Missing Mike Shatzkin

Mike Shatzkin who passed away last week was a friend of mine.  Mike was a walking encyclopedia of the publishing industry and if he didn’t recall something he would call on his father’s long publishing experience to make a point or correct some bit of information. I first met Mike in the mid-1990s when he was working with Vista Computing to organize and present expert knowledge sessions about the industry. We didn’t interact at these sessions, but I recall immediately recognizing that Mike had a gift in thinking about big ideas and then determining what the consequences of those ideas would be.  Later, when I was newly installed at Bowker, he called me up with one of his signature lines, “I have an idea” and so he and Jim Lichtenburg came out to New Providence. 

Bowker had inherited a website named Bookwire from Publisher’s Weekly and Mike wanted to take it over from us and build it into a book and reader information hub. We already had traffic, but we had no idea what to do with this site. Mike saw the future: His vision for Bookwire in 1999 was Goodreads and Shelfari in 2005 but of course we never did the deal and Bookwire eventually disappeared.

As many of us who worked with Mike know, he prefaced may interesting and thought-provoking things with, “I have an idea” which was frequently followed by, “You know, wouldn't it be interesting (or great) if….” It is a testimony to Mike’s knowledge, intelligence, and persistence that he had (and held for years) the ears of many publishing leaders from John Ingram to Steve Riggio to Markus Dohle to Peter Wiley and it is such an incredible thing that Mike’s council and advice was so well received by the leaders of this industry.

We met for lunch many times and we met regularly at conferences, and he was always on point. He invited me to lunch after I was bounced from Bowker to see what I was planning to do. Lunch with Mike was always challenging and informative but at the end of the meal he asks “Why do you think you were fired?” and I say “Because I didn't kiss the owner's ass enough.” Mike says, “Well that wasn't very smart was it?”  He was often funny and practical. 

Many of you reading this will not know that Mike debated starting his own blog and, as hard as it is to believe if you know Mike, he wasn't sure if he could keep up with regularly posting!  It is impossible to believe Mike wasn't confident he had enough to say on a regular basis. I had launched PND a few months before and I was generating some attention (now dissipated), so he asked me if he could post to PND as an experiment. I had no hesitation in agreeing and this is where his first Shatzkin files post post was made (and 2nd). Needless to say, the stats were good, his responses and interactions were positive, and the rest is history. PND benefited from the attention but Mike’s influence via his long running blog was hugely significant to understanding the industry and the forces at play over the past 20 years.

During the Google book digitization controversy, Mike reached out to me with one of his “Wouldn’t it be interesting” ideas about trying to determine how may book license orphans existed.  At the time there were many wild estimations, but Mike and I thought about how I could come up with an estimate using some of the data Bowker and others had collected over many years. By now, I was long gone from Bowker, but this eventual report and PND post still generates consistent web traffic and for me, the work generated many conference appearances and notoriety.  This was a great example about Mike’s willingness to engage others in his work and refer work to other consultants like me. Mike knew what he was good at, and he also knew what bored him and he regularly referred potential and sometimes actual consulting clients to me. For this I am forever grateful.

Some of you will recall his keynote speech at one of the early Digital Book World (or Information Pays) conferences where he really commanded the audience and spoke expansively about the publishing business and the impact of digital workflows and reading. A week or so before that speech he invited me to his office (and for some reason the illusive Mrs. PND came along, and Martha was also there) because he wanted to run through the speech with me and get my feedback. I recall this often because I see how this showed how much he respected my input. There was one invite I wish I was able to make and that was a reunion of the band he used to manage – just hilarious if you can imagine it, but I was out of town that week.

I miss Mike and of course I can only regret that I didn’t follow up the last time we met over a year ago when we parted and agreed to do lunch again. Which never happened. Mike is kicking back now reading digitally – on a flip phone or e-reader it doesn’t matter, and by now has confirmed that there is no god. Mike, we miss you and love you and it is very likely many of us will be seeing you soon.

Farewell friend.

The First 100 Days - Framework for a new CEO

 

The First 100 Days: A Planning Framework for the CEO from Michael Cairns

It’s a Beeping Problem

 

Mick Jagger says “When you call my name, salivate like Pavlov’s dog.”  He could have said “When the toaster pings…

The relentless beep-beep-beeping of electrical appliances has become the soundtrack of our daily lives. And it’s not that these notes are soft and soothing; they seem designed to strike deep in your central cortex. The sound is not even rhythmic, more like an overeager nine-year-old banging away at the triangle in the annual school concert. And, honestly, we all know they were always the least talented.

From microwaves to washing machines and toasters to seat belts, machines are all hard coded to create the worst kind of interruptions. Machines are not sentient (yet, so they say) but, somehow, they’ve gained a capability which engenders blind rage in plain ordinary householders. These buzzers, pings and beeps cannot be turned off. Call customer service and they tell you: “It can’t be done, Mr. Pavlov. It is considered a feature, not a bug.”

The sound of a bell triggered salivation in Pavlov's dogs and, in a direct correlation, the ping, beep, buzz of an appliance signals that – somewhere somehow – you’ve screwed up. Forget to remove the laundry: Buzz. Left your tea in the microwave: Ping. Sitting in an exit row: Beep! Who’s really in charge? The machines have undergone their own bizarre form of behavioral training and we are running around the house all day chasing beeps.

Why does the microwave feel compelled to announce its victory so loudly? Perhaps it believes that, without fanfare, we mere mortals would be unable to muster the responsibility or recall necessary to retrieve our leftovers. Every laundry cycle is punctuated with a series of beeps even less meaningful than those from the toaster. Maybe they’re communicating with each other?

Anyway, perhaps there's a deeper lesson to be gleaned from the incessant beeping of our household appliances. Just as Pavlov's dogs learned to associate the sound of a bell with the promise of food, we too have formed an attachment to the beeps that punctuate our daily routines. They serve as markers of progress, reminders of tasks completed and signals of impending action. In a world filled with chaos and uncertainty, the predictable rhythm of electronic beeps provides a sense of order and control, however fleeting it may be.

Nooo!!! That paragraph was written by the chat machine. They’re conspiring!  Make it stop!

I often wonder if the engineers and designers of these machines actually use them themselves. Perhaps they’re all washing their clothes down the river and making toast on a fire. It cannot be that they are not irritated as all fuck by the incessant buzz, ping, tings just like us ordinary folk. It’s enough to endure the quirks and idiosyncrasies of modern living without these ridiculous “emergency” signals making us salivate like a dog. Please make it stop.

Time for A Publisher ID?

 

In the 1870s R.R. Bowker began publishing The American Catalog which collected publisher titles into one compendium book. The first edition of this book was surprisingly large, but its most useful aspect was that it organized publisher books into a usable format. The concept was not sophisticated: The Bowker team gathered publisher catalogs, bound and reprinted them so that they were more or less uniform. In subsequent years Books In Print became three primary components: The Subject Guide, Author Guide and Publisher Index (or PID). Each was separated into distinct parts, but it was the PID which held everything together.

When a user found a title in the author or subject index they would also be referred to the PID index to find specific information about the publisher including (the obvious) how to order the book. At some point, Bowker began applying an alphanumeric “Bowker Id” to Publisher names so that the database could be organized around the publisher information.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the ISBN was introduced to the US retail market and Bowker was (and still is) the only agency able to assign ISBN numbers in the US. Included in the ISBN syntax was a “publisher” prefix such that a block of numbers could be assigned specifically to one publisher. The idea, while good in concept, did not work well in practice. For example, in an effort to encourage adoption of ISBNs the agencies assigned some large publishers a small two digit publisher prefix which resulted in a very large block of individual ISBNs (seven digits plus the check digit). Even after 50 years, many of these blocks are only partially used (and wasted) because the publisher output was far less than anticipated. A second problem was that publishers, imprints and lists were bought and sold which made a mess of the whole idea. (In the above image the prefix is 4 digits).

At Bowker, we recognized that our Publisher Information Database was a crown jewel and a key component of our Books In Print database. Despite many requests we never licensed this data separately and this was a significant reason retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Borders, Follett and others licensed Books In Print. Because the information was so important, we spent a lot of time maintaining the accuracy and the structure of the data.

Publishers who acquired ISBNs from the Bowker agency were a key input to this database – beginning in the 1980s but continuing to the present. Not all new ISBNs go to small independent publishers and there remains consistent demand from established publishers for new numbers even today. To be useful, this publisher information needs to be structured and organized accurately and is only possible with continued application of good practice. During my time at Bowker, the editorial team met regularly with publishers to both improve the timeliness and accuracy of their book metadata but also to confirm their corporate structure. We wanted to ensure that all individual ISBNs rolled up to the correct imprint, business unit and corporate owner. This effort was continuous and sometimes engaged the corporation’s office of general counsel and was frequently detailed and time consuming.

A few years after I left Bowker, one of my consulting clients presented me with a proof of concept to programmatically create a publisher id database. In concept it looked possible to do; however. I pointed out all the reasons why this would become difficult to complete and then to maintain. They went ahead anyway but after a year or so abandoned the work because they could not accurately disambiguate publisher information nor confirm corporate reporting structures.

Today there is no industry wide standard publisher id code but the idea comes up frequently as one the industry should pursue. As with many new standards efforts it will be the roll out and adoption of the standard which will prove difficult. Establishing an initial leap forward could represent a promising start by using data which might already be available or available for license.

Bowker (and all global ISBN agencies) are required to publish all new publisher prefixes each year and this information could also be a useful starting point. Bowker is not the only aggregator with publisher data (we were just the best by a significant margin) and another supply chain partner might be willing to contribute their publisher data as a starting point. This could establish a solid foundation to build on, but realistically any effort will fail if the maintenance aspect of the effort is not understood and recognized, and a strong market imperative isn’t widely agreed and supported.

When (I)SBN was launched in the UK in the late 1960s it succeeded because the largest retailer (W.H. Smith) enforced the strong business case for its adoption. Globally ISBN has gone on to become one of the most successful supply chain initiatives in (retail) history and the entire industry is dependent on this standard. (It has even survived Amazon’s cynical ASIN). If there is a business case for the publisher id this needs to be powerful, obvious and accord universal benefits: Mutual interest and money can be powerful motivators but having a policeman like W.H. Smith will help as well.

More:

The ISBN is Dead

ChapGPT "thoughts" on the history of identifiers.

Note: I ran R.R. Bowker for a while and was also Chairman of ISBN International.

History of Company Identifiers

As a recent conversation unfolded about the need for a publisher id, I was curious about the history of company identifiers. So, I put the following question to Chatgpt.  Interesting that without prompting the machine cited ISBNs and ISSNs among other relevant examples.

Ask: Write me a 1000 word article on the history of company identification numbers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: The Evolution of Company Identification Numbers: A Journey Through Business Registration

Introduction:

In the vast and intricate landscape of business, company identification numbers play a pivotal role in establishing order and transparency. These unique identifiers, assigned to each registered business entity, serve as a cornerstone for regulatory compliance, financial transactions, and overall business operations. The history of company identification numbers is a fascinating journey that mirrors the evolution of business practices and the need for standardized systems. Let's delve into the origins and development of these crucial identifiers.

Early Beginnings:

The concept of assigning unique numbers to identify businesses can be traced back to the early 20th century. As economies grew and industrialization took hold, the need for a more organized approach to business registration became evident. Governments and regulatory bodies recognized the importance of tracking and regulating businesses for taxation, legal, and statistical purposes.

In the United States, for example, the precursor to modern company identification numbers was the Employer Identification Number (EIN) introduced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1936. Initially designed for tax purposes, the EIN provided a unique identifier for businesses and other entities, streamlining the taxation process.

Global Standardization:

As business transactions became more global, the need for standardized identification systems transcended national boundaries. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recognized this necessity and introduced the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for books and the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) for periodicals. While not directly related to company identification, these standards laid the groundwork for a broader understanding of unique identifiers in various domains.

The Birth of the Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S Number:

In the 1960s, the business world witnessed a significant development with the introduction of the Data Universal Numbering System (D-U-N-S) by Dun & Bradstreet. This proprietary system assigned a unique nine-digit number to each business entity, facilitating credit reporting and other business-related information. The D-U-N-S Number gained widespread acceptance, becoming a de facto standard for businesses engaging in international trade.

Government Initiatives and Social Security Numbers:

Governments worldwide began recognizing the need for standardized company identification to enhance regulatory oversight. In the United States, the Social Security Number (SSN) initially designed for individuals, started being used by businesses for identification purposes. However, concerns about privacy and security led to the introduction of the EIN as a dedicated identifier for businesses.

The Rise of Digitalization and Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI):

With the advent of the digital age, the business landscape underwent a profound transformation. The need for a more comprehensive and standardized identification system led to the creation of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI). Introduced after the 2008 financial crisis, LEIs are unique 20-character alphanumeric codes assigned to legal entities engaging in financial transactions. The LEI system aims to provide a universal identifier that enables regulators and businesses to obtain a clear and consistent view of a company's financial transactions.

Modern Company Identification Numbers:

In contemporary business environments, various countries have adopted their own systems for company identification. For instance, the United Kingdom employs the Companies House Registration Number, while the European Union introduced the Value Added Tax Identification Number (VATIN) for businesses engaged in cross-border transactions.

In the United States, the EIN remains a crucial identifier for businesses, particularly for tax-related purposes. Additionally, the Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S Number continues to be widely used in the business community, especially in the context of international trade and credit reporting.

Challenges and Future Trends:

While company identification numbers have come a long way, challenges persist. The rise of cyber threats and identity theft has raised concerns about the security of these identifiers. Governments and regulatory bodies are continually exploring ways to enhance the security and efficiency of company identification systems.

Looking ahead, blockchain technology holds promise in revolutionizing the way company identification numbers are managed. The decentralized and secure nature of blockchain could provide a tamper-proof and transparent system for maintaining business records. Some countries and organizations are already exploring blockchain-based solutions to address the evolving needs of business identification.

Conclusion:

The history of company identification numbers reflects the dynamic evolution of business practices, regulatory requirements, and technological advancements. From the early days of tax-focused identifiers to the modern era of digitalization and blockchain, these unique numbers have played a crucial role in shaping the business landscape. As we navigate the complexities of the global economy, the continued refinement and innovation in company identification systems will be essential for fostering transparency, accountability, and efficient business operations.

Ulua Beach, Wailea 1978

Ulua Beach, Wailea Maui Hawaii 1978

 The PND family was very lucky to move to Maui in 1977.  This was the view from our apartment where we lived in the hotel PND Senior managed.  The beach on the left is Ulua and it is one of a series of crescent beaches that stretch all the way up the coast.  This is roughly a view looking north.  The tower building on the water is about 1.5 miles away and the there and back was a great beach run.  The following year, the on-going condo development at Wailea spread right through the middle of this image but that's progress and without the development we wouldn't have been there in the first place.

Originally posted July 20, 2012

Spear Fishing in Tahiti

Spear Fishing in Tahiti, 1974

I've only a vague idea where this is but the series is interesting. This fisherman is first seen standing on the shore, then we see him launch this spike into the surf and pull out this purple, blue and grey fish. Looking at his spear it seems like he couldn't miss however there's probably more to it than that.

I've dim recollection of my father traveling to New Caledonia, Fiji and Tahiti for business development in the mid-1970s and in the set of three rolls of film there are a lot of pictures of beaches and shots from aircraft but no identifiable landmarks. This one could be anywhere but I'm guessing Tahiti.

Originally posted July 15, 2011

(Subsequently, my father told me he followed this guy around for ages to see if he would catch something - which he did).

Photo: Gone fishing - Not Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea

Taken from my hotel room window while on a quick two and a half day visit to Mumbai in 1996. Looks like three guys are out to do some fishing. This was my first and only visit to India and it was a real eye-opener but most strange to me is that I seem to have taken only three photos!

No alternative; I'll just have to go back.

Orginally posted September 2, 2011

Queen's Spiral

Queen's Spiral

Not too far back this week. I visited Greenwich for the first time in twenty years when I was in London in July and this image is from the Queen's house. Visit if you get the chance. While the 'complex' was busy with many tourists - especially the Royal Observatory and the surrounding park - Queen's house was very quiet. There's almost too many pictures of boats for me but I really enjoyed some of the pictures from Cook's Pacific excursions.

 

There's no magic to this photo either: I sat on the ground and turned the camera upwards, but it came out quite well. I wanted to take one from the top but it was closed off.

 

I may be incorrect but I think the scene at the Circumlocution Office in Little Dorrit was filmed here (from last years PBS television production).
 

Originally posted August 19, 2011

High Up Parking Lot

Haleakala Crater Parking Lot 1991

.

This is a parking lot. Seen in the background is the sweeping vista of central Maui which spreads out over 10,000 feet below where this picture is taken. As the sun rises, you can just about see the shadow cast by the mountain in the middle left of the frame.

It is pretty barren at the top of Haleakala crater but on most mornings there's a lot of life and activity. On the outer edge of the parking lot you can see the tourist bikers who have come up to the crater in a van to watch the sunrise and then ride their rented bikes down the approximately 35miles of road back to town. If you look carefully you can see they have color coded each group based on the colors of their rain slickers.

They have gravity working with them.

From this vantage point we did an about face and hiked down into the magnificence of the crater. No sissy bike riding for us. It's a parking lot but I like it just the same.

 

Originally posted September 22, 2011