The Future Of Publishing Blog by Thad McIlroy
December 3rd, 2008
The last full-time job I had was in the late 1980s at a Toronto-based company called McCutcheon Graphics. It’s where I gained the knowledge that allowed me to later set out on my own as a consultant and publishing industry analyst. The president of the company, John McCutcheon, was a one-of-a-kind businessman (now retired). I…
October 26th, 2008
According to an entry on Oprah Winfrey’s blog, called “Oprah’s Favorite New Gadget,” “This summer, Oprah received a gift that she says changed her life. ‘It’s absolutely my new favorite favorite thing in the world,’ she says.” It’s nearly November and she hasn’t found another favorite favorite thing in the world? I guess she already…
September 11th, 2008
By now it’s widely-accepted that few if any publicly-traded companies are as inextricably linked to the fate and fortune of their commander-in-chief as is Apple Computer and its CEO Steve Jobs. It’s almost a fairy-tale story: the early growth of the company, Steve’s adoption of and then ousting by that soft drink man followed by…
August 30th, 2008
Audiobooks have become a respected and profitable appendage to the book publishing industry. According to the Audio Publishers Association: The Voice of the Audiobook Industry, audiobook sales were estimated at $923 million in 2006 (this year’s survey has not yet been released). The Book Industry Study Group estimates that total U.S. books sales in 2006…
August 23rd, 2008
I’m catching up on my old New Yorker magazines. I prefer the print version because the best articles are long, and, I think, far more enjoyable to read in print than on the Web (although The New Yorker has become increasingly generous in sharing most of its content on the Web). Today I read a…