Close Cover Before Striking by Sara Nelson - 11/12/2007
It has oft been said—and oft despairingly—that the book business has become more and more like the TV and movie biz, what with the corporate ownership, the philistine sensibilities, the blockbuster mentality and the focus on the bottom line. Books these days are supposed to “open” like Brad Pitt films and run like Law & Order. More
At Random by Sara Nelson - 05/12/2008
Ah, rumor. Where would publishing be without it? The lifeblood of our business was mightily fed last week by the news, first reported on the New York Times Web site, that Peter Olson would step down from his 10-year post as CEO of Random House. Quoting anonymous “executives,” the report revealed that Olson’s new Bertelsmann boss, Harmut Ostrowski, “has lost patience with...
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The Kids Are Alright by Sara Nelson - 05/05/2008
Here are some things “everybody” knows: Young people don't read. (See: several NEA studies.) The Internet has killed the book business, especially for people under 40. (See: everywhere you look.) New college graduates would rather work at Starbucks than squander their youths in the book business.
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Fighting Trim by Sara Nelson - 04/28/2008
Like the man said, “Be careful what you wish for.” Over the past couple of months, Thomas Nelson, the $250 million Nashville- and faith-based publisher, has been quietly trimming its list. Now planning to produce 50% as many titles as in the past (Nelson released about 500 new titles in fiscal 2006), the house has, not surprisingly, also cut staff.
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London in the Pink by Sara Nelson - 04/21/2008
To say that the annual London International Book Fair, held last week at Earls Court, was “business as usual” is not the faint praise it might at first appear to be. After the disaster that was the 2006 fair in the Docklands, the fair's 2007 return to Central London was much like the release of patient who had barely survived an accident: hopeful of recovery, but not altogether stea...
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Taking Chances by Sara Nelson - 04/14/2008
When Bob Miller recently announced that he was leaving Hyperion to start a new-style imprint at HarperCollins, tongues, predictably, wagged as to the why and the why now. But for the most part, publishing pundits were intrigued. Miller’s 25-book-a-year “studio” is supposed to take traditional publishing paradigms—the returns system and the advance vs.
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Don’t Get Mad, Get Ahead by Sara Nelson - 04/07/2008
Last summer, I got into a conversation about books with an acquaintance who, while a reader, is not even remotely connected to the publishing business. “Where do you get your books?” I asked him. He looked surprised. “Amazon,” he said. “Doesn’t everybody?” Statistics suggest that the online retailer accounts for more than 10% of the book retailing busi...
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Here Today, Here Tomorrow by Sara Nelson - 03/31/2008
No sooner does a bit of news hit the airwaves than publishers scramble to sign up books on the topic du jour. Stock market slides? A wise publisher not only goes into the archives to dust off some how-to-invest-in-bad-times tomes but he also ponies up to buy new ones, like Stephen Leeb's Game Over: How the Collapsing Economy Will Shrink Your Wealth by 50% Unless You Know What to Do (HarperColli...
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