"No other business puts out some 50,000 products on the market every year, each one of them different from the other, places them in retail outlets by the most haphazard means, compels most of them to make their way without benefit of any but the most minimal advertising or promotion, does little if anything to help the retail outlets with their problems of overcrowding and mostly inferior management--and then agrees to accept all the books the retailer has bought which it hasn't been able to sell." ~ John Tebbel
"The din of ever-multiplying new media leaves consumers overloaded for demands on their attention. And the water-torture drip of just-in-time ordering, while it cuts down on returns, can make it easier for a book to travel through the eye of a needle than to get a good kickoff display or follow-up order." ~ Judy Quinn and Lauren Rielski
"When I came into this business 20 years ago, there used to be
a three-way dialogue between publishers, booksellers and authors. Now
this conversation is a two-way conversation between corporate
boardrooms of booksellers and corporate boardrooms of publishers." ~
Avin Domnitz
"In today's tough economy, publishers aren't spending what
they used to on advertising and other costly means of book promotion.
Consequently, they're turning to publicity -- which by comparison is
relatively cheap -- as a means of spreading the word about each book."
~ Lissa Warren
"The average person's current school reading experience is '12
to 14 years of making people dislike reading or making reading boring.'"
"An unread bestseller is a book that many people purchase but few
read in its entirety."
"There's no such thing as a mass market any more. You have to
go out and try to reach readers directly." ~ Judith Curr
"Everybody lies, and everybody knows it. If you announce in
Publishers Weekly that you've got a first run of 40,000, everyone does
the mental calculation and says, 'Ah, a 10,000 run.' If, however, you
announce that your first run is 10,000, they assume you've made a
couple of copies at the local print shop and you're standing out on a
street corner somewhere trying to sell them." ~ small press publisher
"Have you ever wondered how different publishing would be if
everyone in New York had to spend one week out in the Midwest selling
books?" ~ Jason Gobble
"The bottom line is, people are reading and buying fewer
books. This is an industry that's being kept afloat by price
increases." ~ Albert Greco
"The problem is that you can only grow by attracting new customers, but the industry is not attracting new customers; in fact, it's losing customers. That means it's relying more and more on the heavier book-buyer -- the more affluent, higher-educated customer -- but we're seeing some slack in that area as well. There's only so many books that those people can buy." ~ Barrie Rappaport
"The last industry in America to go to for any wisdom about marketing is book publishing." ~ Jim Warren
"A best seller, nowadays, is far more than just a book that has sold a lot of copies. It's more like the embodiment of a myth -- the myth of success, desirability, fame -- all contained within two glossy book covers." ~ Charity Vogel
"Book reading faces growing competition from media that take less effort to digest and offer more visual and auditory stimulation...." ~ Shannon DortchIn the past, publishing was run by people who acquired books, good books or popular books, and were not that much concerned with selling them. The exciting part of publishing was the acquisition, editing, and graphic design of books. Sales and fulfillment received much less attention. Even today, books are still published without clear-cut plans about how they are to be sold and who will buy them. It is fairly common for books to be shipped to bookstores without the merchandising tools to help move them out again.
In the olden days, "the rule of thumb for marketing and publicity budgets was one dollar per number of books" in the initial print run. Most of that relatively small amount went for postage for review copies and promotional material. Marketing costs have increased substantially in recent years because the chains require money for placement, for displays, and for co-op advertisements.
There has been some controversy during the last few years about the future of the book. Some argue that the hard copy codex book is dying and will soon be replaced by the ebook or some similar digital information container. Others argue that the book has changed little since the 1450s and is likely to continue to be popular in its present form. In terms of ease of use, print technology is still unsurpassed. Others argue that short attention spans, lack of reading skills, and competition from other media will gradually reduce the importance of the book. Books are not the only medium in flux. Broadcast TV hours are declining. Radio listening is declining. Internet use is going up as are console and pc gaming. Magazine and newspaper reading is declining, sometimes dramatically. The issue is one of how discretionary time [mind share] is used.
Chris Anderson, author of the "Long Tail" article and book, argues that the "best seller" model of book publishing is based on scarcity: shelf space, warehouse space, advertising, reviewing and so fourth. He then says that the Internet eliminates much of that scarcity and creates a model based upon abundance. The "long tail" where people find specialized content that they like and are willing to pay for it could replace the big best seller with many small good sellers.
While we poner the future, the U.S. continues to be the
largest book market in the world with Japan second and Germany third.
Book sales to adults have grown dramatically in the last few years,
although the rate of increase has slowed. The dramatic
increase in the number of new titles issued each year, well over
100,000 creates a variety of problems. As M.J. Rose said, there
are about 35 novels published each day while an "avid" reader buys
perhaps 25 novels per year. Some sort of biblio birth control may be
needed to bring supply and demand closer together.
Demographic changes are positive. There are more people in the 35 and up segment that does the most reading. More Americans are college educated and education is strongly associated with book reading and book buying. Some surveys found that nearly fifty percent of adults had visited a bookstore within the last 6 months. There are more substantial book stores available today than in the past and the number of books purchased has increased. Popular fiction accounts for the largest number of adult books sold and most of these are purchased at a chain book store. Repeatedly, studies find that the biggest book buyers are largely married, middle-age career women with a comfortable income, and at least a bachelor's degree. She is in her mid 40's, lives in a metropolitan area, and purchases books in a local bookstore and online.
According to PW, the top ten book markets in the U.S. are:
In contrast, Memphis was 36th, Knoxville 45th, and Nashville 51st. The leading states for adult book sales are:
About 13% of U.S. adults are illiterate. While this is a relatively large number for an affluent, powerful nation, the percentage does not appear to be increasing and does not appear to threaten the book market. We do not know how many are alliterate, those who are able to read but choose not to do so. Large chain bookstores may reduce alliteracy by providing adults with a much more diverse selection of reading material. The definitions of "literate" have changed over the years and much of the data is conflicting or based upon different definitions.
Mind share is a major concern. There are several important
opportunities for leisure time at home including television, the
Internet, console and computer gaming, and film on DVDs. The book
buyers do
tend to be older. The fear among some critics is that the younger
audience may not have the book reading habit and that the next
generation
of readers may be relatively small. The hope is that these folks will
turn to books when the reach their 40s, but that is uncertain.
According to the Census Bureau, in 1999 the average U.S. adult spent
119 hours each year reading books for recreation. In 2007, it was 106
hours.
During the 1990s, there was a decline in the number of younger readers who spend at least 30 minutes per day reading (school work does not count). The strongest decline was for men aged 18 to 34. During the same period, the percentage of older readers has increased.
In the 21st Century, social networking sites devoted to reading and sharing book news have expanded notably. For example, LibraryThing has more than 200,000 members and has cataloged more than 14 million books. This indicates a strong core audience for books.
A fairly recent report found in the Levine Braking News, tracked the sales of 1.2 million books in the U.S.:
Education, age, and income are good predictors of book buying. Since book buying is often discretionary, the state of economy is important too. People buy books because of author visibility, word of mouth, and book appeal. One survey found that 55 percent of households had purchased at least one trade book in 2003.
Phil Ollila notes that there are two kinds of readers. Enthusiast readers are easy to please because of their enthusiasm and interest in a particular topic. Entertainment readers are more difficult to reach because they are looking for a good read, but are less committed.
The factors most likely to influence a book purchase are:
Most books (58 percent) purchased at a chain store were
planned. However, most book purchases at non-book stores were based on
impulse (above 60 percent). Most books purchased are for the buyer.
Relatively few are gifts. However, a Deloitte & Touche poll
found that books ranked fourth as the most popular gift item after
clothes, gift certificates, and music.
Those under 25 years buy the fewest books. Those aged 35-39, 40-44, and 45-49 account for a large number of book purchases. Affluent book buyers are most likely to purchase books at chains and warehouse stores.
The Pacific region of the U.S. is the largest book market. The middle Atlantic region, lead by New York, is also important.
Popular fiction sells evenly throughout the year with a slight
increase in summer. Most other books sell much better in the fall than
the other three seasons.
A key point sometimes neglected in the literature is that even
non-book readers will purchase a book if it is central to what they
care about. For example, gamers will purchase hint and cheat books on
console gaming. Car buffs will purchase books on car modification and
improvement. Many of these books, however, are not sold through the
trade. Model railroaders purchase books on railroad history.
One of the major changes in book buying has been the substantial increase in used book purchases. It nearly doubled in 2006. Amazon has done very well with advertising used prices next to the new books [it is the largest seller of used trade titles]. Used book aggregators on the web such as ABEbooks make it relatively easy to purchase used books. Often these books are in good condition and sell at half the price of a new one. Of course, publishers and authors receive no income from used book sales. Publishers may reduce the number of "used" books by reducing print runs and advance reading copies.
New challenges pop up from time to time. Although it is too soon to see if this is a successful model, BookSwim [in beta] is an online book rental library based on the NetFlix model with no late fees and prepaid shipping both ways.
The market for books consists of a hard core of consistent
buyers and a periphery of occasional buyers. The task of the publisher
is to move people from the periphery into the core. It is a difficult
challenge, but works best by providing enthusiasts with books that they
"need" rather than the impulse items purchased on a whim. When asked
what they would like to do with their leisure time, more Americans said
that they would rather read a book than any other activity (30
percent). TV watching was second with 21 percent. In 2005, 23 million
fewer books were sold than in 2003. The used book market was seen as
the major factor.
The so-called vitamin approach, books are good for you, does not seem to work well as a marketing approach except in encouraging adults to buy books so their children will be successful in school. Books as gifts campaigns have some potential, but many adults feel that the book is not a truly "personal" gift.
The book market may be divided into two major segments. The
general segment, trade books, attempts to sell books to everyone. The
specialized segment attempts to sell books to a known audience. While
specialized audiences are much smaller, they are easier to identify,
characterize, and reach.
Too little attention has been given to selling books in
specialty stores. This takes considerable effort, but can make quite a
difference. For example, St. Martins approached major drug
chains and other stores with drug sections to include their health
books near the pharmacy section. Similarly, books on railroad history
might be sold in model railroad stores.
At the moment, mid-2007, there is some gloom about the book market. While consumer spending on books has increased, the number of books sold has not. There are many competitors for the reader's time including the WWW and video/computer gaming. Some argue that books matter less to more people each year. The mean age of the most prolific book buyers continues to rise.
A major opportunity for most trade publishers is to go beyond the traditional bookstore market. Special sales can be substantial and reach many who never venture into a bookstore. This is especially true of local interest books and books on niche topics. For example, sports books may be sold in sports stores. Consider the baseball book next to baseball equipment. Or the RC airplane books near the planes. Arts and crafts stores represent another example. They are often interested in children's books that tie in with art and crafts activities as well as similar books for adults.
Another sales opportunity, but with a slow start, is to sell parts of books such as chapters. For example, the O'ReillyCatalog
allows readers to purchase chapters from their popular technical books
for $3.99 each. In fact, a chapter on some aspect of CSS might be
exactly what you need.
Most consumers have favorite brands. They may purchase Honda automobiles, Jiffy Peanut Butter, Tide detergeant, and so on. With few exceptions such as Harlequin romances and Penguin classics, most publishing houses and their imprints, are relatively invisible. In fact, for most contemporary front list books, the author is the brand. Ideally, the publisher would be able to create brand consciousness so that prospective buyers/readers would look for and prefer to purchase TOR science fiction novels rather than those of EOS. Licensing is the major way that publishers are able to create brand awareness, but it is not really their own brand! A productive brand requires:
It's interesting that after purchasing Warner Books, Hachette Livre has renamed it Grand Central Publishing. While one may speculate on the disappearance of "books," one wonders if this is a brand name that will make a difference in the marketplace. Critics have noted that imprints are merely "a sea of names." Few book buyers or readers can characterize different imprints. Thomas Nelson has eliminated its various imprints and will have but one.
Publishers face many problems in moving books from warehouses to the customer. There are too many new books issued so that many are not reviewed, placed in stores or made visible to the potential buyer. Many new titles involve printing more books than the market can accomodate. Often, the first printing numbers reflect the response of buyers at the larger chain stores which may or may not be accurate.
Even with the growth of the super stores, there are not enough outlets for the volume of new books issued. Too often, lack of market research results in copy cat books which are unnecessary. There is too much emphasis on new books and too little attention is given to the back list.
The best source of marketing
information is Nielsen's
Bookscan
which monitors retail book sales at the point of
sale in about 6,500 stores. Besides retail bookstores, it
includes other retail outlets that sell books such as Target. It
excludes Wal-mart and Sams, airport stores, and Christian stores [they
don't wish to participate].This is a proprietary database which
should be useful for those publishers that can afford it.
Too often books are shipped to wholesale and retail outlets
without a persuasive sales or marketing plan. Initiatives designed to bring new
books to the attention of likely buyers are limited. Wholesale outlets
do not market books as much as they respond to requests. With the
exception of the declining independent book store, many bookstores hire
staff who are not familiar with their book stock so that little
"selling" takes place in the store. Buyers are usually on their own. It
is unusual, at least in the U.S., for those who work in bookstores to
see book selling as a career or a profession. Low salaries often lead
to frequent turn-over and that makes thoughtful selling difficult.
So much of the sales focus is on the front list that the back list does not receive adequate attention. A well maintained blacklist, with occasional cover revitalization and content updating [for non-fiction] can be a steady seller for year after year. Backlist books can keep a publisher alive. For example, O'Reilly's backlist typically generates 70 percent of its revenues. Backlist titles are particularly important for specialty stores such as a SF bookstore or a cookbook one. In selling children's books, backlist may account for 70 to 80 percent of sales.
Until recently, there has been little interest in marketing books to African-Americans or Hispanics. "Black books" began to take off in 1992 with Terry McMilan's Waiting To Exhale. Before then, popular African-American books were often self-published and sold in Black specialty stores. Today, most major publishing houses have an African-American imprint. For example, Ballantine's One World, Random's Strivers Row, Kensington's Dafina, and Doubleday's Harlem Moon. Chain book stores now have "black sections." Still, there is some question about the degree to which publishers are reaching this important audience. African-American publishing professionals and authors are not convinced that there are "Black books." Authors in particular prefer the largest possible audience.
Little has been done for Hispanics, but that is beginning to
change. Border Books & Music opened a store in Pico Rivera,
California with bilingual signage and staff, and a solid Spanish
language section in the front of the store. Harlequin has four new
Spanish language series: Bianca, Deseo, Julia, and Jazmin and their ads
note that U.S. Hispanic population is 35 million.
The product life cycle for books is similar to that of other retail products. There is an introductory stage when the new book is issued and it is displayed in stores and (sometimes) advertised and promoted. For many new books, the next two stages do not occur. However, being positive, we move to the second stage which is growth. This is when the new book takes off as positive reviews are published and word of mouth is generated. The growth stage is quite variable. It may last for only a week or two. For the brand name author with a big best seller, the growth stage may last for several months. The third stage is maturity. Here the growth stops, but the work continues to sell on a steady basis. The final stage is decline and this inevitably leads to out of print status for most books. Decline may change into growth when a film or TV series is issued based upon the book or when a less expensive paper edition becomes available.
Only in the past few years, has sales assumed a visible, important role in most trade houses. Those who enter sales work are usually generalists with a liberal arts or business degree. Typically, sales skills are learned via an apprenticeship program or on-the-job training rather than through more formal training or education. Most publishing house sales managers began as sales representatives calling on retail book sellers.
Although relatively little is known about it, word of mouth is often mentioned as the single most important factor in selling the new book. For example, Rowling mentioned that there was relatively little advertising in Britain for the first Potter book. However, children who enjoyed the book encouraged others to read it and considerable word of mouth was soon generated. With considerable positive word of mouth, a book is likely to take off and sell well. The key questions are:
Word of mouth begins in the publishing house when an editor (usually) becomes a strong advocate for a new manuscript and tells colleagues about it. As more people read the manuscript and share their enthusiasm, word of mouth gains momentum. Books with strong internal word of mouth are likely to receive a larger advertising budget and more attention from the sales staff.
Below you will find a variety of approaches that a publishing house might use to generate word of mouth. Not all will be used for any particular title. Ironically, the books that are most likely to be visible and sell well usually receive the most attention. Books likely to be relatively invisible usually receive minimal attention. The decision of which books will receive "an extra push" favors the book with a strong hook and considerable potential.
Authors are asked to provide the publisher with:
Since publishers often neglect to promote most of the books on their list, much of the responsibility for generating word of mouth now falls on the author. Brand name authors may hire their own publicity person to insure visibility for the new book. Most authors will need to spend some time creating a marketing plan and marketing their book. This may not be a happy experience. As James M. Lang said, "...I am compromising my principles by thinking about the marketability of a work, and engaging in these shameless acts of self-promotion, instead of focusing exclusively on ensuring the highest literary quality of my books."
Since generating word of mouth is much the same as creating an
audience, the web, especially bloggers, can create considerable word of
mouth with their own recommendations on what to read and why. The same
is true of social networking sites that promote books and discussions
of particular titles. As Cory Doctorow says, "nothing sells books like
a personal recommendation." The task of the publisher is to create an
environment in which personal recommendations are visibile and
available.
Publicity is the linkage between the book and the media. Publicity is designed to make the author or the book visible as news. Often, this is a matter of contacts with those in the mass media and the author or the book's publicity potential. Expose books have the most publicity value. One way of securing publicity is via the author. The Penguin Group has created a speaker's bureau to provide directed opportunities to make authors and their work more visibile. Book publicity may be done within the house, by publicity firms, or by publicity people working directly for the author. Planned Television Arts is a well-known book promoter.
Increasingly, publicity initiatives are done by authors rather than the publishing house. For larger publishers, there are simply too many new books and too few publicists to create a meaningful campaign for each book. Social networking initiatives have some news/visibility potential, especially for particular audiences. If creatively done, they can generate considerable word of mouth too. As an example, a few authors and publishers have had success with short online videos for a new book that appears on YouTube.com or similar. This may be author produced or publisher produced [more professional and more expensive]. Sometimes these are called "book trailers." In fact, YouTube has a channel devoted to BookVideosTV [but not too many subscribers yet].
Securing publicity can be quite a challenge. M.J. Rose says, "there's nothing I can do about it [most authors don't have much publicity potential] short of murdering someone so I can get on the 6 o'clock news. Otherwise, the message is, 'Oh, here's another nice writer; she's written another nice book.' I mean, where's the press in that?"The average book has little publicity potential. At the same time, many authors find it difficult to summarize their book in less than a minute with a real hook at the beginning.
Publishers use pitch letters, media alerta, press releases, press
kits, articles, and interviews to gain the attention of the news media.
Of course, these are only as good as the story itself whether it's
about the author or the book. There are several good guides to writing effective press releases on the web. Here is one example.
Some authors because of their life style, physical appearance,
following, or financial rewards have much publicity potential. The
average author has little publicity potential except in her home town
newspaper on a slow news day. A good guide to book publicity is Lissa
Warren's The Savvy Author's Guide to
Book Publicity: A Comprehensive Resource -- From Building the Buzz to
Pitching the Press. As one book person said, "it's all
about making books exciting."
Publicity work might include:
Large trade publishing houses have their own publicity staff. Smaller houses may outsource publicity to professionals when there is a need. Some brand name authors have a contractual relationship with an independent publicist to insure that their name is always kept in public view. For these entertainment writers, publicity is a key ingredient in career building and maintenance.
The most common form of publicity is to send information about the book to a specialized media list. For example, information on a book about steam engines would be sent to railroad museums and model railroad stores. Places associated with the author or the subject of the book may also yield a specialized media list, i.e. newspapers and other media outlets in East Tennessee for a Payton Manning book. Material might also be sent to more comprehensive web sites, news groups and discussion lists devoted to a particular topic. These initiatives can be relatively inexpensive, but may require considerable time.
Book publicity is not a recent phenomenon. Dickens used publicity effectively. Mark Twain had success with a 70 city author tour. Still, the modern author tour was perfected by Jacqueline Susann who promoted the Valley of the Dolls in 1996 and became a very successful media personality. Attractive, outspoken authors are needed for this to be successful. Not all authors are willing to participate in a tour. Although coaches and escorts can help, without the right personality and manner the author tour is not likely to sell many books. When successful, an author appearance may dramatically increase the number of books sold at a retail outlet or in a particular locale. Some authors, lacking publisher support, make their own tour arrangements. Developing a strong, positive relationship with these book stores can pay off in the future.
As tours became more important, book stores began to arrange for designated space for author events and created the new position of "events coordinator." Originally, authors appeared primarily an independent stores, but now the national chains have strong event programs. Since the chain designs the super store to be a destination, an entertainment place, events are even more natural there.
Because author tours are expensive (perhaps $1000 - $1500 per city) for the publisher, and can be expensive, in time and effort, for the book store, and hard on the author, there is less interest in author tours today than in the past. Tours work best for authors who already have some name recognition. Some authors, seeing the tour as an investment, will pay for it themselves. Historically, tours have worked best with the independent book stores.
Some publishers have had success with "remote" tours. Here an author is interviewed in a studio and the interview is then made available to local TV and radio stations. In some cases, the interviews may be done via satellite by local TV stations (one after the other), but this too can be expensive.
Some publishing houses now believe that there are too many touring authors and that too few books are sold at an event for the tour to be cost-effective. Still, an author tour can create substantial word of mouth store by store, book by book. The key to success is often the experience and planning provided by the local store.
Besides the store visits, author tours provide ample opportunities for interviews and other interaction with local media.
Typically, publicity and advertising initiatives disappear after the first or second month after a book is released.
Literary awards vary in their newsworthyness and so impact in the media may create considerable publicity or very little. The children's book awards seem to have the most impact on sales, but the National Book Awards can create quite a bit of buzz. Some one in the house needs to nominate various titles for consideration as appropriate. It's important for someone in the house to be aware of the various general and specialized awards and quickly create campaigns when a title receives an award.
While publicity is designed to place particular books and authors in the news, promotion makes the publisher or the author more visible. Traditionally, this was done via newsletters, flyers and catalogs as well as appearances at conventions such as those of the American Library Association. Today, more frequent newsletters have become affordable via email delivery.
Another approach that works well with independent stores is to distribute galleys and jackets to selected book buyers about three months before the date that the book is available. If book buyers really like a book, they may generate word of mouth and endorsements.
Licensing is one quick, but sometimes expensive way to gain
visibility. Publishers may license a well-known brand and create appropriate books. Sunset
books {Time-Warner} published Webers' Real Grilling cookbooks building on the
reputation of the Weber grills.
John Wiley has the right to publish a series
of cookbooks using General Mill's Pillsbury brand name. Publishers may
also licence established brands of their own. Wiley is bringing
its "For Dummies" brand to television.
Publisher and author websites, including blogs, provide opportunities to promote the house or author and develop brand name awareness. Interaction between publisher or author and book buyer is easier via email, "mailtos" and even chat rooms on the website. Some publishers have websites for particular titles. A URL that includes the book title works well. Interactive and changing content -- games, screensavers, author interviews, newsletter -- can create a reader, enthusiast community. If that works, the fan base can be used to generate word of mouth. With funding, the website could include digital AV book trailers or shorts, author video clips, author readings, and a variety of interactive features using animation and multi-medais
Besides the above, special promotions may be used from time to time. Harlequin Books has had considerable success with its "Thank you parties." A catered meal and program in a larger hotel/motel lets Harlequin readers meet people from the publishing house, hear and interact with a few favorite authors, and win prizes. Those who attend pay a reasonable fee to cover much of the cost. A major prize might be a trip for two to a romantic location found in a recent novel.
Sometimes, "promotion" is used in connection with a particular book and does not make the house more visible. For example, the publisher of Reba McEntire's autobiography placed three dollar off rebate coupons on about ten million Frito bags. No report on the difference that it made.
Increasingly, publishers use their website as a core
marketing, promotion, and publicity tool. The purpose is to develop a
continuing relationship between the consumer and the publisher
[branding]. Author branding is also enhanced at both the publisher and
at the author website. For popular authors, fan websites may also be
useful as the publisher provides them with images and textual
information. Video clips of author interviews often work well. The
website should be "a fun place to go." Samples also play an important
role as do "sneak peaks" at forthcoming works. Links can be used to
send material to friends and that expands the audience for a book.
Message boards provide give and take between readers and editors and
marketers. Brief surveys can be used to gather information.
The next step, but a scary one for many publishers, is to sell direct. Penguin USAwas the first major publisher to do this. No discounts and pay for p&h, however. Random House also sells direct.
Google increasingly provides access to books via its search
and digitization programs. This provides increased visibility for
backlist books, especially if the snippets available appeal.
Like word of mouth, those in publishing are convinced that the right title can really stimulate sales. "The trick is to clearly signal what the book is, without making it look just like everything else." At the same time, the title should be catchy and attract people to look at the book to learn more. The problem is a lack of agreement on how to create such a title. It would be interesting to examine the titles of books that sell well and those that do not and see if there is a pattern to successful title construction. Conventional wisdom is that short, catchy, memorable titles are best. The average title length for an award winning or best selling work in the U.S. is 3.5 words. Relatively few books have subtitles. Some argue that a : in the title means that the book is for the serious, the scholar and not for the general reader. Still, an explanatory substitle allows for a catchy, poetic, or intriguing main title. For example, Light the Fire: Fiery Food with a Light New Attitude. Note that book titles may not be copyrighted. Still, it's best to avoid the confusion resulting from a new title that duplicates another.
A candidate for 2006's worst book title came from the Indiana University Press and was called The Case for Auschwitz. This is a scholarly refutation of Holocaust deniers, but the title appears to claim the opposite.
For a series, the series title becomes a brand so it should be
short, memorable, and appropriate for the genre and the nature of the
stories
Since many books are sold as a result of an impulse, the title has quite an impact when displayed face out in the
bookstore, in the catalog, or on the publisher website. The jacket
needs to stand out from the competition, be visible from several feet
away, and attract the potential purchaser. Important variables include
type choices, color palette, and capturing the mood or sense of the
intellectual content. For genre fiction, there may be certain images
that are expected, but need to be handled just a bit differently.
Often, jacket copy is written by a copywriter rather than the author or the editor. Being ability to create an appealing sense of what a book is about and why it should be read in a few hundred words is quite a challenge. Jacket or cover copy must [or should] do three things:
Endorsements are solicited, positive comments about a new
book from recognizable names. They are especially important for
relatively unknown authors.
Both the author and the editor develop a list of notables in the field
who are likely to read a new work and comment favorably upon it. An
endorsement from an established, popular author appearing on the front
cover of a new book can influence the potential book buyer. It may
require some effort and a list of several notables to get that right
cover comment. The comment needs to be both positive and quotable.
However, if someone frequently provides positive endorsements, the
impact is
reduced. "By having this author vouuch for your work, you are in
essence telling the consumer that this new product has the same or
better worth than the product they are used to. [Theresa Meyers]"
In 1991, Simon and Schuster rejected a manuscript that it had purchased when the endorsements from John le Carre and Joseph Wambaugh turned out to be forged by the author.
For books issued in a new edition, quotes from review sources may be used as de facto endorsements.
About 80 percent of the larger publishers now have websites. Many of these sites include sample chapters, often chapter one, for new and forthcoming books. The chapters provide a way to reduce risk for prospective buyers and generate word of mouth. Sample chapters may be available long before the new book is available in stores.
Reading copies are usually sent to people likely to generate word of mouth or sales decisions. The purpose is much like the review copy except here a formal review is not expected. Review copies might be sent to book buyers for book stores that often play an important role in generating word of mouth. Reading copies could be page proof copies of the work.
The New York Times Book Review has long been the most desirable of the best seller lists. Being on one of their lists has often made a major difference in book sales. These lists appear both in the Review and an expanded list appears on their web site. Many retail book stores, including the national chains, heavily promote and often discount books on these best seller lists. The lists are based on sales in a small number of general-interest book stores. Typically, books do not stay on the lists as long today as on the past because more copies are sold more quickly for brand name authors--some are even sold before the book is manufactured and distributed. When the Times allowed Barnes & Noble to become their web site book provider, several independent book stores stopped participating in the Review lists.
Amazon.com has the most comprehensive best seller list since it lists the sales status of all the books that it sells. USA Today has enlarged its book review coverage and its best seller list attracts much more attention.
Nielsen's Bookscan, although not without problems, claims to be the most accurate of the lists covering more than 70 percent of book sales, but it is expensive and some outlet types are not well covered. There are many other best seller lists: by genre, by place, by type of book. Niche books are most likely found on specialized best lists.
"In my experience, even a bad review in the Times Book Review can sell 6,000 copies, though it depends on the book." (Russell Perreault) There is some anecdotal evidence that the TBR has less impact than before.
There is some disagreement in the literature about the impact of reviews on sales. There are three major review categories:
Time lag is a major problem with reviews. One publisher noted that "reviews appear long after the books have been returned from the bookstore." For reviews to generate word of mouth and support sales they need to appear before or soon after a book is published. This does happen with some of the book trade and library reviewing sources and most of the general audience sources. Reviews in specialist sources, especially academic ones, rarely appear in time to make a difference. This "late" reviews may be useful when the book appears in a second edition at a later date.
While book reviews are usually reasonably objective and fair, there is no question that reviews reflect individual reactions to a new book and may vary in quality and utility. A negative review in an important source may substantially reduce sales in the special interest market. However, a popular book receiving negative reviews by critics may still sell well. Some reviews mimic front flap and promotional copy and are not entirely original.
The publishing house must spend some time and effort to develop lists of review sources related to their specializations and even for an individual new book. Books are then sent to these sources with some promotional material and a request for two copies of the review if published. Success is monitored and sources which do not review the books sent are removed from the list. When new titles appear, they are added to the list. Larger publishing houses, because of their financial strength, are able to send out more review copies than the smaller publishing house.
A current concern is the fairly substantial reduction in book reviews in major metropolitan newspapers. There is some question about likely impact, but it does concern publishers, especially major trade houses. It's unclear if the growing number of "critical" and lay reviews on the web [often appealing to enthusiasts] will compensate.
Although announcements, flyers and catalogs may be sent to individual book buyers, they are most important for store and library book buyers. BIP is especially important since professional book buyers often go to it to verify a title or to do a subject search.
There are now four seasons in book publishing and new books are issued throughout the year. However, fall and spring are much more important than winter and summer. For some publishers, more books are sold in the fall than in the other three seasons. It is essential that books with substantial gift potential are issued before the Christmas selling season.
Typically, the catalog is issued but once each year. It will contain front list books (new and forthcoming but none more than a year old) and the back list books. Back list books often receive minimal space and attention. Front list books may receive a whole page with an image of the dust jacket, an annotation and endorsements. The lead books in the front list section are usually the titles that the publisher expects to sell well. Larger publishers may issue separate catalogs for certain categories of books or separate imprints.
Flyers and announcements are usually one sheet of paper. They may be devoted to one new book or to a small number of books on a similar subject (usually a lead book and then one or two others on the same topic. They are mailed out a few weeks before the new book is issued.
Intellectual content and images for catalogs and announcements are usually recycled. For example, advertising copy can easily be recycled into an announcement. Announcement copy can be recycled into catalog copy.
"There's an old maxim that explains the uneasy relationship between marketing and publicity: with marketing you pay for it, but with publicity you pray for it." (Steve Zeitchik) The recent and current economic down turn has encouraged publishers to reduce marketing expenses, including advertising. Many publishers remain unconvinced that advertising makes a difference. "Advertising will work in two cases: you either have enormous budgets where you can canvass the world, or you can do some very precise niche marketing like advertising a poetry book in a poetry magazine." (Dominique Raccah).
Larger publishers are likely to outsource more of their advertising rather than doing it in-house. Co-op money may be used for conventional advertising or to pay stores for display space.
There are quite different audiences for print display advertisements:
Many trade publishers are not convinced that print display advertising makes a difference in creating word of mouth and stimulating sales. Again, those books that least need advertising are most likely to receive it. The advertising budget for the typical book is minimal. Advertising in general audience periodicals can be quite expensive. Advertising in specialty periodicals, especially those of non-profit organizations, is much less expensive. Print advertising would receive more attention if it was easier to measure its impact. Too, the recent publishing mergers has reduced the number of active advertisers. While few impact studies have been done, some evidence suggests that the most important element is the book synopsis and that few buyers cared about endorsements or blurbs. Carol Fitzgerald says, "If you cannot describe a book in a sentence or two, what the heck are you doing publishing it."
Co-operative advertisement money is allocated to wholesale and
retail book buyers on the basis of which and how many titles they have
ordered. Usually, the publisher pays for eighty percent of the cost of
an advertisement in a local periodical (includes newspapers).
The publisher also provides camera-ready copy for the advertisement
itself. Co-op money may also be used for including publisher books in
catalogs, newsletters, and for in-store display fees. Many independents
fail to take advantage of this opportunity, but the chains do even
though the process is sometimes complicated.
Network television advertising is too expensive for nearly all publishers. A brief advertisement may be possible for a brand name series or some sort of subscription purchase plan. For all practical purposes, this is not feasible for the book publisher.
In contrast, placing an author on a network "talk show" is inexpensive and has demonstrated impact. A successful interview on a major morning talk show can sell hundreds of thousands of books and generate considerable immediate word of mouth. Oprah's book club had a dramatic impact on book purchases, especially by women.
Because it reaches more specialized audiences and is much less expensive, cable television is sometimes used by book publishers. Self-help and how-to-do-it books work well in this medium, especially when authors have a show and are well-known personalities. Exercise books (Buns of Steel) and videos have been especially successful. Series books such as those sold by Time-Life Books have also had some success. Since the advertisements are expensive to produce, they are better for an author with more than one book (Danielle Steel) or a publisher's series where the cost per book is more reasonable.
While advertising is somewhat expensive, tie-ins are often possible. For example, a WW II title on the History Channel or a cook book on the Food Network.
Radio is less expensive, more accessible and versatile than either network or cable television. A few radio stations reach a narrow book reading audience, but most do not. Radio advertisements for popular works may work well during drive time in metropolitan markets. Some mass market paper publishers have had good success with this medium for brand name authors or genuinely "hot" new titles. Public radio shows can be notably effective if the author is clear, persuasive, and can share the importance of her book effectively.
While unusual, a few publishers have used outdoor billboard advertisements, visible from stop and go traffic. Again, this works well with a popular title that has broad appeal and can generate considerable word of mouth. If done in Southern California, such an ad may also create "buzz" to influence media executives.
Bantam promoted the Dune prequel House Atreides via on-screen advertisements in Star Wars showings in theaters.
With the right author, the right book, and the right place, the author interview can generate substantial word of mouth and create nearly instant demand for a new book. Author tours may be before or after publication. A strong TV appearance can "nationalize" a book in one appearance. However, not all authors are willing to go on the interview circuit. Major tour cities are:
National Public Radio, especially "Morning Edition," "All Things considered," and "Fresh Air," sells many new books after thoughtful, interesting author interviews. Local TV and radio interviews work well for books of local interest.
Non-fiction authors are more likely to be invited on TV and radio talk shows. An author's appearance, zippy conversational style, and a controversial topic really make a difference. Some authors interview poorly even after being coached. With a few exceptions, most interviewers have not read the book so inappropriate questions may be asked. Publishers do prepare question and answer sheets for hosts, but these are not always followed. Increasingly, many talk show hosts believe that authors are not interesting or provocative enough.
Author appearances at local book stores and schools can work very well if the local contact person has done a good job in making the event highly visible. For example, the author of the "Harry Potter" books has literally been mobbed at her book store appearances. Even a large turnout will not succeed if the local store or school does not have an adequate stock of books for the author to autograph and for the store to sell. This is a time when "stock outs" are terrible.
With the rapid growth of the nation chain super stores, the demand for brand name authors has become competitive. Publishers may choose from several proposals with a focus on their advertising and publicity initiatives.
Besides the usual face-to-face appearances, publishers may
also use taped radio and TV as a more economic alternative. More
recently, web chats or webcasts have also received attention.
Although difficult and time-consuming, author speaking engagements in a variety of local and regional venues, with books available for sale afterwards, can make a cumulative difference. Religious book authors "who have seen a lot of church basements" are more likely to generate word of mouth. This can be done in small towns as well as larger ones. Some authors will collect names and business cards from those who attend a speaking event and use these "contacts" to create a mailing list. One notably successful author had a mailing list of over 77,000 names.
As reading clubs become more popular, some authors have had notable success in speaking to reading clubs with an interest in their work, especially if the groups are not too far away. This can be an excellent, but costly in time and effort, way to create word of mouth. One author, John Shors, included a letter in the back of his novel indicating his willingness to speak to book clubs and adding his email address. In three months, he spoke to over 100 book clubs and his sales increased notably.
Some major publishing houses, Penguin is one, have created a Speakers Bureau to work with their publicity and marketing departments.Booths and displays at a national or regional conference provide publishers with an inexpensive opportunity to meet with a relatively large number of serious enthusiasts or professionals. Books can be displayed and promoted, book buyers can be surveyed, and it may be possible to also identify prospective authors. With a few exceptions, space rental is not too expensive, but room, board, and travel can be costly for the small distant publisher.
Almost always, vendor publicity requires payment. Still, this
payment will insure that new books receive mention or visibility in
vendor catalogs, newsletters, and the like. Often, vendor publicity is
related to warehouse stock, i.e. vendors will promote books that are
substantially held in the warehouse. Since many librarians, especially
those in school library media centers, order from vendor catalogs and
lists rather than on the basis of reviews, vendor publicity is
essential for some publishers. Publisher websites provide ample
opportunity for a variety of publicity initiatives including
newsletters, contests, author interviews, and the like.
"When your job requires describing 300 titles to more than 70 accounts across eight states, you learn to talk quickly." (Seven M. Zeitchik on Penguin Putnam's rep Jon Mooney)
"If the independent bookstore disappeared tomorrow, so would commission reps." ~ Ted Heinecken
"After you start to see the dirt in the rooms, traveling loses
its romance." ~ Jason Gobble (PW Representative of the year)
"The rep network was a fantastic resource -- culture seeds traveling around the country, spreading the word about books they became familiar with at sales meetings and from buyers who had already read a galley or knew something about the author. That kind of fertilization was invaluable. That's withering on the vine at a fairly rapid pace." (Ed Morrow)
There is a national association, the National Association of Independent Publishers Representatives. The National Association of Independent Publisher Representatives (NAIPR) gathers information and attempts to improve the situation of commission representatives.
Publisher sales representative (sometimes called travelers or territory managers) play an important role in selling books to book buyers in retail stores. The traveler's job is to insure that her area stores receive the attention that they deserve. The territories can be quite large in some regions like the Southeast so there is considerable driving, perhaps 50,000 miles per year. Ideally, the representataive, like the readers advisor, knows which book is right for which bookseller. Publishers Weekly has an annual feature honoring the "Sales Rep of the Year" that is informative and most useful [often in the last April issue].
She should be passionate and well informed about the current front and back list. The effective traveler knows each store well enough to be able to make thoughtful recommendations for stock. With the rapid decline in independents and the mergers in the larger publishing houses, publishers have placed less emphasis on their sales representatives except for those calling upon the chains. There are fewer representatives covering larger territories and presenting many more titles. This is especially troubling to the independent stores who need sales representatives to help them make appropriate selections. With these stores now reordering from wholesalers, some independent representatives now sell sidelines as well since these are often not available from wholesalers and have a higher commission.
Some travelers are independent and work for publishers on a commission basis (commission reps). Other travelers are employed by a publishing house. Commission reps represent several different publishers with lists that do not directly compete with each other. Commission reps are most likely to call on independent book stores and these are decreasing in number. The cost for a house sales representative ranges from $75,000 to more than $100,000 so smaller publishers find the commission representative to be much more economical. A commission representative would typically get 10 percent of the list price for books sold to a retail outlet and 5 percent for those sold to a wholesale outlet.
Sales representatives meet with book store sales and marketing people in a conference [formerly a face to face meeting, but may be done via web conferencing] to learn more about new and forthcoming books. This is the beginning of learning the details about the new products to be sold. However, only a few seconds or minutes are available for all but the most likely best selling title. Much of the conference is devoted to book summaries and author information. Sales representatives, who capture the wants and needs of the retail book buyers, can certainly influence sales plans and even the book itself. It is not unusual, for example, for house sales representatives to react negatively to jacket design and text so that the jacket is changed. In a few cases, the content may be changed to make the book more marketable. As larger houses become more "rational" and business-like, those in sales have a stronger voice in decisions about MSS acquisition, editing, and book design.
Larger book stores used to be visited four times per year. Today, the frequency of store visits is declining, especially for stores that are geographically isolated from each other. When visiting the book store, the representative sells books using a hook or handle supported by jackets and summary information, takes orders, reviews stock and handles returns, and informs the book buyer about news gathered from visits to other stores, about the publisher, and about the trade. Today, reps are under considerable pressure to gather more information on sales trends and there is less time for presentations. Historically, an effective representative has functioned as an informal consultant with helpful suggestions on better practice.
As mentioned above, the major problem for independent book stores in recent years has been a substantial decline in visits from publishers representatives. Websites, 800 numbers, telemarketing, and chat sessions my be economical, but they are not a good substitute for face-to-face contact. Children's books in particular are difficult to sell without the buyer seeing the jacket or the book. Since life on the road can be hard, turn-over among sales representatives can be a problem, especially if it takes quite a while for the new rep to learn the trade and become familiar with the territory. In the Southeast, territories are usually quite large. The several mergers among the larger published houses have reduced the number of representatives and increased the territories of those remaining.
Since publishers focus on the front list, sales representatives often push new books and ignore the sales possibilities of the older ones. Some houses use or encourage quotas and that may lead the sales rep to push a buyer into ordering too many books which will then be returned later.
Since sales reps usually get credit only for orders they have taken, they do not normally get credit for sales work that results in books ordered from vendors like Baker & Taylor. It would be better if the sales representative got some credit for all books a store in his territory sold.
A possible traveler alternative might be buylink.com. This is a B2B wholesale marketplace for a wide variety of products, including books. The publisher can place a cover, description, and sales/order information on the website. Vendors are not charged for item placement. With so many different product categories, books do not stand out. Still, a small publisher might reach a retail specialty site.
While store staff often complain about ineffective and space-stealing display and promotional materials, especially the free-standing cardboard dumps, they can help to sell books. Publishers may use a variety of display aids including posters, exhibit items, and mobiles. Store staff may be given free books, T-shirts, or participate in a contest with an attractive prize. Promotional bookmarks focusing on an author's new book work well and are easily handled by the retailer.
Large publishing houses have money available for these materials and are also able to pay slotting fees to insure that their new books are displayed face out in prime locations. Since books tend to be invisible when shelved spine out, the ability to buy display space is an advantage. The more visible the book, the more likely that it will attract the attention of a potential buyer.
Reading clubs have become increasingly popular. Lifetime Television has its own reader's club. Several book oriented web sites encourage readers to discuss books. Some specialty publishers have had success in distributing readers' copies to larger and more visible book clubs.
While some smaller publishers have sold directly to the individual customer for years, nearly all of the trade publishers have not. One of the opportunities of the Internet, really the WWW, is that publishers no longer depend on an intermediate but could easily sell directly. This would substantially reduce the cost of doing business and dramatically reduce returns. The problem is that selling direct antagonizes those in the wholesale and retail book business and would (to them) represent unfair competition. Thus, most publishers use their websites as sales brochures rather than sales centers. About 80 percent of U.S. publishers now have websites. Potential book buyers are encouraged to go to a nearby retail outlet. It will be interesting to see how long publishers will continue to focus on sales through intermediaries when there are substantial benefits to direct sales.
Some authors and small publishers have had reasonable success in speaking at churches, community centers, libraries, business clubs, and even private homes and then selling books afterward.
In theory, books should be paid for ninety days after shipping. Publishers, hoping for additional sales, will often extend credit to keep books on the shelf and delay returns.
"My inventory is gone today and here tomorrow." This is a
familiar problem with selling books. For example, only 25 percent of
the 400,000 copy printing of Clinton's Between Hope and
History were sold. Although trade book return rates have been lowered
somewhat in the last year, they remain high and clearly indicate poor
decisions made by the publisher. When books are returned, the returns
are credited against future purchases. Besides the waste in selection
time, the cost of returns for the wholesale or retail outlet includes
the cost of shelving, checking invoices, bookkeeping, return postage
and the opportunity cost of not being able to sell another book that
might have occupied that space. In 2003, trade publisher returns
increased by nearly nine percent. Mass market paper returns were almost
42 percent.
The major chains, especially Barnes & Noble, have
argued strongly that the return policy should be replaced by shared
markdowns. This is common in almost all other retail sales.
Publishers fear that such markdowns would steal sales from new books,
and encourage customers to wait for lower prices. Too, independents feel
that such a program would favor large chains who could use the sales to
attract more customers. Shared markdowns would allow retailers to have
real book sales rather than purchasing remainder books. Shared
markdowns would require some time and effort to mark and park the books
selected and make them visible.
For the publisher, the costs of returns include billing, bookkeeping, packing, and unpacking probably (probably equivalent to 25 percent of the purchase price) as well as all the costs associated with publication.
Few industries sell retail products on a fully returnable basis. Book publishers began this practice in the depression to encourage book store buyers to order books in a grim retail environment. Many publishers believed that selling on a non-returnable basis would dramatically reduce the sale of new books. Many book stores welcomed the opportunity to stock new books or new lines with only minimal risk. Needless to say, there are conditions on the return of books. For example, returns might be limited to a percentage of books ordered or books might have to be returned within a six month period. A small number of publishers sell only on a non-returnable basis. Dover, the reprint publisher, has done well with no return books for over fifty years.
Returns are worst with mass market paper editions where returns of more than 40 percent have been common. With the periodical sales model, these books are discarded. In recent years, the industry average has been about 35 percent overall.
When publishers invest millions in brand name authors, they often need to recoup by manufacturing and selling a large number of books. This tactic increases the number of returns since the print run is often unrealistic. However, large stacks of a particular title in a retail outlet may increase sales.
Sometimes, retailers will order more copies of a new book than they need to insure that they will actually receive enough copies. This tactic increases returns. The national chains buy large numbers of books and return large numbers when a book does not turnover well. Chains are reducing their returns, but this has been a major problem for some publishers. Front list titles are most likely to be returned. With most retail outlets using automated sales and inventory systems, it is easy to identify titles that are not selling well and returning those items. New books have a short window of opportunity before they are returned.
While book stores traditionally have "paid" for books upon receipt, discounters such as Wal-Mart use scanning systems and only pay for books when they are sold. They treat books as consignment sales. It will be interesting to see if this model is more widely adopted.
There is a strong relationship between discount
and returns. Returnable books receive a lower discount. Some publishers
hope to get retail and wholesale outlets to buy nonreturnable by
increasing discounts. This is called "remainders in place" or "shared
markdowns." The latter is more politically correct.
The discount is the difference between the suggested retail selling price and the price that the wholesale or retail buyer pays. The larger the discount, the greater the profit potential for the seller. Low and no discount titles are unlikely to be stocked by vendors or retailers. Thus, a book sold on a substantial discount is more likely to be selected and sold in many book stores.
Each publishing house creates discount schedules for different
categories of books. Often the discount is based upon the number of
items ordered within that category. This is an advantage for the chains
since they are likely to order a large number of titles within a
category. Books are not discounted as much as many other retail
products. For example, side lines have a greater discount and are thus
more profitable to sell. An average discount might be 40 percent to
retail book buyers and 50 percent to wholesale book buyers. Back list
titles often have higher discounts and limited return privileges. Most
professional and university press books are sold on a short discount of
less than 25 percent. In some cases, publishers will provide book
stores with a substantial discount for not returning a book. Usually,
this is done on a title by title basis.
When ordering directly from publishers, the retail outlet gets a much better discount (although the ordering costs are greater when ordering from several publishers). Vendors offer convenience, but much lower discounts.
"The idea that books should be priced according to consumer expectations is something everyone can nod their heads to, but nobody can agree on what that means." (anonymous publisher) Barnes & Noble has encouraged publishers to lower prices, but there is little evidence of success. It is interesting that the manufacturing cost of typical books has declined during the same period. Book prices have increased notably in the past two years and buyer resistance is evident. Combined with a substantial deduction in book store discounts, this has substantially raised the price of popular books. However, one publisher commented: "I am convinced that there is no difference between $22 and $23 {for example}. Let's face it, price is not a factor if it is a book that you really want."
The steady sale of reminder books indicates that attractive non-fiction hardcover titles with relatively low prices work well.
The suggested retail price needs to be low enough to make sales likely, but high enough to provide the retailer with a reasonable profit. Retailers typically feel that prices are too high and inhibit sales. There seems to be some agreement that publishers of popular books set higher prices because they know that these titles will be discounted.
While advocated in the literature, net pricing seems unlikely to be adopted. With net pricing, prices would not be printed on the book cover or jacket. Stores would then set their own prices to meet market conditions. This is commonly done for other retail prices. Borders has long advocated removing prices from jackets. Better, Borders argues, for the seller to fix the price.
Although the data is fregmentary, the sale of used books has expanded dramatically in the past few years. The Internet and web created many opportunities to sell used books by creating intellectual access to the stock of many dealers, both large and small. The ability to choose between a new book and a used book on Amazon or other web-based book retailers makes buying used easy and much more visible. In 2003, aabout 145 million used books were sold and about ten percent of U.S. families purchased at least one used book. Many of these books were fiction, especially genre fiction. This is likely to change as the the market and ease of finding formerly OP titles increases. It's interesting that quite a few used book dealers sell new books. However, far more new book dealers are now selling used books.
The easier it is to order and return a book, the more likely that it will be selected and sold in a retail outlet. Since order and return routines vary notably from publisher to publisher, more standardization for the trade is needed.
Fulfillment includes all the publisher activities associated with receiving orders and shipping books. Publishing houses with easy, fast, and error-free fulfillment (other things being equal) should sell more books.
Publishers are coping with an increased demand for "just in time delivery" (JIT) which has been associated with vendors. Lack of point-of-salesinformation has been a major problem as has the traditional attitude that big first printings and big initial buys make best sellers. The trade needs to focus on copies sold rather than copies in print. JIT, if properly implemented, would reduce the number of copies shipped at once and thus reduce returns. Prompt, inexpensive transportation is also a problem since many small shipments are more expensive than fewer large ones. If JIT is "not in time," both publisher and the book store will lose a sale. Larger book store chains, fearful of stock outs, will often order more books than needed and these stay at a warehouse and may be returned without the box being opened. Publication on demand is the logical extension of JIT.
Books are relatively heavy so that freight costs can be
expensive. Shipping is normally paid by the retailer so that freight
costs may eliminate profit. Today, more retailers order fewer books at
a time but order more frequently (just in time)
so they cannot take advantage of the lower freight associated with
larger deliveries. Few publishers provide free shipping (Random House
is one) but require a minimum order amount ($100 for Random), but this
is an incentive to order books. Some vendors do provide free shipping.
Larger publishers have increased the minimum order to qualify for free
shipping [an example might be $350.00] and reduce the discount for
smaller orders, i.e. 35% discount for orders less than $100.00 versus
45% for orders over that.
Border's experiment with category management was not successful. The approach was work with publishers in a
category such as romance fiction to learn more about book buying.
Publishing houses had to pay substantial sums to be involved and that
makes many anxious.
For many, category management is associated with the slotting
fees
paid in grocery and some other retail stores. For
example, food companies pay relatively large sums to guarantee that
their product is on the shelf or on a highly visible location on the
shelf. While fees substantially improve the profitability of the
grocery store, they present real obstacles for smaller food companies.
"Some food manufacturers claimed to have paid grocery stores as much as
$5,000 to $30,000 per new product per store. Slotting fees would have a
dramatic impact on the stock found in a large chain book store and
would likely reduce publisher earnings. You can see why slotting fees
are attractive to the large national chains and not so attractive to
the book publishers.
Assume that you are in charge of a publishing association initiative to expand the market for book reading. What would you suggest that publishers collectively do to "grow" the market?
Select a fiction or nonfiction book. Discuss how you would make the book and publisher more visible.
Select a publisher (your choice of type) and discuss how you would make the publisher more visible and well-regarded.
Select a book that you have recently read. Discuss where you would advertise your book and what the content of the advertisement would be.
As an independent book store owner, discount the trade-offs between returns and discounts. Would you consider buying books on a non-returnable basis?
