All Episodes
Frankfurt Book Fair Highlights
In the home of the printed book, the crowd is looking well beyond the page and seeking reconciliation with the digital world. At this week's 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair, Markus Dohle, CEO of the recently merged mega-publisher Penguin Random House, even made headlines for...
The Force Remaking Scholarly Publishing
Since earlier this year, influential research funders have mandated "open access" publishing practices that are sparking dramatic re-tooling of longstanding business models. When "authors pay," what should publishers expect to face? At the Frankfurt Book Fair today,...
How Superfans Can Save Book Business
There is a new way of doing business that everyone in publishing needs to understand, says Nicholas Lovell. Customers today are no longer “one-size-fits-all”; they come in a wide variety, from freeloaders to super fans. What’s also changed, Lovell says, is that...
Book Business Sees Positive Side
Confidence in a brighter future has sold a few books in its time. Norman Vincent Peale called it the “power of positive thinking” and certainly, it worked for him – the bible of self-help has sold more than five million copies since it first appeared in 1952. Today in...
Frankfurt Preview 2013
The city of Frankfurt has a strong claim to the title of center of the book publishing universe. In the 15th century, Johannes Gutenberg developed movable type and the printing press at his studio in Frankfurt. In our own time, book authors and publishers, as well as...
Tilting To Fair Use
Waiting for the copyright trial of the century? Well, you could be waiting a while. The Google Books case, first brought by the Authors Guild in 2005, had once received that billing. But court observers today expect the lawsuit will end soon – and without an awful lot...
Open Access Is “Changing Behavior”
Since earlier this year, influential research funders have mandated "open access" publishing practices that are sparking dramatic re-tooling of longstanding business models. As scholarly and scientific publishers test new business models, the focus is on collection of...
Google Book Case At 8
In a case first brought in 2005, the Authors Guild has accused Google of copyright infringement as a direct consequence of the Internet giant’s efforts to digitize the content of numerous university libraries, including Harvard’s. This week, in a final brief before...
Common Core Q&A
Whether you work in textbook publishing, trade books, or the news media, you are going have plenty of questions about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The new — some say, revolutionary — approach to learning has fueled a debate among teachers, administrators,...
Oil Mixes Well With Books
With summer in the rear-view mirror, and signs pointing straight ahead for “Holiday Season,” booksellers large and small are getting a preliminary read on the state of the industry 2013. This week, Len Riggio, Barnes & Noble Inc. chairman and largest stockholder,...
Best of BTB: Education, the Universe & Everything
Once upon a time, in schools everywhere, the textbook was the whole course. That’s no longer the case, noted Bruce M. Spatz, Vice President of Strategic Development, Global Education at John Wiley and Sons, for an audience of textbook authors attending this summer's...
Taking It Easy On Apple?
Her decision finding Apple liable in the e-book price-fixing case came swiftly and firmly enough, but Judge Denise Cote has recently shown Cupertino some measure of mercy. “The judge revealed this week that her final order would spare Apple on what she considered the...