Category Archives: Uncategorized

Send Your Emails at Lunchtime, and Other Direct Marketing Tips

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) just released the 2011 Edition of its Statistical Fact Book. Now in its 33rd year of publication, the book reflects changes in direct marketing, this year focusing more closely on the mobile market. Some key findings: While ereaders were marketed in 2.5% of the mobile campaigns in 2010, that number…Continue Reading

People Roundup, March 2011

PEOPLE Richard Rhorer has been named Associate Publisher of Simon & Schuster, reporting to Jonathan Karp. Previously he was Director of Digital Business Development at Macmillan. . . . Sally Kim joined Touchstone on March 7 as Editorial Director, reporting to VP, Publisher Stacy Creamer. Kim was Executive Editor of the Harper imprint at HarperCollins….Continue Reading

Can’t Touch This: Toy Fair 2011, Engage!, and Virtual Pocket Money

This year’s technology-devoted Toy Fair 2011 conference and expo, Engage!, featured about 20 booths filled not so much with toys as . . . ideas. Or, rather, LCD screens with flashing bullet points and reps eager to discuss things like “Virtual Worlds Rights and Law” and “Virtual World Brand Development.” There was definitely less to play…Continue Reading

TOC 2011: Making Better Apps

“Value-Added Apps” brought Gus Balbontin, Global Innovation Manager of Lonely Planet; Michel Kripalani, President of app publisher Oceanhouse Media; and Pete Myers, co-creator of the BirdsEye iPhone app, ogether with moderator Neal Hoskins, founder of digital publisher WingedChariot, to discuss the current challenges and opportunities of app development. (One challenge: Toddlers! We’ll get to that…Continue Reading

TOC 2011: From Publisher to Reader, Direct

On the opening day of this year’s Tools of Change, O’Reilly VP Online, Allen Noren, kept the audience glued to their seats for two hours, revealing his secrets of “Building a Successful Direct Channel.” Noren began by explaining the need to ask a lot of questions before beginning to sell direct.  The answer to ‘What…Continue Reading

Taking on E-Book Bestsellers

In November, the New York Times announced that it would begin publishing e-book bestseller lists (fiction and nonfiction) in early 2011. “We wanted to be able to tell our readers which titles were selling and how they fit together with print sales,” said Janet Elder, NYT Editor of News Surveys and Election Analysis. The tracking…Continue Reading

The Skills Publishers Need: A Self-Evaluation

In anticipation of January’s Digital Book World, where one panel was entitled “Skills Sets Publishers Don’t Have: How Do We Get Them or Deal with It?”, Publishing Trends sent a survey to a range of publishers, agents and industry insiders, asking them about this increasingly urgent issue.

People Roundup, February 2011

PEOPLE As widely reported over the last month, while BN.com staffs up, layoffs continue at both Barnes & Noble and Borders. About 40 people were let go from Barnes & Noble recently, including Bob Wietrak, Lee Stern, Marcella Smith, Mo Stewart, and buyers Dan Mayer, Dave Hathaway, and Kim Corradini. At Borders, just after New…Continue Reading

Holiday Books Survey Results Are In

For more results from this survey, check out Book-Giving Etiquette Guide and I Love You, Keith Richards. “My siblings assume that every book I get is free, so they expect books AND a ‘real present.’” “Any time I give a book, I fear it will be assumed that I did not pay for it, so…Continue Reading

People Roundup, December 2010

Jon Yaged has been named President of Macmillan Children’s. He had been COO at HouseParty.com since March 2010 and was previously VP and Publisher for Disney Book Group. Nina Hoffman, President of National Geographic Books, will leave at the end of the year. Editor-in-Chief  and Books COO Hector Sierra will report to Declan Moore, who…Continue Reading