Pushing Boundaries at BookCampTO

BookCampTO is an annual “unconference” that invites anyone and everyone who loves books to come be part of a day of conversation about books, writing, the publishing industry, and more.

The unconference is presented by CanBPA, and BookNet is proud to have co-sponsored this year’s event.

BookNet’s Tom Richardson co-presented a session on metadata & ONIX with eBOUND Canada’s Christen Thomas, and Lauren Stewart co-presented a session on events with Chris Reed of Small Print Toronto. Below, Tom reports back on the sights and sounds of BookCampTO.

How BNC Turned Me into a Data Junkie

I am told that I am the longest running intern that BookNet has ever had; which in my eyes makes me the luckiest.

As someone who is at the beginning of her career, I don’t think I could have asked for a better launch pad, nor could I have picked a better staff to learn from. To the entire team at BNC, thank you so much for making feel welcomed and secure, and for taking the time to teach me things that I would not have had the opportunity to learn elsewhere.

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Looking Back at Book Pricing Trends

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In October 2005, BookNet Canada began tracking sales data on print books in the Canadian market, including average list and selling prices. Consumer prices on other goods had long been tracked, but this was the beginning of comprehensive, national, data gathering on books.

At the time, a bag of roasted coffee beans cost $11.25/kg, a domestic stamp was $.50 and a ticket to the movies cost just over $6.00. Today, coffee is close to $20/kg, mailing a letter will set you back $.62, and a 3D movie ticket can cost as much as $18.00. It seems that everything we consume is getting more expensive.

But a new BookNet Canada research study, available to SalesData subscribers only, has revealed that books are bucking the trend…

An Orderly Transition from ONIX 2.1 to ONIX 3.0

In my last post, I looked at what it means to implement ONIX 3.0, and came to the conclusion that it meant carrying enough “granularity” to improve metadata accuracy to support international sales. And I suggested that even ONIX files shared only within Canada will still need to implement new support in order to co-exist in a supply chain that supports international metadata. I hope that I also showed that ONIX 2.1 supports most of the same ability (even if ONIX 3.0 does it better), and that international support means everyone pulling up their meta-bootstraps.

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PubFight 2013: The Art of the "Comp"

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Comp titles in CataListLast 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.

Ethics, Data and More at Book Summit 2013

Data has a way of stimulating discussion - there’s just something about hard facts that gets people thinking in exciting new ways. There was a lot of data being presented at this year’s Book Summit conference in Toronto, and it seems clear that the industry is doing a lot of thinking about what data it needs, and how to use that data to reach more readers with books that they really want to buy.

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If You Build It, They Will Build

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Publishing Hackathon logoAs the book industry focuses on reaching web-enabled readers, there’s an increasing need for technologies, like apps and APIs, that can be built quickly and altered often. This is why last month, a week before BookExpo America, New York played host to a significant publishing event: the Publishing Hackathon!

 

 

BookNet Canada is a non-profit organization that develops technology, standards, and education to serve the Canadian book industry. Founded in 2002 to address systemic challenges in the industry, BookNet Canada supports publishing companies, booksellers, wholesalers, distributors, sales agents, industry associations, literary agents, media, and libraries across the country.

 

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