Empires, by definition, begin their decline at their peak.  Today Amazon bestrides the publishing world like Caesar, and it may seem far-fetched to think of this company slipping from its dominant position.  There is some doubt, however, that Amazon can continue to augment its control over so many facets of the industry.  Although there may [...]

In a publishing listserv discussion, triggered by the planned shutdown of Washington Post’s BookWorld, I contributed to a discussion about how the franchise in The New York Times Sunday Book Review (TBR) could be preserved. One suggestion was that the section be spun out of the paper as a separate business which, it was hoped, [...]

 Random House has announced that it will be creating a Web site to market selected titles as print on demand. This has come under criticism in a number of quarters, not because POD is not fully appreciated but because of the truism that no trade publisher has a brand that means anything to a consumer. [...]

Recently, I went looking for do-it-yourself small wind power kits — I’ve got a farm in Nova Scotia wind country — and wandered into energy4earth-land. I wandered in this labarynthine wonderland for about 45 minutes, watching how saturation Web marketing works. The product “energy4earth” sells is a $40 book that purports to teach you all [...]

This is an announcement. I am currently working with the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education on a project to research the marketing of university press books. The project is supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The aim is to determine what university presses can do to enhance their marketing and [...]

     Digital media present intriguing growth opportunities for book publishers, but in some instances digital media may interfere with certain market channels. Developing digital marketing strategies requires a great deal of thought. It is important to resist the temptation of “digital millennialism” and assume that “If it’s digital, it must be good.” If not managed [...]

     The Kindle is a watershed event in electronic publishing.  It is not the first ebook device, and it may not ultimately be the one that will prevail (it could of course be one of several). But its appearance marks the point where ebooks move from theory to actuality.  Whether the leading device is the [...]