News Update: Week 7/9

Deals, M/A:
Apparently News of Murdoch's Dow Jones Purchase was Premature: MSNBC
Not so Smooth: Pearson are Selling Les Echos: WSJ
Soon to be everything except moot court, LN buys services provider: Dayton Bus Jrnal
Visant (educational pulisher) for sale: Reuters
In case you were wondering, Proquest are now Voyager: PRNews

Publishing:
Publishers create web travel aids: Galleycat

Retailing:
Looking for Divine Intervention for Christian Retailing: Washington Post

Search:
Topic Specific Search Engines are the Next Best Thing: Economist

Library:
Book Industry Council (UK) looks to improve Library Supply Chain: PN

Sport:
Beckham arrives (and Posh): LA Times (It is all a bit silly)
Belmar Five: 34:10

Amazon works With Kirtas to Digitize Books.

I missed the following announcement from some reason. At Bowker, thought about purchasing one of these Kirtas machines (about $100,000) that scan books without the need to destroy them. The book is placed on a v shaped platform and air is used to turn the pages between scans. Some of you have seen them demonstrated at BookExpo. The companies ,
announced,

a collaboration with universities and public libraries to preserve thousands of rare and inaccessible books from their collections and distribute them via BookSurge’s Print-on-Demand service. This collaboration, which will greatly enhance the selection of rare and historic books for sale on Amazon.com and other retail channels, represents a breakthrough approach to digitization and preservation that will ensure the public will have access to these works indefinitely via Print on Demand.

Amazon bought BookSurge about three years ago to bolster their print on demand capacity. Emory University, University of Maine, Toronto Public Library, and Cincinnati Public Library are the first organizations to enter into agreements with Kirtas to make their rare-book collections available via Amazon.com.

Gather The Romance Authors

Gather.com is looking to find the great american romance novelist (my words). The company has teamed with Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster) to launch a writing contest, the winner of which will win a publishing contract.

Would-be novelists have until late August to submit manuscripts to romancenovel@gatherinc.com, and Gather.com members will have a say in selecting the winner, the company said.

Some of you will recall that Gather.com launched a similar competition earlier this year that resulted in a mystery writer winning a contract.

In this case, I doubt they will get anything like the kind of substantial and repeat participation that Harlequin gets from their eharlequin.com site. More on this next week.

Everything is Miscellaneous Review

Fellow traveller and sometime PND contributor John Dupuis (Confessions of a Science Librarian) recently reviewed the book Everything is Miscellaneous. In that book, the author David Weinberger takes a look at some things relevant to book and data lovers. Specifically, he looks at the comparison of Amazon and bookstores and also the Dewey system. John has some contrarian views on the conclusions Weinberger draws from these examples,

Starting on page 16, he begins a comparison of the Dewey decimal system libraries use to physically order their books with the subject approach Amazon and other online systems use. I find this comparison more than a bit misleading, almost to the point where I think Weinberger is setting up a straw man to be knocked down. Now, I'm not even a cataloguer and I know that Dewey is a classification system, a way to order books physically on shelves. It has abundant limitations (which Weinberger is more than happy to point out ad nauseum) but it mostly satisfies basic needs. One weakness is, of course, that it uses a hopelessly out of date subject classification system as a basis for ordering. Comparing it to the ability to tag and search in a system like Amazon or del.icio.us is, however, comparing apples to oranges. Those systems aren't really classification systems but subject analysis systems. The real comparison, to be fair, to compare apples to apples, should have been Amazon to the Library of Congress Subject Headings

In the end he does enjoy the book,

I find it frustrating that in a book Weinberg dedicates "To the Librarians" he doesn't take a bit more time to find out what librarians actually do, how libraries work in the 2007 rather than 1950. (See p. 132 for some cheap shots) But in the end, I have to say it was worth reading. If I disagreed violently with something on virtually every page, well, at least it got me thinking; I also found many brilliant insights and much solid analysis. A good book demands a dialogue of it's readers, and this one certainly demanded that I sit up and pay attention and think deeply about my own ideas. This is an interesting, engaging, important book that explores some extremely timely information trends and ideas, one that I'm sure that I haven't done justice to in my grumpiness, one that at times I find myself willfully misunderstanding and misrepresenting (misunderestimating?).

Harry Potter, The Lost Leader

Motoko Rich in the NY Times this morning,

And so it has, for many children. But in keeping with the intricately plotted novels themselves, the truth about Harry Potter and reading is not quite so straight forward a success story. Indeed, as the series draws to a much-lamented close, federal statistics show that the percentage of youngsters who read for fun continues to drop significantly as children get older, at almost exactly the same rate as before Harry Potter came along.

Aside from the real issues regarding the declining level of readership among children my immediate thought was about the retail environment. There is such an emphasis on deeply discounting these titles that they become loss-leaders. That is they are sold below cost in order to drive traffic and drive purchase of non-discounted products on sale at the same store. However, all major retailers have said their margins in the Potter quarter will tighten because of the Potter selling frenzy. It would appear that this research may get at the nub of the problem. That is opening the store at midnight and selling the book at 75% off will not result in additional sales because the children don't read beyond Potter; so what is the point?

Potter titles are no doubt great books but they have become lost-leaders because they undermine the bookstore financial model and they haven't extended reading in young people. Of course in hindsight (perhaps more obvious than that) it is dopey to think that one series/character could change behavior that parents and teachers couldn't. In fact no one really knows the secret sauce because publishers have been seeking a new Potter since the series came out and haven't found one. What interests Children in reading is a bit of a mystery compounded by the multitude of distractions that Children at 10-15 start to observe and become enamoured with. At this age they are starting to make their own media decisions - they have pocket money and spend it themselves rather than have it spent for them - they become mobile and their horizons open significantly and placing books in this environment is a competition that apparently the publishing industry is loosing.

Think back to my own experience, I did not read too many 'children's' books. I was introduced to reading (outside the classroom) by accident when at a birthday party they ran out of presents and one of the parents found me a book as a consolation (I am still coping with this but I think I get better every day). It took me a year to read this book but from that point I was hooked and read another five or six books by the same author (Enid Blyton) but then migrated to Fleming, McLean, Smith somewhere around age 12-13. This experience probably doesn't happen now, but perhaps one approach to interesting children in reading beyond Potter is to recognize they need to 'graduate' to adult 'adventure' books like the ones I read. (Of course, I'm a boy and this experience could be entire different for girls so excuse me.).

Regardless, to my earlier retail point. Given this research, it seems even more moronic to encourage profitless retailing when your target audience is unlikely to step into the store or by a non-related title at full price ever again.

Dolores O'Riordan

My ears are still ringing - it was so loud - but at the Fillmore Irving Place last night she opened with Zombie and went from strength to strength. Hard to believe the sound she can get out of that small body and she didn't do badly for a 35 year old mother of three. She seemed to enjoy herself and she also gave the audience a lot of opportunity to participate. If those of you in DC can see her tonight do it. She is in Phily Friday and then out west.

Here is an intrepid fan's youtube video.

Do we have an e-book winner: Exact Editions thinks so

Exact Editions stepped up the pressure on Steve Jobs by suggesting that the "iphone is the best ebook ever" not just the best iPod ever. I spied someone waving their hand over one of these things this morning as though it was some kind of weegee board. Their absorption was complete and I suspect (and effectively agree) that e-books will be one of the collateral winners in the i-Phone launch.

Adam raises an interesting idea about what the interface for books (catalog front end) will look like on the I-Phone but I don't like any of his suggestions as to who will develop one. On the other hand it does have one thinking....

Lego is a Publisher

I had been thinking about the above entry for a number of weeks and over lunch this afternoon someone mentioned that Lego sees themselves as a publisher. The comment had to do with the ability of a consumer to 'build their own robot' with lego blocks. A consumer draws the picture of the robot they want to build and sends it to Lego. Lego create a plan drawing and send it and all the bricks needed to build the robot. Lego then puts the 'new' robot into its online store for anyone to buy. Legos' philosophy is that they 'publish' the ideas of their consumers.

Kinda neat and certainly beats the Legos I used to play with.

In thinking of my blog post, I thought that Lego could be an example of companies using publishing to extend their relationship with consumers. As I researched it, the relationship proved less direct than I wanted but in the process of looking into it I did find this example on Blurb.com.

The creativity of some people is often quite amazing.

The State of the Library Network

For those interested in learning about the challenges facing libraries from the emerging 'network' perspective this post from OCLC's Lorcan Dempsey is well worth reading.

Here is his concluding comments:

We are used to thinking about better integration of library services. But that is a means, not an end. The end is the enhancement of research, learning and personal development. I discussed above how we want resources to be represented in various discovery environments. Increasingly, we want to represent resources in a variety of other workflows. These might be the personal digital environments that we are creating around RSS aggregators, toolbars and so on. Or the prefabricated institutional environments such as the course management system or the campus portal. Or emerging service composition environments like Facebook or iGoogle. As well as in network level discovery environments like Google or Amazon that are so much a part of people's behaviors

Incisive Publishing to Buy American Lawyer Magazine

Business information group Incisive Media has agreed terms to acquire American Lawyer Magazine from a private equity company Wasserstein & Co. This represents the fourth and largest acquisition by Incisive since the company was taken private by Apax Partners last year. The deal is said to triple the revenues of Incisive once completed and the deal also creates a legitimate competitor to some of the offerings of the much larger West and Martindale(Reed) publishing companies.

ALM is the publisher of magazines and newspapers and also manages trade shows directed at the legal profession. Primary among the magazines are The American Lawyer and The Corporate Council. Reuters is reporting the price was around $630mm

Telegraph
Reuters

Murdoch Gets Dow Jones

All media is now reporting the inevitable disclosure that NewsCorp has agreed terms with Dow Jones to acquire the company. Long live the Wall Street Journal.

Guardian
Telegraph

Media Deal Update From Jordan Edmiston

The JEGI group released their media and information industry market review this week. If you pay any attention to this market at all you shouldn't be surprised to hear the M&A market set new record highs with 399 transactions totaling $76 billion in deal value for the first half of 2007. This transaction value represented a 25% increase over the same period in 2006.

While there were many headline grabbing deals, JEGI notes that many more interesting deals occurred below the radar,

Major diversified media companies continue to reshape core models through acquisitions, and well-funded investors pursue new sources of growth. JEGI assisted with several such transactions in the second quarter, including arranging a $50 million investment for Gorilla Nation Media, the largest online advertising rep sales firm, from Great Hill Partners; the sale of Healia, an innovative heath search engine, to Meredith Corp; and the sale of TechnologyGuide.com, a provider of internet content sites for mobile technology products, to TechTarget.

The upcoming half year is expected to be as hot according to Tolman Geffs, a Managing Director with JEGI,

“There is a lot more consolidation ahead. There isn’t such a thing as old media anymore. There’s only diversified media. Every major media company is working hard to reshape their distribution model to reach new audiences, and that’s going to take years to pan out. Plus, you have an ocean of ad dollars moving from non-digital to digital.”

Increasing valuations have surprised many in the industry; however, with the continued availability of attractive financing and some large media companies radically changing their strategies and/or business models the continued volatility in the media market is expected to continue.

July Fourth:

It may be a little quiet here at PND for the rest of the week.

New Look Borders

The newish concept store in the Garden State Plaza in Paramus New Jersey seems more open and welcoming to me. They seem to have warmed up the colors especially the older beige color they had which had too much green in it and always made me feel ill. Under no pretence is this a revolutionary redesign and indeed Mrs PND, who is an interior designer, couldn't really tell the difference between old and new. When I pointed out some changes she did warm to the spirit of the excercise and agree the changes are better.

When Dutch retailer BGN looked to redesign their stores the consulted all manner of retail experts and research and not only revamped the physical look of the stores but incorporated technology behind the scenes to revolutionise the retail experience. That is the opportunity that Borders has but it remains to be seen whether they will reach a little higher than the ordinary.

Aborted Print on Demand

On Assignment:

I was curious. While I had attended BookExpo this year I had not taken the opportunity to examine the Expresso Print on Demand machine and when I heard that one was to be installed at New York Public library I thought I had to get a look at it. There is some debate about what the impact of this machine will be to everyday readers and some of that debate focuses on the final delivery; how useful will this be regarded if you are third in line and the process takes ten minutes. Are you going to wait? There is definitely something to that; however, the story of the Expresso is more about distribution and the opportunity to place more books where readers want to purchase them.

Some readers will remember the Sprout machine which Borders thought to place in their [stores and] distribution centers. They believed that via that machine that they could materially add to the inventory available to customers through their stores. Logistical and technical problems ended this experiment almost before it got started but it was surprising that it took so long for a new effort to come along. Sprout did sign up a number of independent stores to use their machine. Here are my notes from BookExpo 1999:

At the BookExpo show, a company named On Demand Machine Corp displayed a book printing system that can print and bind a standard trade paper back in a machine which measures eight feet by four feet. This machine is designed to fit in a bookstore and can both store electronic titles in its memory and call up additional titles from the company head office via satellite. Customers can order the books, confirm the title is the one they want and purchase using a credit card. The transaction takes a little more than five minutes. The first full implementation is scheduled to take place in June at The Tattered Cover in Denver. My guess is you will see similar machines at Kinkos, Airports and other public places in the not too distant future.

As Charkin says this current machine is too big and bulky, but when it gets smaller and less so there will be many more opportunities to leverage the benefits of this machine. Regrettably, my experience was problematic; I visited the NYPL on Saturday only to find the machine unattended and therefore out of reach. Forget anyone in line ahead of me - the place was deserted - and the NYPL desk person was next to useless. There was a printed card with information about the machine and its' smaller cousin and a log book for visitors to sign. I left my mark.

Many years ago while at Berlitz, I hit on the idea of selling our small format travel guides and phrase books out of vending machines. We struggled to get store distribution and I thought this would be a perfect way to place a 'store front' in non-traditional places where travel related traffic could be high but the retail options limited. Moreover, the machines could be moved around from place to place with less difficulty than setting up a traditional store or arranging store accounts and distribution. The genesis of this idea was Kodak's film vending machines. My point is that the Expresso needs to be this functional and 'ubiquitous' if it is to become an additional distribution option. In the meantime I guess I will give the Expresso another chance to impress me sometime in the next few weeks.

(Coda: the vending machine idea meandered: One of my colleagues at Berlitz suggested if she was going to put books in a vending machine she would put in Danielle Steele not a travel guide. This comment was doubly bad since I didn't really care for her - the colleague not Danielle. I did get some vending machine operators interested in the idea but then I left and went to PriceWaterhouse. And so ended the vending machine idea).

DADs Like Music

On the heels of last weeks post on Digital Assets Distributors in the book world, the NYT has an article this morning about a music world application,

TuneCore is a digital distributor that gets music into online stores, just as traditional distributors stock shelves at regular retailers. But Mr. Price (who also co-owns an independent label) does not take a percentage of sales, as most distributors do, nor does he provide the same marketing and promotional services as those companies. Rather, he charges a flat fee: 99 cents a song as an uploading and processing fee, 99 cents for each store where the act wants to place the album, and $19.98 an album each year for storage.

On The Hudson

It is not everyday that you see an outrigger canoe race in New York City. No idea who won but it is worth noting that I think these were crewed by girls.

I started humming the theme song from Hawaii 5-o and Mrs PND wondered what the hell I was doing.

Houghton in The Caymans

It used to be that opening a bank account in the Caymans was a rite of passage for the exceedingly wealthy but now even struggling multi-national publishing companies like Riverdeep are establishing accounts there to manage their treasury function. Oh, and to avoid 'onerous reporting' requirements in their home countries. According to the Irish Independent, Riverdeep is establishing a corporate presence in the Cayman Islands:

HMR, formed from Riverdeep's reverse takeover of Houghton Mifflin last year to create a $5bn (€3.7bn) group, is asking shareholders to approve the setting up of a holding company called Education Media and Publishing Group at an extraordinary general meeting to be held on July 9.

With more and more companies looking to establish a corporate structure in foreign lands - Bermuda (Stanley) and Dubai (Haliburton) and more companies considering going private because of current financial reporting requirements (SOX), Riverdeep is just another example of the trend.

The Independent has seen documentation regarding the scheme that will enable HMR to achieve more flexibility in dividend payments and also greater confidentiallity regarding corporate accounting.

"Irish law largely restricts companies to make such distributions out of realised profit less realised losses. The definition of profit available in the Cayman Islands is much broader and so allows for greater flexibility in making distributions out of share capital subject to limited restrictions," comments Barry O' Callaghan the group's executive chairman.

Net income seems to be more concept than precept down in the Caymans. According to the article, the company needs 75% of shareholder and High court approval. Currently they have exceeded the shareholder level (with O'Callaghan owning 48%) so it will be up to the High Court to approve. Doesn't seem in much doubt.

Apple ebook reader for iPod - What a Cool Idea

I found this link to a 'design proposal' that would combine an IPOD with a tablet like e-book reader. It is a pretty cool concept. Apple has been rumoured to be considering an ebook reader but nothing has materialized.

Publishers Fight Back - 2

I don't seem to hear too much about the Automated Content Access Protocol (ACAP), which is being developed by a group of content producers under the aegis of the World Association of Newspapers but they released a press release about the progress of the initiative. To refresh, the ACAP is new standard to allow on-line content providers to automatically communicate information to search engine operators and others on how their content can be used. From the press release:

• ACAP is building on existing technology including Robots Exclusion Protocol and is using established methods for defining standard permissions semantics.
• Collaboration and support for the project has been overwhelming: the list of 28 organisations continues to grow and represents a worldwide interest in the project (partners are listed below).
• Work is now underway to prepare ACAP for the post-pilot stage -- to hand over a long-term sustainable model to a pre-existing governance organisation or to set up its own ACAP governance organisation.

Effectively, the group is establishing a standard way to lock (or make available) the content on content providers web sites. This tool will allow publishers to select the content that they want crawled and thereby better control the access to their content. The tool is being developed so that when in place, a webcrawler will be able to read the permissions information and act accordingly. No human intervention required other than for the publisher to set the initial parameters.

“What we seek to do together is create the foundations for what is surely the highest aspiration that publishers, aggregators, search engines and politicians could have for the content industry - namely an increasingly healthy, profitable and vibrant sector which drives knowledge and diverse thinking throughout the internet and the world and which creates new opportunities for everyone," said Gavin O’Reilly, President of the World Association of Newspapers.

One hopes it is all not a bit late....

Prior Post

Pearson Education Announce Student Advisory Board

Speaking to your customers is always a good idea and Pearson have determined consulting with a divergent group of college students will give them some insight into electronic texts, e-learning and other new educational methodology. I suspect they will also be able to discuss issues around pricing and pricing methodology that have caused the educational market such angst over the past few years. From the press release:

"We believe an advisory board of college students will be an important catalyst in providing Pearson with a fresh, informed perspective about our educational content, technology, services and future learning models," said Will Ethridge, President and CEO, Pearson Higher Education, International and Professional Publishing.

The board consists of 12 students from across the country and each sits for one year. The group held its first meeting in Boston last week and furthermore, each student will work on particular initiatives and will be paired with a Pearson executive as a mentor.

Sandi Kirshner, chief marketing officer, Pearson Higher Education, International and Professional Publishing. "We have high expectations for the student board members and we are anxious to gain insights from their college experience."

The God Subject

The Guardian Newspaper in the UK has a short article on the success of books questioning the existance of (any) God. The article is specific to Christopher Hitchens book God is Not Great but also mentioned the sucecss of The God Delusion. I contributed to both authors royalty payment and finished The God Delusion but I haven't started the Hitchens book. I am currently reading Buddha or Bust and someone I had dinner with last night jokingly suggested I was in the midst of some mid-life crisis. Meaning aside, I will have beaten this theme to death by the time I have finished all three.

NYTimes: Hardly the Mike Wallace Treatment

Apparently, I am not the only one that feels that the New York Times' 'expose' on News Corp lacked any depth or provided new information on the manner in which Murdoch runs his business. (Paidcontent) You really have to consider the NYT's motives in this given they are themselves a family run operation similar to Dow Jones that has been left behind by the media revolution and they ran an editorial two weeks ago supporting the family's (supposed) wish to stay independent. It was more than disingenuous and perhaps in the interests of full disclosure they should have mentioned their own dual equity arrangement that keeps the Ochs/Sulzberger fully in control and the public shareholders out in the cold.

(As I may have mentioned, I retain some deep seated resentment towards Rupert Murdoch because as a 14 year old newspaper seller in Melbourne Australia they raised the price of the Herald from 8cents to 10cents and in the process did me out of a virtually guaranteed 2cents on every sale. That added a lot to my daily take and I soon realized that selling newspapers on a street corner was no kind of future).

Murdoch should get Dow Jones if for no other reason that he is willing to rebuild the franchise to compete in a new media, connected and multi-channel world. The Brancrofts aren't and I think that most people would like to see the Wall Street Journal retain and perhaps increase its influence and standing not just in the US but internationally. Murdoch has proven News Corp can manage and grow substantial media properties and Dow Jones will be no different. It is stupid to assume that any proprietorial media property is without bias or doesn't reflect some level of influence from the owner; but, customers (and staff) either support it or not and Murdoch (or the NYT) are not going to undercut the credibility of their properties to spite their revenue.

Everyone Needs A Dad

There was a good deal of joking about the acronym DAD at last weeks Klopotek sponsored conference on Digital Asset Distribution for publishers, but that did not take away from the content which showcased a number of providers in this space.

The conference was one part of a two part conference that presented a white paper Digital Asset Distribution for Book Publishers written by Mike Shatzkin (The Idea Logical Company) and Mark Bide (Rightscom Limited). The second part of the conference, which will deliver largely the same content, will be delivered in London next month at which time the presentations from both meetings will be made available. The White paper establishes the context for digital asset distribution:

But now, and rather suddenly, every book publisher is finding it has the need to manage the digital distribution of their content. The same set of content is needed by different people, in different forms, in different places and at different times, over and over again.

The white paper poses a number of questions which they later answer based on an extensive set of interviews with the key players in the industry. The pair interviewed companies in the US and Europe and publishers and a set of the predominate DADs. Among the questions they pose:

• When is it sensible for publishers to buy or build their own technical infrastructure?
• What are the risks of outsourcing Digital Asset Distribution?
• What functions currently managed by publishers might be rendered obsolete by a DAD?
• What is the relationship between Digital Asset Management (DAM) and Digital Asset Distribution?
• How much does a publisher need to know in order even to make use of a DAD?
• How does on line access to publisher’s content change both processes and accountability?
• To what extent have the leading edge professional and academic publishers been disadvantaged by their early entry into digital distribution?
• How many DADs do we need?

Presenting at the meeting were representative from Harpercollins, Ingram, Newstand, Bibliovault, codeMantra, CPI Publishing, MPS Technologies and Value Chain International. Each presentation was interesting in documenting the direction each company was taking in this arena. The comments by Bibliovault were especially on point for any one thinking about digital asset management:

1. Make sure you have access to your files at any time – don’t be reliant on the vendor to provide access
2. Don’t hand off the content and walk away expecting everything will be OK
3. Get your short term goals met
4. Be sure you can stockpile: a place to put the content even-though the content may not be released to the public

The full report can be found here and in about a month you will also be able to find the presentations.

BookExpo America Conference: Podcast

Many of the conference sessions at BookExpo were taped for Podcast as was the session I hosted.

Here is the link.

This session provides an overview of the social networking activities of various publishers and provides a window into their motivations, successes and expectations. It is hosted by Michael Cairns, founder of Information Media Partners. Speakers include Michael Hyatt of Thomas Nelson, Carrie Kania of Harper Perennial, Jim Behrle of Overlook Press, Karen Christensen of Berkshire Publishing and Malle Vallick of Harlequin.

Pearson, GE and Dow Jones

While Pearson has not admitted engaging in any discussions there is much too much noise about this possible deal for nothing to be going on. The Independent has an article this morning which examines how the deal may be done that enables Pearson to retain earnings growth and return rates that they have promised shareholders.

So Pearson has been casting about for a partner, with the latest mooted structure being a joint bid with GE, the outcome of which would be a joint venture where the two own equal shares of 40-45 per cent and the Bancroft family retain a stake of 10-20 per cent. GE would put CNBC into the joint venture, Pearson would put in the FT and possibly some of the other assets from the FT Group, which also owns The Economist and a host of specialist financial magazines and databases. One or both would also have to contribute some cash so that the Bancrofts and Dow Jones' other shareholders could get something close to Mr Murdoch's $60-a-share for their holdings.

The odds are still with NewCorp but it looks like being a far more interesting process than it looked two weeks ago.


UPDATE: Bloomberg

GE and Pearson have dropped their discussions on a potential bid for Dow Jones. The odds are even more in favor of News Corps bid and the market agrees. The stock price for DJ has settled at the offer price.

News Corp Discusses Combining MySpace and Yahoo

An interesting story in this morning's London Times that suggests that News Corp executives and Yahoo have discussed the combination of MySpace with Yahoo. News Corp would retain approximately 25-30% interest in the combined entity. With the departure of Terry Semel, the discussions could die a quick death but with the massive strategic issue that Google poses to Yahoo the company must be thinking that organic incremental growth is not going to cut it and that they will need to construct more than one major deal to both build momentum and compete aggressively with Google. The combination with MySpace is certainly interesting but if you coupled that deal with a merger with EBAY - which also has its Google problems - and suddenly you have a legitimate antidote to Googleness.

EBSCO Acquire Some ABC-Clio Databases

Ebsco announced yesterday an 'historic' agreement with ABC-Clio to acquire two of ABC-CLIO’s renowned databases, Historical Abstracts (HA) and America: History and Life (AHL), and will distribute eight additional award-winning history databases in addition to ABC-CLIO’s online history eBook collection, History Reference Online. EBSCO continues to add content to their concentrated 'silo' offerings which makes them the number one source of affordable academic reference material.

From the press release:

Tim Collins, President of EBSCO Publishing, said: “We are extremely excited about this partnership. Our relationship with ABC-CLIO will enable expanded access to some truly remarkable resources. As always, we remain committed to adding value for librarians and researchers in the research process.” Collins continued: “As a company that remains committed to growth, and one of the largest licensors and digitizers of content in the world, we are delighted and honored to be able to work with ABC-CLIO to enhance and expand history resources for teachers, students, and scholars.”

Gary Rautenstrauch - New CEO SirsiDynix

Vista Equity Partners appointed Gary Rautenstrauch the new CEO of SirsiDynix as of this weekends ALA conference in Washington DC. Gary was last at AMS and had been hired to sort out that mess which developed into a much larger problem than most people realised. Most people in library land will know him from his time at Baker & Taylor. He replaces Pat Somers who left Sirsi after Vista Equity invested.

Press Release

Google Interiors - All too possible

Does Google know no bounds? Maps were one thing, digital pictures of your streetscape another. Can it go even further? Well, Sandra Niehaus thinks it can:

“I’m Dierdre Martin and this is George.” She didn’t fill in George’s last name,
but they both held out their hands and I shook them. I realized with a shock
that George’s hat was a dense cluster of tiny cameras, forming a rounded beehive
of angled, glittering eyes. “We’re from Google Interiors, a new venture
sponsored by Google to make every home interior in the world searchable on the
internet.” She paused and took in my doubtless stunned expression. “You know,
Google, the internet search engine?” she clarified helpfully.

Read the entertaining post here.

(Tip of the hat to Exact Editions).

News on Literary Social Networks

(Via GalleyCat).
I missed the news reported in The Christian Science Monitor that librarything.com has linked up with Random House to supply books to Librarything users in exchange for reviews.

Random House will send free copies of five new fiction titles to 95 LibraryThing members in exchange for short reviews. They'll ship another batch in July. Come October, LibraryThing anticipates opening its "Early Reviewers" program to other publishing houses. A half-dozen have expressed interest so far.

Goodreads and shelfari are other sites that have been able to generate collective interest in books and the social aspects of reviewing, sharing recommendations and simple inquisitiveness regarding others reading interests. What is apparent is that these sites and the success of others like them will lead to an accelleration in the migration of publishers advertising dollars away from newspapers and trade magazines to sites of book interest. As the article comments:

The potential for websites like Goodreads, LibraryThing, http://www.whatsonmybookshelf.com/, and http://www.shelfari.com/, to reach readers across all demographics is certainly promising. LibraryThing has 205,000 members and 14 million books catalogued. (Mr. Spalding likes to say that if it were a bricks-and-mortar library its collection would surpass Yale University's.) Shelfari, which was launched last year and doesn't disclose numbers beyond saying its users are in the tens of thousands, recently received funding from Amazon.com.

The sources of influential book reviews from the likes of NYTimes and Publisher's Weekly may become marginalized unless they adopt some of the same types of social and interactive technologies that these innovators have done. Woe that they come up with something a step beyond what some of these small innovators have done.

Google Pushing the Bounds of Privacy?

To many literate web aficionados the presumption of privacy as it refers to ones everyday interaction with the web is an anachronism of another age. Reuters takes a look at what Google is doing with web search and doesn't answer many questions but certainly poses some.

Unified Search offers no information not already available on Google, but by putting it all in one place, it is turning up sometimes disconcerting links between previously unconnected types of data. And Google is testing various forms of personalized Web search, including Web History, a feature that allows individual users to look back at a chronological history of their search activity over several years. Users learn what predictable creatures they are -- what good and bad habits they have -- when their entire Web search record is revealed, stretching back days, months, even years. By offering a digital record of users' daily interests, Google is giving those who choose the service an unprecedented level of insight into their own thinking. Computers have begun to play the confessional role once reserved for the local priest, or psychotherapist.

If I needed a shrink, I am pretty sure he/she would not be my computer.

The article goes on to review the push Google is making to re-write the rules of privacy in a legal sense.

Google has responded by calling for comprehensive legislation to harmonize laws of various governments, all of which want their say over the World Wide Web. Self-regulation by the Internet industry has not worked, the company says. "Patchwork regulation is confusing for consumers because they don't know which privacy regulations should apply in different situations," Google attorney Wong says of U.S. privacy laws.

Of course it is a little disingenuous for Wong to speak-up for us consumers when what they proselytize has a material impact on their business model. Nevertheless there is probably a grain/stone of truth to the comment.

Pearson and Dow Jones

I half jokingly suggested that Pearson would take a look at Dow Jones amid speculation that Pearson was next on News Corps list if the NewsCorp bid for Dow Jones didn't work out. Most competitive bidders for DJ face considerable hurdles matching the current Murdoch bid but Pearson may have a hidden advantage in that the Bancroft family may be willing to take less money from Pearson in exchange for the understanding that the financial icon will be better protected journalistically under Pearson than under NewsCorp.

Reports suggest the likelihood of a bid is low, but if they were to end up with Dow Jones, it would be somewhat of a redemption for Pearson chair Scardino who has steadfastly refused to sell the FT group in the face of baying analysts and some shareholders who believed the group a looser. Combined with Dow Jones they would own three of the top ten news and financial journals in the world all of which (WSJ, FT, Economist) have exceptionally strong branding around the world. The next questions would be what do they do with it if they get it?

New York Post (Murdoch Paper)
NYT

Wolters Kluwer: Share Buy Back - Is this all they could think of?

Anyone owning WK shares should be thinking that their investment will increase in value as WK embarks on a $1.obillion share buy back scheme over the next 18mths. (Link) I am sure it is important to shareholders that the company stock price increase but wasn't selling the educational unit a way to get rid of an under performing asset and thus a deflated share price?

In an environment where information assets are going through the roof in terms of value is this the only thing they could come up with that could add long term value for shareholders? Without an aggressive business development strategy - that is acquisitions - is the company not a target themselves with $1.obillion from the education sale and a low share price? WK operate in a rapidly growing health care information market and thus one very appealing to PE or a well placed trade buyer. Why would either wait for the share price to go up?

Bureau Van Dijk: Sale Interest Low

The Private Equity fund Candover placed BVD on the block two months ago amid a highly volatile environment for information and financial database companies. Who could doubt that the time was ripe. However, according to The Financial Times the initial indications of interest have been under whelming thus far. Some of the likely bidders - Reuters, Thomson, Pearson - have not come through with bids and this has disappointed the owners. The company itself appears to be doing well but according to the article some potential buyers are concerned that a lot of the content is not owned by BVD.

These sources also mentioned the fact that Bureau van Dijk does not technically own its own information, as a potential cause for concern for potential bidders. On the other hand, one source noted that it can be seen as a high-quality asset, as reflected in the 9-10x EBITDA multiple being offered in two separate staple finance packages from Goldman Sachs and RBS. Bureau van Dijk’s products include bank, corporate and M&A databases such as BankScope and AMADEUS and ZEPHYR.

Here is the link to my earlier post on BVD.

As the quote above indicates, BVD has strong branded products, in key markets that command high margin revenues. BVD is expected to go for around $1.3billion and given the prices paid for recent information companies it could still surprise.

Book Videos and Simon & Schuster

The New York Times (via Associated Press) has a short article on video promotions for books. It is becoming all the rage now. Here is the McEwen (Chesil Beach) video produced by Powells Books mentioned in the article.



Also mentioned is Susan Wiggins' novel The Shadow Catcher which is one of the new crop of videos launched by Simon & Schuster today. From the article:

Wiggins is one of 40 writers featured on a video site launched Thursday by Simon & Schuster that includes clips of Wiggins, Zane, Jeannette Walls and Sandra Brown. The publisher expects to add videos for books by Vince Flynn, Michael Connelly and Jodi Picoult among others.

Once a novelty, book videos are increasingly common and, publishers say, essential. Hyperion Books, HarperCollins and Penguin Group (USA) are among those using them. Powell's Books, a leading independent store based in Portland, Ore., plans its own series of films, starting with a video for Ian McEwan's new novel, ''On Chesil Beach.''

''I don't know if we're reaching people we wouldn't otherwise be reaching, but we are reaching people who are not necessarily reading book review sections, or always watching a TV show,'' says Sue Fleming, Simon & Schuster's vice president and executive director for online and consumer marketing.

Here is the link to the Wiggins video and here is the link to Bookvideos.tv where you can watch videos of favorite authors (when they do a video) and learn more about the books.

al-Mutanabi Street: Baghdad Diary

I had not had the chance until recently to return to the diary of Dr. Saad Eskande, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive . It makes pretty horrific reading and this passage from March 5th describes the scene of the car bomb attack on the well known al-Mutanabi Street Book market. The diary is hosted by the British Library and is well worth reading.

As we were talking, a huge explosion shook the INLA's building around 11.35. We, the three of us, ran to the nearest window, and we saw a big and thick grey smoke rising from the direction of al-Mutanabi Street, which is less than 500 meter away from the INLA. I learnt later that the explosion was a result of a car bomb attack. Tens of thousands of papers were flying high, as if the sky was raining books, tears and blood. The view was surreal. Some of the papers were burning in the sky. Many burning pieces of papers fell on the INLA's building. Al-Mutanabi Street is named after one of the greatest Arab poets, who lived in Iraq in the middle ages. The Street is one of well-known areas of Baghdad and where many publishing houses, printing companies and bookstores have their main offices and storages. Its old cafes are the most favorite place for the impoverished intellectuals, who get their inspirations and ideas form this very old quarter of Baghdad. The Street is also famous for its Friday's book market, where secondhand, new and rear books are sold and purchased. The INLA purchases about 95% of new publications from al-Mutanabi Street. I also buy my own books from the same street. It was extremely sad to learn that a number of the publishers and book sellers, whom we knew very well, were among the dead, including Mr. Adnan, who was supposed to deliver a consignment of new publications to the INLA. According to an early estimation, more than 30 people were killed and 100 more injured. Four brothers were killed in their office.

Never Catalog Another Book!

Imagine never having to catalog another book. A potential reality but not one we are likely to see unless the publishing community can establish consistent technical standards for RFID (radio frequency identification). RFID tags should be bound into a book (or DVD, CD) at the bindery and that tag should represent a standard syntax that all RFID readers can understand. The process of RFID attributes a unique number (in standard syntax) to the tag that then enables readers at any point in the publishing supply chain to read the tag and identify the exact copy (or item).

As the item follows through the supply chain, data elements are be attributed to the tag representing everything from ISBN – to advanced shipping notice (ASN) – to customer membership number. In an ideal, fully implemented world, the physical touches are significantly less (and potentially zero) than in the traditional model where books are counted, sorted and cataloged repeatedly before they are eventually sold. As the example of BGN in the Netherlands shows, even in a limited implementation – that is from distribution to retailer – significant savings can be had.

Naturally a robust data warehouse sits at the center of any RFID implementation where all data elements attributable to the items reside. For example, once the RFID tag is attributed to an ISBN all the data elements describing that ISBN are now ‘readable’ at any point in the supply chain. This is particularly relevant at the end of the supply chain in the bookstore or library. At this point, a book can be found in any location in the store or library whether miss-shelved or not by reading the RFID tag. Searches conducted in the catalog or in-store kiosk will be able to identify the exact spot where the book can be found.

Potentially, implementing RFID on an industry basis would eliminate significant redundancy in the supply chain and probably increase effectiveness of everything from publishing programs to marketing programs and sales.

Clearly there are more than a few hurdles to over come to get to this point not least of which is the standard for RFID. Retail implementation of RFID in the US booktrade is limited, but not so in libraries where vendors have been selling systems into the library market for years. Unfortunately, the vendors sell their own non-compatible platforms which only partially generate the kind of improvements that could be achieved. In addition, the libraries that implement RFID have to retro-convert their collections at considerable cost and cover the costs themselves. The number of different systems in place at libraries also causes problems for suppliers who are required to place tags on items and must accommodate differing standards (obvious oxymoron) and then test the resulting tag with a version of the software in place at the library. A tiresome and inefficient process to say the least.

It doesn’t need to be so. In the Netherlands, an admittedly strong vendor set its own agenda in establishing an RFID standard for its stores. There needs to be a similar effort in the US but one that keeps the solution simple – a syntax for the RFID tag only – that will allow publishers, retailers and libraries to experiment and implement RFID in the supply chain.

Ultimately, RFID will be implemented in the publishing industry and booksellers and libraries will never have to catalog or attribute bibliographic information to a title. The bibliographic database is the other key item that needs to be addressed and there are some interesting trends in this area which I will discuss in my next article.

BBC US News: More competition for Katie

Admidst the Katie C bashing The BBC has announced that they will launch an hour long US newscast on BBC America and BBC World.

The BBC is betting on a show that fills a niche in TV similar to the one The Economist fills in print. The London-based magazine saw circulation rise on the popularity of its in-depth international and financial reporting.

Personnally, I enjoy the contrast between the US networks approach to news and the BBC's international viewpoint. I wonder if I will enjoy watching US news on BBC and World news on BBC. For the most part I think US news is fairly shallow so if BBC is able to provide the type of coverage of the US that they do for international news their new program may become an interesting alternative. I'll never give up The Daily Show however.

Are We On The Right Frequency?

Rather than wait for an industry to bless a standard for RFID or a data requirement for each chip, the Dutch retailer BGN launched a major strategic initiative to build ‘the book retail store of the future’ using self-designed RFID tools and technology. The resulting implementation has been the talk of the RFID industry and why not since this relatively small retailer operating in a relatively small industry has done what the mighty Walmart has been unable to do. From the outset, success for BGN was more assured because the company embarked on this effort for its own business reasons rather than having to implement it due to some directive from a third party.

The Dutch experience was presented at a panel meeting on Saturday at BookExpo to a disappointingly small group. RFID is in the process of transforming the BGN business and while publishers and retailers from the US have visited their operations to see the implementation in detail there doesn’t appear to be immediate impetus in the US to launch an RFID initiative. The Dutch example is notable for several reasons: Firstly, the company approached the initiative from a complete supply-chain view and they recognized that they needed to involve other parties in the planning and design of the initiative. Secondly, the company was first to implement the solution, and as a result, key software and hardware vendors were more willing to be flexible to support the implementation since it was in their interests to succeed. Thirdly, the company used experiences gained by others-such as Borders’ use of kiosks, Gartner’s research on store design and Metro of Germany’s test store.

The retail (not just publishing) industry suggested it couldn’t be done, arguing that privacy, tag costs and product breadth were issues too difficult to overcome. While BGN understood and addressed these concerns, Matthijs vd Lely, CEO of BGN, commented while on the Panel that, even prior to implementation, some executives remained skeptical.

The results have been more than impressive. At the Donner store location, the company stocks about 240,000 titles on 55,000 sq/ft and receives about 8million units each year. In a ‘traditional’ store, stock takes require the closing of the store for 2days. The new store remains open and the inventory is counted in hours. Theft and shrinkage have been reduced because the company accurately tracks items from receipt through purchase and the RFID tags acts as a theft alarm. (Privacy has been addressed by deactivating the tag on purchase). In a presentation at Frankfurt last year, the company estimated that they save over $250,000/yr just from stock take efficiency alone. Evidence also suggests that average revenue per customer has increased 6-8%, due to better inventory information at store level.

During implementation, the company needed to address minor issues such as metal shelving that interfered with RFID reception, metal or part metal packaging on books, CDs and DVDs; and, in some cases, location of a title was not specific enough – covering two bookshelf bays for example. These issues appear minor and, post-implementation, the store experience for shoppers is considerably enhanced. Employees and customers can identify with certainty an item and its location in the store. More integration with their web site and with store promotions and bundling is planned. The company hopes to have RFID implemented store-wide by the end of 2008, with added improvements (such as RFID enabled shelving) which could eliminate stock taking entirely.

The prospects for success in the US appear muted for two reasons. Firstly, well-intentioned industry volunteers seem to be fixated on defining the data that may or may not ride along on the RFID chip. In the BGN implementation, the chip only contains a unique number. At the point when the RFID chip is applied to the item (by BGN), the chip number and associated meta-data are married up in the BGN product database: Taken at face value, this approach appears more flexible, cheaper and faster. (For example, what happens if data ‘formatted’ on an RFID chip is inaccurate? The same mistake could be rectified once in a database rather than having to recall all RFID chips and rewriting the information). In the US, the initiative may move faster if we just define the syntax for the ‘dumb’ RFID number. Secondly, no one in the industry appears to want to take the first step but, as the BGN example shows, significant advantages could accrue to the company that goes first. In my opinion, this is most likely to be a retailer and, perhaps, should be a retailer, because the business case seems to be more obvious.

In looking to the future, BGN hopes that tags will be applied at the bindery and supply-chain partners can adopt the technology when they are able. In the US, we don’t seem to have reached that point of mutual desire. In an industry where a half- point gain in operating margin is hard to find, one would think that capital investment supporting RFID implementation at store level would be a no-brainer- especially given the example of BGN.

RFID Can Save Book Retail

BGN is a Dutch retailer that has launched their own RFID initiative to resounding success. (I used their experience as a basis for my re-think of the Borders business strategy). At this mornings panel discussion, the compelling business case seemed to escape the audience although BGN did say that all major publishers and B&N had visited to see the RFID implementation in action.

In the US it seems we are making our standards discussion more complicated than it needs to be and thusfar the primary players in the supply chain are engaged in an infinite loop-like discussion about who should take the lead on implementation.

As a result, we are in the words of one of the panelists engaged in a "rolling five year" implementation. Which means don't hold your breath - more later.

IPhone: The best IPOD we have ever made

Walt Mosberg interviews Steve Jobs about the Apple business - well worth watching.

"we are in three businesses and a hobby" Apple MAC and iTunes Music business generate $10billion each and the third business they are about to get into is the phone business (he calls it "handsets") and the hobby is Apple TV.

Where is the MAC business? Growth is about 3x the market growth rate and greater if US is stripped out.

Jobs: IPhone is the best IPod we have ever made. Available on the last day in June.

Reason 2 cingular did the deal: Existing Phones are not capabile of taking advantage of 3G phones particularly in how users access the interent. They get the 'baby internet'

Zillions of independents are looking to offer DRM free music: many more by end of year.

Mosberg asks about 'lock-in': Jobs notes that less than 25 songs on average IPOD were purchased via Itunes store. Given average user has hundreds of songs on their IPOD. Clearly not getting the majority of their music from Itunes and not even getting a medium sized minority. Suggestion "we have a lock in is ridiculous." "IPOD wins because it is the best music player".

Mosberg: is the IPhone a wireless Ipod? Jobs: It is three things, the best Ipod ever made, the best (and incredibly good) phone and "the internet in your pocket" If it were any one of the three it would be sucessful.

Itunes software versus number of IPODs: 300mm + copies of Itunes versus 100mm Ipods. Makes Apple one of the largest windows developers. Jobs: "we get cards and letters from people that say we are their favorite app on windows," and "Its like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell."








Link via Paid Content.

BookExpo Quotes: Friday

Amazon Digital:
4mm orders in one day - during Christmas season
42mm unique visitors each month
67mm active accounts

1 in 2 Books sold is in the Search Inside the Book Program: "Browsing pages sells more books"

Incremental sales up lift is 6.5%

Amazon allows consumers that "the know have a propensity to buy based on their account details to delve deeper into the content and gain more access to content"

Generally an very interesting presentation of the completeness of Amazon's digital marketing and promotions support for publishers.


Overheard in the isle: "this book is a combination of Catch 22 and Patrick O'Brien"

The Murdochs and the Bancrofts

Looks like there has been a change of heart in the Bancroft family and the sale of the company looks all but inevitable. Reuters

From the article:

The Bancroft family, which controls 64 percent of Dow Jones's voting power, said it would also look at offers from other bidders. Dow Jones in a separate statement said the board would consider News Corp.'s offer and other approaches.

The Bancroft decision is a change from its earlier rejection of Murdoch's $60-a-share bid, and brings the publisher of The Wall Street Journal closer to being sold after more than a century of being independent.

Obviously, assuming Murdoch gets this prize it would be unlikely that he will have a go at Pearson. Clearly the market sees this as a real event and the stock was up sharply on the news to slightly below the Murdoch offer level.

Book Expo - Quotes

Shatzkin - End of General Trade: "Print will be the last media to be read on a device....and we shouldn't be proud of that." With respect to published content, "all obsessions no matter what it is will be indulged" and brands as a result "move to a very granular level"

Gomez (Print is Dead): "there will be no e-book revolution until we come up with another name for it" which reflects the interactive nature of the product. And there will be "integration not another IPod". We need to "thinkof the children" who are and will be consumers of our content.

Hyatt - Social Networking for Publishers - It is important "to be authentic" in communications because users will see through what you are doing. Resist the temptation to have someone "ghost write your blog" because you will be found out.

BookExpo Panel Meeting

Reminder to readers: The panel I am hosting at BEA is at 2:30 this afternoon in Room 1E04. On the panel are executives from Overlook Press, Harlequin, HarperCollins, Berkshire Publishing and Thomas Nelson. See you there.

Comedy Central's News Babes

I have a view on network news programs but I wish I were this funny.

Reed Elsevier Most Obvious Buy-Out Candidate?

The Times is reporting that Deutsche Bank called Reed Elsevier the publishing sector’s “most obvious buyout target”. The bank has raised its recommendation on the stock to buy. This is how they see it:

The broker argued that Reed shares could be worth up to 780p to a financial buyer. Sums involved in the Thomson Learning deal also suggested that Reed’s sale of its education business could raise £2.2 billion, up from its previous forecast of £1.8 billion, it said. Reed finished up 16p at 675½p.

Certainly the rules have changed somewhat but applying the multiple paid for Thomson Learning to all of Reed is not quite appropriate. Other analysts have suggested that Reed will escape their education foray successfully and the share price for the balance of Reed will escalate because it is currently weighted down by the educational unit. Reed will certainly benefit from the Thomson Learning sale but if you look at the multiple paid for Reuters (an information business) by Thomson the picture is not as glaringly bright if you are concerned with relative price multiples. Either that or Thomson got a real bargain.

DB may have a vested interest here because Pearson has been consistently touted as the most likely PE target. No doubt there is more action to come in this arena.

Publishing News - An Explanation

When I was at PriceWaterhouse (1995-99), I thought of using this new fangled Internet thing to seek news and information about the publishing industry that I could then summarize in an email and distribute it to my colleagues and the Partners at PW. (No Google then). Our business unit was established to build consulting relationships with major publishing and information companies and I believed that my email news letter (Publishing News) would be useful to the team in understanding the publishing landscape and the key people in the industry.

I kept all of these emails and decided to add them to this blog as supplementary information for some of my readers who from time to time may need background information on certain publishing companies. Regrettably, when I joined Bowker I didn't have the time to keep this up and there is a rather large gap between the end of Publishing News and the start of this blog. It is what it is.

Publishing News 1997-8
Publishing News 1999

Borders Reports First Quarter

Borders reported their first quarter results with little change to show for the new strategy that they are in the process of executing. Overall revenue up versus the same period last year however, same store sales were lower with books revenues slightly worse than last year, DVDs flat and music lower. PaperChase - the stationary misfit - continued to perform better than forecast. The company opened four new superstores during the period which contributed to the overall revenue increase.

There was little news on the new strategy other than to say the company is proceeding with the sale of the international stores where revenues were slightly better than the same period last year.

Readers may recall the aborted debt refinancing the company attempted earlier this year and in the press release the company noted that they expect to seek between $150 - $200million in term loan financing sometime during the second quarter. Perhaps the second time they will explain how this refinancing will benefit shareholders.

Publishers Must Blog!

As publishers we are in the content creation and information business. As owners of the means of production we have always been the gatekeepers between creation of intellectual works and the consumers of this material. It should be no surprise to any of us that the expansion of new media application erodes the foundation of these gates as individuals gain direct access to an audience and leverage facilities to comment and opinionate about the very output that we in the publishing industry labor hard to select for them. At the same time, search undercuts and demythologizes the power of branded content, and provides the average Joe with information and content that is good enough for their immediate requirements.

If you can’t beat them join them: Developing a social media strategy that encompasses blogging should be a foundation of all publishing house marketing and promotion plans. I have mentioned before (in relationship to book reviews) that I am less convinced of the value of typical marketing programs supporting book promotion. My macro view above can only be mitigated by joining the new media fray and developing networks of interested parties that can nurture, support and perhaps develop content that you produce as a publishing house. As market segments evolve, I think they will become narrower and more defined and publishers that support communities (via social) must be able to participate in these communities in a meaningful way in order to be successful. This is already the case on computer book publishing.

When I started this blog, like everyone else I sought links to place on my blog. I found many but few from established publishers. Over the past year, I have seen more publishers enter the blog world but the numbers still seem small for an industry dependent on words and information. Authors and publishers should develop a blog strategy and blogging should be a natural extension of any publishing house. This idea was the genesis for the panel presentation I am hosting at BookExpo this week.

• As I thought about the theme of the panel meeting, my thought process mirrored the approach I took and the benefits I saw in establishing a blog.


• Blogging gave me an opportunity to experiment with new technology


• I became a publisher/content producer and, as traffic increases, one with responsibility to an audience


• Develop a personality beyond a ‘resume’ or existing professional reputation


• As popularity increases, the blog becomes a center of a growing network of interest


• Expands a professional network: who knew there were as many people with shared views and perspectives?

As I mentioned, there are a number of very popular publishers who are actively blogging but in my view every publisher should have numerous blog sites: some official but the company should also support individual blogs by its employees. Developing a code of conduct is relatively simple and in some cases the employees themselves can be instrumental in formulating this code. (Obviously, the company cannot police every corporate blogger; however, every employee has some fiduciary responsibility to act responsibly towards the company they work for). While affiliation with a publishing house is powerful, as an editor, marketing director, or publisher, I would recommend developing your own blog – so that you can build an online personality that is somewhat separate from the corporation. That is not to say that you can’t blog for the house, but developing your own blog enables flexibility and individualism that can and will be important to you professionally. While you support your current publisher you are also developing your own brand.

As a publisher, or one who works in a publishing organization, it seems redundant to explain the mechanics of getting started as a blogger: You really should know this stuff because it is what your audience (and some competitors) has been doing for a few years now.

• Choose from any number of hosted tools: Blogger, WordPress, Icerocket, Moveable Type and many, many others. I use Blogger but if I were to do it over, I would pick one of the other popular tools. Blogger has only recently added basic functionality that others have offered for a considerable time.


• Pick a name: Perhaps not as easy as it would seem and I would err on the side of professionalism rather than something like ‘monkeyboy’. (Unless you are a publisher at National Geographic in which case it may be appropriate). Using your name is perfectly acceptable - as many do. I would not recommend tying the blog name to the name of your publishing house (they may not allow it anyway) because the blog wouldn’t be portable.


• Plan out your first few weeks of blog posts and use your experience as material. If you are an editor your titles and authors should be the focus of your interests and don’t expect that you will ‘hit your comfort zone’ in terms of content immediately. It took me several months before I started to deliver content in a thematic way.


• Learn from what the other publisher bloggers are doing and link to as many sites as possible. The more links you establish the more you will be noticed. Establish a del.icio.us account and ‘clip’ the articles and blog posts you find interesting. Not only is this a valuable resource for your own research but you can use these links as material for your blog posts. Once a week, I capture my ‘clips’ in a blog post.


• The marketing and promotional aspects of blogging are still evolving but establishing a social network that links consumers, authors, publishing executives, agents, etc. will be a powerful tool to support the house’s publishing product. The social community can be useful in developing markets, expanding reach and gauging interests and/or trends. All important aspects of marketing and content acquisition functions.

A few months ago, I heard Joe Wikert (of Wiley) speak about publisher’s blogging activities and why they can’t afford not to. I asked him about the branding issue: Was he the brand or is it John Wiley. He pointed out that while he promotes Wiley incessantly there are no Wiley logos on his site. The site is supported by Wiley in the sense that they do not edit or ask him to manipulate any content. Wikert suggested that the company did take a considered look at employee blogging activity and decided on a ‘common-sense’ approach which meant self governance by the bloggers. Wikert said his blog is really not a Wiley product but he believes his blog is valuable to Wiley because it proves to an important community (the IT world and technical book authors) that Wiley understands the community and environment. The separation from Wiley does allow Wikert to express his own opinions which as a purely corporate blogger he might find difficult.

Establishing a personality as a blogger should be a professional requirement of all of us in the publishing community. Don’t forget to let your employer know and understand what you are doing and what you want to achieve since full disclosure may eliminate problems later on. Don’t be afraid to use your contacts and network of professional relationships to get the word out and if you are really lucky the company may link to your blog from their web home page which should drive more traffic to you. Lastly, use web analytics tools available from Feedburner or Google Analytics (and others) to track your traffic and let you understand what works and what doesn’t.

Get started.

Weekly Update: May 27

Deal News:
David Levin: UBM CEO, On Deal Money Chasing Smaller Deals: Reuters
Gilbane (Paxhia) on Thomson Learning: Gilbane
EMAP on the Block? Guardian

Publishing:
LA Times on Book Reviews: LA Times
Paid Content or Ad Supported Content That is the Question: Reuters
Google Book Search Becomes More: Blog
Let's hear it for copyright reform: IF:BOOK

Other News:
Alibris Extends Book Selling Platform to all Casual Sellers: PRNews
Public Library Tries LibraryThing.com as Network Appl: LJ
B&N Financial Conference Call Transcript: Seeking Alpha
BIBME Auto populate a Bibliography: PR
Bilking the Elderly via InfoUSA: NYTimes
Death by Powerpoint: Open
Bad data - OUP in Trouble over Place names: The Times of India
Google Fights Plagarism: Guardian


Sport:
Does Steinbrenner know about this? O'Reilly

HP's E-Reader Concept "BOOK"

This looks like a really cool looking tool. Video presentation at the bottom of the page.

HP presented its ‘e-book reader’ during 2007 HP Mobility Summit in Shanghai, China, which is a concept of next generation e-book featuring intuitive interface. You can flip pages of book content in the reader as if you turn pages of real book and by utilizing HP’s online photo website ‘Snapfish’, you can enjoy photo book function as well. It is still a prototype, so it will take time to launch as a real product to research more, develop dedicated software, and receive feedbacks from customers, a company official mentioned.

Video presentation:

Is the New York Times in Play?

Courtesy of a link from media bistro, Michael Wolf and Jon Fine of Vanity Fair discuss whether the NY Times is in play or not. I don't believe Wolf makes the case - and he is forever looking to throw out the ancient regime - and agree with Fine that at the moment the comparison with the Bancrofts and Dow Jones does not compare to the NY Times circumstances. Interestingly, Wolf suggests a 2x market current cap ($7bill) as his deal or no deal offer which suggests even he thinks the circumstances would have to be extraordinary for this to happen.

On a topical note, the Times has also indicated (via Gawker) that it needs to release itself from the shackles of a print based orientation and become far more flexible both in the manner in which it develops content and who develops the content. According to Managing Editor Bill Keller,

He also spoke about the "gradual reallocation of resources from print towards digital" and copy editors being moved to the day side, so that there could be a "greater flow of fresh quality edit material."

So, journos won't be working all day on one story - or perhaps they will but the content/story will be updated more frequently and potentially by others if the story continues to develop past bed-time. Additionally, he went on to challenge the idea that The Times needs to focus on editorial control, standards and spelling and personnally that worries me. The Times has had its difficulties with some of that in recent years; nevertheless, surely one of the main attractions of the product is the measure of control (and readability) that the editors exert over journos. And while Keller (and lets face it he is more an expert than I) admits the web is different and has different standards, why can't The Times deliver a superior product leveraging the webs benefits while still maintaining The Times' credibility? In my reading of these comments it seems that Keller all too readily 'gives up' in the face of badly edited, unspell-checked, off point crap (that may contain a nugget of useful information).

"We can't let our reverence for quality become a straitjacket in new media," he warned. "The web environment is different... We can offer guidance but we cannot insist on the same control we exercise over print."

(It is more than possible that this blog is a case in point).

Over the past several years, The Times has monkeyed with its print format and Keller announced a material change in trim size. Other newspapers in Europe have gone from broad sheet to tabloid but this change appears to more in keeping with the recent WSJ change.

Echoing Fine rather than Wolf, Keller joked that "There have also been reports of a rat sighting," at the new building which if true would seem to indicate that the rats are still quite comfortable on the big grey ship.

BookExpo America Conferences

Ted Hill (fellow traveller and friend of the blog) let me know of a seminar he is hosting at BookExpo and here are the details:

Best Practices in Digital Marketing: The Publisher’s Perspective

Most trade publishers know that they can no longer rely on traditional marketing alone to connect with readers, but they are uncertain where they should invest scarce dollars in the many new opportunities presented by the net. Separate the buzzwords from the best working practices as you negotiate the shift from print to digital marketing. Topics include product marketing, working with online merchants, the company website, author-driven marketing, and how to build value over time.
Date: Thursday, May 31, 2007
Time: 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Place: Room 1E03

If you’re interested in the above, my frequent collaborators, Mike Shatzkin of the Idea Logical Company and Brian O’Leary of Magellan Media will also be speaking on topics on the same day that you may find valuable.

And as he mentions, Mike Shatzkin (fellow traveller and friend of the blog) also has a seminar and the details are as follows:

The End of General Trade Publishing Houses: Death or Rebirth in a Niche-by-Niche World describes how digital change is eliminating the ecosystem that sustains general trade publishing houses. But the good news is that the ecosystem we see replacing it is one general trade houses can actually migrate to, if they recognize the challenge, accept some painful realities, and start now. I know the speech will be provocative; I think it will also be entertaining and I hope it will put a lot of things most of us already know into a comprehensible framework.

Thursday, May 31, at 10 am, room 1E04

That same afternoon, May 31, at 2:30, in Room 1E11, I am moderating a session called Digital Search Intermediaries: New Roles and Channels for Publishers. This is about Digital Asset Distribution, a subject on which I am currently co-authoring a White Paper and co-hosting conferences dedicated to, in New York on June 21 and in London on July 12.

The speech I gave on DADs at BISG's Making Information Pay is now posted on our web site. You'll find it at http://www.idealog.com/speeches/mipdads.htm

The second seminar above conflicts with the session I am hosting unfortunately....

See you all there.

Is Pearson Next For Murdoch?

In a recent article about Rupert Murdoch and his bid to acquire Dow Jones, The Economist newspaper reported as an aside that while at the Davos World Economic Forum Murdoch was trying to interest as many PE groups as he could in a combined News Corp/PE bid for Pearson. Dow Jones has always been his preferred business publication and he sees the Dow Jones property as key to the development of his global business channel; however, if the Dow Jones shareholders appear intractable then he is likely to launch an attack on Pearson in order to get his hands on The Financial Times and The Economist Group.

For their part, the Pearson board and top executives have said that they are unwilling to sell or to split up the company. In spite of this consistent message, with the sale of the Thomson Learning business for almost $1.5billion more than Thomson and analysts expected one must wonder when the views of the board begin to diverge from the interests of the shareholders if valuations like this are on offer via PE money.

According to a number of sources, the hold out Bancroft family is set to meet today to discuss the News Corp offer. Murdoch has proven to be fairly patient in his effort to acquire Dow Jones but he has promised a financial network to compete with CNBC and needs content and branding to support that effort. The synergy that will exist between the US based Dow Jones and News Corp and the brand recognition and reach of The Wall Street Journal will trump the larger international presence and brand of The Financial Times. I suspect Murdoch will continue with his full court press on the Bancrofts for the short term - he is unlikely to up his offer - and he is probably willing to gamble on an auction should the Bancroft shareholders decide to seek other offers. While there is a lot of PE money going around, the Murdoch price is a fair one given the trading level prior to the bid. Some have also suggested that the share price will tumble below this original level if Murdoch is rebuffed.

With respect to Pearson there exists a possibility that they could be 'blackmailed' into parting with The Financial Times if someone started to buy up shares of the company; however, this seems unlikely since the moment any group launches any type of offer there will be several additional offers presented almost immediately. I suppose Pearson could defend itself by making a big acquisition and loading up on debt but who would they buy....Dow Jones?