Thank you for putting this so clearly and comprehensibly! My current contract at Macmillan is just about to be completed and this will definitely come in to play in my future decisions.
Thanks for responding! Just one point to add: publishers are required to spend money advertising on Amazon, a percentage of the annual business they do there, because of coop policies. And in large part Amazon decides which books it wants the money spent on beyond what they charge simply to include the publisher's books in search at all. Most of their promotions, are not effective-- unlike say paying B&N for table display, which can be. It used to kill me to have to devote an already picayune marketing budget simply on what was, essentially, contractually required tribute. Anyways the advertising is a consequence of coop. You have to spend the money on something, choices are limited, and most have little or no impact on sales. (except sometimes, I heard tell, in the business book category).
Really appreciate this breakdown and your insights. When Scribe existed there was so much talk about book publishing being just one arm of a bigger media company. While obviously the leadership team were totally irresponsible -- that vision made sense to me. Interesting that's your take on this new board that's come together at S&S.
Wow! I can’t imagine what you might do if you had the time! I have to confess I’ve never heard of BookTok or Colleen Hoover, but I ate this piece UP. There is so much bad news coming from the publishing world any little bit of sunshine is welcome. A board made up of savvy people who at least have an inkling about the industry—what a concept!
You didn't mention Amazon once. Yet they have all the data they need, across a wide swathe of different media, to determine what books their customers buy, how much of them they read and what they might consider buying next. They also have the visual and audible licensing breadth, plus the tech capability to ramp up generative AI to assist authors achieve greater returns. Do you think traditional publishers can compete in that game or does only the revamped S&S have a chance in the long-term?
Thanks for keeping us in the know!!
I really appreciate this post, thank you for putting all this together and explaining the changes & what they might mean for the publishing industry.
Excellent analysis. Thank you!!!
Thank you for putting this so clearly and comprehensibly! My current contract at Macmillan is just about to be completed and this will definitely come in to play in my future decisions.
Thanks for responding! Just one point to add: publishers are required to spend money advertising on Amazon, a percentage of the annual business they do there, because of coop policies. And in large part Amazon decides which books it wants the money spent on beyond what they charge simply to include the publisher's books in search at all. Most of their promotions, are not effective-- unlike say paying B&N for table display, which can be. It used to kill me to have to devote an already picayune marketing budget simply on what was, essentially, contractually required tribute. Anyways the advertising is a consequence of coop. You have to spend the money on something, choices are limited, and most have little or no impact on sales. (except sometimes, I heard tell, in the business book category).
Helpful! I'm very curious to see how this unfolds. Please post again when you find out!
Really appreciate this breakdown and your insights. When Scribe existed there was so much talk about book publishing being just one arm of a bigger media company. While obviously the leadership team were totally irresponsible -- that vision made sense to me. Interesting that's your take on this new board that's come together at S&S.
Great insights.
Wow! I can’t imagine what you might do if you had the time! I have to confess I’ve never heard of BookTok or Colleen Hoover, but I ate this piece UP. There is so much bad news coming from the publishing world any little bit of sunshine is welcome. A board made up of savvy people who at least have an inkling about the industry—what a concept!
I know S&S is announcing a new imprint soon...
Wow, the final line in the WSJ piece. Sums it all up, doesn’t it?
thanks for the kind mention! 🙏🏼
You didn't mention Amazon once. Yet they have all the data they need, across a wide swathe of different media, to determine what books their customers buy, how much of them they read and what they might consider buying next. They also have the visual and audible licensing breadth, plus the tech capability to ramp up generative AI to assist authors achieve greater returns. Do you think traditional publishers can compete in that game or does only the revamped S&S have a chance in the long-term?