Overview

I'm an electronic publishing analyst and author based in San Francisco. My site, www.thefutureofpublishing.com, is the most thorough exploration of where publishing is headed. I provide consulting services to media companies as well as vendors serving the publishing industry.

I have published over 50 books, written 14, and edited 20+. I consider my key editorial strength is understanding whether or not a book has market potential and to understand how the book might reach its market potential. My specialty is non-fiction: books that intersect new technology and its impact on business and society.

My latest books are Mobile Strategies for Digital Publishing: A Practical Guide to the Evolving Landscape and The Metadata Handbook: A Book Publisher’s Guide to Creating and Distributing Metadata for Print and Ebooks (co-authored with Renée Register).

Services

Languages

Non-Fiction

Thad McIlroy helps small publishers and authors find their audience through strategic planning based on a deep understanding of North American publishing markets. He starts with an understanding of the book(s) and expresses the content both on its own, but, just as importantly, via its metadata. This serves to populate the pipeline and make the book appear robustly and accurately on ecommerce sites around the world.

Mobile Strategies for Digital Publishing: A Practical Guide to the Evolving Landscape

Thad McIlroy

Several major trends are fast reshaping the digital future for publishers: growth in the tablet and ebook markets are alike leveling off, while mobile devices are booming in just about every area for which there's a measure. That's changing the demands on publishers at every stage of the publishing process, from discovery and marketing to retail, content delivery, and much else besides.Mobile ... read more

Several major trends are fast reshaping the digital future for publishers: growth in the tablet and ebook markets are alike leveling off, while mobile devices are booming in just about every area for which there's a measure. That's changing the demands on publishers at every stage of the publishing process, from discovery and marketing to retail, content delivery, and much else besides.Mobile ... read more

The Metadata Handbook: A Book Publisher’s Guide to Creating and Distributing Metadata for Print and Ebooks

Renée Register, Thad McIlroy

For book publishers large and small: the #1 guide to creating and distributing metadata for maximum sales.The new edition is fully updated and expanded to include the most recent information on metadata standards, practices, and use in the publishing industry.Topics covered include:• Book industry players and the metadata lifecycle• Book industry metadata standards• Essential metadata elements... read more

For book publishers large and small: the #1 guide to creating and distributing metadata for maximum sales.The new edition is fully updated and expanded to include the most recent information on metadata standards, practices, and use in the publishing industry.Topics covered include:• Book industry players and the metadata lifecycle• Book industry metadata standards• Essential metadata elements... read more

The Columbia Guide to Digital Publishing

What is metadata? When do you need to archive digital content? How does electronic publication affect copyrights? How can XML and PDF improve your workflow and your publications? There is a digital dimension to virtually all publishing today. Beyond the obvious electronic media―the music and movies we take for granted, the increasingly indispensable Web, the eBooks that most of us will take fo... read more

What is metadata? When do you need to archive digital content? How does electronic publication affect copyrights? How can XML and PDF improve your workflow and your publications? There is a digital dimension to virtually all publishing today. Beyond the obvious electronic media―the music and movies we take for granted, the increasingly indispensable Web, the eBooks that most of us will take fo... read more

Stripping Covers off The Hunger Games: How 7 Billionaires are Deciding the Future of Book Publishing in America

Thad McIlroy

Stripping Covers off The Hunger Games tells the inside and up-to-the-minute story of the seven billionaires whose investment decisions control Barnes & Noble's future, and through Barnes & Noble, the future of bookselling and the future of book publishing in America.You'll move behind the scenes in the lives of billionaires Len Riggio, Jeff Bezos, John Malone "The King of Cable TV", Ron Burkle... read more

Stripping Covers off The Hunger Games tells the inside and up-to-the-minute story of the seven billionaires whose investment decisions control Barnes & Noble's future, and through Barnes & Noble, the future of bookselling and the future of book publishing in America.You'll move behind the scenes in the lives of billionaires Len Riggio, Jeff Bezos, John Malone "The King of Cable TV", Ron Burkle... read more