App-titude for Apps

Radhika Nayak and Chris Sanborn at an NYU Center for Publishing moderated conversation

How do you produce a successful app? And what is a successful app, anyway? These were some of the questions asked recently at the moderated conversation on “The Art of the App” sponsored by students and alumni of the NYU-SCPS Center for Publishing. The event featured Radhika Nayak, Vice President for Product at Simon & Schuster, and Chris Sanborn, Founder and President of Sanborn Media Factory, a 30-person interactive agency that produces digital campaigns and products for companies such as Condé Nast and Hearst. Both panelists were asked to give the publishing industry a grade in terms of their app creation to date. Nayak, who has deep experience in building user-centered product strategies for websites and mobile applications, gave book publishing “about a C,” saying that publishers seem to be stuck on the idea of long-form content, and that they think of apps as nothing more than marketing tools for books, which is not what an app really is. 

Social Media Success Story: 7 Students, 500,000 WBN books

M.S. in Publishing Students Peraza, Cox, Flavin, Olivares (back row), and Werthan, Narasimhan and George formed a social media committee for WBN.

To the literati of the world, April 23rd used to have special meaning as the day Shakespeare was born and Cervantes died. This year, the date took on even more significance as longtime book lovers and new readers alike participated in a nationwide movement that is likely to become as addictive as a juicy novel. On April 23rd, World Book Night (WBN) debuted in the U.S. after a successful launch last year in the United Kingdom. All over America, volunteers from all 50 states handed out books to non-readers and reluctant readers in an effort to promote literacy. “Givers,” selected through an application process online, passed  out 500,000 free paperbacks in churches, bars, children’s shelters, public transit systems and senior centers—even on beaches. (One innovative “giver” put copies of Patti Smith’s Just Kids inside Ziploc bags and doled them out in Monterey Bay.) Now, who better to promote this kind of national literary love fest than the students in the Master of Science in Publishing: Digital & Print Media program at NYU?

“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.

Social Media Socializing

Debbie Stier and Yuli Ziv speak to students and alumni

The conversation at a recent publishing event was all about social media and how to harness it for maximum profit—and have some fun along the way. Sponsored by the Publishing Students Association at the NYU-SCPS Center for Publishing, the Office for Alumni Relations, and the Publishing Alumni Association, the evening was a way for students and alumni to gather, send lots of tweets, and hear from two top social media experts, Debbie Stier of HarperCollins, and Yuli Ziv of the Style Coalition.

Meet the PSA (Publishing Students Association) Seven

At NYU’s Master of Science in Publishing program, networking is important— and so is getting to know your fellow students.  The Publishing Students Association, headed by seven student leaders, works hard to create social and community service events as well  as gatherings with alumni. Whether it’s a picnic in Central Park, a book drive,  or a chance to meet with industry leaders and learn more about trends and strategies in publishing, the members of the PSA are busy planning and organizing. And that’s not always easy after a hard day at work in a book or magazine company and attending classes in the evenings. At the Center for Publishing, we’re  proud of our PSA and want you to meet the leaders and hear their thoughts on careers, media and much more: