10th Jubilee Congress of Slovenian Publishers The evolution of bookselling

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10th Jubilee Congressof Slovenian
PublishersThe evolution of bookselling

• Sheila Lambie
• Senior Lecturer,
• Oxford International Centre for Publishing
  Studies

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Outline of talk

• Understanding the environment
• The marketing mix old and new
• Tools of the trade
• The key role of publicity
• Discoverability why is it important?
• Metadata in the publishing industry

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Understanding the competitive environment

• Any company that drives forward while looking
  out the rear view mirror will sooner or later run
  into a .
• Scan the environment
• Google, Amazon, Apple, new rivals, new
  technologies, new markets
• Gather information constantly and from a wide
  range of sources
• Make sense of the information
• Analyse its implications
• Use tools to help you act and differentiate
  yourself
• PEST/PESTEL, SWOT analyses
• Ansoff Matrix, Boston Matrix

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How out of date is the traditional marketing
mix?

• The famous 4 Ps a promise
• Product Content in Context
• Price Customer value
• Place Convenience
• Promotion Communication, Conversation

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The Productor Content in Context

• Encyclopedia Britannica, from print-only to
• - CD-Roms
• - Internet licensing
• Apps for the iPad
• Chunks of content for partners

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Enhanced Ebooks where publishing meets
marketing, and readers get more value
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Priceor Customer value

• Format Price
• Hardback 12.99 rrp
• 8.31 Amazon
• Paperback 7.99 rrp
• 3.92 Amazon
• Ebook 7.99 rrp
• 7.21 min from chains (Kobo, etc)
• 1.99 Amazon Kindle
• (not to mention the audiobook Amazon owns
  Audible!)

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Placeor Convenience

• Customer choice is everything now, but good
  service plays a part
• http//chippingnortonbooks.tbpcontrol.co.uk
• Amazon has world domination in view can it be
  controlled?
• But what happens when all the booksellers have
  gone?
• And what happens when the publishers profits are
  nil?

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Promotionor Communication, conversation, and
community
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Prosumers (producers who are also consumers)
can access and read content in so many different
ways now

• Social media
• Blogs
• Instant messaging
• Email
• Mobile
• Discussion forums
• Video and music sites
• Ebooks that encourage you to talk to friends and
  even the author (eg Kobo)

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We need to use these tools betterFaBs, USPs,
and AIDA

• FAB Feature and Benefit
• F concrete, specific, measurable, editorial
• B fuzzy, emotional, practical, marketing
• Ask So what? Answer which means
• USP unique selling proposition
• AIDA Attract Attention ? Gain Interest ? Create
  Desire ? Call to Action

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So how can publishers and booksellers put
themselves at the centre of these conversations?

• Provide the tools and the places for interaction
  and communication
• Add value to the experience of reading/sharing/dis
  cussing the content
• Use the tried and tested tools we have
• Focus on the quality that we as specialists can
  offer but will the quantity follow?!
• Dont allow Google and the other techie companies
  to take over access, search, and discovery, as
  these are the new ways of selling

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The key role of publicityPublishers do more of
it!Booksellers just do it!

• To increase sales
• To raise profile
• To create word of mouth, recommendations
• Pivotal role internally and externally
• Internally with other departments
• Externally author, agent, customers, influencers
  
• Matching media with book and author, matching
  events with author
• Not just digital twitter isnt the answer to
  everything!

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Why is discoverability so important?

• The information on Google and other search
  engines is only good enough
• If you dont provide the right information for
  the right range of contexts, no one will find
  your content
• People are starting to try before they buy, ie
  usage before purchase
• Many people are looking at the topic before they
  look at the title
• Google is hackable and corruptable (and messes
  up!) they, Apple, and Amazon have their own
  agendas

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Metadata is critical to discoverability

• The title of this book is This is a Call
• If you searched for
• Dave Grohl you wouldnt find it.
• If you searched for
• Kurt you wouldnt find it.
• (Weve fixed that now, say Harper Collins)

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Metadata in the publishing industry

• Not just author, title, a clear abstract, and key
  words
• You need metadata elements such as
• - related editions
• - movie tie-ins
• - other titles in a series
• - prizes, rankings, awards
• Publishers need to gather, structure, maintain it
• Booksellers need to present it in an attractive
  and simple way
• Then people can discover, assess, andbuy!

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Any questions?

• Hvala
• Thank you
• sheila.lambie_at_brookes.ac.uk