Book Publishing Software News

Klopotek Software as a Service

2009-10-29T01:09:00.003-04:00

Klopotek rights, royalties and editorial management software is now available as a Software as a Service.

Small and medium sized publishers can access online a standardized version of the Klopotek software for a monthly charge.

You can start with 4 users and gradually add on more users and functionality as you need them.

For more information visit http://www.klopotek.com/

Configuring QuickBooks for Royalty Software

2009-10-29T01:02:00.004-04:00

Do you know how to configure QuickBooks for use with your royalty software?

http://www.royaltysoftware.info/ has a free report that tells you how to do just this.

This report covers;

Configuring your general ledger to properly track royalty related assets, liabilities and expenses

Customizing your product record so that you can easily export information that includes information such as ISBN, product format (paper, hardcover, eBook, DVD) and subject area.

Customizing author records so that you can export only the author record and assign an ID number to each author vendor.

Easy Royalties Website

2009-07-19T20:24:00.007-04:00

JDC Software's American distributor has a website: http://www.easyroyaltiesusa.com/ that provides the browser with a information about royalties and the royalty software.

Not only does it provide you with information about their software, but they also provide (in their support section) a royalty software guide that lists solutions from other vendors.

In the news section they provide links to articles about royalties - such as royalty rate announcements, author royalty audit results and sample royalty statements.

US Naval Institute Implements knk Publishing

2009-07-19T19:51:00.004-04:00

The US Naval Institute recently implemented Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Navision) and the knkPublishing software.

knkPublishing solution is 100% integrated with Dynamics NAV and certified by Microsoft.

From a user's perpective this means that they are working in one software solution. The knkPublishing menus and screens are seamlessly integrated into the Navision screens.
From the IT manager's perspective this level of integration means that there is no need to export information out of a publishing system and import it into an accounting solution.
From management's perspective this 100% integration means that the information in the system is always current. When information is entered into any module - be it financial or knkPublishing - information in the other modules are instantly updated.

Press Release

knkPublishing - live at U.S. Naval Institute

The US Naval Institute (USNI) - a 135 year old publisher of provocative defense analysis - successfully launched knkPublishing in June 2009. Employing knk Publishing, USNI was able to bring together accounting, magazine management and advertising sales data bases.

knk Business Software AG is the only Microsoft certified partner in the world providing full integration for publishing software services. With knkPublishing, the U.S. Naval Institute benefits from a single database solution merging and streamlining the organization's business processes.

USNI's CTO Rick Woodcock on how knkPublishing will impact company profits:

"We are certain the new capability will create efficiencies. More importantly, we believe it will allow us to better fulfill the Institute's mission of providing an independent forum for international defense issue debate - by allowing us to better recruit and retain members, and sell more books, magazines, advertising, conference registrations and heritage materials.

The improved ability to smartly mine existing data will significantly increase our capabilities in marketing, production forecasting, promotional campaign tracking, book list management, production projections and more. The immediate demonstrable benefits - and additional perks we are certain will emerge in coming months - would not be available to the US Naval Institute were it not for the meticulous support and technical expertise of our support team at knk Business Software AG."

The Go-live of the knkPublishing modules "Rights, Royalties and Licenses", "Book Editorial Office & Production" and "Book Distribution" is planned to be realized in January 2010.

Company Website: http://www.knk.com/

End of Press Release

Project Success Tips

2009-06-08T00:01:00.004-04:00

At Book Expo America 2009 we talk to publishers and vendors about successful and unsuccessful implementation experiences. These conversations basically confirmed a few rules for successful projects;

Rule 1. Appoint a project manager.

Rule 2. Appoint an experienced project manager, someone who knows your company and its people. Not a greenhorn that was hired just a week or two ago.

Rule 3. Keep it simple. Ideally, you don't want to customize the software.

Rule 4. Keep it simple. Don't want attempt to integrate a best of breed application that the vendor has no experience with. It will cost you money and time, and may not work.

Rule 5. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. Hold weekly status meetings and make sure that the top people - the publisher, the CFO and the vendor's project manager attend.

Rule 6. Don't be afraid to shake the tree. If you have a problem take it to the top.

Rule 7. Keep a single list of outstanding issues. Circulate it. Make sure that its updated. Such a list helps to focus attention on the issues that it presents.

Rule 8. Go for a rapid implementation. The faster that you implement the software the less it will cost you in terms of money and staff time. Moreover, you will see benefits from the software sooner.

BEA 2009 - knkPublishing

2009-06-01T16:20:00.002-04:00

At Book Expo America 2009 we met with Wayne Kopesky, of Solution Dynamics. Solution Dynamics is the North American distributor of knkPublishing Software - the only Microsoft Certified Publishing Solution for Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Navision).

We discussed their latest projects and came away with two interesting tidbits from a recent implementation;

First, the external auditors of a publisher that implemented knkPublishing were very impressed by its audit trail.
Second, this publisher's controller was able to provide her CFO and the board a set a consolidated financial reports that were unavailable with their previous system.

In the next few weeks we aim to interview officials from this company about how knkPublishing is working from them.

BEA 2009 - Klopotek

2009-06-01T16:11:00.002-04:00

Klopotek announced their software as a service offering at Book Expo 2009.

Essentially, publishers can now purchase on-line access to Klopotek applications - such as rights and royalties, editorial planning and title marketing information. What sets Klopotek's offering apart from other SAS solutions is the breath of Klopotek's offering. They have a wide range of optional modules that are ready to go. You can start with Rights and Royalties and add-on production management at a later time.

This SAS offering also has a pre-configured selection of software settings that speeds up the implmenetnation. A small press, using a standard configuration can be up and running in under a month.

Klopotek's SAS offering makes this solution, previously marketed to companies with sales of $30M+, an attractive option for publishers with sales of $10M or more.

BEA 2009 - Hi Point Software

2009-06-01T15:49:00.003-04:00

We also met with representatives of The Siroky Group at Book Expo America. The Siroky Group (of Toronto, Canada) owns Hi Point Software, a complete ERP solution for book publishers and distributors.

Our conversations with them confirmed the continued growth of their client base and we reviewed the satisfaction of their clients with their rapid modification policy. Essentially, The Siroky Group has a reputation for rapid implementation and release of client feature requests. When a client requests a new feature, its often added at no additional cost and rolled into the standard product. Where a competitor might charge $5K to add a single new field, TSG may charge nothing.

We also discussed their EDI functionality - a stand feature of their program - and why they don't advertise this feature. Whereas other solutions may require you to purchase an EDI module (and EDI translator software), these features are built into the Hi Point Software. Wow! With Baker & Taylor (and Amazon, B&N and others) requiring EDI order placement, confirmation and invoicing this feature will become a required feature for publishers and distributors, and Hi Point offers it for free.

BEA 2009 - IBS Bookmaster

2009-06-01T15:39:00.004-04:00

At Book Expo America we met with representatives of IBS Bookmaster to check up on their current projects and learn about their future plans.

During these conversations we learned that the top two add-ons for IBS Bookmaster are Integrator and their document management software.

Integrator automates file transmissions between any two (or more) IT systems. For example, you can tell Integrator to access a file at FTP location every 10 minutes, move the file to a new format, use it to update a specificed SQL database and send an email when the process is completed. What sets integrator apart from the competition is its price - about $25K as compared to $55K to $100K for competitive products.

The IBS Bookmaster document software allows the user to link any scanned document to the appropiate record(s). What sets it apart from other systems is that the user can search these documents for any phrase.

We confirmed that IBS Bookmaster is on schedule for a release of its new java based interface. This JAVA based GUI allows the user to customize the screen by user (or user function) by positioning panels where they want.

BEA 2009 Hosted Royalty Software

2009-05-30T10:19:00.003-04:00

At Book Expo we talked to three vendors offering hosted royalty software solutions;

In summary, each vendor offers a royalty solution that can be accessed from any PC or MAC with an internet connection. Each software as a service offerings manage the software updates and data backups for you. The solutions are highly scalable and runs on an MS SQL or Oracle database engine. How do they differ?

We found the Media Service offering to be the clear leader in ease of use with its built in wizards that guide you through key functions and its intelligent search engine.

Klopotek's offering gives publishers an unmatched opportunity to add on functionality for other functional areas - such as editorial management, production management, title information management and more.

Publishing Technology's solution is provides a wide range of user customization options and powerful work process management tools.

Which to choose? All three solutions are comparably priced. We suggest that you 1) document your current and future requirements, 2) review all three solutions and 3) check references. Then select the solution that offers the best fit for your organization.

Avatar Book Publishing Software

2009-01-25T22:10:00.005-05:00

We recently received email about Avatar book publishing software for publishers and distributors. Here is a quick summary of its functionality. In the next few months we plan to talk to a few of their clients to get there view of Avatar.

Developed by CLB LittleJohn, one of the top 30 UK accounting firms, this software offers publishers a fully integrated ERP solution that handles everything from accounting, financial analysis, inventory, marketing, rights, royalties, subscriptions and more in one fully integrated database.

From our review of the Avatar website four aspects of Avatar's offering set it apart from most competitors, these are;

1. Turnkey Implementation Services - that includes project management, data conversion, network & hardware implementation and training.

2. Title Management module offering fully integrated production management and scheduling.

3. Totally integrated financial accounting and financial analysis solution.

4. Fixed price implementations.

Who do we see as their competition? From our perspective their UK competition is Media Services, the Trilogy Group and Publishing Technology - companies that are based in the UK or have UK offices and target small to medium sized publishers.

For more information about Avatar visit their web-site or contact them via:

Email: mailto:avatar@clblf.com
Phone: +44 (0)20 7516 2200

Easy Royalties & Vendor Specific Product Codes

2009-01-21T22:34:00.004-05:00

Do you publish eBooks? If you do it's likely that your eBook resellers use their own product codes; not your ISBN's, in the sales reports they provide to you.

The latest version of Easy Royalties supports Vendor Specific Product Codes. This functionality allows the royalty software to automatically link the unique product codes used by a vendor (such as Overdrive) to the appropriate ISBN in your system.

Now your royalty staff can import distributor sales files without having to spend hours or days replacing the vendor's unique product codes with the publishers own ISBN (product code).

You can download a 30 day trial copy of Easy Royalties from http://www.easyroyaltiesus.com/.

Easy Royalties is an affordable and easy to use royalty software solution with title based pricing that ranges from $500 to $10,000 USD.

Data Conversion Data Security

2009-01-21T01:20:00.006-05:00

A book publishing software implementation project requires that you protect your data conversion data files against theft.

Our company; Kensai International, protectes a client's data by;

1. Backing up the data to hardware encrypted hard-drives. If the computer is turned off or the drive is unplugged the data cannot be accessed until the the drive is reactivated with a password. Even if the drive is stolen and taken apart the data on the drive is protected as the encryption service is built into the drive controller. Which drives do we use? Maxtor Black Armor hard drives. Rugged, reliable and highly secure.

2. PGP is used to create encrypted virtual-disk partitions that can remain locked even when the whole disk is unlocked and automatically revert to the locked state after a specified idle time. Files on the virtual disk are always encrypted (while the disk is unlocked, PGP simply encrypts and decrypts on the fly).

This means that if a hacker managed to breach our hardware firewall and our software firewall they still can't access the publisher's files stored in the locked PGP encrypted-disk partition.

3. Once the client is live and the client has signed off on the project completion all copies of client data files are destroyed using PGP Shredder.

"PGP Shredder completely destroys files and folders so that even file recovery software cannot recover them. Deleting a file using the Windows Recycle Bin does not actually delete it; it sits on the drive and eventually gets overwritten. Until then, it is trivial for an attacker to recover that file. PGP Shredder, in contrast, immediately overwrites files multiple times. This is so effective that even sophisticated disk recovery software cannot recover these files."

If a client wants us to send them a copy of the data files that we worked on; before we destroy our copy, we provide it on a hardware encrypted Black Armor Hard Drive.

FYI: Bertelsmann AG, the owners of Random House, uses the PGP® Encryption Platform to protect confidential data in emails as well as on laptops and file servers.

National Book Network Live with IBS Bookmaster

2009-01-21T00:49:00.007-05:00

The National Book Network, one of the largest independent book distributors in the United States, went live with IBS Bookmaster ERP software in November 2008.

From our perspective the most interesting facet of this implementation was that NBN's distribution operations experienced no down time during the switch-over.

For details on this system conversion, read the following excerpt from National Book Network's October 2008 Newsletter:

SYSTEM CONVERSION FORTHCOMING, by Jed Lyons, CEO

"Almost four years ago, we made a decision to convert our distribution center in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania from what was then a manual operation into an automated facility with state of the art technology and equipment. We are now preparing for the culmination of our four year plan and conversion to an enhanced computer platform, IBS/Bookmaster, this Fall.

During the past four years, we have invested over $5 million in new computer software and hardware, conveyor systems, racking, and other equipment designed to improve our order fulfillment and distribution capabilities. Many of you have visited Blue Ridge Summit, but for those of you who have not, here is what you will see today if you come for a tour:

1. A 285,000 square foot facility supplemented by 190,000 square feet of storage for slow-moving inventory.

2. A paperless warehouse environment which relies entirely on handheld computers (“RFD’s” radio frequency devices) that direct pickers to pick locations using machine readable barcodes.

3. An automated conveyor system which propels orders throughout the picking area carrying cartons from the warehouse floor up to a three story mezzanine where orders are picked by zone and then diverted to gravity slides that consolidate orders by national account.

4. A workforce of 350 individuals working two shifts a day five days a week and on weekends when necessary.

As the publishing industry’s supply chain has become ever more sophisticated, the requirement to invest in new technology and equipment has accelerated. The 13 digit ISBN, license plating, automatic shipment notification (ASN) and other recent developments mean that we are constantly investing money in our systems in order to stay competitive.

Our operations team has spent the last two years planning for the conversion to a new computer platform, IBS/Bookmaster. We have invested thousands of hours and $2.5 million in the new system. We are pleased to report that we are on schedule to go live this Fall.

IBS Bookmaster was developed specifically for the book industry and includes many improvements I’m confident will please you.

We know from experience that computer conversions are always challenging which is why we started in 2006 to prepare for this one. In anticipation of the Fall go live date, we have been testing literally every module and every component of the new system in real time on the warehouse floor and throughout the other departments in Blue Ridge Summit.

The distribution team has been running the system for several months now with actual order picking that utilizes the IBS/Bookmaster technology. The Credit and Collections department has been using the accounts receivable collection module with great success and the customer service department has been keying test orders and processing EDI test orders for the past three months.

One of the areas that has received a great deal of attention is the reporting that you will begin receiving in the Fall. The new, enhanced reports are web-based......They also include a host of new features you will learn about in one of the publisher report training sessions we are scheduling in the coming months."

To learn more about National Book Network visit http://www.nbnbooks.com/

Publishing Software Industry Goes .NET !

2009-01-21T00:22:00.007-05:00

An increasing number of publishing software vendors have adopted Microsoft .NET as their platform for future product development.

At the StartWithXML Conference in January we learned that Klopotek's product development plans include a switch to the .NET platform.

A few months earlier Publishing Technology (aka Vista) announced that they selected Microsoft .NET and MS SQL as their platform for future product development. Their .NET based modules available now include CRM and Membership, with the Rights and Royalties module scheduled for release in a few months.

The president of Cyberwolf, the developers of ACUMEN Book ERP software, discussed his company's SQL product development plans and Cyberwolf's use of MS SQL and .NET in their turn-key hosted ecommerce platform for publishers.

Hosted Fulfillment & Subscription from Publishing Technology

2008-10-28T16:42:00.002-04:00

From Sales Representation to Fulfillment Systems

The true versatility of Publishing Technology

As part of the recently announced news concerning the global expansion of the agreement between BioOne and Publishers Communication Group (PCG), a division of Publishing Technology, the Publishing Technology group will not only provide exclusive worldwide marketing, sales representation and library customer service for the non-profit web-based, collaborative of high impact bioscience publications, but has also implemented hosted fulfillment and subscription modules from the author2reader™ platform to manage back office needs of the organization.

Prior to the implementation of the hosted author2reader system, subscriber information was managed on two different systems, making updating and maintaining consistency a challenge.

The new author2reader system provides one authoritative resource for customer, product, and subscription information. The flexible nature of author2reader has allowed the system to be configured to meet PCG’s specific business requirements for its BioOne program.

Jeff Downing, Global Marketing and Sales Director for BioOne, commented, “The new system allows PCG’s BioOne team to work more effectively and efficiently, while providing excellent levels of customer service.” The hosted solution allowed for a quick implementation and smooth transition. Mr. Downing elaborated, “The system is so easy to use that minimal training of PCG staff was required, and to accommodate busy schedules, training was available in person as well as remotely. We were also able to cutover from our previous system with no down time. The old system was shut off at the end of the business day and the new system was up and running without issue the next morning. We couldn’t have asked for more from the implementation team.”

This project is a prime example of how versatile and extensive Publishing Technology’s offerings truly are. George Lossius, CEO of Publishing Technology explained, “The divisions of Publishing Technology worked hand and hand in this project to ensure a well tailored solution to meet the unique needs of the PCG BioOne program. This project has once again validated our reasoning for merging the two organizations – VISTA and Ingenta – to form Publishing Technology.”
To learn more about our range of solutions, please visit www.publishingtechnology.com or email info@publishingtechnology.com.

###
For more information, please contact:
Morayéa Pindziak
Publishing Technology plc
Tel: +1 732 563 9292 x269
Email: morayea.pindziak@publishingtechnology.com

Emily Taylor
Publishing Technology plc
Tel: +44 (0)1865 397873
Email: emily.taylor@publishingtechnology.com

Editorial Manager Webinar Nov 3rd, 2008

2008-10-28T15:45:00.005-04:00

Klopotek is hosting a webinar for their new and very affordable Editorial Manager software. Read the press release below;

Calling all editors!

What could you do with a tool that:

* helped you plan and calculate your publishing projects?
* accurately provided forecasts?
* allows for project collaboration with others or works standalone?

For $1 a day, you can get these and other benefits from "Editorial Planner"

Developed by Klopotek whose software supports more publishers, with more users in more locations, than any other software company.

To find out more about Editorial Planner and obtain a trial version, sign up for a Webinar on the following dates.

Webinar Dates: Nov 3rd, 11am, November 5th 1pm EST
Contact: g.logan@klopotek.com

Dashbook v2 Released

2008-07-13T21:04:00.003-04:00

Version 2 of Dashbook, an affordable solution for very small publishers has been released.

Version 2 enhancements include;

Network Level supports multiple users.
Enterprise Level supports one or more users on Microsoft SQL Server.
Sales channels for different royalty percents based on order or buyer.
PayPal integration to pay authors directly.
Royalty payment thresholds avoid small payments.
Hold payments on royalties to postpone payments.
Contact communication history to record your emails, phone calls, etc.
Product inactive switch removes old products from sale choices.
Copy products, royalty agreements, orders and contacts to reduce typing.
Extended product descriptors add more like subtitle and media type.
Editable invoice quantities allow consignment sales of partial stock.
Import book data from the internet based on multiple ISBNs.
Fractions on product weight because small numbers add up.
Social security number / tax ID numbers added to all contact types.

Great Commissions Publications Selects Media Services Solution

2008-07-13T20:58:00.004-04:00

Great Commission Publications selected Media Services Group's Élan Book to replace their current Order Power fulfillment system. The agreement will provide Great Commission Publications with Élan Book, Financials, and E-Commerce Web Services. The new software system will be hosted through The Media Services Group’s high-security ASP (Application Service Provider) facilities and accessed by GCP over the internet.

Argosy Books Selects Vista's Fulfillment Application

2008-06-27T22:49:00.003-04:00

Argosy Books, Ireland’s only independent wholesaler, has selected VISTA’s fulfillment application in a hosted (AHS) environment to enhance the management of inventory and support electronic (EDI) ordering. To complement the system, Argosy will also implement VISTA’s e-commerce module to support their online warehouse.

Read the Vista Publishing Software Press Release

World Bank Goes Live with Klopotek Rights & Royalties Software

2008-06-27T22:33:00.004-04:00

The World Bank Office of the Publisher went live with Klopotek’s Contracts, Rights & Royalties software in March 2008 following the successful implementation of the Editorial & Production software in February.

The Office of the Publisher, is the publishing arm of the World Bank. It handles all official publications bearing the World Bank’s ISBN and manages the World Bank’s intellectual property.

Read the Klopotek Book Publishing Software Press Release

Software Price Lists

2008-06-06T15:26:00.003-04:00

Not all book publishing software vendors have a printed price sheet.

Anko and That's Rights post their prices on their website.
Acumen has a printed price list that they send to qualified prospects.

National Book Network Switches to IBS Bookmaster

2008-06-06T15:06:00.005-04:00

The Self Awareness ( www.shelf-awareness.com ) ; daily enlightenment for the book trade, website reported that NBN is implementing IBS Bookmaster.

"Tom Luckinich has joined Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group and National Book Network as director of IT operations, where he will manage the MIS department and support daily operations as the company prepares to switch to IBS/BookMaster. He has held IT management positions for 20 years at several companies, including Westinghouse Electric."

Read the source documment or go to Shelf-Awareness.com and search the archive for IBS Bookmaster.

Klopotek's Information ViewPoint

2008-04-22T23:11:00.005-04:00

Two weeks ago we saw Klopotek’s Information ViewPoint product and were amazed. Its modern, easy to use and customizable for the user. In our view, its a clear competitive advantage vs. products offered by other vendors.

What is Information Viewpoint? In a nutshell it’s a web based customizable view of information that users want to see. Users select the fields that they want to see and position them by dragging them on the screen. It has a modern clean look, similar to that of Microsoft Outlook.

An example of a report created using ViewPoint is a Title Revenue Analysis. It shows sales by year with a drill down to sales by month and sales by Order type. You can access it online via the web and control access by user or user group.

Information Viewpoint integrate with most Klopotek modules including; Product Planning and Production, Contracts Rights & Royalties, Book Sales & Distribution, Journal Sales & Distribution, Customer Care Management and Advertising Sales and Management.

For screen shots have a look at the ViewPoint brochure.

A lot of companies focus on adding new features, but they overlook the need to make the information easily accessible to the end-user. From our point of view Klopotek’s management has focused their R&D on information accessibility. We saw this first with Production Cockpit, then Authors Online, Business Objects Universe for Production and now ViewPoint. Its a focus that is really setting their solution apart from the competition.

Quality Solutions Now Firebrand Technologies

2008-04-22T15:26:00.003-04:00

Its been a long time coming, but Quality Solutions is now FireBrand Technologies.

New technology, new software, web based applications, and an updated website for the 21st century.

The first release, Title Management 7.0 will allow a publisher to link together information from all the different aspects (texts, chapters, videos, etc.) of a title or titles to one property.

An article in the the April 21st issue of Publishers Weekly reports that purpose is to help the publisher manage all of their digital workflows.

The new website is: http://www.firebrandtech.com

Acumen Webinar

2008-04-02T15:29:00.003-04:00

Today we had the opportunity to view an Acumen webinar of their new features.

Acumen's webinar was different from that of knkPublishing in that they used a fictional business to demonstrate their new functionality.

Thus use of an imaginary business case really made the webinar come alive for attendees and lead to a lively question and answer session at the end of the demo.

knkPublishing Webinar

2008-04-01T23:58:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to view the knkPublishing webinar for book publishers.

It was a good introduction to the software but it could have been much better as there was little exchange between the presenters and the webinar viewers.

From my perspective;

1. I would have liked to seen current knkPublishing users commenting on how the knkPublishing software has helped their business. There are some really large publishers using knkPublishing, and their participation would have brought a level of shock and awe to the webinar for they have some pretty dramatic stories to tell.

2. There was too much emphasis on the accounting functionality of the core Microsoft Dynamics NAV product, and not enough on each of the publishing specific modules. Sure its great that you can instantly save reports to word or excel or reformat reports, but it would have been more informative if they walked you through a case of a publisher actually using the software to manage the production schedule for a title instead of just showing your screen after screen with a multitude of fields.

Prices are Negotiable

2008-03-28T18:47:00.003-04:00

For most vendors, prices are negotiable. Show them that a competitor is offering a lower price and "some" vendors will adjust their prices if it is for a "comparable" system.

How large can these adjustments be?

In the past we have seen vendors adjustment their prices by 10% to 33%.

Which firms are most likely to offer the largest price adjustments? Its new vendors that are entering the market and need references to obtain future sales or vendors that are desperate for a sale.

eBooks 103

2008-03-27T22:02:00.003-04:00

Once you are using POD to monetize your back list and are providing digital files to DARs (Digital Asset Resellers) its time to create new products from existing intellectual property, as that is where you will maximize income.

In this area publishers are using many strategies.,

1. Some such as Harlequin are selling eBooks by subscription. Readers get access to books before their published release.

2. O'Reilly is selling whole book PDFs along with short article based PDFs.

3. Random House is experimenting with the sale of individual chapters.

The key for success is to define digital products that will maximize revenue for your products. What works for one publisher may not work for another due to differences in content, the size of their back list and the number of new titles they produce each year.

eBooks 102

2008-03-26T22:36:00.003-04:00

Following up on my last post where I suggested that publishers signup with DARs, digital asset resellers;

1. Each DAR specializes in a specific area of the market. NetLibrary does best with professional books accessed by university students. Ingenta excels at the marketing of journal articles. Sony eBook is great for works of fiction. So target your efforts at the DARs that excel at handling your type of book.

2. How much can you expect to earn? At the time this article is being written a small publisher with sales of about $5M in New York gets 3% of their sales from digital resellers.

3. To faciliate the tracking of digital sales one should assign a new ISBN to your digital products. Some authorities recommend a seperate ISBN for each digitsal format, but for most publishers a single new ISBN for all digital formats (Sony eBook, Mobipocket, Adobe Digital Book) of the entire book is sufficient for sales analysis purposes.

eBooks 101

2008-03-25T22:44:00.003-04:00

There is a lot of talk in the industry about digital publishing, and many publishers ask what is the best way to proceed.

First, I would start with Print on Demand for old slow moving back list titles. If you do it through Ingram's Lightning Source they will take orders you send them and pick, pack and ship the books to the customer for you within 24 hours. Once your titles are listed as being available through POD with Lightning Source they are listed as being in stock at Ingram, the largest book wholesaler in the United States.

Second, then I would contact a DAM; Digital Asset Manager, such as LibreDigital or Code Mantra to convert my existing titles to digital books (they will do this for a minimal fee). Once this is done the next step is to sign agreements with digital asset resellers so that they can start selling your titles. Who are these DARs? They include eBrary, NetLibrary, Amazon, Sony eBook, OverDrive, eBook.com and many more.

Llewellyn Selects Elan Rights & Royalties Software

2008-02-19T10:43:00.002-05:00

"Llewellyn Worldwide, a leading publisher of New Age books and related products, has signed a contract with The Media Services Group to implement the Élan Rights and Royalties software application. Details of the agreement will see the new system implemented alongside the company’s current Oracle financials and fulfillment software."

Read the Media Services Press Release

Publishers Group UK installs Vista Hosted Solution

2008-02-19T10:39:00.004-05:00

"January 30, 2008 —VISTA, market leader in applications to support the publishing supply chain, is proud to announce that Publishers Group UK (PGUK), a market leader in book sales and distribution representing publishers from the UK, Europe and the USA, has selected VISTA’s fulfillment and financial applications in a hosted (AHS) environment. The hosted applications require minimal maintenance from PGUK’s perspective allowing their mainly non-technical staff to focus on their business of marketing, selling and distributing books."

Read the Vista Press Release

Software Selection Options

2008-02-18T22:47:00.003-05:00

What are your options?

Any company looking for software should look at all of their options;

1. Integrated software
2. Best of breed solutions
3. Custom designed software

and

1. Standalone vs.
2. Hosted solutions

That said, there is no one best solution. You must select the software that best meets the requirements of your organization.

Dyanamics GP (Great Plains) Royalty Module

2008-02-18T17:25:00.004-05:00

The Eclipse Rights & Royalty Management System (ERRMS) is the only software solution that is totally integrated with the mid market Microsoft Dynamics™ GP ERP package.

It is designed for Publishing, Music, Entertainment, and Merchandising companies who find it costly or disruptive to manually manage low value transactions, or to deal with intrusive SOX or trademark-initiated audits by “bounty-hunting” external auditors.

For more information visit: Eclipse Business Dynamics

SAP IPM Implemented in 4 Months

2008-02-17T22:47:00.004-05:00

Medium sized publishers rarely look at SAP. They think that its too expensive and/or that it takes too long to implement.

That is not always true. The Nomos Publishing House implemented SAP IPM (Intellectual Property Management) and SAP CRM (Customer Relationship Management) in four months with the assistance if IDS Scheer.

"After the initial identification of the specialist requirements, a small team began work on the project in mid-September 2006. The finished fee settlement for the publisher for the year 2006 was hot off the press at the end of January 2007. This enabled Nomos to start making automatic postings for financial accounting and payment runs to the authors — in record time and the result of an excellent partnership."

Read the press release about this implementation of SAP IPM.

If your publishing company has growing sales of $50M USD and needs a customizable intellectual property management solution I would include SAP IPM among the solutions that I would evaluate.

knk Publishing Software Comes to America

2008-02-10T04:22:00.002-05:00

knk Business Software (http://www.knk.com/ ) is a European vendor of book publishing software modules certified for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Navision) product line.

Their first implementations in the United States are due to start soon and both sites are expected to go live by the end of the year. One publisher is in the Midwest and this solution is being implement by Solution Dynamics (http://www.solutiondynamics.net ) - a Microsoft Dynamics NAV VAR) and the other is on the East coast. We will let you know who they are as soon as knk Business Software AG releases a press release.

What sets knk Publishing apart from competitive book publishing solutions is that their book publishing software modules are 100% integrated into the Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP product.

Users work from one user interface - the Dynamics NAV user interface. This means that users don't have to switch between programs and the IT staff doesn't have to export information from one system and import into another.

Seminar Software

2008-01-27T02:51:00.000-05:00

Some non-fiction publishers earn revenue by hosting conferences and seminars.

A number of years ago a publisher I know started a conference program. The first conference was hosted at the New School; a college, in New York City and broke even. Over the following years conferences grew to account for about half a million in net income a year for this publisher.
Conferences provide immediate revenue from prepaid registrations and qualified names for a publisher's direct marketing campaigns.

A conference needs;

Speakers - for whom the host is expected to pay airfare, hotel, meals and transportation and
Attendees - which are usually gained via a direct mail and internet advertising campaign and
A location - which can be a hotel conference room or a university lecture hall
Handouts for the attendees

Revenue from a conference usually includes;

Registration fees

Sponsorship Fees
Exhibit Income
Book sales
Tape sales

If you are planning to begin a semianr program the appropiate software can make your life a lot easier. Conference software will track participants, generate conference badges, take credit card payments, provide a financial summary of conference revenue, and send automatic conference registration and reminder emails.

The following three vendors market seminar management software;

These include;

The Media Services Group

Media Services solution is part of a hosted solution that can also handle royalties, book sales, inventory management subscriptions and production management. A total ERP solution for book and periodical publishers.

SolutionDymanics.net - the Midwest USA VAR for Knk's Microsoft Navision's Publishing Software

KnkPublishing Event's management module is tightly integrated with Microsoft's Dynamics Navision ERP software. For more information on the Knk offering visit http://www.knk.com/

Regonline.com

Regonline is a online hosted solution, that charges a fee based on the number of seminar attendees. For small events the price is $4.75 per attendee.

Pearson to Install IBS Bookmaster in Europe

2007-12-29T02:37:00.000-05:00

A recent press release from IBS, excerpted below, on the decision by Pearson to install IBS Bookmaster at sites in Benelux, Spain and Poland, Korea, Taiwan and Japan highlights what we see as one of the key competitive advantages of the IBS Bookmaster solution;

IBS Advantage: IBS with offices in 22 countries supports, installs & maintains their software with local staff.

"IBS has signed an agreement with Pearson, a leading international media company, for the installation of Bookmaster, IBS’ publishing and book distribution solution, in four European countries. The planned installation includes software, services and hardware with a total value of EUR 4.5 m.

Pearson, one of the world’s leading media organisations, first installed IBS Bookmaster, a software solution designed specifically for publishers and book distributors, in Australia in 1991. Today, the software is used in Pearson’s publishing and book distribution operations in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India and South Africa, with Korea and Taiwan scheduled to go live in 2008 and Japan in 2009.

Based on Pearson’s positive experiences from their relationship with IBS in Asia, Australasia and Africa, Pearson has decided to expand the installation of the software to include four additional locations in Europe including Benelux, Spain and Poland. In total, 260 concurrent users will use IBS Bookmaster, which covers everything from editorial and book production, to distribution, warehouse management, e-commerce, business intelligence and royalties."

Production Scheduling for Book Publishers

2007-11-06T14:14:00.001-05:00

When I walk into a publisher, the most frequent question is what production management tools are available for publishers.

The book publishing specific tools - such as those offered by Klopotek for publishers with sales over $30M USD, Vista or Quality Solutions are often too expensive or hard to customize.

The one tool that small and mid-sized publishers use most often is FileMaker. FileMaker is an affordable database program designed for ease of use and the software that we recommend to small and mid-sized publishers looking for a solution that they can customize to meet their needs.

At http://www.filemaker.com/solutions/customers/industry/printing_publishing.html you can find stories about publishers that use FileMaker.

These include; Harvard University Press (a scholarly and trade publisher), Rebus (a medical publisher), and Holt, Rinehart and Winston (a text book publisher) .

IT Security - External Threats #2

2007-10-31T15:05:00.000-04:00

One of the biggest threats to security occurs when managers access their corporate systems from remote PCs, which may or may not be secure.

Currently, we are recommeding that employees of our larger clients use an IRONKEY usb flashdrive with hardware security and 128 digit encryption to initiate all remote accesses.

Why?

"It starts with the onboard IronKey Password Manager. As you visit your online sites, the Password Manager will ask you if you want it to remember your usernames and passwords. These are then stored with hardware encryption on the IronKey drive.

When you wish to log back into one of your accounts, the Password Manager compares the website that you are visiting with the website where you originally entered your password. If they match, the Password Manager enters your password for you without you having to type it in. If they do not match, then you may be on a phishing site, and the Password Manager will not enter the password for you.

This gives you simple but effective protection against phishing attacks and spyware that tracks your keystrokes."

IT Security - External Threats #1

2007-10-30T16:39:00.000-04:00

Recently we reviewed the IT security systems for a publisher, who shall remain nameless, that had just undergone an audit by a CPA firm. The CPA firm overlooked a major hole in the publisher's management information system (MIS) security.

In our experience, 95% of security threats are internal (employees of the company) and 5% are external (hackers, viruses and worms).

ERP solutions, that store data in encrypted files are relatively secure against external threats provided that the external threat (i.e. hacker) can't gain access to a user id and password that allows access to the system and the user id that allows access to the ERP software.

At this publisher, we found that although the internal systems were secure managers who accessed the system's web site interface remotely were often doing so via systems that had expired internet security and firewall software or in two cases had turned off the security software on their laptop (as they said that it slowed their internet access).

With the security software on the external laptop turned off or expired, it would have been relatively easy for a hacker - perhaps using keyboard logging software - to obtain a copy of the user's userid and password as he entered it.

IT managers need to review and secure external internet access with an integrated set of policies, procedures, software and hardware designed to protect the company's property and customers.

New Software Vendors - Risks and Benefits

2007-08-24T16:48:00.000-04:00

Looking at a new software vendor, a vendor with a small but growing customer base?

At Kensai International, Ltd. we tend to prefer established vendors with a customer base of 100 or more publishers, that said solutions from new vendors usually offer unique advantages over that of more established vendors.

These advantages include;

a. Features not offered by their larger competitors.

Example, iPub ( http://www.ipubtech.com/ ) and HiPoint ( http://www.hisoftwareinc.com/ )solutions offer integrated EDI processing, a feature for which some competitors charge $15 to $25K.

b. Newer Technology

New vendors are more likely to have software built using the latest software development tools.

c. Lower Pricing

With newer solutions that have a small customer base there is a risk that they will be here today and gone tomorrow.

To evaluate this risk we recommend that a publisher consider three factors;

Is their customer base growing?
Can they cover their operating expenses?
Do they have "glowing" references?

SAP Book Publishing Software

2007-05-28T11:40:00.000-04:00

SAP's book publishing software offers two unique advantages when compared to other solutions.

First, it offers the most highly customizable software solution available for book publishers that want a customized solution. When Random House realized they a customized rights solution for their unique needs they were able to construct a customized solution in SAP. Standardized software for larger publishers; such as IBS Bookmaster or Klopotek, does not offer this flexibility.

Second, SAP is multilingual. Workstations in Japan, Germany, United States, Russia and France can access a centralized database in their own language. This feature allows a multinational publishing company to standardize their operations around a single solution that provides management with real time information on their global operations.

That said, in our experience, SAP is best suited for large book publishing companies with sales or $100M+ USD. Why? In the past we have suggested that multilnational publishers with sales of $30M to $75M contact SAP. SAP was not interested in dealing with them, and recommended that they seek other solution providers.

Cats Pajamas Signs 4 New Contracts

2007-05-27T23:04:00.000-04:00

Four publishers selected the Cats Pajamas software offered by the Media Services Group.

The publishers are:

New York Botanical Gardens Press, the largest publishing program of any independent botanical garden in the world.

Smithsonian Books which will use Cat's Pajamas to calculate and process rights and royalties.

Kumon Publishing North America, a subsidiary of Kumon Publishing Corporation, an educational publisher founded in Japan in 1988.

Eastern Washington University Press

Bookmaster Selected by EMC Paradigm Publishing

2007-05-27T22:57:00.000-04:00

PRESS RELEASE
IBS North America, March 15, 2007

EMC Paradigm Publishing signs a software license agreement for IBS Bookmaster software.

EMC Paradigm Publishing, which recently celebrated fifty years in the publishing industry, has signed a software and services agreement with IBS to install the world-leading software suite for publishers – IBS Bookmaster. The new system will include financials, book production, inventory control, warehouse management, subscription management, royalties and retail management.

“The IBS Bookmaster software suite will help take our publishing business to the next level, while making us more competitive and more efficient,” states Pat McKeown, Director of Information Systems, EMC Paradigm Publishing. “We are especially looking forward to the Book Production Module that will be able to track our process from inception to final printing. Throughout the evaluation process, we felt that the IBS Bookmaster software was the most comprehensive of all the software applications we looked at.”

About EMC/Paradigm Publishing

For more than 50 years, EMC Paradigm Publishing has been committed to developing quality educational materials and providing personalized service to educators. Their School Division offers textbook programs in World Languages, Business Education, Literature, and Language Arts with supplementary and multimedia materials. The College Division offers textbook programs in Computer Technology, Allied Health, Accounting, Office Technology, Distance Learning, Staff Development and Biotechnology with supplementary and multimedia materials. EMC has customers throughout the US and Canada.

Acumen Rights Management Module

2007-05-27T22:47:00.000-04:00

The new Acumen Rights Management Optional Module enables you to manage rights submissions and contracts, and increase lucrative subsidiary rights sales. Subsidiary rights sales provide the benefit of leveraging existing intellectual property into other industries, geographic regions, and languages.

While the core ACUMEN system provides basic support for rights sales, the Rights Management Optional Module builds on the basic rights features by integrating Submissions, Customers, CRM, Regions, Products, Invoices, Accounting, Royalties and Cash Receipts into a full-featured system that enables you to manage all aspects of rights submissions and contracts—from the initial contact to the signing of a contract and receipt of royalty payments.

CyberWolf Inc. has been helping publishers grow since 1990 and is used by over 180 publishers. To learn more about ACUMEN Book®, visit www.acumenbook.com.

Sales Channel Statistics: 2006

2007-03-22T15:16:00.000-04:00

The Wall Street Journal of March 22, 2007 reported that book sales by sales channel for 2006; according to R.R. Bowker LLC, were:

38% - Traditional Retail
24% - Library
18% - Non Bookstore Retailers
13% - Online
05% - Book Clubs
02% - Direct publisher to consumer sales

Lerner Books Selects Global & Klopotek

2007-03-17T15:55:00.000-04:00

Press Release from Global Turnkey

Minneapolis-based Lerner Publishing Group, specializing in educational books for K-12 markets, has selected Global Turnkey Systems (GTS) as its publishing solution provider. After an 8-month review of solution alternatives, GTS – a division of Klopotek – was chosen for its range of functionality and professional team. The full spectrum of software from GTS’ UNISON and Klopotek product lines will be implemented to handle Lerner Publishing Group’s publishing lifecycle, from acquisition through distribution. Having recently merged with Klopotek, GTS is able to offer Klopotek’s industry-leading front office solution for title management, production and rights management. GTS’ UNISON product line covers the sales, distribution and accounting needs of Lerner Publishing Group’s back office. Lerner Publishing Group’s distribution center operations will be streamlined and automated through the implementation of GTS’ newest integrated module: Warehouse Management.

Adam Lerner, CEO of Lerner Publishing Group, stated, “GTS offered us the back-end system we need to meet our strategic goals in fulfillment and distribution. With Klopotek we’ll have a fully integrated publishing system, from planning to shipping. As an independent publisher, we look for strong and long-lasting business partners. The collaborative approach GTS took right from the start has been impressive. The addition of Klopotek made this an ideal solution for LPG."

Margaret Wunderlich, VP/CFO of Lerner Publishing Group, stated, “The integrated solutions from GTS and Klopotek will help us streamline our publishing process and gain valuable efficiencies in our distribution operations, while establishing a platform for growth that Lerner Publishing Group has planned for the next several years. The GTS team shows a strong depth of knowledge of the publishing process and is able to understand the unique requirements of our environment.”

Media Services Opens Office in Brazil

2007-03-17T01:42:00.000-04:00

Media Services Press Release:

"São Paulo, Brazil - February 9, 2007 - The Media Services Group, a leading provider of integrated publishing and event management solutions, recently announced the opening of a new office in Brazil. Based in the city of São Paulo, MSG Brazil will sell and support a number of core software applications that have been translated into Portuguese and adapted for the Brazilian marketplace, including the latest releases of Ad Manager, Sales Prospector and Right & Royalties.

"The publishing market in Brazil has grown significantly over the past several years and we see a number of great opportunities here," explained Frank Skwirut, Vice President of MSG Brazil. "There simply aren't many software options for Brazilian publishers looking for flexible and dynamic business systems. Our value proposition is very simple: Better software means better business."

Founded in 1985, The Media Services Group provides integrated software solutions and related services to publishing and event management businesses worldwide. Software modules include Book Publishing, Circulation Management, Directories Publishing, Membership Management, Advertising Management, Event and Conference Management. Offices in: Seattle, Santa Monica, Phoenix, Houston, Stamford, Toronto, London and São Paulo.

What is a 1+1=3 Acquisition?

2007-03-16T11:33:00.000-04:00

We classify a book publishing software vendor's merger or acquisition as a 1+1=3 if it has a dramatic effect on the sales of the vendor's publishing software.

Example: 1+1=2 Acquisition

The Media Services Group Ltd's 2005 acquisition of S3 Pubtech; and its CisPub book publishing software product line, complemented their existing Bookworks product line, increased their customer base among book publishers & distributors, and improved technical support for existing customers; however, it has not lead to increased rates of sale for either book publishing software solution - CisPub or Bookworks.

Example: 1+1=3 Acquisition

International Business Services' (a $300M+ company) 2005 acquisition of TMS ($10M+ company) and their Bookmaster book publishing software dramatically increased the sales potential of Bookmaster. The number of new clients signed up in the United States has greatly increased since the merger and Bookmaster is now supported and sold by IBS offices in 22+ countries. The software is being extended to support the Spanish language, and support for additional languages is forthcoming. This merger has the potential to quadruple the sales of Bookmaster.

Vista Merges with Ingenta PLC

2007-03-14T21:53:00.000-04:00

In February Vista; a leading book publishing software provider of ERP solutions, merged with Ingenta, a provider of online publishing services to form Publishing Technology PLC, a publicly traded company listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market.

"Publishing Technology plc will employ approximately 180 people across North America and Europe. The company will have over 350 publishing customers, including eight of the ten largest publishing houses in the world, such as Hachette, Random House, Penguin, and Reed Elsevier and, unlike large international ERP providers, the company will deliver configurable publishing-specific software solutions tailored to its clients. The company will also have 1,000 academic and corporate research library clients, such as Louisiana State University Library and Glaxo SmithKline’s research library, and a number of multilateral institution clients, such as the World Bank, the IMF and the OECD."

Our conversations with the employees of Vista revealed that both companies are truely excited about the merger. The employees talking about developing new products and marketing campaigns that build upon the strengths of both Ingenta and Vista.

From our perspective, the Vista-Ingenta merger is unlike any of the other recent mergers in the industry as it has the potential to truely grow the size of the market for both product lines. A true 1+1=3 merger.

Oxford University Press Implements SAP IPM

2007-03-14T21:37:00.000-04:00

At Book Business Expo 2007 we learned that Oxford University Press is implementing the SAP Intellectual Property Management module.

The SAP IPM module's functionality covers rights management; including rights availability tracking, and royalty accounting.

From our perspective, the key advantage of SAP IPM is that the publisher can extensively customize its functionality and user interface to meet the "unique" needs of their publishing house.

Software Selection > Programming Language Evaluation

2007-02-26T23:53:00.000-05:00

Any software selection process should include a review of the application layer; programming language, that drives the software and the financial strength of its vendor. An application layer supported by a profitable and growing company will facilitate future improvements to the software.

At Kensai we rank the application layer on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest rank.

Example 1.

One publishing software vendor uses Unify Corporation’s Vision product as its application layer.

A visit to the application vendor’s website; http://www.unify.com/, (on Feb 25, 20007) revealed the following;

For fiscal year 2006 ending April 30, 2006 Unify reported total revenue of $11.2 million, compared to $11.3 million in the prior fiscal year. Net loss for the year was $682K compared to $2.4M in the prior year.
For the first six months of fiscal year 2007 ending October 31st, total revenues were $3.9 million, a decrease of $0.9 million, or 19 percent from fiscal 2006 six-month revenues of $4.8 million. Year to date net loss from all operations was $941,000 or $0.03 loss per share, compared to a net loss of $107,000 or $0.00 loss per share in the comparable period last year.
The Vision product does not appear to be the primary focus of their R&D efforts.
They have offices in the UK, US and Paris.
They have 60 employees.

Based on the above information we would assign a rank of 1 or 2 to the application layer. Why? The vendor's sales are declining, the company is losing money, the application - Vision - is not the primary product of the vendor and they have only 60 employees.

Example 2.

Another vendor uses Microsoft .NET VB as their programming language.

Based on this information we would assign a rank of 5 to the application layer. Why? Microsoft is the world's largest software company, the .NET initiative is a major focus of Microsoft, and there are tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of programmers and businesses that use this programming language.

Vista Acquires Ingenta

2007-02-26T23:41:00.000-05:00

Wow, Vista - a leading supplier of ERP systems to large publishers - acquired Ingenta; a distributor of online products, in a reverse merger to form a new company called Publishing Technology Plc.

What does this mean?

1. Vista is now a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange's AIM marketplace. As a publicly traded company it will have access to the capital markets to fund future growth via acquisitions or increased R&D spending.

2. Vista is now a provider of distribution software for both printed and online products.

3. Access to Ingenta's 266+ publisher clients will likely facilitate increased sales of Vista book publishing software in the future.

4. Vista, now a $33M USD publicly traded company (based on Pro-Forma financials) has increased its competitive strength vs. Klopotek (a $23M company) and IBS Bookmaster; its two main competitors.

What Training Tools do the Vendors Offer?

2006-12-07T00:39:00.000-05:00

Training is critical to the the success of any book publishing software implementation.

At Kensai when we evaluate software for our clients we rank each training tool on a scale of 0 to 5.

These tools include:

Software Documentation
Software Tutorials
On-Site Training
Off-Site Training
On-Line Training
Flash Tutorials

We also get first hand feedback from the vendor's clients. Is the training effective? Did the employees retain what they learned?

We compile this information to come up with a training score of 0 to 50 for each solution.

Evaluate All of Your Options

2006-12-06T01:09:00.000-05:00

Smart publishers evaluate all of the available software options. They don't look at just one or two solutions.

They gather information on all of the available publishing specific software solutions.

They look at best of breed solutions.

And they evaluate hiring programmers to build a custom solution for their needs.

When Random House looked for a rights management solution they talked to all of the vendors. They looked at the PC based Bradbury Phillips Rights 2000 product and they looked at the costs of building their own solution, using SAP. They choose SAP, which their company already used.

Another large publisher followed the same evaluation process and selected the Bradbury Phillips Rights 2000 product.

Both publishers evaluated all of the options available to them and made a decision based on their business requirements.

Evaluate the Vendor's Tech Support

2006-11-18T15:52:00.000-05:00

Evaluate the technical support offered by each book publishing software solution you are considering.

1. Tech Support Hours - Does the vendor offer support during your working hours?

2. How many Tech Support Reps per Client?

3. How much does Tech Support Cost?

4. Do they offer training classes?

5. Do they offer on-line training classes? Online training generally costs less than off-premises or on-site training classes.

6. How good is the vendor's documentation?

7. What do current clients say about the vendor's tech support?

PMA AnyBook Software Review

2006-11-14T22:44:00.000-05:00

At the Publishers Marketing Association web site you will find a review of AnyBook, a most affordable book publishing software solution for small publishers.

Rights Tracking Software

2006-11-13T21:26:00.000-05:00

Two well known, and very affordable desktop based solutions for tracking sales of intellectual property; such as translation rights and permissions, are;

Rights 2000 with an up-to-date Explorer window interface. Suitable for publishers, packagers and agents. Holds details of interest and submissions, contracts and sub-rights monies. Extensive reports and analyses include chasing overdue submissions, monies due, overdue royalty statements, due contract dates and reversions, projected income and bookfair reports. Invoices can be generated and a Royalty Ledger is maintained. Exports to Mailmerge, Excel and HTML. Available in MS Access or SQL versions. Available from Bradbury Phillips.

Another solution is That's Rights.That's Rights! is a desktop application that helps you manage and drive your rights activities. Designed primarily for publishers, That's Rights! is for anyone who buys OR sells translation or subsidiary rights around the globe. Available from Thats Right's.

Controlling Expenses via Budgeting

2006-11-13T16:02:00.000-05:00

Many managers make the mistake of tracking expenses in a manner that negates any responsbility for managing them.

One example is office supplies. Suppose your annual expenses are $12,000. Would you rather A) Divide the expense among six departments or B) Assign one person responsibility for managing this expense.

The correct answer is B. Why? People are more likely to actively manage large expenses ($12,000) than smaller ones ($2,000).

As a general rule you should not have a General Ledger Account for any expense with a project yearly expense of less than $1000.

Controlling Freight Costs

2006-11-13T09:36:00.000-05:00

Book publishing software that compares the amount charged for shipping to the actual shipping cost can help save you money.

At one client using an outside fulfillment (pick, pack and ship) service we were able to quickly write a report that showed invoices where the actual freight charge was greater than the invoiced amount. By segmenting this list we found that promotional copies were being mailed via UPS for $6 to $8 a book.

By switching the shipping method for promotional copies to media mail; a service of the USPS (United States Post Office) , they cut their cost per shipment by 60% and saved $24,000 a year.

How was this possible? The fulfillment service sent their software a file with the invoice number, shipping date, tracking number and actual freight cost for each days' shipments. If they were processing the fulfillment in house they would have their internal shipping manifest system (UPS Worldship for example) send back similar information to their internal information system.

Acumen's Sales Data Mart - Sales Reveal

2006-11-12T23:55:00.000-05:00

Acumen Book released its sales data mart product for book publishers; Sales Reveal, in 2005. We have spoken with publishers using it and they are very pleased. Why? It cost less than competitive products; such as Business Objects and Cognos, and is easy to use. They can import data into it from any data source, not just Acumen.

With Sales Reveal, sales data is imported into an SQL data warehouse that automatically builds datacubes. Sales analysis options includes drill downs and drill ups in addition to built in exports to excel and adobe PDF files.

The sales reveal web site utilizes Flash audio and video to highlight the functionality of this software.

We find it interesting to note that Sales Reveal is Cyberwolf's (aka Acumen Books's) second SQL Product, the first one being their SQL driven E-commerce solution for book publishers: PowerWeb.

I wonder if they are planning to offer book publishers using Acumen Book a Microsoft SQL database option in the future?

Klopotek Purchases Global Turnkey

2006-11-12T21:29:00.000-05:00

With the purchase of Global Turnkey Systems by Klopotek in September the book publishing software consolidation that started with IBS's (International Business Systems) purchase of Bookmaster and Media Services Purchase of S3 PubTech (the owners of CisPub) has continued.

On the positive side, Global Turnkey has gained access to the R&D resources of a much larger company. We expect that Global's clients will now have the opportunity to integrate their software with the contract, editorial, production mangement and title information management modules offered bye Klopotoek product - all features that were lacking in the Global Unison product.

Klopotek; a German company, has gained access to the project management staff of Global Turnkey and entre into the large publishers that use Global Software.

Overall, an excellent development for Global clients and Klopotek.

The downside to this purchase is that yet another book publishing software developer; the 3rd in 2 years has been acquired. In the past two years the number software vendors with 50+ clients and sales greater than $2M in the USA has declined from eight to five. Consequently we are seeing a reduction in the incentive for software vendors to negotiate a lower price.