The Book Industry Study Group

As the recession trudges on, you may have noticed that the bookstore you pass every morning on your way to work has hung the dreaded “Going Out of Business” sign in the front window. Even larger book-selling chains, such as Borders and Barnes & Noble, have reported declining sales, despite their large inventories, events and in-store cafés. Sales are moving online, and e-books and e-readers are growing increasingly popular. What does this mean for the future of traditional book publishers and the print books they produce?

It can’t have escaped the attention of anyone in the book business that we’re working through the toughest trading conditions that any of us have experienced. In the course of just a few months, we have become accustomed to a flood of bad news from our industry—declining book sales in most outlets, significant job losses, traditional sales channels shrinking and consolidating, and consumer confidence at an all-time low. If you add into the picture declining literacy skills and the apparently irresistible attraction of other types of media, it’s tempting to succumb to persistent pessimism and certainly to abandon the view that comforted many for so long—that we work in a recession-proof industry.

While many publishers are experiencing significant changes in their historical sales patterns, most are uncertain whether these are temporary shifts due to the recession or the start of long-term trends. The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) is conducting a new study that aims to address that uncertainty by examining trends in shifting sales channels and changing markets.

In the following letter to Book Industry Study Group members, Executive Director Michael Healy addressed the recent loss of Jean Srnecz, senior vice president of merchandising at Baker & Taylor:February 17, 2009As some of you may already know, Jean Srnecz, Senior Vice President of merchandising at Baker & Taylor and a longstanding Director of the…

The trade association Book Industry Study Group (BISG) has released version 1.0 of its BookDROP technical specification, a new standard intended to support the search and discovery of digital book content on the Web.

Two events occurred recently that some have called the biggest news to hit the industry in decades. First was the announcement of the settlement between Google, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Authors Guild, regarding Google’s controversial Book Search tool. The settlement allows Google to make millions of books available for consumers to read or buy through Google Book Search; but the big news is that Google will provide compensation to publishers and authors for their works. The settlement also established a Books Rights Registry (supported by the $125 million settlement paid by Google), which will monitor such compensation as well as work to resolve any additional disputes.

The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) has released “Product Metadata Best Practices for Data Recipients,” which is available free of charge at the trade association’s Web site, http://www.BISG.org. The publication, which is aimed at improving the accuracy, comprehensiveness and timeliness of data throughout the book supply chain, establishes 14 points of best practice for recipients of product information. It also includes a glossary of common terms and definitions. The publication was prepared over several months by the BISAC Metadata Committee, led by Richard Stark of Barnes & Noble, and was contributed to by a large, diverse group of BISG members, including publishers, booksellers,

As Steve Potash, CEO of Overdrive and president of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), said last spring at IDPF’s annual meeting: The world of digital books is expanding, and there is a steady flow of major publishers and technology providers adopting the .epub standard. What we’re going through now is a ramping-up stage during which it can’t be either/or—nobody is saying that we will accept or deliver only in .epub. Accepting only .epub formats is likely to be the first move that’s made, because the advantage to publishers is that they will have only one electronic book version with one ISBN of which

If anyone has doubts about the Book Industry Study Group’s (BISG) influence and impact on the book-publishing industry, sitting in on the organization’s annual meeting Sept. 12, at the Yale Club of New York in New York City, would have likely changed their mind. In the past year alone, the organization published five publications (including three new publications) and launched two new certification programs, among other efforts to fulfill its mission of “creating a more informed, empowered and efficient book industry.” “This fiscal year was another very successful and productive year for the BISG,” said Dominique Raccah, BISG co-chair and publisher/CEO

Imagine this scenario: A pallet of books arrives at a distributor’s warehouse. It is scanned, allowing the system to keep track of the location of every book as the shipment is robotically de-palletized, stored and machine-prepared for shipment to retailers. Arriving at the point of sale, cartons are scanned at the door and all contents entered instantly into inventory, with special-order customers notified automatically that their book has arrived. Customers and employees can then discover with the click of a mouse exactly where a book is located in the store, and inventory, even at the largest bookstores, takes no more than 20 minutes.