Velocity of Content: Recent Episodes
Velocity of Content
In a publishing environment buffeted by digital disruption and calls for open access, university presses in 2024 must manage to remain relevant and sustainable even as their audiences grow.
The opening reception for the Public Library Association conference in Columbus was canceled for a tornado warning.
The publisher – one of the Big 5 – was founded in 1924 by Richard Simon and Max Schuster.
The next time you sit down to read a book, remember to thank the links in publishing’s supply chain.
While many books are removed from shelves after a lengthy and public review process, accounts are mounting where the titles were surreptitiously withdrawn from collections, says PW’s Andrew Albanese.
Without exaggeration, the entire London Book Fair stood on the intersection of publishing, copyright, and AI.
At SSP, Randy Townsend has led efforts to prioritize mental health awareness and support within the scholarly communications ecosystem.
Amazon's dominance in the e-book market, according to litigation, has enabled the e-retailer to "coerce" publishers into anticompetitive deals.
According to the latest report from dosdoce.com on audio publishing in Spanish-language markets, production and consumption is soaring.
Independent publisher Lee & Low has released a survey on diversity in publishing employment.
SPD takes risks on books by new or marginalized writers, enabling their works to develop an audience and to gain recognition, says Kent Watson.
For nearly half a century, the Journal Citation Reports, or JCR, have been “must reading” in universities around the world. Dr. Nandita Quaderi, a senior vice president and the editor in chief for Web of Science at Clarivate, shares the latest developments in the JCR’s ongoing evolution.
At PubWest 2024 in Phoenix, the impact of generative AI on publishing dominated the conference agenda.
The Russian invasion targeted Ukrainian culture as much as the country’s infrastructure, says Iryna Baturevych, co-founder of Chytomo, an online publishing news platform.
Soho publisher Bronwen Hruska cited an increased cultural fixation with horror for the move
International Publishers Association President Karine Pansa places special importance on the freedom to publish, which face threats around the world.
K-dramas and K-pop have placed the Republic of Korea at the center of the media universe. Are K-books about to join them?
If you think that libraries are just for books and that kids today care only about digital media, then you should read a new report from the American Library Association.
High-quality, authentic content deepens engagement with students and advance literacy achievement.
AI tools now conduct systematic review of scientific literature for government officials by searching millions of information sources. And the machines are expected to do much more in years ahead.
On January 10, Judge T. Kent Wetherell denied a motion by the Escambia County School Board to dismiss the First Amendment case.
For researchers, knowing where and how their work matters can determine the direction of future investigations and the trajectory of careers.
Last year, publishers debated the impact of AI and fought book bans in US schools and libraries.
Scholarly publishers and service providers are pulling and pushing at traditions, opening doors, and introducing innovations.
We must not take for granted how critical these media activities are to the joy of celebrating our humanity and to the responsibility of sustaining our freedom.
Critically for Richard Charkin, the title verso is where to find who is the copyright holder.
AAP responded to tech industry assertions that respect for copyright is an obstacle to their innovation by labeling that as, “nonsense."
Books remain a dominant format, though reading and discussing stories, as well as the IP generated from books, have become integrated in consumers’ experiences and on publishers’ spreadsheets.
In Iowa, the ACLU and Lambda Legal are challenging a state law that critics say seeks to silence LGBTQ+ students and bans books with sexual or LGBTQ+ content.
“A good coach can change a game,” said UCLA’s John Wooden. “A great coach can change a life.”
Authors and agents ask whether streaming audiobooks will devalue reading and harm book buying.
KDP authors can now choose from a selection of AI-generated narrators to create a machine-generated audiobook.
Scholastic’s Ellie Berger pledged to get a greater range of books into the hands of children.
Since 2012, the John Maddox Prize has recognized individuals who stand up for science and advance public discussions around challenging topics.
Scholastic has found itself on the defensive over an optional collection of diverse titles at its book fairs.
AI is building a strong presence in the scholarly publishing industry, creating opportunities and dilemmas that pose important ethical questions.
Tracie D. Hall was a prominent spokesperson for the freedom to read, well-known for her mantra “free people read freely.”
On Tuesday in New York, Spotify announced an ambitious program to add audiobooks to its digital audio platform.
Nadim Sadek entwines the histories of AI and book publishing to make his case that AI technologies can complement, and not necessarily replace, human authors, editors, and publishers.
Higher education institutions have led research on sustainability for many decades. Now, they are applying that same academic rigor to understand the environmental and social impact of their own operations and outputs.
“The rise in unique titles challenged is indicative of the rise in organized political groups creating and sharing lists of objectionable books,” Andrew Albanese explains.
Concerns continue to grow over how artificial intelligence may impact authors and creators.
A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking HB 900, the controversial “book rating” law from taking effect in Texas.
Writers in Hollywood are the latest to declare concerns that technology based in powerful artificial intelligence tools may jeopardize their livelihoods.
“Good name in man and woman,” wrote Shakespeare, “is the immediate jewel of their souls.”
In July, according to BookScan, sales for roughly 180 BookTok authors fell 4.5 percent over 2022.
With new AI services introduced on an almost daily basis, adoption of FAIR Data Principles in research-intensive organizations is more important than ever.
A stipulated permanent injunction prevents the Internet Archive from offering unauthorized copies of books to the global public.
Printed books engendered a culture of communication that endured for centuries. In his new book, The Gutenberg Parenthesis, media analyst Jeff Jarvis places us outside the era of print and beyond the world that print created.
Three years since the tumultuous summer of 2020, how have we changed? In publishing especially, what is different about our jobs, our professional relationships, and our attitudes?
When it comes to successful Open Access initiatives, a critical element is high-quality metadata.
While AI isn't a new concept in copyright or technology, it's the top draw for the 2023 Copyright and Technology conference.
The Texas “Reader Act” requires book vendors to review any book that could be sold into a school.
Mark Gottlieb with Trident Media Group explores what authors and publishers should know about TikTok’s move into publishing, and how they may want to respond.
PRH CEO Nihar Malaviya said that any growth the industry has seen has been offset by increased costs.
It’s difficult to imagine more challenging circumstances for a book festival than to be held during war.
Copyright infringement lawsuits from authors and artists against creators of Generative AI software are mounting.
Creating effective plain-language summaries requires looking beyond the language, says Dr. Catherine Richards Golini.
According to PW’s Andrew Albanese, the ALA conference highlighted an organized response from the library and publishing communities to politicized attacks on the freedom to read.
Publishing industry analyst Rüdiger Wischenbart wants your help to map the new uncharted territories of the book business.
The war in Ukraine grinds on one year after the Russian invasion. Ukrainians have so far deterred President Vladimir Putin’s special operation with help from friends and allies around the world.
“The hope is the risk of losing critical state funds will dissuade cities and towns from the kind of bans we’ve seen,” says PW’s Andrew Albanese.
Trade book publishing industry as we know it will soon be obsolete, asserts Thad McIlroy.
A May 10, 2023, CCC Town Hall panel shared best practices for developing research data that is FAIR through culture, training, and technology.
Across all sectors, US publishing sales in 2022 totaled $28.1 billion, according to the Association of American Publishers.
Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT-3 received its language training from 300 billion words on the internet, all written in books, journal articles, and Wikipedia.
As an author, publisher, and organizer of festivals and reading, the late Volodymyr Vakulenko had many roles in Ukrainian publishing, Ukrainian novelist Victoria Amelina explains.
Data scientists often work closely with librarians. The two roles are complementary, and organizations can benefit from aligning the positions strategically, says Mary Ellen Bates.
Writers in Hollywood are the latest to declare concerns that technology based in powerful artificial intelligence tools may jeopardize their livelihoods.
This week, the possible impact of AI, and ChatGPT in particular, on publishing and related educational businesses came into sharper focus.
A watch is handy for meeting trains and catching planes, but a compass will get you where you’re going.
The traditional reliance of media on advertising revenue is a broken business model that needs a re-boot, says Prof. Victor Pickard.
At London Book Fair, worries over machine-written content and any related threats to copyright and creativity.
London Book Fair returns this week to the historic Olympia exhibition venue on Hammersmith Road.
Brian Murray, HarperCollins CEO, joins Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and bestselling novelist Colson Whitehead for London Book Fair programming.
As chatbots rise, US Authors Guild lobbies for incentives for human creators to continue working.
Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT-3 received its language training from 300 billion words on the internet, all written in books, journal articles, and Wikipedia.
After three years of contentious legal wrangling by publishers and the Internet Archive, the copyright infringement case wasn’t even close, reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly.
Publishing industry analyst Rüdiger Wischenbart wants your help to map the new uncharted territories of the book business.
The London Book Fair returns in April with Ukrainian authors and publishers in a special role.
The war in Ukraine grinds on one year after the Russian invasion. Ukrainians have so far deterred President Vladimir Putin’s special operation with help from friends and allies around the world.
The Wikipedia gender gap arises not only from the predominance of male contributors but also from the challenge presented by Wikipedia’s principle of notability.
For publishers, the perfect data party is where you can remember everyone’s name – what they do, what they like, and what content they engage with.
PRH officials say the addition of a new adult publishing group is intended to revive competition among its imprints.
Justice’s decision to make an antitrust example of Google may release the tech company’s tight grip on ad spend and give publishers, especially news publishers, a chance at online survival.
HC and UAW Local 2110 tentatively agreed to unspecified increases to the minimum entry-level salary from a $45k baseline.
Over a generation, Calvin Reid covered the artists and their audiences, the comic books, and the comics business.
While PRH is resetting after its merger plans failed, the trade book publisher is not alone among the Big 5 in facing stormy times.
At Oxford University Press, Niko Pfund faces challenges from the marketplace of ideas and from colleagues keen to redefine publishing and publishers.
The US and other countries should consider developing innovative AI policies and intellectual property laws, says Prof. Ryan Abbott.
IPA President Karine Pansa urged Digital Book World publishing industry attendees to make more books more accessible to more people.
A special focus for Karine Pansa and IPA is to encourage members to increase accessibility in their works. Currently, just 10% of published content is accessible to print-disabled readers.
OverDrive, a digital distributor of eBooks, audiobooks, and streaming video titles for public libraries, has reported on its performance last year.
Sure, you’ve been told what to think many times. You could even say that’s what the internet is for. Now comes Tom Chatfield with a paradigm twist. The author and digital philosopher offers us advice for how to think.
The trick to making ebooks accessible and even beautiful is to think of them as software, says Jens Tröger, Bookalope founder.
Machines that can read aloud would be considered magic in any other era, yet in 2022, such technology is unremarkable and will soon be commonplace. Whether we read silently in a quiet library or listen to an audiobook while commuting on a crowded train, the written word continues to hold us in its spell.
From enumeration of animal species living in every corner of the globe to identification of fossil remains of ancient creatures, scientific inquiry looks from the present day into the very dimmest past. Science can’t see into the future – not yet anyway. The responsibility to make the future a place that is welcome, inclusive, and full of understanding lies with all of us.
For December 16, the final show of the year, CCC’s podcast highlights the biggest stories in the book world for 2022.
When making a meal, whatever ends up on the menu, there are always fresh, wholesome ingredients from trusted sources. Our families and our guests expect as much. For all our information diets, the same care is advised – for our own good health, and for the good health of our communities.
ALA and PEN say most “book challenges” in 2022 involve LGBTQ+ authors and themes, or issues of race and social justice.
What creators, performers, and rights owners should know when it comes to developing content for audiobooks and podcasts.
The union action has received support from Harper authors and from the stage at the recent National Book Awards.
The university library holds first a central role as a study space. With enrollment increasingly diverse, librarians and administrators see responsibility for making that study space into a welcoming place, too.
Sugar-sweetened beverages and COVID-19. Gun violence and teenage sex. What they share is that each can lead to dangerous health consequences. Data-driven science shows us how in each case, the cause leads to effect. The science, though, may not be enough to change minds and save lives.
In the US election this month, books bans and public school teaching restrictions remained hot button issues, according to Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.
For a close reading of Judge Florence Pan’s ruling to block Penguin Random House’s proposed acquisition of Simon & Schuster, CCC’s Chris Kenneally spoke with Michael Cader of Publishers Lunch.
With one especially dominant firm in the market, there would be fewer bidders for book rights with negative impact on negotiations for those rights.
The trick to making ebooks accessible and even beautiful is to think of them as software, says Jens Tröger, Bookalope founder.
Upon review of the extensive record and careful consideration of the parties’ arguments’, the government successfully showed that the effect of the proposed merger, ‘may be to substantially to lessen competition' in the market for the U.S. publishing rights to anticipated top-selling books.
Upon review of the extensive record and careful consideration of the parties’ arguments’, the government successfully showed that the effect of the proposed merger, ‘may be to substantially to lessen competition' in the market for the U.S. publishing rights to anticipated top-selling books.
Upon review of the extensive record and careful consideration of the parties’ arguments’, the government successfully showed that the effect of the proposed merger, ‘may be to substantially to lessen competition' in the market for the U.S. publishing rights to anticipated top-selling books.
Publishers and universities are developing innovative business models for publishing and selling textbooks to help more students afford college in their chosen fields of study.
Publishers and universities are developing innovative business models for publishing and selling textbooks to help more students afford college in their chosen fields of study.
Supply chain issues have troubled book publishers since the pandemic began over two and a half years ago. As 2022 nears its end, the logistics gremlins are dramatically showing up in the bottom line.
Supply chain issues have troubled book publishers since the pandemic began over two and a half years ago. As 2022 nears its end, the logistics gremlins are dramatically showing up in the bottom line.
The world’s largest publishing conference returned to the famous Frankfurter Messe this week.
Publishing is sharing information and data on climate change while taking steps to drive systematic change within its own sector.
The National Book Awards ceremony is planned as “in-person” event in NYC for the first time in three years.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted an ongoing and escalating attack on science that is much more than a philosophical debate. It is an attack on scientists, too.
For the book world and for readers, proprietary editions of a freely available public report will likely prove quite successful, says Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.
For the book world and for readers, proprietary editions of a freely available public report will likely prove quite successful, says Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.
A NewsGuard investigation reveals that TikTok searches consistently feed false and misleading claims.
A NewsGuard investigation reveals that TikTok searches consistently feed false and misleading claims.
Through the first eight months of 2022, ALA has recorded 681 attempts to ban or restrict library resources in schools, universities, and public libraries.
“The very big trade publishing houses have done their homework,” says the author of Global 50: The Ranking of the Publishing Industry.
“The very big trade publishing houses have done their homework,” says the author of Global 50: The Ranking of the Publishing Industry.
No matter what the discipline, fake papers published in unsuspecting scholarly journals are damaging to the trust that researchers and other readers have in what they read.
The daily grind of life in the book publishing industry has come under close inspection this week in a much-discussed Publishers Weekly feature.
The daily grind of life in the book publishing industry has come under close inspection this week in a much-discussed Publishers Weekly feature.
The digital revolution has given a rocket boost to how we communicate, says Gen Z Explained co-author Roberta Katz.
The digital revolution has given a rocket boost to how we communicate, says Gen Z Explained co-author Roberta Katz.
Elsevier has launched a global collaboration to understand the impact of the pandemic on confidence in research and to learn how researchers may better maneuver in a rapidly changing scientific landscape.
Efforts to label the case as the “trial of the century in publishing” are misplaced, Andrew Albanese asserts.
Efforts to label the case as the “trial of the century in publishing” are misplaced, Andrew Albanese asserts.
The university library holds first a central role as a study space. With enrollment increasingly diverse, librarians and administrators see responsibility for making that study space into a welcoming place, too.
How a 2021 French literary accolade has helped revive interest in an African novelist of the 1960s.
Government witness HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray expressed amazement at the $2.18 billion offer by Penguin Random House for Simon & Schuster.
The conference keynote speaker is Kris Ahrend, CEO, the Mechanical Licensing Collective.
The court heard on Tuesday from “a freelance writer” – bestselling horror novelist Stephen King. As a witness for the government, King, in effect, was taking the stand against his own publisher.
In 2013, in the so-called “Apple e-books case,” Amazon was the alleged victim of a conspiracy by the major publishers. Now, Amazon and the Big Five are named as co-conspirators in a suit brought by Hagens Berman, the same firm that first sued Apple.
“Readers really weren’t sensitive to the identities of the authors. They were welcoming of this diversity of voices, especially ones that had been underrepresented,” says Prof. Dana Weinberg.
Witness lists include bestselling author Stephen King as well as all Big Five CEOS and a host of agents and editors.
New frontiers. Challenging the status quo. These are lifelong career ambitions for Vitek Tracz.
The union is looking for higher pay, improved family leave benefits, a greater commitment to diversifying staff, and stronger union protection.
Important, groundbreaking research happens across Africa. Yet African scientists and institutions rarely see credit in the world’s most recognized scholarly journals, according to Dr. Sowmya Swaminathan, Head of Collaborations, Springer Nature.
“We’ve seen public libraries that have turned into shelters, including some at the cities that are being shelled. And we’ve seen the Ukrainian library community mobilize to combat disinformation,” says Nick Poole.
Librarians arrived last weekend in Washington for a wide-ranging professional education program that reflected ongoing political and cultural issues.
Over the same period that Dr. Berk has researched and written her body of work, not only publishing and related technology have changed dramatically but also society and culture.
“The pandemic took a toll on the library community and library workers,” PW’s Andrew Albanese notes. “The profession needs to consider the future of working conditions for librarians and library workers.”
A smart contract isn’t really a contract – it is simply a bit of self-executing code, according to Paul Sweeting. “It’s not the equivalent of a contract of sale or a license contract that is written down by lawyers and signed by both parties and notarized,” he says.
Feeling nostalgic for the days of BookExpo? No one else in the US book world is either.
Alexia Bedat advises podcast creators to learn the lessons of Hollywood contracts and to seek deals that build on the unique strengths of the new medium.
74,000 audiobooks were published in 2021— a 6% increase in output over 2020, according to the Audio Publishers Association’s Sales Survey.
Take a world tour of book publishing with journalists and analysts who cover Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America.
According to NPD BookScan, an unusual market segment appears to be boosting publishers’ sales: banned books.
The key to success, says Publerati’s Caleb Mason, is a focus on scale – the same approach as at your favorite microbrewery.
As one by one, publishers disappear, is it possible (or even inevitable) that competition in trade book publishing is on its way to becoming extinct?
A peer-reviewed article published this month in PLOS ONE has examined what happens in the scientific record when journal-published versions of articles are retracted in cases of research previously available on preprint servers.
Publishers, authors, and bookseller groups have joined the Unite Against Book Bans campaign
Dwindling paper supplies, skilled labor shortages, limited printing capacity, and heightened awareness of environmental impact have all contributed to the supply chain nightmare for publishers.
S&S CEO Jonathan Karp said that refinements made to its metadata have improved sell-through, boosting the bottom line.
Although PW began as a publication for the trade, with the arrival of the web, its audience has grown to include avid book readers and the public.
“We learned we were more adaptable than we knew,” Michael Pietsch told the annual meeting of the Book Industry Study Group, the first such gathering in three years.
A key problem with open access information is that we require a new locus of trust, says STM’s Eefke Smit. We need to know which information can be trusted or cannot be trusted.
Data can be the key to open new doors to innovation. But if you’re using numbers to find answers, you should ask yourself some questions, too.
The party hats publishers have sported since the pandemic began two years ago may now have to come off.
Fresh air and sunlight are said to be the best disinfectants. The recently launched GW Journal of Ethics in Publishing offers plenty of both.
Book fair attendees debated whether a blanket ban on all Russian publishing in the face of that country’s February invasion of neighboring Ukraine was appropriate.
“I love the way the SDGs undergird the human rights,” says Olatoun Gabi-Williams. “Children should grow up knowing their rights, and human rights undergird what we’re trying to do with the SDGs to make the world a better place.”
Masks were required for PLA 2022, and for the library community “that was not a problem,” says PW’s Albanese. “If any group is sensitive to personal safety, it is the library community.”
As many as 2 billion people around the world speak English, making it the world’s most widely spoken language. On April 12 and 13, the Oxford World English Symposium will explore the many varieties of English spoken around the globe.
Publishing is on the road again. This week, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair returned as an in-person event. The London Book Fair follows in early April.
While some books cannot reasonably become audiobooks – heavily illustrated children’s storybooks as well as art books and photography books – most fiction and many nonfiction titles likely can.
Librarians argue that with rising inflation and continued economic volatility and uncertainty, flat funding is essentially a cut.
“We’ve seen public libraries that have turned into shelters, including some at the cities that are being shelled. And we’ve seen the Ukrainian library community mobilize to combat disinformation,” says Nick Poole.
Book fairs around the world resolve to suspend contact with any Russian state institutions and agencies.
A novel scholarly publishing model from the oldest publishing house in the world aims to open entirely new territory in the research journey.
“The war must cease immediately, and the initiators and participants of the military aggression must be stripped of their ranks and titles and brought to justice,” declared a Russian book industry alliance.
The key to success, says Publerati’s Caleb Mason, is a focus on scale – the same approach as at your favorite microbrewery.
On a recent online panel discussion looking at supply chain challenges in publishing, PW’s Jim Milliot foresaw a shift from offshore printing back to stateside.
“The challenges the UN SDGs set out to address are things that need to be informed by high-quality academic research,” says Springer Nature’s Nicola Jones.
A report from PEN America shows a steep rise in organized efforts to remove books from schools and public library shelves.
The report card on last year’s US trade book sales is A++, says NPD Bookscan’s Kristen McLean.
“People who direct audiobooks, people who edit audiobooks, people who check audiobook narration for word-for-word perfection against the manuscript would be impacted. And in this age of deep fakes, there are ethical issues too.”
When you look in Wikipedia for the contributions that women or people from the Global South have made to science and discovery, they’re missing, says British scientist Dr. Jessica Wade.
Requests for information on book deals called, “costly, time consuming, and intrusive.”
Plain Language Summaries move published research beyond the basic definition of Open Access – availability – toward a more ambitious goal of understandability.
Too much information. If that’s driving you insane, then you should know there are ways to focus and filter for information success.
A shift from analog to digital voices would lower production costs, lead to greater choice in titles, and mean a lot less work for Hollywood actors between pictures.
Romance readers have long been comfortable with digital because digital can keep up with their voracious reading pace.
As 2022 opens, Manhattan-based publishers have delayed plans to return to their offices.
The digital revolution has given a rocket boost to how we communicate, says Gen Z Explained co-author Roberta Katz.
The New Normal must be adapted to an environment that requires us to be more inclusive, more tolerant, and more resourceful.
The ongoing global public health crisis deeply challenged all sectors of publishing in 2021. Yet industry stakeholders remained determined in the pursuit of renewal and recovery.
“Attempts to purge schools of books” are part of “a partisan political battle fought in school board meetings and state legislatures” charges the National Coalition Against Censorship.
For a quarter-century, the business narrative across all sectors in publishing is a story of mergers and acquisitions.
Are Washington censors trying to block from publication "shocking details" of "a White House bent on circumventing the Constitution”?
To see into the future of media, exit Interstate 81 in Syracuse, New York, and head to the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Librarians miss you, and they want you back. That’s just one finding of an unprecedented survey of 4,000 librarians and patrons.
“We’re now seeing a 60% year-to-year increase in book challenges,” reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly.
“This is a platform by Africans, for Africans, on African research. It can’t get better than that,” says Joy Owango.
“The Authors Guild is thrilled the DOJ has taken on the case on behalf of authors,” notes PW’s Andrew Albanese. “But I think it is fair to say that Amazon remains in focus for many.”
Revealing insights on what pandemic lockdowns meant for drug researchers who also were caregivers.
“This acquisition would enable Penguin Random House, which is already the largest book publisher in the world, to exert outsized influence over which books are published in the United States and how much authors are paid for their work,” asserts the US Justice Dept.
As Capitol Hill considers a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure investment proposal from the Biden White House, Republicans and Democrats are arguing over more than the cost. What we mean by infrastructure has become a critical question.
Given continued reports of global supply chain problems, consumers are likely to start holiday shopping early.
As one of the world’s leading open access publishers, PLOS has led the way for two decades in developing business models that make even its most selective open access journals truly open to read and open to publish.
Investor interest in publishers is rising because publishers have a commodity that many businesses covet. “They have the content. They have the storytellers,” Robin Warner told Frankfurt Book Fair.
“Publishers across our sector must think about their responsibility for our collective environment,” says Michiel Kolman.
For Frankfurt Book Fair in 2021, programming stretches over two weeks and will be presented in two ways: online and at the Messe fairgrounds.
Following fashion is essential to some and may seem silly to others, yet fashion brands are economic powerhouses and barometers of social change.
Supply chain issues facing the book business this holiday season and beyond were years in the making.
Producing podcasts has never have been more lucrative. For top-shelf creators, producers, distributors and platforms, podcasting may be an end in itself – or it can serve as a bridge to film, television, and publishing.
55 publishing groups with combined reported revenue for 2020 of nearly $68 billion are included in this year’s ranking. Total 2020 revenue is down about 6% from 2019, though a significant portion of that decline is owing to currency fluctuations.
“You’re not only a book buyer, consumer, reader, or a consumer of other media. What we saw in our data was that those that were avid in books were avid across other media,” says Dr. Rachel Noorda,
“The alleged conspiracy—in which the five largest American trade publishers are alleged to have banded together to give Amazon monopoly pricing power over e-books—fundamentally makes no sense.”
CCC and PW are marking today the Tenth Anniversary of our weekly conversation together.
Over the past two decades, technology has transformed rights management from back-office clerical function to strategic opportunity across many sectors of publishing.
After 20 years, Publishers Weekly writers and editors are recalling 9/11. “The PW staff did a remarkable job capturing early reactions to the historic event,” says editorial director Jim Milliot.
While the music industry experienced financial carnage in the first decade of digital disruption, streaming has restored the business to growth by playing your favorite song.
What happened to Gonzalez was a transient ischemic attack (TIA), also called, "a mini-stroke."
Part business model, part ideology, Open Science emphasizes collaboration and transparency for research and research-related publications.
Serialization efforts may soon have a greater impact on the book business, reaching readers not inclined to browse a bookstore.
In June, the UK’s Intellectual Property Office announced it will look at changes to the exhaustion of intellectual property rights. Essentially, exhaustion of IP rights is a limit on the control that copyright holders and others have over physical distribution of their works, such as books, in markets around the world.
The rise of the Delta variant of SARS-COV-2 has moved one major publisher to reverse plans to return to the office.
Darrell Gunter has helped bring to market digital-driven initiatives such as Factiva, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and others. The technology next-in-line to transform publishing, says the industry veteran, will be blockchain.
Restoring and remaking the national infrastructure is going beyond roads and bridges to include libraries.
“The solutions are coming from the Africans themselves and from the developing world,” says Gracian Chimwaza. “They work locally to address the problems locally.”
As Open Access and Open Science policies have taken hold, university librarians flung open the doors to their institutions. But in March 2020, those same libraries were forced to shut as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
Comics have long played an important role in the reading habits of many children and adults around the world, but in North America, appreciation of the format –including graphic novels and manga – has been late to come.
Graphic novels made up almost 20% of adult fiction unit sales in the first half of 2021, compared to 9.3% last year. Unit sales soared 178.5% in the first six month of this year. With 16.2 million copies sold, graphic novels are now the second-largest adult fiction subcategory.
“Core values are the basis for everything – for your culture, your business processes, how you treat your people, how you treat your customers,” says Sabrina Horn. “All of that radiates out through your brand. It is essential.”
“While the supply chain has held up well— consider the strong sales we’ve seen over the past year —challenges now loom,” says PW’s Andrew Albanese.
In the midst of political and social upheaval, where do you turn to gain understanding and to foster empathy? For many Americans, the answers are found in books; reading is a gateway to move beyond misinformation, habits and prejudices.
The surprises from COVID-19 aren’t always unwelcome ones. The arrival of effective vaccines is one such miracle. The good health of the publishing industry is yet another – at least for now.
Book buyers continue to seek out books that help them understand and address issues of racism.
A voyage around a page takes us on an engrossing metaphorical journey from the Sea of Syndication to the Lake of Knowledge, passing Woods of Truth and Scholarly Fields – forever, of course.
Published by Simon & Schuster, The Room Where It Happened has sold about 679,000 print copies, according to NPD BookScan.
Over the past two decades, technology has transformed rights management from back-office clerical function to strategic opportunity across many sectors of publishing.
The bestselling author and former US President will address librarians on June 29. The big event, though, isn’t the first Obama appearance for ALA.
Forget what you learned about the origin of printing. Movable type using Chinese porcelain pegs was invented by Bi Sheng in 1040, four centuries before Gutenberg and his press. And where there is printing, there is copyright, too. So, yes, you can also forget that other myth, the one that says China and copyright are incompatible.
“We made the decision to pivot to digital over the summer and very quickly had to turn around an infrastructure that would support a digital meeting.”
The all-virtual US Book Show fills a vacuum in the publishing industry left when BookExpo ceased operations.
HarperCollins, the second largest US trade publisher, has concluded its $349 million acquisition of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s trade division.
Estimates vary, but at least 3 million Iranians have emigrated since 1979. The United States has the largest such community, centered in Los Angeles, and fancifully called Tehrangeles. Many other Iranians and their families live in Turkey, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
In the U.S., public library usage stats reveal a 31% drop in building use over eight years, up to 2018.
“For research libraries, there is a strong need to champion the importance of digital preservation,” says Alicia Wise, recently appointed Executive Director of CLOCKSS.
“Publishing staff are insisting on change and pursuing change at a pace that may be more aggressive than leadership would like,” says PW’s Andrew Albanese.
Today, in a world of smartphones and tablets, publishing – as practiced by authors, publishers and booksellers – is all about licensing. The observation is a timely one on World Intellectual Property (IP) Day.
Decisions to cancel one book and to advance plans for publishing another highlight pressure on publishers to reconcile business plans with social concerns.
As part of the upcoming STM Spring Conference, the STM Association will release a white paper, “Best Practice Principles for Ethical, Trustworthy and Human-centric AI.”
Kindle Vella promises an innovative way for readers to enjoy storytelling – short fiction available in serialized installments of 600 to 5,000 words.
Over her career as publisher and entrepreneur, Judy Piatkus found herself at Buckingham Palace and Number 10 Downing Street. She got there by giving a generation of readers, most of them women, what they wanted most to find in books – a way to see themselves in a new and fresh light.