#digitalbookselling

[3flyingpenguins]

Lesson Summary: Week eight

Following on from last week’s blog, this week we will be taking a look at digital bookselling.

Online Retailers

Most online retailers are also successful chain book stores (such as Waterstone’s and Barnes and Noble), but there are some solely online retailers.

Amazon

AbeBooks

Alibris

Bookstore.co.uk

Sites such as Abebooks and Alibris sell second hand books, and almost all dedicated online bookstores offer substantial discounts.

Amazon

Amazon is undoubtedly the biggest online retailer of books. Created by Jeff Bezos in 1994, Amazon was first called Cadabra, but the name was changed in order to exploit search engine optimisation. The company went online as Amazon.com in 1995.

Following success in online retail, Amazon aimed to capitalise on its dominance and first released the Kindle in 2007. In 2009 they launched their own publishing unit, however this has been less successful.

George Packer’s New Yorker Expose threw up some interesting statistics which demonstrate its power in the book market (a link to the article is below):

$5.25 billion: current annual revenue from book sales, accounting for 7% of the company’s $75 billion total yearly revenue

19.5% of all books sold in the U.S. are Kindle titles.

53%: The effective discount Amazon receives from Random House on its books.

14: The number of workers Amazon employs for every $10 million in revenue it generates.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2014/02/10/amazon-vs-book-publishers-by-the-numbers/

How has bookselling evolved?

The digitisation of bookselling has a number important factors:

Amazon is seizing control by becoming reliable and reputable

Consumer interaction with eBooks can yield valuable user data.

Self-publishers are realising there is value in co-opting the traditional model

These factors, alongside economic downturn and the effect of deep discounting, are contributing to the decline of physical bookstores.

On the other hand, digital gives publishers more analytics allowing them to provide better services to their customers.

Amazon: The Good and the Bad

It’s not fair to see Amazon as an evil, as many people do. It started out as a bookstore, and it encourages many people to read both through its pricing and the Kindle.

However, it is creating a monopoly, therefore forcing publishers to give heavy discounts or run the risk of losing profits.

Books Vs Other Media

Recent comments by Markus Dohle (CEO of Penguin Random House) warned that Amazon are not the biggest threat to the publishing industry. Issues with discoverability means that books are competing with other media such as Netflix.

He argues that there should be a focus on increasing reach and creating awareness to sustain the relevance of books. One way of doing this is to communicate more directly with consumers to ensure that the public choses books over other media.

Next Week: Alternative Publishing

[plereview]

Penguin Random House Launches 'MY INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP'

It has come to our attention that Penguin Random House have launched a new 'consumer book recommendation website' that allows author interaction as well as the recommendations of consumer's favourite reads. The idea is that of a 'virtual bookshop', and this highlights the new and exciting ways that digitally, the Publishing Industry is enhancing digitally. It was Penguin Random House's Digital Publisher, Dan Franklin, who reportedly launched the platform. 

The motive behind the concept of the platform is to encourage consumers, authors, and all lovers of books, to discuss and recommend each other with new and exciting books, no matter how popular the author or publisher. Readers can buy the books recommended to them digitally through a wholesalers which is linked to over 350 Independent Bookshops in the UK, which therefore also gives Bookshops a commission of 5%, leading to all parties within the industry benefiting from the new platform. 

Sounds like a great idea to us, and we cannot wait until it launches to the public!

A more detailed report from The Bookseller is found here:

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/prh-launches-my-independent-bookshop.html

[plereview]

Marketing & Publicity - Digital VS Traditional

Following on from the first post about digitisation within the publishing industry, digital and traditional marketing and publicity is an important subject matter when producing publishing works within the industry. 

When marketing any type of published works the advertising, distribution, market research among many others should be crucially considered when publishing a product. Marketing creates the brand image and encourages a loyal shareholder and customer base. 

Digital market however uses devices such as computers, mobile phones, and many other electronic devices in order to create direct and indirect marketing. Digital marketing, E marketing and Internet marketing are all used to achieve a company's marketing objectives through these technologies. 

Publishers can market through distribution channels such as bookstores, libraries, supermarkets, gift shops, online retailers and many more. Publishers can use E marketing (digital marketing) as well as traditional marketing strategies in order to place the works in the eyes of consumers.

Publishers use a number of marketing techniques in order to achieve positive feedback and sales from consumers. Ten promotional materials that they use to do so are featured below:

1) Direct Mail 

2) E Publications

3) Electronic Business Cards

4) Websites

5) Social Media

6) Blogs

7) Virtual Tours

8) Websites 

9) Videos

10) Online Book Trailers

As well as the above, online E Marketing techniques such as Search Engine Marketing, Pay-per-click, online advertising, social networking and email marketing can attract consumers from a range of target markets. Whether the published works be posted online or distribution through using direct and indirect traditional strategies, social media and cyberspace are huge components of a growing publishing industry.