PW: Audio News

APAC Looks To the Future
More than 300 attendees discuss technology, copyrights,
Web security at the APA's biggest conference
Attendance for this year's Audio Publishers Association Conference was far higher than ever before, with 200 pre-registered attendees and more than 100 walk-in registrations. As a result, the meeting rooms were overflowing and many seminars were standing room only. The one-day conference was held during BEA June 1 at the Chicago Downtown Marriott.

The theme of growth continued with Audio Publishers Association president Paul Rush's well-received opening speech. Rush presented well-defined goals for the organization and showed how those goals are being met in a variety of new programs. Among his points:

• The APA recently worked with Global Integrity, a firm that assesses Web site security, to develop tools to evaluate audio Web sites.

• The APA is mentoring the new Audiobook Association of Germany, and has received two law interns who are working with the APA on legal matters pertaining to audio.

• The organization is working with the International Recording Media Association to educate automobile manufacturers about the audio industry and to encourage them to manufacture new cars with cassette players.

• The recent Audio Job Market (Audio, June 5) was a success, raising $30,000 for the association and helping narrators, abridgers and editors network with publishers.

Rush also noted that the APA is taking steps to gather more reliable statistics on the audio industry; to increase APA membership by 20%; to continue building the Audie Awards (there were more entries this year than ever before); to continue to explore Internet, digital and other technological opportunities for audio; to increase the APA's marketing and publicity efforts; and to improve the organization's financial status. After APAC, several APA members told PW that Rush is the best president the organization has ever had. Rush joined the 14-year-old organization as its treasurer in 1996 and became v-p in 1998 before taking over the presidency last year.

The APAC seminars presented a good balance between the present and the future. Technology was still the buzzword of the day, with a panel called "Futopia" presenting innovations in wireless technology and digital speech, and an entertaining panel called "Inspect a Gadget" showcasing all the new and upcoming portable devices for listening to downloaded audio.

In a nuts-and-bolts panel called "Audio Publishing 201," Jim Brannigan, president of Jim Brannigan & Associates, offered mid-sized publishers concrete tips and formulas for managing cash flow. Among his recommendations: the ratio of paid royalties to unearned advances should be 4:1; a company's sales should be 60% backlist, 40% frontlist; in-house costs should be no more than 30% of sales; distribution costs should be no more than 25% of sales. Other panels discussed copyright issues and alternative (nonretail) sales.

Some attendees found the emphasis on futuristic technology a bit overwhelming. Others complained that with the influx of last-minute attendees, the meeting rooms were too crowded for comfort.

But overall, most attendees seemed pleased by the conference.

"I especially liked the 'Gadget' panel," said Chris McNamara of BDD Audio. "The technology is getting smaller and more portable every day. We need to exploit it, get the content to the people, whether by CD or download."

"I thought APAC was fantastic," summed up Maja Thomas of Time Warner AudioBooks. "Right now is the most exciting moment in audio. You can see people wanting audio on demand. It's a new frontier. I'm usually jaded about these events; it was great to have a sense of 'Wow, this is something I didn't know.'"

When Doves Fly
Viner Launches New Millennium

Viner and wife Raffin are co-presidents.

Michael Viner, formerly of Dove Audio, has started a new audio company, New Millennium Entertainment. Viner and his wife, actress Deborah Raffin, are co-presidents of the company, and Paul McLaughlin is chairman and CEO. McLaughlin was formerly senior v-p and CFO of Time Inc. Books, and prior to that was CFO of Little, Brown and Co.
Having obtained the rights to 300 Dove titles in a settlement with NewStar Media, current owner of the Dove imprint (News, April 17), Viner plans to do "pretty much what we did at Dove, but on a much smaller scale," he said. "New Millennium will produce multiple media, from film to books to audiobooks." The first new audiobook title is J Eszterhas's American Rhapsody, due out on audio July 18. The audio will released in three formats: abridged cassette, abridged CD and what Viner calls "unabridged and more"--a 12-cassette unabridged version featuring additional chapters written after the book was finished. The extra chapters will be available only on audio. The audio will be read by a full cast, including Raffin, Bill Maher, Melissa Gilbert, Arte Johnson and Will Sasso. Other upcoming audio titles include Mark Twain's Letter from the Earth, read by Carl Reiner; Lisa Kron's Obie-winning one-woman show, The 2.5-Minute Ride; and The Worst of NPR, the collected works of M Moskowitz, comic alter ego of Robert Kaplow. New Millennium will also re-release the entire Dove backlist, and will continue the series of literary classics on audio that Dove started.

Viner did not elaborate on his troubles at Dove, from which he was ousted by the board of directors, other than to say, "there was just a difference between the company and us in terms of direction. We thought some changes were necessary, but the new management didn't think so. They didn't have a background in the book and audio industry, yet they were calling the shots. It's hard to model the audio industry from another discipline; it's a unique industry. But [John Hunt], the person who heads [NewStar] now, is a really good guy. We think the world of him. He's not gotten a fair shake." His goal at New Millennium, he said, is "to be the most innovative company with the highest quality, and to do things that are not only commercial but that we love and believe in."

The Audie Awards, held in Chicago's Field Museum, allowed audiophiles to share space with Sue. (l. to r.) Christine McNamara, Random House Audio; Audie winner Philip Pullman; Tim Ditlow, Random House/ Listening Library

Audio Bits

Cutting Rich Launched | Earful Buys Majority of Audiobookcafe
RioPort Deals with Publishing Mills, SoundWorks | Schackert Launches Fluid Words

Cutting Rich Launched
Audiobook production company The Cutting Corporation, Bethesda, Md., has launched Cutting Rich Media (www.cuttingrichmedia.com), a service that integrates streaming, downloading, content conversion audio e-mail and Web design.

Earful Buys Majority of Audiobookcafe
Earful of Books Inc. has purchased 90% of Audiobookcafe, the online magazine/retail audio Web site. Earful president Paul Rush will join the board of Pearlman & Baine Media, the parent company of Audiobookcafe. "We are excited about this because Paul Rush is a visionary in the spoken-word arena," said Mark Baer, co-founder of Pearlman & Baine. "Also, being part of a bricks-and-mortar operation means we can give much better service to our online audiobook buyers, including rental." Baer will stay on as editor of the site. Upcoming plans include a calendar of events for the site's chat room, live author interviews and downloadable audio. In addition, Publishing Mills' president, Jessica Kaye, will become a partner in Pearlman & Baine Media. Other upcoming Pearlman & Baine projects include a new Web site, Bookcoverart.com, which will link to Audiobookcafe, and Big Ant Internet, a service that will produce direct-to-digital audio content.

RioPort Deals with Publishing Mills, SoundWorks
RioPort Inc. has made deals that will enable selected promotional titles from The Publishing Mills and SoundWorks' SpeechWorks imprint to be downloaded via RioPort's network of member Internet sites. Among the Publishing Mills titles included in the deal are The Chieftains: The Authorized Biography, Crank Calls, Instant Zen, Misadventures in the (213), The Seekers, The Path of Daggers, George Burns: 100 Years, 100 Stories and The Ice Opinion. The Soundworks deal includes selected audio tracks from the SpeechWorks line of famous speeches and exclusive interviews.

Schackert Launches Fluid Words

That's Mr. Ford to you

Geoff Schackert, v-p of The Publishing Mills, has launched his own independent audio company, Fluid Words. The new company will concentrate on gay, lesbian and alternative titles, targeting the 18- 35 age group. The first Fluid Words release, Michael Thomas Ford's My Queer Life, will appear in September; it's a collection of humorous short stories taken from two previously released books, Alec Baldwin D sn't Love Me and That's Mr. Faggot to You (Alyson). The release will coincide with the two-time Lambda Book Award winner's third title, It's Not Mean if It's True. Schackert plans to release a second title during the holiday season.

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