The basic premise under which we're operating here, I'll summarize for those of you have never heard or read my work before, is that horizontal, format-specific media entities are oh, so 20th century, and won't work very deep into the 21st. The reason for that is the web, which almost forces vertical organization. Horizontal presentations across subject matter -- like CBS, Random House, or The New York Times -- were the products of a capital-intensive, limited-distribution universe. CBS came out of an era when there were three national TV networks: they all tried to appeal to the broadest possible audience. Daily newspapers, to support their printing and distribution infrastructure, also had to appeal to just about everybody; the Times could get away without a comic strip page, but that was its only concession to verticality -- a more intellectual audience. And book publishers were relying primarily on promotional media -- newspapers, radio, and TV -- and distribution outlets -- bookstores -- that were also appealing to people across the board. It didn't matter what subjects Random House or Harper or Simon & Schuster published; what mattered is that each book have a large enough audience to be worth employing the powerful machine they controlled.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Where the Web Is Taking Us: The Inevitable Future and the Publisher's Role In It
Mike Shatzkin has uploaded a transcript of a speech he gave to small and independent publishers at this years BookExpo conference. Here is the first paragraph (and you can find the rest of it here):
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Borders Close Sale
Five days after announcing an agreement to sell their Australian and NZ stores, Borders has annouced the deal has closed. All regulatory hurdles were overcome in the first go-around earlier this year and substantial due dilligence must also have been completed before the original deal fell apart. Press release
Time to Re-Think BookExpo
Imagine the lone guy on the periphery minding his stand with only a solitary apparently lost attendee to keep him company once an hour. By some accounts that was the state of affairs sometime over the weekend at BookExpo America in Los Angeles. In advance of the fair Thomas Nelson, one of the largest publishers in the US decided to pass on attending the show. This action was different than the publisher boycott of several years ago; in this case, Nelson recognised that exhibiting at BookExpo is increasingly irrelevant in addressing the dynamics of the market place. In an age when the traditional publishing schedule is looking decidedly frayed, how BookExpo measures these dynamics will determine how many publishers continue to value their attendence.
In much the same way that Publisher's Weekly has seen their traditional advertising model change fundamentally as the bulk of bookstore book purchases are made centrally and six - nine months in advance of publication, BookExpo is in danger of suffering a similar dislocation. In PW's world there is no need to advertise and in BookExpo's world attendance becomes an expensive way to reach independents. More publishers will drop out - perhaps not next year as the show is in New York but it will happen, because the current show format is an old and increasingly ineffective tool. The decline will accelerate as more publishers take advantage of electronic marketing and promotions tools such as NetGalley (functionality will rapidly expand across the MarCom value chain) and more publishers will experiment with virtual trade shows , webinars and virtual worlds like Second Life.
There are two segments to BookExpo - the education program and the exhibits - and both need revamping. On the education side, BookExpo is losing ground to new upstarts like TOC and SIIA conferences. In both these cases, the conference organizers are successfully exploring the intersection of publishing and technology which many of us in the traditional publishing world continue to battle. Attending SIIA conferences with its breadth of content and technology companies all addressing new and old problems in unique ways can be a stunning business experience. At BookExpo we may see this in isolated cases but not comprehensively. In the traditional publishing market an education program similar to TOC or SIIA is still a market opportunity given the concentration of publishers attending BookExpo. On the other hand O'Reilly (TOC) may have already established the beach head. Consumers are decidedly lacking at BookExpo and in some other trade education programs panel discussions include consumers - in one memorable case they were all thirteen year old girls. Our business is in complete flux and that's the kind of education we should be looking for.
On the exhibits side, BookExpo must lead in the expansion of marketing and promotion programs that go beyond the physical limits of a three day event in a location not everyone can attend. The BookExpo America site should be a 365 day exhibit space. Many publishers and some websites are hosting e-versions of their catalogs. Coupled with more product details, ordering facilities, merchandising tools, etc. the traditional conference attendee should be able to visit and interact with all publisher products on the BookExpo site. (I do mean all publishers). The experience can and should be better than visiting the physical show. The traditional publishing calendar is disappearing - it serves no purpose (just as television has eroded their producer driven schedules) other than as a reminder of the formulaic approach to publishing. The physical exhibit can continue but it must change unless it is to devolve into a middling trade show for small and medium sized publishers.
BookExpo also needs to think strategically about exhibitors and to seek new categories of attendees. There should be more technology companies, service companies and others. Since the market is retail what is more logical than encouraging more vendors who market store systems and products? On the technology side there are many vendors who want to expand into the publishing business but do not attend BookExpo. They do attend SIIA, TOC and Book Business conferences. Expansion along these lines is a double-edged sword since a target audience needs to be in attendance. For that, a stronger education program and specific outreach programs need to support exhibitors and attendees. First time exhibitors should get two years for one paid year for example. (As an aside, I also believe the central exhibit floor 'neighborhood' where the largest publishers congregate should be broken apart to encourage more interaction).
Anyone who has stayed over the weekend at the Frankfurt bookfair (as I did on my first visit - and never again) will hiss and blubber over the idea that BookExpo be open to consumers. This issue has previously been debated by BookExpo managers, and indeed at Frankfurt, the issue of consumers attending the fair has long been controversial with the UK and US publishers. My suggestion is based on simple logic. Book reading is declining so what better way to introduce consumers to what publishers have to offer than showing them. Look at the success of the various city wide book fairs including the one in DC.
I have always enjoyed attending BookExpo but seeing the lack of traffic in many areas this year I doubt I would be the only one considering rethinking my exhibition participation for next year. The fact that BookExpo is in NYC next year will cover over the troubling issues because of the influx of many publishing staffers. In reality the addition of 10,000 publishing staff attendees from NYC is not really what will help return BookExpo to the preeminence it deserves.
In much the same way that Publisher's Weekly has seen their traditional advertising model change fundamentally as the bulk of bookstore book purchases are made centrally and six - nine months in advance of publication, BookExpo is in danger of suffering a similar dislocation. In PW's world there is no need to advertise and in BookExpo's world attendance becomes an expensive way to reach independents. More publishers will drop out - perhaps not next year as the show is in New York but it will happen, because the current show format is an old and increasingly ineffective tool. The decline will accelerate as more publishers take advantage of electronic marketing and promotions tools such as NetGalley (functionality will rapidly expand across the MarCom value chain) and more publishers will experiment with virtual trade shows , webinars and virtual worlds like Second Life.
There are two segments to BookExpo - the education program and the exhibits - and both need revamping. On the education side, BookExpo is losing ground to new upstarts like TOC and SIIA conferences. In both these cases, the conference organizers are successfully exploring the intersection of publishing and technology which many of us in the traditional publishing world continue to battle. Attending SIIA conferences with its breadth of content and technology companies all addressing new and old problems in unique ways can be a stunning business experience. At BookExpo we may see this in isolated cases but not comprehensively. In the traditional publishing market an education program similar to TOC or SIIA is still a market opportunity given the concentration of publishers attending BookExpo. On the other hand O'Reilly (TOC) may have already established the beach head. Consumers are decidedly lacking at BookExpo and in some other trade education programs panel discussions include consumers - in one memorable case they were all thirteen year old girls. Our business is in complete flux and that's the kind of education we should be looking for.
On the exhibits side, BookExpo must lead in the expansion of marketing and promotion programs that go beyond the physical limits of a three day event in a location not everyone can attend. The BookExpo America site should be a 365 day exhibit space. Many publishers and some websites are hosting e-versions of their catalogs. Coupled with more product details, ordering facilities, merchandising tools, etc. the traditional conference attendee should be able to visit and interact with all publisher products on the BookExpo site. (I do mean all publishers). The experience can and should be better than visiting the physical show. The traditional publishing calendar is disappearing - it serves no purpose (just as television has eroded their producer driven schedules) other than as a reminder of the formulaic approach to publishing. The physical exhibit can continue but it must change unless it is to devolve into a middling trade show for small and medium sized publishers.
BookExpo also needs to think strategically about exhibitors and to seek new categories of attendees. There should be more technology companies, service companies and others. Since the market is retail what is more logical than encouraging more vendors who market store systems and products? On the technology side there are many vendors who want to expand into the publishing business but do not attend BookExpo. They do attend SIIA, TOC and Book Business conferences. Expansion along these lines is a double-edged sword since a target audience needs to be in attendance. For that, a stronger education program and specific outreach programs need to support exhibitors and attendees. First time exhibitors should get two years for one paid year for example. (As an aside, I also believe the central exhibit floor 'neighborhood' where the largest publishers congregate should be broken apart to encourage more interaction).
Anyone who has stayed over the weekend at the Frankfurt bookfair (as I did on my first visit - and never again) will hiss and blubber over the idea that BookExpo be open to consumers. This issue has previously been debated by BookExpo managers, and indeed at Frankfurt, the issue of consumers attending the fair has long been controversial with the UK and US publishers. My suggestion is based on simple logic. Book reading is declining so what better way to introduce consumers to what publishers have to offer than showing them. Look at the success of the various city wide book fairs including the one in DC.
I have always enjoyed attending BookExpo but seeing the lack of traffic in many areas this year I doubt I would be the only one considering rethinking my exhibition participation for next year. The fact that BookExpo is in NYC next year will cover over the troubling issues because of the influx of many publishing staffers. In reality the addition of 10,000 publishing staff attendees from NYC is not really what will help return BookExpo to the preeminence it deserves.
Ian Fleming
There is an exhibit opening at the Imperial War Museum this weekend on Ian Fleming and James Bond. There have been several news reports about Fleming and Bond (aside from the new book by Sebastian Faulks). Here are some links to those items:
Telegraph: Joseph Connolly got hooked on 007 when he was 12 and has been busy collecting the novels - from paperbacks to first editions - ever since. Here he provides a bookworm's guide. (I did something of the same thing last year: "Noting the release of the latest James Bond movie Casino Royale, the December issue of Rare Book Review included a spread on first editions of all the James Bond books. Collecting true first editions of the set is likely to set you back $150,000. (Sniff...time for that raise). What is useful about the article is that each edition is described so that should you come across one of these at a local thrift store you will know what to look out for").
TimesOnline has an interactive exploration of the exhibit.
International Herald Trib: Ian Fleming, had he lived, would have celebrated his 100th birthday on May 28. James Bond, his greatest invention, is probably a bit younger, strictly speaking (the evidence in the books is a little contradictory) - except that Bond, of course, is ageless and immortal. Never mind those three packs a day; he has wind to spare. His liver, astoundingly, is still holding up. He has survived not only Fleming but Kingsley Amis and John Gardner, who, among others, kept on publishing Bond novels in Fleming's stead.
Times Online: Bond never goes out of fashion.
For the insatiable: CommanderBond.net
Telegraph: Joseph Connolly got hooked on 007 when he was 12 and has been busy collecting the novels - from paperbacks to first editions - ever since. Here he provides a bookworm's guide. (I did something of the same thing last year: "Noting the release of the latest James Bond movie Casino Royale, the December issue of Rare Book Review included a spread on first editions of all the James Bond books. Collecting true first editions of the set is likely to set you back $150,000. (Sniff...time for that raise). What is useful about the article is that each edition is described so that should you come across one of these at a local thrift store you will know what to look out for").
TimesOnline has an interactive exploration of the exhibit.
International Herald Trib: Ian Fleming, had he lived, would have celebrated his 100th birthday on May 28. James Bond, his greatest invention, is probably a bit younger, strictly speaking (the evidence in the books is a little contradictory) - except that Bond, of course, is ageless and immortal. Never mind those three packs a day; he has wind to spare. His liver, astoundingly, is still holding up. He has survived not only Fleming but Kingsley Amis and John Gardner, who, among others, kept on publishing Bond novels in Fleming's stead.
Times Online: Bond never goes out of fashion.
For the insatiable: CommanderBond.net
Monday, June 09, 2008
New Links
In the last few months or so I have started reading a couple of new blog sites.
Tools of Change: Is published by the O'Reilly TOC conference organisers. They have been nice enough to mention me once or twice. Here is there article on Treating E-Books like Software.
Alison Pendergast is an executive at Pearson and has many interesting insights into Educational publishing. Here she speaks about digital music - slightly off topic but minic my own experience and I thought interesting.
Abbeville has launched a blog to support their publishing activities. I liked this post on The Art of Rocking Podcasts. In this post is also a link to a series of podcasts entitled "so you want to work in publishing". Listeners are advised to ignore the sound of tinking glasses, laughter and smoking.
Tools of Change: Is published by the O'Reilly TOC conference organisers. They have been nice enough to mention me once or twice. Here is there article on Treating E-Books like Software.
Alison Pendergast is an executive at Pearson and has many interesting insights into Educational publishing. Here she speaks about digital music - slightly off topic but minic my own experience and I thought interesting.
Abbeville has launched a blog to support their publishing activities. I liked this post on The Art of Rocking Podcasts. In this post is also a link to a series of podcasts entitled "so you want to work in publishing". Listeners are advised to ignore the sound of tinking glasses, laughter and smoking.
WSJ Interviews Bezos
This interview may not be avialable for long: (some of this has been reported already)
Jeffrey P. Bezos, as chairman, president and chief executive of Amazon.com Inc., made e-commerce mainstream when Amazon started selling books over the Internet in 1994.
Since then, he has turned the site into a virtual shopping mall, where the company and thousands of independent merchants sell just about anything from abacuses to zithers.
He spoke with The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg about cloud computing, streaming movies and why books are like horses. Here are edited excerpts of that conversation.
Jeffrey P. Bezos, as chairman, president and chief executive of Amazon.com Inc., made e-commerce mainstream when Amazon started selling books over the Internet in 1994.
Since then, he has turned the site into a virtual shopping mall, where the company and thousands of independent merchants sell just about anything from abacuses to zithers.
He spoke with The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg about cloud computing, streaming movies and why books are like horses. Here are edited excerpts of that conversation.
OUP Believes E-Book Sales are Huge
Evan Schnittman on the OUP blog has some interesting analysis on ebook sales for the balance of this year. He concludes thus,
Success in technology, like everything else, leads to more success. It’s not uncommon to see five-fold growth the year following a successful technology product launch. Think iPod, think Wii, think Blackberry. Whole micro-economies emerge around products that range from accelerated content creation, and all sorts of aftermarket products and services. Versions 2.0 and beyond create better and better devices. The better the devices, the more accessories, the more content there is, and soon a whole world of business opportunity is rolling downhill picking up speed. With this in mind, I can easily imagine the success of Kindle and Reader dramatically expanding next year and growing by a factor of five. If that happens, then the formula above leads to a completely new ebook economy. Five million devices would mean ebook sales of $1,200,000,000, which, by my estimation, is 1.3% of the current global book market of $90,000,000,000.
Call in Sick
From this mornings Chicago Sun Times.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Avoid emotional discussions about politics, religion, racial issues or even matters related to travel, foreign countries, publishing and education. These discussions will either go in circles or die on the vine. People are quick to take offense or assume that something is personal.
Shouldn't the and education be or education. Image people in publishing taking things personnally.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Avoid emotional discussions about politics, religion, racial issues or even matters related to travel, foreign countries, publishing and education. These discussions will either go in circles or die on the vine. People are quick to take offense or assume that something is personal.
Shouldn't the and education be or education. Image people in publishing taking things personnally.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Controversy Continues to Dog BBC Aquisition of Lonely Planet
Earlier this year the commercial arm of the BBC purchased the travel publisher Lonely Planet from the founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler. At the time the purchase raised eyebrows since it represented a particularly overt foray into competitive publishing by an organization that historically did not seek commercial advantages. A number of publishers took issue with this purchase even though the acquisition was made by the for profit business operations of BBC Worldwide. This type of expansion had been published and discussed by BBC Worldwide unit as part of its strategic plans.
The Sunday Times is reporting that Time Out founder Tony Eliot has written to the Office of Fair Trading demanding that the office launch an investigation into the purchase. Eliot believes that the acquisition breeches the BBCs obligations under their fair trading and competition guidelines. From the article:
In related news Judy Slater who had been CEO of Lonely Planet since 2000 has left the company to join an investment advisory group.
The Sunday Times is reporting that Time Out founder Tony Eliot has written to the Office of Fair Trading demanding that the office launch an investigation into the purchase. Eliot believes that the acquisition breeches the BBCs obligations under their fair trading and competition guidelines. From the article:
In the letter, seen by The Sunday Times, Time Out founder Tony Elliott says he fears that the BBC will provide Lonely Planet with “an inexhaustible fund of factual, technical and editorial information and expertise quite beyond the resources of any privately funded organisation such as Time Out”.The article also notes that Penguin, which also publishes travel guides might also support the action:
Penguin, owner of the Rough Guide travel series, is also frustrated. It requested further details from the BBC Trust last October, under the Freedom ofThe larger issue regarding BBC Worldwide's ability to expand and extend their commercial activities has already been established; therefore, it is unlikely that this action will generate any support at the OFT. No doubt Time Out has attempted to galvanise some additional publishing support behind this effort, but has evidently not been able to do so otherwise, the PA would have been party to the complaint.
Information Act, on how the Lonely Planet deal was endorsed and how the company would operate in future.
In related news Judy Slater who had been CEO of Lonely Planet since 2000 has left the company to join an investment advisory group.
Informa and UBM in Take-Over Discussions
Several UK newspapers (Telegraph) are reporting that United Business Media has initiated discussions on a £3billion take over of Informa. UBM has not been as active as other media companies over the past several years in expanding their business offerings, on the contrary the company has deleveraged the business and is now a company with relatively low debt. In the US, UBM owns PRNewswire and runs conferences, trade magazines and data and information products through the CMP and Commonwealth Business Media brands. From The Telegraph:
More Informa
In the ebb and flow of big media deals it is interesting to note that having spent the last several years on the sidelines unable to compete with the very large multiples that PE players were prepared to pay, some operators like UBM may be well positioned to make significant strategic acquisitions as those same PE companies become skittish in the current market. Last week we saw CQ Press acquired by SAGE and an effort by Reed Elsevier to sweeten the pot for potential acquirers of Reed Business. Analysts are now suggesting that RE may be unable to sell the RBI unit in one piece which would have been unheard of only 18mths ago.
Update Monday: Telegraph confirms discussions and notes share price jump
Other reports:
Forbes picks Candover but not until summer.
Earlier report from The Telegraph proposes other bidders including Axel Springer.
TimesOnline: Informa Garners Attention
The Sunday Telegraph has learned that United Business Media (UBM), which has a market value of £1.5bn, has approached £1.6bn Informa about a merger that would establish a powerhouse in the increasingly competitive world of business-to-business media. Discussions between the two companies are at a very early stage and are not yet thought to have progressed as far as substantive negotiations about the structure or price of a potential combination. UBM and Informa may come under pressure to confirm the talks to the London Stock Exchange as early as tomorrow morning.Informa has been considered a buyout candidate over the past several months since their long time CEO David Gilbertson left to run PE led Emap Communications. Business media and conferencing companies have become hot properties because their subscription based business models mitigate much of the variability in advertising based businesses. Steady cash flow is highly desirable.
More Informa
In the ebb and flow of big media deals it is interesting to note that having spent the last several years on the sidelines unable to compete with the very large multiples that PE players were prepared to pay, some operators like UBM may be well positioned to make significant strategic acquisitions as those same PE companies become skittish in the current market. Last week we saw CQ Press acquired by SAGE and an effort by Reed Elsevier to sweeten the pot for potential acquirers of Reed Business. Analysts are now suggesting that RE may be unable to sell the RBI unit in one piece which would have been unheard of only 18mths ago.
Update Monday: Telegraph confirms discussions and notes share price jump
Other reports:
Forbes picks Candover but not until summer.
Earlier report from The Telegraph proposes other bidders including Axel Springer.
TimesOnline: Informa Garners Attention
Saturday, June 07, 2008
The Lost Theatres of Los Angeles
I like neon and in walking along Broadway in Los Angeles there is a feast of it adorning the front of the many old theatres that formed the core of LA's theatre district from approximately 1910 - 1940.
LA city government has announced a $30mm restoration project for this area. It would be great if they could recreate the glamor and excitement that pervaded this area in the 20s and 30s.
Each picture has some description sourced from a variety of sources including the theatre's websites and expert sites such as latimemachines.com and publicartinla.com.
LA city government has announced a $30mm restoration project for this area. It would be great if they could recreate the glamor and excitement that pervaded this area in the 20s and 30s.
Each picture has some description sourced from a variety of sources including the theatre's websites and expert sites such as latimemachines.com and publicartinla.com.
Links for BookExpo
A few items of interest from BookExpo.
BookTour: Set up by Chris Anderson (Long Tail) to aggregate information about Author tours. (Around for a while but I've never mentioned it).
BookVideos.tv: Here are all the publishing clients and their videos using the BookVideos format. (Also around for a while).
MuseStorm: Widget maker working with publishing clients.
Mobifusion: A mobile platform that several publishers are using.
EarlyWord: A new blog/website launched by ex- Publisher's Weekly Editor & Chief Nora Rawlinson and ex- PW Publisher Fred Ciporen. The site aims to help Libraries with Collection Development and you can find out more about their philosophy on the site.
BigUniverse: Children's books that you can create yourself.
217Babel.com: Interesting collaborative writing project.
BookTour: Set up by Chris Anderson (Long Tail) to aggregate information about Author tours. (Around for a while but I've never mentioned it).
BookVideos.tv: Here are all the publishing clients and their videos using the BookVideos format. (Also around for a while).
MuseStorm: Widget maker working with publishing clients.
Mobifusion: A mobile platform that several publishers are using.
EarlyWord: A new blog/website launched by ex- Publisher's Weekly Editor & Chief Nora Rawlinson and ex- PW Publisher Fred Ciporen. The site aims to help Libraries with Collection Development and you can find out more about their philosophy on the site.
BigUniverse: Children's books that you can create yourself.
217Babel.com: Interesting collaborative writing project.
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