Are Barnes & Noble founder Len Riggio and his nemesis Ron Burkle the only people in America who still want to own a mega-bookstore?

In mid-June, six weeks before he put his company and his legacy on the block, Leonard Riggio was sitting on the top floor of Barnes & Noble’s Flatiron headquarters, facing down the relentless forces of obsolescence. “I still like books,” he said, though it didn’t really need saying. All around him, in a conference room that evoked an elegant old library, were shelves lined with hardbound classics. Books had made Riggio a fortune. For decades, he had been delivering them to consumers at monumental scale in his ubiquitous superstores, a strategy that won him more fear than love in the world of publishing but made him arguably its most powerful player. Books had been very good to him, and now they were dissolving into the ether.

The founder, chairman, and guiding spirit of the company that calls itself the “world’s largest bookseller” is a slight, mustachioed 69-year-old with a Napoleonic temperament. But when he talks about books he fills with sentimentality. Riggio wanted to say something, but he couldn’t quite find the words, so he burst out of his chair and charged over to one wall. “I don’t know how you can intellectualize this,” he said, “but a book is …” To continue his thought, he pulled down a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, shook it, felt its substance. “This bound volume of Dumas is content. We have to understand people want to own this content. They want this. It’s very important.”

Riggio was trying to say that, whatever becomes of books as physical objects in this new age of digital distribution, he is certain people will still pay for the pleasure of reading. Assuming he’s right, the more pertinent question is whether they will be spending their money at a Barnes & Noble. Sales numbers are down, and the company is valued at a third of what it was worth four years ago. If it is to avoid the fates of Tower Records and Blockbuster, it will have to figure out how to compete in a world where prices are falling and nimble competitors like Amazon and Apple are offering in actuality what the superstore bookseller used to promise only figuratively: immediate, cheap, and limitless selection.

All About the Editorial Freelancers Association

The Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) is a national not-for-profit —501(c)6— organization, headquartered in New York City, run almost entirely by volunteers.

Its members, experienced in a wide range of professional skills, live and work in forty-five of the United States and in Canada, England, France, India, Ireland, Israel, and Japan.

Read more about the benefits that EFA membership affords in the membership benefits summary or more in depth topic by topic through the various section menus across their site.

Managing Editor position

Managing Editor – contact donnan@Lpalmer.com – Location – Las Vegas, NV on-site only

The managing editor will oversee and manage the scheduling and business aspects of the Editorial department including the management of contract and freelance writers.

Interested candidates should possess the following:

• Bachelor's Degree in English, Creative Writing, Journalism, or Communications or related field
• Minimum 3 years managing editor experience related to book publishing
• Must be highly organized and able to multi-task
• Must be very computer literate and web knowledgeable
• Work experience and familiarity with psychology, counseling, or other behavioral healthcare/medical experience will be helpful.
• Knowledge of publishing design and manufacturing processes, especially digital
• Knowledge of design and manufacturing vendors

Competitive salary and benefits provided. Relocation available.  Strict drug-free environment. EOE.

Marketing Manager

Reports to: SVP Marketing 
Location: Company HQ, New York, NY

Tutor.com is a great place for talented, hands-on people who have a passion for education, and like to get things done. We’re a privately held company with venture capital backing. We’re the world leader in live, online tutoring—our tutors have served over five million students. Right now, we’re focused on growing. We have some huge opportunities, and we need a great marketer who can work hard, work smart, and keep multiple projects on track at the same time. If this sounds like a fun and rewarding challenge, we’d like to hear from you.

Overview: Seeking an experienced, hands-on, business-to-business marketer to focus on K-12 school and public library customers. The Marketing Manager is responsible for developing and executing marketing campaigns and creating collateral materials to support our field sales team.

Position Responsibilities:

• Manage the execution of all marketing programs including advertising, direct mail, email, trade shows, and conferences for the library and K-12 school markets.
• Create effective brochures, specification sheets and other collateral materials to inform the market about the benefits of our products and services.
• Develop highly impactful presentations to support critical sales meetings.
• Continuously refine our product and company messaging
• Collaborate with various marketing and account management functions including public/press relations, social media, and client services to create marketing programs and support materials for our existing clients
• Conduct formal and informal market research, in addition to managing existing advisory panels

Position Requirements:

• Successful track record of creating and executing marketing programs within a budget.
• 5 to 7 years of overall marketing experience with at least 2 years of relevant K-12 or library market experience.
• Excellent copywriting and communications skills.
• Strong organizational and project management skills.
• Experience with community-based programs and tactics is a strong plus.
• Bachelors Degree in Marketing, Business, Education or a related field is required.

Benefits:

• Health/Dental/Vision/Life insurance
• Disability (short and long term) options
• Paid PTO time for holidays, personal days, sick days
• Unlimited free online tutoring for family
• Stock options
• Opportunity for personal and professional growth, advancement, and leadership within an innovative but stable growing company

Please email a letter of interest and resume to Jill Musguire, Director of Marketing, at jmusguire@tutor.com with B2B Marketing Manager in the subject line.

Publishing News: July 15, 2010

It has been far too long since I have updated this blog, and for that I feel like I deserve some kind of publishing-related punishment. Death by paper cuts, perhaps.

I've decided, therefore, to keep my posts short and sweet, and focus on news items related to our wonderful, beleaguered profession.

Japanese Novelist Skips the Middleman, Publishes on the iPad (WSJ.com)

"Novelist Ryu Murakami plans to release his latest novel exclusively for digital bookworms throughApple Inc.’s iPad ahead of the print version. Mr. Murakami, the acclaimed author of over 15 novels including “Coin Locker Babies” and “In the Miso Soup”, replaced the publishers with a software company to help develop the e-book titled “A Singing Whale,” or “Utau Kujira” in Japanese. The digital package will include video content and set to music composed by Academy Award winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, according to the Japanese business daily Nikkei."

Publishers are obviously still needed if quality is going to be maintained, but they've got to adapt their offerings to address this new 3-dimensional platform or risk being marginalized.

How to Survive as a Small Publisher . . . Get a second mortgage?

The Guardian goes behind the press to look at the success of Dedalus Books. They scored their initial funding from a house mortgage, yet they've "grown into an award-winning force to be reckoned with," says the Guardian.

Hmmm . . . using a home mortgage to launch a publishing house. Success or no, this is not a start-up methodology that I'll be adopting any time soon.

The E-Reader vs. The Book: Aren't They on the Same Team?

by guest blogger, Jennifer Dawson

That was the topic of conversation at the June meeting of the New York University Publishing Alumni Association. For most in attendance, the answer to the aforementioned question was yes. While the majority did not own an e-reader and admitted that they had no desire to run right out and purchase one, the role e-readers will play in the future of the publishing industry is quite clear: e-readers are the future and stand to make it a positive one. 

Some pointed out the e-reader's potential to overhaul an outdated print model drowning in seller returns and a glut of unused and wasted product. What the e-book means for the bookseller, particularly the independent bookseller, remains to be seen. But it wasn't that long ago that vinyl was projected to go the way of the dinosaurs and yet the vinyl record is currently enjoying a renaissance with independent record stores, the hip place to purchase both new and classic vinyl. There's no reason to believe the book and independent booksellers won't fare just as well. 

While the die-hard bibliophiles in the group were not completely sold on the e-reader, all agreed that whether in bound book or electronic form, content and the quality and production of that content is what our industry is all about.

Besides mulling the future of publishing in the digital age, there was plenty of networking and industry advice in the conversation, two things very important to those still riding out the great recession and the cutbacks and layoffs it brought. 

The next meetup is scheduled for August 24.

 

Rolling Stone: Times Are A-Changin'

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Rolling Stone offices as a part of NYU's class on editorial management. We passed Jann Wenner himself in the lobby, and then bumped into Peter Traverse at the elevator door. Beyond the star sightings, the highlight of the tour – which included a brief peek at Wenner Media's US Weekly and Men's Journal – was a trip down Rolling Stone's hall of covers (above). This highly-trafficked hallway (it led to two restrooms) chronicled every RS cover since John Lennon graced the front in 1967. The cover treatment has ranged wildly, from illustrations to glossy, staged band shots, but Yann and the gang have kept pretty true to form for an impressive length of time.

Speaking of Yann, touring Rolling Stone brings up an interesting quandary for publishers. When it comes to the owner and publisher of a magazine interacting with an editorial staff, how close it too close? From what we heard, Mr. Wenner has influence on nearly every page that gets approved in Rolling Stone. He also dictates what employees can, and can't, have on their desks. On the positive side, a strong hand is good because no one knows better than the founder how to stay connected to the magazine's roots. He was the only one there in '67 and so he has a unique perspective on the product's evolution.

On the other hand, everyone in our publishing class commented on the uniform (code for dull) design of recent issues of Rolling Stone. This is in stark contrast to the beautifully inventive typography of the old Rolling Stone. I couldn't help but feel like 'times they are a-changin' at Wenner Media and maybe the titan needs to loosen his grip a little or risk losing quality. Perhaps if the reins were loosened a little – heaven forbid there actually be a little rock music playing in the RS offices – editors and designers could rekindle that old sensibility. They might even have a little fun.