Innovate, innovate, innovate

The news from the book industry appears to get worse with every passing week. Let's leave that aside for a moment, if we can, and see how some are coping and read some of the good news for a change, without talking about shopping malls across the US that have become community centres and libraries. Three trends appear to be emerging. They are: innovate, innovate and innovate.

A Publisher's Weekly story recently was about David L. Ulin, book editor of the Los Angeles Times who joined the Los Angeles Times in October 2005. Unfortunately,  the stand-alone book review section, The Sunday Book Review, died six months ago due to the shrinking newspaper business and falling ad revenues. But Ulin took the challenge upon himself and created the Times' online book presence.

"When I came on board, all we did was to load whatever was in the paper about books to the Web site. No one was tending it," Ulin says. "When the stand-alone was threatened, our online presence became a priority." He then decided to feature Web-only material, beginning with a blog. "We had no idea what we were doing, but tried to figure it out as we went along." A year ago, Ulin brought in Carolyn Kellogg as the dedicated blogger; she has helped him understand what he refers to as "the emerging style of blogging about books," a more immediate, conversational approach.

In addition to the Jacket Copy blog, David Ulin also has five online columnists writing about paperbacks, mysteries, sci-fi, children's and mythology. In March, Ulin will debut an online-only weekly essay by writers on writing. Contributors will include both new and established authors covering a wide range of voices and aesthetics. "While the book industry seems to be focused on contracting, we're expanding online. We think of book coverage in the paper in a complex mix of ways," says Ulin.

"I'm committed to both print and Web. There are two readerships, and I'm not sure they're the same. My main interest is, how do we get the most book coverage to the most people?" Ideally, Ulin would welcome a return to the stand-alone book review. "But we don't have one now, and we're not going to have one," he says. "One of the things that worries me about the book culture is the notion that all change is bad."

In another posting, Hugh Mcquire of The Huffington Post asks: "How can publishing maintain its financial viability when fewer people are reading books? Especially when everyone wants everything for free?" He says, "I recently attended O'Reilly's Tools for Change in Publishing conference, a yearly gathering of publishers, technology providers, developers, thinkers, visionaries. The TOC conference is built around technology, with an objective to help 'decipher the tools of change in this industry and help cut through the hype for a more profitable future in publishing.' In 2009 the focus was decidedly philosophical, not technological: what is the future of the book, and how might publishers build successful business models around the coming changes?"

And then he notes: "Still, one thing that worried and puzzled me was how rarely the reader was mentioned at TOC. There was talk of the future of the book, the network, Google, and self-publishing models. And of course DRM. But the reader was largely absent."

"One of the problems for publishers is that they have never had much to do with their readers. Their clients, traditionally, have been book stores, who in turn managed the relationships with readers."

"The question every publisher should be asking themselves every day is: how can we provide more value to our readers? I suspect the ones that start each day with that question will find the right answers. At least, I think they'll be asking the right questions."

Another story in Publisher's Weekly is about Thomas Nelson who has announced the launch of NelsonFree, a program that allows readers to receive content in multiple formats -- physical book, audiobook and e-book -- without making multiple purchases. With NelsonFree, the price of the hardcover book includes both the audio download and the e-book. The first two NelsonFree titles, including Michael Franzese’s I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse, will go on sale later this month. Another 10 Nelson titles will be available in the format before the end of the year.

Joel Miller, vp and publisher, said Nelson currently has plans to release a dozen format-free books in this and related categories, and will monitor consumer response to determine whether or not it adds more titles. He also said Nelson will not raise the price of hardcovers in the NelsonFree program.

Nelson president and CEO Michael S. Hyatt said, "I believe that the industry is shifting and we, as publishers, need to explore new methods of getting our content into the hands of customers," said. "NelsonFree will give readers a new level of value and flexibility. It will enhance their literary experience and allow greater employment of the content without breaking the bank."

And then finally, Amazon unveils a Kindle app for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch that displays books in color. So, one does not have to spend US$359 on a Kindle electronic book reader from Amazon.com if one owns an iPhone or iPod touch (as a new application will let you access the same content on your Apple device).

"The program, which can be downloaded from Apple's online application store, lets iPhone and iPod touch users read the same electronic books, magazines and newspapers that Kindle owners can buy on Amazon.com. As with the Kindle, the iPhone app lets users change the text size on the screen, and add bookmarks, notes and highlights ... The application does not connect to the Kindle store, however, so users must access the Web browser on their iPhone, iPod or computer to buy the content."

So, has Amazon.com finally seen the light? (With an iPhone installed base of well over 10 million the light couldn't get more glaring.)

The central premise of all business is: stick to what you know, and what you are good at. Leave the manufacturing of pencils to those who do that well.