A bunch
of magazines, newspapers, and websites will come out and declare a list of the
most powerful, or successful, wealthiest, or brightest people. You see them all the time. Every industry has a power list. Technology, entertainment, sports, and other
fields showcase such lists. Who really
determines who should get on such a list is beyond anyone’s guess. As to the methodology or fairness employed in
compiling the list, there’s a bit of controversy and mystery in most cases. I saw such a list the other day in PR Week,
The Power 50, listing whom it thinks are the top flacks in Corporate
America. Not surprisingly, it named
high-level executives at big brands, including people at Wal-Mart, Amazon,
Apple, Ford, Comcast, IBM, Toyota, Hewlett-Packard, AirBNB, and PR firm heads
such as Fleishman Hillard and Weber Shandwick, and communications directors for
major politicians such as presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. After thumbing through this arbitrary list I
thought that book publishing needs its “power list.”
I wish I
knew who should be on this list -- and that America would be more aware of whom these people
are. I guess if we found the leading
minds at certain companies we could come up with a list. Let’s try these companies, in no particular
order, and by no means comprehesnive:
Apple
Amazon
Barnes
& Noble
American
Booksellers Association
American
Library Association
National
Book Awards
Pulitzer
Prize for Literature
Publishers
Weekly
Penguin
Random House
Simon/Schuster
Harper
Collins
Macmillan
Publishers
Scholastic
Wiley
Books
Hachette
Books
Independent
Book Publishers Association
PEN
New York
Times Book Review
Kirkus
Reviews
Library
Journal
Nobel
Poet Laureate
Audio
Publishers Association
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Pinterest
Instagram
Huffington
Post
BookCon
London
Book fair
Book
Expo America
Frankfurt
Thrillerfest
Library
of Congress
US
Copyright Office
Association
of American Publishers
The
Authors Guild
Writers
Magazine
SPAN
Poets/Writers, Inc.
Poets/Writers, Inc.
ASJA
National
Writers Union
Book Hub
Book
Baby
Author
Solutions
NEA
Center
for the Book
NBN
IPG
PGW
Mashable
Smashwords
Harvard
English Dept.
Yale
Publishing Course
Princeton
English Dept.
We would also have to add key literary agents, book editors, authors, book doctors, and those
who turn books into movies. The list can
become quite big. We’d also have to have
websites like NetGalley, and Publishing Perspectives on such a list, as well as
others.
In 2011,
The Guardian, a UK newspaper released its list of the 100 most powerful people,
and included JK Rowling, James Patterson, and the CEO of Oxford University
Press.
Who
should make the publishing power list?
Anyone who has a major role at an influential company, organization, or
publication that impacts the book-publishing world. From publishing to
bookselling, writers to readers, literary to protecting the First Amendment,
and book reviewers to social media, many could be on the list.
We
should have such lists circulating and being debated. We need to identify the people and the groups
that play such an important role in what we read, how it’s created and
disseminated, and in how books play a role in society.
Whom do
you think should make the list?
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