This is a short note to say that I’m headed to Books in Browsers , which takes place in San Francisco from October 24-26. If you are too then definitely reach out and say hello!
What are the Neighbours Building?
It’s time for CMPTO! Next Monday night, join us for an evening of good times, great folks, and all the publishing tech talk your inner geek can handle.
Well Hello There, Frankfurt
Pushing Boundaries at BookCampTO
BookCampTO is an annual “unconference” that invites anyone and everyone who loves books to come be part of a day of conversation about books, writing, the publishing industry, and more.
The unconference is presented by CanBPA, and BookNet is proud to have co-sponsored this year’s event.
BookNet’s Tom Richardson co-presented a session on metadata & ONIX with eBOUND Canada’s Christen Thomas, and Lauren Stewart co-presented a session on events with Chris Reed of Small Print Toronto. Below, Tom reports back on the sights and sounds of BookCampTO.
PubFight 2013: The Art of the "Comp"
Last week on the blog, 2012 PubFight champ Bill Holt weighed in on his scientific approach to the PubFight auction. But publishers and retailers alike know there is more to acquisitions and frontlist buying than science alone. While science certainly plays an important role, a lot of seasoned editors and buyers have good instincts about how a new book will sell based on experience—the art of buying rather than the science, if you will. But if you’re new to the industry, how do you learn this art?
How to Win at PubFight
Greetings. After winning the ultra-competitive BookNet house league last year and coming in a close second to grandmaster Carol the year before, I have been asked divulge all my secrets. A ploy by my coworkers perhaps, but who doesn’t like to pretend that they know a thing or two about a thing. Or two. Whatever.
PubFight 2013: Put Your Game Face On
As a relative newcomer to publishing, joining the PubFight league with the people who invented it is a little intimidating.
If you haven’t heard of PubFight, it is a fantasy publishing league that helps to develop inventory and P&L management skills using actual market data. You can learn all about it here.
Now let’s get serious—here are some of the key things I discovered during the BNC auction.
Ethics, Data and More at Book Summit 2013
Data has a way of stimulating discussion - there’s just something about hard facts that gets people thinking in exciting new ways. There was a lot of data being presented at this year’s Book Summit conference in Toronto, and it seems clear that the industry is doing a lot of thinking about what data it needs, and how to use that data to reach more readers with books that they really want to buy.
Data and Wisdom at MIP 2013
The tenth annual Making Information Pay (MIP) conference ran under the banner “Data. Information. Knowledge. Wisdom.” This annual, half-day conference from the Book Industry Study Group encouraged attendees to use data to make business decisions, a notion that BookNet firmly believes in and advocates.
