FOREWORD THIS WEEK
09.17.08
1. BISG ANNUAL MEETING HERALDS INDUSTRY EVOLUTION
Industry group continues to monitor standards and best practices, and announces major environmental and operations initiatives.
2. “MAKING GREENER BOOKS” LAUNCHES BBGNY SEASON
Bookbinders Guild Panel lays out issues, describes progress in green books initiatives; also elects officers, presents events schedule for the rest of the year.
3. EDITOR’S CHOICE: CANDLEWICK PRESS
Editors from leading independent presses tell ForeWord about their favorite titles from their company’s fall list. This week Candlewick President and Publisher Karen Lotz and Associate Publisher and Editorial Director Liz Bicknell speak out.
4. FAST FOREWORD
News, awards and announcements from our wire.
5. FOREWORD FOOTNOTES
Titles of note from our review stacks.
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1. BISG ANNUAL MEETING HERALDS INDUSTRY EVOLUTION
Speakers at the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) Annual Meeting at the Yale Club in Manhattan on September 12 revisited the Long Tail, probing some of its possible misconceptions, and took a sympathetic look at the dysfunctions of the book as a container for reading in today’s world.
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Dominique Raccah
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BISG is the steward for industry standards and best practices that enable the supply chain to function smoothly—indeed, to function at all. It does so through volunteer committees on which hundreds of top industry professionals review, oversee, develop, and maintain such protocols as ONIX metadata, the ISBN numbering system, BISAC subject codes, product data and product label certification, warehouse benchmarking programs, digital standards, and machine readable coding--to mention but a few.
Now in its thirty-first year, the Book Industry Study Group firms up its position as the place where it draws “diverse members with common interests in building an efficient supply chain during challenging times in a changing industry.” Dominique Raccah, publisher and CEO of Sourcebooks, and BISG co-chair (along with Andrew Weber, senior vice president at Random House) opened the annual meeting with these words and an enthusiastic endorsement for the leadership of Michael Healy, now in his second year as executive director.
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Michael Healy
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Healy announced plans for a major revision of “Book Industry Trends” starting with the 2009 edition. BISG is adopting new statistical and reporting models, and has selected a new research group to assist in preparing the report. Hopefully this new report will account for the new business models, format media, and channels of distribution that characterize the industry.
The well-prepared and attractive annual report document speaks to BISG’s increasing level of professionalism and available resources that deliver value to the industry. The 2008 report is worth browsing through (www.bisg.org) since it gives a synopsis of the technical and operational issues that drive the industry and how they are addressed through a marketplace-based voluntary system of standards development and execution. Among its many highlights is the publication of the report, “Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry.” BISG has also become a founding member of the Book Industry Environmental Council.
Driving efficiency and data integrity in the distribution and manufacturing space, BISG committees launched their Product Data and Product Labeling certification programs. The Supply Chain EDI Committee, in a classic example of the irreplaceable forum provided by BISG and its unsung heroes, brought together forty-six industry representatives from retail, wholesale, publishing, and third party system vendors to launch the first of a series of best practices documents for review (such prosaic but vital information drivers as purchase orders, shipping notices and invoices).
Well, the laundry list is endless, but if you have any interest in what powers the car that you are steering—this is where to find out.
About those speakers rattling our cages and pointing to flyways ahead… Anita Elberse, associate professor at Harvard University Business School conducted a detailed analysis, “Revisiting the Long Tail.” Her main point was that while it is true that large numbers of titles selling small amounts can yield significant sales, there is strong evidence that publishers should not abandon their business models aimed at publishing the few titles that will bring in the major portion of a given company’s sales.
Susan Danzinger presented a fascinating analysis of the limits of the book as a format in today’s highly digitized, instant messaging, mobile, and busy culture. Whether it is multitasking and peripatetic young people or adults—the long page-count physical book doesn’t cut it. That doesn’t mean they are no longer interested in reading or instruction. Danziger, the founder of Daily Lit, tapped into an alternative mode—selling five-minute-a-day chunks by subscription for e-mail download to portable devices. It is a business model gaining traction and growing rapidly.
The International Standard Text Code, presented by Andrew Weissberg of Bowker, needs an article of its own—but it is on the way and it is a numeric system that will enable you to search for an author or a title, and tap into all of the versions and translations (and misspellings) that are available. The new realm descending upon us of another major layer of numeric identifiers, the ISTC, was unveiled, and a major initiative was announced that will transform the way the industry frames its supply chain design from author to reader. Just when you thought things were settling down after Gustav!
The piece de résistance was the brief but significant announcement by Mike Shatzkin, CEO of the Idea Logical Company of a new industry initiative, to which BISG has lent its support, “The StartWithXML Project.” It is based on the premise that XML tagging is the key to managing content work flow in all its forms, and that it needs to begin with authoring and work its way through the entire supply chain.
The project will include a major research paper followed by a series of workshops both in the US and abroad. The first of these workshops, “StartWithXML: Why and How” will take place in New York in January 2009 and will be co-produced by O’Reilly Media’s “Tools of Change for Publishing.”
By Eugene G. Schwartz, Editor-at-Large
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2. “MAKING GREENER BOOKS” LAUNCHES BBGNY SEASON
The venerable, but very much ahead of the times, Bookbinders Guild of New York (BBGNY), launched its eighty-second season on September 9, at Random House on Broadway in Manhattan, with a full auditorium attending a production round table on environmental issues.
With an audience of production and manufacturing people responsible for most of the major and bestselling trade and professional books in the US, this opening focus on the industry’s carbon footprint reflects the commitment to energy and resource conservation throughout the trade.
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Kittle, Tobin, Serra, and Marsh
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Ed McCoyd, director of digital policy for the Association of American Publishers (AAP), moderated the panel and led off with a review of the broad range of “hot topics” facing the industry: Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of book papers, the use of recycled paper, managing harmful emissions in manufacturing, and reducing the use of energy across the board--in production, distribution, and business operations.
Book manufacturers Myron Marsh, president of Michigan-based Thomson-Shore, and Peter Tobin, vice president of Connecticut-based Courier Companies, reminded us that it is through their presses and binderies that book papers are consumed. The publisher and printer’s choice to “go green” shows up in what comes out the other end in shipping containers and on pallets, and in how the paper waste is bundled for recycling, and how the chemicals and paper dust are kept from polluting our air and water.
Marsh pointed out that paper makes up eighty percent of the industry’s carbon footprint and that through reduced consumption and increased recycling we can make the greatest gains; also in best practices such as specifying lower basis weights, providing higher bulk on lower weights, and exercising source fiber oversight and responsibility from tree replenishment to increased recycling. “Small steps add up,” he said, “so don’t let trying to be perfect get in the way of getting started.”
Tobin described how demand from publishers for green accountability began to mushroom over the past two years. Courier is the third largest book manufacturer in the US, having produced 175,000,000 books last year. It also operates three book publishing units: Dover, REA, and Homowners. As a consequence it undertook a major commitment to “go green.” It examined the whole process from “how a book is made, what a book is made of, and where it is made.”
Readers will find their Web site of interest. It explains what it means to be green and describes the company’s new initiative, open to all publishers and printers, for the use of the “Green Book” logo.
Lisa Serra, director of paper purchasing for Scholastic, and Barbara Kittle, director of operations for Pearson Higher Education, showed how major publishers were addressing the goal of the Green Press Initiative for an overall average use of thirty percent recycled fiber and twenty-five percent FSC forest certified paper by 2012.
Serra described how demand from the marketplace, authors, and publishers has been driving the industry toward increased sustainability practices. At the same time she listed some of the many challenges to that goal, such as books manufactured off shore, verifying the chain of custody path that leads to certification, technical limitations to percentages of recycled fibers that can affect the strength of the sheet in coated papers, thin papers, and bulking papers.
Kittle looked at some of the ways in which publishers have expanded their green outlook to go beyond books. She cited McGraw Hill’s new eco-friendly office building in Dubuque and Wiley’s Business for Social Responsibility initiatives. She also looked at the realities and tensions between top-down corporate initiatives and bottom-up realities, and their impacts in the offices, warehouses and chain of custody.
BBGNY elected its officers for the next two years. Michelle Rothfarb of Courier passed the President baton to Eric I. Schwartz of Princeton University Press. Other officers are Vice President Renata Butera, Pearson Education; Treasurer Marv Dunkel, Cadmus Communications; Secretary Alison Gervais, Harry N. Abrams; Financial Secretary Diana Gee, Simon and Schuster.
On October 18, the BBGNY Lecture Series will have as its subject, “Financial Management: Challenges and Success in a Global Market.” It will feature David Hetherington, CFO at Columbia University Press, and Gary Farber, vice president of finance, Kaplan Publishing.
On November 18, the regular meeting of BBGNY will feature Sara Nelson, editor of Publishers Weekly, speaking about “50 under 40,” the new generation of professionals in the industry. January 13 will be President’s Night featuring Chip Gibson, president and publisher of Random House Children’s Books. February 10, Pop-up Books; April 21, Photography Books; and May 19, Independent Bookstores.
Submissions for the March 24 New York Book Show will be accepted from October 1 to November 18.
For information about BBGNY and these events go to www.bookbindersguild.org.
By Eugene G. Schwartz, Editor-at-Large
3. EDITOR’S CHOICE: CANDLEWICK PRESS
This week, Candlewick President and Publisher Karen Lotz and Editorial Director and Associate Publisher Liz Bicknell talk about their favorite picks for fall. Gorgeous full-color excerpts of Our White House and Sword are available for one week at our Book Club.
Karen Lotz, President and Publisher
How long have you been with Candlewick?
Nine years
What is the book you are most excited by this season, and how did it come to your attention?
Our White House: Looking in, Looking Out (978-0-7636-2067-7), created by 108 renowned authors and illustrators and the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance, is one of the most exceptional projects I’ve ever been involved in. A treasury of personal essays, nonfiction, short stories, poetry, humor, primary source materials, and an extraordinary range of illustration, it is an entirely fresh and engaging presentation that serves as a gateway for looking at two hundred years of American history with new eyes. The subtitle of the book captures its essence; it is designed to explore the dwelling at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue through multiple perspectives, including the views of those who built it, of those who have lived and made history there, and of those who keep its integrity as the center of our democracy by electing the leaders who will serve in it every four years.
I first learned about the NCBLA when I attended their summit on children’s books and literacy at the John F. Kennedy Library in the late ’90s. When they decided to create a book to ignite interest among young readers in history and politics with a focus on the White House, Candlewick jumped at the chance to participate in the auction. We were very privileged to be chosen as the publisher for a work that includes such extraordinary contributors as M.T. Anderson, Natalie Babbitt, Mary Brigid Barrett (the founder of the NCBLA), Susan Cooper, Kate DiCamillo, Steven Kellogg, David Macaulay, Gregory Maguire, Patricia MacLachlan, David McCullough, Walter Dean Myers, Katherine Paterson, Richard Peck, Jerry Spinelli, and many, many more. A team of about ten of us at Candlewick worked on the project collaboratively for nearly two whole election cycles, and it’s tremendously exciting that it will be out this September during this highly charged presidential campaign.
What can you tell us about the author?
We believe this is the most exceptional roster of authors in any fundraising collection of its kind. Their dedication to the book has been profound, with all contributing not only their writing and artwork, but also significant original research, and, most importantly, their personal thoughts and philosophies on our democracy: why it works, and how it could work even better. All agree on one important principle: the engagement of young people in learning about history and participating in the political process is vital to our collective future. Read—Think—Act!
Who will enjoy this book?
It’s truly a book for readers of all ages, and it belongs in every library. Its extensive source notes and companion educational website make it perfect for classroom use, but my best hope for the book is that it also will find a special place in homes across the country—for families to share together, and for helping awaken in children an interest in the People’s House that we hope will last a lifetime.
What can you tell us about the excerpt published online?
Learning such fascinating and little-known details about the early White House—how food traveled from garden to table; how Jefferson switched hats between President and horticulturalist—is a refreshing way to take in one of our most iconic presidents. S.D. Schindler’s portrait is also a fabulous addition to our visual memories of Jefferson, showing him as an ordinary man enjoying a juicy, hand-grown treat and the White House as a real, functioning home.
Our White House was reviewed by educational consultant Angela Leeper in the September/October edition of ForeWord magazine.
Download an excerpt (in PDF format) from the ForeWord Book Club.
Liz Bicknell, Editorial Director and Associate Publisher
How long have you been with Candlewick?
Eleven years
What is the book you are most excited by this season, and how did it come to your attention?
Like any well-behaved editor, I love all my books equally, of course, but I am super-excited to be publishing an amazing debut this season. Swords: An Artist’s Devotion (978-0-7636-3148-2) is a 96-page, full-color celebration of swordsmanship. Agent Rosemary Stimola sent me three sample spreads of the chapter “Kings” back in July 2005 and I immediately took them home to my two sons, Rowan and Corin, who at the time were 14 and 11 and big into things medieval. Rowan said reverently, “Mom, you have to get this book!” and that pretty much convinced me there was going to be a market.
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Rowan and Corin
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What can you tell us about the author?
Ben Boos is an incredible artist, as you can see from the sample, and his detailed illustrations took two years to complete, a true “artist’s devotion.” Before this book, he worked as an illustrator on the Diablo computer game franchise. I think we’ve successfully lured him away, though, as we are signed up for another book, which Ben is working on now.
Who will enjoy this book?
Boys love swords. They love drawing them, making them, and especially wielding them. This book contains such a wealth of information, from ninjas to samurai to knights to war chiefs. I learned a lot working on it!
Download an excerpt (in PDF format) from the ForeWord Book Club.
Interviews by Heather Shaw, Editor-in-Chief
This week at Publishing Matters, Eugene Schwartz talks about the We Generation and how millennial youth are taking over America and changing the world.
At Shelf Space, Sarah Lovato talks about Gossip Girls and Ghetto Girls.
At Publishing Insider, Sara Megibow talks about finding a legitimate agent.
At Editor’s Notes, Editor in Chief Heather Shaw reviews books about open spaces, driving cross-country and languages.
Visit www.forewordmagazine.com for publishing news, book reviews, and the ForeWord Book Club.
4. FAST FOREWORD
Epicenter Scores Big With Palin Bio, Signs With Tyndale
Seattle-based regional publisher, Epicenter, specializing in Alaska subjects, hit a publishing jackpot with its May 2008 bio, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down by Kaylene Johnson (978-0-9790470-8-4). This past weekend they licensed paperback rights to Tyndale for what is reputedly a pre-emptive advance well into six figures. Within a day of Palin’s nomination, Epicenter’s inventory at Graphic Arts press was exhausted, and a week later they had a 40,000 copy reprint off press, filling orders through Ingram Publishing Services.
ForeWord’s Editor at Large, Eugene Schwartz, spoke with Epicenter pulisher Kent Sturgis, and will review in next week’s ForeWord This Week the “back story” of how Sturgis decided to do the book, recruited its author, brought it into market and then deftly managed the explosive sales opportunity and the unexpected media frenzy that descended upon his author.
Jewel of Medina Finds Indie Publisher
Independent publisher, Beaufort Books has announced that it will publish The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones. The novel about A’isha, the child bride of the Prophet Mohammed, will be released in October.
Random House, the book’s original publisher, cancelled publication last month because of fears that it “might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment,” according to a statement. www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/medinaletter.html
Last year, Beaufort published If I Did It by OJ Simpson, a title that was also cancelled by its original publisher, HarperCollins.
Librarians Have Internet Know-How
In New York’s Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Donald Allis, president of the Monroe County Library System Board of Trustees, explains why librarians as reference tools are more reliable than the practice of blindly surfing the Internet.
“Our business librarians, for instance, often field calls from patrons looking for current census information for Monroe County or other specific regions,” he writes. “Can the patrons find that information online themselves? Sure, but it might take someone an hour to find what our librarians can find in a few minutes.”
Allis also mentions a 2007 New York Times story about an error in a Wikipedia article that was referenced on the exams of six students in one history class.
Author 101 University Comes to Atlanta
Rick Frishman, author of the Author 101 series of books, will host Author 101 University October 1-2 in Atlanta. Mark Victor Hansen will emcee the event.
Other program presenters include David Hancock, Robyn Freedman Spizman, Brendon Burchard, and Jill Lublin. The goal of the program is to help authors get published, sell and promote their book, and help them make their business more profitable.
The last Author 101 University in Los Angeles was sold out and organizers expect this year’s to sell out quickly. Visit www.author101university.com for registration and more information.
Lit Mob Launches
Doug Perkul, the former associate publisher at SPIN Magazine, and filmmaker Stefan Nadelman have launched Lit Mob, a book review Web site. Other features on the site include picks from music artists and actors, books that are popular at regional stores, and a discussion about book covers. Readers are also invited to suggest books for review on the site.
From staff reports. Share your news and information with Whitney Hallberg, Managing Editor.
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Cry of Justice
This handsomely bound and dust-jacketed hardback fantasy novel recently won the CSPA retailer vote for Best Novel of 2007! Ships from Central US warehousing with professional invoicing. Order from Atlas Books Distribution at 419/281-1802 (6883 fax), or via e-mail: order@bookmasters.com
Web page:
Cry of Justice at Bookmasters.com
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ISBN 9780977888405
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5. FOREWORD FOOTNOTES
Biography & Autobiography. ELIOT AND HIS AGE: T. S. ELIOT’S MORAL IMAGINATION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Russell Kirk (ISI Books, 460 pages, softcover, $18.00, 978-1-933859-53-8): “independent man of letters” and author of The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot presents the literary life of the great poet (1888-1965); among topics mentioned are his entrance to Harvard in 1906, the relationship between culture and class, and Eliot’s contempt for the “the lemon-squeezer school of criticism” which tries to extract juice from every word, line, and stanza.
Business & Economics. 1,000 DOLLARS & AN IDEA; BUILDING COMPANIES AND A BILLON-DOLLAR FORTUNE by Sam Wyly (Newmarket Press, 272 pages, hardcover, $24.95, 978-1-55704-803-): the entrepreneur who was a millionaire by age thirty chronicles his business successes. Some topics mentioned are the influence of management, sobering thoughts when Control Data plunged from $36 to $13 on Black Monday in 1987, and his studies of great entrepreneurial retailers such as James Cash Penney, Sam Walton, and Stanley Marcus of Nieman-Marcus.
Business & Economics. STOP FORECLOSURE NOW: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR HOME AND CREDIT by Lloyd Segal (AMACOM, 8 x 11, b/w illustrations, 352 pages, softcover, $19.95, 978-0-8144-1330-2): mortgage banker, attorney, and real estate investor includes information about using the courts to stop foreclosure, a summary of the foreclosure laws in all states, and use of military status, for example, if one is on “active duty.”
Cooking. THE FOOD NANNY RESCUES DINNER: EASY FAMILY MEALS FOR EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK by Liz Edmunds (Palmer / Pletsch Publishing, 8 x 10, 166 color photographs, 206 recipes with 162 variations, 288 pages, softcover, $24.95, 978-0-935278-77-4): mother of seven and cooking class teacher at Sur la Table in Salt Lake City offers “fun, easy, consistent” meal planning organization. Concepts include a “mapping out” schedule, family time at the table, and salad toppers such as caramelized nuts that hit that crunchy “sweet spot.”
Health. BRAIN INJURY SURVIVAL KIT: 365 TIPS, TOOLS & TRICKS TO DEAL WITH COGNITIVE FUNCTION LOSS by Cheryle Sullivan (Demos Health, 186 pages, softcover, $16.95, 978-1-932603-73-6): brain injury survivor and physician offers a distinctive perspective on neurological damage and the resulting functional impairments. Among the topics discussed are word finding, medication alarms, and compensating for impaired memory function, for example by exercising one’s memory by reading regularly.
Health. A DAY WITHOUT PAIN by Mel Pohl (Central Recovery Press, b/w illustrations, charts, 218 pages, softcover, $14.95, 978-0-9799869-5-6): physician and clinical assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Nevada School of Medicine discusses the management of chronic pain, which, according to the author is nearly always “inextricably” connected to depression, anxiety, and fear. Chapters include “Emotions and Suffering,” “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy,” and “Treatment Modalities,” which states that medication “can increase the amount of natural painkillers” in the body and stimulate the production of pleasurable chemicals.
Health. THE GIRLFRIEND’S INFERTILITY TREATMENT COMPANION by Elizabeth Gordon Dellenbaugh (Lost Coast Press, 160 pages, softcover, $14.95, 978-1-882897-92-6): University of Chicago Law School graduate presents candid and humorous stories from nine friends and herself; some topics mentioned are “Doctor Roulette,” “The Mood Swings,” and “The Shots,” which includes an aside of “strangest circumstances” such as Louisa’s story about administering her fertility shot during a funeral.
Humor. A COLLECTION OF E-MAILS: HILARIOUSLY WITTY AND AMUSINGLY ADORABLE, BOOK #1 by Billie Jo Mouren and Gwen Andersen (Funny Books, 300 color prints, 261 pages, softcover, $19.99, 978-0-9801222-0-6): “wacky and crazy chicks” from Southern California compile 400 “funny, touching and informative” e-mails complemented by visual gags. Amusing subjects include “Illiterate? Write for Free Help,” “World’s Thinnest Books” (e.g., My Plan to Find the Real Killers by O.J. Simpson), and examples of comedian Red Skelton’s recipes for a good marriage such as, “Two times a week we go to a nice restaurant, have a little beverage, good food and companionship. She goes on Tuesdays; I go on Fridays.”
Photography. HISTORIC PHOTOS OF CHICAGO CRIME: THE CAPONE ERA by John Russick (Turner Publishing, 10 x 10, b/w photographs, 216 pages, hardcover, $39.95, 978-1-59652-387-6): Chicago History Museum curator begins his presentation with Chicago’s cityscape as a context for the mayhem. Among the photos are the Chilton & Thomas Dance team (1920), “dress maker” bathing suits (1926), and a picture of one of the six violent Sicilian bootlegging brothers sitting defiantly, thick fingers interlocked, with a look that says, “don’t fool with me.”
Photography. THE SOLACE OF NATURE: A PHOTOGRAPHER’S JOURNEY, Julia Sims, photographer, text by John R. Kemp (Pelican Publishing, 12 x 9, 194 color plates, 192 pages, hardcover, $49.95, 978-1-58980-52-1): beginning with a quotation from Anne Frank (“Nature brings solace in all troubles”), photo contributor to National Geographic and correspondent for Arts & Antiques magazine present meditative nature pictures from the United States, Canada, and Africa. Subjects include horned puffins on an island in the Bering Sea, Columbia Ice Fields south of the Artic, and a spotted fawn in the Manchac Swamp (Louisiana) grooming herself with a little pink tongue while small legs are warmly folded underneath.
by Alex Moore, Book Review Editor