Publishers’ Forum 2015: Find videos on key notes and debates and download presentations

The Publishers’ Forum in Berlin in April 2015 has brought together over 260 book professionals from Germany, the United Kingdom, the US, Sweden, Poland, Italy  and a few more places, to debating “How to reconstruct publishing“.

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It was a lively two days, with topics ranging from finance – “Strategy & Money” –  to cross media – “Publishing goes Pop” as illustrated in the picture featuring, from left to right, Michael Bhaskar (Canelo) , Lance Fensertman (ReedPop), Nathan Hull (Mofibo) and Andy Gall (Red Bull Media House).

 

A fair number of the sessions are available on video online, as are many of the presentations.

 

Media saw “a bold setup” in the conference  (The Bookseller) as well as clear signals of optimism (“Am Ende der Angststarre”, in buchreport).

 

But as of now, preparations have already began for Publishers’ Forum 2016, which will be held on April 28 & 29. Save the date, and stay tuned at www.publishers-forum.com and on twitter at @PublishersForum !

Three reasons the Publishers’ Forum in Berlin is relevant to you

The Publishers’ Forum (April 27 and 28, 2015 in Berlin) analyzes and discusses the transformations in the German book market in an international context and from a variety of different perspectives. Three reasons why this is relevant for you:

Reason 1: financing – what options are available to independent publishers?

First off, the subject of publishers’ objectives and their finance strategies. A glance at the global book publisher rankings makes one thing clear: the biggest publishers obtain their financing via the stock exchange or via bond issues (traded on a regulated market). But what other options are available to classical publishing houses (family-run businesses) that wish to remain independent? Management consultant and investor, Aljoscha Walser (GER), poses this question in his presentation on the theme “Money and Strategy” at the beginning of the conference.

Reason 2: e-books for people who simply cannot buy traditional books

Or, secondly, “the potential of e-books”. Certainly, scrutiny of their modest growth in many areas is important as a barometer for the development of the market in Germany, but it takes an organization like Worldreader (www.worldreader.org) to reveal the truescope of the potential of e-books.

15,000 titles on mobile phones for 180,000 people

Launched five years ago, Worldreader is already active in more than 50 (developing) countries and provides mobile access to a catalog of more than 15,000 titles to more than 180,000 people who would otherwise have little or no access to books and thus to knowledge and learning.

Rights acquisition: a fine balance between asking for donations and supporting local publishers

In Berlin, Colin McElwee (UK), one of the three founders of Worldreader, will tell us which advanced technologies made the initiative possible in the first place and what priorities their rights acquisition policy sets. Special attention is given to the acquisition of books from local publishers in the target countries, while major publishing groups are encouraged to donate the use of their digital titles.

Reason 3: how investing in IT helps learning more about the user

In our third example, the challenges facing a non-profit organization like Worldreader overlap with the practical guidance of IT professional for the traditional publishing industry. For example, Matt Turner, CTO of MarkLogic (USA), whose motto is “Putting Content and Context into Action”. Matt will discuss options that facilitate personalized solutions for individual users and target groups.

Or Steve Odart, founder of IXXUS (UK), who demonstrates how these adjustments have to be reflected in the organization of the entire company.

What to think next: the solutions of today as the challenges of tomorrow

And, last but not least, a recapitulatory and forward-looking discussion chaired by the proven navigator Brian O’Leary of Magellan Media Partners (USA), under the title “What to think next?”. All the theories and findings of the previous two days will be probed to see whether they are sound or where new questions arise.

Tailored to your needs: from presentations to discussions and hands-on workshops

The conference agenda is structured such that the main themes are introduced in keynotes and presentations before we delve deeper during podium discussions. The practical aspects of implementing the ideas presented are then covered in the numerous workshops. This ensures that big ideas don’t just evaporate right away and can instead be refined for application to the specific business environment in a group discussion.
Check out the agenda in detail, and register online!

Publishers Forum 2015 – join us with leading minds and practitioners of the book business on April 27&28 in Berlin

A long list of outstanding speakers has been announced for the Publishers’ Forum which is to open in Berlin in just two months.

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The ambition is to combine strategic outlooks for an industry in full transformation, with hands-on practical advice in key challenges ranging from investment strategies, to strategic IT decisions, to how publishing houses can integrate a new Direct-to-Consumer approach in marketing. But also the old practices, and working relationships, will be debated with their new opportunities, by taking a fresh look at the ties between the author and the publisher, the changing cultures of readers versus new fan audiences, or in extending book publishing into new formats, and more complex value chains.

Confirmed speakers include many top executives from both leading German and international houses, like Jacob Dalborg, CEO Books at Bonnier Media Group, Timo Steinberg, CEO of Edel, Birte Hackenjos, MD of professional publisher Haufe Group, Volker Smid, CIO of Holtzbrinck Group, or Lance Fensterman, Executive VP of ReedPop (and head of New York Comic Con).

Conference attendants will be introduced to many innovative ventures, including new full color on demand printing technologies (from BoschDruck/Canon, but also from BOD and CPI companies), cutting edge database services (e.g. from MarkLogic), firsthand insights on subscription (or flat rate) ebook providers (Skoobe, Mofibo), or the innovative concept of a multi media company spanning from books to TV to the web (Red Bull Media House).

More details and registration are open now.

Publishers Forum Berlin: IT Goes Center Stage. And LAST CALL for early bird rate

Announcing the next set of details on the Publishers’ Forum Berlin programm and agenda, as the Early Bird discounted reggistration closes nxt Monday (February 2, 2015).

How can large and medium-sized publishing houses adapt or upgrade their IT infrastructure to manage requirements that are rapidly increasing in complexity, and how can they finance such changes?
This is the crucial question facing management at almost every publishing house today. And the acclerating pace of innovation is exacerbating a decision making process already balancing day-to-day requirements and forward-looking strategy.

It’s a question of highly practical requirements:

Can – and should – books at trade publishers be produced right from the database? Does it make sense commercially to offer single chapters for purchase? Should the production and targeted mailing of the catalog of new publications be part of a single workflow (delivered either lavishly printed or in various electronic formats depending on customer preference)? And should it then include the dispatch of text samples and advance reading copies (printed or digital; PDF, Kindle Mobipocket or EPUB) to media outlets and booksellers, document the feedback and provide the results in a useful form to marketing and sales?

But answers to questions regarding the integration and practical use of user data are also pending. The keywords are: direct-to-consumer, social-media marketing and, still, multi-channel sales.

In most cases, the much-discussed subject of Big Data mutates for publishers into small data; into fragmented, heterogeneous data, whose analysis and the resulting knowledge are not always easy for marketing and sales to apply. Are innovative technologies such as semantic systems also interesting to small and medium-sized publishing houses?

And, at the end, fundamental, organizational decisions have to be made: where is the lead? Do previously autonomous business units have to become more centralized – “for the sake of the IT”?

The theme “IT Goes Center Stage” is bringing a slew of top speakers to the Publishers’ Forum 2015, who, in keynote presentations, compact podium debattes, and practice-focused workshops, will “roll out” a uniquely board range of experiences and “lessons learned” for application in publishing practice.

To mention just a few names in advance:

Volker Smid, CIO of the Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, Matt Turner, CTO of the database specialist MarkLogic and Steve Odart, CEO of Ixxus, a leader in the area of publishing and media integration.

Case studies on the integration of innovative IT solutions in organizations and process will be the focus of several workshops with catalytic figures who are well-known to the German-speaking publishing world, including Florian Geuppert (CEO, BoD), Beate Kuckertz (CEO, dotbooks and venusbooks), Christian Damke (CEO, Open Publishing), Heiko Beier (CEO, Moresophy), and the Akademie der deutschen Medien (German Media Academy).

Find all the details on the programm and speakers at http://publishersforum.de/speakers-2015/

Publishers’ Forum 2015: Driving the successful transformation of publishing through the right strategic decisions

Proudly announcing more and more details about Publishers’ Forum on April 27 & 28, 2015 in Berlin.

These topics and speakers have been announced earlier today:

At the end of April 2015, the Publishers’ Forum will illuminate two current, strategic challenges in publishing enterprises:

  • Which approaches to financing and which investment tools provide optimal support for innovation strategies in publishing?
  • Which specific challenges are making IT decisions play a more and more central role in all strategic processes?

Well-known speakers from leading German and international publishing companies will share insights into their decision-making practices:
The book business is growing in complexity. More and more often, publishers are delivering their content in different media and formats via an increasing array of channels – both via booksellers and direct to the consumer. In the course of this development, Edel transformed itself from a music distributor to a publically traded media company. Timo Steinberg, Edel CFO and COO, will illuminate the specific challenges that accompanied this transformation and the prospects that it opened up for the medium-sized company.

Clearly, there is a varied portfolio of investment strategies available to decision-makers, each applicable to a different undertaking: whether the plan involves organic growth on the basis of the existing company structure, securing new business segments, or acquisitions or strategic partnerships, successful business development demands carefully consideration of the options and models.

On the CEO Day of the Publishers’ Forum, speakers with a broad range of backgrounds and experience in financing strategies will offer practical orientation with analysis of the market conditions and specific case studies. Aljoscha Walser will analyze various instruments and their fields of application.

The theme “Money and Strategy” continues on Tuesday with a look at prospects in newly emerging business segments as well as in fundamental waves of innovation which are looming on the horizon. David Worlock of the UK and US-based consulting company, Outsell, highlights how the “Internet of Things” is rapidly gaining relevance for the media industry.

Afterwards, we turn to innovations and expanded business models which are already successful today. Rüdiger Schmidt will use the example of new production technologies to demonstrate how their reach can extend as far as the conception of books, through the customization of titles for title audiences for example, and how they can generate completely new product ideas. Marcello Vena reports how he equips the entire value chain to handle digital strategies for book and media groups. Revenues from rights and licenses are often neglected and underestimated areas of growth for publishers – so argues Michael Healey from the international perspective of the US-based Copyright Clearance Center. Finally, Nathan Hull uses the example of the Danish flat-rate provider Mofibo to demonstrate how much more innovation is necessary in subscription models than just the conversion of one-off book sales to recurrent revenues.

All these strategies and innovations have a central factor in common: digital technologies are the fulcrum and lever. IT decisions take center stage in almost every strategy.

Don’t miss to be a part of the exciting conversations at Publishers’ Forum (early bird rates available until February 2, 2015).

Macmillan & Springer merge: Can family owned publishing and private equity together re-invent the business of publishing ?

Two of the largest science publishing groups in the world, Macmillan and Springer Media, have announced to merge.  The resulting global player will have combined revenues of €1.5 bn, 13,000 employees – and the ambition to become the fourth biggest STM and Education publisher (after Pearson, Reed Elsevier and Wolters Kluwer).

But wait a minute, isn’t Holtzbrinck, Macmillan’s parent company, which will have the upper hand in the merger with a stake of 53 percent, a family owned business, while Springer is controlled by Private Equity?

Or, as Ewald Wagenbach, of Springer’s controling BC Partners, phrases it, “a strategic milestone in the more than 150 year history of both businesses and shows how family businesses and private equity can work together”.

It will be more than just interesting for science publishers and for scientists, whose papers are published by the new powerhouse, how the 19th century of learned societies, the 20th century of academic publishing, and the 21st century of publishing in global networks of content production and distribution will find common ground, and a joint perspective!

We will look at it more closely in this year’s update of the Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry (for release in June)! Stay tuned.

Enough is enough! Being Charlie Hebdo: Arab (Muslim) publishers included.

Totally shocked, and frozen, by the news of the murder at Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, I feel a little solace in these two quotes, reported by the International Publishers Association, from two relevant professional organizations in the Arab world:

¨Assem Shalaby, President of the Arab Publishers Association condemned “this ‎vicious attack that contravenes the principles of Islam and the message of its prophet.”

And:

“This is a horrible crime committed against humanity, freedom of expression, Islam and Muslims” said Ibrahim El Moallem, Chairman of Dar El Shorouk, the largest Arab book publisher. “It is an attack against civilization.” 

We must all (!) cry out: Enough is enough.

Publishers’ Forum to announce first list of speakers for 2015.

A first announcement of speakers to the Publishers’ Forum on April 27 & 28, 2015 introduces a mix of senior international and German publishing executives, a literary agent, and an award winning author, as well as expert voices for discussing new audiences to the book business.

Featured names include Jacob Dalborg, CEO of Bonnier Books, Lance Fensterman, Senior executive VP of ReedPOP and head of New York Comic Con, Nathan Hull, formerly Penguin, and now with Danish Mofibo, Michael Bhaskar of Profile Books, UK,  Wolfgang Ferchl, publisher at Knaus (Random House Germany), literary agent Karin  Graf (Graf & Graf), Jo Lendle, publisher at Hanser, and author and winner of the Ingeborg Bachmann Preis, Kathrin Passig.

Find out more at www.publishers-forum.com

How high ebook prices challenge ebook growth. The New York Times confronts PWC’s overoptimistic predictions with our pricing analysis

In its new “Global entertainment and media outlook 2014 – 2018“, PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) predicts ebook growth patterns not only for the US (expeciting digital to outgrow print by 2017), but also for a number of European markets. Strangely, France, of all countries, is expected to produce a significant upward curve in ebook sales, similar to Spain, while Germany would lag behind even Italy. Some observers simply likened such predictions to the proverbial tea leaf reading.

The New York Times opted for a more in depth approach to the matter, and compared the PWC Outlook to our analysis of ebook pricing strategies across a half dozen major European ebook markets in the last update to the Global eBook report – and I felt pretty confident, looking at the juxtaposition, that our data analysis is probably a better measure for assessing the growth dynamics, or the limitations of such, in the evolution of key ebook markets. But check out the chart yourself, and make up your mind.

 

Global eBook Fall 2014 Update: Fresh market data, new insights on ebook pricing, the Amazon debate, and overview on subscription platforms.

The Global eBook report has released a new Fall 2014 update, based on data and trends until September 2014, including

  • The most recent data and debate summaries on ebooks in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Denmark;
  • Comparative tables and charts on ebook market shares in selected international markets, and the Big Five publishing groups;
  • Tracking of highly diverse ebook pricing strategies European main markets;
  • A referenced summary of the Amazon (versus publishers and various author groups), with direct links to key documents;
  • An overview on leading subscription (or flat fee) ebook platforms in the US, Germany, Spain, and Russia, including key data on each initiative.

We will highlight highlights on the most recent findings here in the weeks ahead.

For the full report, look up *Wischenbart* in your favorite ebook platform, and make sure that the blue cover and title details say ¨Fall 2014¨.

Or go to http://www.global-ebook.com for selected direct links.

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