has seen widening adoption of digital book printing for short-run inventory management, and a growing interest in distribute-and-print to defray shipping costs and cut time to market—as shown in INTERQUEST's recent report, "Digital Book Printing: Market Analysis & Forecast (2010-2015)." A new generation of high-speed inkjet presses is also coming onto the market, promising lower cost, faster production speeds and higher print quality—all of which open the door a bit wider to digital book printing.