Open Music Initiative Looks For Music Owners

In Boston, a single mile and 17 years separate two technology initiatives with the power to reshape the music industry. The first led the business to the brink of collapse, and the more recent could prove to be its deliverer. In June 1999, on the Northeastern...

Saving Ebook Sales

Latest sales reports from the Association of American Publishers show clearly the direction for e-books: Down. “Are publishers finally getting a handle on what’s driving the decline? After the first quarter of 2016, I would think, yes, they would have,” reports Andrew...

Comics Sales Go Pop!

Comic books – and graphic novels, their book trade cousins – are no laughing matter. The characters between these covers are usually troubled souls, and the situations they confront range from disturbing to dire. The scenario for the comic book business is anything...

Book Titles Top the Ticket

In an unconventional political year, no one should expect conventional party conventions. As the Republican gathering in Cleveland this week gives way to the Democratic meeting coming to Philadelphia next week, that is the only reliable prediction. Politics and...

Where Publishers Find New Staff Isn’t Far

The fundamental quarrel for publishing and technology is the struggle between culture and commerce. This left brain/right brain dichotomy, says analyst Thad McIlroy, explains why the book business continues to fight an uphill battle in the Digital Revolutionary War....

Hayden Confirmation And Why It Almost Wasn’t

In a highly-charged political year like 2016, every issue is viewed through glasses with one red lens and one blue. About the only thing non-partisan on Capitol Hill is the menu in the cafeteria (at least, now that Freedom Fries are history). This week, politics...

What To Watch For in Textbook Publishing Contracts

Whereas Steve Gillen has seen his share – and more – of book contracts, therefore, he is highly qualified to share his views on the ways authors should approach negotiations and what they should look out for in the fine print there. Over his career advising clients in...

Audible Makes Some Noise

Sometimes, all it takes to get everyone’s attention is to raise your voice. When it comes to audiobooks, Amazon has announced it’s taking just that approach, and pumping the volume on Audible, which it owns. On Wednesday, the Amazon subsidiary unveiled Channels, an...

Meet The Informationist

On a recent Copyright Clearance Center webinar, an audience of researchers, data scientists and statisticians from the health care professions, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology across North America and Europe as well as in Israel, Korea, Russia and India, learned...

American Immigrant Stories

This fall, Beyond the Book marks its tenth year as podcast series. On the occasion of the Independence Day holiday in the United States, we reach into the BTB archives for a 2006 Miami Book Fair panel discussion, “Family Secrets, Family Truths: American Immigrant...