BEA’s hasty announcement yesterday morning that next year’s show will restore a third day of floor exhibits caught most people by surprise so it took us a little while to do more than pass along the basic news. When show director Steve Rosato wrote “while many people liked BEA as a two-day show, more people need BEA to be a three-day show,” here’s what he apparently meant. While anecdotally most US publishers were happy with a jam-packed two days of exhibits without the “tumbleweeds” as one executive put it of the third day, it’s the international exhibitors who were close […]
iPad Takes the World
Apple’s iPad released today in major book markets included UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Germany–plus France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. Though the UK iBookstore launch was preceded by worried speculation that UK publishers were concerned aspects of Apple’s contract might run afoul of local pricing laws, lo and behold, Ye Agency Foure (Hachette UK, Penguin, Pan Macmillan and Harper UK) are all participating. (The smallest of the group, Simon & Schuster UK, is not currently participating and has yet to comment.) But no other UK publishers are known to have a direct relationship with Apple yet, and again Random UK […]
Faber's Page on Publishers' Priorities in the Digital Age, And Corollaries from BEA
In concert with iPad launch, Faber and Faber ceo Stephen Page has an essay in the Guardian on what it means for publishers: “It’s clear that publishers must move faster to establish our compelling and useful role in the modern life of reading. While acquiring new expertise, we must assert the best of our traditional strengths; providing capital (in the form of advance payments), offering editorial expertise, and creating a readership by designing, creating, storing, promoting and selling the works of writers. But that’s not enough. Publishers also have to explain what value they are bringing to the relationship between […]
Summer Books to Watch
We always enjoy the Wall Street Journal’s detailed preview of summer books which runs today. Along the same vein, USA Today ran their summer preview package earlier in the week, and the NYT’s Janet Maslin stuffs her beach bag with “fangs and other fluff, completely guilt free,” calling summer “the time to stop lying about what you read for fun.” In a short ebook preview, the Journal notes that the designers of the iPad version of Alice of Wonderland will sell a version of The Wizard of Oz next, while Vook has a two-part thriller series that features 36 chapters […]
Borders' Next Ideas? Lease Buyouts, Less Stealing, Still Reinventing the Supply Chain
After yet another quarter of disappointing results, Borders cfo Mark Bierley took the lead in the company’s conference call in explaining their latest strategy towards “improving profitability” (which begs the question of how you can improve something that doesn’t exist). Since “a number of stores are dilutive to our EBITDA” they “intend to aggressively pursue lease buyouts from these stores. The buyout on these leases would, based on our assumptions, positively impact our long-term bottom line.” They also have a “comprehensive audit program” that’s “designed to reduce” losses from shoplifting, particularly in “stores that have historically seen high levels of […]
Back to the Future: BEA Adds Back Third Day
You have to love the book business in all its idiosyncrasy. For years exhibitors complained about the third day of the show, and we have archived pictures of last year’s vast, empty aisles on Sunday. But nothing makes you miss something like taking it away. Writing that “while people like the two-day format, a lot of people genuinely need three days to meet their objectives at BEA,” show director Steve Rosato said they will add back a third day of exhibits next year. They will retain the mid-week schedule, and are likely to still have the conference day precede the […]