Grub Street Printing Newsletter #32, December 2011

The day after I emailed my newsletter to my clients and vendors, I got an email about the short article I posted concerning Manroland's (Germany's third largest printing press manufacturer) bankruptcy filing. As it turned out, financing was arranged the day after we reported the bankruptcy so Manroland can attempt to resize itself for the new realities facing printers in the 21st century. Manroland's presses are technological wonders; just watch the video below.
Penguin vs. Amazon, OverDrive & Libraries
Last September, Amazon announced an agreement with OverDrive, the nation's leading multichannel digital book distributor supplying over 15,000 public and school libraries with eBooks, to make all of its digital titles Kindle compatible.
Penguin Group USA immediately announced it was halting all eBook sales to libraries and will forbid libraries to make any of its titles available in the Kindle format.
Amazon Prime
The six largest publishers in America have declined to participate in Amazon Prime the subscription based lending program which allows users to download Kindle compatible books and movies. The program is also under attack by the US Authors Guild.
China Shutters Paper Mills
China is attempting to produce paper more efficiently and with less environmental impact by closing older paper and pulp mills that currently supply around 9 billion tons of stock annually. Paper plants producing less than 56,000 tons per year will be closed.
Godin's Domino Topples
Best selling author Seth Godin cut his ties with traditional publishers last year to much fanfare. He then founded the Domino Project, an Amazon imprint and “next generation publishing venture”. The project was so successful he's declaring victory and ending the project.
Manroland Bankruptcy
Manroland, makers of perhaps the fastest large format, sheet-fed presses in the world, has filed for  

bankruptcy protection in Augsburg, Germany. A still evolving 21^st century print industry and frozen international credit markets have decimated sales of top-of-the-line presses.
In 2009, merger talks between Heidelberg Druckmaschinen and Manroland collapsed over concern about Heidelberg's financial stability.

Long Battery Life eReader
Qualcomm has introduced a new color eReader that uses its mirasol display technology which consumes far less battery power but refreshes as quickly as LCD displays. Korea's largest bookseller, Kyobo, introduced the new reader in Seoul priced at $300.
Random House Helps Indies
To help independent bookstores balance inventories, yet not run out of certain titles, Random House is offering “2 Day Transit” through the holiday season to ensure its titles will be available by independent sellers.
Mark Cuban Self Publishes (with a little help from his friends)
Tech-boom billionaire and owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban has self published How to Win At the Sport of Business. Cuban bypassed the traditional publishing model, but hired a public relations firm to push the book and turned to Scott Waxman of Diversion publishing for assistance. Apparently self publishing has gone pro.

                                       Classic Revival
Soho Books is releasing new editions of the Brontes' Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights with covers redesigned to attract modern book buyers.




Does YouTube Need a Literature Category?
While specific details are sketchy, the prospect of posting literature on YouTube sounds intriguing.
 
NaNoWriMo Typewriter Brigade
November was National Novel Writing Month, presenting an opportunity for the Typewriter Brigade to promote their belief in creativity without electricity. Their 29 page forum recaps the effort starting from late October.
Last Thought
He who lends a book is an idiot. He who returns the book is more of an idiot. Arabic Proverb 

Grub Street Printing Newsletter #31, November 2011

Amazon Publishes
In its bid to be the dominant player in all things book related, Amazon has begun publishing books and has announced a 122 title release this fall, including a Penny Marshall memoir that garnered an $800,000 advance.
                                                                               Beckett Closes
A manufacturer of fine text and cover papers is closing its mill. One of the highest quality paper mills in the country, Beckett Paper, will be closed by parent company Mohawk Paper at year's end.

Kodak To Sell Patents
In order to stanch the outflow of Kodak's once enviable stash of cash, the company is considering selling off some 1,000+ patents which formerly accounted for over $300 million income per year but have fallen off sharply this year.
eBook Formatting vs. eBook Conversion
This online primer discusses simply converting a title for eBook release or formatting a book for eBook readers. Details like page breaks and margins aren't always properly converted to a readable format by cookie-cutter conversion programs.
Industry Trends
American Association of Publishers (AAP) and the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) have released a statistical analysis of the book industry from 2008 through 2010. This 3 year snapshot shows a net growth in revenues and books sold.
The AAP also reported that July sales rebounded after a disappointing June.
PW and BEA Benefits
Publishers Weekly has announced a way for “Self Publishers” (including POD) to promote their titles in a quarterly supplement that will mail with the magazine. Already a subscriber? The featured listing is a “benefit” of subscription.
BEA attendees enjoy a 25% discount in PubMatch membership, which is a clearinghouse for those buying and selling international book rights.
ZD Goes Digital
Following the lead of parent company ZiffDavisMedia, offshoot ZiffDavis Enterprise will stop printing and mailing editions of its magazines and newsletters in 2012, focusing on PC, tablet, eBook, and mobile editions instead.
Paper Companies Post Strong Quarter
The “right-sizing”of the paper industry may be paying off as both International Paper and Domtar Paper report much stronger than expected earnings for the third quarter.

Fire and Silk

Amazon's upcoming offering of the Kindle Fire with the Silk operating system has raised questions about how much and what sort of personal data will be collected and who it will be shared with.
                                          Writer Defends Kindle eBook Pricing
I really enjoyed this humorous essay answering a critic who wrote that $3.99 should be the highest price posted for a Kindle eBook.

Catch 22 Turns 50
It's hard to believe this classic was published 50 years ago. Charlie Rose  celebrated with this insightful discussion about Joseph Heller, the book and the subsequent movie.


Race to the Bottom
Not to be outdone by the Kardashians, Snookie's second book has been published, Confessions of a Guidette. The directors cut of the Simon and Schuster promo is said to guarantee reflex cringing.

Kobo Publishes, Too
Late in October, eBook reader manufacturer Kobo also announced it will develop and publish selected titles for its eReaders.
WSJ To Publish Ebook “Charts”
Not sure I understand all the buzz about this. The Wall Street Journal will publish “sales charts” of eBooks that don't consider volume or value sales.
Final Thought
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. ~Mark Twain, attributed
Past GrubStreetPrinting.com newsletters can be found at http://grubstreetnews.blogspot.com/

Grub Street Printing Newsletter #30, October 2011

Authors Guilds Sue

Authors Guilds in four countries and numerous individual authors have sued to stop Google, the University of Michigan, the U of California system, and Cornell (among others) from scanning and distributing books whose copyrights cannot be confirmed.

The suit claims that over 7 million titles with valid copyrights have been scanned, made available, and are digitally stored at U of Michigan, which remains “undaunted” and continues scanning its titles.

Borders' Bonuses

Borders Group has requested bonus payments for the management team that remained in place through its bankruptcy. Borders former employees have posted the dollar amounts proposed and filed a class action lawsuit for severance pay.

B&N Buys Info

Barnes & Noble has purchased the customer profiles from the bankrupt Borders Group and will be able to target emails to former Borders' customers based on their previous purchases.

Fire Sale

Amazon has challenged Apple's iPad with the Kindle Fire, a tablet running a modified Android O/S. In terms of features it appears to be no threat to the iPad, since its cloud based technology focuses on entertainment, not web surfing. Priced at $199 it may find a substantial audience.

Lost in the hoopla was news of the other updated Kindles that were introduced.

Bookflix?

Amazon has also introduced a media subscription service called Prime that will allow subscribers to download books, movies, etc, for $79 per year. Few publishers have endorsed the idea.

Kodak Woes

A decade ago Kodak was a major supplier to the print industry with film, plates, chemistry, equipment, etc. Now, coupled with the decline of snapshot film, the company has hired law firm Jones Day to oversee what it hopes is a turnaround, not a bankruptcy as it's stock shares slid into the $.70 range.

Reading Scores Tank

Our entire industry serves one purpose: to supply content for people to read. Look for that audience to continue contracting as SAT reading scores fell to their lowest level ever.

Crystal Covers

Harper Collins is contemplating a special edition of Dollhouse by the Kardashian sisters which would have Swarovski crystal studding the covers.

Domestic Printing

Argentina has over a million books sitting in customs houses, confiscated because they were imported. Argentina aims to rebuild its domestic print industry by banning printing outside its borders

Amazon eBook Solutions

After some readers complained about typos and errors in Neal Stephenson's Reamde eBook, Amazon arbitrarily replaced the contents on customer's Kindles via Wi-Fi...which removed all of the notes, bookmarks and highlighting the reader may have added. The accompanying note also advised that “missing content had been corrected”, but failed to note which content and where it was located.

The Future of Newspapers

An Editor-in-Chief of a major European paper discusses growing the digital commitment of newspapers profitably.

Comic Book Sales Drop

Comic book sales continue to decline, losing 4% revenue last year, but the publishers are fighting back with some dramatic changes.

Archie Comics has introduced an openly gay character who marries in issue #16 of the Life with Archie series. Also, proceeds from issue #625 (70^th anniversary issue) of Archie, which features a character fighting cancer, will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House.

Meanwhile, Superman and his DC Comic cohorts gets stylish makeovers to fight crime in the 21^st century.

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Past GrubStreetPrinting.com newsletters can be found at http://grubstreetnews.blogspot.com/

Grub Street Printing Newsletter #29 September, 2011

Time to Plan Your Banned Book Party

Banned Book Week will be celebrated Sept. 24 to Oct.1.I was surprised and shocked that so many books I consider classics are still being banned in our nation's schools and libraries, including Sherlock Holmes.

Renting eTextbooks

Since buying and selling textbooks is expensive for students, Amazon has begun a program to rent eTextbooks by the semester.

Boycott Amazon

While Amazon closes some warehouses and opens others in states that pledge not to tax internet sales, a group of not for profit organizations has called for a consumer boycott of the eRetailing giant.

eBook Agency Model Challenged

Charging that publishers that adopted the ebook agency pricing model conspired to unfairly set retail ebook pricing, a class action lawsuit has been filed against Apple and five other publishers.

Notting Hill Bookstore to Close

The travel bookstore made famous by Hugh Grant in the movie “Notting Hill” has announced it has been unsuccessful in finding a buyer and was scheduled to close in late August.

Papermill's Toxic Spill

Temple Inland's Bogalusa (LA) corrugated paper mill released an undisclosed amount of a paper making by-product called “black liquor” into the Pearl River killing hundreds of thousands fish, some of which were federally protected.

The paper industry has been making huge strides to become a “greener” industry, but self-policing wouldn't seem to be an option.

American Printer Folds

After publishing a highly respected trade magazine for the past 128 years, American Printer has published its final issue.

Want a Tablet? Subscribe

One of America's largest newspaper chains is looking into delivering your newspaper via a tablet

they're developing that runs the Android O/S.

Mega-Printers Not Impressing Wall Street, but...

North America's largest publicly owned printer, RR Donnelly, posted soft sales and lower than expected 2Q earnings and watched its valuation drop 11%. .

Quad Graphics, the second largest NA printer, traded it's Canadian assets (acquired when Quad bought bankrupt World Color/Quebecor) for the Mexican assets of rival printer Transcontinental. A month later it reported its earnings, and Wall Street pummeled Quad. It lost 50% of its valuation in just two months.

Mega-Book Retailers Do

Stock in Barnes & Noble was sharply higher after Q1 financials showed a slightly smaller loss than Q1 2010. Although traditional book sales declined, B&N's Nook eReader sales were strong.

Bartelby's Books Floods

Wilmington VT bookstore Bartelby's Books is standing but destroyed by the flooding caused by hurricane Irene. In April, Bartelby's sister store, Book Cellar, was destroyed by fire.

Top 100 International Paper Makers

While International Paper remains #1, about half of the companies listed are unknown to American printers and publishers.

Reusable, Erasable Paper

Sure, paper generally is reusable and erasable, but a Taiwanese company has announced paper that can be electronically erased and re-imaged 260 times.

1493 Book Located

An incomplete copy of the 500+ year old Nuremburg Chronicle has surfaced in the Salt Lake City area.

John Hodgman on Bookstores

John Hodgman discussed the problems traditional bookstores face on The Daily Show.

Final thought

The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them.     Samuel Butler ***************************************************************************

Past GrubStreetPrinting.com newsletters can be found at http://grubstreetnews.blogspot.com/

Grub Street Printing Newsletter #28, August, 2011

RIP Borders

The news media in Ann Arbor has been very somber in reporting the demise of the Borders Group, while local citizens compose odes to the fallen brand, and not just because of the 10,700 lost jobs (400 at the Ann Arbor headquarters). Those who lived in the area and shopped at the first Borders remember the simple pleasure of shopping in such an unusually large bookstore stocking so many titles, a very knowledgeable sales staff, and a convenient location in an old Ann Arbor storefront.

But that store closed years ago and has never really been replaced. The company that liquidated last month owned retail outlets for various media products, not bookstores.

They Printed it Where?

Rep. Kim Simac (R-WI) printed her self-published book American Soldier Proud and Free in China. Her campaign manager said she didn't know her printer, RR Donnelly, printed the book off-shore. Now her second book is out, Girls Play Hockey Too! and you guessed it, “Printed in China”.

A New Booksellers Landscape

The American Booksellers Association is offering tips to independent bookstore owners to help them capitalize on Borders store closings.

Book Stats 2008-2010

The AAP and the BISG have compiled the first annual study of the book industry. $395 will get you the PDF with a single user license.

Apple Enforces Rules

Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo have removed links to their stores from Apple iOS. The direct links to purchase ebooks cheated Apple out of its 30% commission. The Apple App Store has sold 15 billion downloads since opening three years ago.

etextbooks for South Korea by 2015

Schools in South Korea will abandon conventional textbooks in favor of etextbooks.

Conventional books, ebooks, and the Future

Frank Romano has taught, written and consulted printers and publishers for over 40 years and offers some perspective on the future of books.

Google to Digitize 250,000 Books

Google has reached an agreement with the British Library to digitize and make available through Google Books 250,000 books published between 1700 and 1870.

Worst Opening Sentence

The winner of the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for the worst opening sentence for a novel is Sue Fondrie of Oshkosh, WI for this gem.

NYC Display Fonts

The best book cover designers work magic with display fonts. These photos of display fonts in NYC remind us that fonts can communicate as well as the words they form.

Harry Potter ebooks

God bless J.K. Rowling for selling 450 million conventional books of the seven volume Harry Potter series. Coming this October are the inevitable ebook and audiobook versions. Rowling will also debut the much anticipated web site Pottermore in October.

On The Road with Kerouac

Penguin Books Amplified Editions has released an “amplified” ebook of Jack Kerouac's On The Road which includes photos, maps, audio etc. relevant to this iconic story.

Traveling Letterpress Lady

While it's been decades since books were commonly printed on letterpresses, the simple beauty of work printed on one still inspires. Kyle Durrie is traveling the country offering spectators a hands-on letterpress operation experience. Check here for the towns and dates she will visit with her demonstrations.

Final Thought

There is a temperate zone in the mind, between luxurious indolence and exacting work; and it is to this region, just between laziness and labor, that summer reading belongs. Henry Ward Beecher

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Past newsletters are available at http://grubstreetnews.blogspot.com/

Grub Street Printing Newsletter #27, July 2011

Ebook Issue(s)

Ebooks, Enhanced Ebooks, and Apps

Is there a difference between ebooks and apps? Some argue that enhanced ebooks are apps. And, you can't sell an ebook, just the right to read it.

Which Titles Do Well as Ebooks?

Despite what most sales reports show, 75% of all ebook sales are technical and professional. But for books known as trade books, ebook bloggers and best seller lists indicate that fiction sells the most ebooks. Since ebook sales can't be tracked conventionally without acceptance of individual ISBNs, it's mostly guesswork.

The publishers that responded to my request for ebook experiences indicate all genres from cookbooks to yoga can work well digitally. Ebooks will often track a title's conventional book sales.

Ebook Readers

Just a few years ago your choice was your computer or a Kindle. There are over a dozen choices today and more are in use in Asia. New tablets, smart phones and now flexible screens are being tested. Consumers still need to understand some problems ereaders can pose, including incompatible formats.

As a publisher you won't need to offer books in all formats but as a consumer? Good luck, although some conversion tools are available.

Format Guidelines

Here are the first steps for publishing your book to Kindle (Amazon), Nook (B&N), or iPad (Apple). Or go to Smashwords and they'll help with all of your conversions and distribution.

How many ISBNs Are Enough?

Every edition in every format of your book needs a unique identifying ISBN whether you provide one or the distributor does. Amazon assigns an ASIN to your ebook even if you have an ISBN (if you have a 10 digit ISBN that will be your ASIN).

Without unique ebook ISBNs, sales figures and ebook bestseller lists can't be accurate.

Hit and miss Ebook Pricing

If there's definitive information about ebook pricing I can't find it. This and this admit that pricing is all over the board and not expected to stabilize soon and readers dislike the current inconsistencies. The big 6 publishers have adopted agency model pricing, but the overall market has not favored that system.

The conventional book pricing model won't work but it seems there's no model to replace it.

Size of the Ebook Market

Thus far, gauging the size of the market is done with smoke and mirrors. This points out that comparing ebook sales figures (direct to consumer) vs. conventional book sales (to retailers and wholesalers) is misleading.

January 2011 ebook sales were up 115% over previous January while the AAP reported a 200% increase in February sales of $90 million.

The European market is decidedly smaller (Euro at $.71 today) while the Japanese ebook market is dominated by comics.

Some ebook publishers report a small drop-off in sales after consistent monthly growth.

Market watchers see Amazon dropping from 90% of domestic ebook sales to less than 50% in the coming 4 years.

Follow Ebook Blog

Media Bistro (whose GalleyCat is my recommended daily book publishing newsletter) has a daily blog that follows all things ebook.

Back to Books

Your Text Stocks Eco-Footprint

There are many ways to judge a paper's ecological impact. This article has links to a number of ratings systems. And Domtar Paper now offers online environmental documentation of their stocks called The Paper Trail which details two of its more eco-friendly sheets.

Borders Sale?

Suddenly it appears Borders has found a buyer to sidestep liquidation.

Final thought

In the beginning was the Word. John 1:1

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Past GrubStreetPrinting.com newsletters available at http://grubstreetnews.blogspot.com/

Grub Street Printing Newsletter #26, June 2011

Alive and Kicking

Bowker reports that those awaiting the death of traditional books need to be a bit more patient. ISBN registrations for paper and ink books rose around 5%. A breakdown of the categories is here.

And...

The AAP reports overall book sales improved in March over March 2010 sales.

Barnes & Noble Sold?

John Malone, head of media empire Liberty Media, has made an offer to buy Barnes and Noble for $17 per share ($1 billion). Some feel the bidding is just starting.

Amazon Will Publish ebooks

Apparently Amazon feels that since it already owns the ebook market, it will expand into publishing ebooks to compete with the ebooks they already sell for other publishers.

Whither the Oprah Effect?

Now that Oprah's last live show has broadcast, what will her absence mean for book sales?

Borders Blog

Not the corporate crap...a blog by Borders employees. I always thought that Borders' clerks working the floor were “real” book people. The problem was their managers thought they were “product” managers. Books ain't products.

BEA Impressions

The publishers and printers I've spoken with who attended BEA 2011 have commented that interest in ebooks dominated their conversations. How, why, when, and how much were the questions being asked by publishers feeling the pinch of lost sales. A very basic guide to the mechanics of ebook publishing can be found here. Attendance (less exhibitors) was down slightly from last year.

Paper Plant Closes

Washington State's Grays Harbor Paper, manufacturer of recycled copy and printing paper,

has closed, eliminating 240 jobs. While the mill is over 100 years old, new ownership in 1993 began producing recycled grades, with up to 100% post consumer content.

Modern Paper Making

Modern paper mills are innovating to be more eco-friendly. Check out the inset at the end of this article about the Tamil Nadu mill in India.

Nook vs. iPad vs. Kindle

The ebook hardware race is on. Kindle is king with 65% of the market to iPad's 10%.

Industry Predictions

PIRA International has just released a forecast through 2020 covering the print, paper and packaging industries.

Playboy Archive Online

For a mere $60 per year, every page of every issue of Playboy magazine will be available as full issues or in a searchable database on your computer. Or try it for $8 a month and reread the Mailer, Kerouac and Vonnegut interviews that you kind of remember.

Nonna's Book of Mysteries

Mary Osborne's book Nonna's Book of Mysteries has been met with multiple awards for this first time author (Lake Street Press). A nomination for an IBPA Ben Franklin award, The Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book (Children's/Young Adult), is the latest accolade for this wonderful story.

Final thought

Begin every story in the middle. The reader doesn't care how it begins, he wants to get on with it. Louis L'Amour

Past GrubStreetPrinting.com newsletters available at http://grubstreetnews.blogspot.com/