Identify Projects

1
Publishing Cheat Sheet
Identify Projects Acquire Editorial, Design
Production Pre-Marketing Sell-In Publicity
Marketing
Most books stay in hardcover for one year and
then convert to paperback. The best, sell
forever. For most, were happy if they sell for
just 2 years.
2
So some Publishing challenges

• 192,000 new books last year in the US. Tough for
  authors tough for publishers.
• Reading is declining.
• Dilution and spread of media outlets
• The rise and takeover of the digital consumer
• Marketing consequences How readers discover
  new books.
• Sales consequences How some readers want to buy
  and read.
• Rise of FREE
• Bookshops disappearing.
• Publishing brand is less meaningful for
  consumers.

3
Reading books is in steepest decline among the
young
2002 Study by the National Endowment for the Arts
4
What do we know about consumers?
Reading Habits of 210M US Adults
10M
50
Read 50
Number of Books Read per year
31M
12-49
Read 12-49
6-11
23M
Read 6-11
53M
1 - 5
Read 1-5
93M
0 50
100 150
200
2002 Study by the National Endowment for the Arts
5
Media Grows and Dilutes

• ABC
• NBC
• CBS
• FOX
• NPR
• NY Times, The Atlantic, Time, WIRED and my local
  paper
• Yahoo, AOL, Salon and Slate
• 800 TV channels via my cable company (Comcast)
  plus On Demand
• Tens of thousands of blogs by niche
• Countless news feature e-newsletters delivered
  hourly
• Satellite radios thousands of shows on demand

2001
Today
6
1997- 2004Retailers were the main book
discovery sites

• Amazon a bigger online brand than most search
  engines
• Promotional efforts drive consumers first to
  retail to purchase

Publisher content
Consumers

Print broadcast media
Publishers remain distant from actual
end-consumers.
7
2004 forwardA time of rapid change in media

• Search wars led to race to digitize books
• Community sites get hot
• Buzz about user generated content (blogs,
  podcasts)
• Newspapers are losing readers
• Authoritative content falls out of fashion?
• Web 2.0 is everywhere
• Internet investment is back
• Meanwhile, book consumption is flat!

8
Search changed the process of discovery

• 2004
• Search becomes more and more brandedGoogle
  grows
• Consumers start book discovery at search, not
  necessarily at retail
• Search Engine Optimization gains in importance
• Amazon visits grow more dependent on search /
  email marketing, not direct traffic

Amazon
Publisher content

Print broadcast media
Consumer
Publishers are still distant from actual
end-consumers.
9
Some Questions

• Should publishers digitize, organize and own the
  exclusive digital copy of our book content in
  order to better sell print books?
• Should publishers control (how best?) the
  consumer experience on the web like we do on the
  printed page? e.g., offer our own branded
  digital sampling / publishing / reading platform
  in order to better sell print books?
• How do publishers best develop direct
  relationships (marketing) with digital consumers
  vs. rely on partners to sell print books?
• How do publishers create new digital revenue
  streams without harming their print business?