how book publishing is changing: perspectives of a small publisher steven piersanti president and...
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How Book Publishing Is Changing: Perspectives of a Small Publisher
STEVEN PIERSANTIPRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER
BERRETT-KOEHLER PUBLISHERS, INC.
Sources of My Perspectives
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
•32 years experience in book publishing
•1977 – 1991: Jossey-Bass Publishers (promotional copywriter, marketing director, editor, editorial director, executive vice president, president)
•1992 – 2009: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (founder, president and publisher)
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Mission: Creating a World That Works for All
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
BK Currents: societal change
BK Business: organizational change
BK Life: individual change
Trade, Professional, and Textbook
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
Publish 30 to 40 new books & new editions per year
Approx. ¾ perfect bound, ¼ case bound
Nearly all one-color, a few two-color and four-color
First printings: POD to 50,000 copies
Reprints: POD to 20,000 copies
Presentation Topics
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing The Digital Publishing Revolution The Growth of Print on Demand Opportunities for Book Manufacturers
The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
#1: The number of new books being publishing in the U.S. has exploded.
560,626 in 2008 (more than doubled in 5 years)
The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
#2: Book industry sales are declining, despite the explosion of new books.
13.5% decline from 2003 to 2008 adjusted for inflation
The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
#3: Average book sales are shockingly small, and falling fast.
Average U.S. book now sells less than 250 copies/year and 3,000 copies/lifetime.
The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
#4: A book has less than a 1% chance of being stocked in an average bookstore.
There are 100 to 1,000 or more titles competing for each shelf space.
The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
#5: It is getting harder and harder every year to sell books.
The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
#6: Most books today are selling only to the authors’ and publishers’ communities.
The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
#7: Most book marketing today is done by authors, not by publishers.
The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
#8: No other industry has so many new product introductions.
The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
#9: The digital revolution is expanding the number of products and sales channels but not increasing book sales.
The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
#10: The book publishing world is in a never-ending state of turmoil.
The Digital Publishing Revolution
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
The Digital Publishing Revolution
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
Digital = 5% of BK revenues and growing rapidly
The Digital Publishing RevolutionBK’s view of the marketplace:
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
Digital is growing rapidly.
Print is not going away.
Technologies exist side-by-side (radio, movies, TV, internet).
Digital is taking market share from print rather than increasing overall book sales.
The Rise of Print on Demand
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
Some publishers have switched entirely to POD.
BK uses POD to keep slow-selling books in print.
BK uses POD to print digital-primary books and other special publications.
BK is considering switching to POD after first printings for many books.
The Rise of Print on Demand
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
BK has 28 POD titles with Lightening Source.
BK has 16 digital short-run titles with Malloy, Hamilton, Webcom, Ltd, and Odyssey Press
These numbers are growing rapidly.
A BK case study:
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
From book concept to printed book in 7 weeks and 2 days.
Espresso Book Machine
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
Game changer?
A small publisher’s needs = opportunities for book manufacturers
HOW BOOK PUBLISHING IS CHANGINGSTEVEN PIERSANTI
Conversion of book files to EPUB and XML
Reduce printing costs at low quantities
Make it economical to switch back and forth between offset and short run
Speed: make it possible to print and reprint in 2 to 5 days when needed (with higher prices)
Support publisher’s environmental priorities