Discoverability, the buzzword du jour among book publishers, is a crucial part of book marketing. But it makes up only half of an effective digital marketing campaign, contends Mark Schroeder, chairman and co-founder of social marketing tool Find My Audience. The other half of the marketing puzzle is what Schroeder calls "findability." Discoverability is a passive strategy, argues Schroeder, that uses metadata and SEO so that readers can find the books they want, whereas findability is an active strategy that attempts to qualify potential readers so that publishers can target them directly. "Both discoverability and findability should be two key pillars of any publisher's marketing plan," says Schroeder.
This year's IDPF Digital Book Conference theme marks a significant shift in book publishing strategy. "Put the reader first," was a phrase mentioned throughout the day's sessions, urging attendees give their consumers greater agency and in a sense catch up to other entertainment industries that are already empowering their audience. By utilizing digital content channels, publishers can interact with readers more easily than ever before and measure that interaction. This shift is steadily gaining momentum in the industry and leading publishers, including HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, shared strategies and technology they have employed to understand who their audiences are and how to get them reading.
Curation is a term that is thrown around a lot, observed Michael Bhaskar during the first session of the IDPF Digital Book Conference in New York. "Usually by hipsters who talk about curating the cat pictures on their Instagram page," he added. But curation for publishers means so much more. Bhaskar, who is releasing a new book entitled Curation: How the Power of Selection is Managing Overload, argued that curation is an unavoidable part of publishing's future because there are simply too many books. "One of the biggest problems we don't think about in publishing is abundance."
The best content curators have extensive topic knowledge and a knack for reader interests and preferences. That sounds like something only a living, breathing human can do, right? While that's largely the case today, I believe technology will drive the biggest advancements in content curation tomorrow.
Traditional book-marketing strategies are dying. The placement of a book in a bookstore window doesn't have the same impact it did ten years ago. In this new world of constant technological noise, how do you successfully market a new book?
The initial promise is compelling, especially for voracious readers. For $10-$15/month consumers get access to more content than they could possibly read in a month. That ultimately creates a bigger problem than the subscription platforms probably realize. For more than a year now I've been a subscriber to both Oyster, for books, and Next Issue,…
You could argue that the biggest challenge for a company like Evernote is finding ways to convert more freeloaders into paying customers. It's a tricky business situation and something that's totally foreign to book publishers.
Why aren't book publishers exploring more viable ways to acquire customers with free content and then converting them into paying customers?
Ever since ebooks gained traction the publishing industry has obsessed with what's typically referred to as "the discovery problem." The common wisdom is that discovery of the content will lead to fame and fortune.
I believe digital content's main challenge is more about efficiency, less about discovery, and my inspiration for this point of view comes from a totally unrelated business: the coffee industry.
Although some have hailed Oyster's decision to launch an ebook store allowing users to purchase titles à-la-carte, there is reason to meet this decision with some skepticism. Previously a subscription-only service, similar to Bookmate and Scribd, Oyster has launched its new ebook store in conjunction with new deal announcements with Penguin Random House and Hachette, publishers that have famously resisted making their titles made available through subscription services. With this latest move, Oyster has effectively blinked first -- bowing to the pressures of major publishers -- arguably weakening the position of ebook subscription services.
Oyster started as an all-you-can-read ebook subscription service but they recently decided to expand their reach by selling individual ebooks as well. There's been plenty of speculation on why they made this move, including catching up to competitors like Scribd and Amazon. While the competitive point is valid, I think there are two more important reasons for this move: sustainability and customer loyalty.
