Penguin Blog a Classic

Penguin has launched a blog site that seeks both reviews and social commentary on their list of over 1,400 classics. You can register to receive one of their titles in the mail and then 'blog' about it on the site. It launched a few months ago but at the moment this interesting experiment looks like a site for reader submitted reviews. There are some comments attached to some reviews but the site doesn't seem to capture the spirit and spontaneity that blogging could engender.

Blogging can be anarchic and to some extent that's what you would want to see from this project: Someone having a conversation with or interaction with a book as they read it. What they feel, what they don't understand, what happened that day in their lives that reminded them of the book, whatever.... We can get a book review from Amazon. I think Penguin should take the shackles off and loosen up.

Penguin

Harpercollins Goes to The Movies

The Associated Press reports that Harpercollins has established a strategic relationship with Sharp Independent.

Under a multiyear agreement, Sharp Independent at HarperCollins will be based at the publisher's Manhattan offices and will work with authors and agents on developing film versions of HarperCollins books. "We are always looking for ways to give our authors' works greater visibility. Providing an avenue and competitive advantage in the film world is another example of this," Michael Morrison, president and group publisher of Harper/Morrow, which includes the HarperCollins and William Morrow divisions.

AP

FT is Free

The Financial Times announced on Monday that they would be allowing free access to the content on their website. The FT was a late player in paid web access following the WSJ but are now following the lead of the NYT in opening up the site. From Mediapost:

FT.com isn't actually opening the doors all the way: there's a limit of 30 free stories per month, and visitors are required to register at the site after viewing the first five. The paper said the new policy is designed to make the site more accessible to blogs and news aggregators--increasingly important sources of traffic for news sites. Around the same time, FT.com will also launch a number of new products, including more video journalism and new editorial features, columns and tools.

It is great to see some of these newspaper sites change even though it can be argued it is Murdoch's purchase of Dow Jones that is prompting the action.

Who do these 'Literary' Competitions help?

Yet more competitions to seek new publishing works. Why, I don't know. This seems a dopey way to generate product IMHO. But then, that's probably not the point just like finding The Next Top Model is about modelling.

News on Borders/CourtTV/Gather.com and Amazon.com/Penguin/HP.

NYTimes
SeattlePI

Five Questions with Harlequin (I ♥ Presents)

At Harlequin there is good news on multiple fronts as Harlequin’s financial performance improves and their e-publishing initiatives are showing real signs of resiliency and development. Harlequin began their e-book program in October 2005 when they launched 9 titles and the company announced last week that all front list titles will have e-book versions. To spur growth and motivate buyers the titles are priced below the list price of print titles. As many know, the Harlequin community is incredibly loyal and by accounts read more than 2x as many books as a typical reader. The e-book customer is little different in their (her) dedication: She is willing to overcome the invariable technology issues of e-books to enjoy the benefits of e-books and loves the immediacy and portability that the e-book format enables.

In addition to e-books being available at all known e-retailers and in all formats, the company is also experimenting with content on mobile phones. This distribution method has been insanely popular in Japan and Harlequin has launched a monthly subscription offer that includes chapters, games, polls and reading lists. Priced at $2.49 it is competitive.

The Harlequin community has always been cohesive and eharlequin.com their web community site is now 10 years old. The site traffic is significant with ¾ million page views per month: What other publisher has traffic that large? Currently they receive over 20,000 posts per month discussing and reviewing books, interacting with editors and even pitching their own titles: Fifteen members sold books to Harlequin in 2006.

Yet another more recent initiative is Harlequin Presents (I ♥ Presents) which was launched in February 2007. Among the features, editors and writers post blogs and interact with readers who comment on average 13 comments per blog post. Harlequin has a built in advantage in developing social networking but they could have fumbled it. What is increasingly clear is that they are the dark horse in publisher’s race to engage their customers. Harlequin is proving that social networking will improve reader engagement, has the potential to turn customers into product ambassadors and facilitates two way communication between publisher and customer. Harlequin’s branding is well known in print but they are increasingly making it known online.

And with that intro, I asked Malle Vallik, Harlequin's director of digital content my five questions:

1. Harlequin has always been about community and somewhat 'cultish' in the level of obsessiveness of its readers. Is that an accurate description?

The majority of our readers are avid readers and incredibly knowledgeable about both our authors and our various series. A Harlequin Presents reader loves her Harlequin Presents stories, has favorite themes (like Mediterranean heroes) and knows when the books are available for sale. She shows up on the date the book goes on sale in a bookstore or mass merchandiser and at online retailers on the first of the month when the new titles are released.

Moreoever, our readers do like to share their thoughts about the books; that is what community and all the other new social media platforms offer – a means to connect readers from around the world and authors to readers.

2. Harlequin is doing a lot in online community building and social networking, is the ability to leverage these new technology tools a dream come true for Harlequin in that you are able to build immediate and direct relationships with highly responsive customers? Has this been all good? Tell us how it has it fostered changes in the organization.

Overall, it’s fantastic! You have basically hit the nail on the head. We can build immediate and direct relationships on a global scale. We can connect readers from Texas to Switzerland and connect readers to authors no matter where they are in the world.

We can also connect aspiring authors to our editorial team. Our community hosts writing events from authors along with editor meetings and pitches.

3. What new markets have opened up for Harlequin due to your web initiatives? Any surprises - like men as readers for example. Are these markets segments - narrower elements of existing markets - or are they completely new to Harlequin?

We have been able to create new products specifically for the digital market, whether it is bundles combining several titles together like the NYT bestselling author Jennifer Crusie 4 novel bundle. Or a bundle that makes shopping easier – what we call a one-click bundle. You can get all 8 Presents novels published in one month, with just one click and one download!

We launched the Harlequin Mini, a short story, available only as an eBook in August 2006, and launched Spice Briefs, short erotica, a spin off from our Spice imprint, again available only in eBooks in August 2007. We are publishing 2 – 3 Spice Briefs every month and are publishing both new and existing authors.

Perhaps our biggest surprise is how willingly women are approaching eBooks. It is still a very small part of our business but clearly a big growth area for the future.

4. Do authors bring you new ideas for using networking and the internet in new ways? Does what you do on the web result in new content? How much user content is solicited and used?

Yes, authors bring us new ideas. We work very closely together as a partnership with our authors: we have a website exclusive available to our authors where we offer suggestions on how to use digital more effectively and authors also contribute their case studies and ideas here. This is a collaborative learning experience for us both as we figure out how to maximize time commitment to return.

5. What is next for Harlequin on-line and social networking?

We just launched 100% frontlist in eBooks

We have launched the Harlequin Author Spotlight podcasts and will be soon launching a series of podcasts on how to write romance novels.

We are strengthening and expanding the back end power of our community by building a new platform that will be much more richly integrated into our website and let community members create meaningful profiles that include links to other social media.

We held our first author reading in Second Life yesterday, September 25 with author M.J. Rose, THE REINCARNATIONIST.

We have plans to acquire more eBook only content and other interesting new content for eBooks, create a new kind of eBook (more details to come!) and to continue to work with authors to launch more blogs.

BBC Worldwide Buys Lonely Planet

BBC Worldwide the commercial arm of the BBC has purchased Lonely Planet travel guides and although it had been rumoured for quite some time that LP was for sale the purchaser is a bit of a surprise. Founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler will remain with the business and retain 25% of LP.

''Joining BBC Worldwide allows us to secure the long-term future of our company within a globally recognised media group,'' the Wheelers said in a statement.

While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, The Herald noted that a 10% stake in the company was sold in 2005 for A$10mm to ANZ (that's a bank btw). Mr. Wheeler believes the bank did well out of the deal which values the company at over A$100mm.

Commenting on the deal John Smith, CEO of BBC Worldwide, said: "We are delighted to be announcing this acquisition today. Lonely Planet is a highly respected international brand and a global leader in the provision of travel information. This deal fits well with our strategy to create one of the world's leading content businesses, to grow our portfolio of content brands online and to
increase our operations in Australia and America."

BBC Worldwide is the commercial arm of the BBC and seeks to leverage the vast content owned by BBC into new distribution channels around the world. They have six core businesses: Global Channels, Global TV Sales, Content & Production, Magazines, Home Entertainment and Digital Media. In the year to end March 2007, BBC Worldwide generated profits of £111.1 million on sales of £810.4 million. The company has begun to invest heavily into digital distribution and has also recently announced key hires and organizational changes in this segment as well.

BBC Worldwide Press Release
The Herald
The Age
Five Questions with Lonely Planet

Publishing Trends Trends

Publishing trends released the results of their recent survey of publishing persona and reported some interesting but perhaps predictable results,

Not sure which refreshments to serve at your next publishing soirée? Wine and
beer are the safest bets…but it wouldn’t hurt to stash a few joints behind the
bar either.

Publishing Trends emailed the survey early in September to several thousand publishers, agents, booksellers and individuals in related businesses, and received a double-digit response rate that included comments and opinions on a wide variety of topics. Though the survey was anonymous, a significant group of respondents asked to be contacted for more in depth interviews. According to some, publishers lack vision, editors lack taste, managers don’t understand the business, authors exhibit bad behavior, and an Oregonian publisher thinks the industry is “too narrowly focused in NYC.” One VP of Sales and Marketing at a major publisher simply “fears for the future of the biz.”

Read the rest here.