Example of environmental forces at play in Publishing by Kjell Eldor https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434 I would like you to find a recent example (an article, blog or news item) demonstrating one of the environmental forces at play in the Publishing industry: 1. Find an article, blog post or news item 2. Think about which of the forces it relates to 3. Write a short summary (250 words max) 4. Post it to the forum 5. Comment on one other post en-us 2022-10-12 09:11:44 UTC 2022-10-17 09:08:18 UTC hello@padlet.com The task kjelleldor https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2336706040 2022-10-12 09:17:19 UTC https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2336706040 Book Trade responds to Queens death with major Publishers delaying announcements – The Bookseller Sept 12, 2022 https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2336770607 Which forces are related?

Answer: Political, Social and Cultural. 

After the Queens death was announced the publishing world had to tread very carefully out of respect for the situation and those affected by it. Consequently, publishers such as Bonnier Books paused ‘any proactive campaigns related to royal titles during the mourning period’, and Pan Macmillan went a step further by putting a hold on any ‘major new announcements’ for the period of mourning. These decisions are of course a mark of respect for the Queen, but also demonstrate a response to an environmental force at play – it would have been seen as predatory and poor taste to promote any related titles at the time of mourning, and this could have potentially alienated customers who would have been interested in those titles – therefore driving down sales. Furthermore, in regard to unrelated major titles, at this time any announcements made would be eclipsed by the Queen’s death (which was ubiquitous online and in the media) and would have likely been a waste of resources. 

Post mourning period however, it was also an opportunity to capitalise on the unprecedent political/cultural/social situation and Pitkin (an imprint of BT Batsford) were the first to announce a memoir of the Queen authored by royal biographer and broadcaster Brian Hoey. Obviously with the whole thing in the forefront of the British public’s mind it is the most advantageous time to bring out a memoir like this and furthermore, because of the added spotlight on the royal family, other titles related to this will and have sold incredibly well. 

]]> 2022-10-12 10:13:56 UTC https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2336770607 Highly anticipated cookbook's pub date delayed by months because a bulk of the stock ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2336979541 Related forces: Natural, Economic

Two cookbooks (this article only talks about one that's local to the paper and was the more highly anticipated of the two) pushed their pub date from early 2022 to the summer due to losing a bulk of their stock in the middle of the ocean as they were transported from Taiwan (where they were printed) to New York.

A sudden storm hit the ship while they were waiting near the port in NY. What containers were saved, were moved onto a smaller boat and moving them to the new boat and getting to NY and unloading them also added to the immediate delays and added costs of needing to reprint and then transport the additional stock.]]> 2022-10-12 13:05:01 UTC https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2336979541 Paper Shortage Delays Publication of New Titles https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2338487316 Related Forces: Natural and Economic 

In this article it talks about the how the paper shortage has affected the academic publishing in production and had to absorb the rising costs. It says groups in North America and Europe have experience printing delays. With printing schedules taking twice as long forcing the groups now to alter publishing plans it has been causing problems globally. From plant shutdowns, staff shortages, to shipping delays. The solution of choosing different paper and going to different printer had only pushed up costs.  The paper shortage problem won't be resolved overnight or within a year. in the midst of climate change the publishing industry extending beyond academic publishing will need to come up with a solution when it'll experience another extreme paper shortage. ]]> 2022-10-13 10:01:08 UTC https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2338487316 HarperCollins profits are impacted by the increasing overhead costs https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2338642703 https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/90046-hc-sales-topped-2-billion-in-fiscal-2022.html
 
Related forces: economic. 
This article highlights that while sales are increasing, it is becoming harder for companies, such as HarperCollins to make and maintain a substantial profit margin. The article mentions that the higher costs in manufacturing, supplying and inflation are pressuring companies. Despite HaperCollins noting a 10% increase in sales, the profit margin from the previous year only increased by 1%.  This is worrying as it could force companies to increase prices to counteract the increasing production costs and maintain a healthy profit margin. 
 
]]> 2022-10-13 12:14:16 UTC https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2338642703 Penguin cuts off Meal Prep King cook after misogynistic rant https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2341326947 Forces: Social, cultural and technological

Going live on Instagram in August, John Clark (also known as the Meal Prep King and author of cookbooks published by Penguin Random House) went on a misogynistic rant. The clip was shared on social media and went around Twitter. The reaction to the video was, as expected, negative and many people claimed they regretted ever buying his books. Under one of the retweets of the live stream, the publisher wrote that they did not have any contracts with John Clark and did not plan on working with him in the future, condemning his behaviour. I found this article interesting as it shows how the author's bad behaviour can influence the perception of their books and publisher (on Twitter, some people attacked the publisher as well). Interestingly, it shows the impact of social media on the publishing industry, as it helps spread news.]]> 2022-10-15 13:22:06 UTC https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2341326947 UK publishing industry helped to best year yet by TikTok trends https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2341417907 Force: Technological

According to Alex Green, TikTok helped boost the UK publishing industry to its best year in 2021.
Among young adults, fiction books sales (especially YA and fantasy) have been boosted by TikTok’s #BookTok community. 
It can be seen in new releases such as ‘The Crual Prince’ by Holly Black, and also in older releases (which Green doesn’t provide an example for).
]]> 2022-10-15 16:18:19 UTC https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2341417907 https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/88996-black-lives-matter-spurs-a-publishing-awakening.html https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2342090098 Forces: Social

In this article Unger talks about diversity within the publishing industry, the catalyst being the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

He says that almost immediately after the movement started changes were made within the industry.

 "diversity (or the lack of it) and pay parity for minority employees moved from being ancillary issues to being essential for the survival of publishing in an ever-changing society"

Unger concludes by saying that previously many publishers have been 'talking the talk' but he is glad to see that now publishers (big and small) are proudly 'walking the walk'.

The Black Lives Matter movement has clearly made an impact on the publishing industry in both internal and external ways. Although this article referred more to employment within the industry, there are many articles that look at the increase in sales of books written by Black authors.


]]> 2022-10-16 19:16:29 UTC https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2342090098 Climate Crisis and Emerging Genres https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2342121416 Forces: environmental, social

This article explores how the current climate crisis and recent pandemic has resulted in an emerging fiction genre called climate fiction. It's resulted in new authors being published as well as bring backlist titles to the forefront. This is economically adventurous for publishers to capitalized on as they can re-market older titles that have become relevant again to the current environmental state.
Similarly the crisis in Ukraine has resulted in a renewed interest in cold war themes. These are both examples of how the publishing industry is able to respond to the publics concerns and interests by publishing novels that explore our current landscape.
 ]]> 2022-10-16 20:02:37 UTC https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2342121416 How a Tiny British Publisher Became the Home of Nobel Laureates https://padlet.com/kjelleldor/mu1osiyd8nu9s434/wish/2342845620 Fitzcarraldo Editions is an imprint which has recently risen to the fore of publishing consciousness; headed by Jacques Testard, publisher has garnered praise for cultivating a high quality list which consists of not only three nobel laureates for literature (Annie Ernaux, awarded just recently in 2022) but authors whose work has circulated around the award. Considering that the independent publisher has only existed for eight years, that is nothing short of amazing. Now, we have to understand why this has occurred – from the article linked above, I have recognised that the most explicit reason for Fitzcarraldo’s success is a cultural environmental factor. As the article explains, quoting Paul Keegan, British Publishing does not excel in capitalising on foregin authors due to being an insular industry which prefers to work with an Anglo-American Market due to language barriers, ‘...Keegan noted, the fact that Testard reads fiction in French and Spanish, as well as in English, made him able to spot authors whom other editors in Britain’s “Monoglot, insular” publishing world might miss’ (Marshall, 2022) This sentiment of the UK publishing industry’s ignorance through anglophile views persists further within the article, as it states clearly that Jacques Testard benefited from Anglo-American Publishers disregarding foreign fiction due to being unfamiliar with it and thus labelling the acquiring of foreign fiction as a waste of time and a financial sinkhole, ‘Yet he benefited from an attitude among most British and American publishers that foreign fiction was too expensive or difficult.’ (Marshal 2020). Marketers must not limit themselves by developing a knee-jerk attitude towards foreign markets; the main goal of marketing is not only to foster customer engagement and to rejuvenate pre-existing customer relationships, but to find new sources which value can be exploited in. Therefore a barrier for many companies and their marketing teams is a lack of understanding of the cultural factors that either bar them from entering into certain markets due to lack of tack or cause them to unconsciously restrict themselves from joining said markets.

Marshall, Alex, How a Tiny British Publisher Became the Home of Nobel Laureates (2022). Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/13/books/fitzcarraldo-nobel-prize-ernaux.html (Accessed: 16 October 2022).

Kotler, PT, Armstrong, G, Harris, LC, & He, H 2019, Principles of Marketing, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow, United Kingdom. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [16 October 2022].



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