My brilliant friend Joe Esposito has written a piece to explain why Penguin Random House would want to acquire Simon & Schuster. I have also been thinking about why PRH, or any of the other three of the "Big Five", would want to acquire S&S. … [Continue reading]
What James Daunt did and did not say about Barnes & Noble’s future
In what has to be considered a bit of a coup, BISG Executive Director Brian O'Leary scored a lengthy interview with B&N head James Daunt as the feature of BISG's annual meeting which took place on September 11. Daunt had a lot to say about his … [Continue reading]
Both the supply chain and book marketing are forever changed by Coronavirus
Just before the world changed, about five months ago on February 18th, we wrote in this space about two initiatives that made sense for all publishers to employ to raise revenues and profits. One was Ingram's Guaranteed Availability Program (GAP), … [Continue reading]
The supply chain for book publishing is being changed by Coronavirus too
One thing the pandemic has done is to make everybody more aware of "supply chains": the path by which a thing gets made and delivered to its ultimate user. Many of us heard many times that a ventilator is constructed of 150 parts that come from all … [Continue reading]
Two pretty easy ways to add revenue that most publishers are missing
The biggest publishers today are regularly delivering improved profit performance on a flat or declining sales base. This masks a troubling truth about today's book business. The core asset base of a book publisher is "performing titles": the books … [Continue reading]