Brooke Dobson is Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Shimmr AI, a fully automated platform for publishers that creates automated advertising for discovery and sales of books. With expertise in economic forecasting, marketing analytics, and AI technologies, Brooke brings a unique view into AI applications in publishing.She joined us on the Booksmarts Podcast to discuss how advancements in AI are transforming book marketing, as well as the importance of metadata and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and practical strategies publishers can use to boost discoverability, connect with readers, and enhance their marketing through automation. Learn more about Shimmr, visit their website and be sure to read their recent article—featuring Joshua Tallent: How to Make Your Books AI Discoverable: A Publisher's Guide to GEO.
Gavin Marcus is the CEO and co-founder of Storywise. He spent 10 years running an indie book publishing and distribution business before launching Storywise. Jeremy Esekow is Storywise's Chief Product Officer and co-founder. He has a Doctorate in Behavioral Psychology and an extensive background in business and finance.They joined us on the Booksmarts Podcast to discuss the creation and importance of Storywise, their platform that helps publishers and authors manage submissions, discover stories, and improve manuscripts for both fiction and nonfiction titles. Learn more about Storywise on LinkedIn or at storywisepublishers.com.
Phil Madans is a seasoned publishing executive with over 42 years of experience in trade publishing, including more than a decade as Executive Director of Digital Publishing Technology at Hachette Book Group.Throughout his career, Phil has championed the use of technology to enhance—not complicate—the publishing process, bringing deep expertise in publishing systems, metadata, workflow optimization, and digital strategy. He has led major enterprise system implementations, overseen the integration of large-scale acquisitions, and played a pivotal role in developing and promoting industry standards. Phil has been an active member of the publishing community, particularly the Book Industry Study Group, where he has volunteered for more than twenty years and currently serves on its Board of Directors.Phil is available for consulting engagements and can be reached on LinkedIn or at philipjmadans@gmail.com.
Ann Kjellberg is the Founding Editor of the Book Post book review, an innovative newsletter-based book review service which delivers thoughtful, in-depth literary criticism from distinguished writers directly to subscribers' inboxes.With nearly 30 years of experience at the New York Review of Books, Kjellberg brings a wealth of expertise to the evolving world of literary journalism. She joins the BookSmarts Podcast to explore the changing landscape of book reviewing, offering a unique perspective on the challenges facing book reviews in the digital age. This episode delves into the decline of traditional book reviews, the limitations of short-form content platforms like BookTok and Bookstagram, and the critical mission of preserving the influence of book reviewing for the future. Subscribe to the Book Post newsletter at books.substack.com or bookpostusa.com. Follow them on all social media platforms at @bookpostUSA.
Len Edgerly is the host of the Kindle Chronicles podcast, a long-running show dedicated to exploring digital reading technologies and publishing innovations.He joins the BookSmarts Podcast to discuss the evolving landscape of e-reader technology, sharing insights from his 15 years of covering Kindle and digital reading developments. Len offers a unique perspective on the future of reading, including potential AI integrations and the importance of maintaining a focused reading experience. If you're interested in following Len's work, check out his Morning Journal on Alexa flash briefings or his Substack newsletter at lenedgerly.substack.com. Find Len Edgerly on his Kindle Chronicles podcast and explore his latest digital publishing insights today!
Kristina Radke is the Senior Vice President of Business Growth and Engagement at NetGalley. She joins the BookSmarts Podcast to launch of Booktrovert, a new consumer marketing platform for publishers and authors. Booktrovert allows for easy creation of marketing campaigns with digital giveaways and interactive tools for readers, designed to complement the existing NetGalley platform. If you're interested in becoming a Booktrovert publisher, reach out to concierge@netgalley.com. Find Kristina Radke on LinkedIn and click here to sign up for Booktrovert today!Learn about Booktrovert: What is Booktrovert?Types of Booktrovert CampaignsWho is a Booktrovert?
Daniel Berkowitz is the Ad Sales Director for Bookshop.org, an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. He is also the founder of AuthorPop, a one-stop shop for every author's digital needs.He joins the BookSmarts Podcast to discuss the importance of book advertising for both publishers and authors. He has worked with authors at all stages of their careers to help build their audience and increase discoverability, and previously spent several years at Open Road Integrated Media as Executive Director of Paid Marketing, where he worked with both authors and publishers to drive discoverability of their titles through targeted advertising solutions. Find Daniel Berkowitz on LinkedIn and click the following links to learn more about Bookshop.org and AuthorPop.
Bryan Heathman is the CEO of Made for Success Publishing, a book publishing company that specializes in selling audiobooks. .He joins the BookSmarts Podcast to discuss how AI technology is transforming the audiobook industry, specifically regarding AI narration for audiobooks. We discuss the future of audiobooks and the benefits of using AI narration vs. traditional narrators, as well as common misconceptions and consumer hesitations regarding AI narration, and technological advancements with AI and audiobooks. Bryan discussed this topic in detail at the 2024 Publishing Innovation Forum. To learn more and request a PDF of his presentation, visit madeforsuccess.com/contact.
Margaux Weisman is the former Director of Business Development at DropCap Inc., a tech-enabled rights agency and a global rights marketplace used by rights agents and acquisitions around the world to find great books.She joins the BookSmarts Podcast to discuss the importance & process of foreign rights for independent authors and small publishers. We discuss why foreign rights are a valuable source of revenue for authors and publishers, how DropCap helps indie authors and smaller publishers navigate foreign rights deals, markets that show the biggest demand for U.S. books, and the typical advance ranges for foreign rights deals. To learn more, visit dropcapmarketplace.com. You can also follow them on Instagram @DropCapAgency. Margaux left Dropcap not long after this recording was made, but if you have questions you can reach out to Lindsay Jones, Dropcap's CEO, at lindsay@dropcap.com.
Rebecca Burgoyne is the Executive Director of Business Systems Integrations for the United Methodist Publishing House. She joins the BookSmarts Podcast discuss what Lean Six Sigma is and why book publishers should be incorporating this type of knowledge work, along with the importance of understanding workflows, reducing waste, and more! Rebecca discussed Lean Six Sigma for Knowledge Work at the 2024 Publishing Innovation Forum. To learn more, feel free to reach out to her on LinkedIn or Twitter. You can also look into articles she's written on medium, including Lean Six Sigma for Knowledge Work!
David Hetherington is the Vice President of Global Business Development at Books International, a leading provider of US and International book manufacturing, print and digital distribution services for the book publishing industry. With over 40 years of experience in the book publishing industry, David has served as a Board Member for the Book Industry Study Group, Book Manufacturers Institute, and PubWest, along with the Pace University Graduate School of Publishing. As a publishing veteran, David joins the BookSmarts Podcast to discuss how to establish practices that ensure your business is more resilient in times of crisis. We discuss how publishers should address common risks, how to prepare for those risks in advance, lessons learned from the pandemic as well as other known book publisher challenges, and the importance of building relationships in the industry to better prepare for potential crises. David will be speaking at the Association of Catholic Publishers event in April and will also have an upcoming BISG webinar about managing through the next crisis. To contact David, email d.hetherington@booksintl.com.
Jason Brockwell is the President of National Book Network, one of the largest independent book distributors in the United States. With titles in nearly every bookstore category, NBN has helped a broad variety of publishers with their distribution needs since its founding in 1986. Before becoming an executive at the company, Jason was a national account manager calling on several large customers including Amazon and Barnes & Noble for NBN and also worked as a field sales rep in the the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. This episode of the BookSmarts Podcast was recorded live at the 2024 Publishing Innovation Forum. Jason Brockwell attended the conference to lead a discussion on "Distribution in the Digital Age: Supply Chains, Marketing, Sustainability, and More". We appreciate Jason allowing us to record this session and replay it for you on our podcast! Jason discusses how National Book Network helps publishers, how COVID has (still) affected the distribution industry, successful digital strategies for distributors, sustainability concerns, and more! National Book Network is an independent and full-service sales, marketing and distribution company serving book publishers from around the world. Click here to learn more!
Michael Johnson is the Vice President of Content at Benetech. In this role, he works directly with publishers, conversion houses, technology platforms, retailers, and educational institutions to help them understand and implement processes that allow for fully accessible content to get from authors all the way through to the end reader. He also has a long-time relationship to publishing standards having sat on several ISO, NISO, BISG, and MARC standards committees throughout his career and currently sits on the Board of Directors for DAISY. With almost 40 years of experience in the technology, publishing, and distribution markets, Michael joins us on the BookSmarts Podcast to discuss the services that Benetech offers to create accessible ebooks, such as Bookshare, and provides advice on how to make books GCA (Global Certified Accessible) certified.Visit the following links to learn more: Benetech: benetech.org Bookshare: bookshare.org Born Accessible: bornaccessible.org
Kristina Radke is the Vice President of Business Growth and Engagement at NetGalley, a service that helps publishers and authors promote digital review copies and audiobooks to book advocates and industry professionals, including reviewers, booksellers, librarians, educators, media/journalists, and other book trade professionals. With over 15 years of experience in book marketing, publicity, and client relationships, Kristina joins us on the BookSmarts Podcast to discuss NetGalley's expansion into the audiobook market, along with trends and strategies for publishers to be aware of when uploading audiobooks to NetGalley. Kristina will be providing training for NetGalley users and publishers at the Publishing Innovation Forum, September 24-26, in Nashville, TN! This conference is open to the entire publishing community and will focus on the many changes our industry has faced, and how to prepare and adapt for the future. Follow Kristina Radke on LinkedIn! Visit NetGalley.com for more information on their service.
Beat Barblan is the General Manager of Bowker, the official ISBN agency for the United States and Australia. As a senior level publishing technology and international standards executive, Beat joins us on the BookSmarts Podcast to discuss Bowker's evolving role in the publishing industry and their efforts to support authors and publishers, as well as the important of metadata in book discoverability. To learn more about Bowker or to get in touch with Beat, visit myidentifiers.com.
Tom Richardson has been the Bibliographic Manager for BookNet Canada since 2008 and currently serves on the BISG Metadata Committee. As BookNet Canada’s ONIX subject specialist, Tom joins the BookSmarts Podcast to discuss ONIX best practices in detail, as well as some of the issues seen with how sales rights and market data is being delivered from a Canadian perspective.BookNet Canada is a non-profit organization comparable to BISG or BIC that develops technology, standards, and education to serve the Canadian book industry. They also represent the ONIX/Thema National Group for Canada and are heavily involved in the industry standards for ONIX.Learn more about BookNet Canada at www.booknetcanada.ca. If you’re interested in learning more of Tom’s perspective regarding ONIX best practices and standards, subscribe to their eNews and visit the BookNet Canada blog.