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IN THIS ISSUE:
Publishing Industry News
Marketing and Distribution
Trade Show News
Family Businesses
http://www.idealog.com/blog/family-businesses
Posted by Mike Shatzkin on June 24, 2009
The New York Times had a story on Tuesday morning about an advantage the Ford Motor Company had over its competitors at GM and Chrysler: it is still family-owned. As the Times explained, the family ownership was able to take a longer view than their competitors. In fact, we still don’t know whether the re-tooling the family has ordered up will work in the long run. But we do know that they have had a steadier and more far-sighted management because the family cared about the long-term health of the business, not just the next quarter’s profits.
Now I’m working with another family business called BookMasters in Ashland, Ohio. BookMasters started out as a printer in the 1960s. Their operations have grown in both directions along the value chain from printing. They have a business, BookMasters Digital, that provides an XML workflow from concept to the press. And they have another division, BookMasters Distribution, that takes the output from the presses and provides warehousing, sales, fulfillment, and collection. The Wurster family who owns BookMasters has many business characteristics in common with the Wileys, Riggios, and Ingrams. They have a high degree of loyalty with many long-standing employees. They have a persistent commitment to operational excellence. And they have a high degree of strategic consistency: they are willing to build things over a long period of time.
John Ingram saw over a decade ago that the book wholesaling business Ingram was in was living on borrowed time. He saw Lightning Source as a bridge to the future. Dave Wurster knows that printing is not a growth industry and he’s building his bridge to sustainability with service offerings that expand his importance to his customer base. Over time, both of these family owners can see the possibility of a totally transformed business. Their focus primarily is on how to make sure their business survives a long time, not on immediate profit. In a time of great change, I believe it’s a competitive edge.
Pre/Post-Publication Marketing
It’s never too early to plan the marketing of your new book. In the book industry, there are two critical periods for book marketing; pre- and post-publication marketing. Pre-publication marketing is done at least 6 months prior to the publication date. During this critical time, marketing efforts are geared toward the booksellers themselves. These are the people who may review your book or may order it into their stores. Booksellers make their buying decisions according to what will be published 6 months out. They
look that far ahead. If a title comes in to them that has already been published, most will not consider buying it.
Pre-Publication marketing services offered by AtlasBooks include:
- Sending advance copies to industry book reviewers
- Advertising in trade publications
- Trade show representation
- Publicity material and distribution
- E-Flyer/Flyer mailings to independent bookstores
To learn more about Pre-Publication ...
Booksellers are always interested in the amount of marketing a publisher is willing to put behind their author’s new title. If the publisher is not willing to promote a title, it’s not up to a bookseller to do so.
Unfortunately, many first-time authors get too far ahead of themselves with the excitement of releasing their title. It is important not to rush this process because once the window of opportunity is gone to create excitement about your book, you can never go back and re-do things. Once your book has been released, your focus should then move to consumers.
Post-Publication marketing should be the second step in marketing your new title. This is aimed at creating consumer awareness. This process should begin approximately 1 month prior to your publication date. The main focus of Post-Publication marketing is to get your book off of the shelves and into the hands of the consumer.
Post-Publication marketing services offered by AtlasBooks include:
- Radio-TV interview report
- Online marketing services
- Clarion book review
- Stu Taylor Radio Interview
- BookPage advertising
To learn more about Post-Publication ...
We try to make sure we are guiding all our publishers in the right direction, from cover design and binding type to marketing and publicity. If you would like to work with the AtlasBooks marketing department on any aspect of marketing your title, please contact your account representative to find out which services are right for your book.
American Library Association Conference 2009
The American Library Association’s Conference - known as the oldest, largest, and best-attended conference for the library marketplace - is fast approaching. This year’s annual conference will be held in Chicago at McCormick Place West, July 11th through July 14th. Librarians who attend are leaders from public, academic, school, private, and special libraries. In 2008, this conference drew a crowd of over 10,000 attendees with that same amount registered to appear at this year’s event.
For more information, visit www.ala.org.
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Upcoming Events
8/14/2009 - 8/15/2009
Independent Book Publishers Association/Midwest Independent Publishers Association Regional Publishing University; Embassy Suites, airport location, Minnesota. Topic: Publishing matters. For more information visit www.mipa.org or call Marly Cornell at 651-917-0021.
9/23/2009 – 9/25/2009
Society of Scholarly Publishing IN Meeting; Hotel Providence, Providence, RI. For more information visit http://sspnet.org
9/24/2009 – 9/26/2009
Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association Show; Crown Plaza Hotel – Denver International Airport, Denver, CO. For more information visit www.mountainsplains.org
9/25/2009 – 9/27/2009
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Meeting and Trade Exhibit; Carolina First Center, Greenville SC. For more information visit www.sibaweb.org
9/26/2009
Midwest Booksellers Association Show; Roy Wilkins Auditorium at RiverCentre, Saint Paul, MN. For more information visit www.midwestbooksellers.org
10/1/2009 – 10/3/2009
New England Independent Booksellers Association Show; Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford, CT. For more information visit www.newenglandbooks.org
10/4/2009
Book & Author Festival – San Luis Obispo, CA. For more information, contact Rebecca Juretic at 805-541-5070.
10/8/2009 – 10/10/2009
Northern California Booksellers Association Show; Oakland Convention Center, Oakland, CA. For more information, visit www.nciba.com
10/14/2009 – 10/18/2009
Frankfurt Book Fair; The Messe, Frankfurt, Germany. The largest international book fair in the world. Visit us at the fair at stand 80 R905. For more information visit www.frankfurtbookfair.com
10/30/2009 – 10/31/2009
Author 101 University: A Crash Course in Publishing Success; Las Vegas, NV. For more information visit www.author101university.com
This calendar was up-to-date and accurate as of July 15, 2009. Information was culled from a number of sources. BookMasters cannot be held liable for the accuracy of the information within. Please visit the listed Web sites for more information.
