Digital Book World 2013: Change and Cooperation

NYU M.S. in Publishing students David Stuzin, Nicole Estrin, Michelle Cashman, Pam Majumdar, and Lorna Field volunteer at Digital Book World.

During a Digital Book World 2013 panel discussion so crowded that some attendees sat on the floor, Matt MacInnis, Founder and CEO of the interactive book company Inkling, made a particularly perceptive comment: “It’s a miracle that the book was a thing the whole world agreed on.” That is, up until recently, it is fair to say that “the book” as we know it has retained the same static, linear structure across various nations and fields of study since the invention of the printing press 500 years ago. Going forward, MacInnis continued, “It’s not gonna be one monolithic thing serving the med. school book and serving the novel.”

Workman Publishing: An Inside look

Bob Miller talks to students

Since day one of SPI, the amount of insider access to the publishing industry given to us has been truly extraordinary. Today’s tour of Workman Publishing was no exception. As we took our seats at a long, wooden conference table, our eyes couldn’t help but wander to the entire wall devoted to a huge, colorful display of various Workman titles, including the bestsellers What to Expect When You’re Expecting and 1000 Places to See Before You Die. 

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:

From the Publishers’ Perspective: “HTML5, EPUB 3, and a Little Merlot”

(l-r) Publishers Sarah Crichton, Bob Miller, Ana Maria Allessi and Brian Tart speak at NYU's Center for Publishing

It was anything but the usual doom and gloom at the latest event in the NYU Media Talk series hosted by The Center for Publishing at The New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies. Far from expressing apprehension about the transitional nature of the industry and the demise of print, the four panelists—all members of the Center for Publishing faculty—discussed their excitement and optimism. Speaking to an audience of NYU students and faculty as well as industry professionals, panelists Ana Maria Allessi, Sarah Crichton, Bob Miller and Brian Tart spoke candidly of their triumphs and failures, and how they’ve used these learning experiences to improve their business practices. The talk was moderated by Michael Cader, the founder of the widely-read newsletter Publishers Lunch, who was similarly upbeat about the state of mainstream publishing: “Ninety-nine times out of 100, the story a publisher has to tell about their success in real numbers is very convincing,” said Cader. “I wish Simon and Schuster were up there telling how many books the Steve Jobs biography moved the first day because I think it’s a very powerful statement. I don’t think a startup can do that and I don’t think a web-only company can do that… There are still things here that established companies and experts who have done this for 20 or 30 years can do very well, and probably do better than anyone else.”

Fall Faculty: New Faces

Who’s new on the faculty for the Master of Science in Publishing program at NYU-SCPS? Each semester, as we add new courses and expand our faculty, we invite top industry experts into our classrooms to help us shape and refine our curriculum. This fall, for example, we are adding a new course called “EPUB and eBook Workflow” and invited Pablo Defendini of Open Road Integrated Media to teach it. We created a new course in Principles of Art and Design and asked Dan Revitte of Rodale to share his design knowledge with our students. Another new course in The Role of Video in Publishing will be taught by Godofredo Astudillo of TV Guide Magazine. Other industry leaders joining our faculty this fall are: Scott Alexander of American Photo; Seale Ballenger and Jonathan Burnham of HarperCollins; Daniele Campbell of MTV Networks; Shannon Casey of Hearst; Ruth Feldman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia; Rob Fisher of American City Business Journals at Advance Publications; Jane Grenier, Rick Levine, and Josh Stinchcomb of Condé  Nast; Robert Miller of Workman Publishing; Kate Rados of F+W Media; John Vlachos, formerly of Time, Inc; and Troy Williams of Macmillan. Please read on to learn more about them:

Tips and Thrills: Just a Day in Publishing

Macmillan CEO John Sargent with students

“You guys are the future of publishing.” The NYU-SCPS Summer Publishing Institute students heard those words recently from John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan Publishing. As classmates headed off to book industry visits at Penguin Group USA, Simon & Schuster, Open Road Integrated Media, and Workman Publishing, my colleagues and I had the opportunity to visit Macmillan’s headquarters in the historic Flatiron Building on Fifth Avenue.

In his office with a balcony overlooking Madison Square Park, Sargent began his talk to the students as if composing a choose-your-own-adventure novel. He offered to address current issues in publishing, describe the history of the company or volunteer career advice. “You choose!” he said. The CEO didn’t seem at all surprised when the students wanted to hear his tips on a career in publishing.

“Ten Things You Might Do to Get a Job” (And More!)

AAP's Tom Allen addressing SPI students

“You may well have signed up for this summer institute because you want to edit fiction or nonfiction,” Tom Allen, President and CEO of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), told the students in his keynote address at the beginning of the book session of the NYU-SCPS Summer Publishing Institute (SPI). “But in a few weeks, you’ll learn what that [editing] entails,” Allen counseled, and then added:

“You’ll also gain insight into the breath of jobs in this industry in finance, production, rights, marketing, to name a few, that directly affect the success of books. In publishing, it takes a village. It really takes a village. I urge you to be open to the many—what I think will be unexpected—opportunities that you come across that will offer you a fulfilling career within the community of literate, engaged, and interesting people.”

After this brief appeal, Allen then launched into a discussion of the effects of the digitization of books on the publishing industry. When more than half of the SPI attendees told Allen they read on digital devices, it would have been remiss for him not to focus a majority of his talk on this topic.  Still, I wondered, if digital was so important, why would he have urged us to stay open-minded to all the opportunities that the publishing industry affords? As I listened to the panel discussion that followed on the future of book publishing, I had a far better understanding of what Allen meant. 

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.