Tod Shuttleworth

DigiReady Update

Two weeks ago we completed the first two DigiReady training seminars. We trained 16 freelancers and 11 additional internal editors for a total of 15 trained internal editors. We surveyed them, and the results are overall positive. The general findings are:

Being 100% DigiReady is critical to our future
We are far ahead of our competition
DigiReady will [...]

Mobile Device-Agnostic Marketing

Like thousands of others, we are racing down the iPhone app freeway trying to figure out if Iphone apps make sense for us. We have several pilots underway. And the iPhone is just one device; there is the issue of the other PDAs. Will we eventually make apps for all of the other PDAs too?
I [...]

Google Publishing Lawsuits Miss Key Point

It is interesting to watch the opposition authors and their agents are having to the Google settlement. There are lawsuits and threats of lawsuits despite this being a much vetted agreement by several leading industry groups representing nearly all interests.

Most don’t understand it, as they have not read the agreement’s hundreds of pages and then [...]

Digital Leadership

On July 23rd I posted a blog titled R U DigiReady? The blog discussed what DigiReady means, and why we are implementing the DigiReady process at Thomas Nelson. As the post indicates, this is why we are training our folks on DigiReady:

Increase Sales
Reduce Cycle Time
Improve Productivity
Better Marketing

DigiReady will allow us to simultaneously [...]

Google Book Search – The Good, The Bad, The Relevant

Perhaps you have heard of Google Book Search. Here’s what’s good about it, what might be bad about it, and how we as publishers still remain relevant.
What is Google Book Search? It is an online repository of all books that Goggle can get their hands on – from scanning library copies to digital or analog [...]

Future of Book Publishing

I attended BEA a couple weeks ago basically to engage in research for our online and digital strategies. It was the most interesting BEA I have attended, and I have been going to them off an on for 20 years. The anticipation around the imminent changes in our business creates a unique atmosphere.
One of the [...]

Two Publishing Companies

“You have to run two publishing companies today; what publishing was and what publishing will be.”
That came from Dominique Raccah, CEO of Sourcebooks. I think she was quoting someone else; wish I knew so I could given them due credit. Others also discussed how their publishing companies are changing:
Marcus Leaver – President, Sterling Publishers Josh [...]

Bowker Pub Track 2008 Book Research

Bowker’s Pub Track presented interesting facts from their 2008 Demographics & Book Buying Behaviors survey at ECPA’s Executive Leadership Summit. Here are some quick facts.
Who reads books?

Only 45% of Americans over 13 years-old read books
32% of book readers are over 55 years-old
The average book reader is 44

Which and how much media do Americans [...]