Industry News Update by Diana

Publishing Trends reported:

HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray estimates that 40–50% of HarperCollins’s business will be digital within the next five years.

Just got around to creating a page for your company on Facebook? Sorry: Fan pages are “very 2009,” said Lisa Marino, CRO of RockYou. Facebook now has over 400 million users sharing over 25 billion pieces of content every month, and publishers must be on top of the really new trends. First, recognize the importance of social gaming—playing games within Facebook. Name brands are using these games to promote sales - offer coupons and sell virtual goods. The virtual goods will switch over to real goods in the near future. How about promoting that new bestselling novel by offering it as a virtual sale?

Tech Crunch reported:

At the 2 million mark, Apple said the iPad had over 5,000 new apps for the iPad. Clearly this number has more than doubled, to 11,000 total iPad apps. There’s no doubt that iPads are flying off the shelves, as Apple sold a million devices in less than a month.

As previously announced, the iPad will be available in nine more – but still unnamed – countries in July and additional countries later this year.
Gartner Research:

Ernie Cormier, CEO of mobile advertising solutions company Nexage, predicts within the next year or two, smartphone sales will exceed desktop PC sales, and eventually the total smartphone base will exceed the total computer base.

Library Journal offered a webinar June 17th on Christian Fiction:

Christian fiction is not easily categorized, though most readers would agree that there is a core of biblically-based attitudes, values, and actions, and likely there would be very little, if any, profanity, sex, or violence. Generally, Christian fiction has religious themes infused into a regular genre story. But there are as many subgenres in Christian fiction as there are in popular fiction—from cozy mysteries to legal suspense to fantasy. And readers aren’t all looking for the same message—Christian historical fiction can inform and entertain, while women’s fiction may be sought for comfort or advice.

Christian fiction gives readers characters and situations that demonstrate the growth of faith, the depth and breadth of moral responsibility, the possibility of conversion and redemption, and examples of Christian living for men and women of all ages, races, and cultures. Many libraries are seeing an increased demand for Christian fiction with more readers looking for inspirational and uplifting stories and finding good writing in newly discovered places, contributing to the cross-over appeal of this growing genre. And Christian Fiction publishers are changing with the times to add a wider variety of stories—including grittier, edgier thrillers and steamier romances—to appeal to that expanding readership.


Publishers Weekly Announced:

Hachette Expands FaithWords' and Center Street's New York Presence

Hachette Book Group has hired two new senior-level employees in its New York office. Kate Hartson is now senior editor for the Center Street imprint, and Andrea Glickson is marketing director for the FaithWords and Center Street imprints. All of FaithWords’ and Center Street’s marketing has been moved to New York. Most editorial is still based in Nashville, Tenn.
The company also announced that editor Christina Boys, who works in Nashville, will now focus exclusively on acquiring fiction for both FaithWords and Center Street imprints.

I hope you found some encouragement here in just a few recent posts around the web of industry news and that you all are enjoying your summer! It is going too fast for me.

From my heart to yours,

Diana