For those unfamiliar with Charlie Melcher and Melcher Media, Business 2.0 has a good overview of the 40-year old‘s career & industry reflections.
To summarize: What distinguishes Melcher Media from other book-packaging ventures is its focus on brand extension — bringing out books for “cable-TV hits,” magazines “looking to spin off books of their own,” and brands like Harley-Davidson, Lexus, and Nike (for which Melcher publishes “lush” coffee-table books). By “piggybacking on [their] partners for subscribers, marketing dollars, and media exposure,” these lines of business “have much healthier margins than traditional publishing ventures,” Melcher argues.
Lately, Melcher’s focus has expanded to include “more tactile” and “more experimental” books, like The Pop-Up Book of Phobias (125,000 copies sold and counting) and Melcher’s patented “Durabooks” (link goes to PW; sub. req’d) — recyclable but “virtually indestructible” books made from synthetic, plastic-based paper and waterproof glue.
(A Short Warning: Despite the article’s good points and Melcher’s obvious intelligence, easily annoyed readers should be aware that Business 2.0’s Greg Lindsay rarely breaks for air while smooching Melcher’s ass. Take, for example, the inane koan tacked on this quote’s end:
“Book publishing is going through a process of adaptation,” [Melcher] says. “[…] Reading habits are changing, and a lot of people in publishing think the end of reading long narratives is the end of intelligence. Frankly, I think too many of my contemporaries are scared.” And being scared is no way to succeed.
Imagine Melcher as David, and the article’s reporter as Gareth, and you approximate how that line reads to me.)