Publishing Talks Interview with Jane Friedman of Hot Sheet

Publishing Talks began first as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. It was great fun talking with people in the book industry about the evolution of publishing in the context of technology, culture, and economics. Over the years, I talked with a variety of editors, publishers and others, innovators and leaders in independent publishing and bookselling in the past, and into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me. I have had the pleasure of speaking with people who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak with a number of friends and colleagues in the book business, always trying to explore and understand the complex web of books, authors and readers that is at the heart of our evolving culture.

Every year, ever more new books are published, and the “rules of the game” evolve faster than most of us can keep up. Given the pace of change in the book industry, I could not think of anyone better to learn about the latest trends and developments than Jane Friedman, whose insights and breadth of knowledge are unmatched among industry observers. I first spoke with her in 2015 and then again in 2022, and I always learn a great deal from her in every conversation we have.

Jane publishes a bi-weekly industry newsletter,  a must-read for anyone involved with publishing, called The Hot Sheet. Her most recent book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press). Collaborating with The Authors Guild, she wrote The Authors Guild Guide to Self-Publishing. In 2023, Jane was awarded Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.

You might also have heard of Jane because of her experience with AI book fraud, which she wrote about in August 2023. She has put together a roundup of the extensive coverage and interviews about what happened, which you can explore here.

And she publishers yet another newsletter for writers and creators called Electric Speed, which is also worthwhile subscribing to.

Her website offers a wide range of services and information for writers: “I report on the book publishing industry and help authors understand the business. I’ve been working in book publishing since the 1990s, but my views are not from the 1990s. Amidst rapid change in the industry, writers need honest and unbiased guidance to make the best decisions for their careers. I hope to offer you a signal amidst the noise.”

Jane Friedman is a very busy woman, I am truly grateful that she was able to take some time to talk to me about the latest goings on in publishing.

Writerscast began in 2008! Thanks to all who have participated and all of you who have listened to this series over the past 15 years. It’s been fun.

 

Publishing Talks: An Interview with Shouvik Paul of CopyLeaks

July 27, 2023 by  
Filed under PublishingTalks, Technology

Publishing Talks began as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. I’ve spent time talking with people in the book industry about how publishing is evolving in the context of technology, culture, and economics.

Later this series grew to include conversations that go beyond the future of publishing. In an effort to document the literary world, I’ve talked with a variety of editors, publishers and others who have been innovators and leaders in independent publishing in the past and into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me on many levels. I have gotten to speak with visionaries and entrepreneurs, as well as editors and publishers who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak with a number of friends and colleagues I have met over the many years I have been in the book business.

I met Shouvik Paul a number of years ago when he was working for SharedBook, a company for whom I did some consulting work. He is a really smart guy and has been involved in a variety of technology related start ups during his career. Shouvik is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Copyleaks Inc., an award-winning AI-based text analysis company whose primary work is to identify potential plagiarism and paraphrasing across nearly every language, detect AI-generated content, and provide generative AI governance and compliance solutions. For obvious reasons, this kind of technology will be of interest to all kinds of publishers and content owners.

CopyLeaks has been working in AI for years, and now that AI in many different applications will become crucial for the book industry to understand and apply, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me and for Publishing Talks listeners  to learn more about where this is all headed from someone who knows alot more than most of the rest of us.

I think this conversation will spur your thinking in a variety of ways. It certainly has inspired me to learn more about AI and how it can be used, what the risks of using it are, and how we need to think about AI both within the book business and in our overall culture. Don’t be surprised if this changes your outlook on the way AI will affect our business and hopefully it will inspire you as to learn more about it as well. The book industry cannot afford not to recognize how this technology will change our lives in so many ways.

Shouvik lives in Manhattan with his two daughters; he wanted me to note here that they refer to him as “That guy who has to stop and pet every dog that passes by” — which is a pretty great recommendation, in my view.

CopyLeaks.com

Publishing Talks: Interview with Josh Schwartz of Pubvendo

May 9, 2023 by  
Filed under PublishingTalks, Technology

Publishing Talks began as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. I’ve spent time talking with people in the book industry about how publishing is evolving in the context of technology, culture, and economics.

Later this series broadened to include conversations that go beyond the future of publishing. In an effort to document the literary world, I’ve talked with a variety of editors, publishers and others who have been innovators and leaders in independent publishing in the past and into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me on many levels. I have gotten to speak with visionaries and entrepreneurs, as well as editors and publishers who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak with a number of friends and colleagues I have met over the many years I have been in the book business.

Josh Schwartz is someone I met at a Book Expo several years ago (remember trade shows? Book Expo, previously known as the American Booksellers Association was an important social gathering for the book industry for more than 50 years, fostering a sense of community that is now lost). As often was the case at old-fashioned industry gatherings, it was purely a chance connection, as we sat together to eat lunch at the Javits Center one busy afternoon. That meeting is emblematic of how a good trade show can work – a chance meeting with someone that turns into a long term business connection and friendship.

Josh was then just launching his company, Pubvendo to specialize in digital marketing for books, working with authors and publishers of every size and kind. Now that it’s been some years he and his team have been at it, the work puts him in the middle of a very interesting part of the book business. Most of us agree that while publishing is not without challenges, marketing is the hardest thing we do. Every new book that is published is an entirely new product (unless it is part of a series or written by an author with an established brand). Every new book must be thought about and in some way “represented” or “presented” to potential readers, booksellers, librarians, media outlets, all of whom are busy, often overwhelmed with information, and hard pressed to notice any one book over any other. How do we find readers and help them discover our books when they have so many other books and media forms to choose from? That is the challenge of book publishing in the digital era. Data driven online marketing as practiced by Pubvendo and only a few other businesses is one way for publishers and authors to make those crucial connections. And while it might be “inside baseball” for some, this is a subject that most of us in the book business have to think about all the time.

Josh is both the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pubvendo, which makes him responsible for digital campaign methodology, strategy, and execution. He started in the book business in 2010, working for digital production companies, Aptara and Jouve. He holds a bachelor’s degree in American Literature from George Mason University and a master’s degree from Georgetown University.

Aside from his literary interests, which inform his day-to-day work with publishers and authors, he’s willing and able to engage with a variety of subjects and try to find ways to connect books of all kinds with the right readers – especially the ones who want to buy those books. It is no easy thing to navigate the continuously changeable online universe, but Josh seems better equipped than most to figure it out and at the same time, have some fun and enjoy the ride.

In this conversation, we covered a wide range of topics relating to marketing and publishing – primarily focusing on digital matters but really this is about marketing books in an extremely complex and constantly changing environment. We even talked about AI, the latest and greatest in a series of “new developments” that have faced book publishing over the last twenty years or more.

One thing is certain – there are no final answers, but there are always alot of really important questions.

Pubvendo website.

Publishing Talks: Interview with Michael Wolfe

March 1, 2023 by  
Filed under Publishing History, PublishingTalks

Michael Wolfe

Publishing Talks began as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. I’ve spent time talking with people in the book industry about how publishing is evolving in the context of technology, culture, and economics.

Later this series broadened to include conversations that go beyond the future of publishing. In an effort to document the literary world, I’ve talked with a variety of editors, publishers and others who have been innovators and leaders in independent publishing in the past and into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me on many levels. I have gotten to speak with visionaries and entrepreneurs, as well as editors and publishers who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak with a number of friends and colleagues I have met over the many years I have been in the book business.

One such person is Michael Wolfe. We have known each peripherally for many years through independent literary publishing.

Michael is the author of ten books of poetry, fiction, and travel. In the 1970s and 1980s he owned and ran a bookstore and a book bindery in Bolinas, California, and was publisher of the renowned indie press, Tombouctou Books there. His authors included Lucia Berlin, Paul Bowles, Mohammed Mrabet, Jim Carroll, Joanne Kyger, Dale Herd, Steve Emerson, Bobbie Louise Hawkins, Bill Berkson, Duncan McNaughton, Clark Coolidge, Phoebe MacAdams and many other wonderful writers, poets and translators.

These days, Michael is the Executive Producer and President of Unity Productions Foundation, a nonprofit media company that produces documentary films. “Stories of Muslim Engagement, History and Culture – UPF Films and Educational Projects Promote Peace and Understanding.”

Speaking with Michael about writing, publishing and his life was a great experience for me, one which I am pleased to share here. As time goes on, I treasure these opportunities to talk with brilliant, accomplished literary activists like Michael Wolfe.

Author website here.

Publishing Talks: Interview with Dan Harke of Mayo Clinic Press

October 5, 2022 by  
Filed under PublishingTalks, The Future

Publishing Talks began as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. I’ve spent time talking with people in the book industry about how publishing is evolving in the context of technology, culture, and economics.

Some time back, this series broadened to include conversations that go beyond the future of publishing. In an effort to document the literary world, I’ve talked with a variety of editors, publishers and others who have been innovators and leaders in independent publishing in the past and into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me on many levels. I have gotten to speak with visionaries and entrepreneurs, as well as editors and publishers who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak with a number of friends and colleagues I have met over the many years I have been in the book business.

This week, I talked to Dan Harke, who manages the Mayo Clinic Press in Rochester, Minnesota. Mayo Clinic is doubtless familiar to Writerscast listeners – it is probably the best-known health care organization in America. It has 73,000 employees (including thousands of MDs) and cares for more than 1.4 million people annually. Mayo is almost always ranked as the number one hospital in the US.

For many years, Mayo Clinic licensed content to established publishers, and sold books direct to consumer only through its mail order business associated with its long-running Mayo Health Letter. Several years ago, Mayo established the Mayo Clinic Press to publish its own books, and now is in the process of growing to become a full line trade publisher, while still maintaining its mission-driven commitment to healthcare for the greater good. Aside from consumer health books, Mayo is now publishing children’s books, ebooks, audio books and podcasts, as well as its still vibrant health letter.

Dan comes to publishing from a diverse background with skills and knowledge in health care, marketing, and innovation, which gives him a very different perspective about publishing than many of us with experience mostly in trade publishing, so I think this conversation will be of interest to many Publishing Talks listeners.

You can look at MCP’s terrific website here.

In the interest of full disclosure, I want to mention that I am a consultant to MCP on trade publishing and marketing matters.

Publishing Talks: Interview with Mark Hurst of Creative Good

Publishing Talks began as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly about the future of publishing, books, and culture. I’ve spent time talking with people in the book industry about how publishing is evolving in the context of fast-changing technology, culture, and economics.

Along the way, this series broadened to include conversations that go beyond the future of publishing. In an effort to document the literary world, I’ve talked with a variety of editors, publishers and others who have been innovators and leaders in independent publishing in the past and into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me on many levels. I have gotten to speak with visionaries and entrepreneurs, as well as editors and publishers who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak with a number of friends and colleagues I have met over the many years I have been in the book business.

The latest visionary is Mark Hurst, who founded and operates Creative Good, a New York-based consultancy and creative platform. Mark has spent his career writing, speaking, and advising teams about how to create better products and services. I’ve been reading his impressive writing for years, and have long admired his thinking and approach to technology, culture, and human behavior. Much of what he writes and talks about can be applied to the publishing industry, especially as it relates to powerfully centralized tech companies like Amazon, Apple, and Google.

Along the way, the very creative Hurst also created the useful and cool Good Todo mobile productivity platform, the world’s first cross-platform todo list, which he described in his first book, Bit Literacy, in which he introduced the “empty inbox” method of managing email (now better known as Inbox Zero – a practice I try to follow daily with mixed success).

Mark also hosts Techtonic – see techtonic.fm – a weekly FM radio show on WFMU. Here’s the Techtonic podcast.

His book Customers Included describes how teams and organizations can create successful products and strategies by including customers, a practice I have often thought publishers could benefit from applying to marketing matters.

Brooklyn 1776, the educational mobile videogame by Hurst and the Creative Good team, won the 2016 Brooklyn Innovation Award for best indie video game.

Mark earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degrees in computer science from MIT. He lives in New York City with his wife and son.

It was great fun for me to have the opportunity to speak with Mark for this Publishing Talks series on Writerscast. We talked about a wide range of issues that should be of interest to anyone interested in current publishing and media technology matters.

Website: creativegood.com
Email: mark@creativegood.com

Publishing Talks: Interview with Jane Friedman

Publishing Talks started as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. It was great fun talking with people in the book industry about the evolution of publishing in the context of technology, culture, and economics.

Later this series broadened considerably. In the past few years, I’ve talked with a variety of editors, publishers and others who have been innovators and leaders in independent publishing and bookselling in the past and into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me. I have had the pleasure of speaking with visionaries and entrepreneurs, editors, publishers and others who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak with a number of friends and colleagues in the book business.

I’ve not had occasion to speak with the same person twice during all the years this series has gone on. But I really wanted to speak again with Jane Friedman, whose insights and knowledge I thoroughly respect, and get her sense of the current state of publishing and bookselling, especially as it affects writers and independent publishers. Our last Publishing Talks conversation was in 2015! Much has changed since then, and there was much for us to talk about.

Jane publishes a terrific newsletter I read religiously called The Hot Sheet. Her most recent book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press). Collaborating with The Authors Guild, she wrote The Authors Guild Guide to Self-Publishing. Her website offers a wide range of services and information for writers: “I report on the book publishing industry and help authors understand the business. I’ve been working in book publishing since the 1990s, but my views are not from the 1990s. Amidst rapid change in the industry, writers need honest and unbiased guidance to make the best decisions for their careers. I hope to offer you a signal amidst the noise.”

And I hope this conversation does the same.

Publishing Talks: Interview with George Slowik, Jr. of Publishers Weekly

February 23, 2022 by  
Filed under Publishing History, PublishingTalks

Publishing Talks began as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. I’ve spent time talking with people in the book industry about how publishing is evolving in the context of technology, culture, and economics.

Some years ago, this series broadened to include conversations that go beyond the future of publishing. In an effort to document the literary world, I’ve talked with a variety of editors, publishers and others who have been innovators and leaders in independent publishing in the past and into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me on many levels. I have gotten to speak with visionaries and entrepreneurs, as well as editors and publishers who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak with a number of friends and colleagues I have met over the many years I have been in the book business.

2022 is the 150th anniversary of Publishers Weekly, the essential trade magazine of the book industry. The magazine was founded in 1872, and the fact that it has not just survived, but thrived for most of the many years it has been published says something about both the book industry and the people who have been part of its trade media.

Just as it has done for so many magazines, the digital era has meant change for Publishers Weekly, and credit is due to current ownership for guiding it successfully through very difficult times. Those of us who have been around the book business for a long time remember PW as it is ubiquitously called, when it had a lot more pages than it does today, and when it was literally the only way to get news about publishing and bookselling in one reliable place. Now the print magazine is relatively short, most of us consume it digitally, and the magazine’s products and revenues are radically different from what they were just a few years ago, including a variety of newsletters, podcasts and other digital products.

George Slowik, Jr. is the owner of the magazine’s parent company, PWxyz, LLC. Slowik had been the publisher of the magazine from 1990-1993 and later ran the excellent magazine, American Prospect, and then in 2010 he bought it from its then owner, Reed Business Information, which was in the process of selling off its entire portfolio of publications.

When Publishers Weekly was originally launched it was the bibliographical source commercial publishers used to list their forthcoming titles for booksellers. The book business was relatively small at that time, with most publishers clustered in a few cities, especially New York and Boston. Over the many years it was in business, the magazine expanded to provide news and stories about the publishing industry, and today, while the industry and the media that serves it have grown, it still is an essential source of title data, publishing over 9,000 book reviews annually at a time when book reviews are more needed than ever.

In this podcast we talked about the magazine’s history, the creation of the digital archive of its entire run, activities around the 150th anniversary year, the past, present and future state of publishing, and much more.

Even if you are not an active participant in the book industry, the history of publishing is valuable to know about as it is in many ways the history of modern culture. You can learn more about Publishers Weekly and sign up for their free email newsletters, at their website.

Publishing Talks: Interview with Jeff Deutsch of Seminary Co-op Bookstores

October 12, 2021 by  
Filed under PublishingTalks, The Future

Publishing Talks began as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. I’ve spent time talking with people in the book industry about how publishing is evolving in the context of technology, culture, and economics.

Some time back, this series broadened to include conversations that go beyond the future of publishing. In an effort to document the literary world, I’ve talked with a variety of editors, publishers and others who have been innovators and leaders in independent publishing in the past and into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me on many levels. I have gotten to speak with visionaries and entrepreneurs, as well as editors and publishers who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak with a number of friends and colleagues I have met over the many years I have been in the book business.

This week’s podcast is one I am really excited about. Jeff Deutsch is the director of Chicago’s Seminary Co-op Bookstores, which calls itself the first not-for-profit bookstore in the United States whose mission is devoted to bookselling (there are other nonprofit bookstores of course, generally components of literary centers, like Beyond Baroque in Venice, California, Woodland Pattern in Milwaukee, and Writers and Books in Rochester, NY are examples).

Last spring I read a report of a Book Industry Study Group panel that included Jeff, and what he talked about immediately caught my attention. Deutsch was reported to have said that the model of bookselling we’ve inherited needs to be rethought: just facilitating more sales, more efficiently, is not the way for bookstores to survive. A bookstore that actually means something to readers will need to carry a deep backlist and to spend time helping readers discover new voices, new texts.

During that panel Deutsch said, “The publishing world and distributors—what you value is not our ability to sell books,” because independent bookstores can never sell in the same volume as Amazon. “Yet we all know how important bookstores are,” he said. As publishers and booksellers once knew, developing readerships for books and authors takes time and devotion that have been boiled out of the entire process now.

Jane Friedman’s outstanding book industry newsletter Hot Sheet compared Jeff’s approach to the Slow Food movement (I think that idea makes sense – I wrote a manifesto for publishers a few years ago on the idea of Slow Publishing, but never developed it enough to publish). Nina Barrett, owner of Bookends & Beginnings in Illinois (which has filed a lawsuit against Amazon), also on the BISG panel said “I think it’s like Alice Waters talking for decades about a sustainable food ecosystem and ultimately revolutionizing the food industry that way. That’s the point we’re at.”

As Jane pointed out, “independent booksellers will lose every time if they base their worth on the mere transactional value of selling books. His stance—that bookselling has a deeper meaning and cultural value—is indeed how boutique and online retailers outside of the Amazon ecosystem are positioning themselves for success.”

Deutsch also said, “We should figure out models that support the work that we’re trying to do, not shoehorn this other model of retail that is really just about buying and selling and not about culture….We all have vocational awe, but couldn’t we have vocational awe and still make a decent living?”

This conceptual framework resonates with me and I think is worthy of much more discussion. Why shouldn’t there be a nonprofit bookselling sector to promote literary and other noncommercial books and authors, just as there is a nonprofit theater? Why should we continuously try to fit a crucially important culture activity into a commercial model, and always fail?

I hope that hearing Jeff talk about this concept will help stimulate further discussion and concrete action. Please feel free to comment and if you are interested in helping, please be in touch.

Connect to the Seminary Co-op Bookstores website here.

Before joining the Co-op Deutsch was the director of stores for the Stanford Bookstore Group and prior to that managed the Cal Student Store at the University of California, Berkeley.

Publishing Talks: Interview with Ben Fox of Shepherd.com

September 20, 2021 by  
Filed under PublishingTalks, The Future

Publishing Talks began as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the years talking with people in the book industry about how publishing has evolved in the context of technology, culture, and economics.

Some time back, this series broadened to include conversations that go beyond the future of publishing. In an effort to document the literary world, I’ve talked with a variety of editors, publishers, booksellers, innovators, and leaders in publishing from the past into the present.

These conversations have been inspirational to me in many ways. I have gotten to speak with visionaries and entrepreneurs, as well as editors and publishers who have influenced and changed contemporary literature and culture. I’ve also had the opportunity to speak with a number of friends and colleagues I have met over the decades I have been in the book business.

Everyone in the book business recognizes the challenge of matching books to readers and vice versa. Search and discovery are the defining issues of this era of vast abundance and creativity in books and all media. There have been any number of efforts to address these challenges that go far beyond what any individual author or publisher can accomplish. One new effort that is trying to address the problem of online book discovery is called Shepherd. Ben Fox is the founder of this book search and recommendation website which he describes as being “Like browsing the best bookstore in the world.”

Like so many others who have become involved with the book publishing industry, he was motivated by a love of books and a desire to replicate the experience of browsing in a physical bookstore online. It’s a simple enough proposition in theory, but in practice, we know that nothing is easy for start ups, and especially so for start ups in the book industry.

I learned about Shepherd from an author I have worked with who has become a friend. Since I believe we need to foster creativity and innovation in every aspect of the book delivery chain, I wanted to talk to Ben to find out more about what he is doing, how he is doing it, and how he feels he can make this effort a success.

In a fairly short time, Shepherd has built a robust offering, with book lists of all kinds, and direct connections on the site to a large number of active authors.

Visit Shepherd.com and see for yourself what Ben Fox is doing. It would be interesting to me to hear what you think of it. Does Shepherd help you find books you might not otherwise have discovered? Does meeting authors online make a difference to your sense of their books and your willingness to buy and read them? Does Shepherd succeed in creating an online book browsing experience that matches what a great bookstore can do?

“I love walking around the bookstore and browsing until something grabs my attention. I want to bring that experience online. I want to help readers bump into books they would otherwise not find. And, help them follow their curiosity to new places.

And, I want to help authors meet more readers. Authors illuminate our world, take us on faraway journeys, and entertain us. There is a growing trend that authors have to become their own marketing team. That concerns me because it takes time away from writing and is very hard to do. One of my long-term goals is to help authors market themselves and give them more time to write.” — Ben Fox

It’s pretty obvious that retail shopping is changing. As readers, we need to figure out new ways to discover books, and for writers and publishers, it is crucial that there are a variety of different ways for us to reach out to readers when we have books we want them to know about. I hope Shepherd will succeed.

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