Decline in Italian book revenues in 2011


4.6% HARPER AND PT LAUNCH GLOBAL SYSTEM Joshua Farrington


HarperCollins will introduce a “globally integrated system” for its editorial, marketing and business data, in partnership with Publishing Technology. Te new infrastructure, called


Global Product Manager, will enable staff to access information on all titles around the world, helping to manage their catalogues of books, e-books and apps. George Lossius, c.e.o. of Publishing


Technology, told Te Bookseller Daily what the product meant for staff. “For an editor, for example, the biggest change will be having access to all information relevant to any product,” he said. He said that in terms of


distribution, it would primarily impact on e-books and how they are


makes sense in a digital age to work in a digital way.” l Meanwhile, Lossius was part of yesterday’s Lessons Learned from Digital panel with Bloomsbury executive director Richard Charkin, and c.e.o. of Murdoch Books Matt Hanbury. Chaired by Publishing Association


Lossius


managed. Te system will first be implemented in the US, and it is expected to be in the UK by the end of next year, followed by the rest of the world. Lossius added: “Not all publishers


want the same thing, or to integrate their global strategy, but I can see other publishers following suit. It


c.e.o. Richard Mollet, the panel highlighted how much could be learnt from academic publishing in terms of working collectively, and defended the value of copyright as vital for the future of the industry. Commenting on how a company


report would look in 2022, Charkin said: “It would read, thank goodness we’re an English language publisher, and we got rid of our warehouses in time. Tank goodness we invested in our authors and in staff training. And thank goodness we had trade associations to fight on our behalf.”


ITALIAN BOOKS TRADE SLUMPING


The books market in Italy has “deteriorated significantly” in 2011 and the first nine months of 2012, with bricks and mortar retailers being hit the hardest, according to the Associazione Italiana Editori’s (AIE) report on the state of publishing in Italy. AIE chair Marco Polillo presented the report at Frankfurt Book Fair yesterday. Overall, Italian book revenues


shrunk 4.6% by value to just over €3.3bn in 2011, and 7.3% for the first nine months in 2012 year-on-year. Both independent and chain


bookstores saw sales drop 4.2% in 2011. In terms of market share, however, chains now account for 41.3% of the market (an increase from 36% in 2008), while indies now account for 37.9% of the Italian market, compared to 43.3% in the report five years ago. E-book sales were a bright spot,


soaring 740% in 2011 versus the previous year. Yet with a turnover of about €12.6m, that represents just 0.9% of the entire market.


FABER GETS FRAMED


Faber has formed a new partnership with ani- mator Richard Williams, perhaps most famous for his work on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, creating a digital edition of his book, Te Animator’s Survival Kit, for the iPad. Te expanded edition will include


Segal sequel: Hodder is planning to revamp the novels of Erich Segal, whose first book, Love Story, was made into an iconic film in 1970 starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw, above. Te author died in January 2010. Hodder publisher Carolyn Mays bought British and


Commonwealth rights in Segal’s eight books from Andrew Nurnberg, with plans to launch a new publication programme for the novels starting with a new edition of Love Story in February 2013 for Valentine’s Day. Te other


novels include Oliver’s Story, Te Class, Prizes, and Man, Woman and Child. All the books will be packaged to establish the classic credentials of each novel, and published simultaneously as B-format paperback and digital originals. Mays said: “I am happy to admit to having wept over


Love Story not very long after it was first published, and I am delighted to be playing a part in bringing it and Erich Segal’s wonderful other novels to a new audience.”


more than 100 animated examples of animation, frame-by-frame on the iPad, as well as Williams’ previously unreleased animations and an introductory film. Faber is handling world rights in all languages, with plans to publish in March 2013. A second project, an enhanced


e-book of director Nicolas Roeg’s guide to film-making, Te World is Ever Changing, will also be released in spring 2013. It will include a number of clips from his films and specially made to- camera pieces.


thebookseller.com 11 OCTOBER 2012 | THE BOOKSELLER DAILY AT FRANKFURT 3


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