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/