Publishing Podcasts Galore !

Back on the 8th of November, I shared some marvelous free downloads from the Frankfurt Book Fair. 

So, here come the freebies again in an article on Publishing Perspectives called, Podcasts for Frankfurt Book Fair’s Publishing Enthusiasts, And Beyond.

Here are some excerpts (you might need them to decide if you want to click that last link...):

“…there’s good listening for publishing people just about everywhere these days on the international podcast scene.”

Alert!

You may want to scroll down past the pictures of Christopher Kenneally and Orna Ross to this header:

International Books- and Publishing-Related Podcasts

Here are bits of the blurbs for those podcasts:

“…this podcast carries author interviews, behind-the-scenes information, and master classes from the literary scene in Hong Kong.”

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“This is a science fiction and fantasy podcast from Pakistan…”

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“This is an interview-based show in which local and international guests talk book publishing, especially in the Indian market.”

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“This is a weekly ‘novel podcast’…”

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“…both an online audio archive and a radio-style pan-African poetry show.”

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“…writers from across the Penguin Random House division’s output.”

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“Each podcast includes a compelling mix of readings and conversation.”

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“This podcast is from the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies.”

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“…for those who still are wild about Harry, this Potter podcast from the fan site…”

Rough estimate—10 hours of listening…
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The Largest Book Publishers ~ 2016

As far as publishing goes, regular readers of this blog know I lean toward Self-Publishing; but, I don’t completely abhor Traditional Publishing… 

Image courtesy of Tracy Olson ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/designkryt-45681

If you go to those last two links, you’ll find 151 posts at Self-Publishing and 41 posts at Traditional Publishing… (This post might be at the top of both those lists…)

So, it seemed time for another article on the Traditional folks :-)

The information I’ll give you about traditional publishers isn’t restricted to the USA’s Big Five.

It comes from Publishers Weekly and lists The World’s 52 Largest Book Publishers, 2016.

Check out that last link for more info about the list; but, without further ado, here is that list:

Rank 2016	Rank 2015	Publishing Group or Division	Parent Company	Parent Country	2015 Revenue in $M	2014 Revenue in $M
1	1	Pearson	Pearson PLC	UK	$6,625	$7,072
2	2	ThomsonReuters	The Woodbridge Company Ltd.	Canada	$5,776	$5,760
3	3	RELX Group	Reed Elsevier PLC & Reed Elsevier NV	UK/NL/US	$5,209	$5,362
4	4	Wolters Kluwer	Wolters Kluwer	NL	$4,592	$4,455
5	5	Penguin Random House	Bertelsmann AG	Germany	$4,056	$4,046
6	7	China South Publishing & Media Group Co., Ltd	China South Publishing & Media Group Co., Ltd		$2,811	$2,579
7	6	Phoenix Publishing and Media Company	Phoenix Publishing and Media Company	China	$2,755	$2,840
8	8	Hachette Livre	Lagardère	France	$2,407	$2,439
9	9	McGraw-Hill Education	Apollo Global Management LLC	US	$1,835	$1,855
10	11	Grupo Planeta	Grupo Planeta	Spain	$1,809	$1,943
11	12	Wiley	Wiley	US	$1,727	$1,822
12	12	Scholastic	Scholastic	US	$1,673	$1,636
13	18	HarperCollins	News Corp.	US	$1,646	$1,667
14	14	Cengage Learning Holdings II LP	Apax and Omers Capital Partners	US/Canada	$1,633	$1,708
15	20	Springer Nature	Holtzbrinck & EQT and GIC Investors	Germany, Sweden, Singapore	$1,605	$1,167
16	16	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company	US/Cayman Islands	$1,416	$1,372
17	15	China Publishing Group Corporation	China Publishing Group Corporation	China	$1,402	$1,495
18	NEW	Zhejiang Publishing United Group	Zhejiang Publishing United Group	China	$1,364	–
19	10	Holtzbrinck	Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck	Germany	$1,231	$2,000
20	21	China Education Publishing & Media	China Education Publishing & Media Holdings Co. Ltd.	China	$1,154	$1,108
21	19	Oxford University Press	Oxford University	UK	$1,137	$1,181
22	22	Informa	Informa plc	UK	$1,073	$1,075
23	23	Shueisha	Hitotsubashi Group	Japan	$1,013	$1,033
24	29	Kadokawa Publishing	Kadokawa Holdings Inc.	Japan	$1,009	$793
25	24	Kodansha Ltd.	Kodansha Ltd.	Japan	$969	$997
26	26	Shogakukan	Hitotsubashi Group	Japan	$850	$859
27	27	Bonnier	The Bonnier Group	Sweden	$827	$836
28	25	Egmont Group	Egmont International Holding A/S	Denmark	$786	$896
29	30	Simon & Schuster	CBS	US	$780	$778
30	28	Grupo Santillana	PRISA SA	Spain	$702	$793
31	31	Woongjin ThinkBig	Woongjin Holding	Korea	$552	$577
32	32	Klett	Klett Gruppe	Germany	$540	$560
33	35	Messagerie / GeMS	Messagerie Italiane	Italy	$502	$460
34	18	De Agostini Editore*	Gruppo De Agostini	Italy	$483	$1,367
35	33	Groupe Madrigall	Madrigall	France	$478	$531
36	34	Les Editions Lefebvre-Sarrut	Frojal	France	$432	$482
37	38	Cambridge University Press	Cambridge University Press	UK	$399	$409
38	36	Media Participations	Media Participations	Belgium	$371	$426
39	37	Mondadori Libri	The Mondadori Group	Italy	$350	$410
40	40	Westermann Verlagsgruppe	Medien Union	Germany	$327	$364
41	42	Sanoma	Sanoma WSOY	Finland	$307	$355
42	43	Cornelsen	Cornelsen	Germany	$284	$346
43	46	Haufe Gruppe	Privately owned	Germany	$279	$285
44	44	Kyowon Co. Ltd.	Kyowon Co. Ltd.	Korea	$277	$312
45	46	WEKA	WEKA Firmengruppe	Germany	$253	$286
46	45	La Martinière Groupe	La Martinière Groupe	France	$246	$292
47	49	Gakken Co. Ltd.	Gakken Co. Ltd.	Japan	$239	$257
48	52	EKSMO-AST	Privately owned	Russia	$233	$211
49	51	OLMA Media Group	Privately owned	Cyprus	–	$213
50	50	Bungeishunju Ltd.	Bungeishunju Ltd.	Japan	$201	$216
51	53	Groupe Albin Michel	Groupe Albin Michel	France	$194	$204
52	57	Shinchosha Publishing Co, Ltd.	Shinchosa Publishing Co, Ltd.	Japan	$182	$176

* The 2015 sales figure for De Agostini reflects sales of books and partworks only; it excludes all other revenue.

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If you don’t see a way to comment (or, “reply”) after this post, try up there at the top right…
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Writer Beware !

None of us wants to be told we’re acting childish.

Image courtesy of Umut Kemal ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/umutkemal

Yet, how many times have you thrown caution to the wind, thrust your trust out front, and been sorely burned because you didn’t act in a completely mature manner?

I’m 68 and I still, occasionally, do that—though much less than in my fifties :-)

But, if you’ve spent years creating a novel and you’ve decided to not wait years for a possible contract with a traditional publisher and you’re sure you want to self-publish (and, you’ve been very adult in making the decision to self-publish), you might still be scammed by one of the shadiest companies on the planet.

One of the best people I know who’s been sniffing-out the tactics of this particular company is David Gaughran.

And, if you take that last link, do click on all the menu tabs at the top—he has some of the best advice for writers wanting to explore self-publishing…

I’ve featured David in nine other posts ; but, his most recent post—The Case Against Author Solutions, Part 1: The Numbers—deserves a few excerpts to encourage you to go read it:

(What this scamming company does to find the people they dupe—bolding by me…)

• Paying bloggers, websites, and companies a “bounty” based on how many writers they can deliver to Author Solutions.
• Buying a huge presence at writers’ events such as the Toronto Word on the Street Festival the Miami Book Fair International, and the LA Times Festival of Books.
• Setting up a whole string of misleading websites which purport to offer independent self-publishing advice, but which actually only recommend Author Solutions companies (such as iUniverse, Xlibris, AuthorHouse, and Trafford).
• Lots and lots of advertising, particularly Google AdWords ads, to drive inexperienced writers towards these deceptive websites, as well as SEO to push down critical voices.
• Setting up fake social media profiles of people claiming to be independent publishing consultants… who only recommend Author Solutions companies.
• Spambots – because the world needed more of them.

As if that weren’t enough to make you act like a discerning adult, how about the “marketing packages” they push once they’ve hooked someone:

“Author Solutions uses high-pressure tactics and emotional button-pushing to sell these wholly unsuitable, completely ineffective, and hugely overpriced marketing services to these inexperienced writers. The papers filed in the class action suit mirror the hundreds of complaints that I’ve received and read in this regard also.”

And what about that traditional publisher who bought Author Solutions—Penguin Random House?

Here’s what the Chairman said when they merged:

“We spent time getting to know the people [at Author Solutions] and their sophisticated operation. They have skills that can help us at Penguin.”

So…

If you’re considering having your book published, don’t let the innocence of your youthful spirit stunt your growth as an author—do, go read David’s full article (and, bookmark his site so you can read Part 2…).
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Help! I’ve Been Scammed!!

 It appears that, just as big banking can get away with anything they do, so can big publishing.

Consider this answer to a comment on David Gaughran‘s blog [bolding by me]:

“…Author Solutions has proved to be an expert at creating a veneer of legitimacy. Appearing at literary festivals…is just one small aspect of that grand plan (and it really doesn’t help when they are invited to speak onstage at events like BEA either).

“Think about that (faux) legitimacy for a second. They are owned by the largest publisher in the world – Penguin Random House. They have partnerships with HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Writers Digest, Hay House, Sony, Overdrive and Lulu – all respected companies. For example, if you go to the Sony Ebookstore and look for information on how you can publish there, you are sent to Author Solutions…and it’s the same with Overdrive.

“On top of that, they run a number of fake websites, purporting to be independent publishing information sites, that only recommend Author Solutions companies.

“The people they target aren’t experienced writers/self-publishers. They target those *without* experience (and the knowledge and instincts that come with experience). These people look at the companies partnering with them, look at the company that owns them, see the festivals they appear at, see their ads in places like the New York Times and the Bookseller and they think ‘these guys must be okay.’”

That rather lengthy quote was just one of the 38 comments on David Gaughran’s post, Author Solutions Takes Signing Scam To Miami Book Fair.

I’m glad I was poor when I got serious about getting published.

I didn’t have the thousands of dollars unsuspecting writers pay to companies like this…

Some of David’s commenters claim that anyone spending thousands without investigating a deal deserves it; yet, Gaughran responds, “I really don’t blame anyone for falling for it.”

From the body of that blog post is revealed the sickening fact that Author Solutions made half a million dollars at the Miami Book Fair in 2012.

And, guess what? You can get scammed this year, too. Unless you heed the warnings, calm your fevered author’s heart, and do the hard work book promotion demands…

Penguin Random House owns Author Solutions yet they have other operations like the $9,600 dollar scam offered through Simon & Schuster in that image.

And, they have a few other aliases they work under: AuthorHouse, Xlibris, iUniverse, Trafford, and Palibrio.

A couple of David’s commentors mentioned that an author could spend only $1,000 and have their own booth for the book fair.

Do you feel outrage at these companies or do you feel anyone paying them deserves what happens?

I published my latest book for $300 and I’m using my Sweat Equity to, slowly, encourage folks to read it—long haul promotion…

There’s another good place to get info on author scams and I certainly hope my readers will share this kind of information, as widely as possible…
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For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
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