In our increasingly digital world, virtual author appearances have become popular with book-loving audiences in libraries, classrooms, book blogs, and book groups. Here are our tips and thoughts on the virtual platforms we have worked with to date in this evolving area.
For authors who have the time to post regularly, blogging can be a wonderful way to build a following and engage with readers. One question authors often ask us is “What should I blog about?” While every author is different, these are the key factors we think authors should take into account when deciding what to include in their blogs.
MARKUS DOHLE
CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF BERTELSMANN SE & CO. KGaA
October 29, 2012
To Our Authors,
Our most important mission will always be to publish the work you entrust to us for everyone, everywhere, in every format, and on every platform. That mandate is a primary motivation behind Bertelsmann and Pearson, the parent companies of Random House and the Penguin Book group, signing an agreement this week to combine our respective trade book activities. Read more
MARKUS DOHLE
CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF BERTELSMANN SE & CO. KGaA
October 29, 2012
To Our Literary Agents,
As you now know, our parent company Bertelsmann today signed an agreement with Pearson to combine Penguin and Random House’s respective trade-book publishing activities. In this new partnership with Penguin, we will be retaining the distinct identities of both companies’ imprints. You and your clients will benefit from an extraordinary breadth of publishing choices, and editorial talents and experience. Our Random House imprint leadership remains endowed with tremendous autonomy and financial resources to decide which books to publish, and how to publish them. We expect this to continue in our new business. Read more
Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) is a hot topic in business circles and a capability that Random House has been developing for some time. To get at the meaning behind the management-speak, we sat down with Nihar Malaviya, our SVP, director of strategy, analytics & program development, and Alyssa Oles, manager of supply chain projects and business analytics.
Each fall, libraries and bookstores nationwide participate in Banned Books Week, raising awareness of literary censorship with displays of “challenged” books and hosting events celebrating the freedom to read. This year, Banned Books Week is from September 30 through October 6. Keep reading to find out how you can get involved!
Email newsletters are a great way to stay connected with readers. From promoting your new books to keeping your readers engaged between publications, email can strengthen your relationship with your fan base.
Publishing, if you listen to the media, blogs, or internet forums, is a dying business. The truth is another matter.For many years the book industry has been tracked by two separate organizations: the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and the American Association of Publishers (AAP). I happen to have reporting going all the way back to 1982 in my office. For a long time, the organizations used very different methodologies to arrive at the total yearly sales volume for print and eBooks combined. Their numbers never came close to matching, which created a credibility problem. Read more
Using hashtags on Twitter is a great way to join an existing conversation and make your tweets more discoverable. Read more
Infographics take information or data and present it in a visually pleasing way. Read more