BIC Brunch, September 2021

Understanding and Managing Content Subscription Operating Models

Thursday 23rd September 2021, 14:00-15:00  Online/webinar  #bicbrunch

Event kindly sponsored by FADEL

Over the past decade, we’ve seen a tremendous digitization of content as consumers want content at their fingertips – through e-books, audiobooks, or online platforms. To manage the increasing demand for immediate digital content, publishers increasingly have to embrace new operating models. Perhaps the most popular currently is the subscription model, where subscribers pay a recurring fee to access content. To attract and retain a strong subscription rate, publishers are continually having to tailor their content to cater for the tastes and interests of readers, which can become a complicated operation, not least with regards to rights, product management, and royalty management.

In this BIC Brunch, we explored:

  • Rights management for offering content as a subscription
  • Defining compensation models
  • Determining how to manage subscription products
  • Managing royalty accounting
  • How book industry standards can help

The Host

Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

The Speakers

Graham Bell, Executive Director, EDItEUR
Vahe Hovhannisyan, Principal Managing Consultant, FADEL
Rachel Ward, Digital Project Manager, HarperCollins Technology

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube channel.

BIC Brunch, April 2021 

What is the Library Communications Framework?

Thursday 29th April, 12:00-13:00 BST  Online/webinar #bicbrunch

Event kindly sponsored by Insight Media Internet Ltd

The Library Communication Framework (LCF) is set to transform how library suppliers share information with each other in the future, building on the work that the SIP2 protocol has delivered in the past. LCF will allow vendors to share not only basic transactional information (like SIP2), but additionally better manage libraries’ users and inventory. For libraries looking to upgrade any of their systems in 2021 onwards, LCF should form part of your understanding and be a (mandatory?) part of your specification or tender requirements.

April’s BIC Brunch explored LCF in its entirety, discussing its origins, the benefits and challenges of its usage and learnings from LCF in action by exploring recent adoptions. The session explained what LCF actually is and how it can positively affect the library sector.

The Host

Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

The Speakers

Neil Johnson, Director, Insight Media Internet Ltd.
Neil Barker, Account Manager, Civica
Catherine Cooke, Applications Support Officer, Westminster Libraries
Andrew Daye, Chief Technology Officer, SOLUS

BIC Brunch – What is the LCF? – Presentation Slides – here.

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube Channel.

______________________________________________________________________________

BIC Brunch, April 2021

The Brexit Session

Thursday 15th April 2021, 14:30-15:30 GMT: Online/webinar #bicbrunch

Introduction

As we began the second quarter of 2021, it was a good opportunity to review how the book industry is coping with the transition to operating under the new Brexit regulations. Offering hints, tips and practical advice from speakers with first-hand experience, this BIC Brunch  explored the common challenges for the different stakeholders in the book industry’s supply chain. Areas covered in this session included country of manufacture, country of publication, (i.e. rules of origin information), shipping challenges, port procedures, common pitfalls and how to avoid them, the question of VAT for digital products (in particular selling into Ireland and the international market), and more. We heard how ONIX 3.0 can be used to assist with the effective communication of some of the key data elements required in order to aid this transition.

The Host: 

Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

The Speakers: 

Sue Kelly, Operations Director, Publiship, Ivan O’Brien, Owner, The O’Brien Press, Chris Saynor, Standards Editor, EDItEUR.

The Panellists: Lisa Faratro, Director of Environment and Sustainability, CPI Group; Paul Gibbon, Executive Director, United Independent Distributors; Simon Pallant, Digital and Data Services Manager, Gardners Books Ltd; Nigel Wyman, Sales and Marketing Director, Gardners Books Ltd.

BIC Brunch – The Brexit Session – Presentation Slides here.

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube Channel.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Green BIC Brunch Session – March 2021 

How Green is your Digital Content?

Thursday 25th March 12:00 – 13:00 GMT

Online/webinar #bicbrunch

Introduction


The Green BIC Brunch series has been incredibly well received since its launch in June 2020. We have covered myriad topics across the full breadth of the physical book supply chain; paper, laminates, shipping, glues, single use plastics, the environmental impact of distribution and freight, waste reduction, printing technologies, inks foils…the list goes on. However, a major area as yet unexplored by our series is the environmental impact of the digital content supply chain.

With a focus on the academic/higher education sector, and with expert speakers from Kortext and Pearson, we learnt about the role digital products play in carbon reduction, and yet, how they in turn bring with them the new challenges of data centres and associated energy and natural resources consumption.

We heard about Microsoft’s environmental commitments to local communities in the 4 areas of carbon, water, waste and ecosystems, and discussed the steps we as an industry need to take in order to ensure our digital content supply chain can transform into a truly sustainable and climate friendly one.

The Presenter

Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

The Speakers: 

James Gray, CEO, Kortext; Chris Preist, Professor of Sustainability and Computer Systems, Academic Head of Sustainability, University of Bristol; Matthew Rowland-Jones, Sustainability Manager, Pearson

Green BIC Brunch

How Green is your Digital Content? –

Presentation slides here

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube Channel

BIC Brunch, February 2021
Streamlining Returns – Saving Time and Costs 
Thursday 4th February 2021, 12-1pm (GMT)

Online / Webinar
#bicbrunch

This event was kindly sponsored by: 

Introduction:


Like it or not, returns are an integral part of the book industry’s supply chain. Being able to deal with returns as quickly and efficiently as possible helps to free up staff time, improve both stock planning and goods-in processes and reduce the potential for returns-related disputes.

With speakers from Hachette UK, Batch Ltd, and the Hungerford Bookshop, this BIC Brunch session provided an overview of book industry returns and explored the many benefits of automation in this area via the BIC Industry Returns Initiative (IRI). Attendees learned how IRI can greatly benefit their business by reducing costs, and saving time and resources across various strands of work associated with returns. We will also heard how automating the returns processes is controllable and can be adaptable to suit changing business needs.

Read our introduction to IRI, here.

The Presenter: Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

The Speakers: Alex Milne, Director, Hungerford Bookshop; Simon Parker, Business Development Manager, Batch Ltd; Ray Webb, Client Development Manager, Hachette UK

BIC Brunch Presentation Slideshow – Streamlining Returns – Saving Time and Costs

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube Channel

BIC Brunch, December 2020

Sales-Inventory Reporting for the 21st Century 
Wednesday 2nd December 2020, 12-1pm (GMT)

Online/webinar
#bicbrunch

Introduction

With speakers from EDItEUR, HarperCollins Publishers and Gardner’s, this BIC Brunch session will provide an overview of EDItX Sales and Inventory reporting messages, explaining their uses within, and benefits to, all organisations in the book industry supply chain. By attending, you will hear about the benefits of automating sales and inventory reporting for both print and eBooks, and gain insight into our speakers’ findings and experiences during their recent, collaborative EDItX pilot 

The Presenter: Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

The Speakers: Graham Bell, Executive Director, EDItEUR; John Bell, Publishing Systems Manager, HarperCollins Publishers; Simon Pallant, Digital and I.T. Services Manager, Gardner’s

BIC Brunch Presentation Slideshow – Sales-Inventory Reporting for the 21st Century 

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube Channel

BIC Brunch, October 2020

Launching BIC’s Brand New Industry Metadata Tool

Thursday 29th October 2020, 12-1pm (GMT)
Online / Webinar
#bicbrunch

Introduction

BIC was delighted to announce the launch of the BIC Metadata Capabilities Directory (MCD) at this Brunch session. The MCD is a ‘game-changing’ tool that will improve and track the effective use of metadata in the book industry supply chain, delivering detailed and meaningful insights.

During this event our attendees heard from the BIC Metadata Map Project Lead, Peter Mathews as well as BIC MCD pioneer organisations Thames & Hudson, Bibliographic Data Services Ltd and Rakuten Kobo to find out their viewpoints on the MCD, why they are getting involved, and what access to the directory will mean to them. 

This BIC Brunch will be of interest to all book industry organisations who use metadata to optimise discoverability and sales. If you supply and/or receive data within the book industry, the MCD will be of huge value and use to your organisation.

The Presenter: Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

The Speakers: Peter Mathews, BIC Metadata Map Project Lead; Nick Coveney, Publisher Relations & Content Lead, UK & ANZ, Rakuten Kobo; Eric Green, Managing Director, Digital, Bibliographic Data Services Ltd; and Ben Gutcher, Head of UK Sales, Thames & Hudson Ltd.

BIC Brunch Presentation Slideshow – Launching the BIC MCD

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube Channel


Green BIC Brunch, October 2020 

The Environmental Impact of Distribution & Freight

Thursday 22nd October 2020, 12-1pm (BST)  
Online / Webinar
#greenbicbrunch

Introduction

This Green BIC Brunch explored the book industry’s environmental impact with regards to distribution and freight processes (including warehousing, transportation and deliveries). With speakers from Penguin Random House, LoadHog, United Independent Distributors and Publiship, we heard about what (if anything) we can do as an industry to reduce that impact.

The Presenter: Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

The Speakers: Susan Matthews, Project Manager, LoadHog; Ken Rhodes, Chief Executive Officer, United Independent Distributors; Neil Springall, Head of Operations, Penguin Random House UK; and Dave Thompson, Group Sales & Development Director, Publiship.

Green BIC Brunch Presentation Slideshow – Impact of Distribution & Freight

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube Channel


BIC Brunch, September 2020

Maximising Online Discovery

Wednesday 9th September 2020, 12-1pm (BST)
Online / Webinar
#bicbrunch

Overview

BIC Brunches are a brand new series of live webinars which have been created for BIC members and non-members to attend during their lunchbreak to discuss book industry supply chain topics (including issues, successes and challenges). Each BIC Brunch session is dedicated to one key area of the supply chain, offering attendees a unique opportunity to gather knowledge about that topic from experts in the field.

Introduction 

Online discovery is vital for sales. Ensuring your products are discoverable by consumers is essential to securing sales; and metadata is one of the key factors – if not the key factor – to achieving this.

This BIC Brunch session is a masterclass in improving your metadata for online discovery. With speakers from Nielsen Book, Ingram Content Group and The Paperback Shop, you will hear about:

  • Consumer trends during the coronavirus pandemic;
  • The role of online discovery and the importance of data;
  • Audiobook and eBook data and discoverability;
  • And the utilisation of keywords to enhance the SEO of products.

This BIC Brunch will be of interest to all book industry organisations that want to improve their catalogues’ discoverability and sales through metadata optimisation. The event will be especially relevant to publishers, booksellers, data aggregators and systems providers.

The Presenter: Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

Our Speakers: Clive Herbert, Head of Professional Services, Nielsen Book; Ruth Jones, Director Global Sales, Digital Services, Ingram Content Group; Jo Shaw, Sales Director of Book Discovery & Commerce Solutions, Nielsen Book; and Caroline Summers, Sales Director, The Paperback Shop.

BIC Brunch Presentation Slideshow – Maximising Online Discovery

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube Channel.


Green BIC Brunch, August 2020 

Our Green Legacy: How to Reduce Waste for a more Environmentally-Friendly Supply Chain

Thursday 20th August 2020, 12-1pm (BST)
Online / Webinar
#greenbicbrunch

Overview

BIC is the dedicated book industry supply chain organisation in the UK and as such, the environment is naturally high on our priorities for 2020 and beyond. In June 2020, to uphold the BIC Green Promise, we launched our Green BIC Brunch series that aims specifically to explore key areas of the book supply chain that can and do impact on our planet’s environmental health. Each Green BIC Brunch is dedicated to one key area while the series as a whole is intended to join the book industry supply chain together in one place – exploring and inspiring change in response to environmental challenges. 

Our June 2020 session – which took a close look at the materials used to create a printed book – can be watched in full, online. See the event, below, for more information.  

Information about all of our scheduled forthcoming green sessions can be found, here

Introduction 

Book production and distribution can be a bit of a balancing act for those within our industry. While consumers want top-quality products that arrive direct to their doors in excellent condition (and at a reasonable price), they are now showing more and more interest in organisations’ green agendas with a view to establishing if the book industry is playing its part in reducing waste. 

Consumers want assurances that organisations are cleaning up their acts and placing their green objectives at the top of their lists; and this is precisely what organisations have been striving to do in recent years.

This Green BIC Brunch – the second in our series – provides an overview of the ways in which the book industry is reducing material waste, and helping its supply chain become as environmentally-friendly as possible. With speakers from Pearson UK, Gardner’s and Waterstones, we discuss how Print on Demand (POD) can help to reduce needless warehousing and transportation of huge quantities of books; investigate the use and re-use of packaging within book distribution; and explore the ways in which booksellers and retailers can reduce the waste both within their businesses and for their customers.

This Green BIC Brunch will be of interest to all book industry organisations but will be especially relevant to publishers, booksellers, distributors and printers who have a desire to improve the environment by making their supply chains greener.   

The Presenter: Karina Urquhart, Executive Director, BIC

Our Speakers: Manos Kapterian, COO/SVP Operations, International Markets, Pearson; Nigel Wyman, Sales & Marketing Director, Gardner’s;  and Kate McHale, Campaign Manager, Waterstones.

Green BIC Brunch Presentation Slideshow – How to Reduce Waste

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube Channel.


Green BIC Brunch, June 2020 

Green Book Production: Materials Matter! (Webinar)

Wednesday 24th June 2020, 12-1pm (BST)
Online / Webinar
#greenbicbrunch

Overview

BIC is the dedicated book industry supply chain organisation in the UK and as such, the environment is naturally high on our priorities for 2020 and beyond. Following the success of our Building a Greener Business webinar held in March this year, we are delighted to be launching a series of Green BIC Brunches. This series has been specifically created to explore key areas of the book supply chain that can and do impact on our planet’s environmental health. Each Green BIC Brunch will be dedicated to one key area and the series as a whole is intended to join the book industry supply chain together in one place – exploring and inspiring change in response to environmental challenges. Our June 2020 session kicks our series off with a close look at the materials used to create a printed book. 

Find out more about Green BIC Brunches by watching our first-ever videocast – presented by BIC’s Executive Director, Karina Urquhart – on YouTube, here.

Introduction

For years, regulatory bodies and book industry organisations have been working hard behind-the-scenes to ensure that the materials used for the production of books are as environmentally-friendly as possible. With environmental concerns high on so many organisation’s priorities, an update on both the book industry’s progress to date and the innovative materials already available to us seems prudent and timely.

This Green BIC Brunch looks, in detail, at the paper, printing technologies, inks, foils and laminates that our industry uses to produce its print products, with a view to establishing how far we’ve come to date and what future innovations might bring.

With speakers from Holmen Paper, CPI Books, Kurz and Graphic Image Films, this Green BIC Brunch takes attendees on a journey through the creation of a printed book, from paper supply to environmentally-friendly finishes.

This Green BIC Brunch will be of interest to all printers, publishers, booksellers, distributors, data aggregators and systems vendors who have a desire to improve the environment by making their supply chains greener.

The Presenter: Alaina-Marie Bassett, Business Manager, BIC

Our Speakers: Stephen Holman, Head of Technical Support, Holmen Paper AB; Lisa Faratro, Customer Service Director & Director of Environment & Sustainability, CPI Books; Alexis Tonneau, Sustainability Project Manager, Kurz; and Jamie Beale, Quality Assurance Technical Manager, Graphic Image Films.

Green BIC Brunch Presentation Slideshow – Green Book Production

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube Channel.


BIC Brunch, May 2020

Keeping up with your Metadata: A Lesson in Increasing Sales and Bettering Communications

Wednesday 27th May 2020, 12-1pm (BST)
Online / Webinar
#bicbrunch

The importance of good (i.e. complete, timely and quality) metadata is well known – as is its positive impact on sales (both instore and online)*. But what of its less well-known counterpart: keeping that metadata up-to-date? Why is this so important? What metadata changes most dynamically post-publication (and what should be fixed before publication)? How does out-of-date information impact the supply chain (and a publisher’s sales)? This BIC Brunch intends to answer these questions and more.

With speakers from EDItEUR, Nielsen Book and Hachette UK, this BIC Brunch covers: 

  • Block level updates
  • The Acknowledgement message in ONIX 3.0
  • Price & Availability (P&A) feeds
  • The BIC Realtime (trade) P&A API
  • How the BIC Product Data Excellence Award (PDEA) Accreditation Scheme can help publishers to monitor their metadata’s timeliness, completeness (and, going forwards, its quality)

Nielsen White Paper: The Link Between Metadata and Sales

This BIC Brunch will be of interest to all publishers, booksellers, data aggregators, systems vendors, distributors, wholesalers and many more.

The Presenter: Alaina-Marie Bassett, Business Manager, BIC

Our Speakers: Cecilia Rushton, Head of Editorial Operations, Hodder & Stoughton, the Headline Publishing Group, John Murray and Quercus Editions; Graham Bell, Executive Director, EDItEUR; and Clive Herbert, Head of Professional Services, Nielsen Book.

BIC Brunch Presentation Slideshow – Keeping up with your Metadata

Watch this event on the BIC YouTube Channel.

Click here for further information about our forthcoming sessions. 


A word about our sponsors…

As HP continues its journey of re-invention, we are bringing to market new services and solutions specifically for the Publishing Industry. Our ambition is to enable Publishers to have more time to focus on “what” they publish, rather than “how” they publish. We are providing the industry with services and solutions that reduce production complexity whilst automating scalable distributed print. 

The HP Piazza solution provides a cloud-based repository of always available titles, allowing Publishers to re-gain control of their content, maximise business potential, reduce inventory, minimise waste and improve their environmental footprint. This fully virtual inventory matches output with demand, with titles ready & optimised for print, when and where needed. As companies struggle to manage increasingly complex customer needs, with business realities and ever-increasing environmental considerations this proven, scalable service provides a “plug & play” solution. 

If you are interested in learning more, please email HPPublishingSolutions@hp.com or visit Hp.com/go/PiazzaforPublishing.

The knk Group has been established for 30 years and has about 450 customers in the publishing and media industry with offices in the Germany, USA, UK, and France. Our main solution ‘knkPublishing’ is the only Microsoft-certified publishing software in the world that delivers industry-specific functionality combined with traditional ERP capabilities. The software is available as an enterprise ERP solution or in a modular form addressing specific areas of a publishing business such as CRM, Title Management, Editorial, Production, Rights, Royalties, Sales, Marketing, Warehouse, Distribution, and Finance. The knk Group also includes the brands of Bradbury Phillips International Ltd, the most established provider of Rights and Royalty software for Publishers and Literary Agents, and the ‘VM Media Manager’ solution – the market leading advertising, subscription and circulation management software in Germany. 
knkpublishingsoftware.com

Nielsen Book provides a range of services to the book industry internationally, aiding the discovery and purchase, distribution and sales measurement of books. We are proud to run the ISBN and SAN Agencies for UK & Ireland as well as providing search and discovery services for booksellers and libraries. Our electronic trading solutions, including Nielsen PubEasy, help everyone involved in the book supply chain trade more easily and our Research services provide retail sales analysis for both print and e-books alongside research from our Books and Consumers Survey. For more information visit: nielsenbook.co.uk

Penguin Random House UK is the UK’s largest book publisher. We champion brilliant voices from around the globe, bringing them to life in compelling and dynamic ways for audiences everywhere. From bestselling writers to new voices, bold illustrators and big thinkers, we are home to some of the world’s most celebrated authors. We sell and license books in over 120 countries; connecting millions of people around the world with the greatest stories, the smartest thinking and the best ideas. 
www.penguin.co.uk