Last week on the blog, 2012 PubFight champ Bill Holt weighed in on his scientific approach to the PubFight auction. But publishers and retailers alike know there is more to acquisitions and frontlist buying than science alone. While science certainly plays an important role, a lot of seasoned editors and buyers have good instincts about how a new book will sell based on experience—the art of buying rather than the science, if you will. But if you’re new to the industry, how do you learn this art?
How to Win at PubFight
Greetings. After winning the ultra-competitive BookNet house league last year and coming in a close second to grandmaster Carol the year before, I have been asked divulge all my secrets. A ploy by my coworkers perhaps, but who doesn’t like to pretend that they know a thing or two about a thing. Or two. Whatever.
PubFight 2013: Put Your Game Face On
As a relative newcomer to publishing, joining the PubFight league with the people who invented it is a little intimidating.
If you haven’t heard of PubFight, it is a fantasy publishing league that helps to develop inventory and P&L management skills using actual market data. You can learn all about it here.
Now let’s get serious—here are some of the key things I discovered during the BNC auction.
Books to Fight Over: The 2012 PubFight Catalogue
PubFight: Hopes and Dreams
PubFight. This is serious business around these parts.
Like the intern before me, I had heard of PubFight from my days in Ryerson and my first days here at BookNet. But to hear about a fight club and to actually join a fight club are two entirely different games.
Baptism by Fire: PubFighting with BNC Staffers
Da PubFight Is On!
I’ll admit it I’ve never won PubFight, I’m last in my fantasy baseball pool and I didn’t win my hockey pool either, but hope springs eternal. Tis a new season and all past out-of-stock-transgressions are forgotten. My new mantra this year…’Keep’em in stock’.
Web-First Workflow: Confluence Proof-of-Concept
Back in May, Noah blogged about the potential for Confluence by Atlassian to work as a web-first xml workflow solution. His post put Confluence up alongside WordPress from SFU’s Book of MPub (full disclosure: I worked with John Maxwell in 2009 on Start With the Web and still do some related work today) as a contender. Really, any CMS/wiki can work, it’s just a matter of how well it works and whether it works for you.
Printed Catalogues Makin’ My Life Difficult
PubFight in the News
PersonaNonData interviews our very own CEO, Michael Tamblyn, about the past, present and future of PubFighting in Canada (and beyond?).
