Marketing

Publishers that correctly match their marketing strategy to their financial objectives perform better than those that do not. But most people continue to use traditional approaches even when they no longer maximize revenue. See if it is time to set new strategies for your business by answering the question, “How satisfied are you with your current revenue and profitability?” The answer gives rise to three different marketing styles:

When a helicopter is at rest, the dials on its dashboard are all askew with arrows pointing in different directions. But when that helicopter is flying straight and level, with no problems, all the arrows are pointing straight up. The pilot can glance at the instrument panel and quickly see if any dials are out of order, indicating that a problem exists. He or she immediately knows when something is wrong without wasting time evaluating that which is working correctly.  

You can apply this same concept to your publishing efforts by setting up a system that quickly points out where marketing problems exist. Once you know what the problem is you can determine its cause and take steps to solve it. At the end of June evaluate your progress toward reaching your goals. This will give you time to make necessary changes to keep you on track to meet your annual objectives.

The Algonquin Hotel in New York is legendary for having been home to the Algonquin Round Table, a meeting of literary minds that included Alexander Woollcott, Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and others. And now the hotel will be part of another literary event: It’s teaming up with publisher Simon & Schuster to create a Simon & Schuster suite and will host a series of readings by writers.

The Jim Henson Company and Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, are reaching out to fans and fantasy writers to enter The Dark Crystal Author Quest, an online contest that will award one winner with a $10,000 contract to write the first book in a new young adult series based on the world of the classic fantasy film. Beginning today, entrants can visit www.darkcrystal.com/authorquest to read contest rules and guidelines and review all the background materials, descriptions, and history needed to create a submission. Entries will be accepted beginning October 1, 2013, and must be received no later than January 1, 2014. The site is a preview of the upcoming official Dark Crystal website, www.darkcrystal.com, that will be the online destination for all things Dark Crystal.

Today is Blumesday. Not the Bloomsday where readers celebrate James Joyce's novel Ulysses — that was Sunday. Today's Blumesday is also a holiday for literature lovers, but of a different sort.

Blumesday creators Joanna Miller and Heather Larimer are writers, and they're pretty well-read. But they were never huge fans of Ulysses. "We sort of self-deprecatingly said, 'Well, the only way we could participate in Bloomsday was if it were Judy Blumesday.' And then the joke turned into, 'Wait, why aren't we doing this?' " Miller explains.

Marketing planning is a tool publishers can use to help them make better decisions during periods of relative uncertainty. It helps them maximize short-term results and build a foundation upon which to grow their future businesses. Underlying this concept are two important considerations. First, planning for rapid and positive cash flow (the velocity of your revenue) is both critical to success and more accurate in the short term. Second, as you reinvest this revenue in your next bevy of titles, you are more likely to increase the amount (volume) of long-term revenue. Here are some suggestions for actions you can take to increase the velocity and volume of your future revenue.

As the story of the National Security Agency secret surveillance program exploded, sales of George Orwell’s “1984” - about a totalitarian state and government monitoring - have shot up on online book seller Amazon.

One description of the book says, “‘Thought Police.’ ‘Big Brother.’ ‘Orwellian’ - these words have entered our vocabulary because of George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel, 1984.

Country Inns & Suites By Carlson announced a partnership with Random House, Inc. to enhance one of the hotel's most popular signature programs, the Read It & Return Lending LibrarySM.

Random House will supply 30,000 books to Country Inns & Suites hotels twice a year in the U.S. and Canada through the partnership. The Read It & Return Lending Library is located in the lobby of each Country Inns & Suites hotel in the U.S. and Canada and includes children's, fiction, mystery/suspense, non-fiction and teen titles.

The new edition of Book Business magazine should be on its way to you — and can also be accessed online, in a full-featured digital edition or via your iPad through our app— was a lot of fun for us to put together. We've got an interview with Matthew Quick, author of The Silver Linings Playbook. We talk to Matt about the publicity process for his debut novel that was adapted into the Academy Award-winning film. We've also got a piece from one of our personal heroes, the great Bill Kasdorf, that demystifies the EPUB 3 ebook file format and helps ensure you're putting it to its best use.

Some tweets to sum up the experience here at BEA 2013, compiled by @bookbusinessmag.