Knopf

Maybe divine intervention will reverse the profit slide for religious book publishers. But industry experts believe it also would be prudent to consider scaling back on titles, reducing returns, making intelligent use of data, investing in digital opportunities and otherwise adapting business models for future success.

Jane Friedman, president and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers has been a driving force behind the creation of multi-media pronged author tours, Publishing Plus and more. Friedman has a 39-year career in publishing and is considered a mentor by many in the industry. Book Business Extra spoke with her in this exclusive interview. She shares insights behind her career accomplishments, motivation and advice to others. EXTRA: You are credited with creating the author tour in 1970 as a publicist who took cook and author Julia Child around to different store locations promoting her book. Can you explain the experience for our readers? FRIEDMAN: I actually

Children’s books may be about finding the kid in all of us, but everyone in the children’s publishing business agrees that they have to grow up when it comes to taking advantage of profitable opportunities. The Internet is clearly not going away, yet with the need to protect children from cyberspace predators, publishers have to go through parents to get through to their young audiences. Once you reach them, however, it can’t hurt to be as multidimensional as possible. Jason Wells, publicity and marketing director for New York-based Harry N. Abrams Inc., says kids are looking for books that are not just self-contained

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

Not even a George Clooney sighting could disrupt the 2006 Book Business Conference and Expo, which took place March 20-22 at the Hilton New York. The celebrity was filming his latest picture just feet away from the conference’s registration area and—predictably—attracted all sorts of ogling from attendees and passers-by, but it was the conference and expo that were the stars of the week. Much like the industry it serves, the conference found itself in an unprecedented state of evolution when it kicked off on Monday, March 20. In its 10th year and amid revolutionary changes in the world of book publishing, this year’s conference

First Installation of Wireless RFID System in U.S. Library Deployed The first-known totally wireless Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system in a U.S. library has been successfully deployed at the Prairie Trails Public Library (www.PrairieTrailsLibrary.org), located in Burbank, Ill. The wireless system provides the library with the flexibility of moving its self-check units to the most convenient areas of the library, even if those locations change over time. The decision to go wireless was made during the planning stages of the RFID installation, when Checkpoint Systems Inc., the Thorofare, N.J.-based company that planned the installation of its Intelligent Library System (ILS), realized that the

Consumer spending on books will reach $44 billion by 2008, and publishers will be serving up a menu of more than 2.3 billion books from which readers can choose, predicts a recent study by the Book Industry Study Group, a nonprofit industry organization. With so many titles vying for a piece of the pie, each book's cover becomes increasingly important to catch the book-buyer's eye, despite the old caveat about judging a book by its cover. But does pomp and circumstance help sell books? Beauty Is Only Cover Deep, But It's The Cover That Buyers See Many in the industry agree that a

With his slight build, round rims and British accent, Harry Potter, the international star of the children's literati, has already inspired comparisons to beloved book characters including The Little Prince and Mathilda. Magical and quirky, the Potter series is reputed to be among the bestselling publishing cross-over hits ever with 55 million prints and counting in circulation in the U.S. alone. But what sets Potter apart from the pack is not so much the creativity of J.K. Rowling, but rather, the bite that the traditional print book series takes out of the multi-media world: toys, gadgets and a Hollywood movie replete with special effects

By Rose Blessing The top brass at printing companies insist that their top priority is finding ways to meet publishers' demands for faster turnaround times, an August feature in this magazine reported. Now, a look at how print buyers view this trend Diane Grossman Assistant Production Manager Publishing Services Academic Press Now and then Diane Grossman asks for a miracle from her printers--and gets it. Yet overall she has not noticed faster industry job turnaround times since joining Academic Press nearly two years ago, she says. On the whole, turnaround times have never been a problem area, possibly because she's able to give her