The Book Industry Study Group

53% Percentage that the number of RSS users increased between June 2007 and March 2008. Source: Universal McCann $3.4 million Amount of trade e-book sales for April 2008, a 19.9-percent increase over April 2007. Source: Association of American Publishers/International Digital Publishing Forum 82% Percentage of readers who prefer curling up with a printed book to new reading technology. Eleven percent of respondents said they are comfortable reading books in other formats, such as online or with an e-book reader or PDA. Source: 2008 Random House/Zogby Poll $37.26 billion Total book publishers’ net revenues in 2007, up 4.4 percent over 2006’s total. Unit sales

Despite the rising costs and tight supply of paper, increasing fuel costs impacting shipping prices, and growing pressure to cut inventory and increase turnaround times, among other challenges facing book publishers, two Book Business articles reveal positive news for the book manufacturing industry. In the June issue, the “Top 30 Book Manufacturers” feature showed that revenue for 23 of the 30 book manufacturers listed had grown over the previous year. According to Book Business’ 2007 ranking (in the June 2007 issue), just 17 book manufacturers had reported revenue increases. In this issue, in Book Business’ first compilation of leading digital book printers

Michael Healy wants to improve the quality of information shared between book publishers and booksellers. Earlier this year, Healy, executive director of the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), helped introduce the Product Data Certification Program (PDCP), a free program aimed at increasing the accuracy of the product data publishers make available for their titles. Healy is dedicated to spreading the word across the industry about the group’s ongoing efforts. “You’d think there would be a very high level of awareness of how important good, quality information is to the whole process of selling books,” he says. “We’ve had 10 years of [Online Information Exchange

“Today the book business stands at the edge of a vast transformation, one that promises much opportunity for innovation: much trial, much error, much improvement.” —Jason Epstein (“Book Business: Publishing Past, Present and Future,” Norton 2001) That was seven years ago, and today, innovation and experimentation—trial and error—is the theme of the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) report “From Experimentation to Innovation in the Digital Age.” The report contains the results of a survey on the industry’s attitudes and actions pertaining to experimentation (more on page 7). It also contains case studies—based on interviews conducted by Mike Shatzkin, founder/CEO of The Idea Logical Co.,

Observed from 30,000 feet, the modern system for delivering manufactured goods appears little changed from what it was 30, 40, 50 years ago—trucks roll, trains rumble, ships ply the harbors and canals. Only a closer view reveals the logistical revolution made possible by rolling stock, just-in-time ordering and outsourced production. Similarly, the average consumer picking up the latest best-seller at their local bookstore is unaware of how book distribution models are changing. While the book they hold in their hands may adhere to the old “print-and-deliver” model, for instance, the one next to it may have been “deliver and print,” as in large distributors

I recently attended the Book Industry Study Group’s Making Information Pay event (more coverage on pages 7 and 32), where Michael Cader, founder of Publishers Marketplace and Publishers Lunch, offered publishers simple, yet pertinent advice on engaging their audiences: “Leverage the damn book.” One example he gave: His son read a book from the “Alex Rider” series, so Cader went to the store to buy the series’ next book. To illustrate the point he was going to make, he projected a slide featuring the cover of every book in the series. There was nothing that told consumers which book to read next. The

The publishing industry’s intensified movement toward going “green” was highlighted by recent reports from three major trade groups—the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF). In this column, I summarize the major features of each of these reports, as well as note a bit of contention on some of the findings, that point to the why and how of going “green” for publishers and book printers. (For an extensive and very useful backgrounder, check out the article “The Green Team,” by James Sturdivant, in Book Business, February 2008, also

The biggest news in book retailing so far this year may be Borders’ opening its first “concept store,” a new generation of superstores unveiled in February in the company’s hometown of Ann Arbor, Mich. At 28,900 square feet, the new store—the first of 14 planned to open this year—does not skimp on size, and a lot of that space is taken up by innovative features: shop-within-a-shop “destination zones” for travel, cooking, wellness, graphic novels and children’s categories; bold, new architectural designs; and a “digital center” offering services ranging from book downloading to self-publishing. “Our mission is to be a headquarters for knowledge

History was made at the Publishing Business Conference & Expo on Monday, March 10, as the Green Press Initiative (GPI) and the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) presented findings from the first-ever environmental survey of the U.S. book industry. GPI, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization, and BISG, an industry trade association, commissioned the study to help the industry understand its environmental impacts, assess areas for improvement and make recommendations for improving its ecological footprint. Michael Healy, BISG executive director, and Tyson Miller, GPI director, unveiled the 73-page “Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry” to a crowded conference room of

According to one of the better-known accounts in the compendium of humankind’s greatest achievements, it was in the year 105 that a Chinese man named Ts’ai Lun invented paper, mashing up wood from a mulberry tree with fiber from bamboo. Thus was born a technology that would literally change the world, making possible artistic, scientific and religious revolutions, democratizing literacy and learning, and ushering humanity into the modern age. In recent times, paper production has played a role in changing the world in other ways. The book industry alone required 3 million to 4 million tons of paper over just the last three years,