One of the first times I talked to a book publishing audience trying to visualize the future that digital change would bring was about ten years ago at Book Expo America. It was already apparent at that time that the music business might have a major problem and there seemed to be ways that publishing might follow
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Supply Chain Data and Canada’s Opportunity
I don’t have to tell a roomful of people from the Canadian publishing industry that Canada is the most difficult market for publishers in the English-speaking world. You know it, although it may add to my credibility with you to assure you that I know it too
Actionable Analysis of Account-Specific Data
We have found that the right reports make competent business analysts out of reps whose great strength had always been that they were good “presenters”, not good numbers people. And those who were already good with analysis can save time if they are working with the right reports. They find what they need to know faster and, perhaps more importantly, have a vastly simplified task presenting “evidence” to a buyer because they can present a summarized report of the inventory performance for every book
Remarks at the Seybold Conference in New York
The trade book business seems daily to become ever more unprofitable for publishers; every day it is harder to get the sales books deserve and to avoid painful and costly levels of returns. It is now possible to use data to solve those problems, title by title and store by store, if there is the will to learn the way
Facing up to the Big Questions
For the most part, book publishing is a business that requires looking well into the future. Once books are commissioned, they take months, if not years, to be completed editorially before they can even be introduced into a lengthy production and marketing process, and then be launched into what a publisher usually hopes will be a lengthy period of sales. Up until very recently, readers’ interest in the subject matter of a book was a moving target for publishers: would it survive, or grow, between the time of commitment and the time of publication?