Yesterday, Brian O’Leary kicked off BISG’s NEXT conference–Developing the 2020 Publishing Program–with a reprise of his Context First presentation (previously delivered at Books in Browsers and Tools of Change). “The challenge is not just being digital,” O’Leary said, “It’s about being relevant.” His vision of “a digital-first, content-abundant universe”, where users define their content consumption experiences and publishers must develop flexible processes and workflows, appropriately set the stage for the day’s challenge of developing strategies for a fictional publisher in the year 2020. In small working groups, participants outlined mobile and content strategies, addressed discoverability, and defined the publisher’s customer-base and core […]
Events
S&S CEO Reidy: Ebook Sales Between 15-20 Percent, But Apps and Enhanced Ebooks A Non-Starter
Yesterday’s PublishingPoint conversation Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy’s conversation with Google Book Rights Registry CEO Michael Healy could not have been timed any better, though the news that emerged had less to do with the Google Book Settlement — and the now unclear future of the Rights Registry — and more with the original intent of the event, on S&S’s plan for existing and future digital initiatives. Reidy did comment briefly about the GBS rejection, saying she was disappointed, but the news wasn’t too surprising” and that she hopes it is “another way station along the way to a […]
Briefs: National Festival Expands, Bristol Palin Writes, Kindle Gets Page Numbers, and More
The National Book Festival, held annually on Washington, DC’s National Mall, will expand to a two-day event this year, convening September 24 and 25. The Library of Congress says “the added day will let us plan for at least 90 authors over the entire weekend.” The media found a preliminary metadata posting on Amazon for a memoir by Bristol Palin, set for publication by William Morrow on June 21. It was listed as a $25 hardcover. Amazon removed the listing, but the cached version is still viewable (for now). In separate Amazon-related news, the famously customer-centric is finally giving in […]
People, Distribution, Etc.: Riggio to Address AAP Meeting, and More
The AAP announced that Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio will deliver a speech at their annual meeting, which returns to New York, scheduled for March 9, 2011. In personnel news, Alexis Washam has joined Crown Trade Paperbacks as a senior editor, reporting to Tina Pohlman. She was an editor at Penguin. Washam will oversee paperback conversions for Broadway Paperbacks, Three Rivers Press, Crown Business, and Crown Forum, acquire select outside reprints, and acquire and edit trade paperback originals. At Knopf Children’s, Nancy Siscoe has been promoted to senior executive editor, relinquishing her associate publishing director responsibilities and focusing on […]
Atwood Drops Out of Dubai Festival
Margaret Atwood has pulled out of the Emirates Airline International Festival for Literature in the wake of the fair’s decision to cancel the launch of Geraldine Bedell’s The Gulf Between Us because of the inclusion of a gay character. Other authors due to appear at the festival, including bestselling children’s authors Anthony Horowitz and Lauren Child, are now also reconsidering whether to attend. Atwood, a vice president of International PEN, has written to the festival’s director about the “regrettable turn of events” surrounding Geraldine Bedell’s The Gulf Between Us. “I was greatly looking forward to the festival, and to the […]
A New Addition to the Frankfurt Schedule
Next Thursday night at the Frankfurter Hof hotel, publishing colleagues will honor the late Tracy Howell by gathering for drinks and a raffle to benefit the Tracy Walker Howell Memorial Fund. The nonprofit is endowing a scholarship at Middlebury College, which Howell attended, for a student with an interest in literature to spend a year at the C.V. Starr-Middlebury School in Italy. Grand prizes include one-week stays at four vacation homes in Italy (donated by Uli Genzler and family); the Berkshires (given by Maria Campbell and family); Cape Cod (provided by Hal and Hart Fessenden); and Provence (donated by Alison […]