Marketing

Based on my 25 years as a participant in, and consultant to, the publishing industry, I estimate that more than 90% of independent publishers seek sales only through retail buyers (primarily bookstores), both bricks and clicks. If you are in that category, you are significantly reducing your ability to reach and sustain profitable growth.

More and more university presses are using video content to promote academic books and their authors, with some turning to YouTube as a marketing platform.

Once the decision is made to conduct a promotional campaign, the process to find the best item begins by talking with potential suppliers (coffee mugs, apparel, hats, books) for their ideas and prices. Once the buyers have reduced the list to a final few, they may ask the finalists to offer something more. Those not familiar with the negotiation process usually offer a price concession, and thereby lose the sale. Here are Ten Tips for Choosing a Tiebreaker and Closing More Sales.

Following the announcement of a website devoted to the world of business books in early February, today Simon & Schuster launched a publisher-agnostic website dedicated to the "discovery of favorite books." Off the Shelf will highlight previously published books through a daily original review or essay centered on a title released at least one year earlier.

In February, social media chatter was dominated by films inspired by books—six of the top 10 most-discussed books have movie adaptations either in theaters or in the works.

The number of independent bookshops gracing British high streets has fallen below 1,000 - a third fewer than nine years ago, amid cut-throat competition from supermarkets, Amazon and ebooks.

Booksellers warned that the health of the publishing industry was at risk as new figures revealed more than 500 independent outlets have shut since 2005.

Traditional thinking has a powerful undertow. Well-meaning friends, colleagues or even family members may discourage you from "rocking the boat." But in today's rapidly changing marketplace, holding steady really means falling behind. Move, evaluate, adapt, strategize and move again. Act like a professional boxer as you bob and weave, looking for weak points in your adversaries' strategies on which to launch your competitive attack.

As we move forward into the ever-changing digital content world, publishers have to ask themselves what type of subscription model will dominate in the future. Publishers are used to the simple individual model, where a consumer buys access for a single title (e.g., newspaper or magazine).

Why don't more publishers seek sales in non-bookstore markets where they can sell more books more profitably? One theory is that they are skilled at executing clearly defined strategies but are not comfortable applying out-of-the-box thinking. Or, when a new idea does emerge it is usually doomed because the publisher is organized to support one way of doing business and doesn't have the organization to support a new one, i.e., special sales. Here are Ten Ways to Search for New Business Opportunities and Still Stay in Your Comfort Zone

There is a comparison to be made (surprisingly, and even absurdly), between the growth of the publishing industry-aggregate commercial and indie-and the growth of Apple during its famous expansion from IPods to IPhones and IPads. Just like business analysts were surprised that Apple's (sometimes similar) products didn't cannibalize each other to a significant degree-and indeed, seemed to accelerate each others growth-the boom in best-selling indie titles has not hurt the mainstream publishing industry, but has potentially helped it.