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Friday, December 10th, 1999 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Barnes & Noble Selects IBM To Provide Print-on-demand Technology Barnes & Noble, Inc. has announced that IBM will provide Barnes & Noble and barnesandnoble.com with the technology and manufacturing components for print-on-demand facilities in its distribution centers. This technological capability will enable the company to offer customers a wider range of titles, including e-books, without the company having to invest in any additional physical inventory. The first facility will be operational in the Jamesburg, New Jersey distribution center by spring 2000. The print-on-demand process is a new method for printing books one copy at a time. From start to finish, the entire process takes under five minutes. The technology also makes books available in all electronic formats. Barnes & Noble and IBM have been working with a pilot group of publishers over the past few months, and Barnes & Noble intends to bring its range of digital services to the entire publishing community early next year. Barnes & Noble's arrangement with IBM will also support its recently announced investment in iUniverse.com. "Barnes & Noble is going digital in a big way. Our new deal with IBM will enable us to convert massive amounts of content in a fast and efficient manner into high-quality printed and electronic books," said Steve Riggio, vice chairman of Barnes & Noble, Inc. "Barnes & Noble's success has always been rooted in its commitment to offering the widest selection of titles. We now stock virtually every known book in print, with almost one million titles on the shelves of our distribution center. No other bookseller comes close to that number. Print-on-demand enables us to push the envelope even further." New Woman Magazine to Cease Publication Rodale Inc. has announced that it has decided to stop publication of New Woman Magazine with the January 2000 issue. The decision was announced to the staff of New Woman by John Griffin, President, Rodale Magazines. "Despite the hard work of a great team led by publisher Laura McEwen and editor Judy Coyne, we have made the decision to close New Woman," Griffin said. "The team has done a terrific job in repositioning and revitalizing the magazine. While the response in the advertising community has been positive, we believe that in today's highly competitive consumer marketplace, it would be difficult for New Woman to achieve a leadership position. In particular, the challenges facing the magazine industry in the subscription and newsstand sales market created tremendous obstacles to achieving our company's goal of leadership in circulation." The decision will impact about forty-five positions, primarily in the magazine's offices in New York. The magazine currently has a rate base of one million and is published twelve times per year. It was acquired by Rodale in July of 1997 from Primedia Inc. The magazine first began publication in 1970. Times Mirror Magazines to Acquire Motor Boating & Sailing Magazine Times Mirror Magazines has announced a plan to acquire Motor Boating & Sailing magazine from the Hearst Corporation. Efrem Zimbalist III, President and CEO of Times Mirror Magazines stated, "The decision to buy Motor Boating & Sailing demonstrates our ongoing commitment to acquire strong brands in attractive markets that fit with our outdoor enthusiast editorial focus." MB&S debuted in 1907 and has chronicled the growth of boating over the past century. Motor Boating & Sailing is a service title that helps its readers buy, maintain and get the most out of their boats by providing how-to information as well as covering the lifestyles of committed boat owners. Success Magazine Moves to Raleigh, NC Success Magazine, a national publication founded in 1897 for entrepreneurs, will relocate its corporate headquarters from New York City to Raleigh, North Carolina and publish in its new format in spring of 2000. Success has a readership of more than one million. An investor group based in Raleigh is purchasing the magazine, and the deal will close on December 21, 1999. The Success Companies, the new parent company of Success, will publish 10 issues a year and reestablish trademark and licensing ventures of the Success brand name. In addition, the holding company will explore the development of Success Online and Success TV to expand its content offerings. Victoria Conte, president of The Victoria Group and a long-time consultant to publications and companies such as Dow Jones, Working Woman, Inc., and Success, will serve as publisher of Success. Success will have a staff of 25 employees, in addition to freelance writers, photographers and other contributors to the magazine. Dr. Ripley Hotch, former editor of Communication News and Nation's Business magazines, will serve as editor of Success. The headquarters for both the magazine and The Success Companies will be in the First Union Capital Building in downtown Raleigh. "Success has a 100-year old tradition of serving the entrepreneurial business owner," said Conte. "Success has identified and featured emerging entrepreneurs such as Michael Dell, Bill Gates and Richard Branson. We look forward to restoring Success to its original focus of helping individuals enhance their skills and knowledge so they may achieve their own success. We will also take Success a step further to bring e-commerce and Internet intelligence to our readers as they take their companies into the next century." Webzter.com Retained to Build Writerscape.com Webzter Corp. has announced that it has been retained for the development of Writerscape.com. Webzter has provided Writerscape.com e-business modeling consultation, e-business technical design and Internet image development services. Writerscape.com will provide a virtual exchange mechanism for the author and publisher marketplace. For example, if a publisher likes a work on Writerscape.com, that publisher will be able to bid for the rights of that author's work and the author can choose to accept or reject the offer. Randy Moffett, Writerscape.com president and chief executive officer stated: "Writerscape.com is positioned to capture the great works of great authors throughout the world. Our business concept is still that of a proprietary nature, but the marketplace will take strong notice upon release of our business model." Leading Telecom Journalist Joan Engebretson Joins America's Network Joan Engebretson, former editor-in-chief at Telephony magazine, has joined America's Network, a telecommunications publication. Contributing editors joining Engebretson include: Alan Pearce -- former White House and FCC senior advisor, David Isenberg -- former member of technical staff at AT&T and Susan Bahr -- telecommunications attorney in Washington, D.C. "Our leadership in providing the highest quality editorial in the industry is bolstered once again by our continued investment in building an editorial team unmatched by the industry," reports Paul Semple, publisher of America's Network. America's Network is a telecommunications business magazine written for corporate, engineering and marketing professionals at new and incumbent carriers. America's Network is part of the Advanstar Communications global portfolio of telecom publications and trade shows in North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Simon & Schuster Chief Executive Jonathan Newcomb Joins netLibrary Board of Directors netLibrary, a provider of eBooks and information, has announced the appointment of Simon & Schuster Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Newcomb to the netLibrary Board of Directors. "Jon Newcomb brings a wealth of publishing industry experience to netLibrary," said Timothy R. Schiewe, netLibrary president and chief executive officer. "With Jon's help, we will continue our efforts to bring eBooks to libraries and consumers and provide the best eBook solution to publishers." Newcomb, 52, has served as CEO of Simon & Schuster since June 1994. Prior to his appointment as chief executive, Newcomb served as Simon & Schuster's president and chief operating officer, and executive vice president of operations, a role he assumed in 1988. The Bond Buyer Appoints New Managing Editor Thomson Financial Media has announced the appointment of a new Managing Editor for its flagship daily newspaper The Bond Buyer and The Bond Buyer Online. Amy Resnick has been promoted to Managing Editor for the daily newspaper of public finance and its related Web-based products, taking over for Michael Stanton who was appointed Editor in Chief this past November. Resnick previously held the position of National Tax Reporter for The Bond Buyer. Prior to this Resnick was the State and Local Government Reporter for The Bond Buyer covering Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, along with federal policies on welfare reform and other aspects of devolution as they affected state and local finance. Prior to joining The Bond Buyer, Resnick was a reporter for The Fairfax Journal covering local government, schools, and state politics. In her new position, Resnick will be responsible for the content of The Bond Buyer daily, its affiliated Web-based products and managing The Bond Buyer's news-gathering resources. She will work on the development of new products and provide direction for The Bond Buyer's evolving coverage of public finance. "Amy brings to this position a diverse background, in addition to public finance, experience in covering such areas as the state transportation, education issues and politics," commented Thomas F. Curtin, Vice President and Group Publisher of The Bond Buyer. "The innovative and responsive approach to editorial management that Amy has displayed will significantly enhance our ability to meet the needs of the industry." Two Guys Take On Cliff Notes Mark Saldanha and Michael Burgess have launched Schoolbytes.com, a website aimed at high school and college students with one philosophy: make complex stuff easy, entertaining and free. "I'm just looking forward to taking down Cliff Notes and rocking the internet world of study aids. Students pay enough damn money for tuition and stuff, and we want to save them money. That's why we're free" says co-founder Saldanha. Their most popular section to date is the irreverent plotbytes. They have developed a cult-like following in the student community because they are free and students can understand the language they are presented in. They include standard literature guide elements, along with Schoolbytes elements such as a "Things to make you look smart" section. An excerpt from the plotbyte of Beowulf. "Then Beowulf hears about the monster He gets 14 of his buddies (from Geats) to come with him to kick the monster's ass. Beowulf goes to Hrothgar's house (castle) and is pretty cocky about how easily he can kill the big monster. One of Hrothgar's soldiers, Unferth, says that Beowulf is full of shit about what a good fighter he is." Around the Web Ask Jeeves, About.com Ink Distribution Pact InternetNews.com Battle of Britannica and Encarta Connected Does Oxygen Have Enough Money to Burn? BusinessWeek Grateful Dead Launches Book Arm PublishersWeekly Green Mile Maker Runs the Course MSNBC Hearst Idea Lacks Seal Of Approval -- Advertisers DowJones.com Primedia Pursues New Media by JVs, Ad Deals Media Central Raleigh's News & Observer Names Publisher Editor&Publisher San Antonio Paper, TV Station Partner Editor&Publisher Sting of the Dot.com Brain Drain MSNBC When Journalists Go E-commerce OJR Click here to return to the homepage of The Write NewsTM Click here to subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter.  www.writenews.com Copyright © 1997-2007 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
