Aside from the person who logs in all incoming books for review at PW, Tina Jordan may have the best bird's-eye view of the publishing industry. The association of American Publishers' vice-president is aware of the goings-on at every house, large and small, from New York to San Francisco, and interacts daily with booksellers, librarians and publishers. Jordan, who turned 40 in August, says that “big tent approach on behalf of the book industry” is one of the reasons she loves her job—and one of the things that's most challenging about it.
Although Jordan has only been AAP v-p for three years, she's no stranger to book publishing. Most industry folk knew her well before she joined the organization, since she'd spent nine years at Reed Exhibitions, most visibly as public relations and events director of BookExpo America. “My background was an extraordinary help and, I like to think, strength that I brought [to AAP],” Jordan says. “Understanding how to navigate multiple publishers simultaneously based on their needs was something I had already learned in my previous role.” But the job at AAP is far more wide-ranging than the one at BEA. Organizing a major book fair meant dealing with publicists, media and authors—and while Jordan still works with all those people on a regular basis, she's also in touch with people in human resources, marketing and finance at publishing houses.
As v-p, Jordan handles all trade publishing activity for AAP, representing publishers, book buyers, librarians, educators and a host of other constituents. One such initiative, a series of Web casts called Book Editors Online and Unscripted, launched last week and features editors previewing selected winter '09 titles for an online audience of booksellers and media. Other projects include a Latino Voices brochure with information on new English- and Spanish-language titles from Latino authors, recommended reading lists for children and adults, and live programs where authors share new titles for a library-specific audience.
Jordan also organizes literacy programs. Her group oversees all activity for the Get Caught Reading campaign, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year; her office endorses bills in Congress that support literacy. Jordan is also in charge of AAP's statistics program. Finally, she handles AAP's “diversity, recruit and retain” committee. That group visits college campuses to talk about publishing and is also focused on recruiting a diverse workforce into the industry. This aspect of the job hits home for Jordan, since her parents were illiterate Greek immigrants. “English was not the first language in our household,” she says. “So I'm extraordinarily sensitive from a personal perspective to ensure that there is a diverse audience of professionals in the industry, for the future health of the industry—from a business perspective and an artistic and creative perspective.”
Jordan admits her purview's extensive scope can create difficulties. “Publishers' interests and agendas might differ at times, [and] establishing consensus on which projects should be pursued sometimes is a challenge,” she says. But Jordan maintains that AAP is committed to making sure every project represents all types of publishers, whatever their size and location.
Although Jordan is now “24/7 on book publishing,” her roots are in PR—at Reed, she handled publicity for events in the gaming and casino industry and the optical industry, in addition to BEA. Yet she considers herself a book person. “I still am a PR person,” she says, but working on BEA was “love at first industry sight.”
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