The ramifications of shrinking shelf space and speed to market were two of the topics touched on in the latest NYU Media Talk series, presented Tuesday afternoon by the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies Center for Publishing. The subject was “From the Publishers’ Perspective,” and featured panelists Brian Tart, president and publisher of Dutton; Ana Maria Allessi, v-p and publisher of HarperMedia; Bob Miller, group publisher of Workman; Sarah Crichton, publisher of Sarah Crichton Books at Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Much of the discussion centered on the industry’s uncertainty. “You learn to fail really quickly,” said Tart, but the important thing is to learn from the failures. For a literary publisher like FSG, Crichton said, the biggest challenge is the reduction of shelf space. “If people don’t see our books, they don’t buy them,” she said, stating that roughly 15% of her sales this year are from e-books.
How is publishing weathering the multitude of lurking problems facing it? “We’re trying to take some very calculated, small bets,” said Allessi, likening the risks to firing bullets, not cannonballs. As for the shelf space problem, Miller said Workman has been implementing a program they call “Square Deals,” in which they supply bookstores with tables and their titles on them, in effect “giving” bookstores more shelf space.
Another change affecting publishing: the need to be first—a phenomenon pushed to the forefront of the industry because of the country’s online, instant culture. Allessi said it’s becoming increasingly difficult for publishers to stick to what they do well and resist the pressure to be first at something, which ultimately dilutes everything. Crichton mentioned that, at the moment, eight out of Amazon’s top 10 titles were preorders.
On the topic of e-books, Tart stressed the positioning of physical books as objects, citing how Dutton is putting more money into book covers and overall presentation. Crichton said that as shelf space decreases and the placement of physical books becomes more of a premium, to look for prices to increase to thirty or forty dollars because the cost for printing will increase.
When the panel was asked about who they turn to as innovators in the industry, the Atavist was mentioned, but a couple of the panelists answered "authors." “We can learn a lot from how they grow their audiences,” Tart said.
Andrea Chambers, director of NYU’s Center for Publishing, said NYU is trying for two Media Talk sessions per year. Plans for the next one, slated for next spring, are already underway.
