December 27, 2006
"Gift this music"
Back to the real world, on iTunes. "Gift this music," says the button.
Is something wrong with, "Give this music"? Isn't this the season of giving? Perhaps this is a sign of the times, a transition from verb to noun, from action to object.
It reminds me of something Marvin Mudrick, my adviser at UCSB, said, "I'm not interested in thoughts, I'm interested in thinking."
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:27 AM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2006
The large and small of it
It’s always been clear that we are a small independent publisher, but only in the last week have I begun to realize just how very small we are in our sector of the industry.
In trade and especially literary publishing, there are many small publishers. Some produce only a few books a year. Others are sophisticated self-publishing operations, producing and selling the books of the owner-operators. But in our sector, academic reference publishing, the competition is colossal. Smaller reference publishers have been bought by the big guys: Fitzroy Dearborn by Taylor & Francis, Oryx by Greenwood/Elsevier, and even the old New York stalwarts like Charles Scribners Sons by Gale/Thomson.
It was hearing that Blackwells had been sold for £572 million (at today's exchange rate, with the dollar falling, that's close to $1.2 billion, not the $1.8 billion I first wrote here--I obviously misheard the first report, as the buzz went round the academic publishing world) and that people are suggesting $4-5 billion for Gale, which is now on the market, that made me see just how crazy we were to decide to launch our own reference imprint two years ago. Funny, at the time it seemed quite sensible, and I couldn’t understand why friends were sometimes a bit concerned. That’s the story of my life, launching into ventures I only partially understand, without the kind of money that the experts say is necessary. The fact is that if you wait till you know exactly what you’re getting into, opportunities will pass you by. And in publishing, like anything else, creativity can make a small pot of money go a long way. Friends and colleagues have helped us tremendously (you know who you are!), and this is probably just the right time to get a dose of reality, recognizing just how formidable the competition is but also understanding our strengths, and our networks, more than we did two years ago.
Here's an article about the Blackwells sale: "Blackwell Publishing Sold For 572m" from the Oxford Mail.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)
November 28, 2006
My first trip to Ireland, and now to London Online
Last night I had supper in an Italian restaurant in Cork, Ireland, with a Chinese colleague, and made plans to meet her in Beijing in April. That's one aspect of global business development. On the other hand, at London Online, I'll be talking to a lot of U.S. colleagues. It's a strange thing, the modern way of the road warrior. We travel to distant venues to meet for half an hour in person, and we see the same people at conference after conference. In theory, these events are educational, and there's lots of attention paid to speakers and panels in all the promotional materials. But many people never go to a panel; they simply make the rounds. Don't think I'm pointing fingers: conferences are neither relaxing or educational for me, either! But they are a great chance to build relationships, and this particular meeting brings together people from different parts of my working life, and happens to be in one of the places on earth I think of as home.
As usual, I'm wearing more than one hat: I plan to write about the conference for the issue of Against the Grain I'm wrapping up this week.
I have two observations about Ireland. First, Irish feelings about the English are close to the surface: my cab driver couldn't be enjoying the cricket results more. More than one person made it clear that the English are a former colonial power and won't be forgiven for that any time soon, reinforcing one of the key lessons of Global Perspectives on the United States, that people do not forget. We Americans may have short memories, but other people do not. Second, the Irish are just as friendly and warm as I'd heard. I was presented with tea and scones on a tray within a few minutes of arriving at my hotel. Sadly, I can't report on the pub scene, another aspect of Irish culture I've been hoping to investigate.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 9:14 AM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2006
The Encyclopedia of Religion, Communication, and Media
If you've ever wondered why we decided to start publishing our reference works ourselves, here's why. The Encyclopedia of Religion, Communication, and Media is one of the last books we're doing for Routledge. It was David's idea, and was developed by a great group of scholars led by editor Dan Stout. Routledge did not notify us or Dan that it was in print and we haven't received so much as an advance copy. What a lack of appreciation for the scholars and authors who create high quality reference, and it's sadly in keeping with our experience with Routledge. (It took us months to get the contributors to the Encyclopedia of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity their copies.) Besides that, Routledge seems to be selling an online edition of our African and African-American Religions volume, even though they have no e-rights to the first or last three volumes in the series.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 1:33 PM | Comments (0)
Looking for Churchill
Last night was the only evening event of the World Congress of History Producers: cocktails at the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum, not far from 10 Downing Street. The director said that when the war ended they simply closed the doors of some rooms and left, but that others needed to be reconstructed. It’s quite a wonderful place, a warren of offices with maps pinned up everywhere. I especially lined the one with bits of colored wool (yarn) marking the German advances. It just needs some cigar smoke.
After the party I had an article to work on so I walked back to Holborn—London on a Friday is crowded and it really wasn't worth trying to get on a crowded buss—and stopped at the Fryers Delight on Theobalds Road for haddock and chips and a cup of tea. This is another case of Memory Lane: I was taken to lunch there by one of my coworkers at Blackwells on my first summer job in London in 1979, and all these years later it looks exactly the same. But the staff seems to be Italian! That isn’t such a surprise. It’s actually quite rare to hear English spoken on the bus or street in many parts of London, unless by an American or Australian.
I continued working on the article this morning, because it absolutely must be done by tomorrow morning and I needed Francesca, back in Massachusetts, to edit it. (She is a dream, not only a brilliant editor but willing to work on this kind of crazy schedule.) This one’s about the opportunities presented by developments in social media—with more realism than you’ll get from the Web 2.0 evangelists. I quickly grow to hate these shorthand terms—Web 2.0 as well as tipping points and long tails—because they let people stop thinking. It’s comfortable, but the result is an orthodox mindset that reacts badly to questioning, or skepticism.
The article is for Upgrade, the magazine of the Software and Information Industry Association, and I’m writing a related piece for Against the Grain. One for the business world, another for librarians. It’ll be interesting to see how different they need to be.
I’ll be writing more about orthodoxy, and religion, tomorrow.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 1:29 PM | Comments (1)
November 18, 2006
World Congress of History Producers--Talking about new media and short forms
As I remembered, this is an exceptionally good conference for networking. I think people working in film and television are a bit more outgoing than publishing people, and they're definitely looking for fresh ideas and approaches. The tone, though, isn't completely at odds with academic conferences: people who do history film making are clearly committed to the subject and full of passion for their particular projects. Someone said at lunch, "You don't make documentaries to make a lot of money," which sounds a lot like publishing--at least the kind we're doing.
But, like us, they seem to have a lot of fun and feel they're doing something worthwhile. (And there's no question that some networks and producers are doing very well indeed!) What's surprised me most is the emphasis this year on new media, on "short forms" for mobile devices and the Internet. This came up last year, but it's far more prominent now. Michael Katz from the History Channel mentioned a dichotomy I remember hearing about, too: big screen, small screen. Film makes are simultaneously developing in HD (High Definition--and don't I feel cool, knowing about this?) and in tiny, short formats. I'm learning some of the jargon but need to find out the difference between off-takes and cut scenes. Apparently these are good sources of short form content.
The session this afternoon was called "Out of the Box: Producing History for New Platforms":
New digital distribution platforms – whether broadband or mobile – are developing fast with a bewildering array of new jargon from EST to DVBH.Who is taking advantage of this new technology? What new opportunities does it create for history producers? Will it open up history programming to a wider audience - and is there any money in it? Are there opportunities for original productions or is it limited to opening up back catalogues?We aim to get behind the jargon and find out what the real opportunities are - and what the timescale behind them is.
Again, one of the key points made was that what gets people to new media is the social aspects of it--the community that's possible online. I couldn't be more pleased, community being my own special subject, and an area of expertise for Berkshire. But the issue of creative control and quality is an issue here, too. One questioner made it clear that he didn't like the idea of his film being "mashed up" (reedited by someone who's downloaded it), no more than an author would enjoy having her/his novel taken apart, rewritten, and then distributed to the purchaser's friends. Oddly enough, I haven't heard the word "copyright" at all--maybe we need Ed Colleran here.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 12:05 PM | Comments (3)
November 6, 2006
"Mountain research" at Boulder Bookworks
My return to the United States in 1991 came about in part because a small Colorado publisher purchased rights to my first book. The key person who brought this about was their sales director, Alan Stark. I ended up living in Boulder with my kids for six months, my initial reentry into American culture after spending my twenties in England, and became friends with Alan and his wife Linda. That reentry experience laid some of the groundwork for Berkshire's work today on global perspectives towards the U.S., and Alan's the person who recommended The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg, who became an editorial board member for our Encyclopedia of Community.
I'd forgotten one important thing about the winter culture of Boulder until I saw this note about "Mountain research" on the website of Alan's company, Boulder Bookworks::
SNOW DAYS AND MOUNTAIN RESEARCH: We can generally all make it into the office on heavy snow days. However, on Fridays with new powder in the mountains, one or more of us may not be available.
Given our new interest in rock climbing--and the kayaking and cycling books, too--the Berkshire Publishing team may have to start doing mountain research, too.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 5:23 AM | Comments (0)
October 31, 2006
David's new book about the Clinton AME Zion Church
David's new book, Sewing Circles, Dime Suppers, and W.E.B. Du Bois: A History of the Clinton AME Zion Church, was launched o
n Saturday at the church's 136th anniversary. Last year the church celebrated its 124th anniversary, and the leap in years was the result of David's research. Apparently it could gain another two years if something other fact David's unearthed turns out to be true, so that 140th anniversary gets closer and closer.
The book is the moving story of a small, brave community inspired by mutual commitment and by a great love of God. Pastor Esther Dozier is an amazing leader and someone whose faith is palpable. I think she must have liked the way David closed his talk, by reading part of a statement written at the annual meeting of the Sunday Schools Convention of the AME Zion New England Conference, held at the church in Great Barrington in September 1895:
The committee on the state of the nation issued a report expressing grave concern about the treatment of Black people and about lynching. There were nearly 5,000 lynchings in the United States from 1882 to 1968. About 80 percent took place in the South, and 73 percent of those lynched were Black. Whites who were lynched were typically accused of helping Blacks or of opposing lynching. The committee noted:
Although there is reported to be a revival of industry throughout the land, and this year’s grain crop is tremendous in its proportions, the condition of the Negro citizen in this nation continues to be one of anxious solitude. The deplorable spirit of lawlessness, as manifested in lynchings, seems no longer to continue itself within its former well understood limits, but, while still controlling action in its old familiar haunts, is spreading itself over the land, entering even that splendid commonwealth, which gave to our nation the immortal president, Abraham Lincoln. What we need in this critical condition of public affairs is just what we needed in the dark days of slavery—men to “stand on the wall.” As did Garrison, Phillips, Sumner and Douglas, hurling their thunderbolts at the citadel of injustice, and swaying the rulers and people of the American nation into a recognition and practice of the principles of the constitution of the United States. God’s blessing cannot long continue with a nation whose people are indifferent to, or careless of the claims of justice to each and all of its citizens. The future of our country depends upon our activity along the lines laid down in the great command, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; and thy neighbor as thyself.”
That's where he stopped, and there were tears in his eyes.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2006
Making British history
We had an email today from the British Library, asking to archive one of our websites as part of their effort to preserve "UK documentary heritage." It's quite thrilling to be part of this, and to the credit of Tim Coates, who writes the Good Library Blog. Here's a little about the project:
Dear Rachel http://www.goodlibraryguide.com/ The British Library is a founding member of the UK Web Archiving Consortium (www.webarchive.org.uk) consisting of The British Library, JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee), the National Archives, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales and the Wellcome Library. The Consortium is the national effort to archive selective representative websites from UK web space in advance of the introduction of legal deposit for digital materials. The British Library would like to invite you to participate in this work by allowing us to archive your web site under the terms of the appended licence. We select sites to represent aspects of UK documentary heritage and as a result, they will remain available to researchers in the future. We aim to subsequently include the archived copy of your web site in our permanent collections.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 2:13 PM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2006
Corporations and the Cluetrain Manifesto
It's hardly surprising that I should find myself meeting people who work for the BBC. Global media, right? And a nonprofit corporation--that's also a good fit with Berkshire Publishing at the moment, and with the kind of publishing we do. It's interesting, though, to find out that the BBC suffers from the usual corporate ills: bureaucracy and lack of vision.
I'm waiting for my flight home (delayed by 20 minutes, "apologies for any inconvenience caused") and reading, finally, the Cluetrain Manifesto. Published in 2000, so something of a period piece, but then I love old books. And this, while full of ideas that I've heard a hundred times before, is a great thing to read as I try to get a handle on what social media is all about: community. They have a definition of communty I hadn't heard: "a group of people who care about each other more than they have to."
The authors contrast community with the corporation, but they're a bit naive. They point out that corporations don't really exist, that inside them are human beings with human voices. Their goal is to get those people to talk directly with customers. Right, corporations aren't real, but the structure and demands placed on the people in corporations affect, dramatically, the real world, and create problems that really do exist. Climate change is only one of them. Corporations do matter.
Over dinner last night, we were talking about corporations and how they squash creativity. I raised a question that's on my mind, as we deal with some big corporate publishers with whom we have long-standing relations. Does the corporation change people? I'm dealing with a couple of people who seem to be good-hearted and well-intentioned, who are parents and no doubt talk to their children about right and wrong, but who do things that are just plain unethical. How do they reconcile themselves to this? I imagine a particular guy I know, who is no doubt just following orders, and wonder if he says to himself, "Well, I have a family to support so I have to do what I'm told." A slippery slope, that.
Yesterday's papers announced that Britain is the fattest nation in Europe and the Cabinet was quizzed about whether they were following government guidelines about eating enough servings of fruit and veg. How nice that our first course was a vast spread of vegetables--grilled peppers, a gorgeous bunch of radishes and other crudites, beet slices with Indian spices--and melon slices. But I don't think any of us could claim to have only the "occasional drink" of the so-virtuous British cabinet. Funny, that. No one I know in England is so abstemious. Maybe just as Bill Clinton did not consider fellatio to be sex, they don't consider beer or wine to be a drink.
Must sign off but will find the fruit-veg rowing machine article when I get back to the States.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:00 AM | Comments (1)
October 8, 2006
Guangdong-Berkshire Signing Ceremony--with photos!
A large group of publishers attend under the umbrella of the Chinese Publishing Delegation, a huge installation decorated in glowing yellow and red, with large red paper lanterns and special smaller lanterns for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Kenny Chen was amused that a woman had asked if she could buy the lanterns. This isn't unusual, apparently; Ellen said that last year someone had bought the fabric they'd used to drape their tables! She didn't know what was so special, but was happy enough to sell it at the end of the show. (I wonder about cultural arrogance, going to booths from non-Western countries and expecting to be able to buy the furniture-I've never had anyone come by and offer to buy our decorations or the rug we used on a table.)
Ellen Wong did a great job of translating for Mr Li and me, and had done a great deal of work to prepare the translations of our remarks. This was the first time I'd had something translated as I spoke and I wasn't sure quite what to do while Ellen was talking. It wouldn't make sense to act as if I had any idea what she was saying, after all, though I do now recognize some words in Chinese. I even heard her use the word guanxi, I think, when I said something about the cooperation between our companies. In this photo you can see me looking a bit bemused. Later, a Chinese woman in the crowd smiled at me and used gestures to get me to move closer to the microphone. Liz said she had tried to catch my eye, too, to tell me just that. We never found out who she was, but the help was appreciated.
I spoke first (text at the link below-in English), and afterward Mr Li thanked the guests and gave a short speech, in which he said very complimentary things about our vision, and about our plans to do more together. Then he and I went to the table, signed copies of the contract in red folders, exchanged them, and then we all stood and toasted the agreement.
This event was an important beginning for us, and it was wonderful to see several friends in attendance-that's no small thing at
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:45 AM | Comments (0)
October 7, 2006
Haskert & Foley in the Berkshire database
We talk often about the remarkable scholars we work with, but our database includes other people, too. David, concerned that I might be distracted from the political news at home while at Frankfurt, just wrote to say that both Mark Foley and Dennis Hastert are in our database, part of a list we developed last year to publicize Patterns of Global Terrorism. He dug deeper, and found that Hastert's district is Batavia, IL, which has one of the 75 American libraries to be included in the Libraries We Love, "I emailed him to tell him some good news in his time of troubles, but it was kicked back."
Posted by Karen Christensen at 12:24 AM | Comments (0)
October 6, 2006
Day 2, Frankfurt
International book rights are a sporting event, I've decided. Publishing people are not known for their physical prowess, but the boasting you hear about how many hours at a stretch, how many meetings in a single day, and feats like setting up a booth in 20 minutes after two delayed flights makes it clear that there's physical competition involved. That's before you get to the boasting about number of parties and the few hours of sleep.
The meeting schedule is the most intense--and crazy--thing. Every half an hour, from about 9-6, and it's especially crazy here before the Frankfurt Fair is so huge. It takes 10-15 minutes to walk between halls (buildings, actually), and people don't manage to schedule by the hall, either. I get frustrated because this means I can't see as many people as I'd like, and because we're in the international hall (8.0), English speaking, it's easy to see people I already know but much harder to visit other countries' sections.
Day 2 for us was a run of meetings with international reps and some of the library suppliers they go to. It was wonderful to have a chance to explain to these suppliers how Berkshire came to be. They are almost always familiar with some of our past titles, and I'm able to explain how David and I went from developing projects with Sage, Routledge, Macmillan and others to starting our own independent imprint. They appreciate our global focus, and I can see that 2007 and 2008 will be the time we really establish ourselves in the reference market--while at the same time launching several non-reference programs--and I'm relishing every minute of sleep, thinking about everything that's ahead.
Liz described the shopping street of the town where we're staying, 15 minutes from the center of Frankfurt, as feeling like Pearl Street in Boulder. I haven't seen a thing of Frankfurt itself, except the walk over to the Marriott last night for the Chinese Publishing Delegation's party. There was champagne and lots of good food, and we joked about cheese, which Chinese people are learning to like. It was at that party last night that I met Mr Huang, who will be signing the contract with me this afternoon. It's been great having Liz with me; she has a chance to speak Chinese, and it really does improve our communication even with English-speaking Chinese colleagues. We've been able to get acquainted with people because of this, and I'm more convinced than ever that I am disadvantaged by not speaking Chinese.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:15 AM | Comments (0)
October 2, 2006
Getting our titles across the Atlantic
I opened an envelope right before leaving the office today, on my way home to finish packing for the trip to Frankfurt. (I'm at the airport now.) It came from Reference Reviews, the UK library journal, and contained a review of Patterns of Global Terrorism. Another intelligent review from this journal--which is edited by Tony Chalcraft of St Johns College in York--and a favorable one, too, which leaves me wondering why it's so hard for us to market our publications in the UK. A very experienced marketing person told me recently that trade is one-way, when it comes to reference. That is, Americans will buy British reference but the British won't buy ours.
Actually, UK libraries have bought a lot of reference edited by David Levinson or by me (we can tell, by checking library catalogues online, and it's possible to search all the London libraries at once, which makes things easy), and The Times reviewed our first sports encyclopedia and called it the "newest sporting bible." But those works were published under imprints, like Sage or Routledge, with a strong UK presence. How do we persuade UK libraries to pay attention to us when we don't have decades, or centuries, of publishing behind us? The name Berkshire probably doesn't help. It's English, of course, but not the name of a university like Oxford, Cambridge, York, Durham, or Exeter (all cities, by the way, not counties). Our publications are more international in coverage than virtually any U.S. or U.K. publisher's, we work with many British authors, and we consciously, and subconsciously, have British perspectives in mind as we develop our publications. Actually, the review I read together quoted from my introduction to the set, in which I mentioned that editor Anna Sabastenaski and I had both lived within a block or two or Harrod's when it was bombed by the IRA in 1983. We have a lot of English connections: Trevor Young, our intrepid computer maven, comes from Lincolnshire, and Francesca Forrest, senior copy editor, is married to an Englishman.
We were sending out press releases about our China partnership announcement at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Friday, and I wanted to get the attention of the British publishing press because UK publishers have been in the vanguard when it comes to building relationships in China and might be natural partners for us on future publications. So I added this note to the top of the release: "Note: Berkshire Publishing is located in Massachusetts, not in England, but its CEO/cofounder (that's me) began her career at Blackwell Scientific in London, worked for Fabers on the T S Eliot Letters, has published five books of her own in the UK, and hopes to set up an office there soon, so this deal seems to us a UK story as well as one for the US and China. An invitation to the ceremony and reception will follow this mail. Best, Karen Christensen."
Seriously, any ideas are most welcome! We love British libraries and want to see more of our books in them.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:49 PM | Comments (0)
October 1, 2006
Guangdong-Berkshire party at Frankfurt
If you're reading our blog, please consider yourself invited to the party! This is a contract signing ceremony and reception being held on Friday at the Frankfurt Book Fair, to celebrate our new partnership with the Guangdong People's Publishing House, in Guangzhou (Canton), China. Here's your invitation.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 11:24 AM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2006
YouTube challenge from Microsoft
If my reference to YouTube puzzled you (as it did some of the audience and panel, I think), here's the latest from the BBC, with a mention of copyright, too: "Microsoft to launch YouTube rival".
Posted by Karen Christensen at 1:38 PM | Comments (0)
Day 2 of the Global Information Industry Summit
Fun to see two GIIS bloggers, Richard Charkin and me, mentioned in this article, "Chiefs who blog." At GIIS I watched Richard blogging--he hijacked one of the vendor's computers during a coffee break--and decided he's far more obsessed about it than I am, which makes him a better blogger. He had me write a comment on his blog, which I'm now mentioning on mine, which also mentions Tim Coates's Good Library Blog, which quotes Richard, so it's all quite incestuous, but not as bad as some of the techie circles where people spend all their time circulating on one another's blogs. At least we're trying to do things in the real world: sell books, educate people, save libraries and the planet, too. (And, in case you're wondering, blogging together is fun but, no, it's not as good as sex. Or good dinner party conversation, come to that.)
But back to business: the first Global Information Industry Summit. Our lunch speaker on the second day was Stefan von Holtzbrinck, president of the privately held family business Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, one of the world's major publishing companies. I wasn't expecting much, since these keynote speeches seem to be seen as a chance to educate or preach, not to entertain. But von Holtzbrinck was kind to us, and charming. He made jokes and told a coherent tale of a company that is more diversified than some strategists would consider sound. The diversification isn't really strategic, but instead based on the family members' passions. As a believer in passionate publishing, I was pleased to learn about this and see how well it works--and how it mitigates risk, too, in these fast-changing times. Everyone seemed to enjoy the talk; an English colleague commented approvingly, "a self-deprecating German!"
The panel I enjoyed most was the last of the day, about copyright. That's not to say that the others weren't good--some presenters did a terrific job--but they just didn't connect with my tactical concerns. In part that's because we're so small (and new) a business. There was a panel about being a small player in the global information industry, but all the companies there were much bigger and more established than we are; they're small only by comparison with the giants, Elsevier and Wolters Kluwer and Thomson. Oddly, I didn't feel this at the Content Forum in May; I found myself leaving almost every session with notes about things I could do or test.
The copyright panel was moderated by Ed Colleran, senior director of Rightsholder Relations at Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), which is based in Danvers, Massachusetts. I've met some great people this year through SIIA and Ed is one of them: he really knows his stuff and sticks at it. Copyright is a huge issue for writers and publishers, and it's an area where there is a startling amount of confusion, and ignorance.
The main point made by the panelists was that companies should do what it takes to be perceived as tough on copyright violation and piracy, because that reputation will get the pirates looking for softer targets. (Same principle as holding your head high and looking alert when walking down a dark city street.) Pirating and copyright violation will continue, but we can get some measure of control over it.
But a more important copyright problem exists among people who you'd think would know better. Educating educators--and other companies--about how copyright works is a key part of what CCC does. Unfortunately, efforts like the Creative Commons can end up working in opposition to CCC (and publishers and authors). One of the speakers, Lucie Guibault from the Institute for Information Law of the University of Amsterdam, announced proudly that she was the only academic at the conference (this meant, I think, that she was the only one who didn't have sordid financial motives) and that she had helped set up Creative Commons licensing in the Netherlands.
I actually like some things about Creative Commons, but I find myself annoyed by academics who act superior as they try to undo copyright protection: they seem to have no awareness that creative people who need to earn a living through their writing or music, or that publishers, too, do work that creates value. Nor do they seem to realize that open source software is not the same kind of thing as, and therefore cannot serve as a model for, creative written work, or songs, or symphonies. Open source is a great idea for some things, and inappropriate for others.
I asked the panel about YouTube, the website where people upload video clips. They're supposed to upload clips they own--i.e., that they created--but lots of people record TV clips and upload them. Companies could pursue this as a violation of copyright (which it undoubtedly is), but seem to consider it publicity at the moment. But what happens when the value of YouTube, its available to draw visitors, is partly based on content archives that include hundreds or thousands of clips from, say, MSNBC? Won't they want a cut?
My days as a struggling freelance writer are still vivid, and I think that's why I have so much to say (and ask) about copyright! Arguments on this are welcome; I'm sure there are plenty of people who disagree, or don't understand what we're so worked up about. Let's talk about the assumptions behind copyright protection--or free use.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:34 AM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2006
Day 1 of the Global Information Summit: Stay out of China?
Yesterday morning, the Global Information Summit in Amerstam kicked off with a speech (accompanied by detailed PowerPoint, sadly) by Ruud Bakker of VNU, one of the major international publishers based here in Holland (others are Wolters Kluwer and Elsevier). It was fascinating to see how focused VNU is on adding social media to its publishing program, both because that doesn’t seem to be common, yet, in the B2B companies that form the bulk of SIIA membership, and because it would surprise me if a mainstream business audience really wants to contribute to online forums and a “virtual wikipedia.”
(What is a virtual wikipedia, anyway? A wiki encyclopedia on the subject of the particular database or service, I suppose, but it’s hard to see why lots of people would want to contribute to that instead of throwing the same content onto Wikipedia.com. When you’re writing for nothing, you usually want the widest possible audience. On the other hand, I have been thinking about starting subject-specific wikipedias with authorship limited to a certain group; but that requires some market research: would our authors want to contribute, and how would we provide editorial controls?)
Mr Bakker ended by saying said that online directories were very promising, and that virtual search was vital. I am puzzled by this and would have loved to have some debate about it (maybe that’s what I’ll propose to SIIA for next year, panels to debate issues that are important in the information industry, just as those of us in publishing are debating issues like the Google library program and the role of books in libraries). The online directories I bump up against in Google searches for restaurants or hotels are annoying, not useful, and surely the whole idea of web search is that we don’t need directories because the search engine will pull together the right current information from original sources (the actual restaurant websites, for example). I must talk to some of the delegates about this today and get more information.
Next up was our Asia panel, criticized by some people in the audience for being too negative, and we’ll probably end up bending over backwards to be positive during the roundtable this afternoon (though as you can imagine, I wasn’t negative about working in China—but someone told me at the cocktail party last night that I kept a poker face so they weren’t sure if I was agreeing with my copanelists). The panel on Europe was led by EPS’s David Worlock, who said that the most gold is in old mines. I don’t think that’s necessarily true—when the California Gold Rush was over, it was over, and when old mines, or oil fields, continue to worked, the costs get higher and higher. But eastern Europe is new territory for many publishers, and Berkshire Publishing has barely begun even in western Europe so I appreciated this overview.
I was surprised to learn that the EU has 51 official states, 37 languages, and 27 currencies, but had known that Skype (which I use all the time for phone calls and instant messaging) originated in Estonia. It’s good to be reminded that working in Europe, too, requires cross-cultural skills. It would be interesting to know if one could identify cross-cultural aptitude for working in different places and cultures. Are some people better adapted to working in Eastern Europe, or in Asia? I’m going to propose a panel or workshop on this for next year’s conference.
I'm sneaking out now to see something of Amsterdam.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:08 AM | Comments (0)
September 8, 2006
Podcasts from China, with home stories
I wanted to do podcast interviews from China but didn't have time to sort out the software, even with great advice from my new friend Steve Mirsky, the podcast maven (and columnist) at Scientific American. But I did take advantage of a quiet hotel room to do some trial recordings. They're a little rough--I haven't entirely got the hang of this yet--but I thought I'd share them with our blog readers.
Introduction to Berkshire Publishing
Berkshire's Beginnings
Posted by Karen Christensen at 9:52 AM | Comments (0)
September 6, 2006
Our new partnership with Guangdong People's Publishing House
This is quite a big launch, in fact, of six books now and another six books over the next six years. The company is planning a reception at the Frankfurt Book Fair and a formal contract signing, and that's only a month away, so we all have much to do! (That's why I'm going to devote quite a bit of my time in
Above is a photo of Ellen and me in her office, and a photo from the second festive lunch I had with other members of the company. As you can see, we were having a good time, with everyone teaching me a little more about Chinese food and culture. My new food of that meal came in a dish of boiled meats, the same collection of offal we'd had in porridge for breakfast. Ellen gave me a piece and told me after I'd eaten it-slightly soft, tender-that it was lung. Good for my lungs, too, she said. And that's not a bad thing: 
Chinese cities are indeed polluted, though I'm feeling fine. A friend who was at the BIBF wrote that he got home with "
Ellen also took me sightseeing, shopping, and for dinner on a
Posted by Karen Christensen at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2006
Dining at the Great Hall of the People
First day of a trade fair is ridiculously intense, and in Beijing that's magnified. I'm rushing off to another dinner but want to post a couple photographs.
First, of the banquet last night in the Great Hall of the People, built in 1959 by Mao, on Tiananmen Square. It's generally used for state dinners, I was told. The Book Fair is something of an affair of state. In fact, we all had to leave early this afternoon so the conference center could be made ready for Chinese and Russian delegations to view it this evening.
I was at a table last night with a bunch of New Zealand publishers and our new China rep. GUO Yiqun. It was fun and the food was terrific --amazing to see the quality of the catering for well over 1,000. But maybe that's small crowd for that kitchen. (Double-click the photo to see details. Note the two kinds of bread, maybe one for the Russians, and the New Zealand butter. And the knives and forks!)
Posted by Karen Christensen at 5:01 AM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2006
Beijing International Publishing Forum
I don't know how you feel about spending the day listening to people read speeches. I went to a college with no lecture classes, and I am not sure I've ever attended a lecture class.No, that's not true. I went to physics lectures at Harvard Summer School. And they were more fun than the Beijing International Publishing Forum. The worst part was that the bag I got at registration contained a binder with the text of all the speeches, in Chinese, English, and in one case Russian. So I could read the whole day in advance.
There was a big crowd, as you can see (I was sitting about 1/3 of the way back), almost all Chinese. The blond woman in the middle is Jane Friedman, CEO of HarperCollins, who looked and sounded extremely American. Gracious and flattering, as was appropriate at an event that was more about politics and diplomacy than publishing. Double-click for a larger view.
There are several key takeaways (as they say in the conference business):
- New technologies are changing the publishing business and we all need to adapt
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Young people don't read books as much as their parents
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Western publishers are dying to sell more in China
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Chinese publishers, and the government, are chagrined at how few Chinese books are published elsewhere (the balance of trade in publishing is very much in favor of the English and other Western language companies)
At Berkshire, we're doing Guanxi: The China Letter, and because our emphasis with is helping Westerners understand China, the Book Fair is going to be very interesting indeed. I read a couple of articles in conference handouts about how China wants the rest of the world to gain better understanding and knowledge about it. That's our goal, and I think we can cooperate in interesting ways.
The trouble is that political sensitivities affect what is put in print, and there's a kind of didacticism that seems to be part of the publishing culture (judging from catalog descriptions of books), may make Chinese texts rather hard to sell outside the country. But I read, too, that Chinese publishers are increasingly aware that they need to take our needs, wants, and expectations into account when planning their book programs, if they are to be successful in selling foreign rights.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2006
British connections--hands across the sea!
While I'm focusing these days on China, my heart remains in England. I am dumbstruck to find these sweet remarks by Tim Coates (the power behind the Good Library Blog, which we sponsor, and former MD of Waterstone's, a chain of book shops that had a transformative effect in the U.K.) on the blog of the remarkable British blogger and novelist Susan Hill. Our wonderful Trevor Young, himself from Lincolnshire, gets a mention, too! Susan Hill's blog :: A GRAND LIBRARY AND A HUMBLE LIBRARY
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:40 PM | Comments (0)
Berkshire online in China
I leave for Beijing a week from Friday and am already in that state of mind where I'm counting down every hour, and a little panicky about all the things I need to do while I'm still here. What a great pleasure to see that we now have an online presence in China, thanks to our new representatives in Beijing: Berkshire公司简介. (If you can't see the Chinese characters but just get little boxes, Chinese fonts have not been installed on your computer--we're encouraging everyone to get the fonts installed, and have some guidelines we'll be putting up at GuanxiOnline this week.)
This is just a version of our U.S. site at the moment, but over time we plan to have a variety of publications for Chinese readers only. The one I've been discussing this week is a version of the Cool Planet Guide , a new environmental book I'm writing. I have had two of my previous environmental titles books published in Chinese, the latest by a mainland company, but this time I want to develop a book with a Chinese co-author, and Jennifer Turner at the China Environment Forum in Washington has given me quite a few people to talk to about this in Beijing.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 2:26 PM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2006
Remembering Ed Beauchamp
It's Sunday afternoon and I was folding clothes just now. Amongst the shirts and socks was a baggy white t-shirt that says, "A woman's place is in the ring." It reminded me, as always, of Ed Beauchamp, a long-time editor and contributor to Berkshire publications, who gave it to me and encouraged me to try boxing. Ed retired from the University of Hawaii a couple of years ago and then taught around the world as he traveled with his wife Nancy. (They made it to Great Barrington, too.) He and I always said we would have a chance to spar, but he died this week of cancer. I've written about him before, and will always cherish him as a friend and admire his amazing range of work and activities. His vitality and enthusiasm--for everything from boxing to education to movies--lit up many lives, I know. We'll miss him very much.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:59 PM | Comments (0)
July 26, 2006
Reasonable research--is this so difficult?
I'm preparing a couple of contracts today, conscious of the problems publishing contracts pose for authors--and book packagers, which is what we were until two years ago. Most of our clients were gentlemen, or women, and they really didn't want to demand our first-born, or the legal equivalent. But sometimes corporate orders were to offer contracts of blinding unfairness. I did pretty well, holding onto most e-rights, and generally maintaining control of our intellectual property, but it was never much fun. Actually, it wasn't any fun at all, except the time a big-time corporate lawyer, whom I got to be quite friendly with during weeks of negotiation, suggested I use white-out liquid to change a clause I didn't like, before returning it to their publisher for signature.
I'm working on a new basic contract for our trade and professional books and have been drawing from some boilerplate. I just took out the words "punch card," thinking that we're unlikely to manage content that way, but I'm leaving some other rather out of date references since there's also the usual stuff about media "of any kind or configuration whatsoever, whether now in existence or hereafter devised." I'm not adding, "throughout the known universe," however! Much too scifi. And what about the unknown universe?
I wonder if Doris Kearns Goodwin and the other historians who have plagiarized text, and popular authors who have written false memoirs, had clauses like these in their contracts: "(v) all statements of fact are true or based upon reasonable research; (vi) the Work, if biographical or "as told to the Author", is authentic." This seems reasonable to me.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 5:35 PM | Comments (0)
July 24, 2006
The real scoop on bagels (and Banbury cakes)
Here’s a weekend story. We often get bagels from a great locally owned place here in Great Barrington. It was started by a retired advertising executive and his wife (who happens to be a childhood friend of Nancy Kranich, past president of ALA and a good friend of ours). The bagels are superb, and often hot from the oven. The whitefish is great, and even the coffee is as good as anywhere in town.
As we were slicing and spreading, I wondered just how long bagels have been around. I turned, naturally, to the Oxford Companion to Food, edited by the late British food expert Alan Davidson. I’ve had my doubts about this book, which always struck me as colonialist, so I wasn’t expecting perfection. But bagels exist in England, where there has long been a considerable Jewish community. In fact, fish-and-chips were invented by Jewish immigrants in the East End of London.
The entry on bagels wasn’t bad but it gave no dates at all for the origin or spread of the bagel. It said that bagels were the only bread cooked first by boiling then by baking. I knew this wasn’t true: soft pretzels are cooked by the same method. But the entry on pretzels referred only to the hard variety.
Then there’s the question of weighting. Davidson gave as much space to the Banbury Cake, a regional and little-known British speciality, as to the bagel!
The Wikipedia people want to know how reference publishers allocate entries and check facts. I’m off to see what Wikipedia has to say about these foods!
The Wikipedia entry "Bagels" is far superior to Oxford's: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagels
But they don't cross-reference bagels and soft pretzels (though they know that they exist and say they are especially popular in Philadelphia), even though they are, I think, the only two breads cooked by that particular method. And they don't have Banbury cakes at all.
I do realize that the idea is that I should share what I know through Wikipedia. But (1) the more someone knows, the less likely it is that they have time to donate to Wikipedia and (2) it's a a huge disincentive to a knowledgeable person to think that someone else--perhaps reading the Oxford Companion to Food and knowing no better--could simply change or delete what they had written.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:48 AM | Comments (0)
July 23, 2006
Preparing for Wikimania
It rained most of the day on Saturday and was cloudy until the evening on Sunday. A perfect weekend for reading and ironing and catching up at home. I also wrote an abstract for the reference publishing panel I'll be on at the Wikipedia conference in Cambridge, MA, in two weeks. It's called Wikimania, so I'm expecting something more like the Falcon Ridge folk festival (held near here this weekend) than an academic conference.
Phoebe Ayers, a librarian at UC Davis, is organizing the panel and our communication has been problematic (all my e-mails to her Davis account bounce and we can't figure out why), but with the wiki system I was able to edit my own bio. I couldn't figure out how to post the abstract, however; the page doesn't seem to be secured, but there are some relationships established between pages that it would take some time to figure out. This is one of the problems with wikis: you really have to be something of a coder to use them. And that's not just a generational thing. Plenty of young people do not do code at all.
Anyhow, you can see the panel plan here. I asked Phoebe if she could ask for audience questions in advance and that's already started, on the discussion page. This is a terrific use for a wiki, very helpful to speakers, and a way we can get some exchange going before the conference starts.
Here's my abstract (which may be changed, by me or, perhaps, by someone else!):
The How and Why of Reference Publishing--Karen Christensen
A well-known Internet sociologist e-mailed me recently to ask why there is a glut of print encyclopedias. He’d been asked to edit two new ones that very week. Yet when I explain what I do at dinner parties, people often say, “You mean people are still publishing encyclopedias?” In spite of the Web and Wikipedia, some parts of the reference business are thriving. I’ll try to explain why, and talk about what an encyclopedia publisher actually does and how I build relationships with experts in fields as diverse as world history, community, sustainability, and future studies. The creation of knowledge networks and tapping into international communities of experts is the key to building unique global resources, whether online or in print. I’ll air some dirty secrets about reference publishing (many encyclopedias are not written by experts at all, and a surprising number are not fact-checked), and we’ll discuss why and how Wikipedia is different from encyclopedias planned by a publisher and written by commissioned experts.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:26 PM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2006
Too many encyclopedias? Not enough friends?
One of my favorite people, Barry Wellman, was quoted in widely circulated reports a week or two ago about a study's findings that a quarter of Americans have no one in whom to confide. Barry was the editor for Internet community articles in the Encyclopedia of Community, and he's also contributed to the Berkshire Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction. He is someone I turn to regularly for advice on all kinds of topics connected with technology and social media. I guess it's appropriate that our friendship and collaboration has developed online: we've never met in person.
I don't think Barry really thinks online relationships can make up for the fact that people don't have anyone to confide in. There's quality, as well as quantity, in our human connections. He asked today why there are so many encyclopedias--he was asked to write for or edit two just this week--and I'm baffled to explain the economics for big companies like Elsevier. We know they must be making money, and plenty of it, in order to keep doing it. Yet we've just heard--via an Out-of-Office responder--that "Marie-Claire Antoine is no longer with Routledge, which is no longer commissioning encyclopedia reference works." We are still in the midst of projects with Routledge and Marie-Claire has been our main contact, so this is a bit strange. And worrying: contributors to the Encyclopedia of Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity are still awaiting the free copies due them.
On the other hand, Berkshire continues to develop innovative titles that we believe are really needed, and that offer fresh integration of important subjects. Intimate relationships, for example, a topic that connects closely with our work on community, exploring the personal connections that are our most satisfying and most troublesome bonds. As our catalog puts it, these are the relationships "inspiring great literature and music as well as horrendous crimes. This pioneering intedisciplinary work explores dyadic and aggregate relationships, from parents and children to friends, coworkers, and teammates."
Dare I ask my friend Barry Wellman to contribute?
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:37 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2006
Guest editor for Against the Grain
Katina Strauch, the clever and iconoclastic creator of both Against the Grain, a popular library journal, and the internationally renowned Charleston Conference (I know it's renowned because people in Europe actually know about it--and go to it) has asked me to guest edit the December/January ALA Midwinter Issue of Against the Grain. I'm lining up writers who will be able to tell us about how global perspectives on knowledge creation and management are changing the world of publishing and librarianship.
Katina, by the way, strikes me as a natural blogger. She does a great column for ATG, packed with news and stories, and I can easily see that developing into something online.
Meanwhile, Tim Coates is amazing us--and the world--with his prolific, hilarious, and insightful blogging at the Good Library Blog. We set this up after I met Tim in London, and it's simply astonishing how it's taken off. We supplied the technology and the design, and Tim's done the rest. While he's enraged many in government, it seems to me that he's making inroads in waking up the public and the library community to both threats and opportunities. This reminds me that the Chinese character for crisis combines the characters for threat (or danger) and opportunity. British libraries do face a crisis, but with the help of passionate library supporters like Tim, there is a wonderful opportunity for change.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 2:32 PM | Comments (0)
July 11, 2006
Innovation at Earth Policy Institute
I had dinner last night with an old friend, Lester Brown, who founded the Worldwatch Institute and more recently started a new organization, the Earth Policy Institute (EPI).
I knew I would get some ideas for our sustainability project, but I hadn’t realized that Les would make me consider a new approach to our publishing and distribution. He has published some 30 books with W. W. Norton, the most recent being Plan B 2.0, Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble. That’s a new edition of the 2003 Plan B, and he’s just been to China to promote it and to receive the equivalent of the Chinese National Book Award.
Here’s the publishing innovation: Norton provides EPI with copies as they want at a very low price, and Earth Policy sells the book on its website in substantial numbers. EPI also offers the book, in chapters, free downloading. Get that? Free downloads of a book that EPI is selling at list price and that Norton is selling through all the usual channels.
This is Web 2.0 thinking. Les says it’s very successful. They sell a lot of books, Norton does nicely, and the work they’re doing is far more widely and globally distributed than it would ever be otherwise.
Is there a lesson here for Berkshire Publishing?
Posted by Karen Christensen at 9:06 AM | Comments (0)
July 8, 2006
Book cover for the Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability
When we first started doing our big idea encyclopedias (Leadership, Community, and so on), timid publishing people asked, "Aren't you afraid of running out of ideas?" It's a big wide world with lots of questions to ask, lots of problems to be solved. So, no, I'm not at all worried that we're going to look around one day and say we've done it all.
The new project dearest to me is the Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability. We're in early days with this one, and it's unique in many ways. First, it is even more interdisciplinary than the usual Berkshire titles, truly integrating the social sciences with physical and life sciences. It is a huge subject, much debated, and fast developing. It absolutely requires a global perspective. And, most important, it is not simply timely but urgent.
Some of these points conflict: how do we do something so difficult as quickly as it really should be done? We started with a plan to do a standard four-volume encyclopedia. The plan has already evolved into an eight-volume encyclopedia that will be published serially, with volumes designed to be used separately as well as with the rest of the set. It includes a Sustainable Business Reader that we'll publish next spring. And we're also planning a website that will provide information from the project as it develops, so important resources and our coverage and organizational strategy can be commented on and improved as we go forward.
But editorial development isn't the only thing I have to think about. We also have to start promoting forthcoming titles, and that requires graphic design as well as scope statements and headword lists. Our original cover design was attractive (you can see it in our 2006-7 catalog), but not right for the enlarged work. At staff meeting Wednesday I said something about our needing a new image, something evocative and beautiful and not too specific to a particular region or place.
When I went back to my desk there was an e-mail forwarded by Tom from a professor of his at Grinnell College. Jon Andelson is an anthropologist who has contributed to many of our publications, and he had just received a photo from a friend who is both a farmer and a photographer, and felt it was something he had to share with his students.
This photo, by Carl Kurtz, who raises prairie plant seeds for restoration projects, is going to be the cover of the Encyclopedia of Sustainability. Fireflies (or lightning bugs, as many people call them) above the prairie at dusk is a beautiful image, obviously, but it's more than that: it shows life humming above a restored landscape, and, for me, the many points of light reflect the small efforts that are needed, all over the world, to create a sustainable future. While this image comes from one particular place on earth, there's a universal quality to it that will, I hope, be meaningful to readers around the world. 
Here's a book with more of Carl's photographs: Iowa's Wild Places.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:46 AM | Comments (0)
June 8, 2006
Print-on-demand is not publishing
While it's always great to see references to local institutions in the national press, this article, "More Booksellers Turn to Publishing," in Publishers Weekly worries me. Print-on-demand is not publishing! Publishers Weekly ought to draw a distinction between an independent bookshop's allowing local would-be authors to produce bound copies of their work and the complex process of publishing new or even out-of-print works. Publishers--and librarians--provide an essential service in the selections, and improvements, they make. When I see the improvements our team of editors, copy editors, and proofreaders make in the work of established writers and experts (not to mention my own journalism, like the article I wrote this week about the College of Creative Studies), I am bowled over. Now we publishers need to figure out how best to show the vast increase in quality and usability these professionals are responsible for?
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:31 AM | Comments (0)
June 1, 2006
Hot topics: copyrights, and creatorship
One of the hot topics in publishing is plain old copyright--which may be old but is far from plain vanilla today. I've been wondering why there isn't a simple cribsheet that would cover the basic rules of international copyright on a single page, and why I've heard experienced publishers ask, "Would that be in copyright?" It shouldn't be so complicated.
But the mere existence of protection placed on creative works seems to annoy some people. It amused me that those most vocal about how 'information wants to be free' have tenured positions: they don't need to earn a living by their writing, and they seem to have no concern at all for those of us who do. I'd love to see what would happen if university education was also set free, and their regular paycheques were no more.
I just received the ALCS News, the magazine of the U.K. Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society Ltd., which I've been a member of for years. The ALCS collects fees from libraries, based on a survey of usage, and distributes them to authors. In Europe, similar programs are in effect for photocopying usage, too, ensuring that authors get some small addition income from the use of their creative work. A fascinating new development is the Artis's Resale Right (droit de suite) which came into effect in the UK this year. "The right enttiels artists and visual crators to a [small] share of the sale price each time their work is resold by a gallery, auction house or dealer." There are similar efforts underway to give authors a share of proceeds when copies of their books are resold.
This probably horrifies the 'free information' advocates, but as a creator it delights me. When I put on my publisher's hat the situation becomes more complicated, but more on that another time. For now, I'll close with a line from Terry Pratchett, the widely read and widely pirated fantasy fiction author: "I'm annoyed to be told by arrogrant people that 'information longs to be free'. I reply that, in that case, maybe they would like to 'free' their bank account details and shunt them in my direction?" This is just the point I made in my second Google Debate essay.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:59 AM | Comments (0)
May 27, 2006
Berkshire is "small, ruthless, and all Edge"
I don't like (and hope you share the feeling) blogs that endless quote from other blogs. But this is irresistible. Alex Soojung-Kim Pang is the editor/innovator I wrote to a few years back after bumping into his striking name in all kinds of surprising places online (history, literature, technology). He's a madly energetic blogger, which is not necessarily a great thing in an encyclopedia editor but it is clearly uncontrollable. He wrote in a recent post, "Berkshire Publishing Group . . . is to traditional reference publishers as Maas Labs was to Hosaka in William Gibson's "New Rose Hotel": small, ruthless, and all Edge. Except they're not particularly ruthless (well, they are if you're late with stuff). They are willing to place some spectacular bets, however. Like commissioning an encyclopedia of things that haven't happened yet."
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:25 AM | Comments (0)
May 20, 2006
Notes from BookExpo: a waist- level view
This week has been complicated by icepacks, crutches, and the need for foot elevation. Fortunately, David met me at Dulles Airport Thursday night, so I have his help on the DC/VA leg of this trip.
The hotel here loaned us a wheelchair and that's how I went to BookExpo yesterday. I'm learning how much extra time things take when one is disabled. It's enlightening, as well, about accessibility. In theory, city streets have been made accessible with ramps at corners and lights that beep, but here in DC we've found that there are holes, uneven paving slabs, and brick sections with chunks missing or loose. Yesterday David was waiting for me after parking the car, while I had a meeting about GUANXI, our new China newsletter. He parked the wheelchair under a tree and sat in it reading. He said people smiled at him kindly as they walked past, and we agreed that given the dilapidated state of this borrowed chair he should have put a cup out, too.
Library conferences have always seemed to me the least well-organized meetings I've ever attended--long lines, an absence of clear signage and other information, confusing layout--and I expected BookExpo to be better, but similar. The first thing that struck me, as we struggled via two separate elevators to get to the exhibits floor, was the number of overweight, badly dressed women struggling in corners with quantities of overloaded bags. They were intent of the job of organizing their possessions, and if we hadn't been inside the convention center I would have thought they were homeless. But the bags were full of trophies from the aisles of the exhibition.
Who were they? I wondered. I know there's a feeding frenzy in the exhibits at ALA meetings, people cruising the aisles intent on the booty they can carry off. I just hope those women were not librarians; limited funding or no, that combination of avarice and desperation is very unappealing.
More about BookExpo later; I need to soak my foot again. I have moved on to hot water treatment now, and I'm hoping by the time we get to University of Richmond meeting Tuesday I'll be walking again.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:38 AM | Comments (0)
May 16, 2006
Off my feet in San Francisco at the Software & Information Industry Association's Content Summit
I can hear the bell of the cable cars on Powell Street, but I won’t be riding one while I’m in San Francisco for the Software & Information Industry Association's Content Summit, because on the way to the first coffee break I fell on the stairs and sprained my ankle. I am now hobbling around on crutches. We’re at the Westin St. Francis Hotel on Union Square, a lovely location, and the meeting itself has been worthwhile. I’m not just saying that because I am now on the board (what a great way, though, to shut up a critical blogger). It’s odd, though, to have an orange board member ribbon on my name tag when this is the first Content Summit I’ve attended, and when I don’t know anyone. If you happen to be here, I’m the one with her foot propped up on cushions and piled with plastic bags of ice—please come and say hullo.
I was especially critical back in January of the first keynote speaker, and I thought yesterday’s would be as bad. The history of journalism by Bob Merry, the CEO of Congressional Quarterly Press. Yawn. But in fact I thought he was quite good, and I was impressed by his explanation of the practical business choices the company has been making in their online services, and their knowledge that new communications pose a challenge they will have to face. I talked to someone later who said the talk must have mystified the many young professionals in the audience. Pamphleteering--huh?
In fact I missed quite a bit yesterday, and some good panels I’m told, because I was having lunch with Larry Sanger, the cofounder of Wikipedia, who has asked me to be on his advisory board for a new competing project. It was great to meet Larry and have a chance to hear about his various intriguing new activities, especially a primary text coding system that reminds me of the HRAF system David was involved with for so long, and that underlays some of our work and our taxonomies. But I have to admit that I remain mystified by his conviction that the only way to create excellent content in the long-term is to give it away, because, he explained, that’s the only way not to pay all the people who will contribute to it. He says that if the result is free, people will contribute for the greater good.
Larry is a philosopher by training, not an economist or psychologist or historian, but that doesn’t quite explain a belief that seems to be counter to human history: that people are widely and powerfully motivated by altruism. I don’t think altruism doesn’t exist; I just don’t think depending on it is a good way to build a business. In fact, I have a feeling that that kind of talk may just be marketing hype: surely the reality is that ego, status, and the chance to have a public platform of sorts is what drives the many people to comment on blogs and contribute to Wikipedia.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Jen McClure, who founded and runs the Society for New Communications Research. I loved the stories about her train-loving son who is going to be in heaven in England this summer; I had no idea that a Californian kid could somehow have the trainspotting bug that is prevalent in the UK: it’s just like birdwatching. People (usually fathers and sons) go out at weekends recording their train sightings in little books. You’ll see them leaning happily over railway bridges, watching for that elusive diesel built in 1968 (or something like that). I hope Jen’s husband is inclined this way, too, because I can’t imagine that Jen is going to want to put a lot of time in trainspotting when she’s trying to finish her research and probably wanting to explore the byways of Oxfordshire.
There’s a possibility that we’ll be doing some publishing for the Society, which is an exciting prospect given our involvements in this area and plans for podcasting from the World History Association conference next month. What really interests me is the positive ways in which collaboration between individuals and knowledge communities can do good. But how to merge that activity with commercial enterprise is more complicated, I think, than what believers in what Jen calls “the blog religion” yet understand.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 12:03 PM | Comments (1)
May 2, 2006
Elected to the SIIA Content Division Board
Some people thought I had enough on my plate, but somehow the announcement of an election stirred me to write a campaign statement that started with the words on the sign above my desk, "It's the content, stupid." An allusion, of course, to Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign, and a reminder to me last year that it wasn't technology that mattered but the content--the people and ideas that make publishing important. The result? (SIIA Content Division Announces New Board Members)
Click the link below to see my campaign statement.
There’s a piece of paper tacked above my desk saying, “It’s the content, stupid.” I am new to SIIA but have been closely involved throughout my career in issues facing the Content Division. I’m an author and journalist, a publisher, and an entrepreneur. I know the struggles of a self-financed start-up and have the global perspective of an organization focused on international content. I am passionate about creating knowledge and getting it to the people who need to know; I believe that publishers are a powerful force for good in our world, and a crucial part of today’s world wide web of communication.
I’ve been active in the Google Debate in the U.K. (arguing against unfair, unauthorized digitization) and I write popular environmental books--translated into French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai--and occasional magazine features as well as two blogs, the Berkshire Blog and the Armchair Environmentalist. These activities, as well as my work on China and with Chinese companies and individuals, would enable me to contribute new ideas--and occasionally to stir up debate.
I would be honored to serve as a member of the SIIA Content Board and would work to ensure that the organization strengthens our position as vital providers of information and to generate discussion about the quality of knowledge and the unique value publishers provide as part of the knowledge economy.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:15 AM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2006
Off the beaten track
I met Javier Diaz Reynoso when I was 16 and visiting my cousin Cheryl, who was studying in Guadalajara, Mexico. We reconnected 25 years later, after Cheryl died, and he was a gracious host when David and I visited Guadalajara two years ago for the International Leadership Association's conference. Javier is an architect but he paints and takes amazing photographs, too. Now and then he sends one he thinks I'll like. The photograph we used on the cover of our new catalogue is one he took, a rainbow arched above a quiet country road in the Mexican countryside. It shows the beauty of the back road, those unknown places far off the beaten track of tourism and global business, and somehow echoes what we at Berkshire want to show in all our works: the wonder and difference and familiarity of distant places.
But what I forgot to explain in the catalog is that all the buildings you see on the cover (though not on the back of the catalog, where you'll see the original photograph) were added by our very creative designer Joe DiStefano. Joe has an extraordinary knack for capturing our global vision. It took him only minutes to come up with this way of combining photos from our collection with Javier's open road to create an evocative mix that takes us from Mexico to Greece to China.
If you'd like a catalog, please write to us. We'll be happy to put one in the mail.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:40 AM | Comments (0)
April 6, 2006
Big domains that matter
There's so much going on right now that it's hard to know where to begin. "We are starting," I said this evening, "four businesses at once." But it makes sense, because publishing today, at least when you're tackling areas as big as world cultures and world history and sustainability, can't be a narrowly focused enterprise. Diversity, in markets and media and formats, is essential. But we are focusing on domains--important, interdisciplinary subjects--and working from there. It's amazing to listen to the buzz in the office, as new material comes in for our project on the future, on sustainability, on religious justice. The development of our publishing on religion is something I feel especially proud of, because we're working with serious people who see things differently from the way we do. If you happen to have access to the London Literary Review (a splendid magazine), do read the review in the March issue by Bernard Green of three books on religion. He accurately describes how many intellectuals see religion as something to be explained away and driven out, and shows the rather sketchy thinking behind this viewpoint. I am not a believer, but I have come to recognize the enormous importance and power of belief, and it's good to find that there are other who share our conviction that understanding, and accepting, religion as a major force in human society is truly essential at this stage in history. As my son said the other day, religious leaders are the people in the best possible position to get us, en masse, to do something about global warming.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:49 PM | Comments (0)
April 2, 2006
Blackwell Publishing goes carbon neutral
Credit where credit is due! First, to Peter Saugman for letting me know about this, and then to Blackwell Publishing which has announced that it is going carbon neutral. This means that the company is committing itself to balancing the CO2 (carbon dioxide, the main 'greenhouse gas') it releases through driving, flying, heating, shipping, etc. with carbon dioxide absorbing actions including forest planting. Read the press release here. This is a tremendous step to take for any company, and it is especially important that major and highly successful corporations such as Blackwell set an example. Given that Blackwell is one of the world's major scientific publishers, this is an important statement, too. I've heard that Nature is launching a separate journal on climate change, more evidence that the scientific community is clear that global warming is happening.
The World Land Trust provides a free carbon audit for companies (yes, I'll be taking it!).
Posted by Karen Christensen at 9:47 AM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2006
Questions of quality: Google, Wikipedia, and traditional reference
It's good to see some serious discussion about the quality of information, about how facts, and scholarly agreement or the lack thereof, about less-than-certain topics should be presented. I'm not sure it's wise for Encyclopedia Britannica to undertake its current campaign to prove its superiority, given that it isn't quite the standard bearer it was in years past, but I guess that that position is what EB is about, and the 7,000-word rebuttal to Nature magazine is very much an EB response. (You have to be a subscriber to see the article: "In a War of Words, Famed Encyclopedia Defends Its Turf," Wall Street Journal, 24 March 2006. Not even the first few sentences are free! BTW, I've switched to the Financial Times because it's more international, and less blindly conservative.)
I was even more intrigued by yesterday's New York Times op-ed about Google and information illiteracy , because the author's test search was for "world history." Wikipedia had a weak article, and EB had nothing. The problem here, not addressed by the author, is that the best content on the subject is not available free, and isn't even searchable at the moment (though various people, Berkshire included, are working on that).
Here's the opening of "Writing World History" by Marnie Hughes-Warrington, a tremendous and unique overview article included in the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History (about which the Booklist reviewer wrote, “A masterful title that weaves together social, scientific, anthropological, and geographical influences on world history, the [Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History] will be the benchmark against which future history encyclopedias are compared...[and] belongs on the shelves of all high-school, public, and academic libraries.” We're also working on a way of getting it into the hands of students and general readers, in print and on the desktop. Professor Hughes-Warrington sets the stage in this way:
"The term "world history" describes one of the oldest, most persistent, and most pliable forms of history writing. No simple methodological definition is possible, for world histories vary widely in style, structure, and scope. Furthermore, a wide assortment of labels have been used to describe them, including "universal history," "ecumenical history," "regional history," "comparative history," "world systems history," "macrohistory," "transnational history," "big history," and the "new world" and "new global" histories. Despite terminological differences, however, world histories share the purpose of offering a construction of and thus a guide to a meaningful "world"-a "realm or domain taken for an entire meaningful system of existence or activity"-by historians or people in the past (Hughes-Warrington 2004, 4). Thus in this sense all histories are world histories. Where histories differ is in the degree to which the purpose of world construction is explicit." Email me if you'd like a copy of the whole article.
Another fascinating and important form of world history is "Big History," a subject closely associated with our friend and editor David Christian, author of the remarkable Maps of Time.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:31 AM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2006
The dangers of technology
Blogging is dangerous. In January I was in New York for a two-day conference run by an organization I had just joined, the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). I blogged about the conference and happened also, about that time, to mention that I was experimenting with wikis.
A topic, I noticed, that that SIIA was planning to cover at a lunch session in March. I thought I would try to attend. But a week or so after the conference, Ed Keating, the Content Division VP, called, said he’d read my blog, and wondered if I would be on the wiki panel.
On the one hand, I knew very little about wikis. On the other hand, it was quite possible that I knew more about them than most other people. I am guided in these situations by some advice I got from a documentary film maker in London, a friend and neighbor whom I turned to when the BBC asked to come to my flat to interview me about my first environmental book. I lived in a tiny basement flat and had a toddler and a three-month old baby. The kitchen was in the entranceway, the furniture was secondhand, and there were endless undone household repairs. “Take every opportunity,” she said.
I agreed to talk about wikis.
In the month since then I have talked to a lot of people about them, in London with Lucy Hooberman who works in New Media at the BBC and with my new friends at the Society for New Communications Research in Palo Alto, CA. I’ve talked with someone involved in founding Wikipedia. What comes in handy in all these conversations is the fact that I grew up in Minnesota and the Silicon Valley with a father (and friends with fathers) in the computer business. I feel no awe: I know they’re just code. But I’m not resistant either. I enjoy diving in, figuring out how to use Flickr or write XHTML or set up a wiki. And that’s what I encouraged everyone at the SIIA brown bag lunch to do (no one in the audience had, or had edited, a wiki).
What, you may ask, is a wiki? Wikis are a kind of software that lets one create editable, linkable webpages. There’s nothing fancy about the pages; this is a designer’s toolset. What they are good for is creating a simple, shared information resource or for collaborative writing by a dispersed group of equals—that is, a group in which everyone has equal responsibility and authority for the work. (Although it is possible to see who made changes, this isn’t convenient for workflow in most situations. My fellow panelist Roddy MacFarquhar from Reuters, is thinking about wikis for editorial workflow, and I can see that it might work in certain situations.)
If you’d like to take a look at the wiki I set up just yesterday, Guanxi Wiki. I got started when my son sent me an article about a gaming community that gathered and wrote as much about an imaginary world as Tolkein had, for Lord of the Rings, in several decades. I saw the link, “Make a free, password-protected wiki as easily as a peanut butter sandwich.” I did, and before I knew it I was on a panel in New York. Beware!
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:57 AM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2006
Our authors and the perspectives they provide
Our contributors are simply amazing. They are what make a reference publishing business possible, and they often make it immensely satisfying. Oddly enough, publishers seldom sing their authors; I've known many in-house editors (and publishers) who think they deserve all the credit. They edit and reedit scholars' work to ensure that it bears the mark of the publishing company, and not the expert. I have heard scholars on the subject, too, angry about the way their work has been mangled. One leading historian told me he hadn't wanted his name attached to stuff he had (originally) written, because it was such a mess by the time the (eminent) publishing company got through with it.
We are a tiny company, with scant resources, and we don't do all that we should or hope to do. But our relations with contributors are generally good, and often warm and fruitful and enduring. Nothing lifts my spirits like an email from a contributor saying something like this, which came from a contributor, Roger Hanson, to our 2003 Encyclopedia of Crime & Punishment: "Thank you for the splendid update on the the pioneering efforts made by Berkshire. Bravo, bravo bravo." Who could ask for more?
Our authors provide us with new perspectives all the time, not only writing from their own countries but often dropping us a line as they travel. Roger Hanson, for example, was the second person to write to me from Afghanistan recently.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 2:21 PM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2006
Debunking urban legends
One of the subjects that comes up all the time in an enterprise like ours, where we take the work of people who spend their lives studying and writing about particular subjects, is authority. A current fashionable premise is that groups are wise (something I'm not sure historians would be able to verify as a general rule)--that if you pool the knowledge of enough people you'll get information that can be trusted.
It's hard for me to understand this argument. Don't the late night TV shows have fun with the polls showing just how ignorant we are of basic geographical facts? What would the 'wisdom of crowds' tell us about Burkina Faso? Is it a food, a new kind of yoga, or perhaps a country in Africa (formerly Upper Volta, in fact).
And a lot of people, me included, want to get information on anything remotely controversial from someone I trust. I was interested to read this FAQ on Snopes.com, the Urban Legends website, when I was checking the truthfulness of a quotation that's been circulating online (some of the preposterous stories that circulate about Bush and Cheney are true, while others, I've learned, are not).
Snopes is researched and written by two people, Barbara and David P. Mikkelson, which reassures me. I like my sources to give their names, and to know something about them. Here's what they write:
Q: May I reproduce your material on my web site if I operate a non-commercial site, and I give you credit?
A: No. Using our material without our permission is copyright infringement, even if your site is non-commercial, and even if you give us credit. A minimum $300 reprint fee will be assessed for all unauthorized reproductions of material from this site.
Q: Why are you so hung up about copyrights?
A: Because we work hard to keep our information accurate and up-to-date. When you put our material on your site we no longer have any control over it, and our reputation and credibility are jeopardized because we cannot update your site as new information becomes available.
Fair enough, and I hope they're around and researching when the next presidential election campaign starts up, and the feathers start flying. (Wouldn't you love to see one of those pillow fight video clips with Howard Dean and Condoleezza Rice and Mark Warner? I'm sure Tony Blair and Jack Snow would happily join in.)
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:39 AM | Comments (0)
March 8, 2006
Inspiration for high quality independent publishing
Because David Levinson and I write books as well as edit and publish them, Berkshire Publishing Group might be described as an attempt by two nonfiction and academic authors to create a new, independent path to reach markets, and readers. It could be seen as a kind of expanded version of self-publishing, although our work focuses first on making the work of networks of scholars available, and we do publish with other larger companies, too.
We are husband and wife, or wife and husband, as well as publishing partners, and because of that I've sometimes reminded myself that Virginia and Leonard Woolf also started a small publishing company, the Hogarth Press, publishing VW's work as well as the work of people like T. S. Eliot. Few remember that The Waste Land was originally published by a mom-and-pop shop, as the venture capitalists so kindly describe a business like ours. Small publishing that includes one's own books is not just for autism or aliens or other highly specialized topics.
I have a connection to T. S. Eliot through an early job as editorial assistant on the TSE Letters (see my recent Guardian article, "Dear Mrs. Eliot," for details), and now find that the Woolfs lived in Mecklenburgh Square, where I stay in London, at the Goodenough Club. They ran the Hogarth Press from here during the early days of World War II.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 2:37 AM | Comments (0)
March 7, 2006
London Book Fair and the power of local knowledge
Almost everyone looks tired at a book fair. I know I do. It's a crazy process, frankly. Everyone books appointments at half hour intervals, even though the halls take 10 minutes to walk both because of distance and because the aisles are so crowded. It's really not feasible to meet every 30 minutes (especially given, as a colleague said today, that one needs to make an occasional visit to the ladies' or gents' facilities--not to mention finding a cup of coffee). ExCel, the conference centre, was overcrowded (45,000 attendees for the Professional Beauty conference shared the place with 25,000 literary people), and is hardly a model of British design. But neither is the DLR, the Docklands Light Railway, or what an English friend called the "toy town train." Steps up, steps down, central platforms at one station then a completely different arrangement at the next.
And so far no one can tell me what the slogan LondON (emphasis on the 'on,' which often appears in red or another color) means. London's ON not OFF? It means nothing to me. We were talking at dinner, though, about HSBC (a well-known bank here) and its wonderful cross-cultural advertising, which I'd seen at the airport and are now TV ads about the power of 'local knowledge.' It was hardly surprising we got onto that subject, as our group consisted of my old friend Derek Albiston, a Scotsman, a colleague of his who was born in Hong Kong and grew up in the Netherlands, Rachael McDiarmid of InBooks, our Australian sales/marketing representative ("Aussie through and through"), and me.
We've added a forum to LoveUSHateUS.com and look forward to more global debate about the role of the U.S.A. in the world.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 3:08 AM | Comments (0)
March 6, 2006
My first London Book Fair
The new London Book Fair location, far in the east of London in an area called Docklands (because that's what it was), is a disappointment. Poor directions, few people on site to direct people arriving, and appalling food. I'm disappointed; we were promised better facilities to make up for the extra travel and for giving up the lovely historic venue the Fair was in until this year. 
But this event is still a favorite of mine because I see old friends from my U.K. publishing days. I have more recent memories, too, like my first LIBF two years ago. Here's a photo of the booth at MQ Publications. I was gobsmacked when I saw this: I had signed the contract for The Armchair Environmentalist, the book that was the whole outside of the stand, only a week earlier! The publisher had contacted me and persuaded me to write this for them, but somehow the promotional effort was miles ahead of editorial. A bizarre situation that only got more complicated, but I did finish the book. It's available in several countries now (though I'm still waiting to see copies of the French and Thai editions--hardly a surprise, given how things started). I also ran into an old friend within minutes of arriving at that first Fair, so it was a memorable morning. Nothing this year quite so exciting.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 3:30 AM | Comments (0)
March 4, 2006
A perfect day in London
I spend yesterday either talking about networks and connections or experiencing them in rather amazing ways. Because I lived in London in my twenties, the connections I find here are a wonderful mix of old and new.
After lunch with a friend, and former employer, who has become a wonderful source of counsel on how to build a global business (and he's graciously never said how surprised he must be to find me doing this), I had tea with Tim Coates. Tim was managing director at Waterstone's, the British bookstore chain, and has become a advocate of reforms to U.K. libraries. I brought him one of our new buttons, designed for the Libraries We Love book project, that say, "Libraries make the world a better place."
Then off to the launch party for a publishing center at University College. My friend Richard Charkin was speaking as I finally found the room (after wading through a lot of students with wine bottles, empty and full, in their hands--this seemed a little strange at 6pm). A wonderfully mixed conversation (that interdisciplinary "two cultures" I'm always confusing people with), because along with Richard I got to talk to Jens Redmer, director of Google Book Search Europe (like Macmillan, I think, a sponsor of the Centre) and a English professor from UCL's School of Advanced Study. I had a chance to indulge in some technology debate and to talk about literature. Heaven.
Bringing the day to a perfect close, supper with Lucy Hooberman, the inspired instigator of a global mentoring project. She is working out how to use the Internet as a means of linking mentors in developed countries with, well, 'mentees' in developing regions. Besides that, there's the challenge of finding the right technologies--and financial support--to manage the network and relationships. It was a thought-provoking conversation, and I also got some new ideas about wikis (a good thing, as I'm giving a talk about them in New York in three weeks).
Posted by Karen Christensen at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)
March 3, 2006
Slightly Foxed
Every once in a while something comes along that reminds me how much I love books. My last copy of the Literary Review came with a flyer about a new and apparently beautifully produced journal about books that are available but not well-known. It's called Slightly Foxed, which I understand to be a collector's term for books that are a bit worn. I haven't seen the sample yet, but I had such a lovely personal note when I ordered it (the woman who wrote had noticed that I lived in the U.S. but was having it sent to a London address, so advised me to pack warm clothes) that I feel sure it is going to be wonderful. I have electronic publishing so much on my mind these days that I need these reminders that books themselves are also an important medium, and one to be cherished and promoted.
In fact, our popular culture databases are a good way to collect and share lists of favorite books related to certain subjects, and it's good to realize that as we develop them online we'll be encouraging offline reading for pleasure.
And London is cold--but nothing compared to Massachusetts.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 9:32 AM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2006
Google isn't perfect
On the mantelpiece in my office (yes, dear reader, I have a fireplace in my office: one advantage of life in a building that I've heard described as "like something out of a Raymond Chandler novel") is a blue gumby clock that the people at Google sent me. It came with a note apologizing for the delay in uploading our books or converting files.
I find this reassuring. Even huge, rich, and very smart Google can't figure out how to handle books. I'll smile at the London Book Fair next week when I see the signs telling publishers to "leave your books with us" to get them into the book search program. I've tried at least three times to get one of our encyclopedia--the one on Human-Computer Interaction, ironically--into the Google Print program. We mailed a set; it went missing. We uploaded PDFs according to instructions, twice. Still no go.
What happens to the missing books? Google isn't, surely, selling them on eBay, and I can't imagine employees sneaking them out of the building under their jackets. I think it must be like socks, which disappear into another dimension. That's what happens to books at Google.
Here are a few lines from the latest Google email:
Dear Google Book Search Partner,
If you do not submit books to Google Book Search in PDF format, please disregard this message.
If you have used the PDF Uploader in the past, or plan to in the future, please read on.
We have discovered that some PDFs with spaces in their file names or not properly named with the ISBN according to the naming convention, have not uploaded successfully to Google Book Search. For more information on our file naming guidelines, visit https://books.google.com/support/partner/bin/answer.py?answer=20028&topic=332.
We are now releasing a new version of the PDF Uploader which corrects that problem.
However, if you have uploaded PDFs in the past, and your PDFs were not named according to our guidelines, we may not have received your files.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 9:39 PM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2006
What are e-books good for?
Interesting article, from way back in 2004, about e-books and how they can coexist quite happily with print books: "Ebooks: Neither E, Nor Books" by Cory Doctorow.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 3:11 PM | Comments (0)
February 17, 2006
Debating Google, "The elephant in the room: values and the public good"
My latest contribution to the Google Debate, hosted by Electronic Publishing Services in London, has just gone up. Comments on "The elephant in the room: values and the public good" are most welcome. Here's how it starts:
One of the amazing things about U.S. politics of late has been that people vote for leaders who make their lives more difficult and dangerous. George Lakoff, a University of California linguist who has been trying to get the Democrats to pay attention, writes, “People do not necessarily vote in their self-interest. They vote their identity. They vote their values. They vote for who they identify with.”
We need to remember this when we look at the Google Library debate.
It is in the ordinary person’s interest to have systems that reward creators and innovators, scholars and analysts. Their work makes life better and the future brighter. But unless we publishers and authors do a better job at the one thing we should do supremely well—communicate—the people at Google, the techies, will win in the realm of public opinion. Because, so far, they are using the English language more effectively than we are to touch people’s sense of identity and values.
Read the whole article.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 9:55 AM | Comments (0)
February 7, 2006
Good content will triumph
Interesting comments from the famous Davos conference about how to start a 'new media empire. My ears perked up when I saw the headline. Hm, media empire? My little operation isn't at all imperial, but I'm plagued by the question of what a publishing company should look like in the twenty-first century. As I get more involved in the world of blogs and wikis and RSS, I ask people in the know to point out successful business models incorporating these new communications tools. So far, though I'm seeing plenty of interesting and thought-provoking stuff, there's nothing that looks at all like a sustainable model for what I have in mind. Too much that's advertising-driven, for one thing. (I volunteered, during my first Research Committee conference call with the Society for New Communications Research, to start polling members of the advisory board about "limits to advertising." I plan to talk to an economist, too. The PR and advertising professionals on the call agreed pointblank that there is a limit; the whole wide world economy can't be based on Google ads.)
My favorite quote from the Davos articles was by Shelby Bonnie, CEO of CNET NetworksProducers, who said that good content will be rewarded. "The successful media empire of the future will regularly send their audience to the best stories by their competitors." There's a sign above my desk that says, "It's the content, stupid." And that's what we believe.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:25 PM | Comments (0)
February 6, 2006
Wikis, global perspectives, and peanut butter
Wikis are getting a lot of attention in encyclopedia land, and they're definitely an interesting tool. Not for everything, but for some kinds of collaboration. We have, for example, set up a wiki to start work on a definition of "a global perspective."
I'm more and more involved in marketing and PR and thought this was a clever way to get me to spread a little word of mouth on the wiki tooth we've just started using, PBwiki--as easy, they said, as making a peanut butter sandwich. And I think they're right. Here's the pitch (this'll get me double space at our free Berkshire wiki): Get a free wiki at PBwiki.com.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 3:18 PM | Comments (0)
February 1, 2006
SIIA gets better
Already today's better. The sun is shining. A guy from Yahoo! had some real stuff to say (and there were questions). And the nice Hispanic woman in the ladies' room showed me some cold medicine when I walked in this morning. We had a chat in Spanish (I was surprised to find that she did not speak English).
Now we've got a panel about B2B content, which wasn't so relevant to our business of the past (100% library reference) but certainly makes sense when it comes to what comes next at Berkshire: popular and professional online information, ditto for books, and also our "China hand" newsletter, Guanxi. What I learned is (1) people love free content and (2) people in this business have a hell of a time distinguishing between different types of content. Like many publishers and librarians, they don't want to use the word "quality." Why? Because we're not sure we really offer something special? In other industries, there's no problem talking about tradeoffs between quality and price.
The next session was an interview with Jim Buckmaster, CEO of craigslist. Shock in the audience, I guess, at his lack of interest in maximizing revenues. The interviewer from Fortune magazine seemed unable to grasp that you can choose not to maximize profits but still make plenty of money, pay people market salaries, and have enough and then some. He seemed to think it was a choice between blatant nonstop capitalism and a hairshirt lifestyle. Clearly not, with a staff of 19 and profits in the millions of dollars. Enough for most people, I should think, and then some.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)
January 31, 2006
Information Summit in New York
This trip to New York for the SIIA Information Industry Summit 2006 has been a massive disappointment. Mostly because of me: I've got an awful cold and am not in prime form for all the networking I usually enjoy.
But the fact is that most of the sessions today were just plain dull. I guess that's what happens at an event where the CEOs of big corporations are given their moment in the sun. They pitch their company or their position on free trade or Google Print, and there's no response, no controversy. Harold "Terry" McGraw was this morning's keynote speaker and not a single person asked a question when he was finished.
Even after a much more interesting presentation, an interview with the founder of Audible, the audience had nothing much to ask or add. Although the theme of the conference is "Users Taking Control" and the SIIA organizers said that we attendees were users, too, I have never been to a less interactive event.
I imagine I'd feel more comfortable at one of the conferences not composed of "C-level" people, with younger entrepreneurs and jean-clad techies. Not because I'm 20-something or jean-clad, but because their energy and alertness to the world that's hurtling at us would be a more interesting, inspiring atmosphere than today's meeting of the suits.
There was one serious question asked that deserves mention, addressed to the chief scientist of Akamai, a major online business systems provider. Someone asked what he thought of growing activism by people and companies around the world, and especially in Asia, aimed at changing the American and western dominance of the Internet. Unfortunately, his response was purely technical: he said that no one dominates the Internet and the proof is that there are so many security holes.
Considering that Mr McGraw opened the conference with the announcement that New York is the greatest city on earth, I guess it's a good thing that there weren't too many attendees from from other countries. I can't imagine someone in London or Beijing welcoming people in that way--it's a bizarre American trait that goes against all traditions of hospitality I know of.
The best presentation by far was by David Worlock, the UK head of Electronic Publishing Services. He gave a clear, crisp, detailed overview of opportunities and risks in publishing in Russia. I'm
hoping for better things tomorrow!
(No, there was not a mention of anyone's blogging the conference, though Esther Dyson was there and I hope there are other star bloggers in the crowd.)
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:04 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2006
Accolades to guide us
Publishing is a quiet business. We labor to create books and databases that people will use in libraries and at their desks at home or in a dorm room. We have lots of contact with our editors and authors, but not (yet) as much as we would like with the people who buy and use our works. Conferences like the one we've just attending in San Antonio, Texas, the American Library Association's Midwinter meeting, is a wonderful chance to get feedback, hear questions, and take the pulse of the reference publishing and library community.
We heard that the transition from print to electronic publishing continues and quickens. No one seems to think they've seen the right model for the long haul, but the introduction of various options, at different price points, seems to provide some comfort--for now. Publishers still aren't grappling with the issue of quality the way we ought to, or discussing how free and collaborative content might happily coexist with the kind of integrated and vetted content we pride ourselves on. Reference publishers aren't yet talking about the real weakness of some print reference content--weakness that is becoming more obvious because of the rising standard of free online content. And we haven't begun to talk about advertising supported content at all, even though the various Google publsihing programs are, and will be, financed through online advertising.
In addition to awards from both Booklist and Choice magazines, announced at ALA, we were thrilled by praise from librarians who stopped to chat. We were told to keep up the good work as independent publishers, and to continue our innovative marketing with the Berkshire Savant newsletter and our e-newsletters, too. Rachel does all the technical and design work on our newsletters--Berkshire Publishing News, Berkshire Bytes, World History To Go, and others--and was overjoyed to be told that they were very attractive and much better than materials from other publishers because they have content. We don't have the big marketing budget of other reference publishers, but we do have lots of terrific content and a passion for knowledge--and that's what we try to convey in everything we send out.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:57 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2006
Homeless in paradise
Homelessness isn't evident at home in Great Barrington the way it is here in southern California. We're in Santa Barbara, where homeless people are everywhere--or so it seems to us, much attuned to this problem--and where our recent publishing on the subject got going a couple of years ago. David's first ethnographic research was done on the Bowery in New York, and it's been terrific to make this part of our global publishing efforts. Marcy Ross has been finishing up the latest publication, the Homelessness Handbook, which focuses on what is known about solving homelessness around the world.
We had a glimpse of people living in the concreted basin of the Tijuana River on Sunday--the river is a trickle now, but no doubt fills from time to time. Isn't that the essence of homelessness, though, and its tragedy, that people everywhere try to make themselves a home. The difference is its stability, security, and comfort.
Here in Santa Barbara, luxury and poverty nestle together. David says he saw a well-attended softball game going on this evening, under lights, at a park where there are a dozen homeless men camped out. I'm sure that many people watching the game wonder, as we have, what they can do to make homelessness go away. We're hoping the Homelessness Handbook will help.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 11:30 PM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2006
The end of cyberspace
We have a remarkable board of advisors. The one whose opening line still makes me smile is Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. "We've obviously been living in parallel universes," he said. He is Research Director at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto and wrote our cover story, "The End of Cyberspace," for the new Berkshire Savant. He was managing editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica for a while, a job that Bill McNeill also recommended me for (from some of what Alex says, my lack of interest in moving to Chicago was a fortunate thing). We'll be posting the digital version of the Savant later today, Friday EST, and in the meantime you can also check out his new blog (did I mention that Alex is Blogger in Chief?): www.endofcyberspace.com.
Some people don't know cyberspace ever started. I have a (print) newsletter here from the newsletter association, dated January 2006, and it actually has a heading, "The Internet--Friend or Foe?" That's the equivalent of asking whether the ocean is friend or foe. It really depends on what you're doing. And it's not going away. That's where old-time publishers are vulnerable: they aren't even thinking about riding the wave.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2005
Is it a revolution?
I've been putting together the second issue of our quarterly newsletter, the Berkshire Savant, and thinking about why we do things that don't pay (I should probably think about this more often). Sometimes we do things as public service, and sometimes it's part of what I claim is a marketing strategy (I am having increasing doubts about my skills as a marketer: everyone tells me I'm good at this, but I am certain that there are people who are much, much better, and I'm trying to hire one of them). But I have put together the new issue of the Savant with another goal: it seems important right now to pull together some ideas about the relationship between technology and knowledge. So this Savant is a kind of dinner party on paper: some stories, some history, and a lot of discussion.
The marketing part of this effort is that it includes extracts from a number of our encyclopedias. The encyclopedia articles take us back in time, to early libraries and all the way back to the development of human communication. And one considers the nature of knowledge. Other pieces--original writing by a variety of experts--bring us to the present with some thoughts about the communications renaissance created by blogs, wikis, RSS, and other collaborative technologies.
A terrific new book that ties into this discussion arrived recently from Dan Burstein. I've been reading Blog!, which Dan coauthored, and highly recommend it. Details at BlogRevolt.com. I was especially intrigued by the chapter on Publishers Marketplace, a bloggish website that is taking over, it seems, from the traditional publishing media.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:08 AM | Comments (0)
December 14, 2005
Arm-twisting with a smile
We're in the midst of putting together the first Berkshire catalogue--we finally have enough publications to make a catalogue!--and one of the things that entails is putting together editorial boards for the new publications we're announcing. David and I are the general editors of some of our publications, sometimes because of our expertise but more often, in my case anyhow, because I have the broad vision required. God knows I do not have the expertise that our subject editors and contributors do, but I have the sense to appreciate their work and a knack for what a contributor once called "arm-twisting with a smile."
I'm susceptible myself to certain kinds of arm-twisting--or in this case gentle persuasion. Jen McClure, the executive director of the
Society for New Communications Research, was so full of ideas and energy, and so interested in our effort to develop a new publishing business model, that when she asked if I would become a Research Fellow & Member of the Advisory Board I couldn't say no.
Exciting things happening in this area, and I know that involvement with SNCR will provide lots of new ideas and connections and maybe even some publishing projects. It's all about networks, after all, and guanxi.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 2:48 PM | Comments (1)
December 13, 2005
Transformational connections across the continent
When we were working on the Encyclopedia of Leadership, I heard a lot about transformation. James MacGregor Burns, our senior editor, is renowned for the idea of transformational leadership. That is, transformational rather than plain old transactional leadership. Transactional leadership is run-of-the-mill stuff, that at its best gets business done and keeps the show on the road. But transformational leadership is something entirely different: it changes people and situations, it sets new directions and provides a sense of meaning and purpose.
At Berkshire, we want to be transformational publishers. We are striving to create better, deeper, richer, and more useful publications for our beloved library reference world. We are also looking for new ways to share the work of scholars with wider audiences. To do this, we need a new business model. I was talking yesterday to Jennifer McClure, who has recently founded the Society for New Communications Research. Our friend and advisor Alex Pang, Chief Blogger at the Institute for the Future, is also on her board and thought we should meet, and after talking to Jen I could see why. The technologies she's interested in, and the social changes they represent, are exactly the things we're trying to figure out how to use in a global knowledge company. It's a pleasure--and a relief!--to find that there are amazing and brilliant people tackling the same questions, and although none of us know just how things are going to look even a year from now, it's certainly much easier to face the challenges of transformation with comrades like these.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 5:14 AM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2005
London buses forever
I had a tearful moment the other night, stepping off the 38 bus at the bottom of John Street and realizing that that would probably be the last time I rode on a Routemaster. They are being replaced with "bendy buses" and London won't be quite the same when they are gone.
But I've just discovered, planning for a couple meetings tomorrow before heading to Heathrow, a wonderful publishing project. Mike Harris has not only created the only full-scale bus maps of today's London bus routes, but is creating historical maps, too, all in the style of London bus maps of the late '70s (which is why they look familiar: I had my first summer job here in 1979).
He writes that The Greater London Bus Map "is now the only map showing the entire London bus network as London Buses no longer produces its own all-London bus map." And sales of the print version are generating thousands of pounds in donations to mostly health-related charities. What a fabulous project, and a godsend when it comes to a few Christmas presents, too!
Posted by Karen Christensen at 3:44 PM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2005
Chinese Publishing Delegation party
I am not online all the time, but I do keep my computer with me. I am writing this at the Frankfurt West train station and will post it when I get back to the hotel, in Bad Homburg. I’ve just come from the Chinese Publishing Delegation’s party at the Marriott Hotel. I mentioned in my last newsletter that visiting the Chinese publishers was one of the key things I planned to do at Frankfurt, and I was delighted to find a little time for that this afternoon. My new friends at the Guangdong People’s Publishing House kindly invited me to come to the party, and I have promised to visit them in Guangzhou next spring to discuss possible collaboration. This will be great news for Tom: I explained that my son speaks Chinese and will come with me, so we will try to arrange the trip for his spring break. A visit to China will be quite a change for him from the cornfields of Iowa, and I wonder how the next three years are going to be, as he moves from small town college life in the Midwest to work in China, and back again. (The gentlemen I met today expressed great surprise that I could have a 20-year-old son. Do women everywhere enjoy this sort of compliment? I suspect so.)
Posted by Karen Christensen at 3:21 PM | Comments (0)
Here's Berkshire at the Frankfurt Book Fair
Here's a photo that shows our one metre on space at Frankfurt. Enough for current titles, but we'll see about next year!
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:52 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2005
"We're all in it together"
Things have gone remarkably smoothly, considering the fact that I was in such a flurry before I left that I had my flight time wrong by two hours (fortunately, it was later than I thought). Frankfurt is a huge trade fair, but the American Collective Stand booths have a cozy feel, to my surprise. Our mere one metre of space feels like more than that. It's a metre side-to-side of shelving and a couple of metres floor to ceiling, plenty of room for our current books and a couple of posters. (Patterns of Global Terrorism is here in proof. The books are due to ship on 11 November, Armistice Day, which can be seen as hopeful, or terribly ironic.)
You make friends fast with your neighbors in a space like this, sharing tables. One of the women on the right talks incessantly and loudly and with great self-absorption, but I'm rather enjoying it because she is not American.
My closer neighbor started the day by commenting, "We're all in this together." And that's the very best thing about publishing. We are in this together; we love books and ideas and knowledge and the idea of creating publications (print and also online) that will please and enrich readers. Publishing attracts people who are decent, intelligent, and quietly sociable, and being at an event like this makes me happy to be working in this particular kind of business, for all its complications.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2005
Background to terrorism and why context matters
When you're a CEO, even of a small company like Berkshire, there is an expectation that you'll be staid and well-behaved. It's probably not obvious from any of our printed material that we actually share, here in the office, a rather wicked sense of humor. And some people think the point of reference is that it is objective. I agree, to a considerable extent, but what I think is most important is that an encyclopedia article explains fairly the different opinions that exist on a subject, and that it recognizes that even on what might seem old-hat topics--the Plague, for example--there are sometimes raging controversies. (Not to mention bee-in-the-bonnet experts. Some of these are self-appointed experts, but there are some manic characters with endowed chairs at major universities, as well.)
Our next publication is so astonishingly full of facts and statistics, which makes it both of great value but also a bit overwhelming to the ordinary person, like me, who doesn't know much about terrorism. For that reason, David asked me to write Publisher's Preface to Patterns of Global Terrorism, explaining why this work is so important and why we are so proud to be publishing these reports from the U.S. Department of State. Click the link above for a preview.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:10 PM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2005
"Making Reference: the Business Behind the Book"
Tom Gilson, reference librarian at the University of Charleston and reviewer for the wonderful, unique magazine Against the Grain, has become a friend and valued colleague. He is not afraid to ask tough questions, and at the same time he has been kindly and patient with a late contributor to the annual Reference Publishing Issue that he guest edits. That is, with yours truly. I love tackling big topics, but the process is painful and I depend on my family's good will, editor Francesca Forrest's skillful surgery, and the entire team at Berkshire's ideas and stories. Last year I wrote about "Information Quality" in reference, and this year Tom asked me to explain the nuts and bolts, the business behind the books we, and other reference publishers of course, produce. He encouraged me to point out the problems I see, and the questions that face us as we struggle with the transition to new formats, and a new generation of reference users. I would love to hear your thoughts about
"Making Reference: the Business Behind the Book"
Posted by Karen Christensen at 3:55 PM | Comments (0)
September 30, 2005
London publishing debates Waterstone's takeover bid and Google
I'm home, as of 12 hours ago. My days in London sped by, and the fact that I had such good Internet access meant that I was working--reviewing the final version of my preface to Patterns to Global Terrorism and our letter inviting Oprah to join the Advisory Board for our book about libraries, for example--instead of blogging, I'm afraid. And, as ever, answering email (remember life without email?).
My last day in London was especially busy. I first went to Tunbridge Wells to visit Andrew Durnell, the agent who is going to represent us on the continent (Iceland to Greece). I mentioned that I used to go to Tunbridge Wells a lot to do martial arts. "Not with David Passmore?" said Andrew. The small world principle really applied here: it's not exactly obvious that two publishing people who live on different continents would find that they might well have thrown each other around in budokan (aikido/karate/kendo) classes 20 years ago.
And that we both knew, and were taught by, Julie Tullis, a British mountain climber who died on K2. (We've quoted from Julie's biography in several of our sports publications; I especially like what she wrote about the relationship between climbing and martial arts.)
The evening was a more glittery affair, starting with a book launch party for John Simpson at the Ritz. The current business buzz in UK publishing is the proposed purchase of Ottakar's, a relatively new book chain, by Waterstone's. Publishers are planning to fight this further consolidation of the book trade. When I told someone I'd read that Ottakar's was a nice chain, he said, "Too nice." Too nice for the tough business world we all face today. Publishers, and booksellers of course, are being squeezed by supermarket sales.
What worries me a little is that the publishing industry also needs to find common ground to respond to generalized threats, like the proposed scanning of books by Google and Amazon. That's the other story of the moment, which you can read about at Google Debate.
I missed the Society of Authors annual general meeting that evening, but I did find myself thinking that although authors and publishers often don't see eye to eye, and publishers, booksellers, and distributors are at odds on various issues, we all need to work together to come up with fresh ways to inform people outside the industry about what we do.
This is especially important when it comes to Google, which has such a warm and cuddly image (did you see the cute pieces of birthday cake celebrating their 7th year?). I like Google, and admire much about it, but I don't think they grasp that books are not the same thing as a website, and that authors and publishers are not grateful to them for announcing plans (in concert with major libraries) to scan all our books (or all the ones they can get hold of).
We in the publishing indsutry have a lot of talking to do about creativity, originality, and the ownership of intellectual property (a bad name, really, to use in public discourse: maybe we should call it creative property)--to the public, and also to our friends at libraries.
The US Authors Guild is suing Google for "massive copyright infringement," and more lawsuits are no doubt on the way.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2005
Tom's first day at college
My son Tom headed off to college last week, after spending the last two months working in Shanghai. The cornfields of Grinnell, Iowa, are a change from the crowded streets and glittering towers of China's major financial center. He called a few minutes ago to share the news that the first handout in his first class was an article from the Encyclopedia of Community on "Organization Culture and Voluntary Associations," by Doug Caulkins, who was teaching the class.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 1:41 PM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2005
The week of the book
For all the focus on technology in publishing, what we are dealing with most of the time is books. Patterns of Global Terrorism is still front and center, and Brad Walrod has been working with our graphic designer Joe to ensure that the pages are beautifully laid out--aesthetically, and in terms of usabilility (books, too, need usability expertise).
For me, this has been the week of the book, with a number of meetings about a project on the book itself, and also several discussions with leading publishers--Victor Navasky, Jonathan Galassi--about creating a book festival here in the Great Barrington area. There's much overlap between these endeavors, and also a strong connection with our focus on creative economic development here. It all comes back to community, in a way, the subject that is closest to my heart. While the Encyclopedia of Community is four volumes and 1.2 million words, I'm seeing more to this every day. (We did include an article on Book Clubs, and on Public Libraries of course.)
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:18 AM | Comments (0)
August 8, 2005
Wikis in the reference world
Fun's over, back to work. Typesetting (now known as composition) for Patterns of Global Terrorism starts today, while I turn my attention to strategic planning. I was quoted a week or so in Business Week Online in an article about CEOs and technology, explaining that we were exploring ways to combine the community aspects of social networking software like the wiki with the reliability and quality of a traditional publication. That's what I'll be working on today.
I've just started reading the Wisdom of Crowds, one of the recent books proposing that if you could just tap into what everyone knows and thinks and believes you would get better results than by going to experts. I thought about this at the track on Saturday: the odds are determined by how people bet, so that's as precise a model of crowd knowledge as any. I want to look into the statistics about betting to see just how wise crowds are, and have to admit that I'm skeptical. I wholeheartedly believe in cooperation, and think that knowledge grows through exchange and connection. But I can think of a lot of examples of unwise crowds. And I can think of many situations--for example, baking or being operated on--where I wouldn't want a crowd survey to determine how much baking soda to use or where to make the first incision.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 5:58 AM | Comments (0)
July 28, 2005
In memory: Josie Hernandez de Leon
It isn't just libraries we love. We love the wonderful editors and contributors who share our dreams and visions. It was heartbreaking to hear this morning from Josie Hernandez de Leon's husband Dave that she had passed away last night. It was a shock, even though she, and then he, had so regularly kept in touch. I've communicated about Josie today from Jun-hee Kim, our project editor for the Encyclopedia of Modern Asia who first recruited Josie. Jun-hee is now in Seoul, and Francesca Forrest now works from her home office, while Marcy Ross is still with us here in Great Barrington. They all have stories about how Josie was a key part of our Asia team, and how she stepped in to help with more than one editorial crisis. She was also working on our new Global Perspectives project. Given her expertise in international relations and security, we might well have tried to persuade her to help with our latest work on terrorism and global security. Josie was an assistant professor of political science at Laurentian University. We will miss her.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 5:11 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2005
Business Week notice
Business Week is becoming the magazine to follow, seems to me: that major article on cooperation (a topic soon to be a Berkshire publication, we hope), and then the news this week that editor in chief John Byrne of Fast Company had skipped to Business Week. Finally, an article in Business Week Online about CEOs and technology that included a short interview with me, and revealed perhaps a little more than I really wanted to! I enjoy talking about technology, publishing, and the future: all of which are very much part of business, every week.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 9:13 PM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2005
The friends we love
I interviewed someone yesterday (we’re looking for a managing editor/operations manager) and was disconcerted to find tears welling in my eyes as I explained something about Berkshire Publishing. It was something I’ve said dozens of times before, that our small enterprise is all about people and ideas, and that it’s the people we work with who make what we do possible. I said, “Those networks, those relationships, are the most important thing”—-and felt the warm rush of tears! I’m pretty sure the person I was talking to didn’t notice, but I’ve been thinking about how deeply I feel that, and wondering how I can ensure that as we grow we maintain the human connections that make the work we do so rewarding.
This isn’t abstract, some generalized good will. It’s Becky Clark’s emailing Marcy, Margaux, and me a hilarious account of going to the emergency room, after being in a car accident, and having to explain that she is deaf and isn’t pregnant before she could finally get the treatment she needed. Becky says she’s still in touch with Ben Manning, an editorial assistant from England who left us in 2000! It’s seeing Bill McNeill, as we will this evening, and being inspired by his graciousness and insight, and talking about another project we might do together. It’s the world history teachers we’re getting to know, people like Monty Armstrong and Kik Kimball who are deeply committed to their work and their students, and amusing to boot. I could write about many publishing and librarian friends, too—-and I know we’ll be making many more of them over the next year, as we develop a US and then an international book about “The Libraries We Love.”
Those who know me may be surprised at this display of emotion, but that, too, is what blogs are for!
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 11, 2005
Encyclopedia of Community UK nomination
Serendipity indeed. We're putting the final touches on our first mailing to European libraries, which will include a copy of the first Berkshire Savant, and Margaux just discovered that the Encyclopedia of Community: from the village to the virtual world (Christensen, Levinson, et al.) has been nominated for the 2004 UK best reference award. It's won quite a number of US awards, but for me this nomination is quite moving; I began studying community in London, and Camberwell, in south London, is still a place I call home.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 11:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 5, 2005
One possible future
My former boss now advisor and friend Peter Saugman got our July newsletter and decided to tone down my excitment about the future: "If ever you worry that your optimism may be getting you a bit carried away then, if you have not already seen it, put EPIC 2014 into Google, and start worrying about the future!" Click here to watch our present from a possible future. Tomorrow, I'll tell you how we can make sure that doesn't happen! (Yes, in England I was considered a bit too positive and even a little wild. But in the Wild West of the technological future, maybe that'll turn out to be a good thing.)
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:56 PM | Comments (0)
July 2, 2005
Our first DVD
We watched Nanook of the North last night. I'd ordered it from Netflix for Rachel, who has always been fascinated for survival in the icy North. She's away at camp but David said we should watch it, and what an amazing film it is, a documentary made in an Eskimo community near the Hudson Bay in 1920! Eighty-five years ago.
This reinforced my growing interest in making film part of our reference enterprise. Watching Nanook and his family was simply thrilling, and funny too. In one scene, he docks his kyak (yes, that's how it was spelled--think how students who kayak would enjoy watching this film) and starts helping his family out. One person after another climbs out, till it starts to look like a magician's trick. The very last family member to be lifted out is a puppy who looks overjoyed to be free.
We started doing a little filming last year and have a first world history DVD ready now. This is just a beginning, and you can expect to hear more about Berkshire's multimedia content development in the months ahead.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)
June 30, 2005
Behind the scenes
I'm working on an article about the 'business of reference' so I was delighted to come across an article about the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History in a typesetting magazine, written by our lead compositor Brad Walrod. Brad told me he was doing this, and asked for permission to use some illustrations, but he hadn't sent me the article itself: maybe he was worried I'd be offended by his frankness!
The article is revealing about the production process and the challenges a freelancer faces in working with publishers on a rush schedule, so I hope you too will enjoy Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History: Learning to Share (click on "In the Trenches—-Case Studies" to find it).
Posted by Karen Christensen at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2005
Learning at ALA
A lot of what goes on at ALA is catching up with friends and an extended network of colleagues. I haven't been in reference publishing for all that long--12 years now, since soon after I returned to the States--so I can only imagine what it feels like to have been in the same industry for one's whole career. One of my current projects is an article on the 'business of reference' for Against the Grain magazine. I'll have to interview people who know the business better than I, of course, but I've decided the past year's baptism by fire gives me a fresh perspective that may also be useful to librarians. If someone's been in the business for decades, some things become invisible, just the way this world works.
But nothing is obvious to me! I've had a crash course in marketing, sales, and distribution, as well as book production, over the past 12 months. Almost all of this was new, some was a big surprise, and I have a lot of questions about the business models we're using at the moment. Here's one example: there are quite a number of library sales company that ask for a huge discount from publishers (50-70%), on a non-return basis. They take the books to school libraries and sell them to customers they've built a relationship with. This sounds the old Britannica model and I had no idea it still existed to this extent. I would love to know more about how librarians decide whom to buy their books from. Cost is obviously not the only factor.
By the way, this kind of arrangement is not feasible for us--we couldn't afford to publish on that basis. I'm frustrated, though, because I would love to be able to show our titles, the physical books, to librarians in every school in the U.S. Here at ALA I've seen the surprise on people's faces when they open the volumes. More than one school librarian has said, "The kids will love this."
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:13 AM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2005
At the Booklist 100th anniversary celebration
Our first day at ALA was Saturday, instead of the Friday it should have been (United Airlines cancelled our flight and it took some scrambling, on our part, to get here at all. An 'F' to United on customer service.). No longer just visitors walking and floor and schmoozing, we have booth setup to learn how to manage. Losing a day is certainly one of the things we don't want to happen again, but with good spirit and a lot of hard work we were looking okay by the afternoon, with Berkshire water bottles going fast (Russian librarians were thrilled to see that we had the word 'water' in many languages printed on the bottles, including theirs: 'wodka').
The highpoint of Saturday evening was meeting Sara Paretsky at the Booklist 100th anniversary party. I greeted Mary Ellen Quinn, Booklist's Reference Books Bulletin editor and then recognized the woman standing with her. Only hours before, as we were driving into Chicago, I'd said, "All I know about Chicago I learned from reading Sara Paretsky's mysteries." (Gritty urban neighborhoods and fading communities, shining Gold Coast restaurants, and well-written stories with a strong social conscience.) We talked about the vitality of cities, and struggling communities, in, I'm afraid, the glittering surroundings of a lovely restaurant...I'm glad to know, though, a growing number of people involved in creating books and spreading the word about them who care about making the world a better place.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2005
The power of cooperation
I don't know how the hardcore bloggers do it and wonder what they did with the time they spend blogging before there was a technology that let us spin our thoughts in public. I'm a professional writer and blogging doesn't scare me, but finding the time is incredibly hard. Today I head back to San Francisco, after a yoga class to work out a few travel kinks, to visit the Ricci Library and Chinatown and also to meet Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs, who just sent me this fascinating link to a Business Week article about cooperation and community. Read the comments about wikipedia and Britannica!
Posted by Karen Christensen at 12:41 PM | Comments (0)
May 13, 2005
The weakest link?
“What’s more valuable than a library?” said a candidate at the forum last night, during discussion of an expansion of Mason Library. There was a murmur of agreement. Librarians worry, I think, about their role in the world today and in the future. But they are active in rethinking that role, looking at libraries as centers for community and learning.
Publishers have not been as proactive in explaining and revising their role to fit with social and technological changes. In general, perhaps because their priority is often as simple as this quarter’s profits, they tend to barricade themselves, complaining about students who won’t read and ungrateful scholars who want open access. I once went to a panel called something like, “The Weakest Link: Publisher, Aggregator, or Librarian?” By the end of it, I would have been hard-pressed to decide which was weakest; everyone on the panel seemed defensive and bewildered by the changes we are facing.
The days when only a publisher could create a book, market it, and put it online are over. Desktop publishing was the first transformational technology, but now authors and scholars have websites, blogs, wikis, and open access journals. So, are we obsolete?
There’s only one publisher I have personally heard talk about the truly unique and valuable things a publisher does today, but I hope they are talking about this in private (and if you are a publisher and want to talk, call me!). For what it’s worth, I think there are at least two things that will enable publishers to survive and prosper, in a role that has real meaning, even with all the changes we are going to face in the next decade:
1. We provide a virtual venue for knowledge communities to grow, a way for leading researchers to pool knowledge across borders and disciplines.
2. We reach people--professionals, students, and anyone at all--with ideas and information that matters to them but which they probably wouldn’t find on their own.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)
May 9, 2005
Lunch at the UN with World Press
The perfect season and a perfect event for my first visit to the United Nations headquarters in New York: Worldpress.org’s luncheon for their International Editor of the Year, Mrs. Shukria Barakzai, a Kabul-based editor. The gingko trees are covered with soft new-green leaves, and their branches seem to undulate into the air. I'm told that the gingko is an ancient tree; their grace makes me wonder what a primeval forest was like.
But New York is all about the present. I went to the lunch because I am an admirer of the World Press magazine, which ceased print publication about a year ago. Its editor,
Teri Schure, has moved the operation to the web and is providing a tremendous service there, a unique collection of content from magazines and newspapers around the world. I talked to two long-time subscribers, one from Florida and another from Oregon, who told me how much they missed it (in print) and how important it was. What an unusual thing, to be in a gathering in the United States where everyone wanted to know more about the rest of the world! And certainly encouraging to us, with our focus on the world and especially with our forthcoming Global Perspectives on the U.S., a two-volume reference we are doing with Congressional Quarterly Press. David and I are the general editors, working with an international board of editors and of course contributors from many countries.
"Since 1975, World Press has presented its International Editor of the Year award to an editor outside the United States in recognition of enterprise, courage and leadership in advancing the freedom and responsibility of the press, enhancing human rights and fostering excellence in journalism."
The 2004 award was presented to Mrs. Shukria Barakzai, Kabul-based editor of Aina-E-Zan (Women’s Mirror), after a surprising nice--but not Afghan--meal in a room overlooking the East River. The small world principle was at work: I sat next to a woman who had had a studio in Camberwell, south London, my old neighborhood.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 10:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 7, 2005
Saturday mornings
I grew up in a family where Saturday morning was chore time. No lying in bed reading, or relaxing after the week. No, it was waking to the call, "Rise and shine, daylight in the swamps!"
The Christensen work crew, my four siblings and I, had about the same spirit as prison inmates in orange jumpsuits, and I rebelled early and often. But I still wake on Saturday mornings with work on my mind, and today it's all about IT. Information technology is the core of publishing operations today, of course, but it's also the big question mark in terms of getting our content to the people who need it. What method, what service, what interface?
In our past lives as reference packagers we had a chance to work with virtually all the major companies in this sector of the publishing world. I've tried to be a good listener, with the idea that by taking in different perspectives--both in terms of strategies and in terms of personal, emotional reactions to the digital transformation of reference--I might be able to synthesize all this information into something coherent.
In a way, that's the work I have on my plate on this overcast Saturday, mapping what we know and also sketching some of the things we imagine about the future of reference. Fortunately, I also have sweet peas to plant and vegetable beds to lay out--jobs that are looking awfully attractive, even on this cold and soon to be rainy day!
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:41 AM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2005
Technology innovation in publishing
I can't believe I haven't yet written about another Berkshire contributor I met for the first time this month. There's so much to say about Jason Barkeloo that I was waiting till I had a few days at home and could compose under calmer circumstances, but that's meant too much time passing. (Blogging is a useful goad to a writer like me, someone an editor once called "a stonechipper." My knack for dealing with late authors is surely due to the fact that I too have great difficulty wrapping up.)
Jason Barkeloo, founder of the Ohio-based Touchsmart Publishing, was a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Leadership, writing on the "Sociobiology of Leadership." When we were about to publish our first independent title, the Berkshire Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, we wrote to all our past contributors about the launch and offered them, and their libraries, a special discount (something we plan to continue, to show our appreciation for the people who work with us). Jason, to our surprise, bought copies for his entire staff! It turned out that he was in early stages of an exciting high-tech publishing venture, and HCI is a key component of everything he does.
Jason's background is astonishingly diverse: anthropology, the military, and high school teaching. Berkshire is looking forward to collaborating with Jason, and we're also now in conversation with several other fascinating IT companies about ways to make our content more accessible online. These connections are, for me, the essence of what publishing really is today: collaboration and connection, building networks of people and ideas. And it's a delight to have the opportunity to get to know entrepreneurs with the vision and drive to create new ways to bring content to the people who want and need it.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 6:11 AM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2005
American Scholar(ship)
The newest issue of The American Scholar just arrived, and the editor's note is all about the angry response there was to his first issue. Although I dislike this publication's name, it's been some of my favorite reading. Like many, the firing of editor Anne Fadiman was hard to believe--the journal was an oasis of reflection and analysis that many like me, immersed in the present, loved. My article on the T. S. Eliot Letters had been accepted by Fadiman, but the result of her leaving wasn't so bad: I took it to the Guardian, which published the piece, "Dear Mrs Eliot...," in January, and I also found a new advisor for Berkshire Publishing: Alex Pang, who like many of the Scholar's editorial board resigned in protest last year.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:15 AM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2005
London Olympia
A friend who lived on the Isle of Dogs for seven years has been reassuring me about the London Book Fair move to Docklands. We'll be near Greenwich, which is rather nice, with pubs and an old-fashioned pie and mash shop. Here, for historical reference, is what the last LIBF at Olympia looked like (I'm told the building is going to be turned into a casino).
Posted by Karen Christensen at 9:56 AM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2005
Old acquaintance
I have a feeling we’ll miss the airy dome of the old Olympia hall, and the astonishingly crowded aisles, when we’re in the distant reaches of Docklands next year. The new venue is called ExCeL, which seems a bit ‘90s. The Google banner won’t offer the temporal contrast it did this year, hanging against the Victorian balustrade.
Last year I walked into the London Book Fair for the first time and within minutes someone called my name. It was my boss from my first summer publishing job, in 1979. Derek was the journals manager at Blackwell Scientific then, and I’d been sent there by a secretarial agency. We had lunch this year and he said, “I actually grabbed your arm, didn’t I? I was so sure it was you.”
Everyone asks, “Have you had a good Fair?” and I must say it’s been quite wonderful to see both British and American colleagues and plan for distribution of our print and electronic publications. At home, my attention is focused on a hundred immediate tasks at once, and on our current titles. It’s good to be reminded of how fast 2006 (and 2007) approaches, by people saying, “What comes next, when can we announce another publication?”
I’ve had word that the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History has been chosen a Library Journal Best Reference 2004, and also that there’s been a wonderful review in Against the Grain. More on that shortly!
And on the subject of old acquaintance, here something interesting from the Google Blog.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 2:44 AM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2005
International London
I take great pleasure in eavesdropping in the few languages I know a little of, and in identifying others. But I'm simply overwhelmed at the London (International) Book Fair. I especially enjoyed a Chinese publishers' booth; it felt so good to be surrounded by people speaking Chinese. Don't ask me why, because I don't understand a word, and the conversation rekindled my desire to learn to say more than please and thank you. Both our Human-Computer Interaction and World Sport will adapt well for Chinese readership, and we have the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in mind, too.
The Book Fair is held at Olympia, a rather wonderful old exhibition center. It looks Victorian, though perhaps it's 20th and not 19th century, and sadly the Fair has outgrown it: it's crowded and hard to navigate, and apparently a nightmare for exhibitors to get their trucks into. And it's on a sort of appendix to the District line, a tiny addition that comes here and nowhere else, so about as inconvenient as anywhere in central London.
But next year it'll be held in glam, high-tech Docklands, where London's developed to an extraordinary degree in the last 10 years. LBF 2006
I'm blogging from the international lounge sponsored by the British Council, happy to have been allowed entry even though it's primarily for people from developing and emerging economies, as they put it. The British Council Library was a lifesaver when we visited Almaty, Kazakhstan, a few years ago, and again I have to thank them for a welcome respite (and the Internet).
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:40 AM | Comments (0)
March 5, 2005
Green Premium
I'm an environmentalist, in case you don't know, and even have the embarrassing moniker 'the armchair environmentalist,' the title of my new book. (I'm not really an armchair kind of person, but the publisher had already decided on the title when they asked me to write it.) I'm also a fan of the Economist magazine, which is certainly not known for its support of green causes. I love the Economist for its brilliant international coverage, its sharp and consistent editorial focus (in brief, the market can fix anything). That focus was made clear when they early on supported gay marriage, for the simple reason that it would create greater social stability, which is good for the economy.
So you can imagine what I expected when I opened the magazine today to an article called "Greening Bush." Green bashing, or something like it. But "Lexington," their regular columnist about these United States, surprised me, proposing that Bush and the Republican Party need to go green, put the 'conserve' into conservative. S/he concludes, "The emergence of a Republican environmentalism would not only be good for the party, but for the environment [to tell the truth, I didn’t realize the Economist cared—this is a relief]. The current monopoly of the subject by the Democrats is a triple disaster. It institutionalises policymaking gridlock. It marginalizes environmental concerns. And it stultifies useful thinking. The greening of conservatism is a revolution waiting to happen."
Here the link to "Greening Bush" but unfortunately all but the first paragraph is Premium Content. I'm sure it's all premium stuff, but I do think they should offer a full article. How, otherwise, are you going to be convinced that you too need to Economist every week? Finally, I can't help but mention that when my youngest brother got into Delta Force, the U.S. Army's most elite and secretive commando unit, he took out a subscription to the Economist "so I'd know what was going on in the world." Bad idea, it seemed to me.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:50 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2005
Pallets, packing, and persistence
Last week we received an order from a librarian who was on her fifth try! She had tried to buy the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History from Amazon (I was surprised how many librarians do their ordering at Amazon; I wonder if they'll be getting a new program like Amazon Prime, which I saw for the first time today) and gave up after they sent her, on three separate occasions, only one of the five volumes. She then tried Baker & Taylor who said it wasn't published yet. In the end, she came to us and got a set shipped out the next day.
We're delighted to see our books going out through all these channels, but they do add to the possibility of frustration and failure--failure being when we don't manage to get a publication into the hands of people who want and need it. Who would have thought that packing all the volumes would be such an issue? I was in an English book warehouse, though, only a couple weeks ago and saw a huge sign over a pallet of books, "Pack all four volumes." I laughed when I saw it, never thinking that our own books were sitting on a pallet somewhere that ought to have had a sign like that above it. There's the challenge for every provider of information: getting the right stuff, and all of it, to those who need it. And doing it just as fast as we can.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 1:57 PM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2005
Greener paper?
I hadn't thought much about what it would mean for a publisher also to be an author. But when I was in London last week I was definitely caught on the fence. I was talking to an influential British publisher who was distinctly pissed off with the Greenpeace campaign to get publishing companies to phase out “ancient forest fibre” from their books. I’d blithely mentioned that my new book 
The Armchair Environmentalist was printed on recycled paper.
What sounds more grand, more worthy, than saving ancient forests? And it is worthy. So, I asked myself, why wouldn’t publishers jump onto this campaign? I remembered my very first interview about my very first book, Home Ecology. This was London, early in 1989. I had never done a radio interview, I had a stinking case of ‘flu, and a three-month-old baby to boot. I left the baby, took a pile of handkerchiefs, and trundled off. Things went pretty well till the interviewer asked me why my book wasn’t printed on recycled paper. I took a deep breath, and with sudden inspiration pointed out that books last a long time, a hundred years and often more, so if there’s anything we should be using virgin paper for it definitely should be books. It was more important, I said, to focus on all the paper that was used for disposable products.
That’s not to say I didn’t want my books to be on recycled paper, and I feel the same way now. But I am also much more sympathetic to publishers now. Publishing is a tough business, with slim margins. We are generally well-intentioned and we feel that what we do is, much of the time, a good thing for society. So when environmentalists start pitching into us, instead of into oil companies or banks or weapons manufacturers, it does seem unfair.
If you are a publisher, please do look at the Greenpeace Save or Delete campaign (in the United States, Green Press Initiative). If you are an activist, please give some thought to all the good publishing does: promoting global understanding, sharing knowledge, providing low-impact entertainment, supporting education and lifelong learning.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:01 PM | Comments (0)
February 2, 2005
Nonpublication news
I didn't realize that my article on the Eliot letters was also a news item, ""A closed book." I've been enjoying a day of meetings with literary people, after a long day of publishing talk in Oxford yesterday. It always surprises me to see how compartmentalized publishing is: academic, trade, literary . . . and reference often a world apart. Our goal is a publishing company that brings these worlds together, popularizing important subjects, and providing context for the things on people's minds, whether the Iraq elections or the Michael Jackson trial (the latter, by the way, is of great interest here, even with my academic publishing friends!).
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:11 AM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2005
Dear Mrs. Eliot...
The first thing I did when I got to Heathrow today was buy a Guardian. Indeed, my article was there, opening the Review section, and the cover is a rather lovely blue with a silhouette of T. S. Eliot. Only a few people in my publishing world today, very much focussed on social sciences and now technology, know that my first love is literature, and letters. 
The Guardian article is a memoir of the two years I worked for Valerie Eliot, widow of T. S. Eliot and his literary executor, was a refreshing reminder of other kinds of publishing, and of the way some people's personal histories are woven into our understanding of the social history of, in this case, the twentieth century. Here's the article: Dear Mrs Eliot... It's a long article, but a good deal was cut.
I did a good deal of cutting, to start with, as the original draft was much, much longer, with more material about my own experience as well as information I had gathered from others who knew the Eliots. I was sorry to see the anecdotes go but knew it had to happen. I let a trusted copy editor do the most severe surgery, to get it to a reasonable length. Other material was cut during editing at the Guardian.
My time with Valerie Eliot was quite complicated, given our difference in age, politics, and ways of life. She made a great effort to accept what were, from her point of view, striking peculiarities. Riding a bike to work, for example (she let me park it in the hall, but always seemed nervous about walking past it), or being interested in environmental issues. My son Tom, now 19, doesn't like chocolate, and attributes this to being forced to eat a piece of chocolate upon his introduction to Mrs Eliot. He was a year old and had never had any kind of sweet. Mrs Eliot was unsure of what to do with a baby, so she got a box of chocolates out of a drawer and insisted that he would like one. I went along with this, I'm afraid, and pushed it into his mouth, no doubt worrying that he would spit it out and make a mess. Tom doesn't remember this, but the story has nonetheless become part of his own history.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 1:01 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2005
From the ground up
Credit where credit is due. There were lots of other things that helped me get through our first ALA, and my first trade show (David was the experienced hand, having done anthropology exhibits during his e-publishing days at HRAF). Designer Linda Weidemann worked late and early with me, finalizing banners and buttons. Our son Tom was a willing "roadie," loading boxes of books and hauling bottles of water, and staffers who came to Boston, Marcy Ross and Jess LaPointe, were fantastic. So was Tom Pemberton, who offered chair massage. But I wouldn't have made it through the conference without this pair of shoes! I've been suffering from a pulled tendon, but thought I would be fine for ALA; two hours on those concrete floors, even with carpet padding, had me switching shoes for survival. If only I'd thought to explain them in a more creative way: I should have told people I was wearing trainers to promote our next major launch, the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport!
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:59 AM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2005
Googling and the reference road ahead
Steve Hibbard, our director/advisor, is here this week from Australia. Digital strategy is very much on our minds after ALA, where we looked at a variety of database products and systems for distributing reference content. An important part of this is looking at what we can learn from Google and from free content websites.
When publishers and librarians talk about Google, it reminds me of environmentalists talking about cars. They want Google, and the automobile, to go away and often talk as if that’s a real possibility. I don’t agree, because Google and your Geo provide mobility we’ve come to expect, enjoy, and benefit from. My aim is to promote conscious use and alternatives that make sense, and to find ways to make these aspects of life in the 21st century enriching and sustainable.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:50 AM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2005
Promoting a love of reading
Promoting a love of reading. Not just promoting literacy, a skill, the decipherment text. No, we want students who read, and we need citizens who read too, with understanding and pleasure. Berkshire thinks all publishers should be reading themselves and promoting reading in every way possible. Lucky for us, our favorite author on this topic, Mary Leonhardt, lives in the Boston area. She spent several hours Saturday afternoon signing and giving away copies of her latest book at the Berkshire booth.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:23 AM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2005
Why is the sky blue?
Why is the sky blue? How does that bug stay up on the water? Why can't I hit him? My kids are teenagers, so the questions they are are more sophisticated now, but they're still mostly 'how?' and 'why?' (and I'm still struggling with answers.) How? and Why? are the questions that lead lead people to scientific discovery, and to religion. And they're the questions that help us operate in the world, day by day. A two-year-old want to understand because they're natively, naturally curious but also because understanding how a waterbug skates across the pond might help her to do it too.
There are two questions I've heard more than any others since we started creating reference: 'Aren't you afraid you're going to run out of ideas?' and 'What's so special about what you do?' That is, 'How (do you come up with new ideas?),' and 'Why (do you do this?).' Answering these questions is what the publishing thread on the blog is all about, but we'll also explore just what reference is and does and means, in this information loaded and overloaded world of ours.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:52 AM | Comments (0)
January 7, 2005
Never stop learning
"Never stop learning" is the terrific slogan of the New England Journal of Medicine (whose international business development director, Mark Danderson, has just joined our advisory board). I'll never stop learning, but just now it'd be nice to have a day when I really felt I knew what I was doing! Launching an independent imprint brings fresh challenges every day, and I sometimes think my job description is written on one of those paper rings with a single twist: you cut it in half and it just expands and expands and expands.
This week's highpoint was getting the first advance review, from Booklist, of the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, which begins: "A masterful title that weaves together the social, scientific, anthropological, and geographical influences on world history, this set will be the benchmark against which future history encyclopedias are compared." Who could ask for more?
Here's the full text of the review:
Booklist, January 2005
*STAR* Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History. 5v. Ed. by William H. McNeill and others. 2005. 2,600p. illus. index. Berkshire, $525 (0-9743091-0-9). 903.
A masterful title that weaves together the social, scientific, anthropological, and geographical influences on world history, this set will be the benchmark against which future history encyclopedias are compared. Featuring 538 articles by 330 scholars representing multiple disciplines, the title adroitly pulls together the major societies (Mongol Empire, Sumerian society); political movements (Revolution—Cuba; Women's emancipation movements); and, indeed, the traditionally studied wars (World War I) that have shaped the world we live in, all while remaining cognizant of how each has had an impact on the other. The academic credentials of the editors are impeccable. Senior editor McNeill has written dozens of respected texts and was winner of the National Book Award in 1964 for The Rise of the West.
Though attempting to cover as broad a subject as world history in five volumes seems impossible, the editors and their contributors have pulled the feat off with aplomb. No article runs more than approximately 10 pages, but each captures the essence of the topic being addressed as well as the distinct style of the contributor. Cross-references are noted at the end of most entries, and the lists of further reading contain contemporary works. Primary source material is not left out, however; more than 500 sidebars featuring quoted material often use primary sources. The entry Babylon, for example, includes some text from the Code of Hammurabi.
Each volume opens with a “Reader’s Guide” listing 34 subject categories, allowing users to concentrate on articles dealing with, for example, topics related to “Communication” or “Health and Disease.” The first volume also features “This Fleeting World,” a 56-page essay by David Christian covering the foraging, agrarian, and modern eras of history. Oddly, this essay is repeated in volume 5 (and may also be found in its entirety on the publisher's Web site [http://www.berkshirepublishing.com/assets/pdf/ThisFleetingWorld.pdf]).
With relatively few entries, not everyone will agree with what is included. In a set that features but 110 biographical entries, should there really be one devoted to American abolitionist and author Lydia Child? Do Bullroarers deserve a separate entry? In keeping with the philosophy of the set, however, there are nine entries in a row on trading—beginning with Trading patterns, ancient America—that discuss commerce among the people of various regions. Accompanying the text are numerous black-and-white illustrations and more than 50 maps, most of them excellent line-drawn maps created for the set. There are a few minor errors in cross-referencing and indexing.
As McNeill states in his preface, the title is “designed to help both beginners and experts to sample the best contemporary efforts to make sense of the human past by connecting particular and local histories with larger patterns of world history.” The encyclopedia succeeds admirably and belongs on the shelves of all high-school, public, and academic libraries. In short: buy it. Now. —-Ken Black
Posted by Karen Christensen at 3:56 PM | Comments (0)
January 1, 2005
Global perspectives for 2005
After reading that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had returned to New York for meetings about the tsunami disaster, I was sure we would find the flags flying at the UN building. But, once again, no flags! Frustrating, because we are finishing up a first big project about global perspectives on the United States.
This is not an easy thing to illustrate; we have anti-American graffiti and plenty of flags, naturally, but are trying to be a bit more nuanced. We have joked about how the title could be "Why They Hate Us," but the truth is that while the world isn't exactly enamoured of the United States right now, global perspectives are complex. As I stood outside the UN Thursday, I realized that providence had brought something much better, a view that is in fact perfect: the New York skyline reflected in the UN building, as you can see here.
Note written 14 July 2006: These works are no longer being developed in collaboration with CQ Press in Washington DC. They will be published by Berkshire in November 2006 as Global Perspectives on the United States, Vols 1 & 2: A Nation by Nation Survey and Vol 3: Issues and Ideas Shaping International Relations. Our new project, the first of two with Congressional Quarterly Press, will help us to see ourselves through the eyes of the rest of the world. David and I are the general editors, with a board of international scholars advising us and writing a wide range of articles. The first part, a two-volume Encyclopedia of Global Perspectives on the United States will be published this summer, and the second, Understanding World Opinion Of The United States: Concepts, Events, And Influences, late in 2005. It's going to be, as ever, a year of thinking globally at Berkshire Publishing!
Posted by Karen Christensen at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2004
Religion and society
We started our Religion & Society series in 1998 because it seemed to us that religion was increasingly important in the world and yet misunderstood by many educated people. After the recent US elections, it's hard to ignore the impact of religion in modern life and international relations. Berkshire feels a great sense of responsibility here. We have many sincere and admirable contributors who are fundamentalist scholars, and we are working with them to make their point of view comprehensible to nonbelievers.
In light of current events, however, we feel much sympathy with Frederick Douglass's writing about the Christianity of the slave-owning southern states, which you can read here. Obviously times have changed, but questions of integrity and justice remain relevant today. Click below to read Douglass's remarks.
In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass contrasted the Christianity that prevailed in the South and the Christianity of Christ:
"I find, since reading over the foregoing Narrative that I have, in several instances, spoken in such a tone and manner, respecting religion, as may possibly lead those unacquainted with my religious views to suppose me an opponent of all religion. To remove the liability of such misapprehension, I deem it proper to append the following brief explanation.
"What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding religion of this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest, possible difference--so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.
"...I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the horrible inconsistencies, which every where surround me. We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted cow skin (whip) during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class-leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a religious duty to read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of the God who made me. He who is the religious advocate of marriage robs whole millions (of slaves) of its sacred influence, and leaves them to the ravages of wholesale (moral) pollution. The warm defender of the sacredness of the family relation is the same that scatters whole families,--sundering husbands and wives, parents and children, sisters and brothers, leaving the hut vacant, and the hearth desolate. We see the thief preaching against theft, and the adulterer against adultery. We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babes sold to purchase Bibles for the poor heathen! all for the glory of God and the good of souls! The slave auctioneer's bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade go hand in hand together. The slave prison and the church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious psalm and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at the same time. The dealers in the bodies and souls of men erect their stand in the presence of the pulpit, and they mutually help each other. The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity. Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other--devils dressed in angels' robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise.
"I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the South is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes--a justifier of the most appalling barbarity, a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds, and a dark shelter under which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slave holders find the strongest protection. Were I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me... I hate the corrupt, slave-olding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land."
Frederick Douglass, from After the Escape
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:11 PM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2004
Making the World What?
We've called ourselves "A global point of reference" for as long as we've had a company name (originally Berkshire Reference Works, by the way, when we got started in our house). Now that we're really in business for ourselves, slogans and taglines have become a subject of discussion in a new way.
One of our librarian advisors told me she describes us as a publisher that "really wants to make the world a better place." She's right, we really do want to make the world--the world we all share--a better place, and we think publishing is one way to do that. We are trying to create comprehensive, engrossing, and beautiful good books and journals on important topics, to give people new ways to understand their world and its past, present, and future.
So, should it be, "Berkshire Publishing Group...Trying to Make the World a Better Place"?
Posted by Karen Christensen at 9:06 AM | Comments (0)