BookSmarts Podcast

28/11/2022

BookSmarts Episode 31 is live! In this final episode of 2022, we are joined by David Marlin, President of MetaComet Systems. David has been working in the publishing industry for the last 24 years, and is an expert in royalty automation. We discuss his background and how he got into publishing, the recent move to paying author royalties through electronic payment services, and more.

David shared how MetaComet has recently become SOC 2 Type 2 certified, and we discussed the process they had to go through to get that level of security certification. We also talked about how some publishers are moving toward outsourcing their royalty management and how MetaComet is responding to that change.

In this final episode of 2022, we are joined by David Marlin, President of MetaComet Systems. David has been working in the publishing industry for the last 24 years, and is an expert in royalty automation. We discuss his background and how he got into publishing, the recent move to paying author ro...

23/03/2022

BookSmarts Episode 24 features a discussion about audiobooks with Cory Verner the CEO of One Audiobooks, a publisher of audiobooks and a turnkey audio services provider. Cory has been working in the audiobooks industry for over 20 years, and has seen the changes in technology, the changes in focus, and the growth in sales as the format has taken off in the last 6-7 years. Cory and I talk about some of the reasons for that growth, the demographics of listeners right now, and some specific differences between the Inspirational Books market that he is closely connected to compared to the general audiobooks market.

We also talk about how the audiobooks industry has changed over time, including technology changes that have driven much of the recent growth, and we discuss the risks publishers take on when they create their own audiobook program.

https://booksmartspodcast.com/2022/03/23/episode-24-cory-verner-on-the-growth-of-audiobooks/

Cory Verner is the CEO of ONE Audiobooks, a publisher of audiobooks and a turnkey audio services provider. Cory has been working in the audiobooks industry for over 20 years, and has seen the changes in technology, the changes in focus, and the growth in sales as the format has taken off in 6-7 year...

07/12/2021

In our last episode for 2021, we are joined by Scott Miller, Former CMO and EVP of Business Development at the FranklinCovey Company, and now their senior advisor on thought leadership and publishing strategy. In addition to running the publishing program at FranklinCovey, Scott is a best-selling author in his own right, as well as the host of the "On Leadership" podcast (https://resources.franklincovey.com/on-leadership-with-scott-miller), which has between 6 and 7 million listeners every week.

Scott talks with me about the publishing process at FranklinCovey, including how authors are chosen, how book topics are refined, and the general development schedule for new titles. He discusses the company's focus on social media platforms, and some of the strategies they engage when launching a new title. The topic of backlist sales comes up (it seems to be a pretty common topic on the podcast!), and Scott discusses how aggressive his team is about selling subrights, continuing the marketing of other titles, and connecting to businesses for B2B sales.

Scott's latest book, Master Mentors: 30 Transformative Insights from Our Greatest Minds (https://www.franklincovey.com/master-mentors/), is a great read, with engaging thoughts and insights condensed from interviews with some of his podcast guests. I was able to listen to the audiobook over the last few weeks, and found the content to be quite inspiring. Please take a look!

https://booksmartspodcast.com/2021/12/07/episode-19-scott-miller-on-publishing-at-franklincovey/

In our last episode for 2021, we are joined by Scott Miller, Former CMO and EVP of Business Development at the FranklinCovey Company, and now their senior advisor on thought leadership and publishing strategy. In addition to running the publishing program at FranklinCovey, Scott is a best-selling au...

23/11/2021

In Episode 18, Robin Whitten, editor & founder of AudioFile Magazine, joins us to discuss audiobook listener demographics and performance quality. Audiobook sales have grown significantly in a short amount of time. With that growth, we have also seen an increase in the number of available audiobooks and a revolution in audiobook production.

Robin expounds on some of the major advances in the audiobook world, how the demographics of audiobook listeners are changing, and the genres that are the most popular. She also talks about how important the sound design and narration are to the success of an audiobook, and explains how AudioFile Magazine does its reviews.

Listen here:
https://booksmartspodcast.com/2021/11/23/episode-18-robin-whitten-on-audiobook-demographics-and-quality/

Be sure to Check out part two of the NetGalley Listener Survey, which focuses on audiobook reviewers and their listening habits: http://insights.netgalley.com/2021-netgalley-member-survey-part-ii/

Getting started (from the APA): https://www.audiopub.org/industry/getting-started

AudioFile Magazine: audiofilemagazine.com

Audiobook Break Podcast: https://audiofilemagazine.com/audiobook-break/

Behind the Mic Podcast: https://audiofilemagazine.com/podcast/

In this episode, Robin Whitten, editor & founder of AudioFile Magazine, joins us to discuss audiobook listener demographics and performance quality. Audiobook sales have grown significantly in a short amount of time. With that growth, we have also seen an increase in the number of available audioboo...

10/11/2021

In Episode 17 of the BookSmarts Podcast, Fran Toolan, CEO of Firebrand Technologies, joins me to continue the conversation about in the industry. Fran pulls back the covers a bit on this topic, revealing that Firebrand has had four security incidents in the last two years, including two ransomware attacks. And Firebrand is not alone; there have been a number of other breaches in the industry, too, so Fran is not the only executive losing sleep over this issue.

We discuss phishing attacks, environment and server checks, the NIST framework, monitoring, two factor authentication, and more, and offer some advice for individual publishers, for publishing services companies, and for the industry as a whole about how we can work together to address this problem.

If you have not filled out the listener survey, please do that at https://booksmartspodcast.com/survey.

Also, be sure to tell your colleagues about this podcast!

https://booksmartspodcast.com/2021/11/10/episode-17-fran-toolan-on-cybersecurity/

Fran Toolan, CEO of Firebrand Technologies, joins me to continue the conversation about cybersecurity in the publishing industry. Fran pulls back the covers a bit on this topic, revealing that Firebrand has had four security incidents in the last two years, including two ransomware attacks. And Fire...

15/10/2021

BookSmarts Episode 15: Updates on Keywords and Reviews is now available!

There are some changes happening around and at , so we take a few minutes this week to talk about them.

booksmartspodcast.com/2021/10/15/218/

There are some changes happening around keywords and reviews at Amazon, so we take a few minutes this week to talk about them.

06/10/2021

29/09/2021

BookSmarts Episode 14: Mary McAveney from Open Road Integrated Media talks with me about book discovery. We discuss the value of building your own portals for , creating a , sharing, and more. https://booksmartspodcast.com/2021/09/29/episode-14-mary-mcaveney-on-book-discovery/

15/09/2021

Episode 13 of the BookSmarts Podcast features a discussion with Alessandra Torre, NY Times bestselling author. We talk about some of the strategies authors use that publishers can also take advantage of. https://booksmartspodcast.com/2021/09/15/episode-13-alessandra-torre-on-indie-author-strategies-that-publishers-can-use/

Alessandra Torre, CEO of Authors A.I. and BingeBooks and a NY Times bestselling Psychological Thriller and Romance author, joins Joshua to talk about various strategies independent authors utilize when marketing and selling their books, and how publishers can take advantage of these strategies.

18/08/2021

In Episode 11 of the BookSmarts Podcast I talk about some recent Kindle changes: A+ Pages are now available for KDP users, and the MOBI format is officially dead.

https://booksmartspodcast.com/2021/08/18/episode-11-recent-kindle-changes-a-pages-and-the-death-of-the-mobi-format/

Also, please take my listener survey! https://booksmartspodcast.com/survey/

Amazon has recently made two big changes to their publishing systems, and both of these changes will have an impact on publishers of all sizes.

07/07/2021

Episode 9 of the BookSmarts Podcast is live! This week I talked with my friend Erik Nelson about how publishers can approach rethinking their own branding, and develop a more powerful approach to marketing based on their passion and mission.

https://booksmartspodcast.com/2021/07/07/episode-9-erik-nelson-on-branding-and-marketing/

26/05/2021

Episode 6 is live! This week I tell a story about some clay tablets, and talk about how to deal with metadata overwriting. https://booksmartspodcast.com/2021/05/26/episode-6-clay-tablets-and-metadata-overwriting/

The story is about how a team of researchers utilized cutting edge mathematics to trace the trade itineraries and sales transactions left behind by Assyrian merchants 4,000 years ago. Using this information, the team was able to determine the location of cities that were hidden to time, and were abl...

28/04/2021

Episode 4 of the BookSmarts Podcast is live! This week I chatted with Rachel Noorda and Kathi Inman Berens about book discovery, piracy, and the value of genre to consumers. Listen in your favorite podcast app, or on the website here:
https://booksmartspodcast.com/2021/04/28/episode-4-drs-rachel-noorda-and-kathi-inman-berens-on-book-discovery/

In this episode Joshua speaks with Dr. Rachel Noorda (), Director of Book Publishing and Assistant Professor in English, and Dr. Kathi Inman Berens (), Associate Professor of Book Publishing and Digital Humanities, at Portland State University. Rachel and Kathi are the le...

20/04/2021

14/04/2021

Episode 3 of the BookSmarts Podcast is live! This week, I talked with Guy LeCharles Gonzalez (), Chief Content Officer at LibraryPass, about how publishers can become more data-informed and avoid the pitfalls of being too data-driven.

https://booksmartspodcast.com/2021/04/14/ep-3-guy-lecharles-gonzalez-on-being-data-informed/

This week, Joshua talks with Guy LeCharles Gonzalez (), Chief Content Officer at LibraryPass, about how publishers can become more data-informed and avoid the pitfalls of being too data-driven.

19/03/2021