Publishers Lunch
Walter Isaacson discussed his forthcoming
book THE INNOVATORS with Slate publisher Jacob Weisberg Friday morning at BEA.
The book, which traces the lineage of technological innovation from Ada
Lovelace ("I didn't know much about her until my daughter introduced
me"), Charles Babbage and Alan Turing to the founders of Intel to
Twitter's Ev Williams, was an antidote to his biography of Steve Jobs.
"Almost every great innovator in the book had a great collaborator,"
Isaacson said, adding he wanted to show "three to four great types of
leaders" as opposed to the singular, uncompromising vision of Jobs.
"People would come up to me and ask 'how to be just like Steve?' I'd say
'don't try this at home!' It's actually *not* the best way to be a leader. You
can be a really nice collaborator which provides sustained innovation."
Isaacson also discussed why he made
chapters-in-progress available on platforms such as Medium, which he singled
out as the most helpful -- one chapter received more than 18,000 comments in
the margin in a single week. "I ignored a lot of them, but less than I
thought." Isaacson hopes to produce an enhanced ebook "in the next
two years" as well as a "Wikified multimedia book that I can
curate."
Near the end of the session, Weisberg asked
Isaacson about the topic on most everyone's mind at BEA, the dispute between
Amazon and Hachette. Isaacson said, "When you screw authors, publishers,
and users, and you're trying to be what Amazon is trying to be, then you have a
problem and it has to be resolved." He explained at length: "Amazon
has done a lot of innovation and that's good: there are the Singles, and they
enable people to self-publish. Amazon has had this way of saying 'here's how we
do things in the future.' If they destroy that, it's bad for everybody. I love
Amazon. I buy all my clothing from Amazon. In 1999 I said Amazon was a customer
service company, focused on doing right thing for customers. I think Jeff Bezos
is in danger of losing that sense that he's not in it just for the money
instead of because he cares about making good products. That was the secret of
Steve Jobs. I think this could be resolved, but it's about the perception that
publishing a book is not the same as delivering a button-down Oxford shirt to a
hotel room."
James Patterson also talked more about the
Amazon/Hachette dispute at the ABA Luncheon Wednesday, a day removed from
awarding another $1 million to independent bookstores around the country. His
remarks echoed his earlier Facebook posting when the dispute was first
reported widely to the public earlier this month, with further pointedness:
"Amazon also, as you know, wants to control book selling, book buying, and
even book publishing, and that is a national tragedy."
In other convention news, Next
Big Book, the offshoot of Next Big Sound that has partnered with Macmillan
on data analytics for book sales, won
the BEA Start-Up Challenge Wednesday afternoon.
ABA ceo Oren Teicher addressed the
organization at their annual membership meeting on Thursday afternoon in an
enthusiastic vein: "I could not be more pleased to be able to reiterate -
the indie bookstore resurgence has continued."
At the same time, he noted how "the
aggressive discounting and strong-arm tactics of the dominant online retailer
continue to cause havoc. Its recent bullying assault of a major publisher is
just the latest example of a unilateral and shortsighted strategy. To put it
plainly: the book industry is being held hostage by a company far more interested
in selling flat screen TV’s, diapers, and groceries. It is clear they are
prepared to sacrifice a diverse publishing ecosystem to achieve retail
dominance. That's not good for anyone."
Without providing exact figures, Teicher
acknowledged that ABA members overall experienced a modest sales decline in
2013 after a strong 2012. His phrase was, "After a year of robust sales
growth in 2012, the indie channel held on to the lion's share of those gains in
2013." The opening of 2014 was also soft, due in part to the weather, but
"after a truly brutal winter that depressed retail sales nationwide...
sales in the second quarter have recovered." Teicher said, "There's
every reason to believe that 2014 will be another year of solid sales for the
indie channel."
He celebrated the gains in association
members and member store locations announced informally through the AP, and
celebrated how "a number of established stores are expanding and opening
in new locations, and a whole new generation of younger booksellers are
continuing to join our ranks." Teicher also noted "what may be the
most significant change," which is the recent pattern in which "many
veteran store owners who have put their blood, sweat, and tears into building
successful businesses are finding buyers for their businesses." He added,
"Stores that just a few years ago might very well have closed are now
beginning a new chapters of innovation and growth."
Teicher also announced that the ABA has
signed a new seven-year agreement with Reed "to continue our partnership
at BookExpo America." He noted, "our ongoing co-sponsorship of BEA
with Reed is based on a shared commitment to providing indie booksellers with
the best possible experience - and value - by attending a large national event
such as this."
At the same time, Teicher acknolwedged
"there are also a significant number of threats to indie
bookselling." Among them, "Congressional gridlock seemingly has
delayed progress on national e-fairness sales tax legislation and maintaining
the sensible and needed reformations of the Senate’s USA Freedom Act."
Apparently the ABA also has misgivings about minimum wage legislation, which
"may soon pose very difficult business decisions for members as they work
to maintain the business profits necessary to pay an equitable wage."
Teicher closed by saying, "While I do
not ever under-estimate the challenges we face, by working together, I remain
optimistic and confident that the best days of independent bookselling are
ahead."
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