Marketing

The official countdown has begun! There are only ten days left until we kick off this year's Publishing Business Conference & Expo. In the days leading up to the event, be sure to tune into our daily newsletter for more speaker Q&As and exclusive show highlights.

Here's a great new feature we just added to the Publishing Business Conference & Expo: On Monday at 12:15pm in the Expo Hall, bring your book marketing needs to book-marketing gurus Brian Jud and Guy Achtzehn. Right there, on the spot, they'll solve your problem and give you a great, original marketing idea you can put right to use!

M&C Saatchi has launched a collaborative campaign between publishers, bookshops, authors, and agents aimed at booklovers across the UK and Ireland. The national movement - 'Books Are My Bag' - has aimed to celebrate the cultural importance of books and bookshops with a wave of promotional activity around the release of a branded canvas bag.

In anticipation of all the innovative startups you will learn about at our Publishing Business Conference, we would like to introduce you to Bookigee founder Kristen McLean. We are featuring her company's latest offering, WriterCube, in our October issue of Book Business. You can get your hands on the article first at the conference, but to wet your whistle here's a short preview.

App developers will be able to earn between four and six per cent of the cost of purchases with the newly launched Mobile Associates API, which will be available across the Kindle Fire and other Android devices. Previously, Amazon only allowed developers to make money using digital in app purchasing, subscriptions or with mobile ads, and it claims that now developers will be able to monetise their apps and game.

Just like the beloved snack cake Twinkies was rescued from the depths of its owner's bankruptcy, Borders, a longtime staple among retail book stores, is getting a new chance at life thanks to several global companies that snatched up trademarks and intellectual property rights at auction after the brand went bust in 2011. When it was announced recently that Borders would resurface in Singapore before the year's end, book lovers and sellers alike greeted the news with cautious optimism. After all, Borders Singapore-which had operated under the independent Borders

For years, independent bookstores have taken creative steps to fight off challenges from Amazon and the superstores by building in-house espresso bars, hosting members-only lunches with authors and selling birthday cards, toys and trinkets. In 2013, it has come to this: Asking their customers for donations. Crowdfunding is sweeping through the bookstore business, the latest tactic for survival in a market that is dominated by Amazon, with its rock-bottom prices, and Barnes & Noble, with its dizzying in-store selection. It's hardly a sustainable business model; but it buys some time,

The essence of strategic positioning is in action — performing unique activities or performing similar tasks in different ways. Here are three examples:

1. Value-based positioning is founded on the choice of product or service rather than on customer segments. Firms publishing only math textbooks for colleges would illustrate this position as they demonstrate their excellence in one sub-segment of the academic market.

In most publishing houses, marketing and publicity are separate departments. And they should be. Even though each is tasked with book promotion, their methods and responsibilities are actually quite different: Publicity reaches the consumer through the media, and marketing reaches the consumer directly. But just because they're different, it doesn't mean the two departments can't — or shouldn't — work closely together. In fact, in this ever-changing marketplace, they need to work together like never before.

Random House, Inc., announces the relaunch of TasteBook, the online food community and custom cookbook creation site. As the newest member of the publisher’s consumer websites, TasteBook was acquired by Random House late last year. Since then, TasteBook has undergone a major redesign and change in price structure. The new website features a personalized homepage, which allows members to instantly follow and connect with friends while sharing recipes. The homepage also includes a “Recipe of the Day” feature and “TasteBook Recommendations” that share even more recipe ideas with members. TasteBook also introduces a new price model for custom cookbooks, lowering the price of a 25-page recipe book by 30 percent to $24.95. Additional recipes can be purchased for $.20 each and added to the book at any time.