No Time for Reading = Time for Change
In June, RC2 Corp. paid a reported $163 million for the children’s publishing program at Lincolnwood-based Publications International, Ltd. (PIL). What this means for the editors at PIL remains to be seen, at least by outsiders since PIL is privately owned.
That attractive sum makes me wonder, though, if children are the only ones reading these days. There are a lot of books out there, and many of them are for children: Bowker reports that one in 10 books published in the U.S. is a children’s title. But who is reading $163 million worth of children’s books?
Bowker reports that juvenile title output was down in 2007, especially with Harry Potter out of the picture. In the meantime, the title output for adult fiction and literature was up while much of adult nonfiction was down. Overall, roughly 277,000 titles were published in 2007, and Bowker expects about 411,000 titles to be published in 2008. According to the Association of American Publishers, U.S. publishers saw net sales of $25 billion in 2007, up 3.2 percent from 2006. Something seems to be working—at least far as publishers’ bottom lines are concerned—but I can’t help but wonder who is reading all these books.
Title output keeps growing while the number of readers is dwindling. AP–Ipsos has reported that 25 percent of American adults didn’t read a single book during the past year. In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that adults spend only about seven minutes reading each day (as opposed to two hours watching TV).
The irony is that while people are reading less and less, publishers are publishing more and more. In my experience, the oft-ballyhooed solution to lagging bottom lines is to publish more books. Editors are pushed harder and harder to publish more and more books: If publishing 15 books last year didn’t work, publish 20 books this year. If 20 books doesn’t work, try 25 books.
That strategy might make sense if publishers knew how to publish one best-seller after another. But they don’t. Most books are duds. In fact, the New York Times has reported that 70 percent of titles don’t just fail to make money, they lose money (May 13, 2007). If that’s true, we could expect more than 287,000 new titles to flop this year alone.
With so many publishing flops, it seems there is a disconnect between publishers and readers. As an editor, I understand this only too well. It’s not easy to predict what readers are interested in—especially when the publishing cycle takes so long. From concept to bound book takes months, which is an eternity in today’s world. A 6- or 12-month publishing cycle is a long time during which potential readers’ tastes can change dramatically.
But timing isn’t the only challenge. One of the things I believe many publishers have failed to recognize is the time readers actually spend with books. If the average American spends only seven minutes a day reading for pleasure, how long would it take to finish a book? Forever.
Let’s do some math. A quick glance at the top 10 titles of Amazon’s best 100 books of 2007 shows that books average about 387 pages. My own reading list over the past few months reveals an average of 318 pages per book (see http://www.bibliobibuli.com/p5BeenReading.html). With that, then, let’s say that books average about 352 pages. At seven minutes a day, it would take the average American about 50 days to read a single book. No wonder most people read fewer than four or five books a year: there’s just not enough time to read tome after tome.
So here’s a novel idea: Publish fewer, shorter books. Perhaps if books were shorter, people might actually have time to read more of them. Editors might actually have time to edit them. Publicists might actually have time to publicize them. Booksellers might actually have time to read them so they can hand-sell more of them.
Could this be a publishing panacea? It might well be worth a try. As readers’ tastes change, publishing must keep up. It is unlikely that Americans suddenly will find more time for reading, so it behooves those of us in the publishing world to make reading more accessible for our audience. If shorter books and fewer of them does the trick, then why not?
See:
http://www.nea.gov/news/news07/TRNR.html
http://www.publishers.org/main/IndustryStats/indStats_02.htm
http://www.bowker.com/index.php/press-releases/66-corporate2008/526-bowker-reports-us-book-production-flat-in-2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20381678/
That attractive sum makes me wonder, though, if children are the only ones reading these days. There are a lot of books out there, and many of them are for children: Bowker reports that one in 10 books published in the U.S. is a children’s title. But who is reading $163 million worth of children’s books?
Bowker reports that juvenile title output was down in 2007, especially with Harry Potter out of the picture. In the meantime, the title output for adult fiction and literature was up while much of adult nonfiction was down. Overall, roughly 277,000 titles were published in 2007, and Bowker expects about 411,000 titles to be published in 2008. According to the Association of American Publishers, U.S. publishers saw net sales of $25 billion in 2007, up 3.2 percent from 2006. Something seems to be working—at least far as publishers’ bottom lines are concerned—but I can’t help but wonder who is reading all these books.
Title output keeps growing while the number of readers is dwindling. AP–Ipsos has reported that 25 percent of American adults didn’t read a single book during the past year. In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that adults spend only about seven minutes reading each day (as opposed to two hours watching TV).
The irony is that while people are reading less and less, publishers are publishing more and more. In my experience, the oft-ballyhooed solution to lagging bottom lines is to publish more books. Editors are pushed harder and harder to publish more and more books: If publishing 15 books last year didn’t work, publish 20 books this year. If 20 books doesn’t work, try 25 books.
That strategy might make sense if publishers knew how to publish one best-seller after another. But they don’t. Most books are duds. In fact, the New York Times has reported that 70 percent of titles don’t just fail to make money, they lose money (May 13, 2007). If that’s true, we could expect more than 287,000 new titles to flop this year alone.
With so many publishing flops, it seems there is a disconnect between publishers and readers. As an editor, I understand this only too well. It’s not easy to predict what readers are interested in—especially when the publishing cycle takes so long. From concept to bound book takes months, which is an eternity in today’s world. A 6- or 12-month publishing cycle is a long time during which potential readers’ tastes can change dramatically.
But timing isn’t the only challenge. One of the things I believe many publishers have failed to recognize is the time readers actually spend with books. If the average American spends only seven minutes a day reading for pleasure, how long would it take to finish a book? Forever.
Let’s do some math. A quick glance at the top 10 titles of Amazon’s best 100 books of 2007 shows that books average about 387 pages. My own reading list over the past few months reveals an average of 318 pages per book (see http://www.bibliobibuli.com/p5BeenReading.html). With that, then, let’s say that books average about 352 pages. At seven minutes a day, it would take the average American about 50 days to read a single book. No wonder most people read fewer than four or five books a year: there’s just not enough time to read tome after tome.
So here’s a novel idea: Publish fewer, shorter books. Perhaps if books were shorter, people might actually have time to read more of them. Editors might actually have time to edit them. Publicists might actually have time to publicize them. Booksellers might actually have time to read them so they can hand-sell more of them.
Could this be a publishing panacea? It might well be worth a try. As readers’ tastes change, publishing must keep up. It is unlikely that Americans suddenly will find more time for reading, so it behooves those of us in the publishing world to make reading more accessible for our audience. If shorter books and fewer of them does the trick, then why not?
See:
http://www.nea.gov/news/news07/TRNR.html
http://www.publishers.org/main/IndustryStats/indStats_02.htm
http://www.bowker.com/index.php/press-releases/66-corporate2008/526-bowker-reports-us-book-production-flat-in-2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20381678/
2008-07-23 00:06:21 GMTComments: 1 |Permanent Link
Summer Publishing Update
As Garrison Keillor would say, it's been a quiet (few) week(s) in Lake Woebegon...
...Aside from another round or two of layoffs at McGraw-Hill, it seems it's been fairly quiet in Chicago's publishing world for a bit, and it likely will be for a while now that summer's here.
There are one or two publishing-related events of interest, though, in the area:
AMWA 2008 Conference
Friday, July 25, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Abbott Laboratories
200 Abbott Park Rd.
North Chicago, Illinois
Chicago Book Clinic Golf Outing
August 12, 8 a.m.
Poplar Creek Country Club
1400 Poplar Creek Drive
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Also, a few job openings:
Shakespeare Squared, located in Glenview, has a couple openings.
BrainWorx Studio has been looking for some editors.
Quarasan has some openings (as usual).
Too, look for us soon on LinkedIn...
...Aside from another round or two of layoffs at McGraw-Hill, it seems it's been fairly quiet in Chicago's publishing world for a bit, and it likely will be for a while now that summer's here.
There are one or two publishing-related events of interest, though, in the area:
AMWA 2008 Conference
Friday, July 25, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Abbott Laboratories
200 Abbott Park Rd.
North Chicago, Illinois
Chicago Book Clinic Golf Outing
August 12, 8 a.m.
Poplar Creek Country Club
1400 Poplar Creek Drive
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Also, a few job openings:
Shakespeare Squared, located in Glenview, has a couple openings.
BrainWorx Studio has been looking for some editors.
Quarasan has some openings (as usual).
Too, look for us soon on LinkedIn...
2008-07-16 23:44:53 GMTComments: 0 |Permanent Link
Welcome!
Chicago Publishing Network™
The mission of the Chicago Publishing Network (CPN™) is to connect publishing professionals across Chicagoland and the Midwest so that they can learn about job openings, other publishing companies, and different types of publishing. Through CPN, you can:
• Learn about what’s going on in Chicago’s publishing world
• See who’s moving around in Chicago publishing’s revolving career door
• Network with other professionals through the people you know
Chicagoland Publishing Events
Hosting a publishing-related event? Share the news with us at
cpn @ bibliobibuli.com. Please use the subject line “Publishing Event.”
Chicago is home to a number of publishing-related events. Please check with the host organizations for updated information.
Chicago Headline Club: Join fellow Headline Club members for a casual meet-and-greet: Friday, April 4, 7 p.m., at the Billy Goat. www.headlineclub.org
Independent Writers of Chicago: Monthly meeting: Tuesday, April 8, 5 p.m., at National-Louis University, 122 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. www.iwoc.org
Chicago Women in Publishing: Intellectual Property in a New Media World: Wednesday, April 16, 6–8 p.m., at National-Louis University, 122 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. www.cwip.org
Chicago Women in Publishing: New Member Social: Monday, April 21, 7–9 p.m., at The Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. www.cwip.org
Chicago Book Clinic: 34th Annual President’s night and annual meeting: Thursday, May 1, 2008, 6–9 p.m., at Chicago City Centre Hotel, 300 E. Ohio St., Chicago. www.chicagobookclinic.org
MediaBistro: Seminar: Copy Editing: Your Role in the Editorial Process—Strategies for Implementing Best Practices: Tuesday, May 6, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Chicago. $349. http://www.mediabistro.com/courses/cache/crs3677.asp
Printers Row Book Fair: The Midwest’s largest literary event: June 7–8, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at Dearborn & Polk. www.chicagotribune.com/about/custom/events/printersrow
The 13th National Museum Publishing Seminar: The only program of its type. Sessions range from the philosophical to the financial, from the political to the poetic: June 12–14 at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza Hotel, Chicago. Tuition is $565 if you register before April 15, 2008, and $600 after April 15, 2008. https://grahamschool.uchicago.edu/php/museumpublishingseminar
Chicago Newberry Library: The Newberry Library Book Fair: July 24–27. www.newberry.org
Chicagoland Job Openings
Please check with the employers as some of these postings may be filled or outdated.
3/21/08: Pearson Education in Glenview has a few editorial openings, including in their mathematics and social studies groups. www.pearson.com
3/21/08: McGraw-Hill continues to be the land of hiring opportunity, especially in its K–12 groups in Chicago and Burr Ridge. And, the Business & Economics imprint of the Higher Education division is looking for a Director of Development in their Burr Ridge location. In addition, the professional/trade/consumer group (whatever it happens to be calling itself this week) is hiring an editor/senior editor for its NYC offices. www.mcgraw-hill.com
3/21/08: Hampton-Brown (part of National Geographic) is looking for an executive editor in their Evanston office. www.hampton-brown.com
3/20/08: Sourcebooks seeks an experienced acquisitions editor in their Naperville office. www.sourcebooks.com
3/13/08: World Book is looking for a staff editor to maintain the accuracy and currency of a particular content area (life sciences) across all relevant publications. www.worldbook.com
3/13/08: The University of Wisconsin-Madison Press is accepting applications until April 15 for a new director. http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/
3/11/08: Quarasan continues its hiring spree. The educational product development company is looking for a full time copyeditor/proofreader with a commitment to excellence for upcoming educational projects. Several other positions, including an executive editor gig, also are available. www.quarasan.com
3/3/08: Association Management Center located in Glenview seeks an editor for the publication of various printed and electronic publications including newsletters, conference materials, journals, books, and other publications. http://www.connect2amc.com/
2/29/08: Encyclopædia Britannica has an opening for an experienced editor with subject-area expertise in social sciences to work on the Encyclopædia Britannica database. http://corporate.britannica.com/jobs.html
2/29/08: American Technical Publishers, Inc., in Homewood, Illinois, is seeking a technical editor of culinary arts to help produce new and revised instructional materials in both print and electronic form. http://www.go2atp.com/stores/1/employment.cfm?P=4
2/21/08: The School Solutions Group of McGraw-Hill Education has an opening for a Technology Editor in the Language Arts Department in the Chicago office, 130 E. Randolph. www.mcgraw-hill.com
2/12/08: Health Administration Press seeks a book acquisitions manager to oversee book acquisitions for two book imprints: textbooks and a paperback series for healthcare executives. http://www.ache.org/hap.cfm
1/31/08: The International Code Council, a membership association dedicated to building safety and fire prevention, has an opening for an editor in the Publications Department. The ICC is located in Country Club Hills. www.iccsafe.org
Chicagoland Career Moves
Got a new job? Won a promotion? Share your career news! Send your information to cpn @ bibliobibuli.com. Please use the subject line “Career News.”
Freelance writer and editor Tricia Crisafulli has launched a successful newsletter: Faith, Hope, and Fiction. Look for it at www.faithhopeandfiction.com.
Stephen Isaacs has been named editorial director at Bloomberg Press. He joined Bloomberg in fall 2006 as executive editor and splits his time between Chicago and New York.
Michael Jeffers recently joined ALA Editions (the American Library Association) in Chicago as editorial director. He replaces Patrick Hogan, who is the new director of online resources.
Kathy Welton has launched a new publishing consulting venture: AKA Associates. Welton recently published a book of poems, 100 Essential Modern Poems by Women, coauthored with Joseph Parisi.
Dianne Wheeler recently left McGraw-Hill Trade in Burr Ridge to become publisher at F+W’s Krause Publications in Iola, Wisconsin.
Ann Wildman recently joined McGraw-Hill’s Wright Group in Chicago. Previously, she was with Learning Resources in Vernon Hills.
Have News?
If you’ve recently changed jobs, are hosting a publishing-related event, are looking to fill a position, or are interested in networking with Chicagoland publishing professionals, let us know: cpn @ bibliobibuli.com
Are You a Networker?
If you're interested in networking and willing to share your time and experience with fellow publishing professionals, let us know: cpn @ bibliobibuli.com. Please use "Networking" in the subject line.
Chicagoland Publishing
Chicago is home to a vast number of book publishers, from association publishing to educational publishing to trade, consumer, and professional publishing. A partial listing:
ABA Publishing
321 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60610
www.abanet.org
Academy Chicago Publishers
363 West Erie Street, 7E
Chicago, Illinois 60610
www.academychicago.com
ALA Editions
50 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611
www.ala.org/editions
American Dietetic Association
120 South Riverside Plaza
Suite 2000
Chicago, IL 60606-6995
www.eatright.org
American Medical Association Publishing
515 N. State Street
Chicago, IL 60610
www.ama-assn.org
Arcadia Publishing
3047 N. Lincoln Avenue, Suite 390
Chicago, IL 60657
www.arcadiapublishing.com
BrainWorx Studio, Inc.
6807 N. Sheridan Road,
Suite 200
Chicago, IL 60626
http://brainworxstudio.com
Brittany Publications, Ltd.
500 North Michigan Avenue
Suite 300
Chicago, IL 60611
www.brittanypublications.com
CCH (Wolters Kluwer)
2700 Lake Cook Road
Riverwoods, IL 60015
www.cch.com
Cornerstone Press Chicago
939 W. Wilson Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640
www.cornerstonepress.com
Encyclopædia Britannica
331 North LaSalle Street
Chicago, IL 60610
http://corporate.britannica.com
General Learning Communications
900 Skokie Boulevard, Suite 200
Northbrook, Illinois 60062
www.glcomm.com
Hampton-Brown
(a National Geographic company)
1880 Oak Street, Suite 300
Evanston, IL 60201
www.hampton-brown.com
Health Administration Press
American College of Healthcare Executives
One North Franklin, Suite 1700
Chicago, IL 60606-3529
www.ache.org
High-Tide Press
3650 W. 183rd St.
Homewood, IL 60430
www.hightidepress.com
Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
1332 North Halsted Street
Chicago, IL 60622-2694
www.ivanrdee.com
Learning Resources, Inc.
380 N. Fairway Drive
Vernon Hills, IL 6006
www.learningresources.com
Loyola Press
3441 N. Ashland Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657
www.loyolapress.com
Lyceum Books
5758 S. Blackstone Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
www.lyceumbooks.com
Magnolia Street Publishers
1256 West Victoria
Chicago, IL 60660
http://magnolia.sternsbooks.com
McGraw-Hill
1333 Burr Ridge Parkway
Burr Ridge, IL 60527
130 E. Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 606010
www.mcgraw-hill.com
NIU Press
2280 Bethany Road
DeKalb, IL 60115
www.niupress.niu.edu/niupress
Northwestern University Press
629 Noyes Street
Evanston, IL 60208-4210
http://nupress.northwestern.edu
Open Court Publishing Company
70 East Lake Street, Suite 300
Chicago, IL 60601
www.opencourtbooks.com
Pearson Education
900 East Lake Avenue
Glenview, IL 60025
www.pearsoned.com
Publications International, Ltd.
7373 N. Cicero Avenue
Lincolnwood, IL 60646
Quarasan
405 W. Superior Street
Chicago, IL 60610
www.quarasan.com
Scott Foresman
(see Pearson Education)
Shakespeare Squared
1827 Elmdale Avenue
Glenview, IL 60026
www.shakespearesquared.com
Solution Tree
304 West Kirkwood Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47404-5132
www.solution-tree.com
Sourcebooks
1935 Brookdale Road, Suite 139
Naperville, IL 60563
www.sourcebooks.com
Third World Press
7822 S. Dobson Avenue
Chicago, IL 60619
www.thirdworldpressinc.com
Triumph Books
542 S. Dearborn Street, Suite 750
Chicago, IL 60605
www.triumphbooks.com
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
351 Executive Drive
Carol Stream, IL 60188
www.tyndale.com
The University of Chicago Press
1427 E. 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
www.press.uchicago.edu
World Book, Inc.
233 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2000
Chicago, IL 60601
www.worldbook.com
2008-03-22 17:09:53 GMTComments: 0 |Permanent Link
