The Final Word: NYU’s Publishing Board Sounds Off

NYU Publishing Student Felipe Cruz with Stephen Riggio,CEO and Vice Chairman, Barnes & Noble

Pathways to publishing can be very convoluted, we learned as members of the Board of Advisors of NYU’S Center for Publishing convened at the Midtown Center recently to tell graduate students in the M.S. in Publishing program about their backgrounds and share their thoughts on the industry.

All Roads Lead to Publishing

As the Board members introduced themselves, it became evident that some of them began their professional careers in divergent fields and had serendipitously landed in the publishing industry. Jamie Raab, Senior Vice President and Publisher of Grand Central Publishing, had originally studied city planning, but wanted to be a diplomat; she admitted that she now exercises her diplomatic  skills running her division of the Hachette Book Group. Martin Maleska, Advisory Director to Investcorp, with various holdings in media, initially supervised the construction of polyester plants in Brazil before starting a long career at Macmillan Publishing, Simon & Schuster and other companies. Martha K. Levin, Executive Vice President and Publisher of Free Press, an imprint of Simon &  Schuster, fell into a publishing career after exiting law school.  David Ball, Vice President of Consumer Marketing for The Meredith Corporation, earned a degree in urban studies before enrolling in the NYU Publishing Program and landing his first job working for The Forbes Magazine Group.

E-Book Evolution

April Osborn, Jessica Wells, Hanna Oswald, Naomi Kennedy and Cindy Peng volunteer at Digital Book World

At the recent Digital Book World conference, one of the finest moments was the sight of New York’ s top book publishing executives clustered around TV screens and netbooks watching Steve Jobs demonstrate the wonders of the iPad. For months, publishers had clung to every nuance, every rumor about the mysterious Apple tablet, so there was a certain poetic justice in Job’s decision to announce the launch in the middle of the first-ever conference devoted to the radically changing way readers consume books.

Until the iPad stole the show, conference organizers did an excellent job of bringing together senior management, product developers, strategists, editors, agents, marketers, and what they called “digital change professionals” for two days of lectures and panel discussions about how e-books will revolutionize publishing.

How I Got Published:A Summer Publishing Institute Success Story

Kia DuPree: all smiles over her literary good fortune

A good friend asked me how much my dream was worth. I was totally confused by his question. “Is your dream worth more than two thousand dollars?” he asked. “Yeah,” I said.  “Then take two thousand dollars and publish your own book. Trust me. You’ll more than double your money, if it’s any good.”

He was right. That advice plus my experience as a student in NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute in 2006 made all the difference in the world.  I had been calling myself an “aspiring novelist” for years. Until I actually published a book, I didn’t think I could ever call myself a novelist. I took money  from my savings account and published Robbing Peter, a novel about three fatherless families. I sold it at work, to friends and family, online, at the grocery store, at hair salons and at night clubs. Everywhere. It was a lot of work. To my surprise, it went on to win a Fiction Honor Book Award from the Black Caucus of The American Library Association. It was the first self-published novel to do so.

Publishing Thesis? Piece of Cake!

Erin Pursell at work on her Capstone

The Capstone is the culmination of the Master of Science in Publishing program at NYU. This is our graduate thesis, and we are asked to write a complete business plan for a new media venture. Students have created plans for new book imprints, magazine brands and content-rich websites, and a few have gone on to seek funding  in the hopes of launching a successful business.  (In fact, we are encouraged to do so.) On day one of the Capstone class last fall, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Knowing the scope of the task that lay ahead, I felt a little uneasy, not quite ready for the process to begin. A recent graduate of the program was there to talk about her own experience with the Capstone project.  She discussed finding a study buddy, staying focused, and getting started immediately. As I tried to figure out exactly how much work was ahead of me, she began explaining her study regimen: a private room in the library, booked four days a week for several hours each day, all semester. My eyes widened. Four days a week? Who has that kind of time? Her final paper was passed around the room, and I thumbed through the weighty forty plus pages. How was I ever going to get this done?

Faculty Spotlight: Who’s New For Spring and Summer

From an editor-in-chief  to a chief information officer, from a publisher of children’s books to a vice president for business development, the media executives joining the faculty of NYU’s  Master of Science in Publishing program  next spring and summer represent some of the leading figures in the industry.  Read on to learn more about the talented and eclectic group that students will soon meet in the classroom:

A Visit to Entertainment Weekly

Stivers and Cagle (center) with M.S. in Publishing students at Entertainment Weekly

“You’re never done,” said Cyndi Stivers, managing editor of EW.com about career trajectories and the importance of staying current.   “Get comfortable with that idea and keep learning. The stuff that comes easily to you may actually be a rare and marketable skill.” Next to her, Jess Cagle, managing editor of Entertainment Weekly (all Time Inc. top editors have this title instead of Editor-in-Chief), nodded in agreement. Both editors had agreed to sit down with NYU’s Master of Science in Publishing students to talk about careers, publishing, and the challenges of entertainment journalism.

Good Reads, Smart Readers: A New View of E-Books

Jane Friedman at SCPS-NYU Center for Publishing

“To be a success, you only have to be right 51% of the time,” said former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman about her publishing career, past and future. Friedman was speaking to an audience of graduate students, alumni, and faculty of NYU-SCPS Center for Publishing. Publishing heavyweights such as Michael Cader, creator of Publishers Marketplace; Peter Workman,  president and CEO of Workman Publishing; and Bob Miller, president and publisher of HarperStudio also listened intently as Friedman talked about her exciting new e-book company, Open Road Integrated Media.

The Pirates of Publishing:A View from the Crow’s Nest

The new face of publishing?

I am a pirate, sanctioned by publishers to engage in piratical activities and collect information for the benefit of the publishing community. During the last year and a half, I have worked with Magellan Media Partners on collecting data for a study on The Impact of P2P File Sharing on Book Sales. In the course of my research, I’ve talked with many people in various areas of the piracy community and as a result have been able to create a list of observations about the nature of piracy, how it can be a useful tool, and what publishers can do to minimize overall risk.

Get to Know The HuffPo

Jai Singh, Managing Editor of The Huffington Post, with NYU MS in Publishing Students

On a cold and wet Thursday, a small group of publishing students packed into the SoHo office of The Huffington Post to learn about one of the most heavily trafficked websites on the internet. Personally, I was excited to visit the office as the site has achieved what I think is the “holy grail” of websites: it not only survives, but thrives primarily through advertising revenue.

Google, E-Readers and More

David Carr(l) and Ken Auletta have a Google chat

Did you know that employees at Google’s Mountain View, CA campus get free oil changes and car washes on Thursdays? Or that there are five doctors on campus? How about the fact that engineers can spend 20% of their time working on what they want? This 80/20 rule, which has spawned Google Wave, Google News and Gmail, is part of a corporate culture where boss and cofounder Sergey Brin rollerblades (late) to meetings in his gym shorts. Every building has its own cafeteria serving everything from Mexican food to sushi and free food is everywhere.