McCarthy Digital Information

McCarthy Digital is a consultancy founded to provide breakthrough solutions to trade book publishers and those in the publishing value chain as they seek to define and realize their business strategies in a rapidly changing marketplace. Our area of exploration is that point at which books and technology meet. Our lens on the world is that of the marketer. Peter McCarthy, the founder and principal consultant, is a creative executive with 15 years experience in trade publishing and is also typing this now so I'll go with first person. I began my career working in editorial for The Reader's Catalog, 2nd Ed., a publication widely regarded as a precursor of online retailing. Indeed, its underlying database taxonomy and annotations played a significant role in B&N.com 1.0. It was at that moment, 1997 or so, that I fell for the web. My next projects involved developing the first web iterations of The New York Review of Books and Granta magazine. During this time, I learned the fundamentals of the web, from coding and design to some of the more technical aspects of information architecture, content management, and the like. In 1998 I went to work for Penguin Putnam, the US operating company of the Penguin Group, firstly as a Project Manager within their nascent web team and, shortly thereafter, as the Director of that group. I wore many hats in that role and learned the finer points of the business side of publishing from my mentors there. I launched Penguin's eCommerce program, selling books directly to consumers, the first concerted D2C effort among the major US trade publishers. Additionally, I oversaw the development of a vibrant and profitable eBook publishing program of several thousand titles. This was all prior to The Kindle, which found Penguin remarkably well-prepared for the future. Suffice it to say, marrying the web with business strategies became a passion. And it remains so today. I left Penguin in 2005 as Vice President, Executive Director, Penguin Group (USA) Online. I brought my consumer-centric, ...