Chris Anderson

In a limitless world of digital goods, powerful search and recommendation engines, near-zero marginal cost of digital production, storage and distribution, niche products shall get much more market relevance. "Selling less of more" is part of what the "Long Tail" theory has been preaching.

Does it apply to the creative industries too? And how? Should digital book publishers reduce attention on blockbusters and increase focus on the Long Tail as the source of the most profitable growth? Is there a space for unlimited growth of niche ebooks?

Wired magazine itself broke the rather disappointing news yesterday that its long-time editor-in-chief, Chris Anderson, will be stepping down from his role at the magazine after an incredibly successful 12-year run. “Anderson joined Wired in 2001,” as an item on the Wired website explains, ”taking the helm of the iconic digital brand just as the dot-com bubble popped.” From [...]

(Nashville, Tenn.) Thomas Nelson, the world's largest Christian publisher, announced today that an investor group led by Kohlberg & Company has acquired a majority of its stock. This investment will significantly improve the company's capital structure and eliminate the majority of its long-term debt.

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

A “slow, but steady decline” is how Rhonda Herman, executive vice president at reference publisher McFarland & Co. Inc., characterizes the market for reference books. “We are cautious about sales and will feel lucky if sales remain flat.” The reality of an economic downturn is starting to sink in—McFarland’s volume is flat, Herman says, “but actual income is down 2 percent. The reason for this is that we are experiencing higher than normal overstock returns, which is not surprising in this market.” Both direct and indirect costs are hitting the bottom line at the Jefferson, N.C.-based publisher. Higher fuel costs are forcing up the

Chris Anderson’s ironic farewell to the retail bookshelf is a harbinger of how direct distribution in the supply chain is bypassing the traditional foundations of bookselling—as well as library patronage­—and is also flowing into nonprint formats. But while that transformation is nibbling around the edges of distribution, the fact remains that the book publishing industry’s supply chain model has as its primary target a physical book on a physical bookshelf. In this special two-part series, I want to discuss how digital data management drives workflow through the operations, acquisitions, development, production and distribution supply chain; in particular, how use of the Online Information Exchange