 Clé Newsletter |
Clé Newsletter |
Contents1. Training 1.Training ProgrammeThanks to all who responded to the survey sent recently. The response wasoverwhelmingly positive. Additional courses suggested for inclusion are:Print on demand - (the technology, the benefits), Speed-reading, Selling byDirect Mail, Selling to non-traditional outlets. Please do let me know ifthere are more of you interested in any of these topics. The next trainingSub-Committee meeting will be held on July 6th.Training Sub-CommitteeFergal Tobin, Gill & Macmillan and Maria O'Donovan, The Collins Press haveretired from the Training sub-committee. Alison Gallagher, Round Hall,Sweet & Maxwell and Patricia Lowth, Columba Mercier Distribution, willreplace them. Mary Hegarty, Roberts Rinehart, will continue to serve.2.World Book Day 1999Thanks to all who responded to the survey sent recently. I am about toanalyse the responses but a few points are immediately evident. There iswidespread support for extending the Day to a festival and for theinclusion of Northern Ireland. The distribution of vouchers to the schoolsis seen as central to the success of the children's vouchers. The work donefrom the Clé office has been praised, as has Rosemary's Dawson's PR work.Point of sale material was assessed as good by some and needing improvementby others. All who participated last year (and who answered thequestionnaire) said they would be happy to do so again. The BooksellersAssociation' survey report is due soon. Main trends from that will becommunicated to all members. A meeting of all members with an interest inWorld Book Day is planned for July 14th. World Book Day Committee 2000Peter Thew, Gill & Macmillan and Michael O'Brien, The O'Brien Press, haveagreed to stay on as Clé representatives for the next year, as has OrlaMartin. Tom Owens will also stay on, but Judi Hanna is to be replaced byJohn Fitzpatrick, current President of the BA. In Northern Ireland, AnneTannahill, Blackstaff Press has agreed to come on board. The Booksellers'Association in Northern Ireland has also promised to send a representative.The first meeting of the new committee is scheduled for July 16th.3.CopyrightLinda Scales has been appointed Legal Advisor to the Irish CopyrightLicensing Agency. The Act differs in many respects from the Bill makingMuireann O' Briain excellent earlier summary slightly outdated. Orla Martinhas asked Linda to give a course along with Roger Palmer on Contracts andCopyright on September 1st this year. Linda Scales and Roger Palmer havebeen asked to prepare briefing materials and sample contracts for use withfreelances for distribution prior to that date. These will be sent out inthe latter part of August. Please let me know if you are attending by theend of July, as interest in this course is huge. I will do everythingpossible to facilitate any one who wishes to attend but I do need to havefinal numbers early.
Infringement procedures against Ireland and PortugalThe Commission has decided to send reasoned opinions to Ireland andPortugal for failure to adhere to international conventions concerningcopyright and related rights. Contracting Parties to the Agreement on theEuropean Economic Area Agreement (i.e. all EU Member States and Iceland,Norway and Liechtenstein) undertook to adhere before 1 January 1995 tointer alia the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and ArtisticWorks (Paris Act, 1971) and the International Convention for the Protectionof Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations (RomeConvention, 1961). However, Ireland has not yet adhered to the Paris Actand Portugal has still not acceded to the Rome Convention. Should theMember States concerned not respond within two months of receipt of thereasoned opinions, the Commission may decide to refer the cases to theEuropean Court of Justice.4.EFRISThe Frankfurt Book Fair and Pira International have taken the initiative todevelop and evaluate an online interactive rights information system(EFRIS) which can be used by publishers and other rights users (e.g.multimedia producers) with sponsorship from the European Commission (INFO2000). John Murphy and Orla Martin attended a networking seminar on FridayJune 11th 1999 in Brussels on this project.The project's long-term aim is to use the Frankfurt experience as a pilotand to stimulate an open, vibrant and cost-effective marketplace for rightstrading by setting an open standard that can be used by rights managementsystems and book fairs. In the short term Frankfurt Virtual will facilitateon-line trading as well as advertising of titles. The keywords currentlyused on the CD-ROM will be used as search categories- although the numberand content of these will need considerable refinement. For independentpublishers this represents a democratic entry into the rights sales. Forthose of you already there, it's another outlet for title information, aswell as a potential sales channel. The organisation is committed to keepingthe system as open as possible and will not increase the fee of 1DM pertitle. At that price, most publishers at the meeting felt they wouldparticipate on a trial basis.For more information about the project please visithttp://frankfurt-virtual.pira.co.uk/ 5.UNPACKING THE US MARKET/ Report from PA seminar at LIBF (All Infocourtesy of PA Bulletin)Richard Freese of the US National Book Network and Joseph Gonnella ofBarnes and Noble spoke at this seminar. According to both speakers, the USis a receptive market for English language publishers but appropriatepresentation of new titles is all-important. Figures form the Associationof American Publishers suggest that the total value of the book market wasUS$23 billion last year, up 6.4% on 1997. Freese's National Book Network isthe second biggest independent distributor, counting as its major customersBarnes and Noble and Borders, plus 1500 independent retailers in additionto a growing number of chains. US retailers are turning increasingly todistributors and wholesalers and rely on them for rapid replenishment ofstock. Ingrams, with bases in seven US locations, promise to deliver within24 hours to 80% of the market. It is increasingly common for shops to keepsingle copies of a title in stock.Twenty five per cent of NBN's business now comes out of the UK and the restof Europe. Freese's advice to UK publishers is to seek out a knowledgeableUS distributor - such as his own company - and produce information aboutnew titles to American standards. Americanisation of spelling is important.Buyers expect publishers to have a detailed marketing strategy for eachtitle sorted out in advance of reviews, to a greater extent than in the UK.Buyers of academic books want comprehensive information about the author'sstatus and any US teaching and research connections they might have. According to Joseph Gonnella, Barnes and Noble buy 50 to 70 per cent of thenew titles on offer to them every month. Pressure from amazon.com meansthat Barnes and Noble are expanding rapidly - fifty new stores per year andare investing heavily in partnership with Bertelsmann in an on-lineinventory which requires them to take two copies of every book in Englishin print for which US editions are available. Titles that fail to be boughtby retail buying teams for the stores are still selling via the Internet.Barnes and Noble store managers also retain responsibility for selection ofroughly 20% of their stock, to reflect the regional location of each store.Barnes and Noble also have their own publishing division and are interestedin co-editions. 6.EUROPEAN UNION RTD FUNDING5th Framework Programme (1998-2002)The main activities of the programme are "key actions". These are thematicprogrammes that consist of: "a cluster of small and large, applied, genericand, as appropriate, basic research projects directed towards a commonEuropean challenge or problem, not excluding global issues".There are four key actions, of which the second: Creating a user-friendlyinformation society (IST) - may be of interest to publishers, informationon the programme is available on the FP5 section of the CORDIS web site.The main area of interest for people working in electronic publishing is inthe IST programme. URL: IST http://www.cordis.lu/ist/The IST programme is built on the belief that the present trend towardsincreased penetration of IT into business and the home will continue and bea major factor in economic growth. Within IST there are four key actions (KAI-KAIV), each with a number ofaction lines. The key actions are:
The first line, authoring and design systems, is focussed on creativity andproduction of content; The second, content management and personalisation, on packaging, storage,and delivery of content, and tailoring content to, and by, the user. URL: reports of focus meetings http://www.elpub.org URL: to register interest in IEP http://www.elpub.org/html/register.html 7.New Administrator for CléVeronica MacDonald has been appointed as the new part-time administratorfor Clé. Her responsibilities will include dealing with phone queries, dayto day accounts and book-keeping, maintenance and creation of databases,typing filing etc. and assisting Orla Martin in the day-today running ofthe office. Veronica previously worked as accounts clerk in The JoyceCentre, North Great Georges' St.8.Seeking EmploymentHillary Bell, senior editor at Blackstaff Press, is going freelance from 1June 1199. Fifteen years' in-depth experience in all areas of publishing,production, from commissioning to camera-ready copy. For editing, proof-read |
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