Happy Summer! I hope you had a nice Fourth of July weekend.
For the last couple of weeks, we've watched the dramas unfolding from the Supreme Court and been anticipating the verdict from the U.S. District Court on the Apple / DOJ antitrust case. If you haven't read it, I recommend The Battle of $9.99: How Apple, Amazon and the 'Big Six' Publishers Changed the E-Book Business Overnight (Publishers Weekly) by PW senior writer Andrew Albanese.
The Atlantic said it provided “a thorough narrative of the background to the case.” Teleread wrote: “A well-written in-depth explanation of exactly how and why the whole $9.99 pricing fuss got started, why the publishers hated it so, and what they tried to do about it.” Salon's Laura Miller reviewed it in “Everything You Need to Know About the Great E-Book Price War."
I had the pleasure of attending the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) in St. Louis last month, and the show, which was packed, was buzzing with optimism about the wealth of spiritual and religious books forthcoming. The Author Avenue book signings and meet-and-greets, as well as awards ceremonies from the American Christian Fiction Writers, Christian Authors Network and American Writers and Speakers Association, among others, kept us all busy!
My team was out and about in Chicago at the American Library Association (ALA) annual show. According to the ALA, attendance was up, to 26,362, including 15,918 attendees and 6,125 exhibitors.
Good news from the survey Publishers Weekly conducted at ALA: 83.8% of library buyers agree that Publishers Weekly influences their purchasing decisions, ahead of Library Journal, Booklist and others.
Yet another reason to make sure PW is on your planning schedule, particularly as we head into fall and the holiday buying season.
If it's Holidays in July for you, as I imagine it is, I'll direct your attention to two forthcoming deadlines you'll want to mark on your calendars:
• Christmas and Hanukkah Books - issue date September 16; reservation deadline September 2
• Illustrated Gift Books - issue date October 28; reservation deadline October 14
Lastly, I've been honored by Pace University to be named the David Pecker Visiting Professor for the academic year 2013-2014. Beginning in September, in addition to continuing my work at PW, I'll be giving talks at Pace, working with students and participating in corporate training sessions for Pace University Chinese executives and visitors. Previous David Pecker professors were Michael Healy and Arthur A. Levine.
Till next time, I'm signing off for July, enjoying my own summer reading of The Harbinger (Charisma Press), a 2012 book by Jonathan Cahn.
Cevin
Publisher
+1-212-377-5503
P.S. I’d like to hear your comments and ideas about how we can work together and tap into the PW community. Contact me. Let’s have a conversation.
