The Reshaped Face of Publishing

A "Shouts & Murmurs" piece in The New Yorker this week has me torn about an appropriate response to the recent upheavals in the publishing world.

Have you read it? Does it make you want to laugh or cry?

It's hard not to laugh at Ellis Weiner's tongue-in-cheek portrayal of some poor "intern to replace the promotion department" trying to make hay for a book by unleashing a pile of jargon on some unsuspecting soul - blasting him with a wacky pre-packaged social media plan to end all social media plans. Facebook? Don't worry - he was signed up for Facebook by his editor when his book contract was signed last year. "You currently have 421 Friends, 17 Pending Requests, 8 Pokes, 5 Winks, and 3 Proposals of 'Marriage.'" Funnier still is the idea that a publisher will network together its authors and have them read one another's work in their respective hometowns, saving their publisher the time and expense of flying them around on a book tour. I literally howled at the suggestion that a cookbook author, a mystery writer and an expert in Moorish architecture would make an appropriate network to "cross promote" their works. Surely when in the kitchen cooking couscous one would be hit with a sudden desire to sink into the couch with a thriller – or perhaps that are supposed to read the thriller while en route to the site with Moorish architecture?

The pragmatists will argue that the answer is in front of us – we move to where the coverage is. But before you get too quick and fast with your email pitch, consider this little diatribe from someone on the receiving end.

Ouch. Some poor blogger publicly unleashed his frustration when a publicist did not respond politely or quietly when the blogger tried to pull himself off the mass email list. I feel bad for both of them.

My solution? I think we all need to pull together a bit – I think we need to start talking to one another again. As in really talking, not online and not via email and not in voice mail messages. Would it really be unreasonable for bloggers, journalists and publicists to devote, say, one hour a month, or a week, on the phone to talk with each other about what’s working, and just as important, what’s not?

I am going to join the half that laugh at The New Yorker column, but I’d like to use the laughter to keep the lines of communication open. As the ultimate optimist, I feel really certain that the media world is still interested in cutting-edge work and opinion in their particular area of expertise. And that books and authors can still serve as excellent sources.

I’ll go you one further, I’m going to say that our job in public relations is to ignore the template approach that might have worked on previous book campaigns and to concentrate much more closely on what the author we are working with brings to the mix. The world of the template campaign is over. The era of a ultra-customized approach for each author and each book has barely begun. Honestly, I can hardly wait.

Do What You Love

Gallup has long espoused the value of doing what you do best, every day, penning a sequence of bestsellers to help all of us identify our strengths and figure out whether we’re putting them to good use. Hand in hand with this school of thought is the idea that we should spend our precious time – perhaps the biggest scarcity in our ever wired world – doing what we truly love.

Given the tough state of the publishing world, it's a great time to be in the game for love of the written word.

Last week, we lost four Conde Nast magazines to the difficult economy and falling ad dollars. This week, our friends at 800 CEO READ passed on the last column written by their local book review editor, Geeta Sharma Jensen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She was among those taking an early buy out in early August. We think it's a poignant tribute to the passion that books can inspire.

Book Expo a Bright Spot in a Down Market

Attendance was down from the last Book Expo America (BEA), the annual publishing convention, held in New York and some attendees bemoaned the lack of freebies, galleys and other giveaways, but I walked away from this year's show with the Gloria Gaynor tune, "I Will Survive," going through my head. The publishing industry is moving in a digital direction, it’s being hit hard by the economy like every other business, but the authors – many, many great ones – were there, sending the signal that good books will indeed survive.

I had the chance to reconnect with Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder whom I worked with fifteen years ago and my old boss at Houghton Mifflin Joe Kanon who turned novelist years back and has churned out several bestsellers. Margaret Atwood, Michael Lewis, Francine Prose, R.L. Stine and Nicholas Sparks were all on hand as well, providing a literary and eclectic list of authors with a proven track record of getting people to read. Which, at the end of the day, when the booths are dismantled, the sore feet soaked, and the suitcases packed, is the goal after all.

Our fun moments included our digital media director Sara Schneider getting cozy with a Star Wars Stormtrooper, having dinner with our friends and colleagues at 800 CEO READ whose book, The 100 Best Business Books of All Time, continues to sell well and doing booth duty with the folks at Gallup Press who have over the years gone from being just clients to great friends.


Gallup's Geoff Brewer and me at the Gallup Press booth


Sara and the Stormtrooper

Gloria’s right, we will survive. And whether we read our books on a digital device or on the finest of papers, they are never going away.

Publishing World Pulses with News

Feels to me like the publishing industry, like businesses everywhere, is looking for new ways to stay vital and grow in the economic downturn. Of note this week:

*A month after shutting an entire division, on Thursday HarperCollins rolled out a new imprint. It Books will publish 21 hardcover and paperback titles this year. The first one? Twitter Wit.

*On Wednesday, Thomas Nelson announced a new program called NelsonFree, which bundles together the e-book and audio versions of a title with the physical book. One of the first titles in the program is Collapse of Distinction by our client Scott McKain. The publisher plans on releasing ten additional titles in this format by the end of the year.

*Amazon launched the new version of the Kindle to mostly positive reviews, with the New York Times calling it lighter, brighter, and chattier. I haven't ordered one yet, although after taking a look from the briefcase of my friend Tom Hayes, a former New York Times writer who reads the newspaper of record on his, along with several pithy books, I am tempted.

*Random House bought Ten Speed Press, an independent house in Berkeley that has long been known for its cookbooks, business books and spiritual titles. The Moosewood Cookbook and the million copy bestseller What Color is Your Parachute? are on Ten Speed's list. We imagine that career guides are selling steadily as more and more Americans are forced to look for work.

*The first ever Christian Book Expo will make its debut this month, with a March show in Dallas. Looks like they are anticipating a crowd.

Thankful for Teamwork this Thanksgiving

It's been a tough week for publishing, along with the rest of the nation. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, publishers of literary giants such as Philip Roth and J.R. Tolkien, announced that it has put a freeze on acquiring new titles, an extreme move that has sent shock waves through an industry already battling weak sales report at the bookstore chains across the country.

But here in my little corner of the world, I've decided to focus the things that are going right. With every business title I read, whether to consider it for a pr campaign or just to educate myself on running a company, I learn more and more about the importance of the team. One of our books, STRENGTHS BASED LEADERSHIP (coming from Gallup Press in January) uses Gallup research to prove that the best leaders build teams with a wide array of complementing strengths.

This week, I saw this work first hand. Caught downtown and on a conference call from a coffee shop, I saw my cell phone ring with a call from Dennis. While staying on the client call, I sent a him a text to check in. Turns out CNBC was looking for Harry Dent, author of THE GREAT DEPRESSION AHEAD (Free Press; January) for a live TV spot that night. I had him call Lew, our office manager, who would locate Sara, who is working with me on Harry's book, handling the digital campaign. Before I could conclude my own call, Harry Dent had been reached and CNBC was coordinating his appearance from a studio in Florida. Technology and teamwork together scored air time for an author, and I am infinitely grateful for a group of people who know that response time is key as we battle for airtime and space.

Sure, it's just one interview; but watching everyone jump on board without a nudge from me was the an incredible feeling. No dysfunctions for our team this Thanksgiving. What great news.

Update: Harry's interview on CNBC can be found here, here, and here.

Kirshbaum offers cogent advice for publishing in lean times

Legendary publisher turned literary agent Larry Kirshbaum was recently interviewed by the 26th Story, HarperStudio’s publishing blog.

I found his take on the state of the book industry a welcome break from the dearth of stories reporting on its imminent demise. I also liked Kirshbaum's focus on what can be done to better give books a chance of succeeding in the marketplace.

He suggests big publishers trim their lists so they can devote more time, energy and marketing dollars to each title, something HarperStudio is already doing. Most intriguing was his suggestion that "marginal titles" or ones with a smaller potential audience, be published in digital format exclusively and only brought to print in a physical book if need dictates. Others, including marketer Seth Godin and novelist Stephen King have played with this idea -- offering either books or chapters online ahead of a book's physical release, or in King's case, in lieu of it.

While Kirshbaum's solutions might not be the ultimate solution for a world that's growing increasingly digital, it's clear that he's headed in the right direction.

Reports of Publishing World's Death May be Greatly Exaggerated

New York reported last week that the book business isn't going to get a storybook ending and, in fact, may be in line for an untimely demise. Reporter Boris Kachka's piece cites stagnant book sales, big name authors playing musical chairs, and Amazon posing as some sort of sales "boogeyman." Finally, he suggests that publishing might need to turn to corporate America for solutions.

That last bit of advice seems unusual given the tumble on Wall Street that has the government offering bailouts and the word "Depression" creeping into the pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. I am not sure corporate America has the solution.

Publishing may be forced to fend for itself and frankly, I see firm evidence that it is capable. Too often dismissed as an industry that is behind the times, publishing can actually take credit for making great strides in taking its content digital and finding new sources of talent.

Consider that in the last decade a single mom from Britain created the next generation of readers when she concocted a seven book series about a boy wizard named Harry Potter. Not only did kids who'd barely lifted a book in favor of a Game Boy become devoted fans, but famed critic Michiko Kakutani called J.K Rowling's work, "monumental, epic and spellbinding." Kids' literature over? I don't think so. Ask Stephenie Meyer, who is cashing checks faster than her vampire tale Twilight makes it into the local cineplex.

It's not just kids' fare either. Philip Roth published his 25th novel, Indignation, this week to rave reviews. And last time I wandered through Chelsea, The Food Network was turning out celebrity cookbooks as fast as new episodes of Iron Chef. Not only can you now buy COOKBOOKS in the grocery store (nice distribution efforts by the publishers who put them right where you buy the food) but the last time I walked in the front door of my local market I ran into a stack of Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture accompanied by a video screen playing footage of the professor's famous final talk. By the next week, they were all sold, replaced by The Shack, a self-published book that was the talk of this year's book expo convention.

And I haven't even mentioned Oprah. Recommending books that range from Toni Morrison's novels, to Dr. Oz's YOU: series, to Maya Angelou's poetry, the woman has virtually reinvented the book club.

Reading dead? Apparently no one told Oprah. And they are going to have a tough time convincing me that it's game over for the book in all its printed glory.