Category: Publishing

Commentary and advice on various aspects of publishing, primarily magazines, books and digital media.

#DOJvPRH Antitrust Trial: A Roundtable Discussion

I had the pleasure of participating in a virtual roundtable discussion hosted by The Hot Sheet and moderated by Jane Friedman, along with Ann Garvin, M.J. Rose, Anne Trubek, and Howard Yoon. The recording is below, along with my prepared comments for the key points we intended to discuss. The whole conversation is worth listening to, with great insights across the board, and some disagreements here and there.

Public Libraries and Ebooks Redux [for Independent Publishers]

I had the pleasure of kicking off the new year by participating in IBPA's PubU Online webinar series, presenting "Engaging New Readers with Ebooks in Public Libraries" and I've posted my slides and written up my main presentation here as it pulled together a few threads I haven't addressed in one place before. Non-IBPA members and other library-curious types might find them useful as a starting point to learn more about how libraries work, and why they're an important partner for publishers of all sizes.

In the Big 5’s Shadow, Publishing Gets Creative | #PubWest2020

Although PubWest is meant for traditional small and mid-sized publishers, it’s probably the most accessible industry conference for serious authors interested in understanding the business of trade publishing beyond getting an agent and a Big Five book deal. The more authors understand the various levers publishers have to pull and what factors determine which books they’ll pull them for, the better equipped they’ll be to negotiate a better contract and avoid unpleasant surprises like a perceived lack of marketing, uncomfortable relationships with independent bookstores and libraries, advances that don’t earn out, and having to find a new agent and publisher for your next book.

Talking About Libraries—Updates from Libraryland

Hyper-current events aside, 2020 has gotten off to a productive start for the Panorama Project, hot on the heels of my Publishers Weekly op-ed challenging the industry to take question of libraries more seriously. Since then, we released our annual report and announced two major new initiatives; I was a featured speaker at PubWest 2020; and I did fun interviews with Library Journal and Book Riot where I got to discuss my work in more detail.