The financial reports of the major publishers have been following a pattern for some years now. Sales are about flat but profits have been steadily rising. One explanation for that fact is that the management of the major houses have been diligent … [Continue reading]
New Zealand is a beautiful country that is at the end of the line in the global English-language book supply chain
Quite aside from being stunningly beautiful from top to bottom, New Zealand is unique, a nation of 4-1/2 million English speakers that is not on the way to anyplace else. When you go to New Zealand, you go on purpose. And you arrive on a large boat … [Continue reading]
After seeing Lightning Australia and a couple of publishers, and learning a few things
Ingram's Lightning Print operation outside of Melbourne isn't massive (at least not yet), but it sure has a lot of capabilities. It can deliver hardbacks as well as paperbacks, color as well as just black, and pretty much an infinite number of trim … [Continue reading]
We’ll see how what I actually learn compares to what I expect to find out
Australia and New Zealand have always been the far outposts of the English-speaking territories for book publishers based in New York and London. But the logistics and economics of managing inventory are very difficult. These countries are across … [Continue reading]
The best ways to use Lightning are not widely employed yet 20 years in
The 20th anniversary of Lightning Source, the digital service provided by Ingram that supplies both printed-on-demand books and ebook file distribution services for publishers, was recently noted in a tribute piece in Publishers Weekly. The growth of … [Continue reading]