Get ready to gain access to more great publishing news and information. On Dec. 1, Publishing Business Insider will become a daily e-newsletter, called Publishing Business Today. In addition to exclusive content, previews and special offers regarding the Publishing Business Conference & Expo, the daily e-newsletter will be incorporating Publishing Executive‘s e-newsletter (Publishing Executive Inbox) and Book Business‘ e-newsletter (Book Business Extra). The new Publishing Business Today will serve as the primary and most comprehensive resource for daily news in the book and magazine publishing industries.

We’re excited about this opportunity to deliver more news and a wider perspective on the publishing industry to you. The line between content creators is increasingly blurring, with magazine publishers producing content in book formats, and book publishers producing digital content and developing websites with news and other content. And all publishers are interested in technologies, news and trends regarding digital formats, social media and audience development. So having all the content in one place will enable you to pick and choose what is of most interest to you from a broader array of stories.

Your feedback on the new e-newsletter is welcome anytime. E-mail me at nskodzinski@napco.com, or our e-newsletter editors, James Sturdivant (jsturdivant@napco.com) and Brian Howard (bhoward@napco.com).

I hope you enjoy the new Publishing Business Today.

For more information or to register, visit the Publishing Business Conference website.

The Kindle Fire

• The annual Digital Magazine & Mobile Symposium
• An intensive 3-part E-book Conversion Workshop
• A half-day event on Creating Your Social Media Strategy
• International Trends in E-book Consumption: Bowker will be revealing highlights from its first-ever major study of this scope.
• Maximizing the Use of Mobile Response Codes (QR codes, tags, etc.)
• Audience Development for Magazine Publishers
• Marketing/Discovery for Book Publishers
• The Transformational Nature of the Cloud
• Driving Sales & Revenue for Magazine Publishers
• Developing a Successful E-commerce Strategy
• The Publisher-Author Relationship in Today’s Marketplace

… and much more.

The Publishing Business Conference staff also is thrilled to announce a dynamic keynote address by Marcus Leaver, president, Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. (a Barnes & Noble company) about his perspective on shifts in the industry and moving forward into a profitable future in publishing. “Marcus is a very creative thinker and often makes shifts in the way his company does business before many are aware of how much certain trends will impact their businesses,” says Noelle Skodzinski, Publishing Business Conference director. “He’s also a great speaker, and we’re thrilled to have him delivering a keynote address—it will definitely be something our attendees won’t want to miss!”

Check the website for frequent updates and a full agenda, which will be posted soon: http://www.PublishingBusiness.com … and don’t forget to register by Dec. 1 to be eligible to get your free thank-you gift: the Kindle Fire.

The Publishing Business staff is all fired up about the 2012 free gift. The 2012 free gift will be announced later this month during the Publishing Business Virtual Conference & Expo on Oct. 27, 2011 (Click here to register for free for this online publishing event).

Registration for the Publishing Business 2012 Conference & Expo will also be officially open on Thursday, Oct. 27, the day of the Publishing Business Virtual Conference.

Publishers who register for a 2012 Publishing Business Conference & Expo Full Conference Pass for $1,175 by Dec. 31, 2011 will receive this special free gift that we hope will kindle their excitement for publishing!

“The event is virtual, so registrants can attend from the comfort of their offices or wherever they are at the time,” says Noelle Skodzinski, editorial director for Publishing Executive and Book Business magazines and director of PBV. “That’s part of the draw, but also, as always, we have amazing speakers lined up, ready to share their insights into some of the most pressing challenges and biggest opportunities facing the book and magazine publishing industries right now.”

The event is broken into two tracks: one for book publishing executives and one for magazine publishing executives, but registrants are welcome to attend any sessions that appeal to them.

“We got a lot of input from the board and from our audience on what topics they’d like to see covered this year, and narrowed it down to really hard-hitting topics that can provide publishing executives with practical, take-away strategies. For example, many magazine publishers see great opportunity right now with digital editions, but their challenge is figuring out how to increase their open rates and boost audience engagement. So, we have a session to explore those issues,” says Skodzinski.

“E-book metadata, e-book conversion, e-book trends and pricing strategies are all top-of mind for book publishers right now, so we planned in-depth sessions on all three of these,” she adds. “Digital printing is another hot topic today, and we’re thrilled to have Toby Cobrin from digital printing research and consultancy INTERQUEST moderating a panel with Blake Silber, president of Bridge Publications, and Adi Chinai of King Printing Co. about trends and opportunities in digital printing.”

One of the highlights of the event is the magazine keynote—presented by Neil Stiles, president, Variety—called “Internet Armageddon: Why no one will ever make any money on the Internet.”

“This keynote has already been stirring up some controversy, and he hasn’t even given his speech yet,” Skodzinski notes. “With Variety being one of the first and most widely known publications to launch an online paywall, I can’t wait to hear Neil’s thoughts on this topic. And I’m sure our attendees are going to take full advantage of the opportunity to ask Neil questions during the session.”

Other major topics are:
• monetizing apps and developing effective mobile strategies,
• smart and profitable digital rights management (DRM) and the impact of the cloud on DRM,
• audience development for magazine publishers,
• sales strategies for serving today’s multichannel-hungry marketer,
• social media,
and more.

“Another feature that draws people to the show is the networking opportunities. The virtual environment is a great way for attendees to chat with exhibitors of leading technologies and solutions, and get their questions answered, and to chat with other attendees, either one on one or in the networking lounge,” notes Skodzinski. “It’s a really laid-back, fun and yet informative environment that really works for sharing information and learning.”

Click here for more information or to register.

The Mobile App Readership Survey utilized data from 5136 magazine app users and studied factors such as when and where people use apps, frequency of use, demographic information, actions taken by readers and response to mobile ads.

One-third of respondents were under 35 and four out of five users reported sharing content through e-mail, word of mouth or social media. Eighteen percent were new readers interacting with publishers’ content solely through the app.

Users who engage with a publisher’s content in multiple ways said they visit mobile apps five times per month—as often as they visit a website. They visit digital editions and e-newsletters four times per month, and print magazines three times per month. Almost half of app users (47 percent) spent 20 minutes or more with each issue; 26 percent spent more than 30 minutes.

As for advertising, two-thirds said they take action on ads (only 17 percent found ads “irrelevant” or “obtrusive”), with 40 percent reporting making a purchase because of mobile advertising—either by visiting an advertiser’s website at a later time (16 percent), making an in-app purchase (15 percent) going to a physical store (7 percent) or buying through a catalog (2 percent). One-third said they “gladly” accept advertising as a trade-off for free access.

A majority of readers reported using apps in their spare time, with over one-third saying they look at magazine apps at night and over 20 percent reading on the weekend. Over 50 percent say they look at apps at home.

The survey, conducted between May and July 2011, engaged readers from within apps by asking 22 questions of tablet and smart phone users. Participating publications included 11 consumer titles, 10 business-to-business titles and 4 association titles.