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US Postal NewsPostal Unions urge Obama to fix USPS pension overfunding...............................................................2Imagitas signs 10-year contract with USPS..........................................................................................3Book/Directory Industry NewsExperts probe for answers on “Future of Book Publishing” ...................................................................4Scorecards: USA Today’s e-book ........................................................................................................7Scholastic launches bestsellers list ....................................................................................................10Digital publisher Vook closes in financing……………………………………………………………………..11Xeikon 8000 press expands book printing capabilities........................................................................12E-books: December stronger, though still impacted………………………………………………………….13Catalog/Retail Industry NewsWalgreens names CCEO, promotes three executives........................................................................14November U.S.commercial printing shipments up..............................................................................15Retailers name store expansion as top priority for 2011 .....................................................................15Direct Marketing Industry NewsReport: Direct Mail spending to grow 5.8% ........................................................................................16Magazine Industry NewsApple to launch iPad subscription model?..........................................................................................17People StyleWatch expands to 11 issues for 2011.............................................................................17Surge in auto advertising helps drive ad page gains ..........................................................................18Hearst and Lagardére prepare £600m deal for Hachette....................................................................19Source Interlink expands into women’s market ..................................................................................20Social Magazines: What’s their business model? ..............................................................................21Commercial/Specialty NewsHeidelberg USA to distribute inkjet printers……………………………………………………………………22

ECONOMIC UPDATEGDP: 2.5% in Q3 2010 2nd revision (up from 1.7% Q2 2010)

Unemployment Rate: 9.8% in November 2010 (up from 9.5% in October)

Consumer Confidence: 54.1 in November 2010 (up from 50.2 in October)

January 24, 2011

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US POSTAL NEWS

Postal Unions urge Obama to fix USPS pension overfunding(APWU – January 13th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.apwu.org/news/webart/2011/11-006-uspsfinances-obamaletter-110113.htmThe APWU and other postal unions and management associations have asked President Barack Obama to take “immediate action to save almost 100,000 good, middle-class jobs and stabilize the financial condition” of the Postal Service.

“A healthy postal system is critical for a healthy U.S. economy,” the organizations wrote [PDF] on Jan. 12.

“The financial problems facing the Postal Service were made significantly worse by a Bush-era mandate that the agency pre-fund nearly 80 percent of its future retiree health care obligations by 2016 at a crushing cost of $5.5 billion per year… No other agency or company in America is required to pre-fund such obligations at all, much less on such an accelerated schedule,” the organizations wrote.

Had it not been for these payments, the Postal Service would have experienced a $611 million profit over the past four years — despite the recent recession and competition from the Internet, the letter notes. The USPS experienced a deficit of $8.505 billion in Fiscal Year 2010, and anticipates a deficit of $6.4 billion in Fiscal Year 2011.

A Sound Solution“Fortunately, there is a sound policy solution to this pre-funding burden,” the letter says. “The Postal Service should be permitted to use the surplus in its two pension funds — the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System — to cover the cost of its future retiree health obligations.” Three independent actuarial studies have confirmed the USPS has a surplus of between $50 billion and $75 billion in its CSRS pension account, and $6 billion to $7 billion in its FERS account.

As the letter notes, however, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) maintains the position it first adopted during the Bush administration: That Congress must authorize the actuarial methods proposed by the studies. OPM claims that laws passed in 1974 and 2003 require the unfair methods that are currently used, even though those laws were repealed by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006.

The chief authors of the 2006 law, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), have argued that OPM has the authority to adopt fair and accurate actuarial methods for allocating postal pension costs.

“Since OPM refuses to exercise this authority,” the letter says, “we urge you to use your authority as President to direct it to do so.”

“The financial crisis facing the Postal Service in 2011 is a daunting one, but unlike so many challenges facing the nation today, there is a feasible and responsible answer to this short-term crisis,” the letter says. “The Postal Service can avoid short-sighted and self-defeating cuts in service to the American people without a penny in taxpayer support if you take the actions we request.”

The letter was signed by APWU President Cliff Guffey; Frederic V. Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers; Don Cantriel, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers Association; John F. Hegarty, president of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union; Louis M. Atkins, president of the

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National Association of Postal Supervisors; and Mark W. Strong, president of the National League of Postmasters of the United States.

Imagitas, a New England company, signs 10-year contract with USPS(Whattheythink.com – January 19th, 2011)Original Link: http://whattheythink.com/news/48695-imagitas-new-england-company-signs-10-year-contract-usps/?utm_source=whattheythink&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rssImagitas Inc. and the United States Postal Service (USPS) have completed a 10-year renewal of their successful MoverSource Alliance, a partnership built around a set of products that helps approximately 44 million U.S. residents with the change of address process each year.

Pat Donahoe, Postmaster General of the USPS, commented on the contract saying, “We are very pleased with the success of MoverSource and expect it to continue to provide excellent service value to our moving customers for many years to come.”

The MoverSource program includes The Mover’s Guide, MoversGuide Online, and The Welcome Kit. The Mover’s Guide program combines the official USPS Change of Address form with information kits that provide helpful savings for moving-related products and services. MoversGuide Online helps people process a Change of Address and access moving information and coupons online at usps.com. The Welcome Kit, mailed to the mover’s new home, contains an official confirmation of mail forwarding along with local information such as how to register to vote, the names of local officials, as well as national and local savings offers.

“The recently signed MoverSource contract between USPS and Imagitas is a perfect example of the type of public-private partnership that creates jobs and raises revenue while requiring little, if any, government investment,” said Congressman Stephen Lynch, former Chairman of Congressional Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia during the 111th Congress. “I commend both parties on their commitment to saving costs and providing superior customer service by maintaining the MoverSource program.”

“We are pleased with the opportunity this agreement gives us to create jobs and grow our business in Massachusetts,” said Ted Stimpson, CEO of Imagitas. “This new beginning for our company will stimulate exciting new innovations and opportunities. Moving is never easy, but the MoverSource products ease the burden by providing cost savings when you need it most.”

Prior to the MoverSource Alliance, the USPS spent millions of dollars executing the Change of Address program. Under the MoverSource agreement direct costs of providing the Change of Address program are absorbed by the Alliance and revenues from advertising are shared between the USPS and Imagitas. Since inception of the MoverSource Alliance, the USPS has received more than $300 million in revenue.

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BOOK/DIRECTORY INDUSTRY NEWS

Experts probe for answers in panel discussion on “The Future of Book Publishing” at NYPL(Print CEO – January 14th, 2011)Original Link: http://printceo.com/2011/01/experts-probe-for-answers-in-panel-discussion-on-%E2%80%9Cthe-future-of-book-publishing%E2%80%9D-at-nypl/

When did the market for printing’s most time-honored product—the book—become so difficult to measure, predict, and stimulate? Where did all of the old norms go? What can the book manufacturing and supply chain do to assure a stable future for the printed book as the tide of e-reading devices continues to rise?

They’re topics of potentially endless debate, but on Tuesday (January 11), a cross-section of experts gamely tried to cover them all in about two hours as panelists in a roundtable on the future of book publishing. Hosted by Kodak, the discussion fittingly took place at the nation’s supreme temple of the printed word: the New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan.

In that august setting, the panelists tried to make sense of a marketplace that wants more ways of reading books but doesn’t seem inclined to increase the total number of books it consumes. Much was said about e-texts, e-reading devices, and the share of market—still too indistinct to forecast—that they ultimately will claim. The panelists also tackled distribution issues, pricing, the “discoverability” of books in crowded bookselling channels, and the ongoing role of publishers in an industry where even the meaning of “publishing” has become a matter of perception.

Nevertheless, the consensus about printing for books was generally upbeat, even if it conceded that sales of printed books will remain flat at best in many categories, at least in the near term. A bright spot, the panelists agreed, is the efficiency and cost saving that high-speed, high-volume digital inkjet printing systems will bring to book manufacturing, especially in short runs. One of them said that for book producers, the technology would be “as transformative as the move from sheetfed letterpress to web offset 50 years ago.”

The event was part of a series of roundtables that Kodak plans to organize around topics relating to the various print production markets it serves. The company’s Graphic Communications Group makes toner and inkjet systems for commercial printing, publishing, packaging, enterprise, and data-driven applications.

The panelists represented all aspects of the book publishing workflow from authoring and manufacturing to distribution, fulfillment, and retailing. Those seated around the horseshoe in the library’s Trustees Room included Craig Bauer, senior vice president, production and manufacturing, Hachette Book Group; Larry Bennett, vice president, digital print media, Baker & Taylor; Jac Garner, president, Webcrafters Inc.; Jeff Mathews, vice president, corporate strategy, business development and investor relations, Scholastic Corporation; Paul Morgan, global fulfillment manager, Lulu.com; Melinda Roberts, author and self-publisher of Mommy Confidential: Adventures from the Wonderbelly of Motherhood and founder of The MommyBlog.net; Jim Robinson, vice president, operations and administration, Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.; and Elizabeth Scheier, editorial director, digital content, BarnesandNoble.com.

The moderator was Jim Milliot, editorial director, Publishers Weekly. The responses to his opening question about top challenges reflected both the angst and the optimism now prevailing among book industry

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professionals. Recent statistics give cause for both: R.R. Bowker has reported, for example, that while title output by mainstream publishers has stagnated, growth in books from non-traditional, online publishing services has soared.

Robinson, responsible for producing and distributing 130 million Harlequin books annually in North America, focused on supply chain efficiencies and the company’s move to digital production (2.1 million Harlequin books were printed on digital equipment last year, primarily to support inventory management). Harlequin also offers its front list titles as e-books, and although, according to Robinson, margins on e-books are not as great as margins on printed books, everything counts. “We’d rather sell a printed book than an e-book,” he said, “but we’ll take both.”

As the “finely tuned machine” that produces millions of printed books in the Harry Potter series and other top-selling lines for young readers, said Matthews, Scholastic must take stock of alternative publishing methods and “rethink the digital reading experience for kids and their families.” For Scholastic, he added, the opportunity lies in the fact that “no one thinks kids’ lives are oversaturated with reading just now.”

But that depends on the child, and Roberts said that in her household, the appetite for books—especially printed ones—is strong. Roberts, the panel’s spokesperson for readers as well as for self-publishing authors, said that while she would always be a “Luddite” for print, the portability and convenience of e-books make them “a really nice choice” for book lovers on the go. But paperless publishing apparently hasn’t yet made much of an impression on her three children. They love old-fashioned book fairs, and not one of them, she said, “wants to read a book on an e-device.”

In 2009, Hachette Book Group put a record 130 books on The New York Times bestseller list, where 24 of them climbed to number one. Maintaining that kind of momentum, said Bauer, means producing books “in all of the formats that are permissible” and managing all of the distribution channels through which they go to market. He noted that costs associated with producing e-books have grown “materially,” putting downward pressure on e-book margins.

Scheier said that publishers must get beyond “the text is the text is the text” mentality and “think of all the great stuff that folks can do” with e-books that offer rich, interactive content. She said that people are buying “exponentially more e-books” now that titles with these features are starting to come to market.

Specializing in educational publishing, Webcrafters will add digital printing to its capabilities when it installs a Prosper 5000XL color inkjet web press from Kodak. In Garner’s view, the publishing industry will find Prosper and other high-speed, high-volume inket presses to be “as big a development in the book printing world as we’ve seen in the last 50 years.” One of the most powerful advantages of these presses, Garner said, is their ability to print economically in runs that are too short for offset but longer than would be practical on toner presses. He estimated that about 40% of Webcrafters’ book orders are for quantities that would fall within the 250- to 1,000-copy sweet spot of high-speed inkjet.

Lulu.com, the online production and distribution service that Roberts used to self-publish Mommy Confidential, serves 1.1 million content creators like her through a print-on-demand network consisting of nine print-service providers in 12 countries. The better to help its authors reach their intended niche audiences, Lulu.com is using an “open publishing platform” strategy that lets them create content at specialized web sites (for example, www.beforeigrewup.com) and then aggregate what they have created in

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books printed to order. Morgan said that Lulu.com envisions creating “thousands” of such sites as entrepreneurial ventures catering to the long-tail demand for self-published works.

With 1.5 million titles available for order, the distributor Baker & Taylor maintains one of the largest in-stock inventories of books, videos, and music in the U.S. The company is the largest distributor of trade books to public and academic libraries, and in these markets, Bennett, the demand for e-versions is growing faster than the demand for conventional print. But printed texts remain the heart of Baker & Taylor’s business, and Bennett agreed that high-speed inkjet will be a “game changer” in many book categories. From 40% to 50% of the titles that Baker & Taylor sends to its academic customers could be produced in this way, Bennett said.

The panelists discussed structural issues in the book supply chain that technology is helping to overcome but has not entirely solved. According to Robinson, because of continuous turmoil in retail channels, publishers’ ability to forecast demand has grown less reliable over the last 10 to 15 years. As a result, he said, the “monster” of overproduced, unsold units that never leave the warehouse is still an unhappy reality. Harlequin does its own digital printing in part to reduce the size of its offset runs—a necessary adjustment, said Robinson, in view of the fact that today, book retailers “expect publishers to be their inventory managers.”

According to Robinson, there has arisen “a big, skittish feeling in the retail market” about print quantities and sell-through rates now that e-books are growing popular as alternatives to print. Morgan agreed that “those big runs are going to become riskier and riskier” as retailers grow increasingly reluctant to deal with big consignments of books. Caught in the middle is the printer, who has to find ways to satisfy changing patterns of demand without sacrificing profit. This is not made easier by the fact, said Garner, that for most book printers, “their prices are where they were 10 or 12 years ago—if they’re fortunate.”

Selling more books ultimately means making people more aware of them, a task complicated by the flood of new titles from non-traditional publishing sources like Lulu.com. Scheier said that in order to cut through the clutter, it’s necessary to “make a product that acts as its own discovery” by adding special value and appeal for readers. Barnes & Noble tries to accomplish this by marketing “life cycle bundles”—packages of related e-texts—and by running at-retail promotions that offer, for example, one hour of free e-browsing to anyone who brings his or her Nook e-reader into the store. Another awareness-builder, said Scheier, is the Barnes & Noble Unbound blog, an online community for readers.

Some industry observers have predicted a diminished role for mainstream publishers now that web-based, on-demand publishing services let authors bring their own books to market. Scheier isn’t one of them. Although some best-selling authors might have the resources and the readership to go it alone, she said, writers who are less well known will continue to rely on publishers for the kinds of assistance that only publishing professionals can provide.

Roberts seconded the thought when she mentioned that a publisher has encouraged her to write sequels to Mommy Confidential, a compilation of essays from her blog. Doing a follow-up would be a wonderful project, said the author, but for the fact that “I have nobody to support me while I write it”—a reminder that writers still need publishers and their advances to see them through the lean times of creation.

Asked to say what comes next for the book trade, the panelists took cautious note of obstacles ahead. The continuing loss of retail outlets is a serious concern. “If Borders does close, it will be a disaster for

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everyone,” said Scheier, reflecting doubts about the bookstore chain’s survivability in the face of heavy losses and mounting debts.

Matthews said that publishers of books for young readers can “aspire” to better sales and that Scholastic expects the market to “continue to grow modestly.” Bauer reminded textbook publishers that with the budgets of 46 states in deficit, public spending on some categories of educational material is bound to be impacted.

Wait-and-see seemed to be the predominant mood as the panel adjourned. Given the pace of change that book publishers will have to deal with in the near future, “we will be happy if we are flat three years from now,” Robinson said.

Scorecards: USA Today's e-book inclusion noticeable in December(Book Publishing Report – January 17th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.bookpublishingreport.com/content/scorecards-usa-todays-e-book-inclusion-noticeable-december

As we have noted before, USA Today, which makes up one-third of Scorecards’ composite ranking, has included e-books in its lists throughout 2010. The titles always amount to no more than a handful of entries each month, usually in the lower two-thirds of the 150-item list.

That rule changed radically the last week of December as people rushed to load the Kindles, Nooks, iPads and other e-book compatible devices they received for Christmas. In all, forty entries (27%) were attributed to the e-book edition, including 33 as new editions of previous bestsellers, many of them among the highest ranking print editions the week before.

The December Scorecard covers the weekly bestseller lists from New York Times, USA Today and Publishers Weekly for sales reported over the five weeks ending December 4 through January 1, and the five-week month makes the impact of e-books relatively small. Nonetheless, since the database was begun in 2001, the construct of consolidated ranking has been based on editions, with USA’s single 150-item list providing the tie-breaker that produced unique rankings for each edition on the lists. For example, an edition that was No. 1 on all three lists would have a rating of 100.0 and be assigned No. 1 overall. Another edition could also be No. 1 on its categories on NYT and PW, but might be No. 2 on USA, making it No. 2 overall… and so on.

We began to see a problem when USA changed its assignment of Steig Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire between the paper and mass market editions. At first, it happened for a whole month, which meant the title kept its high rank in our Consolidated Ranking, but simply shifted from one edition to the other. However, when it happened in the middle of the month, as it did in December, the result was that each edition was lowered in Consolidated Ranking.

When e-books were added to the mix the situation got worse. For example, seven of the titles with editions in the top ten of Consolidated Rankings the fourth week of December were attributed to e-book editions on USA the following fifth week. The split between two editions—the print on NYT and PW, and the e-book on USA—produced a consolidated ranking that dropped each from the top ten. Again, because this only affected one week in a five week month, we were able to use the normal Consolidated Ranking across

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three lists. However, if e-books maintain a serious presence on USA, basing our Consolidated Ranking on editions will be problematic.

BPR has considered basing our Consolidated Rankings on NYT and PW only, but that would eliminate the value of USA as a setting where all editions have to compete for their place on the 150-item list—and where e-books are represented. Therefore, we will consider moving to a title-centric model for the January Scorecard, but there are a number of logistics to work out in order to reflect the different editions.

Top TitlesAs in November, turnover in the top ten for December (by consolidated ranking across the lists) was high, with seven titles moving into the top ten—one debuting the first week of December, four having debuted in mid-November, and two moving from lower ranks.

Moving into the top ten were these seven entries:

- No. 1 Decision Points (George W. Bush, Crown hardcover), with a rating (cumulative ranking expressed as a percentile) of 92.9. The book was No. 1 in consolidated ranking on a weekly basis for seven weeks, then dropped to No. 6 on USA the last week of December and switched there to the e-book edition. Had the last week been attributed to the hardcover edition, even at the lower rank, the rating would have been 98.5. The drop to 92.9 represents the absence of the hardcover edition on USA that last week—something that similarly affected other entries, perhaps more in rating than in ranking for the month.

- No. 4 Unbroken (Laura Hillenbrand, Random House hardcover), with a rating of 90.1. It debuted the third week of November, giving it a ranking that month of No. 261. Like Decision Points, USA attributed its No. 5 rank the last week of December to the e-book edition.

- No. 5 Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert, Penguin paper reprint), No. 12 in November, returned to the top ten with a rating of 89.2 and extending its run to 206 weeks, beginning back in late January 2007. Along with seven weeks in hardcover in early 2006, the title has accumulated a total of 213 weeks—just over four years. It had dropped down to appearances only on NYT for much of 2009 and early 2010 before the August 13, 2010 movie release brought a revival that has seen it on all three lists for 41 weeks since late March.

- No. 7 Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 (Mark Twain, Univ. of California hardcover), with a rating of 87.3. It moved up from No. 15 in November, with 12 weeks on the lists since mid-October.

- No. 8 Cross Fire (James Patterson, Little Brown hardcover), with a rating of 86.1. The title debuted the third week of November, ending the month at No. 55.

- No. 9 House Rules (Jodi Picoult, Washington Square paper reprint), with a rating of 86.0. The new edition debuted the second week of November, ending at No. 36. The hardcover edition appeared for 18 weeks, from March to early July 2010. Altogether, the title has appeared 26 weeks on NYT, 24 on USA and 17 on PW, with the current paper edition on all three lists for 8 weeks since its debut.

- No. 10 U is for Undertow (Sue Grafton, Berkley mass market reprint), with a rating of 84.4. The mass market edition debuted the first week of December. The hardcover edition ran for 9 weeks from December 2009 through January 2010. The title has appeared 14 weeks on NYT and USA, 11 weeks on PW. The mass market edition has been on all three lists each of its five weeks.

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- Last month, editions of Larsson's trilogy were the only titles to return from October, though both The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire switched from the paper edition in the October top ten to mass market in November. In December, our edition-centric model led to a double blow for Larsson. While the mass market edition of Dragon Tattoo was No. 2 in November, it was No. 21 in December with only two weeks on USA. Two more weeks were attributed by USA to the paper edition, which ended December at No. 19. The last week, it appeared on USA at No. 1, but in e-book format.Similarly, the mass market edition of Fire was No. 5 in November, but dropped to No. 27 in December, with only two weeks on USA. That put it right behind the paper edition at No. 26, also with two weeks on USA. The e-book edition was No. 2 on USA the last week of December. Obviously, if the cumulative ranking had been based on titles rather than editions, the two books would likely have been No. 1 and 2 in December. Meanwhile, even the hardcover edition of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest suffered, ending December at No. 11 with a rating of 84.3 because USA attributed its No. 4 placement the last week of the month to the e-book edition. Had the hardcover edition remained all five weeks, it would have had a rating of 90.7, putting it in the upper half of the top ten.

AuthorsUnlike previous months, turnover was relatively low in December, which is evident in the top ten authors, where eight returned from November. Larsson, James Patterson and Rick Riordan held onto the top three spots for the fourth month, while Jeff Kinney stayed in No. 4 for a second month.

The top ten authors averaged 5.0 titles, up from 4.5 in November and 3.4 in September and October. All 358 authors averaged 1.4 titles, up slightly from the more typical 1.3 of November.

There were 12 authors new to the lists in December, down from 26 in November, 33 in October and 43 in September. None of the new authors made the top 50 of authors in December. The highest rated was Charles Portis, whose 1968 classic western True Grit has been revived for the 2010 movie. The book was No. 14 among new titles and No. 104 overall.

Imprints & CategoriesEight of the top ten imprints from November carried over into December. Except for No. 9 Penguin, the rest all changed rank. Little, Brown moved up from No. 2 to 1, with a rating of 603.1 from 19 titles. That was well ahead of No. 2 Random House, which moved up from No. 7, with 22 titles and rating of 427.0. HarperCollins moved down from No. 1 to 3, with 22 titles and a rating of 397.0. Between No. 4 and 8, the ratings decline from 366.2 to 309.5, with four of the five entries changing position within the top ten: No. 4 Knopf, up from No. 6; No. 5 Vintage, down from No. 3; No. 6 Grand Central, down from No. 4; and No.8 Scribner, down from No. 5. Penguin stays in No. 9, with 11 titles producing a rating of 226.8, a significant drop from 309.5 for No. 8 Scribner.

The top ten imprints in December averaged 15.7 editions of 13.4 titles, up from 12.6 editions of 12.0 titles in November. All 159 imprints averaged 3.6 editions of 3.3 titles, also up from 2.7 editions of 2.6 titles in November, which was close to September and October, but still below 4.6 editions in August.

Nine of the top ten categories carried over from November. Once again, biography & autobiography took the clear lead, with 59 editions of 53 titles producing a rating of 1,559.3. Mystery & detective stayed in No. 2, but its rating of 1,052.6 from 45 editions of 36 titles was significantly below biography & autobiography, as it was last month.

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New EntriesThere were 150 new ISBNs in December—93 new titles and 57 new editions of previous bestsellers. Fiction accounted for 70% of all new entries in December, up from 50% in November (the same as August and October), also above 59% in September, and even with July. Two in ten (19%) of new entries were nonfiction, down from 35% in November. The remaining one in ten (11%) children’s and youth, down from 15% from September through November.

As mentioned earlier, December had a big huge influx of e-books, representing 28% of the total, all of them coming the last week of the month. This is likely to be something of an aberration because of the timing with Christmas, but e-books are certain to increase in 2011 over the slow pace of 2010.

Scholastic launches monthly children's books bestsellers list(Book Business – January 13th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.bookbusinessmag.com/article/scholastic-launches-monthly-childrens-books-bestsellers-list/1#utm_source=bookbusinessmag.com&utm_medium=home_page&utm_campaign=today-in-book-publishing-tab

Scholastic Book Clubs has launched a monthly bestsellers list, which will feature the most popular books selected by children ages five to 14 nationwide. According to Scholastic, the list was "designed to inform parents, teachers, librarians, booksellers and book lovers about which children's books are most popular with kids."

Beginning this month, the bestsellers list will be released the second Tuesday of each month, and will be available online on Scholastic Book Clubs' official blog, Book Talk. It will list the five most popular children's books based on books purchased through Scholastic Book Clubs in each of the following categories: Picture Books, Transitional Readers, Early Chapter Books, Chapter Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult and Nonfiction.

In addition to viewing the list on Book Talk, people also can sign up to receive the list by e-mail each month by posting in the blog comments or sending an e-mail to bookclubsbestsellers@scholastic.com, or they can access it through the Scholastic Book Clubs Facebook page.

"Parents and teachers trust Scholastic Book Clubs to be the experts on the books kids love and can't wait to read," says Judy Newman , president of Scholastic Book Clubs. "This list will give the book-loving community even more information about what books kids are choosing. Research shows that when kids choose their own books, they are more likely to become avid, lifelong readers. We hope this list will be another way to let parents and teachers know which books can really spark a love of reading in their children or students."

The bestsellers are chosen based on unit sales data of titles available through Scholastic Book Clubs at the time of each month's report. Special-offer books available each month for $1 are not included.

Scholastic Media Announces Three-Day TV EventScholastic Inc. also recently announced a new offering from Scholastic Productions, Scholastic Media's television arm, as it continues to expand its global business beyond book publishing. A three-day TV event,

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entitled "Clifford's BIG Valentine Celebration," will feature Valentine-themed episodes from Scholastic Productions' PBS KIDS TV series "Clifford The Big Red Dog" and its spinoff series "Clifford's Puppy Days."

Scholastic Media, which has been overseen by President Deborah Forte —an award-winning television producer—since 1995, was established to support Scholastic's directive of being "producers of quality, family-oriented content for a multitude of platforms, including television, feature films, DVDs, video games and websites, and ... an award-winning licensor and marketer of children's properties worldwide," in addition to being a leading, global children's book publisher, according to the company.

The Valentine-themed "Clifford" TV event will air Feb. 10, 11 and 14 on PBS KIDS. Each episode emphasizes one of Clifford's 10 "big ideas," such as "believe in yourself" and "be kind."

Additionally, two "Clifford" websites, www.pbskids.org and www.scholastic.com/clifford, offer Valentine's Day-themed activities for kids including printable cards, e-cards and crafts, such as making a Puppy Love necklace and a Valentine tote bag.

Digital publisher Vook closes $5.25 million in financing(Printing Impressions- January 18th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.piworld.com/article/digital-publisher-vook-closes-525-million-financing/1NEW YORK—Jan. 18, 2011—Vook, a digital publisher in mixed-media formats, announced it closed $5.25 million in Series A financing from investors, including VantagePoint Venture Partners and Floodgate. Vook will use the proceeds to build on its momentum, accelerate sales and invest in technology to support its growth plans.

“We are excited to bring new and existing investors into this ” said Brad Inman, Vook CEO. “They recognize that Vook is leading the way with a new vision for book publishing, creating value for authors, filmmakers and book publishers.”

Vook pioneered a digital mixed-media publishing form—called a Vook—that combines video, text, images and social sharing into a single, integrated experience. Vooks are specially created for tablets, smart phones and e-readers. In 2010, the company established itself as the leader in enhanced digital publishing by helping publishers, authors, and media companies recreate, distribute and monetize their existing content in a new form.

“We are very enthusiastic about Vook,” said Richard Harroch, managing director at VantagePoint Venture Partners, in San Bruno, California. “The opportunity is big in digital publishing and the Vook team is a leader in this new world.”

The company has formed strategic relationships with many of the leading book publishers and literary agents, and published Vooks with bestselling authors, including Deepak Chopra, Seth Godin, Tom Peters, Stephen Covey and Anne Rice. Recently, it released “JFK: 50 Days,” a bestselling Vook for the iPad that features content created in partnership with Perseus Books and NBC Universal.

Vook has also launched its own digital e-book imprint, which will deliver as many as 500 “how to” and educational titles to the market in 2011.

About VookVook is the leading mixed-media digital publisher that lights up the world's content and connects people around stories and ideas they love. A Vook unites words, videos, pictures and interactivity into new media

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experiences that allow users to engage with content the way they want. Vook publishes titles in a variety of genres, including lifestyle, business, entertainment, cooking, fiction and sports, working with authors such as Seth Godin, Deepak Chopra, Anne Rice, Gary Vaynerchuk, Slash of Guns N' Roses and Karen Armstrong. Vook partners with industry leaders including Simon and Schuster, Penguin Group, Harvard Business Press, Harper Collins and Hachette Filipacchi. Vook is based in Alameda, CA with offices in New York. For more information about Vook, visit Vook. To publish a Vook, please visit publish.vook.com.

Bradford & Bigelow’s Xeikon 8000 press expands its book printing capabilities(Printing Impressions-January 17th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.piworld.com/article/bradford-bigelow-xeikon-8000-press-expands-its-book-printing-capabilities/1

ITASCA, IL—Jan. 17, 2011—Xeikon, an innovator in digital color printing technology, announced that Bradford & Bigelow, a Newburyport, MA-based provider of supply chain solutions to the publishing industry, has seen improvements in the productivity and efficiency of its short-run book printing operations with the use of its Xeikon 8000 digital press.

Bradford & Bigelow specializes in producing books for the K-12 and college textbook market. The company has transformed its business model from a conventional book printer to a complete supply chain provider over the last several years. Its supply chain service platform includes a Digital Book Factory, full prepress capabilities, a highly automated bindery, custom publishing, warehousing and fulfillment for clients.

Peter Doyle, vice president of manufacturing at Bradford & Bigelow, said the Xeikon 8000 has provided a unique competitive advantages due to its web width of 20.2• and no restrictions on the length of the printed image, high print speeds, 1,200 dpi imaging quality and CPSIA-compliant toners. As a result, Bradford & Bigelow is meeting and exceeding its client expectations in terms of reducing their outdated and unsold book inventory, and still fulfilling back orders quickly.

“The trend in this industry is that publishers want to print in smaller, safer quantities,” Doyle said. “The inventory level of books is kept much lower than past years, therefore re-orders are more frequent. Traditional offset presses cannot produce the low quantities cost effectively or produce the books in the turnaround time required by the publisher. The Xeikon 8000 offers us more efficiency in our print and bind platform for these lower quantity re-orders.”

Michael V. Ring, president of Xeikon North America, said digital book printing is becoming a more attractive option for printers who want to offer their customers quick turnaround times and less obsolete inventory. “The publishing world is changing dramatically, and by investing in the Xeikon 8000, Bradford & Bigelow is able to offer shorter lead times and more cost-effective book printing solutions to its customers,” Ring said. “We're excited to be working with such an innovative player in the book publishing space.”

The Xeikon 8000 has been designed with speed and productivity in mind. Web-fed, it prints full color multi-page documents with exceptional uptimes, enabling duty cycles of up to 10 million pages per month. “As our technology can easily handle monthly duty cycles between 5 million and 10 million pages, we enjoy a distinctive product positioning in the market. We are the only available solution for monthly production volumes in this range,” Ring added.For more information about the Xeikon 8000 digital color press, please visit: www.xeikon.com/brochure/xeikon-8000

About XeikonAn innovator in digital printing, Xeikon designs, develops and delivers high-end digital color printing systems for the global commercial, document printing and industrial market segments. These systems are composed of advanced web-fed printing engines using LED-array-based, dry toner electrophotography,

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open workflow software, exclusive toner and other consumables. Xeikon's production and R&D operations are based in Belgium and its solutions are distributed and supported through a worldwide sales and service network. Xeikon is a division of Punch Graphix. For more information, visit www.xeikon.com.

E-Books: December stronger, though still impacted by non-books(Book Publishing Report – January 20th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.bookpublishingreport.com/content/e-books-december-stronger-though-still-impacted-non-books

The end of 2010 offered results vastly similar to the rest of the year: Stieg Larsson, who lost the No. 1 ranking last month, regained the crown with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, keeping the mystery & thrillers category at the top as well and paving Larsson’s way to his own No. 1 position among book authors. More importantly, the author’s success for the month helped result in the strongest top five ratings since January 2010, with all five breaking the 90.0 mark.

With last month’s top title, John Grisham’s The Confession, dropping to No. 4 and George Bush’s Decision Points rising from its debut No. 8 to No. 5, Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy picked up the pace during the holiday weeks, with placements at Nos. 3 and 6 for the more recent books. The top five was also joined by James Patterson’s Cross Fire—the author’s only title within the top 20, though he placed eight books on bestseller lists during December—at No. 2, which garnered a 92.3 rating for the month.

Though the top five were the strongest in nearly a year, the remaining top 20 titles—the majority of which were new titles for last month—were somewhat weak, marred by the continuing appearance of non-book games on Amazon’s bestseller list. As Simba’s consolidated e-book list is composed equally of bestsellers on the Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Sony bestseller lists, the inclusion, whether purposeful or not, of games on the book list has the potential to negatively affect overall ranking and rating.

For December, 29 total non-book games appeared on the list, the “highest bestseller” of which ranked at No. 40 among book titles, keeping the top 20 intact for another month. However, their prominence on Amazon’s bestseller list caused “Game” as both an author and imprint listing to hit No. 1, surpassing Larsson (who retains No. 1 among book authors as we are separating games from the results analysis) and Little, Brown and Company in the respectful segments with a consolidated 386.8 rating. As a category, “Game” was No. 5, well below mystery & thrillers, romance, children’s e-books and biographies & memoirs.

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CATALOG/RETAIL INDUSTRY NEWS

Walgreens names chief customer experience officer, promotes three executives(Retailing Today – January 17th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.retailingtoday.com/article/walgreens-names-chief-customer-experience-officer-promotes-three-executives

Walgreens announced several executive appointments Monday, which included naming a former United Airlines executive to the post of chief customer experience officer.

The drug store chain said that effective Jan. 24, Graham Atkinson — former president of United Airlines' Mileage Plus — would be responsible for developing and leading the company’s loyalty strategies, with a specific emphasis on the customer experience, as Walgreens' SVP and chief customer experience officer. Atkinson will report to Greg Wasson, Walgreens' president and CEO.

“With Graham’s 20-year career in marketing, customer experience, sales and operations at United, he brings valuable insight into driving customer loyalty both through marketing programs and in a complex business where employees are the true ambassadors for the brand,” Wasson said. “We look forward to that perspective, as we continue to develop our approach to loyalty in our stores and across our organization.”

In line with the announcement, Walgreens also said it was boosting its leadership roles, naming current SVP e-commerce Sona Chawla to president of the e-commerce division. Chawla will help Walgreens expand beyond its brick-and-mortar reach, Wasson said.

Meanwhile, Walgreens' corporate VP accounting and controller was promoted to SVP accounting and controller. “Under Mia’s leadership, the company has continued a standard of excellence in finance and accounting stewardship as well as embarked on the largest accounting organizational transformation in Walgreens history,” said Wade Miquelon, EVP and CFO. “Her financial acumen, critical analysis and careful decision-making are essential to the ongoing success of the company’s financial departments.”

Robert Zimmerman, who as VP corporate development for Walgreens lead the company in such key transactions as the Duane Reade acquisition last April, has been named SVP and chief strategy officer.

“[Zimmerman's] keen insight and thoughtful counsel are critical to the continued evolution of our business strategy,” Miquelon said.

The appointments come at the heels of the drug store chain's annual shareholders meeting, in which Walgreens unveiled several innovations that will be implemented in 2011 and beyond.

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November U.S. commercial printing shipments up +4.2%; eight consecutive month of growth versus 2009(Whattheythink.com – January 18th, 2011)Original Link: http://whattheythink.com/news/48668-november-commercial-printing-shipments-eight-consecutive-month-growth/?utm_source=whattheythink&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

November 2010 commercial printing shipments were $7.48 billion, up $303 million (+4.2%) compared to 2009. Adjusting for inflation, shipments were up +4.2%. “This was a very encouraging month, and continues the consecutive gain in current dollar shipments for eight months,” explained Dr. Joe Webb, director of WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center. “It is still an easy comparison because 2009 was a difficult year, down more than 12% compared to 2008. The severe 2008 downturn pushed weak printers out of the industry, and the healthier survivors have been doing much better. Other indicators show that the industry has stronger individual establishments even though overall shipments have not rebounded in line with the economy or past print shipment levels.”

Dr. Webb also stated that these shipment increases ensure that the industry will finish slightly ahead of 2009, and exceed original forecasts. “The first quarter of 2010 was a disaster for printers, but since then volumes have increase to be almost equal to 2009 levels. It's good when the original forecasts are wrong on the upside for the right reasons.”

Dr. Webb further explained that employment in graphic design and advertising agencies appears to be rising. “Advertising and promotion budgets are starting to revive. While print has more competitors for those dollars, the contraction in budgets for professionally-created content seems to have bottomed.”

The latest report includes a discussion of November's shipments, Canada's October shipments, and updated forecasts for the US industry to 2016.

Retailers name store expansion as top priority for 2011(Retailing Today – January 20th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.retailingtoday.com/article/retailers-name-store-expansion-top-priority-2011?ad=news

Retailers are ready to expand again, and likely will do so as the economy picks up, according to a new survey conducted by the charitable arm of the National Retail Federation and KPMG.

In their ninth annual "Retail Horizons: Benchmarks for 2010, Forecasts for 2011" report, the NRF Foundation and KPMG found that among 318 of executives surveyed, 41% said they are looking to expand their domestic reach this year, up from one-quarter of retail executives surveyed last year. International expansion plans also are on the rise, with 25% of executives saying that they will broaden their businesses overseas, up from 21% last year. Mark Larson, partner in charge of KPMG’s retail group, said, “these findings dramatically demonstrate that retail expansion is back on the agenda."

“After several years of belt tightening, retailers are also ready to begin experimenting again with new brick-and-mortar concepts, hoping to appeal to shoppers interested in buying discretionary items once again,” Larson said. “They will, however, move ahead with cost discipline in mind.”

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But while retailers will widen their scope, many also will focus on customer-centric initiatives, that is, honing in on customer service and such strategic measures as implementing mobile e-commerce or m-commerce, as well as such insight initiatives as customer loyalty programs. For this year, 75% of retailers said customer service will be a top priority (up from 56% on 2010), while 69% of retailers said they will focus on mobile e-commerce or m-commerce, and 74% of retailers this year will increase their consumer insight and data gathering initiatives.

DIRECT MARKETING INDUSTRY NEWS

Report: Direct Mail spending to grow 5.8%(Whattheythink.com – January 14th, 2011)Original Link: http://marketingpowersactivate.com/2011/01/report-direct-mail-spending-to-grow-5-8/

Spending on direct mail is expected to increase 5.8% in 2011, driven by a return to acquisition mail, according to a new report from advertising and marketing consulting firm Winterberry Group.

While the economy showed some signs of normalizing in 2010, spending in many traditional media channels continued to decline, according to “Outlook 2011: What to Expect in Direct & Digital Marketing.” Businesses are expected to continue to expand in 2011 but, traditional media won’t be a beneficiary.

It’s a different story for direct and digital marketing. In 2010, spending grew across several direct and digital categories, including direct mail, which was up 3.1%. Overall, direct and digital spending is expected to increase 6.2% in 2011. Even direct response print, which was down last year, is expected to grow by 2% this year.

Direct mail’s rebound follows declines in direct mail spending of 1.4% in 2007, 4.1% in 2008 and 16.7% in 2009. Recession-driven budget cuts, cutbacks in the financial services industry and an ongoing migration to digital channels are some of the reasons why marketers have been shying away from direct mail in recent years.

This started to change in the second half of 2010, however, according to the report, as marketers returned to acquisition mail. In 2011, spending on direct mail is expected to reach $47.8 billion, a 5.8% increase over last year, with financial services, retail and auto leading the rebound in acquisition mail. Mailers are expected to control mail volume and spending through the increasing use of analytics, cross-channel integration and better hygiene.

The spending on marketing data and related services for direct mail, online display and e-mail is expected to increase in 2011 as well.

Marketers increasingly recognize the importance of data management and will be looking for solutions that offer integrated multichannel data for targeting and attribution; can handle an increasing number of variables, and provide cross-channel campaign execution, according to the report.

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MAGAZINE INDUSTRY NEWS

Apple to launch iPad mag subscription model?(Ad Week – January 14th, 2011)Original Link:http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i21b2e5f14866c91b3d3eab31cfdef899#

After months of talks with publishers, Apple is said to be close to announcing a magazine subscription model for the iPad.

Both sides have been haggling over the issue for months, and rumors of an announcement have been swirling the past several weeks. Still, one publishing exec said that now, “People are pretty confident.”

It’s not known which titles would launch the new model or the details of the model, which is believed to be a few weeks away from being announced. “Nobody’s got any real answers,” another publishing source said.

Most magazines are at their core subscription businesses, and publishing execs like Time Inc. CEO Jack Griffin have taken a hard line, arguing that it’s critical that they be able to collect personal information like names and e-mail addresses from digital customers, so they can offer renewals and other products.

Apple also reportedly wanted to require an opt-in form to collect the information from consumers, which publishers have balked at. It’s presumed Apple would also keep its customary 30 percent of the revenue.

Magazines had big hopes that the iPad would help their struggling print business. But despite the initial hoopla around the device, consumers have balked at paying single-copy prices for magazines on the iPad, and most titles’ download numbers have been small.

Publishers have been able to offer iPad subscriptions in limited cases. People magazine made its digital version free to print subscribers. Newsweek sells a subscription version but isn’t able to collect information on its consumers. Apple has allowed titles to sell subs through digital newsstand Zinio.

Meanwhile, publishers are looking beyond Apple to expand their digital distribution. They have been talking to Google about selling subscriptions on forthcoming Android devices, while publisher consortium Next Issue Media said it planned to open its own digital newsstand in the first quarter.

People StyleWatch expands to 11 Issues for 2011(MinOnline – January 14th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.minonline.com/news/People-StyleWatch-Expands-to-11-Issues-for-2011_16277.html

People StyleWatch, the mid-scale fashion magazine that has published 10 times yearly since being spun off by People in January 2007, is adding an extra issue in 2011 with separate June and July releases. "This reflects advertiser and reader demand," says publisher (since Feb. 2010) Karin Tracy. "The marketplace continues to support us enthusiastically." (Dec./Jan. becomes the sole combined issue.)

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Incredibly, StyleWatch has not had a down advertising month since March 2009. The year-end 2010-versus-2009 differential was nearly +50%, and although February 2011 is up only fractionally, Tracy says that March closed very strong and April will do so, too. See min's five-year report.

Further growth comes from perfect-bound issues, which Tracy says are "now the rule, not the exception." March/June/September/December were perfect-bound last year, and this year the format will be "in the majority.

Current StyleWatch rate base is 775,000, and Tracy expects the second-half 2010 circulation average to be "well above 800,000."

Surge in automotive advertising helps drive ad page gains(Publishing Executive – January 17th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.pubexec.com/article/pib-surge-automotive-advertising-help-drive-ad-page-gains/1#utm_source=pubexec.com&utm_medium=home_page&utm_campaign=today-in-publishing-tab

The consumer magazine media industry capped a strong 2010 by generating an increase of 3.1 percent in rate-card-reported revenue for the year, according to Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). It was the first time the industry had a full-year revenue increase since 2007.In the fourth quarter of 2010, consumer magazines recorded a 4.2 percent revenue increase and a 3.5 percent page gain compared to 2009's fourth quarter. It was the third quarter in a row that consumer magazines posted gains in both pages and revenue.

PIB revenue closed the year totaling $20,083,795,460, generating a 3.1 percent increase against the same January-to-December period in 2009. PIB recorded 169,633.57 ad pages in 2010, a loss of only 0.1 percent compared to the same period in 2009.

"The growth in magazine advertising over the past year reflects a strengthening economy and the confidence that advertisers and marketers have in magazine brands to influence purchase behavior and effectively reach consumers," said Andrew Jung, MPA's Chief Marketing Officer.

PIB ad revenue and pages totals grew in seven of 12 major advertising categories in full year 2010. (Twelve categories are the most significant contributors to PIB revenue, comprising roughly 88 percent of total advertising spending. In 2010, noted Jung, the 12 categories garnered 141,865 pages of advertising, a 0.7 percent increase compared to 2009 when those categories drew 140,030 pages of advertising.)

The Automotive category generated the biggest percentage increases in revenue (21.9 percent) and pages (16.9 percent) vs. 2009. General Motors Corp. led all automotive advertising in magazines, spending $385,380,000 in 2010, up 56 percent compared to 2009's magazine ad spend of $246,456,000.

"The significant increase in automotive advertising mirrors the general uptick in the economy that is benefiting magazine media," said Jung. "Automotive manufacturers are continuing to invest in magazines because magazines and the Internet are considered the most influential sources of information for brands especially in the final stages of purchase decisions."

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Double-digit PIB increases were also recorded by the Financial, Insurance & Real Estate category (revenue +13.2 percent; pages +9.3 percent) and the Toiletries & Cosmetics category (revenue +12.8 percent; pages +11.6 percent), which was the industry's leader in overall pages and revenue for the year, and benefitted from the introduction of new products from consumer packaged goods manufacturers.

Other ad categories that posted PIB revenue and page gains in 2010 include:

- Technology (revenue: +6.0 percent; pages +2.4 percent), which includes telecommunications, computers and software.

- Retail (revenue: +4.8 percent; pages +1.5 percent), which includes department stores, discount department/variety stories, and shopping centers.

- Home Furnishings & Supplies (revenue: +2.7 percent; pages: +0.7 percdnt), which includes household furniture and home improvement supplies.

In 2010, 128 magazines posted increases in ad pages, compared to 22 magazines in 2009. One hundred and forty-seven magazine titles registered PIB revenue gains in 2010, versus 26 titles in 2009.

Hearst and Lagardère prepare £600m deal for Hachette portfolio(MediaWeek, January 17th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/1049692/Hearst-LagardEre-prepare-600m-deal-Hachette-portfolio/

Lagardère, the giant French conglomerate behind Hachette Filipacchi, has moved closer to finalising a deal with Hearst Corporation concerning the sale of its international magazine portfolio.Lagardère entered exclusive negotiations with Cosmopolitan owner Hearst on 31 December.

Titles in Hachette’s international (non-French) portfolio include British women’s magazines Red, Sugar and Inside Soap.

Hachette's portfolio of 80 magazines in France, which includes Elle and Psychologies, will continue to be owned by Lagardère, but published internationally by Hearst under licence.

Around the world there are currently 43 editions of Elle, considered the jewel in Hachette’s crown, and 12 editions of Psychologies.

The proposed all-cash deal has been valued in the region of £600m, although firm details about what has been described as a "very complex international sale," have yet to be revealed.

Lagardère and Hearst are expected to make internal announcements in the coming days and issue a joint external statement before the end of January. The two companies already have some existing international partnerships in place, most notably in the US where they jointly publish Marie Claire.

An official Lagardère spokesman said: "We shall not express ourselves before the term of the negotiation."

Hearst wholly owns the UK's National Magazine Company, publisher of a range of lifestyle titles, including Harpers Bazaar, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Reveal and Esquire.

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Hachette has a series of wholly owned or joint-venture publishing interests in addition to France, the UK and the US, including European operations in the Netherlands, Italy and Greece, and Asian partnerships in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Hachette’s local market partners have been in discussions with Lagardère Active representatives for the past two weeks, and many are travelling to Paris this week in the hope of finalising what they are calling "phase one" of the deal.

The multi-market deal is expected to take up to six months to finalise. Despite the onset of digital media and fragmentation of the media landscape, there remains a possibility that UK regulator the OFT could decide to investigate how the merger affects the marketplace and issue an invitation to comment to all interested parties.

This process could feasibly be repeated by regulators in many of the individual markets where Hachette and Hearst already have a notable presence.

At the same time, the European Commission could also decide to examine the implications of the deal separately.

Elsewhere, discussions are also being held between Hearst, Lagardère and third-party publishers in a number of local markets where partnerships are already established. Hachette currently publishes titles with Shkulev/InterMediaGroup in Russia, while Hearst partners with Dutch publisher Sanoma in the same country.

In the UK, the deal promises to ignite a fascinating battle by pitting the women’s portfolios of a newly combined Hachette and NatMags operation against rivals Condé Nast (Vogue, Glamour and EasyLiving), and IPC (Woman & Home, Marie Claire, InStyle).

Founded by American press magnate William Hearst in 1887, Hearst is widely recognised as leading the way in international publishing, currently with 61 editions of Cosmopolitan.

Source Interlink expands into women's market with new magazine(FolioMag January 18th, 2011)Original Link: http://www.foliomag.com/2011/source-interlink-expands-womens-market-new-magazine

Source Interlink Companies' publishing group, Source Interlink Media, has expanded its reach into the women's market with the launch of a new title called Harmony. The magazine, which will feature content on balancing work, life and health for women, is currently planned as a newsstand-only special edition.

In addition to its media distribution group, Source publishes about 70 magazines, all of which it purchased from Primedia in the heady M&A days of 2007 for $1.2 billion. Most of the titles are in the automobile, motorcycle, marine and home technology verticals. Harmony marks Source's first solid entry into the women's health and lifestyle market.

Lynn Leahey, Harmony's editorial director, describes the magazine as more of a one-off, but if sales spike then the title could transition into a longer-term strategy. "We're optimistic. If it works as well as we hope then you will definitely see more," she says.

The magazine straddles health, fitness, beauty, family and food coverage. It's a crowded market, but Leahey says it offers a different point of entry, collecting content on all those topics in one title.

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Source is distributing 200,000 copies into U.S. and Canadian retailers for a 3-month period until the end of March. Distribution will include Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, drug store chains and grocery stores such as Kroger, Safeway and A&P. Cover price is $4.99 in the U.S. and $5.99 in Canada.

Source took a similar newsstand-heavy focus with a spring 2010 launch, Bound by ink, an enthusiast title that chronicles the impact of art on tattoo culture. That title, however, has a close tie-in with Source's stable of automotive and motorcycle brands.

Social Magazines: What's Their Business Model?(New York Times January 18, 2011)Original Link: http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2011/01/18/18readwriteweb-social-magazines-whats-their-business-model-48033.html?ref=technology

Yesterday we looked at the latest "social magazine" app to hit the iPad, called NewsMix. It's very similar to Flipboard, the innovator and leader in this small but rapidly evolving market. Social magazines is a term that Flipboard came up with. It's come to mean a News Reader type application for the iPad that has the visual appeal of a magazine, along with the social media features common to this era of the Web (integration with Facebook, Twitter and other social apps). Social magazine apps will become a key application for tablets over the next couple of years. Also we will see existing magazines on the iPad, such as Wired and TIME,evolve to become more like Flipboard - with better customization of magazine sections, whizzier UI, more social media functionality, and so on.

An important question for Flipboard, NewsMix and other such apps is: how will they make money? Wired, TIME and other specialist magazines will rely on the subscription model (once it gets sorted out for the iPad). However, Flipboard and its ilk face the same issues with monetization as RSS Readers did in the previous Web era.

Tough to MonetizeA big part of the reason why the consumer RWW Reader market never took off was that it was almost impossible to monetize. Users balked at ads inside their RSS Readers, so the main RSS Reader companies ended up turning to the enterprise market for the bulk of their revenues. Newsgator is a great example. It owns a range of sophisticated RSS Reader products, but it shuttered its browser-based RSS Reader in mid-2009 and now appears to focus mostly on SharePoint integration (i.e. the enterprise market).

Flipboard and other social magazines can of course choose to make money by being a paid app in iPad and other app stores. NewsMix has headed in this direction, charging $2.99 for its app. Flipboard has chosen to remain free, a sensible move given that it wants to maintain its first mover advantage and ramp up its user numbers.

Likewise, if the App Store ever allows iPad magazine apps to provide a decent subscription service, Flipboard would be wise to hold off on that too. Not just because publishers will probably complain, but again it's an impediment to user growth - which is surely Flipboard's primary concern, given that it has defined a new market.

Flipboard's Plan For AdvertsFlipboard co-founder and CEO Mike McCue told Robert Scoble when Flipboard launched in July last year that they were planning a "new, design-centric, advertising that could possibly fill a page or a portion of a page." That same month, McCue told Business Insider that "when we build our business model [...] it's not going to be on the backs of the publishers, it will be with the publishers." He went on to say that Flipboard plans to introduce "a totally new form of advertising."

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It's clear that Flipboard is looking at (or at least talking about) a predominantly advertising based revenue model, much like traditional magazines have. It thinks that the visual appeal of advertising that magazines have enjoyed, will translate to its product too. The contentious issue will be how it gives a cut to publishers, since - unlike Wired and TIME - Flipboard is not a publisher.

That's essentially the same problem that RSS Reader Bloglines grappled with in 2004-05. Bloglines didn't launch advertising at that time, due to the outcry from publishers. Flipboard hasn't yet broached the subject with publishers - and there's no rush. Flipboard bought itself some time to figure out a solution, by taking $10.5 million in initial funding.

If Flipboard is serious about this new form of advertising, then it's a tall order. Any publisher that is even moderately successful relies heavily on brand advertising. Many publishers will be skeptical of a profit-sharing arrangement outside of their own sites.

Acquisition May Be Flipboard's AnswerFlipboard was the first mover in the social magazine space, so the reality is that it's going to be an attractive target for acquisition - much as Bloglines was, Flickr was, Delicious was, and so on. My bet is that Flipboard continues to ramp up its user base, with scant regard to business model.

It may still experiment with a new form of publisher-friendly, design focused advertising. But it will be a risky experiment. Nobody has yet figured out how to share advertising revenues with publishers from within a news reader-type application.

COMMERCIAL/SPECIALTY NEWS

Heidelberg USA to distribute EFI VUTEk inkjet printers(Company press release, January 18, 2011)Original Link: http://www.piworld.com/article/heidelberg-usa-distribute-efi-vutek-superwide-inkjet-printers/1#

FOSTER CITY, CA/KENNESAW, GA—Jan. 18, 2011—EFI and Heidelberg USA today announced a new agreement under which Heidelberg will distribute the VUTEk GS series of superwide format digital printers to the commercial print market across the United States.

Under the agreement, Heidelberg will distribute EFI’s VUTEk GS2000, GS3200 and GS5000r models, as well as the inks, parts, consumables, accessories and upgrades related to these printers. It will also provide customer and technical support for the VUTEk GS series of printers, including installation and training.

EFI is a world leader in digital imaging and print management solutions for commercial, packaging, in-plant and specialty printers worldwide. Heidelberg is the world’s leading solutions provider for the print media industry. The company manufactures sheetfed press systems as well as prepress and postpress components, software and consumables for all printing applications.

“We’re excited to enter into this distribution agreement with Heidelberg USA. It allows us to bring Heidelberg customers our award-winning superwide format digital printers,” said Frank Mallozzi, senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, EFI. “Commercial printers are looking for ways to distinguish themselves and offer their clients more diversified products and services. Now we can reach those companies through a broader network.”

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Heidelberg USA will have a GS3200 in its North American Print & Packaging Technology Center (NAPPTC) for demonstrations. The machine will be integrated into a complete Prinect workflow and will be color managed by Heidelberg’s Prinect Color Toolbox which has recently been awarded the IDEAlliance G7 System Certification. Customers will benefit from a single workflow that drives a digital device and an offset press with the result being a color matched output from both.

“Wide and superwide format printing are high-growth opportunities and Heidelberg has the right workflow, color management, service and Saphira consumables expertise needed to integrate these technologies into a print production environment,” said James Martin, senior vice president, marketing, Heidelberg USA. “EFI is a leader in the superwide space and together with Heidelberg we can bring a best-in-class portfolio to our customers.”