Publishing

In 2013, book lovers could get a chance to explore BookExpo America (BEA), the major publishing industry trade show that has been traditionally limited to industry professionals.

BEA event director Steven Rosato posted about the potential change on the show’s official blog. What do you think–should book lovers be allowed to attend BEA?

Check it out: “This will not happen immediately, but are looking at 2013 to shift BEA to a Thursday – Friday – Saturday, leaving the trade portion exclusive on Thursday and Friday so the industry can continue to meet and conduct the B2B business that is inherent to BEA and open the doors on Saturday for consumers built around author events, but also allow them onto the show floor to look behind the curtain, see what new works from their favorite writers will be coming out like ComicCon does.  This will also give a day of exhibits on the weekend that small but vocal portion of librarians and booksellers miss.” (Via Michael Cairns)

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

Boston-based publisher Beacon Press and New York-based Other Press have a promotional wager riding on the Super Bowl.

Here’s more from the release: “the publisher whose home team loses (Beacon’s New England Patriots or Other’s New York Giants) will promote two of the other publisher’s titles for a week on the web, featuring the two titles on their web site and promoting the titles across social media platforms. In addition, the publisher whose team brings home the trophy will give away a selection of its books to a handful of winners selected from online entries, and both publishers will use their web presences to endorse the giveaway.”

Follow this link for more details about the giveaways. Who do you think is on the losing side of this publishing bet?

GalleyCat contributor Jeff Rivera interviewed Grand Central publisher Jamie Raab for mediabistro.com’s So What Do You Do? feature today.

In the interview, Raab (pictured, via) defended her imprint’s standard practice of giving authors a 25% royalty rate for eBooks: “We have an infrastructure to support.” She outlined the values of what traditional publishers have to offer whether they are new in their writing career or established New York Times bestselling authors.

When asked on whether or not she fears big-name writers will take a less traditional publishing route, she replied: “I think about that a lot because I know it’s on authors’ minds. And I think it’s incumbent on every publisher to do a better job than they’ve ever done before — more creative on marketing and eBooks, working in partnership more closely with their authors, keeping them in the loop, publishing more strategically.”

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Author Malcolm Gladwell will deliver the closing address at the Association of American Publishers’ Annual Meeting on March 14 in New York City. Gladwell will discuss “Publishing in the 21^st Century.”

Follow this link to register.  Hachette Book Group chairman David Young will introduce the author and U.S. Copyright Office register of copyrights Maria Pallante will keynote the event.

AAP president Tom Allen explained the choice: “The focus of our gathering will be on critical current issues such as distribution channels and copyright protection, considered through the prism of publishers and our historic partners.  Malcolm Gladwell’s remarkable skill in interpreting new ideas and inspiring thoughtful debate, particularly with a community in which he’s a member, will be a wonderful closure to the day.”

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Amazon has struck a new deal to distribute its books outside of its popular online store. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s brand new New Harvest imprint will now publish “all of Amazon Publishing’s New York-based imprint’s adult titles in print and distribute them in North America outside of the Amazon.com platform.”

When Amazon Publishing’s East Coast Group launches its inaugural list next fall, it will include books by Tim Ferriss, Penny Marshall, Deepak Chopra and James Franco. Last year Houghton Mifflin Harcourt mounted a major restructuring.

Amazon Publishing’s East Coast Group publisher Larry Kirshbaum had this statement: “Our goal has been, and remains, to introduce authors to as many readers as possible … This new agreement with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt enables us to broaden our distribution and get our books into more readers’ hands.”

The Sydney Morning Herald recently invited its readers to help write a “crowdsourced” novel, The Necklace.

As the story was unveiled online, readers could submit the next chapter of the book. The newspaper editors chose chapters to include in the book. Follow this link to read The Necklace in its entirety.

The final book contained nine chapters written by ten different authors.  The first section came out in December. Follow this link to watch a video with more details about the book.

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Michelle Obama is trying to give her kids a normal life in the White House. This is one of the narratives in a new book by Jodi Kantor called The Obamas.

In the book, Kantor highlights Mrs. Obama’s role as a mother living in such privileged circumstances. She writes: “The First Lady, meanwhile, built her schedule almost entirely around her daughters. Worried that the privileges of the White House could spoil her children, Michelle tried to limit the staff’s constant efforts to feed, polish, assist and perfect.”

The book also highlights some of the tensions that allegedly exist between Mrs. Obama and the president’s staff.

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Joy Peskin has been named vice president and editorial director of Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers.

Peskin established her children’s publishing career while working at Penguin Books for Young Readers and Scholastic. Prior to this move, she served as associate publisher at Viking Children’s Books. At Penguin, she worked with Speak author Laurie Halse Anderson, After author Amy Efaw and Looks author Madeleine George.

FSG Books for Young Readers publisher Simon Boughton had this statement at Publishers Weekly: “At a time of great change, success is still built on a fundamental love of and ability to find and publish great stories—and Joy is both a savvy businesswoman and an editor with a great love of the book. Her outlook and vision are an ideal match for FSG; she’ll bring new authors and new vitality to a great program. I’m very excited for the imprint’s future under her direction.”

Last week, Publishers Weekly reported that Skyhorse Publishing will pay cash to acquire backlist books from publishers with financial issues.

Skyhorse acquired the assets of Arcade Publishing in July. The company paid $548,000 at auction, adding works by Octavio Paz, Samuel Beckett and Elie Wiesel to their list. According to Publishers Weekly, Skyhorse has acted similarly in acquiring the authors of Allworth Press and Sports Publishing.

In an interview with Publishers Weekly, publisher Tony Lyons explained: “It’s a very tough publishing environment at this time. We feel that bankruptcy is inefficient for everyone involved. The rise of e-books and the demise of Borders have rocked the publishing world. So we hope this program will help vendors get paid and allow publishers to continue operating.”

New York photographer Frank Jump has a new book out that chronicles “ghost signs,” the fading street ads around New York City.

In Fading Ads of New York City, Jump documents these ads and points out the fake fading signs. For example, one fading ad for Planters Nuts on a brick wall in Ridgewood, Queens may look like its from the 1930s, but it is probably not.

The Daily News has more: “First, it faces the rising sun but still seems remarkably colorful. And Mr. Peanut doesn’t look as lanky as in other early Planters ads. Conclusion: The ad probably dates back only to the 1980s, when it was created, some believe, for the movie ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs.’”