Pace Publishing Students Attend the 2024 US Book Show

On Wednesday, May 22, Publisher’s Weekly and the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) presented the annual US Book Show, an educational conference for publishing professionals. The event was hosted by NYU’s SPS Center for Publishing at the Kimmel Center for University Life, so a small group of current Pace MS in Publishing students and recent graduates headed to the Washington Square Park area for a day of publishing education and networking among 800 other attendees.

The day began with a welcome speech from Andrea Chambers, Associate Dean for the NYU SPS Center for Publishing and Applied Liberal Arts, and Jennifer Weltz, President of the AALA, followed by introductions by AALA US Book Show Committee Co-Chairs Regina Brooks and Lynn Johnston.

A CEO Roundtable discussion with Jonathan Karp (Simon & Schuster), Aman Kochar (Baker & Taylor), Mary McAveney (Abrams), and Peter Warwick (Scholastic) truly kicked off the day of panels. This talk went into some detail about what Warwick called the “elephant in the room,” the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) in the publishing industry with new technology like ChatGPT. The panel discussed the need to protect authors’ intellectual property, something that would be further explored in later panels throughout the day. Other hot topics in publishing were brought forth, like the rising cost of infrastructure and cyber security as well as the challenges in pricing books with threats to global supply chains. The discussion concluded with Kochar’s confidently stating that, because they are some of the best marketing tools for the publishing industry, libraries and librarians must be protected at all costs, earning enormous applause from the audience watching both in the Grand Hall and in the overflow room.

As panels for the day officially began, attendees consistently had a choice between two co-occurring panels, beginning with “The Acquisition P&L” and “Harnessing Trusted Influencers to Boost Book Sales.” Students split to attend both panels. Students who chose to attend “The Acquisition P&L” heard from Clare O’Rourke, CFO of Macmillan, about the importance of the profit and loss statement in the publishing process and how they impact acquisition specifically.

“The P&L talk had a great overview of what makes up a profit and loss statement. Authors and agents, along with the students in the room, enjoyed hearing from the professionals on the panel. It was a great panel for beginners in the industry!” – Amber Grell

Students who chose to attend “Harnessing Trusted Influencers to Boost Book Sales” instead heard from Steve Potash, CEO of OverDrive, about the influence of public, school, university, and corporate libraries on the book-buying habits of tens of millions of readers. Students learned about the impact of libraries and things like Libby access and library book club picks on discovery and future book sales. Attendees saw examples of how libraries giving readers debut books for free brought sales for those titles up in the ranks by thousands of places. I also learned a fun fact about my own beloved library system (Livelibrary.com in Suffolk County, NY): it’s the fifth-highest spending library system in the country!

Next, students chose between panels, “Current Issues in Contracts and Copyright” and “Spotlight on Spotify.” Those who chose to attend the panel on contracts heard more discussion on AI in the publishing industry and the ethical and legal limits of AI as a whole. They learned about how specific publishers are dealing with the rise in AI usage, like how Hachette has authors disclosing exactly how they might have used AI for their manuscripts. Panelists spoke about how as the use of AI increases, there should be an industry-wide push for regulation to help standardize the practice.

Those who chose to attend the Spotify panel instead heard from Owen Smith, VP of Product & Technology for Audiobooks for Spotify on the platform’s plans to expand its audiobook offerings. Smith spoke to the crowd about Spotify’s new audiobook features including Counting Pages, a pre-save and countdown feature, personalized audiobook feeds based on previous book listens and podcast listens, and a rating feature in which gives users the ability to review audiobooks in the Spotify app, but only after fully listening to them. He explained how these new features, along with Spotify audiobooks as a whole, are meant for people who aren’t typically readers, and the audiobook section of the platform is designed to help people discover new books. He also mentioned the particular importance of audiobooks being accessible on every device Spotify can be used on, like a game console, car, and even a smart fridge on top of the usual mobile and desktop devices for all kinds of users and readers.

For the next set of panels, “Getting Started with AI” and “Young Publishing Forum,” Pace students and alumni understandably all gravitated towards the “Young Publishing Forum” panel where attendees were able to ask questions about being relatively new to the industry and learn more about mentorship, remote work, career goals, and more from Young Publishers Association founder, Noah Perkins, among other panelists. The panel discussed internships, pay in entry-level publishing positions, and more, allowing students to feel a true sense of community with other people just breaking into the industry.

One of the most eye-opening panels students attended was “Kicking Down the Gates,” a discussion about the systems and tools within the industry that act as barriers as well as strategies for making book publishing more accessible. This included a conversation about moving publishing away from being an in-person, New York-centric industry. Panelists commented on the move towards hybrid and remote work environments allowing for more inclusion of publishing professionals outside of New York City, bringing the industry insight on things like bookstores in other parts of the country and what reading communities outside of the metropolitan area are searching for. They also brought up that remote environments allow more inclusion for disabled publishing professionals who cannot easily come to the office, once again leading to more diverse insight and voices in the industry. Another key point of the panel that students found particularly interesting was the idea that comp titles are heavily biased, as white authors are the most comped authors right now.

The conference took place from 9:30am to 5:30pm, with a reception afterward until 7:00pm, providing attendees with a full day of informative panels and networking opportunities to take with them in their publishing careers. Even after this packed day, students found themselves wishing some of the panels were even longer! Because there were so many panels in a single day, some could only be about thirty-minutes long, leaving attendees wanting more.

“I enjoyed how informative the panels were as a young person in publishing. I thought that many of those panels should’ve been longer because the discussions were quite interesting. Being among my publishing peers and mentors made me feel confident in the future of book publishing and the steps to ensure books remain integral to humanity.” – Shianne Henion

Overall, students left the US Book Show feeling grateful to have attended. Between networking with other young publishing professionals and learning from senior publishing professionals on panels, the day was packed with helpful information and an experience students will not soon forget.

“Going to the book show was a really great experience! I loved stepping out of the classroom and learning more about what’s going on in the publishing industry through the eyes of the panelists — everyone brought their own opinion, and in some cases, their ideas challenged my own.” – Erin Hurley