Publishr

Is this a crisis of identity or an identity crisis? (Part I)

 
The three most significant conversations that I had during and/or leading up to BEA this year were:

• First, about strategy. And, more specifically, about the gaming industry and how they’ve moved (or are in the process of shifting) from charging everyone for software to giving out software for free, then using their now wired consoles to glean data about usage. As people try out a new game, many will trail off and not continue to play. But, those who do, those identified as “super users” will, when they reach a certain point in the game, be prompted to purchase a serial number to unlock the rest of the game. This system is based on building up engaged users of digital content and then asking them to pay for something they’ve in which they’ve already made a significant time investment. Also, it promotes discovering new games by users who would normally have been deterred by the cost of entry.


• Second, about content. And, more specifically, about paying for content. The comment I heard was this: “No one wants to pay for content. No one has ever wanted to pay for content. People will pay for access to content. Not for the content itself.”


• Third, about value. And, more specifically, about how to create and add value with regards to content. Brian O’Leary was kind enough to relate to me his thoughts on content value as it pertains to blogging. 

All of these conversations made me think: How is publishing creating a content strategy that brings added value to the customer? Currently, with regards to digital offerings, I would argue that we are not. In fact, I would argue that as we shift into a digital universe we have yet to discover our value proposition. With retailers publishing (Amazon), eBook self-pub systems in place, authors going it alone, and piracy, I wonder how we fit into the equation.

Many arguments are made daily about how to rectify this. From publishers tightening their grip on content, to editors becoming brands, to publishers taking steps toward becoming content curators, to strategies about how and when to withhold digital formats to ‘stick it to the man,’ many ‘solutions’ have been offered, but none touch on the real problem at hand: What is the value proposition of a publishing house in a digital world?

With social media, access to online marketing tools, and low cost of entry into sales channels, what does the publishing house bring to the equation? Are we merely a pusher that moves a pile of papers from one space to another? Are we actually effective in what we say we are effective in doing? And, perhaps most importantly, do we serve our readers as best we can with the current state of affairs?

In the end, we need to take a hard look at ourselves and ask what we are bringing to the table. There are many new models to explore, and many new ways to provide content to readers. Perhaps we would be best served by letting go of our print mindset and heritage and allowing exploration to happen naturally.

What an eBookstore could (and should) be: Data collection, device sharing and the customized shelf

Direct-to-consumer sales is something publishers have never done right. Most publishers’ websites provide an inferior user-experience as an eCommerce tool through either substandard platforms or not understanding how to sell books to readers. Amazon’s pricing matrix undercuts almost every publisher who sold their books online at full retail price, so what would entice a consumer to buy from us? Recently, though, publishers have been toying with the idea of direct-to-consumer sales, particularly in regards to eBooks. This is one version of what an eBookstore might look like.

Currently, publishers are at the mercy of retailers with whom we have relationships based on our print books to sell our eBooks as well. With warehousing and distribution, amongst other things, a non-issue, could we sell our own eBooks and do it in a strategic way?

Here is a simplified version of what I would like to see:

Component 1: Sales Mechanism

Most every publisher has access to an online sales mechanism these days. (Or will in the very near future.) Whether you go it alone with a tech build, play along with Google Editions, which launches later this year, or go with another vendor (such as Libre Digital’s new “Sky Shelf”), you can, and should, sell eBooks directly to your consumers. Of course, this requires vertical/niche alignment and some sort of brand awareness. Or does it? While this may be over-simplifying: couldn’t SEO, paid search, serious online marketing (based on interlinking, link backs, building pipelines, and constant monitoring of analytics), and shifting PR thrust toward the online space essentially drive traffic to your own website where these books are available?

Here’s the point: a serious eCommernce sales mechanism can be created, with or without the interference (read: revenue share) of a third party at various levels of interference.

Component 2: Device sharing

TC does not equal TP.

In certain ways, when we start looking at content as content, the hardcover v. paperback discussion becomes obsolete. While the argument is that buying a hardcover does not give you access to the paperback, there is no such distinction in the digital world. There are no hardcovers or paperbacks, and we need to stop emulating these print distinctions in our digital products today. Digital publishing has its own set of challenges and opportunities; yet, we keep struggling in vain to make a print model work online. Content should be made to share on devices just as people can share print books in the physical space. Whether this means DRM or DRM-free, that should be a policy decision per publishing house based on content types and how your audiences interact. There are ways to find the happy medium in the DRM question, but to do so, we need to get past the idea that eBooks will have the same market realities, sales patterns, and characteristics as print books.

Component 3: Data Collection

What if we just asked our customers directly what they want? There is no need to be coy about it.

The two biggest perks of direct-to-consumer are that no one takes a cut out of your profits and data collection. In the immediate, the former is a more powerful draw. However, when considering longevity of your business and what will drive future sales, data wins out every time.

So, you own your own eCommerce site, now what? Include an order form field for your customer to input a username or handle. (More on this in a bit.) Collect their email addresses for your newsletter or email campaigns. Collect all the data you can. Ask them to fill out a survey. Get to know your customer. Reward them: show them about brand loyalty by putting the next product in their hands directly. Get to know them more. Ask your customer directly what books they want to read. Ask your customer how they want to interact with you and how they want you to interact with them.

But, that’s not all. Learn the ins and outs of analytics. Study buying patterns through customer behavior on your site. What terms are they using to find your site? (These can be used to improve your paid search campaigns.) What pages are they looking at? What books are they browsing? Are they taking the time to browse through titles or do they know exactly what they want?
Then, add another layer. You can gather data from allowing sharing as well. How can you collect data on the person who is accepting the file from your customer? Maybe the file was emailed to this second person, who may now become a customer as well, if you follow up. Maybe the person accepting the file from your customer has to enter their email address in order to unlock the content. Perhaps you could offer your direct customer a free eBook or excerpt for sharing with a friend. They provide the word of (digital) mouth and you put the next product in their hands.

There are a multitude of answers for the question of data collection, and about as many layers and ways to go about doing it. The objective is to use what is already in the marketplace to glean evermore information about your customers and use this information to provide them with a better product, a superior experience in the future, as well a create brand loyalty to your products.

Component 4: Personalized Bookshelf

Remember when your customer entered their name or set up a username or handle at the time of purchase? What if this username or handle triggered a URL to be created? What if this URL was personalized to include the username as entered by your customer? What is the URL was something like ‘username.publishername.com’?

So, let’s say I buy an eBook from IndieHaus Publishing. In addition to a link provided immediately to download my eBook, let’s say I receive a notice via email with a link to bsandusky.indiehaus.com. I visit this URL and, there are links to the eBook I’ve purchased for downloads on all the different supported devices available. And, in addition to links to the eBook I’ve just bought, there are suggestions as to other books I may be interested in. And, other formats of the same book available for purchase, like the audiobook, for example. Or maybe a free video of the author. Then, when I buy another book, this book gets added to my custom URL bookshelf. From time to time, I get rewarded with new products, previews and exclusive digital content.

The possibilities are endless with digital assets. 

Component 5: Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics is really the glue that brings this plan all together. Not only can we learn more about our audiences through predictive analytics, but we can also heighten sales. This is where book suggestions on each customer’s personalized bookshelf are formulated. But, more importantly, this is a virtual treasure chest of information about our customers. Right now, our accounts own this data. They know what people are buying and what their likely next purchases will be. But, what if we owned that data? We could use it to shape new acquisitions. Remember the data we were collecting above with a survey? What if we included a few questions meant to provide insight which could be applied to building out a model for predictive analytics? The same holds true of the analytics and data we could glean based on simple observation of customer behavior on our web properties. If we used in the right way, the entire process would become rather cyclical: publishers provide products, observe behaviors and gather information from our customers, publishers use knowledge provided by customers to make better products and better targeted products for our customers. Repeat.

* * *

None of this is new. The difference here is ownership and control. The opportunity for publishers to exponentially expand their knowledge about our customers by merely observing and interacting with those customers we already have is huge. The opportunity to have a model, based on real world data, shape our publishing programs is larger still. Instead of us taking a risk on content that we think our customers would like, we are asking them to tell us what they want before we spend the time and money to produce it.

XML as business model: What if we simply stopped playing by the (archaic) rules?

This past week, publishers across the board essentially told their accounts that current contracts would not be honored. Publishers leveraged Apple’s contract for the new iBookstore to strong arm other accounts to fall in line with a new model. Thus begins the Agency Model experiment. Accounts, after panicking, played along, and now everyone is (seemingly) happy. But, what exactly did publishers gain by rewriting the rules of engagement in two days?

Many have voiced the opinion that the consequences of such hasty settlement are going to be felt sharply and for a long time. I tend to agree. In fact, I think the biggest mistake made by publishers quick to push new contracts through was the mistake of near-sightedness. Rapidity beat out thoughtfulness, a little foresight, and strategic planning.

Here’s why: The terms of these contracts were adapted from terms written for print products, with adjusted syntax to accommodate the realities of digital products.

also

Control over pricing is not the only issue to consider.

This makes no sense whatsoever. If publishers want to move beyond putting out sub-par digital products only for the sake of being represented in the marketplace, we are going to have to start running our digital business like a business. We need to build business models that make sense for digital products. This includes new contracts and terms, not offshoots of print contracts and print terms; rather, we need a digital starting point when making the rules that will govern digital products.
Let’s take a step back for a minute. Let’s say print didn’t exist. Let’s say we only had digital publishing as a reference. Then, what would the contracts look like? What would we think of the royalty system versus revenue shares? What would we demand of our accounts? How would we deal with pricing? How would we build a dynamic business?

So much of what our print business is predicated upon simply does not apply to digital products: returns, reprints, sell-in, shelving, warehousing, reorders, section buyers. So, what if we just threw all the rules out the window and started anew?

* * *

A year ago, publishers finally got the message that XML was the way of the future in terms of content. Right now, most publishing houses have reorganized their workflow to reflect this change; although publishers are in various stages of implementation, there has been an industry-wide acceptance to incorporate XML into the language of publishing as a primary factor in how we relate to content we acquire.

Now is the time to start the conversation for a change in digital business model. In a year from now, our digital businesses will look nothing like they do today. The things about XML that make it appropriate for content are also the things that make its principles appropriate for a digital business model: XML is modular, nimble, strategic, and data-rich.

Modular: Sometimes called ‘chunkable’ content, the modularity of XML content is one of its most important features. The ability to move content pieces around effortlessly is one of cornerstones of the argument to adopt XML conversion. The same should be true of a digital business plan. We need to come up with different modules that work together and separately, that let us define the most appropriate set of terms and circumstances under which to operate reflective of the product offering. For example, we could create an ‘eBook’ module, an ‘app’ module, a ‘print book’ module, and a ‘chapter excerpt’ module. Then, when we acquire content, we could say: this will become and eBook, a print book and an app, but we will not be selling a chapter excerpt. Done: three modules are combined and we have a plan to work with. Rev shares, royalties, terms, partners and more would be defined in the separate modules thus providing a roadmap for each iteration conceivable for content.

Nimble: The digital game is inherently nimble. Embracing the quick-paced shifts that take place across the internet can only be done by adopting a business model that has provisions for these changes. This is the exact opposite of what we have now with our physical book products sitting in bricks and mortar retail stores. Yesterday, eBooks didn’t exist, so they were ignored in business models. Today, they are being hastily written in. But, what about tomorrow? What will exist tomorrow that we didn’t write in today?
Again, a modular business model as described above would be, by nature, nimble. Instead of having to rewrite entire contracts and revise entire businesses, we could simply add a module that defines the rules bearing on a new product of which we previously had no conception. New products could be integrated into the larger mix with little or no disruption for publishers or accounts.

Strategic: Right now, business models in this industry are reflective only of that which we are able to see today. This is the earlier mentioned problem of near-sightedness. If we want to be able to adapt to future innovations in our industry, strategy needs to be considered now! Take a look at the cell phone industry. The first cell phone was a clunky grey box that was bigger than a person’s head. Less than 20 years later, we all carry around mini computers with integrated cameras which we call phones because they make calls, too. The grey box phone is where we are at with eBook technology; we’ve only just begun. If you cannot foresee the future, and how quickly it is going to move, you’re already dead.

Data-rich: One of the best aspects about XML is its ability to store useful data along with content that has absolutely nothing to do with face value usage. This metadata is secreted away in tags which, essentially, aggregate themselves through use of content management systems (a pivotal milestone in any successful XML workflow). As each file gets used by those who touch it along its path to publication, tags gather and help make the content searchable and more exploitable in the future. This is equally possible with our business models. We need to start storing data in the modules themselves as to how each one can be applied, when it is appropriate to use, the types of products to which it applies. Terms for each module that not only defines it, but defines how it interacts with the other modules can be carried in each module separately. Pricing matrices, for example, could be stored in each module.

* * *

One thing upon which we can, perhaps, agree: A year from today, the digital landscape will be unrecognizable. We need to address this today, not in a year as we just did with our digital contracts. Scrambling for impossible deadlines, not taking the time to think things through, and making significant changes in our business within less than a week are not ways to move forward in a smart way.

Expanding the Marketing Reach: Establishing new touch points in digital product development

New products demand new ways of thinking. Right now, most publishing houses are creating “straight conversions” of their content in order to make it available on eReader devices. Others have begun to think about functionality and how they can improve the user experience of reading eBooks. But, what about marketing having a say in product development?

The current print cycle goes something like this: editorial acquires a “title”, receives a manuscript which they then edit (with everything that entails), then sends said manuscript to production who oversees copyediting and typesetting. Production subsequently shuttles the manuscript to manufacturing. In the meantime, the design group is designing a cover which ends up in at manufacturing at the same time as the manuscript does. Some time around the production and manufacturing phases (often depending on the title) marketing and publicity start a campaign to raise awareness and promote the title. Many times, sales result for the marketing department’s ability to get the book into the right hands (read: in the hands of reviewers) and for the requisite buzz to be created in the market place. Sadly, the same seems to be the process with eBook production.

What if we started using the functionality offered to us by eBooks and eReaders in a strategic way? In fact, even minor changes made to metadata for eBooks and small considerations from the marketing department before the development phase of an eBook can boost sales.

Some things to consider

• SEO: How can you heighten searchability of eBook titles through data, content and metadata? With a digital product, you have to consider that the only distribution will be online, which is governed by rules of search. Consumers are not going to find your book just because it’s there; like any other web property, you must drive traffic to your eBooks in order for them to sell. Whether we are selling direct to consumer on your website or through Amazon, Sony, BN.com or Apple, it is imperative that we as publishers lead our consumers to our products. Upon quick glance: titles should be adapted for search optimization, metadata should be vetted by marketing for SEO opportunities and tweaking, content itself should be optimized for search. Ideally, the entirety of eBooks content would be written with SEO principles in mind. While this is not always possible, many times new introductions, epilogues, postscripts, conclusions and connective matter are created for eBooks that are different from their print counterparts. These items can be exploited. It is also possible to hide keywords in the proverbial front- and back-matter, regardless of where they appear in an eBook.

• BISAC: If you are considering SEO and product development, BISAC just became your best friend. For a publisher’s print business, BISAC is important to ensure that your book is shelved in the right place in a bricks and mortar retail store. But, when there are no shelves, BISAC categories are literally extra bits of information that defines you book, yet rarely will show up on an online retailer’s product page. Every eBook should have three (as) diverse (as possible) yet pertinent BISAC categories, to cover the gamut of possible demographic groups.

• Marketing as content: Can strategic marketing be inserted in between chapters? Is the (incredibly) soft sell an option? How about ‘back ads’? Every eBook, just like it’s print counterpart, has a natural progression with breaks in the text. How can marketing exploit these digital nooks and crannies to gently remind customers of other products in which they might be interested? This strategy is delicate to execute, but could pay off nicely: if the consumer is oblivious to you marketing to them in this way, you’re doing it right.

• Customization: While it seems that no one has been able to collect substantial user data yet, data is coming and it’s coming quickly. Publishers are beginning to crack the nut of what could be a proverbial treasure trove of user data. As new data and user analytics roll in, product development should be consistently (and nimbly) adapting to integrate trends and stay ahead of future developments. Data analysis and market research leads to better understanding our customer; this is our opportunity to deliver a truly customized product. Also, what about custom bundling of products with other products or other formats? The technology needed to offer dynamic bundling is possible now.

• Bridging the gap: The eBook market is a virtual playground for experimentation and innovation within our business. While editorial may be experimenting with new contracts and royalty structures, marketing should be experimenting with new ways of reaching audiences, growing audiences and maintaining audiences. New opportunities present themselves every day, new technology makes things possible that was not possible just one week before. One area that has huge potential is the offline-online campaign; combining components and both offline and online elements to create a truly interactive campaign. This is something that has yet to be done in a successful way, and is an area of almost infinite opportunity with regards to digital products.

• Incentives and loyalty: eBooks are a great way of creating brand loyalty: the cost of entry is low and the the delivery method simple and cost-free (for all intents and purposes). In regards to their customers, more then ever, publishers should consider putting the next product in their hand. Why not offer two for one? Or offer a survey which leads to data gathering and better demographic information? Because of the costs involved, we can not only afford to give away free copies of our eBooks, but we are teaching our customers to come back to us for digital products when they are ready for more.

In terms of digital books, the rules have yet to be defined. While the marketing department may not have had such breadth of reach into product development in the past, it’s time to start breaking the conventional rules of print publishing and experiment beyond anything that we ever dreamed possible with print matter. The ideas laid out above are merely the tip of the iceberg of what can and should be possible within our new digital business plans. It seems that the greatest barrier to entry to becoming strategic digital publishers is getting past the “that’s the way it’s always been done” sentiment. However, the major flaw in that argument is this: when it comes to eBooks there is no “way it’s always been done.” It’s the wild wild West, now go and find some gold.

Publishing + BDSM: Finding a safeword

Publishing houses were quick to recognize the need for a digital marketing force, and have subsequently been lethargic in implementing impactful changes. The one thing I hear over and over again from digital marketers in publishing is a variant of the same argument, “our hands are tied.”

 “We have the ideas, but we can’t get the go-ahead to execute.”

 “There’s no money in our budget to invest in the web.”

 And, yet, I keep hearing that everyone in publishing must be working in some digital capacity lest we cease to exist.

I am going to come out and say it: face value on the internet alone is strictly not going to sell books. I have seen no examples of social media channels moving the needle in terms of point of sale (POS) numbers for any recent titles that have been written by non-celebrity authors. Period. (I have asked, repeatedly, for any evidence of this and have been met with silence.)

Having a Twitter feed, setting up a Facebook fan page, creating small pockets of engagement on social media platforms, reaching out to bloggers (the new book reviewers) – these things are merely the cost of entry into the game of digital marketing; they are not an ultimate objective.

The ultimate objective is to sell books. And, to sell books online, we need conversion. We need people to click on buy buttons and to enter credit card numbers. We need people to receive shipments of books in corrugated boxes.

How do we go about this? Digital marketing. (Read: by investing time and energy and money into the internet.)

The publishing industry has never had to do direct to consumer marketing in the past. We let the bookstores, independent booksellers, and the newspapers do that for us. We just had to convince a book buyer to take enough copies of the rest was taken care of. This is, fortunately, no longer the case, at a time when the greatest tools for direct to consumer outreach are readily available.

A few points to consider:

• Those who are going to “win big” for simply being online have already done so; at least until the next big thing comes around, and then there will be a whole new group of big winners.
• Being on Twitter, maintaining a blog, and having a Facebook fan page are examples of face-value or passive marketing tactics that do not drive substantial sales.
• ‘Playing the game’ by being involved on a face-value level, all the while using these sites as strategic tools to push sales is one example of active marketing.
• SEO is of the utmost importance to marketing campaigns
• The power and possibilities of the RSS feed is of the utmost importance to marketing campaigns
• Building pipelines and creating the necessary drivers of traffic are of the utmost importance to marketing campaigns
• Finding a logical way to determine ROI of our online campaigns is of the utmost importance
• We *must* bring the idea of conversion (back) into the conversation. Conversion is the necessary follow up to building a vibrant community.

I truly believe that there will be a major shift in focus amongst digital marketing teams in publishing. Those still working primarily in the social media sphere will have to learn about driving traffic through custom built pipelines from all corners of the virtual world to one or multiple special destinations which are constructed for conversion to take place. This is how eCommerce functions outside of publishing, why are we so late to the game? (Sidebar: This is perhaps why we are so vulnerable to Amazon’s every whim and desire – they understand eCommerce infinitely better than we do.)

We must also discontinue our collective ignorance of analytics, numbers, sales analysis, digital P&Ls, and ROI. It’s time for the marketing team to integrate numbers into our creative campaigns. We have to watch these things like hawks and take advantage of the nimble nature of online campaigning to make the user-experience as simple and streamlined as possible at all times.

There is, however, another element to consider: the publishing house. As of yet, publishing houses, as a whole, have been awful at taking the necessary steps needed to move this industry forward.

We know that traditional marketing does not work.

We know that the answer is online.

Yet, somehow, digital marketing departments have been unable to implement much in terms of innovation. There is risk in innovation, we know; there is risk in trying something new, but we have to take that (HUGE!) plunge, lest we get nowhere. Now is the time.

Publishers, it’s time to fully embrace technology (*gasp*) and let the marketing team step up to the plate. It’s time to stop funneling money into traditional publicity and moving it toward web development. It’s time to start running a digital business. [More on this in a later post.]

A new business means new teams and new objectives.

In today’s world, no one’s role should be static. In an ideal publishing house, the digital team can and should be responsible for business development online, marketing, advertising, even, dare I say it, creating revenue streams from various web properties. Our strategy should encompass selling product, not just gathering the biggest email list, or getting the most people to sign up for a newsletter, or getting tons of hits on a blog. 

So, I revert back to the concept of safeword. Currently, we are in a state of being tied up, unable to move, inert. What is it going to take so that our houses are going to let us go and move forward? As sales continue to plummet for most shelves, we need to start acting now. It is time to move from sub to dom, from passive to active, from concept to execution, from inertia to making this a great, dynamic industry both online and off.