Last week’s Digital Book World conference did a lot to bridge the gap between start-ups from outside the publishing business and innovators within the industry, and one of the more inspiring presentations came from Sourcebooks ceo Dominique Raccah in one of the closing sessions. Her slides on Rethinking Failure: Finding The Opportunities In Our Challenges are available online now. “We have to rethink our whole view on failure,” Raccah said. “It is hurting us.” The essence of her presentation was to suggest that we stop talking about failure when trying new things, and stick to discussing “experiments and results.” (When we […]
Book Fairs
Stock Expert Cramer Says Amazon Shares Are “Modern Art”
Later in the morning television host and author of the just-released Get Rich Carefully Jim Cramer provided an investment view of publishing and the larger media landscape. Extending the morning’s discussion, he said, “I simply don’t know how to stop Amazon. It’s not constrained by the need to make money. It’s modern art. It’s Jackson Pollock. It can’t be explained. It’s a Rothko, and everyone else is Rembrandt — and everyone else is worth a lot less.” At the same time, Cramer noted, “it is the best multi-year growth story out there.” Ironically, because the share price is fueled by […]
The “Bezosologists” At DBW
Bloomberg BusinessWeek reporter and author of The Everything Store Brad Stone opened Wednesday morning’s Digital Book World sessions focused on Amazon. “In a way, this is a room full of Bezosologists; we all have to be.” Stone spoke in particular to the company’s vast ambition and persistence: “The one constant is Amazon’s 20-year history is that it does not give up…and can be fairly ruthless and self-absorbed in how it constantly tries to disrupt the existing order.” He referred to “the notorious one-star review of my book that was heard round the world,” in which “MacKenzie Bezos took issue with […]
How Startups and Publishers Can Work With Each Other
One prominent topic at Digital Book World Tuesday was the relationship between startups and publishers, and how both sides can best work together. (As a case in point, Ingram Ventures announced an investment in social ebook retail startup Librify — after first meeting them at DBW a year ago.) In the morning, Mike Shatzkin presented the results of the DBW Startup Survey, with respondents from 43 startups and 25 book publishers from 8 companies. 74 percent of startups “considered themselves disruptive” to publishers — which is an inherent conflict — and said that the toughest challenges they face with our industry […]
Kids Books Matter More In Print and In Store, As Teens Warm Up to eBooks — and Lose Interest In Reading
The third-annual Launch Kids conference kicked off Monday morning with a block of data presentations from Nielsen, ReaderLink, the Insight Strategy Group, and PlayCollective, painting a comprehensive picture of both the commercial marketplace for children’s print and ebooks as well as insights into how children use digital media. Nielsen president Jonathan Nowell and director Jo Henry underscored key trends as measured by the company’s combined data streams, following last fall’s acquisition of Bowker’s business intelligence and commerce solutions. (For clarity below, Nielsen Bookscan is the actual point-of-sale data collected from physical and online stores. The “surveys” are the former Bowker products, […]
The Week Ahead
The big week of Digital Book World events starts on Monday (as will our coverage) — which means you have until Sunday night to pre-enroll and avoid higher on-site prices. Our 10 percent discount on individual DBW and “total access pass” tickets is still valid, and it remains the best deal available, so use this link/code if you like to save money. We’ve already broken records on every front and are looking forward to a great program, an amazing roster of well over 100 speakers and moderators, and a rich crowd from across the industry and around the world (just […]