Direct to Consumer Sales
Negotiating a large, non-returnable sale of your books to a corporate buyer can be a euphoric event. As you leave the premises you may celebrate with large smiles and high-fives. But unforeseen by many publishers are the various post-sale emotions experienced by the buyers, especially if this is their first time dealing with you. Their…
As Book Business’ year-end trendspotting survey indicated, direct-to-consumer marketing and bookselling will be top-of-mind for all segments of the publishing industry in 2016. It’s clear from these results, as well as the slew of newly-launched consumer-facing sites, apps, and newsletters that publishers are eager to learn how consumers find books, why they buy, and how…
Last week I highlighted some of the more interesting findings reported in a document Google published called Micro-Moments: Your Guide to Winning the Shift to Mobile. This week I want to focus on a couple of other important points in that document as well as provide an example of how publishers need to leverage the…
JK Rowling’s Pottermore company, which until recently maintained a stranglehold over digital versions of the acclaimed books, has enjoyed an upsurge in revenue in recent months. Sales rose by more than 100 per cent in the final three months of 2015 compared with the previous quarter. With the firm continuing to expand its reach in…
Last week Penguin Random House U.K. announced the launch of a new direct-to-consumer site that combines the content from its best-known brands, Ladybird, Puffin, and Penguin. The new site comes a little less than a year after Penguin Random House relaunched its U.S.-based website, with the goal of becoming a destination for readers and a…
Pinterest, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram may be the marketing platforms that earn all the buzz, but here’s a fact: Your email list is a more valuable direct-to-consumer marketing tool than all of those social media sites put together. The power of your community exists in your list -- those people who have actively…
One key component of successful direct-to-consumer marketing is the consumer’s email address. But earning that email address can require a lot of legwork from the book publisher, from social media marketing to advertising and publicity. instaFreebie attempts to streamline the audience development process for authors and publishers by hosting limited-time ebook giveaways and using data…
After seven-plus years of working remotely from my home office I recently started a new job with a daily commute. It’s actually quite an enjoyable ride and I originally planned to make it even better with a variety of mobile/audio content. Podcasts were at the top of my list but I also figured I could…
The aspiring “lifestyle brand” has been moving away from books for some time. The fiction section at the Barnes & Noble I am writing this dispatch from has retreated roughly 30 feet over the past decade; from my perch I can see board games, R2D2 mugs, chocolates, and, yes, some books, too (mostly written by…
Rather than speculate on what might happen in the ebook sector this year I thought it would be wiser to simply list the developments I’d like to see. So although some, and perhaps all, of these are a long shot, here’s my short list of hopes and wishes for the ebook market in the New…