All Together Now: Apologize!

In the Independent this week Michael Bywater discusses the Apology Culture. Over here, with just this week everyone from the President to A-Rod, apologizing this op-ed is just as relevant. Here is a sample:

The apology has become the defining gesture of the age. Russell Brand had to apologise for making off-colour remarks. Jeremy Clarkson – a man who would eat his own testicles rather than petition for an apology, even though he'd have to remove them from his own personal brain where they've been living for all these years – had to apologise for making a startlingly fine joke about lorry drivers, and, subsequently for calling Gordon Brown a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" at a press conference in Australia. His calling Gordon Brown a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" would probably have escaped much attention had it not been for the BBC – powerfully complicit in driving the Apology Culture – publishing on its website a video of Clarkson calling Gordon Brown a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" accompanied by a story saying that Clarkson's calling Gordon Brown a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" had "provoked anger in Scotland".

We might find some comfort across the Atlantic, where the Apology Culture has become even tackier and more insane than here. President Obama apologised for the sins of his cabinet appointees, on five different TV networks in seven different ways. This wasn't for something he had done. It wasn't for something other people had done who had falsely got into positions of power. Obama was apologising for something two other people had done who hadn't got into positions of power because what they'd done had been found out. So what (we might ask) was President Obama actually apologising for?

Read the whole thing.

Lincoln's Birthday

There's been so much written about Lincoln this year it is no surprise that there is more attention paid to his birth date than (perhaps) normal. OUP has a series of three articles beginning with this one on the President where they interview Allen Guelzo, author of Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction.

Often cited is the fact that Lincoln is the most written about historical figure. Well with little to interest myself last weekend I took a look at BIP via the New York Public Library. According to the database (and this is an unscientific query), there are 1,577 active titles, 25 forthcoming and 519 inactive nonfiction hard or soft cover books on the President. That's a lot especially compared with some other notables such as Washington (1480 active), WSChurchill (521), Napoleon (1143) and Hitler (805). I checked "God" just in case and he/she has 8,312 although I am not sure how those are classified.

OCLC's identities also shows an interesting perspective on books about and by Lincoln. Here. They show fully 18,714 works in 26,693 publications in 66 languages and 1,036,286 library holding. The identities shows how constant has been the flow of books about Lincoln over the past 100 years. It looks like there is always between 350 - 450 new Lincoln books per year.

TOC Summary

Publishing Trends summarizes some of the sessions at this week's TOC conference in NYC.

Link.

Also, if you didn't attend (or even if you did) here is the link to the presentations. Very good of them to make these available.

TOC

Jane Austin Goes all Zombie

Chronicle books for reasons unknown is to re-tell Pride and Prejudice as a Zombie novel. Mr. Darcy comes up all blood sucking. From their catalog:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C. E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen's classic novel to new legions of fans.

The 'author' is one Seth Grahame-Smith who has penned some notibles such as How to Survive a Horror Movie and - get this - The Big Book of Porn. And, that's a double entrende that would perhaps escape both Janey and Mr Darcy. Do we really need this?

BookExpo In New York

This news will come as a nice surprise to publishers weighing the continued benefits of BookExpo given the show was scheduled to visit Washington and Las Vegas in the next several years. From their press release, BookExpo has announced that the show will take up semi-permanent residence in New York.

BookExpo America has announced that it is moving the show to New York City where it will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Center through 2012. The show was previously scheduled to take place in Washington DC in 2010 and Las Vegas in 2011. In so doing, show organizers are also re-shaping the convention so that it will now occur on a shortened schedule during the work week.

The next BEA, which had already been scheduled to take place in New York City in 2009 and which will include all the leading publishers, will take place, as has been announced, on Friday, May 29 – Sunday, May 31. It will not be affected by the strategic change in scheduling. As always, there will be a full day of conference on Thursday, May 28 before the exhibit floor opens.

The new schedule means that BEA will have New York City as its home for the next four years in a row. BEA Show officials note that they are keeping their options open with regard to dates and location after 2012. The dates for BEA through 2012 are as follows: 2010: Conference/Special Events and Show Preview Tuesday May 25th (exhibit hours 4-6pm), Wednesday, May 26th (9-6 show hours), Thursday, May 27th (9-5 show hours). 2011: Conference/Special Events and Show Preview Tuesday May 24th (exhibit hours 4-6pm), Wednesday, May 25th (9-6 show hours), Thursday, May 26th (9-5 show hours). 2012: Conference/Special Events and Show Preview Wednesday May 30th (exhibit hours 4-6pm), Thursday, May 31st (9-6 show hours), Friday, June 1st (9-5 show hours).

“We feel that this is a move that is timely and responsive to industry needs,” notes Lance Fensterman, Industry Vice President and Show Manager for BookExpo America. “It makes sense on a multitude of levels, not the least of which is that it will provide the majority of our exhibitors with a cost reduction, as well as more flexibility in managing their presence at the show. We wanted to take decisive action in setting our future course and this is our first major step towards a new vision for BEA for years to come. New York City is also the publishing capital and we are anxious to build a strong identity between New York and BEA. There is a significant media presence in New York City and we would like to take advantage of this, not only by building media attendance, but by involving the media in a substantive way in our programming.”

Kindle 2 Hype

Several sites have been live blogging the kindle 2 launch (Bits) (CNet) and at the presentation Jeff Bezos was supported by none other than Stephen King who extolled the virtues of said gadget. From their press release here are some highlights:

Kindle 2, the new reading device that offers Kindle’s revolutionary wireless delivery of content in a new slim design with longer battery life, faster page turns, over seven times more storage, sharper images, and a new read-to-me feature. Kindle 2 is purpose-built for reading with a high-resolution 6-inch electronic paper display that looks and reads like real paper, which lets users read for hours without the eyestrain caused by reading on a backlit display. More than 230,000 books are now available in the Kindle Store, including 103 of 110 current New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases, which are typically $9.99. Top U.S. and international magazines and newspapers plus more than 1,200 different blogs are also available. Kindle 2 is available for pre-order starting today for $359

Bezos said he wants to provide every book ever published available for download in 60seconds or less. Among the features touted; it is about the width of a number 2 pencil, lighter than any book of similar size, has 2gig of memory, 25% more battery life that is said to last 14 days, a 250K dictionary, text to speech that enables a reader to listen to the book rather than read. 1200 blogs are available on the device as well as magazines and newspapers which are available for separate additional subscriptions. Pricing remains the same as the earlier version and the company is giving preferential treatment to current owners who want to upgrade. Not a price break but you get to go to the head of the line.

Anderson News Folds the Tent

Anderson News has given up and ceased magazine distribution operations as of Sunday. PND Readers may recall that competing magazine distributor Source Interlink and Anderson wanted to impose a 7cent per copy tax on all magazines they distributed. None of their clients seemed to agree with this and have moved their operations to other providers. From MediaWeek:

The move was far from unexpected. Industry observers have predicted that Anderson, along with Source Interlink Cos., would be forced to shut down after leading newsstand publishers Time Inc., Bauer Publishing and American Media Inc. refused to meet the wholesalers’ demands back in January for an extra 7 cents per copy to deliver their magazines to the nation’s retailers.

The debacle has wreaked havoc on the nation’s newsstand sales, as Time Inc. and co. are expected to see a short-term loss of sale as a result of their wholesaler change.

The latest move by Anderson raises new questions for Comag Marketing Group, which represents Hearst Magazines, Condé Nast and Wenner Media titles. As of the week of Feb. 2, Comag was still relying on Anderson and Source to deliver their magazines.

The disagreement has left magazine publishers scrambling to identify alternative distributors (Anderson and Source represent about 50% of the market) but also to placate advertisers who will be closely watching the amount of lost newsstand sales if titles are not on store shelves when promised (or at all). If rate bases are not met a publisher will be obliged to rebate some amount of the advertising paid by advertisers. In this environment where titles are already perilously thin this is the last thing any publisher will want to contemplate. The SI swim suit issue comes out Feb 1oth which represents big money for Time and they will want to have this situation solved quickly.

There is also the situation with mass market book titles which have had little mention in this disagreement. Without the carry over from the magazine scale, it is doubtful Anderson would continue with books by themselves.

Earlier in the week WalMart indicated many of their customers would have to do without People Magazine (whatever will they do?). (NYPost - with cheesy picture of Ron Burkle)

Wal-Mart, the single-biggest magazine retailer in the country, will be without copies of People, Sports Illustrated and Time. They will also not have Bauer Publications' In Touch and Life & Style, and American Media-owned Star and National Enquirer.

While it's too early to know how many of Wal-Mart's 4,200 US stores will be affected, it appears a majority of them will be.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman confirmed that some stores are expected to be without magazines this week, but did not offer specifics on the titles or how many stores will be affected.

Early in the week, Source Interlink denied it would exit the business. MediaWeek

MediaWeek (Vol 2, No 5): Banned Books, AA Travel Guides, Newspapers

The Times reports on the most stolen books from bookstores. Now they know which books to place up front with the condoms and razor blades (never figured that combo out myself).

The “pocketing potential” of a book seems to relate to its resale value. Many of the booksellers who took part in the survey are convinced that a thriving black market for books exists - according to them, illicit sales are made mainly in pubs, where disorientated consumers are happy to buy maps, travel guides and the latest Harry Potter for their children from a network of book thieves selling at bargain prices.

Paranoia or conspiracy? In 2004 a man was jailed after it was revealed that he ran a gang of thieves who stole Lonely Planet travel guides to order. He had sold an estimated 35,000 stolen books a year.

Some think the AA travel guides are consorting with the enemy and have become less objective since a private equity buy-out. Typically, blame the Americans. (Telegraph)

“This is typical of American-style private equity action,” said Paul Maloney, national secretary of the GMB (AA section), the union recognised by the AA until the private equity takeover. “[Their view seems to be] 'We’ve got a company, we’re going to strip it of what we like in order to turn a profit.’”

11th Circuit Court upholds Cuban book ban in Miami Dade elementary schools (AP). Luckily, according to Worldcat.org there are at least 300 other copies available for inter-library loan.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Miami-Dade County School District wouldn't be infringing freedom of speech rights by removing 49 copies of "Vamos a Cuba" and its English-language version, "A Visit to Cuba," from its libraries. The board has argued that the books, for children ages 5 to 8, present an inaccurate view of life in Cuba.

The board voted to remove the book in 2006 after a parent who was a former political prisoner in Cuba complained. A federal judge in Miami later ruled that the board should add books of different perspectives instead of removing offending titles.

Walter Isaacson on saving the nations newspapers. (Time). Almost since 'last Tuesday' there seems to have been a rising tide of stories about how newspapers need to charge for their content. I think that is a good thing. Isaacson sees an iTunes and micropayments type solution.

What Internet payment options are there today? PayPal is the most famous, but it has transaction costs too high for impulse buys of less than a dollar. The denizens of Facebook are embracing systems like Spare Change, which allows them to charge their PayPal accounts or credit cards to get digital currency they can spend in small amounts. Similar services include Bee-Tokens and Tipjoy. Twitter users have Twitpay, which is a micropayment service for the micromessaging set. Gamers have their own digital currencies that can be used for impulse buys during online role-playing games. And real-world commuters are used to gizmos like E-ZPass, which deducts automatically from their prepaid account as they glide through a highway tollbooth.

Under a micropayment system, a newspaper might decide to charge a nickel for an article or a dime for that day's full edition or $2 for a month's worth of Web access. Some surfers would balk, but I suspect most would merrily click through if it were cheap and easy enough.

Melbourne Fires

In the last few weeks forest fires have spread across the Australian states of Victoria and South Australia. The devastation has been horrific and the death toll has surpassed 100 and represents the worse killing spree in Australian history. Bush fires in Australian can move incredibly fast due to wind but also to the oil in the prevalent eucalyptus trees. These 'gum' trees will literally explode when the temperature reaches a certain point and thus travel from tree top to tree top at a tremendous rate.

Another aspect has been the continual dry weather and high temperatures. When I lived in Melbourne in the mid 1970s we had top days but the temperature rare got above 95. Yesterday the temperature in Melbourne was 117. North of Melbourne the town of Marysville has been wiped off the map with every house and business torched. ABC Television. TheAge Video

We have family and friends down there and my friend Richard noted some of his staff have lost family in the fires. A very sad situation.

News Corp Reports 2Q

Suggesting headcount reductions were on the way, Rupert Murdoch commented that they don't run fat during their presentation of the company's second quarter numbers. Speaking about cost cutting,

We are taking them out everywhere. I mean, I am at Australia at the moment and the local management is in the process of combining all their back offices between the States and (Inaudible). There are many different processes we are doing. That goes right across the company, which is going to save a lot of people and a lot of money. And there are little things, the Wall Street Journal, there are so many numerous small things. We are combining in the back office, the Wall Street Journal and New York Post, which will eventually save about $7 million, certainly $4.5 million in the immediate future. We have also negotiated -- nearly renegotiated nearly all of our delivery contractors across the whole of United States with a saving just starting now of $5 million a year. And it goes on and on. It seems like we are chiseling away at small things, but they do add up to a lot of money.

Due to a non cash impairment write down the company reported a operating income of loss of $7.6billion versus operating income of $1.4billion in the same quarter last year. Without the impairment charge operating income of $818million was 42% lower than the same period last year. Results were off in all divisions except magazines and inserts.

Commenting specifically on publishing,

Turning to the book publishing segment, second quarter operating income contributions were down $44 million compared to last year. This decline reflects the weaker retail book market, the lack of comparable strong releases versus a year ago and a charge of $6 million for the bankruptcy of a customer.

Conf Call Transcript: SeekingAlpha.

From the company's press release:

BOOK PUBLISHING

HarperCollins operating income decreased $44 million versus the same period a year
ago due to lower sales driven by the weakening retail market as well as a difficult
comparison to a year ago that included strong sales of The Daring Book for Girls by
Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz, The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden and Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. In addition, segment profits for the quarter were down due to charges related to the bankruptcy of a major UK distributor.

Second quarter results included solid sales of The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb, A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff and Multiple Blessings by Jon and Kate Gosselin and Beth Carson. During the quarter, HarperCollins had 50 books on The New York Times bestseller list, including six books that reached the #1 spot.

(The $6mm charge for the bankruptcy would be related to Bertram in the UK).

First half revenues for the publishing group were $620mm versus $736mm in the prior year and operating income was $26mm versus $103mm.

NY Times article on News Corp/Dow Jones.

Google Book Machine

There has been a lot of competition in getting book content on your mobile or making you mobile with your library of book content. Since the launch of the Kindle and book reader apps on the iPhone the mobile book has been a little bit of a battle ground. In the background has been the not inconsiderable presence of Google which has of course been creating a very large content repository. That aces the reader applications (and always will).

The one interesting aspect of the last few months activity has been that there has been few competitive moves into the mobile space by Google. This despite the fact that Google has invested millions in the development of a new mobile platform named Android. (I have had a draft half written post for months titled 'Does your Android read?'). Today Google announced that they have opened up part of their considerable book database to mobile readers. The company says that they have over 1.5million out of copyright books which will now be available to mobile readers. Perhaps that's not that appealing to anyone looking for the recent Patterson title but Google's ambitions are far more expansive than that. Indeed, Google has cornered the base of the pyramid of content and adding successive layers on top will be only a matter of time.

From their blog post:

One of the great things about an iPhone or Android phone is being able to play Pacman while stuck in line at the post office. Sometimes though, we yearn for something more than just playing games or watching videos.

What if you could also access literature's greatest works, such as Emma and The Jungle Book, right from your phone? Or, some of the more obscure gems such as Mark Twain's hilarious travelogue, Roughing It? Today we are excited to announce the launch of a mobile version of Google Book Search, opening up over 1.5 million mobile public domain books in the US (and over half a million outside the US) for you to browse while buying your postage.

Given Google's technical expertise, this content, including all the newer stuff, will be arranged and rearranged in all sorts of ways that will benefit readers. That may not be the case with the content on some of the other platforms. And don't forget that Android is an open platform so there is no telling what application developers will come up up. Certainly, the size of the Google library will be a significant differentiator over the others but given the recent agreement with publishers over the copyright issue, the content pool is likely to get much bigger.

Horizon Report on Education

Last week at the SIIA conference, Marjorie Scardino mentioned a recent report from Horizon about technology trends to watch in education. Here is a summary of the technolgies to watch:

• Mobiles. Already considered as another component of the network on many campuses, mobiles continue to evolve rapidly. New interfaces, the ability to run third-party applications, and location-awareness have all come to the mobile device in the past year, making it an ever more versatile tool that can be easily adapted to a host of tasks for learning, productivity, and social networking. For many users, broadband mobile devices like the iPhone have already begun to assume many tasks that were once the exclusive province of portable computers.

• Cloud Computing. The emergence of large-scale “data farms” — large clusters of networked servers — is bringing huge quantities of processing power and storage capacity within easy reach. Inexpensive, simple solutions to offsite storage, multi-user application scaling, hosting, and multi-processor computing are opening the door to wholly different ways of thinking about computers, software, and files.

• Geo-Everything. Geocoded data has many applications, but until very recently, it was time-consuming and difficult for non-specialists to determine the physical coordinates of a place or object, and options for using that data were limited. Now, many common devices can automatically determine and record their own precise location and can save that data along with captured media (like photographs) or can transmit it to web-based applications for a host of uses. The full implications of geo-tagging are still unfolding, but the impact in research has already been profound.

• The Personal Web. Springing from the desire to reorganize online content rather than simply viewing it, the personal web is part of a trend that has been fueled by tools to aggregate the flow of content in customizable ways and expanded by an increasing collection of widgets that manage online content. The term personal web was coined to represent a collection of technologies that are used to configure and manage the ways in which one views and uses the Internet. Using a growing set of free and simple tools and applications, it is easy to create a customized, personal web-based environment — a personal web — that explicitly supports one’s social, professional, learning, and other activities.

• Semantic-Aware Applications. New applications are emerging that are bringing the promise of the semantic web into practice without the need to add additional layers of tags, identifiers, or other top-down methods of defining context. Tools that can simply gather the context in which information is couched, and that use that context to extract embedded meaning are providing rich new ways of finding and aggregating content. At the same time, other tools are allowing context to be easily modified, shaped, and redefined as information flows are combined.
  

• Smart Objects. Sometimes described as the “Internet of things,” smart objects describe a set of technologies that is imbuing ordinary objects with the ability to recognize their physical location and respond appropriately, or to connect with other objects or information. A smart object “knows” something about itself — where and how it was made, what it is for, where it should be, or who owns it, for example — and something about its environment. While the underlying technologies that make this possible — RFID, QR codes, smartcards, touch and motion sensors, and the like — are not new, we are now seeing new forms of sensors, identifiers, and applications with a much more generalizable set of functionalities.