David Nudo, the former publisher of Publishers Weekly, has accepted a new position as the director of sales and marketing for Shelfari, the book-themed social networking site. “We’ve been looking for somebody with deep connections to the publishing community,” CEO Josh Hug told me over the phone from Seattle yesterday afternoon, describing Nudo’s role as “creating relationships in the industry, helping us understand how we can add value to the industry… being our eyes and ears in New York, really.”
For Nudo, Shelfari’s interest in finding someone with connections to book publishing and the media was “perfect timing,” as his tenure at PW was winding down and he had already become an active and enthusiastic participant in online social networks. In our phone conversation, he spoke about the original development team at Shelfari’s status as “tech people” and “book enthusiasts,” observing, “They didn’t come from the publishing industry, and maybe that’s a good thing, because what they created was unfettered by industry thinking.” He acknowledged, too, that the site exists in an already-crowded field, with competitors like Goodreads.com and LibraryThing. (Shelfari’s the one with the emphasis on the visual interface, with the shelves that actually look like a bookcase rather than just an array of JPG files.)”We’re all looking at each other, trying to suss each other out,” Nudo conceded, “but I’m sort of glad I don’t have to do that [in this job]. I can take my lead directly from the marketplace: What do authors want from the site? What do publishers want from the site? And what do readers want from the site?”
As for immediate developments to the site, Nudo raised the possibility of a Shelfari blog, one that might incorporate guest voices from the publishing, bookselling, and other book-centric communities, as well as other unspecified innovations aimed at making the site more user-friendly for authors. Hug agreed; during our conversation, he assured me, “You’re going to see some pretty exciting things coming.” The official press release, however, has another quote that offers a more precise hint at the overall plan: Citing a desire to “bridge the gap between publishers and their readers,” Hug asserts that “David’s standing in the industry will guide us as we develop the best possible advertising platform for the publishing industry.”