Gary Hoover, whose book Hoover’s Vision is being published in November, gave PT an email and telephone interview while touring the country on speaking engagements. A website, Hooversvision.com, will launch simultaneously with the book.
PT asked if Hoover’s Vision is for business moguls only, or does it appeal to a broader audience? It’s for “anyone who leads anything,” says Hoover. “I go around the world speaking to folks who run steel plants, universities, dotcoms, and dry cleaners. Enterprises of all types — for profit and non-, from tiny to titanic — all succeed and fail on the same principles. Because a key part of my message is creative thinking, it often rings especially true to entrepreneurs. But those in large corporations often do not realize that a lack of entrepreneurial thinking is what can make them the next Lucent, Sears, GM, or AT&T.”
As to why he chose Texere as his publisher, Hoover explained: “I developed a personal rapport with Myles Thompson of Texere and this was key to my decision. Like myself, he got his schooling while working for established industry leaders, then took the plunge and went out on his own. By working with Texere, I get the outstanding Norton marketing and distribution team coupled with a smaller publisher who pays attention to my book as if it were his own: the best of all possible worlds.”
PT wanted to know what Hoover thought had changed most since he was a book retailer: “Changes in the book business have been more evolutionary than revolutionary since we sold Bookstop to Barnes & Noble in 1989. . . . More power has shifted from the manufacturers to the retailers, which is parallel with what has happened in groceries and many other categories. With Oprah, the power to move books has become more concentrated. On the other hand, the rise of the superstore means that more backlist and more small authors and publishers get exposure to more consumers. The publishing industry seems resistant to change — the formats, pricing, and trim sizes are not moving. While there have been a lot of mergers, most of the exciting action is on the part of smaller, more innovative publishers like Motorbooks, Workman, and Taschen. I believe this was true when I entered the business: companies like Ten Speed and Lonely Planet were tiny startups.
“Going forward into the future, I would question the soundness of many of the business approaches at work today. The ‘department store of books’ at either the retail or publishing level would not appear to be the best strategy for most competitors, if you study the history of other industries that have gone down the same path. Narrow is better than broad, focus is better than diversity. There is room for one or two winning ‘all things for all people’ plays, but not for 3 or 6 or 20.”
