Digital Book World 2012: Changes and Challenges Ahead

A gathering of NYU Publishing student volunteers: Amy Goppert, Amelia Spriggs, Joana Costa Knufinke and Jaime Bode at Digital Book World

This year, M.S. in Publishing: Digital & Print Media students at the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies were once again provided with the fantastic opportunity to volunteer at the annual Digital Book World conference. Between making sure that everyone entering the conference rooms was wearing a badge and helping to direct the 600 attendees to different breakout rooms, we volunteers were able to listen to the informative discussions about the deep changes that our industry is undergoing. On Tuesday morning, Mike Shatzkin, the respected blogger of The Shatzkin Files and DBW co-organizer (along with Publishers Marketplace founder Michael Cader) summarized the general goals for publishers this year, followed by a panel of CEOs from Hyperion, Yale University Press, Ingram Content Group, and Sourcebooks. Ellen Archer, President and Publisher of Hyperion (a Disney Company) and an NYU Center for Publishing Advisory Board member, stressed that publishers need to be open-minded to apply new strategies: “Books are elastic and dynamic,” she said. “Books can live in so many ways.” She mentioned Hyperion’s strategy of releasing mystery books based on the ABC TV show Castle in digital format. The third tie-in, Heat Rises, shot to #1. “Be really open-minded to doing things differently, and it can pay off,” she advised.

A major discussion that morning focused on the new quantitative industry research that proves once again the growing importance of the eBook industry. According to James McQuivey of Forrester Research, 25 million people now own an eReader and 61 million are projected to have one by the end of this year. The ongoing study by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) on Consumer Attitudes Toward eBook Reading reported that an estimated 17% of book buyers purchased an eBook in December 2011. The number was 9% in December 2010 and 3% in January of the same year. This growing trend has also taken place among teens, who “report tripling their reading rate of eBooks.” The genres more likely to be bought electronically are mystery (22.9% of the market share) and romance (20.9%). Apple is, for young people and adults, the favorite reading device manufacturer. According to other research carried out by VERSO, the adoption curve of reading devices is now reaching “late majority.” However, 50% of the reading population is still very reluctant to purchase any type of reading device.

The morning sessions ended with a panel on the digital evolution of romance publishing. What was particularly interesting in this discussion was the talk about DRM (digital rights management) and the fact that romance publishers frequently omit it from their books. According to a survey of more than 6,000 users, carried out by All Romance eBooks (a specialized romance eBook retailer), 96% of the romance books sold through their platform do not have DRM, even if 91% of the total books on sale are protected by DRM.

In the afternoon, attendees could choose between four different panels that tackled issues such as marketing, design and/or social media strategies, among other topics. The second day included a presentation by Caroline Marks, CEO of Bookish, who explained more of the plans of this online digital platform for readers backed by Penguin, Hachette Book Group, and Simon & Schuster, launching next fall. Marks noted that Bookish will focus on ways to have “books find you, instead of you find books.” Overall at the conference, the push to increase discoverability was a very hot topic. Other key ideas that speakers emphasized throughout the two days were the role of Amazon as a “frenemy” of traditional publishers (who are now competing with their biggest retail customer); the difficult pricing strategies of eBooks and the impact of the agency model; the best cloud-based publishing infrastructures; the growing importance of self-publishing (now a real trend); the imperative that publishers need to know their audiences better to serve them targeted products; and the possibilities for international expansion of English eBook catalogues (either in English or in its translated versions).

In the exhibit hall, where tea and coffee were served twice a day, many publishing vendors presented their services to publishers. Miral Sattar, a graduate of the M.S. in Publishing program, presented her start-up company BiblioCrunch, a digital community where writers can write, read, and distribute their digital books into any format to any eReader. “One thing I learned,” said Miral, “was that being able to demonstrate your product live, one-on-one is very powerful.”

All in all, Digital Book World 2012 was proof of this very challenging and changing moment in the billion-dollar (and growing) U.S. eBook industry. I think DBW is an appointment no one will want to miss next year!

by Joana Costa Knufinke

“Webby, Wiki, and Sticky:” Video for 2012

Duff and Cohen speak to NYU Publishing students

“What experience do we want to cultivate for readers?” was a question on everyone’s minds during the latest NYU-SCPS M.S. in Publishing alumni event, a discussion entitled “Visions in Video” recently held by the NYU-SCPS Office of Alumni Relations, the Publishing Alumni Association, and the Publishing Student Association. Speakers Craig Duff and Samantha Cohen each talked about challenges for the magazine and book industries presented by new technology, including video and multimedia.

Craig Duff, Director of Multimedia and Chief Video Journalist at Time, Inc., told the group that, ideally, online content should be “webby, wiki, and sticky”—meaning content (especially in terms of long-form journalism) should be current, have a collaborative/educational value, and make a reader want to stick with a story until the end. Digital and online audiences face more distractions than print readers, and thus have a tendency to hit-and-run read, which can hinder a story’s impact.

Books, Blogs, and Literary Mags, Oh My!

Students in the M.S. in Publishing program not only spend a great deal of time on media websites and reading blogs, but they also create them! We recently asked our students to tell us about their publishing-related online hobbies and businesses. Below, we have selected three examples to spotlight:

Mag Lab: Carey and Carr Talk Shop

Carey and Carr at NYU Media Talk

Are “two pizza” teams the future of media? Championing the value of start-up staffs being small enough to share, well, two pizzas, Hearst Magazines President David Carey praised the entrepreneurial spirit at the latest NYU Media Talk. Sponsored by The NYU-SCPS Center for Publishing, “Magazines 2011: The New Conversation” featured Carey and David Carr, Media Columnist for The New York Times, talking about important issues facing the industry. “There’s never been a better time,” Carey began about working in magazines. He described his faith in publishing as a ship that can change course, reroute and stay solvent (with proper leadership) in any tide.

Carey is widely known as an eloquent speaker about media. It was David Carr who had suggested him to Center for Publishing Director Andrea Chambers as perfect for the Media Talk. To be sure, Carey was a timely choice: earlier this month Hearst Magazines completed their $900 million acquisition of Hachette Lagardère, acquiring nearly 100 magazine titles in 14 countries, including Elle, Elle Décor, Woman’s Day, Road & Track, and Car & Driver. The merger is a bold gesture that now makes Hearst the largest publisher of monthly magazines internationally, and a dominant player in all sectors of lifestyle publishing. Carey addressed the importance of emerging markets for publishing  such as those in China and India) and commented that Hearst’s aim is to have a heightened presence in those climates, meeting the growing demands for consumer goods and Western culture. Next up for Cosmopolitan, noted Carey, was a possible move into Mongolia, though the magazine “takes a different tone” in such climates.

Digital Book World Day One: Optimism and Excitement

Thea James, NYU Publishing student and blogger

At 7:00 AM on a cold, snowglobe of a morning, I stood with three other students from NYU’s Master of Science in Publishing program outside a ballroom at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, bleary-eyed but eager to participate in one of the biggest and most relevant digital publishing events of the year. The second official Digital Book World conference (“DBW”) was about to begin in earnest, and there was much work to be done. As one of a small number of students lucky enough to snag a volunteer position at the event, I was determined to help pave a smooth experience for all attendees, even if that meant  working at the coat check in return for time in the actual conference sessions. Not a bad trade-off at all!

After the morning rush finally subsided and attendees settled into the main ballroom, the coat checker crew was invited to sneak away and catch one of the first panels of the day. In “A CEO’s View of the Future,” speakers Brian Napack (Macmillan), Jane Friedman (Open Road Integrated Media), David Steinberger (Perseus), Michael Hyatt (Thomas Nelson), and David Nussbaum (F+W Media) discussed trends in the digital publishing realm and fielded more than a few tough questions about strategic corporate decisions and preparations for the future.

The Future of Books: A Talk With Macmillan CEO John Sargent

John Sargent chats with an SPI student

John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan Publishers, commanded the stage at The Summer Publishing Institute in a heat-wave appropriate orange shirt and brown cowboy belt that hinted at his Wyoming roots. “Is there any reason to have this on?” Sargent asked of the computer projection screen behind him before beginning his talk – a question laced with irony given the emphasis on digital media that followed in his presentation. After shutting the laptop, Sargent explained: “When I was first in the business, there were no answering machines or personal computers. Now, it’s naïve to think that with our progress, technology won’t constantly adapt so that ink and paper are no longer the best.” Sargent believes we’re still some years away from print publications being the lesser medium, but with an unprecedented rate of change the switch to digital is inevitable.

Graduate Student Spotlight: From Classroom to Blog

Necel (left) and Borelli with fruit favorites

The idea for VegScoop.com, a news and recipe site about vegetarianism, began as an assignment in Professor Edward Reiner’s Multimedia Financial Analysis class, a graduate course at NYU’s Center for Publishing. Students were asked to work on financials for a new media venture. So, we decided to identify and research the needs of a niche, highly engaged audience. We found that vegetarians are actively searching for news and recipes on the web, but often unable to find a reliable source. Most websites within the vegetarian landscape are outdated, unprofessional and/or difficult to navigate. We felt there was a need for a site that helps users wade through all the clutter and provides vegetarians with accurate, up-to-date information on all things veg-friendly.