Assembling the invitation packages.

Invitations are in the mail!

CAMDO will again be participating in the Toronto International Art Fair, Art Toronto, October 25 – 29th, 2012.

Through the generosity of Art Toronto, CAMDO will not only have a booth again, but a full program  for CAMDO members and their guests.

Once again members will be asked to contribute their new exhibition catalogues and books to be sold in the CAMDO booth along with titles submitted last year. In addition, members are invited to attend the AGO benefit gala preview, join a special tour of the fair the following day and a stage event on the theme of art museums over the weekend.

Further details and invitation letters from Fair Manager Susannah Rosenstock have been mailed. Members are requested to RSVP by email no later than May 30th, 2012 to confirm a place in the program for themselves and a guest.

View images from last year’s Art Toronto event:

Set 1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69251707@N04/sets/72157627891119927/

Set 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69251707@N04/sets/72157628032938358/

All CAMDO photo sets on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69251707@N04/sets/

A search of “CAMDO” on Flickr turned up some lovely photos by the late Kate Davis:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=camdo

…

Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei pictured on CBC Radio One programme Q's homepage

Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei was arrested last April, detained without charges but eventually accused of tax evasion. Despite worldwide protest Chinese authorities held him for months. Even now he is now under a kind of “parole” or house arrest, having to report to his local police station two or three times a week and  prohibited from talking to foreign media. Nevertheless, he has done several interviews, including this one broadcast on March 22nd by CBC radio.

A sombre Ai Wei Wei spoke to Jian Ghomeshi about his arrest, his life now, its impact on his work and on the role of art in effecting political change. His resolve has clearly not softened though he spoke of being “broken” during his imprisonment when he was held in an unknown location with no access to family or friends.

We are grateful to CBC radio for connecting us so directly to the man behind the headlines and behind his enormous international reputation.

We also laud CBC for  its increasing coverage of the visual arts. The visual arts remain one of the most poorly understood of the arts disciplines. But progress is being made. Whereas not so long ago the pubic idea of art was limited to the historical pictures of a few famous artists in famous museums, today the public is much more aware of contemporary art. Internationally, some artists have achieved notoriety or celebrity while nationally, public art programs situate contemporary work right in local neighbourhoods where they cannot be ignored.

There’s still much room for improvement. For example, we heard at the Kingston Colloquium, that although the public is often aware of particular public artworks or works in their local galleries, they often don’t know the names of the artists who created the work. We do too poor a job associating the artist as a person with the work they produce. It’s not about creating celebrities exactly (though that wouldn’t hurt obviously), but about connecting the public to the artist as a person, a fully functioning member of society, doing legitimate work.

Check out Q’s program lineup here: http://www.cbc.ca/q/

Listen to the full interview here: http://www.cbc.ca/q/uncut/

[cross posted to the Visual Arts Alliance webstie]

Tara Spencer-Nairn in Nada and Bridget Stuart in Izzy Camilleri. Photo: George Pimentel

Give it to 24 talented designers, let them work their magic, stage a fabulous runway event and raise a pile of money for a most worthy cause.

That’s the formula that’s made Dare to Wear Love the not-to-be-missed annual event of Canada’s fashion world.

This year, the love spreads into the art gallery with a  remarkable one-of-a-kind collection of original designs on view at the Textile Museum of Canada.

The exhibition idea was the initiative of the Museum. “It’s the first time the full collection of existing designs has been exhibited and the first museum exhibition of Canadian fashion designers,” said Director Shauna McCabe. “We worked in partnership with Dare to Wear Love founders Hoax Couture, the Stephen Lewis Foundation and Fashion Design Council of Canada to make it happen.”

One of the many great results of the partnership has been the broad attention the exhibition has received, focusing on the designs as well as the creative collaboration, garnering national press including the Globe & Mail, Radio Canada, CBC, Flare and Elle magazines. The Textile Museum will also host an open house for press as part of the Toronto Fashion Week program.

Tickets for the runway event March 16th, which closes Fashion Week in Toronto, are still available, here: http://www.new.daretowearlove.com/tickets/

Learn more about the designers.

How Consumers Discover Books Online

Otis Chandler, Good Reads

Good Reads is a huge community site where people post the names of books they are reading and reviews of books they have read. It grew phenomenally in 2010-11, almost doubling users to over 14 million. Two books are added to Good Reads every second.

Their data shows that for the past month alone the top 40 books represent only 5% of all books whereas the next 5000 books represent 56%.

How do people find those books.
Most readers add 30 books to their “to read” bookshelf on registration.

When you rate books, the site automatically shows books that are similar to that rated book.

Registration flow is focused on popular books.

• 19% of titles come when the reader/user does a search.

Search has the long tail” – people find books that are less popular.

• 13% of books come via the recommendation engine – compiles 20,000 data points to match readers to books; basically it takes all the books I’ve read, looks at millions of readers who have read the same books and then recommends other books that those readers have read.

• 9% of books added when a user notices an update by a friend

serendipitous checking friends profiles

• 8% of books discovered via author pages, author profile/bio – more mid-list and long tail books

• 7% discovered via lists created by user/readers People Love Lists!

reader lists tend to bequirky, interesting, fun
great for mid-list books

• 6% are discovered using the Good Reads mobile app, e.g. you hear about a book while you’re out and you use your mobile app to look it up

• 2% are discovered via giveaways (in January they had over 1000 giveaways and shipped over 8000 books, mostly advance copies, as are result got over 800,000 entries on website

(10 copies – 2000 contestants) this is the best way GR attracts users
for the books, giveaways of advance copies will generate on average five reviews BEFORE the book comes out

How does search actually work?
Did a survey:
known author – 96%
friends and Good Read friends – 79%, 64%
Facebook and Twitter – not so much, 14% and 6%

See the book on something like Jon Stewart can be a huge factor. People will search for it, then add it.

What does search really mean?
6-12 touchpoints to purchase

“Between us and our readership there’s a brick wall and we have little hammers and if we keep hitting the wall, eventually we’ll punch through it.”

No magic bullets, BUT…

long tail books, word of mouth is most effective.
Focus on core readers.
Giveaways are super effective.

for mid-list, build on existing fan base
market to readers of comparable titles

maximize touch points around book’s launch
capitalize on media hits
convert broadcast mentions into word of mouth buzz

good reads amplifies the effect of other media coverage and buzz

Q: How effective is the site for more specialized books, e.g. academic, scholarly, or… art books?
A: The best way to find out is for a publisher to visit the site and look for the types of titles you publish, see how they are being listed and by whom.

Q: How does Good Reads want to interface with publishers.
A: Good Reads partners with publishers through paid marketing packages around the launch of new books; advertise to the exact readership, related genre readers, author interviews, etc. hooked up with giveaways.
Authors can also create their own pages.
They tend to get more critical reviews on Good Reads than on Amazon.

Eric Ries #leanstartup The Lean Startup

http://www.toccon.com/toc2012/public/schedule/detail/22950

entrepreneurs are everywhere
entreneurship is management
need new model of management
entrepreneurs often start with a not very good idea but are able to change direction as they go so they don’t crash
increase odds of success before running out of money
= validated learning =
discover how to build a sustainable business
DO NOT achieve failure = successfully executing a bad plan

publishing has become software
built a website to pre-sell his book
tested cover designs on the website
this is the:
build measure learn feedback loop

don’t ask for “opinion”
look for data, verifiable

milestones:
establish minimum viable product
measure customer response

tune engine
experiment to see how can be improved

test books, create communities, then you will deliver knowing that you are going to succeed

Clay Johnson (InformationDiet.com)

http://www.toccon.com/toc2012/public/schedule/detail/22972

how to have a healthy relationship with information
people are obese because pizza tastes better than broccoli : stupid opinion is more appealing than smart news

so call for infoveganism
- show your process
- let people pay for less commercial
- content is not a commodity – treat editors etc. with respect
- monetize your data

Steve Rubel (Edelman Digital)

http://www.toccon.com/toc2012/public/schedule/detail/22275

Edelman is a marketing company; Rubel advises them on the future of media
The Clip Report:
conventional wisdom in 2008 was that media was dying
through innovation clawed its way back:
rewarding people for watching

[idea : if you paid people to read art books, you could easily distribute an entire press; $5 per book x 1000 books = $5000; worth it?]

brand journalists: 5 new ways of doing media business
1. curation is a way to dominate
2. media get math (mine data and use timing)
3. keep stories alive (add a share function and a tiny percentage will use but can drive more)
4. roll in depth
5. covet thy superstars (have stars who identify with your team pays off)

Baratunde Thurston, The Onion

http://www.toccon.com/toc2012/public/schedule/detail/22951

How he came up with the idea How To Be Black? and got to do the book.
tweeting, engaging via hashtag
got more organized
asked questions, friends When did you first discover you were black?
recorded
** transparent process **
showed the writing in progress, took suggestions

the marketing campaign
had a virtual street team
1st assignment – read the book and talk about it
got feedback
** test **
the black card
live events
tumblr
gotblackness.com
two covers, one black one white
howtobeblack.me

All of which confirms much of Eric Ries’s The Lean Startup:
consult – validated learning
pivot
test
build communities

..

Can we have a rational conversation about copyright?

Edward Nawotka
William Patry

It is anthropomorphising to say “we have to respect copyright.” It’s a tool. It’s not about respect but in using the tool.

e.g. a policy to encourage low income housing; you write it, it provides incentives and parameters and low income housing gets built

in copyright it NEVER happens this way
e.g. 1998 extension of copyright in US from 50 to 70 years
argument was it will encourage creativity, will lead to more works being created
people consume because they want stuff not because of copyright
things are not successful because of copyright
authors do not create because of copyright or the length of term
you believe that the money you are going to get in the future, or not get, acts as an incentive or disincentive

economists submitted a brief, and they figured that if it is an incentive at all, it’s in the third digit after the decimal point

the other argument would be that a publisher will give me more money today if they have a longer term in which to realize profit… for that extra money the author is more motivated
doesn’t happen

so if these bases are not valid, then why do it?

not only is it not true but it may well be that longer term has negative effects: making new uses or new works built on a work from happening

stronger copyright for works that are not successful in the marketplace is not going to make them more successful

we may need a toll to deal with free-riding, to prevent people from exploiting creative work without bearing the costs, but copyright is not that tool

you don’t need for things that are very successful in the marketplace
those artists make a lot of money and so do their producers

but for artists who are not in the marketplace, you need other funding models, e.g. create charities to solicit donations

it’s not a business model to hate Amazon, or Google

law is not a solution to all things

The Library Alternative

Libraries are not a threat to sales. People do not buy only if a book is not available at the library. Neither do they look for books they are thinking of buying at the library.

How are library users cultivated?
Was it not the case in the past that you either bought books or you didn’t. You could either afford it or you couldn’t, or you grew up in a household with books or you didn’t.

1. bibliocomments- community, accounts tracking
2. invite readers to participate in library work; transcription project
3. super organizing our impact; huge need for education serving textbooks

goals is to optimize a productive partnership with publishers

started Waterston’s
library system in UK is falling to pieces
Billbury.com – ebook library, selling for all devices, rent academic books because academy is okay with that
have 750,000 titles
2x’s as many books are read coming from libraries than are bought and read
2 billion vs. 1 billion

separation of publishers from libraries is partly due to supply chain

publishers don’t understand the data about readership; but the data is in the libraries

Billbury is successful because
- talks to publishers
- found mutual benefit
- do the work for them

publishers need libraries more than libraries need publishers

Jeremy LeBard – Australia

started by giving books away for free, early release
more than 1000
in exchange for reviews
had to ship them

literacy is important and libraries create readers
a patented process for publishers to have presence in libraries and to be looked after there

concept of what a library is, borrow from your couch

question is how to get books into the hands of people don’t have them

realign purchasing model

–

Publishers remind librarians that “this is a business.”

Has been some regression in conversation. There is nothing a librarian can say to a publisher that will convince them that libraries are not a threat.

All of publisher business is going digital; they have a legacy of print to deal with, with rights issues, etc. Publishers are trying to slow development in order to maintain control, reduce the threat of new players, publishers selling ebooks exclusively.

The question is what stick do librarians have to bring publishers to the table.

–

Q: What are the issues with Overdrive (a private co. library service)
A: Libraries don’t like the lack of transparency. Thre is also a usability issue of more fragmented market; libraries want to retain the consolidated, authoritative experience

A: There was a triggering event the problem that Penguin had with …

Q: how do you get niche books, e.g. african titles, into the libraries

A: i would be happy to to write you a cheque.

Session:
Renovating Print Assets for Digital Publishing
Michael Rankin

The new features of Adobe Creative Suite inDesign 5.5

- a simple 21 step process:)

(this is the prequel to yesterday’s workshop by Anne Marie Concepcion)

eProduciton rock stars
#prdctn
these people are essential, hug them

1st Evaluate your assets
take a look at the files with the design people, the editors and production people
some text unnecessary, e.g. page nos.
no bleeds
double spread images
font issues, dingbats, math, can’t embed type 1 fonts, have to replace them
complex elements like footnotes

are you actually licensed to do what you want to do?

Quark xPress
if really old Q4 files
marxware, to bring v old files into latest version that tries to preserve
markzware PageZephyr pulls the content out of the formats so you can then re-design

Legacy inDesign
batch convert via script
conversion issues: reflow, missing 3rd party content – effects generated by plug ins, styles changed, anchored item spacing

the rest of this presentation repeated what was in the AMC workshop yesterday.

Philip Downer, Dirctor Front of Store
frontofstore.uk.org
#frontofstore
post on shortdot

60% of all adults shop online, approaching 10% of all purchases
Amazon and supermarkets have eroded retail bookshops sales to 32%
but supermarkets are getting out of books, result of pressure from online sales
supermarkets sell the pulp stuff that subsidizes the literary stuff
few publishers place their books in other than traditional outlets
the future:
nice bookshops for nice people in nice cities
no bookshops for anyone else in smaller communities

shifts in the market places loses readers; they go away and not just shift to elsewhere or different media; they don’t come back

even the EU
cultured and civilised
price fixed
still change is coming

how “big” will the “book” market be in 2015?
pbooks, ebooks, other

Jerremy LeBard, readcloud

the book buying experience is tactile, a search
buyers carry the thing and the message of the thing back to their community
its a social phenomenon

readcloud is not a mass market retail product
works with the schools
approached by australian booksellers association, the kind of things done with the schools would work in the shops
have developed kiosks, carry four formats, hard cover, soft cover, ebooks and audio books
has community features
use agency model instead of wholesale model
30% retail margin for everybody, no deep discounting by big box retailers

the future is in community stores
blended model

Jack McKeown, Verso, 2011 survey of book-buying behavior

the Borders effect (sinking ship)
formerly 40% of people visited at least once a year
now 60% remained the same, 36% gone online amazon, etc.
23% of borders visitors have increased their total number of visits to book sellers, online and otherwise
they choose to go by discounts, and other motivators
only 45% of population is served by an indie bookstore

points to possibility of a new model independent bookstore

early majority phase of eReaders etc, i.e. cresting

as eReaders increase, so does resistance
the undecided category seems to be migrating more toward the never side than the likely to buy side

planned ebook purchases increasing
but in the absense of a killer device like the iPod, that turned the market toward MP3.

interest in indie-branded eReader
definitely room in the market for such a device
price point, around $100

Thad McIlroy, The Future of Publishing

–
questions:
opportunity for bookshops in specialized locationsl ike art galleries
yes, garden centres, historical sites, castles etc. these are places where books sell well but publishers are too passive in developing these opporunities

has anyone bundled books into a branded reader
yes, cumulus, LeBard, has a branded reader and is looking at bundling educational books

..

The basic rights contract:

The author licenses the publisher.
The publisher produces, promotes, sells and pays the author for the license.

Rights revert if book goes “out of print”

Older contracts
If not specified, the key is the intent of the parties.
Random House vs. Rosetta
Random claimed it had rights over all kinds of “books.”
The court disagreed and would not enjoin Rosetta.
Parties came to a settlement, Rosetta paying a license fee.

Licenses are not “sales”
The author must consent to third party licensing.
Where some subsidiary rights are covered by the contract, there may be an assumption that the intent of the contract was to apply to all

Is the sale of an electronic version, a sale or a license
if a sale, traditionally revenue is split 50/50 publisher/author
but if a license then the split is more favourable towards the publisher

Negotiating with authors earlier is easier the sooner it is done because as time passes there are often more alternatives and understanding what can be done is more complicated.

The Cosmic Clause
You have to think ahead to as many channels, technologies as you can imagine.
These [examples]… plus any other we may develop in the future.
1938 Superman rights sold to for $136.
Grantors can terminate grant of rights after a certain amount of time.
1978, 2013 – a very technical procedure, must work through a lawyer. Forms, time constraints.

verbatim conversions
adaptation (derivative works – i.e. based on but enhanced, added to, or web based)
distinguished from film, tv, video in linear form
not performance rights, audio books

duration: reasonable period, use of options, reversions for unexploited rights

The evolution of eBook pricing

agency model;
publisher sets the price, grants the right to the seller, who takes a commission, usually at least 30%
publisher pays from its 70%, 25%, up to 40% of net receipts (after conversion to eBook) to the author.

but pressures on this model:
changing industry standards
cheaper to publish
self-publishing options may pay as anywhere between 50 and 100%.
hybrid market – print AND eBook

payment issues
definition of “net receipts”, what gets included
production/conversion costs yes, but taxes? commissions?

reporting:
payment of royalties should theoretically be more prompt because the accounting is being done virtually instantly with each electronic sale.

what happens to out of print books?
practice to make rights reversion relative to publishers marketing efforts, and
“not availability of the publication in any format through major retailers

but best practice is to set a period, renewable once or twice; then can’t be disputed

does author retain rights to use the materials in other ways themselves, including electronically
e.g. for multimedia, texts, photos, video, film

commissioned co-authors, ghost writers, third party developers

where “work for hire,” assignment language “assign and agree to assign” so publisher can in turn license, Copyright Centre brokers such rights in the US, warranty and indemnification

options
publisher wants right of first refusal to future works
no payment = no incentive for author
define very precisely, genres

non-compete clauses
are ebooks competing or derivative
look for catch-all reservation, if too broad will not be upheld

e.g. publisher passes on some older works so author takes them into e formats themselves; publisher protests and wins, even though author effort arguably would reinforce the publishers book

agency model applies to most eBooks
70% of retail goes to publisher
25% of that goes to author

some it’s higher 50 – 40%

self-publication is attractive in terms of % but generally author needs to sell 4x’s as many books and aren’t getting all the services the publisher provides
iBooks, Kindle Direct, Bookbaby, Smashwords

crowdsourcing (Unbound, Kickstarter)
__

Innovations – re-imagining copyright arrangements

- subscription model “not downloading, just accessing” – O’Reilly, Angry Robot
- fremium (spotify) – ad based; issue of fee to authors; 50% to be divided how?
- storybundle – 5 books, pay what you want consumer chooses royalty
- unglue.it – public broadcasting model, rightsholder sets price
- amazon singles, bookriff, byliner (chapter at a time) – fractured/aggregated – (30% to authors, 5% to “curator”
- service contracts, administration deals, co-publishing, 360 deals – argo by persius, author services; they take 30% to manage production and distribution of digital books

looking for ways for publishers to sell more books at cheaper prices
so both they and authors to make more money

shorter term contracts seem likely

thoughts/questions

how does all this affect the educational and institutional markets?
it’s more complicated, it’s trickier to track, estimate uses

are the standards different in different countries, e.g. UK?

eBooks circulate globally, so how do you get those global rights
the question is which publisher is in the best position to reach those markets

what is the relationship in the US between publishers and agents
publishers are increasingly acting as agents, putting authors together with editors etc.
low royalty rates are being discussed by agents
(clause: in the event that the prices go up, then rates should change)

anything special about eTextbooks?
same concern for getting permissions
it’s a different process, but the rights still need to be dealt with

is copyright further or hindering the development of eBooks and their markets
there is a need to look at the founding principles of copyright and consider amendments
piracy is a concern
but so is the extension of the copyright period to 70 years

is there any uptake of the Creative Commons system of licensing among publishers?
it’s had an effect, e.g. Amazon’s “look inside” or releasing chunks of content for free
but the publisher is making an investment so they deserve to be compensated

..