Publishing Executive and Book Business magazines have announced that leading U.S. book publisher Hachette Book Group (HBG) and "social magazine" Flipboard have been selected as the prestigious 2012 Publishing Innovators of the Year. The Innovator awards are given annually by Publishing Executive and Book Business—leading publications covering the magazine and book publishing industries, respectively—to recognize significant efforts and achievements in publishing innovation.
HBG and Flipboard join the ranks of Esquire, Time Inc., Bonnier Corp., HarperCollins, Harlequin and Scholastic, which are former recipients of the prestigious award.
The Publishing Innovators of the Year will be recognized during the Publishing Business Conference and Expo, March 19-21, at the New York Marriott Marquis, Times Square.
Hachette Book Group:
Owned by Hachette Livre, the second largest publisher in the world, HBG publishes nearly 1,000 adult, children's and audio book titles annually. The company has a stated focus on "experimentation and innovation," says Ralph Munsen, CIO of HBG. "Our goal is to deliver to the consumer the best reading experience, and the most exciting and up to date content, and we're also helping our clients use our technology to publish more effectively in digital."
This goal has driven the company to the innovations for which Book Business is recognizing it as Publishing Innovator of the Year.
"In an era of publishing when so many changes are taking place so rapidly, innovation is imperative, but often extremely difficult to achieve," says Noelle Skodzinski, editorial director for Book Business magazine, and program director for the Publishing Business Conference & Expo. "Hachette Book Group has made innovation a priority. It is taking action to quickly address—both internally and externally—the changing consumer-content-consumption habits across multiple platforms. It is this spirit of innovation that the Publishing Innovator of Year Awards recognize, and HBG was this year's obvious choice in book publishing among the nearly 100 nominations we received."