Sustainability 2025

Sustainability has long been a hot topic in the book industry. With an environmentally savvy consumer market and labor force composed of people who want to make the world a better place, it only makes sense that publishers would lead the charge on sustainable practices. Sadly, this has not always been the case. Now, with rising costs of production, looming tariffs, and much uncertainty in the market there is no better time to face challenges head on and look for solutions wherever they can be found.

Those solutions are often found globally. The Green Book Alliance (GBA), a collaboration across Book Industry Communication (BIC) in the U.K., BookNet Canada, and the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) in the U.S., has been sharing sustainability resources and findings for five years. Brian O’Leary, executive director of BISG, told us “Environmental issues don’t know borders. As the largest publishing market in the world, what happens in the U.S. has an outsized impact on the industry and the world.”

No doubt geographic and geopolitical disruptions will continue to impact the book world this year. Publishers and partners will be discussing ways in which they can reduce costs, speed up production, and align with environmental solutions. NetGalley will be tracking these discussions at conferences and, importantly, demonstrating at least one proven and reliable way to help publishers and book professionals reduce their carbon footprint: Digital Review Copies.

For a book community that has been hungry for strong voices and authentic commitments to save the planet, perhaps this is the year we are ready for real leadership. We’ve all seen the industry slip backward into pre-pandemic practices of sharing physical ARCs instead of digital or audiobooks, all while regarding conference galley rooms with a bit of dismay.

“We as publishers need to push them to realize that this is a problem not only for the environment, but for the supply chain as well… It is a not good for bookstores, publishers or authors (who don’t earn a royalty from third party sales) that these pre-market [print] copies are out there.”
Karla Olson, Patagonia Books

Karla Olson, Director of Patagonia Books, has long been a voice of reason and clarity in our industry. She aims to protect the planet, but also quickly meet the demands of a fickle and competitive market. In 2019, Karla and the team at Patagonia Books declared they would no longer print galleys for environmental reasons. “What’s the point of killing trees, using water, expending fossil fuel, and creating greenhouse gases for something that can easily be replaced by a digital version?” In 2025, she regrets to see publishers actually producing increased quantities of disposable print copies since the pandemic. She writes,

“One of the most impactful ways to improve sustainability is to NOT print ARCs or galleys. Digital galleys are just fine, and in fact, better for the system overall. During the pandemic, many reviewers were accepting DRCs, and we were really hopeful that that would stick. Unfortunately, many reviewers are reverting to their old systems of stacks of ARCs on their desks or in the galley room, instead of cataloging DRCs. We as publishers need to push them to realize that this is a problem not only for the environment, but for the supply chain as well. Those printed ARCs get picked up by the third party sellers on Amazon, who sell them for less and win the buy button. It is not good for bookstores, publishers or authors (who don’t earn a royalty from third party sales) that these pre-market copies are out there.”

Environmental impact at various moments throughout the supply chain is urgent for publishers to continuously acknowledge and make effort to minimize. O’Leary points out, “BISG’s work helps show how actions in one part of the supply chain play out across the industry. Content creation has become fundamentally digital, but we’re not always taking advantage of the opportunities digital provides.”

With a proactive commitment to LCP, a brand new NetGalley Reader, and audiobook early-listening solutions, NetGalley is a proven alternative to print review copies. It’s not just about amplifying our own product. It’s about providing answers to practices that are not only out of fashion, but out of step with our industry’s values. Not only are book files safe and secure thanks to the most up-to-date technology, publishers also benefit from fast, easy tools to distribute digital review copies far beyond the typical reach of print.

Let’s take a chunk out of the galley room and replace tables lined with paper, ink, and cardboard boxes with QR codes and directions for how and where to access digital review copies and audiobooks. We’re here to help!

With a proactive commitment to LCP, a brand new NetGalley Reader, and audiobook early-listening solutions, NetGalley is a proven alternative to print review copies. It’s not just about amplifying our own product. It’s about providing answers to practices that are not only out of fashion, but out of step with our industry’s values.

This article will be updated during the 2025 conference season with feedback from reviewers, publishers, and partners.

Conference Wrap Up Part 3 – BISG Annual Meeting

In March and April, the NetGalley team attended the Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC), London Book Fair, Festival des Livres Paris (Paris Book Festival), Leipziger Buchmesse (Leipzig Book Fair), and the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) annual meeting. This month (May), we—along with our Firebrand Group colleagues—look forward to the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) Publishing University, Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) Leadership Summit, and Publishers Weekly U.S. Book Show. Scroll to the end of this article to set up a meeting with our teams!

Read all of our 2023 spring conference wrap ups:

Paul Milana, Joshua Tallent, Angela Bole, Kristina Radke, and Mary Pratt at the BISG Annual Meeting

Book Industry Study Group (BISG) Annual Meeting:

It’s impossible to avoid news about supply chain disruption, increased costs across the industry, and another digital transformation. As always, BISG kept its thumb on the pulse of the book business, leaning into the theme, “Transforming Supply Chain Communication.”

Sessions were solutions oriented, and focused on the positive questions: What can we do better? What should we do next?

Gary Jones from River Rock Advisors presented a forecasting model that helps publishers and printers determine print quantities based on marketplace demand, the time required to supply printed books, as well as inventory management and returns. That presentation was followed by a discussion on changes that are needed in the data part of the supply chain (and not just the continuing need for the adoption of ONIX 3). Kris Kliemann, chair of the BISG Rights Committee, brought up the importance of rights data and how difficult it can be for publishers to know what rights they own. She said, “Rights you know about are an asset, rights you don’t are a liability.” The discussion also touched on making data more accessible to more people, the importance of keywords, and the benefit of publishers developing a data dictionary to define their terms clearly.

The last panel discussion of the day included an interesting presentation by Lauren Stewart at BookNet Canada about how that organization has centralized much of the metadata and other publishing support processes in Canada, and provides a central, clean repository of metadata for trading partners. As with the other panels, the discussion was lively and some great ideas were addressed.

After lunch, Angela Bole, CEO of Firebrand Group, presented the Industry Champion Award to Phil Madans (Executive Director of Digital Publishing Technology, Hachette Book Group). This award honors an individual whose efforts have advanced the publishing industry as a whole. BISG wrote, “The idea that technology should empower, not hinder, the publishing process has been Phil’s north star since creating HBG’s first intranet over 25 years ago.” Congratulations, Phil!

Last, but not least, Joshua Tallent (Director of Sales & Education at Firebrand Technologies) was named as the incoming BISG Board Chair, with responsibilities beginning July 1, 2023. Congratulations, Joshua!

For a deeper dive into the issue of supply chain management, we highly recommend this article by BISG Executive Director Brian O’Leary in Publishers Weekly.

Thank you to the nearly 60 publishers we’ve met with at these spring conferences! It’s always a pleasure to speak with the passionate members of our client community, and we’ve been inspired by our conversations.

Read our next installment, covering the Leipziger Buchmesse (Leipzig Book Fair).

Find us here in May:

May 5-6: IBPA Publishing University
- Meet with Kristina Radke (VP of Business Growth & Engagement) and Katie Versluis (Customer Success Manager), NetGalley
- concierge [at] netgalley.com
May 9-10: ECPA Leadership Summit
- Meet with Joshua Tallent, Director of Sales and Education, Firebrand Technologies
- info [at] firebrandtech.com
May 23-25: Publishers Weekly U.S. Book Show
- We are thrilled to sponsor this event. Find us at the NetGalley Pub Hub!

Mark your calendars: September 2019

Upcoming conferences, panels, webinars, and networking opportunities

There is always a wide variety of programming available to help publishing professionals connect with one another, grow their skill-sets, and stay abreast of changing trends and emerging strategies. On NetGalley Insights, we share the events we’re most excited for on a monthly basis.

As soon as fall starts, publishing kicks into high gear again. That means a month full of events about the big picture – digital and technological innovation, broad overviews of a book’s lifecycle, inside looks at publishing houses, and events that bring together readers, authors, and industry professionals.

If you know of an upcoming event for October or after, email insights@netgalley.com so we can feature it.

Digital Book World

Conference – Strategy

Sept. 10-12, Nashville

“Thought leadership, best practices, and the gathering of community across the wide world of publishing.”

IBPA: “Ask an IBPA Board Member” Webinar Series: Robin Cutler, Ingram Spark

Webinar – Professional Development

Sept. 10

“During IBPA’s monthly “Ask an IBPA Board Member” speaker series, IBPA members meet and discuss book industry trends with a member of IBPA’s Board of Directors. The series features a different IBPA Board member each month, ensuring that IBPA members receive a unique point of view each time they join. Robin Cutler is committed to helping independent publishers easily get their content into the hands of readers around the globe. To help make this happen, Robin Cutler leads the development of IngramSpark and continues to support and refine the platform to better serve independent publishers around the world. Robin has broad knowledge of indie, academic and trade publishing and is an expert in content creation and distribution, on-demand models, marketing and author strategies. Robin is a leader in the independent publishing space, and when not developing new programs and services for IngramSpark, she can often be found sharing her expertise at industry events around the world.”

BISG: Book Publishing from Concept to Consumer

Conference – Professional Development

Sept. 16, Chicago

“Book Publishing: From Concept to Consumer” serves entry-level and mid-level professionals working across the book publishing supply chain. This career-development opportunity provides anyone interested in book publishing with a broader look at the life cycle of a book, from conception, development, and manufacturing to retailing and libraries. With detailed sessions on acquisition, editorial, production and design, distribution, returns, retailing, and libraries, this full-day event will build your understanding of book publishing as a whole. Topics covered will be more ‘how-to’ than ‘what-if,’ with practical advice and instruction provided by industry veterans.” [Check out our recap of last year’s Book Publishing from Concept to Customer].

Brooklyn Book Festival

Book Fair – Literary Event

Sept. 16-23, NYC

Open to all, “the Brooklyn Book Festival is one of America’s premier book festivals and the largest free literary event in New York City. Presenting an array of national and international literary stars and emerging authors, the Festival includes a week of Bookend Events throughout New York City, a lively Children’s Day and a celebratory Festival Day with more than 300 authors plus 250 booksellers.”

Audio Publishers Association: Fall 2019 Social

Networking – Audio

Sept. 17, NYC

“Join us for 2 hours of networking and fun with fellow APA members.”

BISG: Market Opportunities: Rights & Technology

Panel Program – Rights

Sept. 26, NYC

“This BISG series aims to demonstrate areas of potential growth, as well as cutting edge trends that could signify where the industry is heading.” This month the focus is on rights and technology.

Society for Scholarly Publishing: Early Career Edition: Falling into a Scholarly Publishing Career

Webinar – Academic Publishing

Sept. 26

“Are you just dipping your toes in the publishing world, or are you here for the long haul? What does a career in publishing mean in 2019, now that the digital transformation has finally taken hold? Wondering how to find the best fit for your background and skill-set? Join us to hear from an exciting slate of publishing professionals about the highlights, challenges, and responsibilities of their own roles, as well as the routes they took to get there – in just a few minutes each. A Q&A segment will follow the lightning presentations.”

BIGNY: Basically Books: Fall 2019

Workshop – Professional Development

Sept. 27, NYC

“We will cover:

Manuscripts, Editing and Design: the first steps in “making a book”
Prepress: what you need to do to get ready for press, including a look at color, color management and proofing
Paper: all you need to know about paper
P&Ls: an overview
Printing and Binding
Digital Printing: a primer on the process

There will be guest speakers for each step in the process. This program is absolutely free and is sponsored by the Book Industry Guild of New York. For more information or to sign up, please contact: Steve Bedney / 516-650-5251 / sbedney@gmail.com

Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers: ALPSP Annual Conference & Awards 2019

Conference – Academic Publishing

Sept. 11-13, Old Windsor

“Our conference is a key date in the scholarly publishing calendar and attracts an audience of over 300 people from all sectors and levels of the scholarly communications industry. Spread over three days, the event provides a relaxed and friendly environment in which to share information and knowledge, learn about new initiatives, as well as engage in open discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing publishing today. Our expert speakers and the wide ranging programme ensure that our annual conference remains a must attend event for everyone involved in the scholarly publishing community. We also provide ample opportunity for networking with fellow delegates during coffee breaks, lunch and in the evening at our two social events (Welcome Reception and Awards Dinner).”

BookMachine: BookMachine Meets Bloomsbury

Panel Program – Strategy

Sept. 19, London

“Step inside Bloomsbury Publishing as we go into their London headquarters for a closer look at how they stay creative and strive to push the boundaries of publishing. For one night only, we’ll bring together four of Bloomsbury’s most energetic staff members to talk about how they stay creative in their roles in Editorial, Marketing and Sales and engage with colleagues, retailers and book lovers around the world. This unique event at the Bloomsbury Institute – Bloomsbury’s public events series – will feature exclusive stories and experiences from the team. Join them for a lively discussion on everything you need to know about publishing right now.”

BookMachine: Audio Across Publishing: How to Deliver More Bang for Your (Audio) Buck

Panel Program – Audio

Sept. 25, London

“Audio isn’t just about one format of a publishing programme. It has the potential to enhance your list as well as the publishing industry as a whole. It’s not just about a product revenue stream. Audio can boost marketing and publicity, enhance an author’s relationship with their readers, and encourage more people to listen then read. Join our panel of passionate audio publishers for an insightful look at how far audio publishing can take your business in 2019.”

Technology Confidential with BISG

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, we attended BISG’s Technology Confidential program. The panel included Rod Elder of Virtusales, David Hetherington of knkPublishing, George Logan of Klopotek, and Rob Stevens of Firebrand Technologies. Of course, we’re happy for any opportunity to cheer on our colleagues from Firebrand, but we were also there to hear from other panelists and attendees across the industry who are focused on using technology to help publishers get their books into as many hands as possible.

Virtusales, knk, Klopotek, and Firebrand all provide software to help publishers manage multiple aspects of the publishing process from title management to ONIX delivery to rights across multiple divisions and throughout a title’s lifecycle.

The panelists talked about the perils of customization, challenges of changing publishers’ workflows and implementing new technologies, and the importance of clearly-defined strategies at all levels of a company.

Configuration, not customization

The panelists lamented the challenges of leaning too heavily on customizations. While at first it might seem like customization can streamline workflow and tailor software to the unique needs of a specific publisher, all of the tech experts on the panel cautioned against it. The panelists uniformly recommended configuring software instead of customizing. Configuration keeps the basic structure of a software while shaping it to the style specifications and some of the unique needs of an individual company. Customizing requires new code whereas configuring does not.

Customization can make it more difficult for the software to communicate with other softwares, and can make system updates more difficult, resulting in patched solutions upon patched solutions. David Hetherington noted that heading down a road of customization is a road that will ultimately be longer, harder, and more expensive.

This is why publishing-specific software are so important. Rod Elder of Virtusales acknowledged that publishers have unique needs compared to businesses in other industries. The solution is to use publisher-specific software rather than customizing software that is meant for a different industry to make it work for publishing. Publishing-specific software can be specific enough for the unique needs of book publishers so as not to require huge amounts of configuration, but still flexible enough from a UI perspective to fit the quirks of an individual house.

Consider the costs

David Hetherington gave the audience an acronym for thinking about workflow and technology updates: TCO – Total Cost of Ownership. It forces you to ask: What is the cost of doing things the way they’ve always been done, versus adopting a new technology to solve the problem?

Say a publisher workflow includes manually and frequently enter data in multiple databases for a single title. The publisher should consider both the literal cost of employee hours spent doing repetitive administrative work and keeping a big IT team to deal with bugs, plus the more abstract cost of an employee’s intellectual or creative energy that is left on the table when so many hours of their day are taken up with data entry. The TCO for this workflow might be high enough to necessitate a change in the status quo, either by internally streamlining or by introducing new software to make the process less manual and less repetitive.

Publishers tend to think about implementing new technologies only in terms of the cost of the new software and the time it takes to integrate it into daily operations. But the panelists reminded the audience that there are real costs to consider in these calculations related to maintaining the status quo.

Articulate the “Why”

Rob Stevens of Firebrand reminded the audience how important it is to ask why you and your team do what you do. Why do you fill in that box? Why do you enter data in a specific place or at a specific time? Why does your team need that report? If the reason is “that’s the way we’ve always done it,” you might want to consider dropping that task from your to-do list, which we’re sure is already long enough!

Asking why a company needs certain pieces of data can also help technology solution providers determine the best way to help meet a company’s needs or solve a particular problem for them, and can even drive development on the technology solution provider’s end.

Clearly articulating the “why” can also help ease some of the growing pains of implementing new software and workflows. If all members of a team know why they are being asked to change their day-to-day operations, they are more likely to adopt the new tools and use them successfully. The success of new technologies in a publishing house largely depend on the enthusiastic adoption and experimentation by the people who are using them on a daily basis.

BISG works to create a more informed, empowered and efficient book industry. Its membership includes trade, education, professional and scholarly publishers, as well as distributors, wholesalers, retailers, manufacturers, service providers and libraries.

For more cross-industry knowledge and events, follow BISG on their website, where you can see all upcoming events. You can subscribe to their newsletter here.

And, keep up to date with industry news, trends, and best practices by subscribing to NetGalley Insights.

Book Publishing from Concept to Consumer with BISG

On November 15, we braved snow flurries in Chicago to attend BISG’s day conference: Book Publishing, from Concept to Consumer.

The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) works to create a more informed, empowered and efficient book industry. Their membership includes trade, education, professional and scholarly publishers, as well as distributors, wholesalers, retailers, manufacturers, service providers and libraries.

Throughout the day, seven different presenters described their jobs – their workflow, the challenges they face, and where their work fits into a book’s lifecycle.

Most of us only see books during a relatively small part of their lives. The details and strategy that consume our workdays are only a fraction of the work that goes in to bringing a book to the public. Acquisition editors see books when they are just manuscripts and ideas. Printers shepard books into the physical world and then pass them along. Library marketers are thinking about how books will live in communities years after their pub date, when the pages are soft and earmarked. This overview of what our colleagues are doing across the industry was a welcome reminder that we all depend on each other’s work to bring the best books to the readers who will love them.

For those who weren’t able to attend, here is a bit of what was covered:

Publishing is beyond personal taste

Contrary to popular conception, Todd Stocke described his role as SVP and Editorial Director at Sourcebooks as less about his own inimitable tastes and more about analyzing data and looking for spaces in the market to tell new stories. For him to be successful at his job, he needs to be able to think outside of his personal preferences and the demographic details that have given rise to his interests and tastes. He has to have an idea of what people of different backgrounds are interested in, and to have access to the writers telling those stories. He described the necessity of having a pipeline that is both broad and deep. A broad pipeline means getting manuscripts from a variety of sources and a deep pipeline means developing relationships with the people providing those manuscripts so that, for example, an agent will know immediately if the manuscript in their hand is the perfect book for the Sourcebooks nonfiction editor.

All stages of book publishing are about the audience

This was the overarching theme of the day. It was not a shock to hear audience as the focus for acquisitions, bookstores, or libraries. These are the parts of the industry that we know need to be responsive to what readers are looking for. But we were surprised to hear how much audience fits into how other players in the industry do their jobs. As Judine O’Shea described the design process for a book, she made the point that a big driver for her is audience-appropriateness. If she’s designing the title and page layout for a children’s book, how many colors will be too busy for young eyes? Will the font be easily legible for early readers? Michael Shea from LSC Communications pointed out that audience use determines the physical form of a book, too. Different binding styles are better for the different ways books live in our lives. For example, an art book that is meant to lay flat on a coffee table will be bound differently than a trade paperback meant to be read on the subway. The glue used on a technical textbook that will be out of date in a few years will be different from the glue used on a book that might be passed down from generation to generation.

*Mr. Tiger Goes Wild* by Peter Brown illustrates Judine O’Shea’s audience-centric design principles – Plenty of visual interest for many rereads with simple font for early readers.

Know your local, professional community

Suzy Takacs chalked up some of her success at the Book Cellar to her close relationships with local players of the book industry. She described her warm relationships with other booksellers, and how she has called upon stores like Women & Children First to help her stock titles in advance of events. She even described visiting IPG’s warehouse for a last-minute pickup. She is able to quickly respond to inventory needs and meet consumer demand because she has positive relationships with other booksellers and with distributors. Stephen Sposato of the Chicago Public Library expressed a desire to work more closely with booksellers. He suggested sharing data about which titles have long hold lists, so that bookstores will know what readers are asking for and can make sure to adjust their inventory to align with demand.

Speakers:

Concepting/Acquisition: Todd Stocke, SVP & Editorial Director, Sourcebooks
Editorial Development: Annie Nybo, Editor, Albert Whitman
Design & Production: Judine O’Shea, Marketing, Publishing, and Grants at HPC
Manufacturing/Warehousing: Michael Shea, SVP LSC Communications
Distribution: Richard T. Williams, VP Development IPG
Retail: Suzy Takacs, owner Book Cellar
Libraries: Stephen Sposato, Manager of Collection Development & Readers Advisory, Chicago Public Library

For more cross-industry knowledge and events, follow BISG on their website, where you can see all upcoming events.

And, stay up to date with industry news by subscribing to the NetGalley Insights newsletter.