“You don’t understand,” the three-time, big-six published author told me. “Books aren’t designed for you, the customer. Today, non-fiction books are business cards--for speaking, consulting, and deals.” I was meeting this friend for dinner in New York City and had mentioned a trend I had noticed in nearly every book I’d seen in the last year: They never say what they’re about. Almost as a rule, hardcover books (and increasingly ebooks) favor laudatory “blurbs” over descriptions--opting for short quotes from important authors, CEOs, celebrities, or media outlets to make their case. At the time, I was in the middle of designing the back cover of my own book, and being somewhat new to the game, I could not understand the benefits of doing this. Wouldn’t it be better to use that space to describe the contents of the book? Isn’t that what “customers” would want? Why bury the content on the inside? I was missing a fundamental change that has occurred in the publishing business, particularly for authors. Faced with declining sales and the disappearance of book retailers like Borders, authors have diversified their income streams, and many make substantially more money through new business generated by a book, rather than from it. Today, authors are in the idea-making business, not the book business. In short, this means that publishing a book is less about sales and much more about creating a brand. The real customers of books are no longer just readers but now include... Continue reading at 'Fast Company'
[ Fast Company | 2012-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
After five years of writing, how did Emma Healey’s Elizabeth is Missing go on to become a bestseller? Amy Lankester-Owen finds out. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More magazine, which began publishing in 1997 and billed itself as "the magazine for women of style and substance," is shutting down, publisher Meredith Corp. announced Thursday. In a statement, the... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2016-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After a successful 25-year run and selling more than three million copies, the final book in the Griffin and Sabine series will hit stores this spring. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sally Lloyd-Jones’s retelling of the Bible from Zonderkidz found a surprising readership beyond children, with teens and adults among its millions of fans. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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43 percent of UK consumers expect drones to be the most influential technology in 2016, according to IEEE’s annual survey, with smart phones (38 percent) and 3D printing (31 percent) close behind. The online survey, conducted in November 2015, questioned over two thousand adults to find out what... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2016-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Living Lights brand from Zonderkidz and author/illustrator Mike Berenstain recently passed the five-million unit sales mark. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic has acquired world rights to Zog and the Flying Doctors, a new picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. The deal for world rights to the book, which is a follow-up to Zog and features Zog the dragon, Princess Pearl and Sir Galahad, was made by Alison Green of Alison Green... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quercus has promoted Richard Arcus to the role of commissioning editor, focusing on “commercially saleable literary fiction as well as crime fiction with an imagination-capturing premise”. Arcus, who moves up from the role of editor, has been at Quercus since 2010. His first acquisition in his... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The New York Times on Monday defended its decision to exclude Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz's book "A Time for Truth" from its bestseller list after discovering "strategic bulk purchases," though it did not offer any further details behind the decision."The Times's best-seller lists... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On the same day that Apple Music launched, Apple received some bad news from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In a 2 to 1 vote, judges ruled that the company did conspire with publishers to inflate the prices of ebooks sold through iBookstore, agreeing with a 2013 ruling. The judges found... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2015-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pavilion imprint Batsford has a 500,000 first print run for colouring book Millie Marotta's Tropical Wonderland, to meet retail orders around the world. The book, released today (25th June, £9.99), is the follow-up to Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom, which has been translated into 30 languages... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publisher and writer with an instinctive eye for a literary hit, he was key to the success of the Booker prizeIf asked in a quiz for the link between Julie Andrews and Alan Clark, Julian Fellowes and Edna O’Brien, you could give only one correct answer: Ion Trewin, publisher. Trewin, who has... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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France is once again putting pressure on Amazon, this time through ebook subscription. Ironically, France's homegrown subscription services may suffer more. The post Bad News for Kindle Unlimited in France? appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Self-published author Sheila Rodgers has sold a million copies of her ebook Only the Innocent and two sequels, agent Lizzy Kremer has confirmed. Rodgers, who writes under the pen name Rachel Abbott, sold her books through Amazon Kindle after being rejected by literary agents. The first, Only... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Context is everything when it comes to analyzing data, says Hilary Mason. Are you selling a million copies of a book, or one copy of a million books? The post A Data Scientist Explains Some Approaches to “Big Data” appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Led by John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, the top of the 2014 print bestseller list was dominated by children’s and young adult titles that sold more than one million copies. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There was a mix of good news and bad news in Barnes & Noble’s first-quarter financials, which the company released last week for the period ended August 2. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Long before the best-seller lists were dominated by John Green, Veronica Roth, and Stephenie Meyer, there was S.E. Hinton. Her novel The Outsiders—written when Hinton was only 15—revolutionized the young adult publishing world, causing teenage readers to demand books that reflected the realities... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2014-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What American Booksellers Association CEO Oren Teicher called Amazon's "bullying assault of a major publisher" was a key concern among indie booksellers at both Thursday afternoon's ABA Town Hall and Annual Meeting. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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