How do you judge an author’s ability to sell books? Social media stats are a flimsy measure. Use these four metrics as a better guide.
Rob Eagar
Hundreds of bestsellers are unnoticed by shoppers on retail websites, which costs publishers a lot of book sales. There’s an easy fix.
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Last month brought sad news that another national bookstore chain went out of business. This time, Family Christian Stores, the largest U.S. retailer of Christian books and merchandise, closed all of its locations. Executives throughout the industry, both mainstream and religious, hated to see another big brick-and-mortar chain go under. The sting of Borders closing…
When you look into the rearview mirror of book retailing what do you see? A path littered with failed national chains, including Borders, Hastings, and B. Dalton, along with the rising dominance of Amazon. When you look into the future, what do you see? A path where Barnes & Noble believes smaller concept stores with…
Every publisher represents a storehouse of interesting content that can be used to attract readers, capture email subscribers, and increase book sales. In past articles, I’ve written about these concepts and reasons why publishers should invest in inexpensive digital marketing tactics. Free content attracts readers who become email subscribers. Those email subscribers can be converted…
The average consumer isn’t likely to buy something that appears confusing or unfamiliar to them. Yet, if you visit the website of most book publishers, they seem to think people have no fear of the unknown. For instance, the typical website homepage throughout the publishing industry represents an online display of books pleading to be…
What if publishers could sell more books by learning the secrets of selling chicken sandwiches? In my hometown of Atlanta, GA, Chick-Fil-A is the dominant fast-food restaurant chain. Started in 1967, the company’s annual sales now eclipse over $6 billion. In addition, their stores generate more revenue per restaurant than any other fast-food chain in…
It’s common practice today for publishers to buy online ads for promoting their books. The inexpensive cost and targeting capability make digital platforms, such as Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, and various high-traffic websites, seem like appealing choices. But, are real readers actually seeing the online book ads that publishers purchase? You might be surprised that…
Many publishers believe that building a Facebook audience is a wise way to market books. Let’s run with that assumption for a minute. What if you succeeded in attracting a lot of Facebook fans? I mean really succeed, such amassing over 1,000,000 likes to your Facebook page. You’d probably feel happy about your social media…
In the world of email marketing, experts constantly talk about the importance of adding new subscribers, increasing open rates, and boosting click rates. The internet is littered with articles on these topics. But, are these the best metrics to gauge success? If email marketing is supposed to help generate book sales, could we be majoring…
What if editors possess a hidden ability to help publishers sell more books? Editors and selling may seem like an oxymoron. In most publishing houses, the editorial team is associated with guarding the grammar, managing the manuscript, and guiding the author’s voice. In contrast, the marketing department is charged with creating a book’s promotional plan,…
What if all the hype about marketing books via social media is just noise? Social media may be here to stay, but are publishers seeing the ROI that they expected? At the end of 2014, Book Business Magazine surveyed the industry and asked the question, “What marketing platforms do you see the most opportunity for…
More than ever before, publishers are attempting to sell books directly to consumers. But, what if this trend plays right into Amazon’s hands? What if the effort to shift sales away from Amazon actually gives them more power? Could the direct-to-consumer (D2C) movement backfire and create a worse dynamic in the industry? We live in…
