Does Skipping Publishers Mean Skipping Libraries?

Andrew Savikas
March 31, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

When I speak to an audience of publishers, I use Getting Real as an important example of how popular bloggers who want to publish can easily skip publishers all together. 30,000 copies of a self-published PDF @ $19 (with no incremental unit cost) implies some enviable margins.

Tim Spalding over at LibraryThing brings up an unintended but important consequence of skipping publishers, especially when the resulting book becomes culturally important: right now it's also skipping libraries:

OCLC's WorldCat records exactly three copies—MIT, California Polytechnic and the University of Nebraska. That's three copies of one of the top tech books of the 00's in most of the US libraries that matter. The Library of Congress? New York Public? Harvard? None of them. For comparison, WorldCat contains 619 copies of Solitary sex : a cultural history of masturbation.

Amazon Ups the Ante on Platform Lock-In

Andrew Savikas
March 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

UPDATED with additional related reading links.

We often hold up Amazon as an example of one of the original Web 2.0 companies. Their survival amid the tech meltdown was driven largely by the value of the data they'd acquired through thousands of reader reviews, recommendations, and "people who bought this bought that" collaborative filtering. Amazon was a system that grew more valuable with more users: a network-effect-driven data lock-in.

That kind of lock-in is implicit: publishers were free to sell their books elsewhere, and readers were free to buy them elsewhere. Such implicit lock-in is characteristic of other Web 2.0 success stories, like eBay and craigslist. These sites relied on the value of the unique data/marketplace they were building to implicitly raise enormous barriers of entry. Not much fun if you're a newspaper, but a boon for buyers and sellers.

But today's news from Amazon about Print-on-Demand is the latest move from Amazon revealing a trend toward much more aggressive explicit lock-in attempts. (Not that it's an entirely new strategy from the folks that brought you the "one-click" patent). Amazon has effectively told publishers that if they wish to sell POD books on Amazon, they must use Amazon as the POD printer. Small/self publishers are unsurprisingly feeling bullied.

Let's look at four levels of lock-in at play here:

Borders Prototype Store Shows Off Digital Center

Mac Slocum
March 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Borders' move toward digital services is on display in the company's Ann Arbor, Mich. prototype store.

The store's music section has been downgraded to make room for a new digital center that offers access to audio books, personal publishing via Lulu.com, photo printing, music downloads, and genealogy tools. Borders is also displaying related products, including Sony's ebook reader, digital cameras, and GPS devices.

Ebooks aren't specifically mentioned in any of the digital center coverage, but Borders and Sony recently teamed on a co-branded ebook store that is only accessible through customized software.

Roundup: New B&N; Site Taps Digital Revenue, Magazine Goes High-End with Production

Mac Slocum
March 24, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

B&N; Opens Digital Revenue Streams with How-To Site
Barnes & Noble's just-launched how-to site, Quamut.com, offers edited guides on more than 1,000 topics (it's a diverse roster; everything from iPods to beagles). According to Publishers Weekly, Quamut's free online guides are supported by display advertising and the sale of downloadable PDFs ($2.95 each) and laminated charts ($5.95). Some charts will also be sold through B&N; stores.

Magazine Courts High-End with Price and Production
As publishers look to cut costs and go digital, Monocle magazine is choosing a different route -- it's using high-end production and big prices to differentiate itself: "We’ve demonstrated that format (trim size, paper stock) is more important than ever in a digital age. At the same time we’ve challenged the subscription model and convinced readers to pay more for quality -- Monocle’s subscription is 50% higher than its cover price," says Monocle editor-in-chief/chairman Tyler Brule.

BitTorrent as a Book Publicity Tool

Mac Slocum
March 21, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (6) | Listen

Free copies of The Cult of Mac and The Cult of iPod are available for download through the popular BitTorrent tracker, The Pirate Bay. Finding book downloads on BitTorrent isn't unusual, but this situation differs because the books were posted by the author and publisher.

Leander Kahney, author of both books, explains the move on his blog:

We came up with the idea after reading about the amazing success to bestselling author Paulo Coelho, who seeds his own books to file-sharing networks and then promotes them on his blog. Coelho claims great success with “pirating” his own books, saying it has had a slow but dramatic effect on sales.

Bill Pollock of No Starch Press, publisher of both Cult books, is taking a waiting-and-watching approach to the free dowloads:

I’ve been in publishing for just over 20 years and my training has not been to give books away. But I think there’s something to this and logic tells me that if we increase the visibility of our titles, we’ll sell more books.

The definitive connection between downloads and sales is hard to pin down, but O'Reilly's 2007 case study concluded that free digital copies do not harm book sales.

(Via TorrentFreak)

Are You Ready for Free?

Mac Slocum
March 19, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

A recent post on ReadWriteWeb looks at the relationship between traditional publishing (newspapers, magazines, books) and teen readership. The results are hazy at best -- experts can't seem to get past the "digital reading" vs. "print reading" debate -- but a short passage in the article's magazine section touched on a topic that's popping up all over the place: the power of free content.

"MediaTel managing director Derek Jones said the [magazine] industry must find new ways of engaging with the teen market which has suffered a steady decline in sales. The problem, according to ShortList chief executive Mike Soutar, is that the younger generation like to consume media for free and they have come to expect free content through online extensions." [emphasis added]

The expectation of free isn't just the domain of teens; Web consumers from all generations are used to getting their information for free as well. This is a powerful trend that's gaining steam.

If you're intrigued by free models (or concerned), take a look at Kevin Kelly's essay "Better Than Free," Chris Anderson's article "Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business," and coverage of Tim O'Reilly's TOC '08 keynote "Free is More Complicated Than You Think."

"Prince Caspian" Gets Read It Before You See It Campaign

Mac Slocum
March 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

HarperCollins has a new "read it before you see it campaign" attached to the upcoming theatrical release of "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian."

The marketing program includes a Facebook profile and interactive game (see image above), Narnia trivia, contests, a Narnia widget that can be embedded on any Web site, and book information.

The Facebook and widget components are notable because they represent a clear effort to engage the target audience (kids) on familiar ground (social networks, blogs, etc.). Back in the day, a program like this would have been relegated to a microsite and maybe a few text ads. Now, the openness of Web 2.0 creates all sorts of new engagement opportunities -- both for companies and the audiences they seek.

(Via Shelf Awareness.)

Random House Chief Exec Sees Opportunity in Shifting Book World

Mac Slocum
March 14, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

In a recent speech to the Stationers' Company, Gail Rebuck, chairman and chief executive of the Random House Group, offered a hopeful perspective on the enduring role of books amidst digital change.

"The speeches of Barack Obama are seamlessly woven into rap videos on YouTube," Rebuck said, "but he started with a book, 'The Audacity of Hope,' which was the anchor and beacon of his campaign. And when he finishes, he will end like Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair –- with a book. Books give life, give purpose, give meaning – they are like music, art and song –- part of the essence of our humanity –- and that will never change."

The rise of eBooks, Rebuck noted, is an opportunity that dovetails with a developing paradox among consumers. Readers looking for instant information can find it in the digital domain, but readers seeking substance and depth will still find it in print editions.

"These contradictions will not suddenly disappear and a new map of digital publishing emerge with sharp contours and clear distinctions. But the eBook and the traditional book will claim different parts of the topography."

The full text of Rebuck's speech is worth a read.

(Via if:book.)

Borders Stores Turn Back on Long Tail

Mac Slocum
March 12, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Borders is counting on a simple turn of the wrist to boost profits and reduce in-store inventory. According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the retailer is displaying three times as many books "face out."

Shelf Awareness notes:

" ... The new approach has led to sales increases 'in the double digits' and has led to the removal of 5%-10% of the average store's titles -- many of which sell only one copy a year in each store."

Borders' move could introduce a unique opportunity for retailers with offline and online storefronts: eschew the long tail in brick and mortar outlets and embrace the long tail on the Web.

Enterprising book marketers could also take a note from the seamless integration we're all experiencing on the Web: just as Web apps unite the desktop with the server-side, a retail store could merge with the retailer's online presence through in-store kiosks (perhaps with a Cover Flow layout to continue the "face out" concept) and print-on-demand equipment.

For these offline-online companies, the long tail doesn't need to be an either/or proposition.

The Princeton Review and the Power of Free

Andrew Savikas
March 12, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Over at the Oxford University Press USA blog, Evan Schnittman shares a fascinating history of his time at The Princeton Review, and especially some of the lessons to be learned from the value of "free" in promoting print sales:

When I entered the company a few years later TPR had already started publishing college guides. These guides had been, like the test prep industry, dominated by a couple of brands. One key difference to the approach that TPR took was that it secured digital rights for the titles so that it could build a web based platform that contained all the data found in its guidebooks. Though Random House was never thrilled with the free content being out there, TPR launched a free website that had over 2mm unique visitors a month primarily viewing the same content that was available in the books that Random House published.

So what happened to the books? By my recollection they grew about 20% per year – it seemed that the more visitors that the TPR site had, the more books we seemed to sell. Free content was driving book sales and expanding the brand! The free content was interesting, it was intriguing, it was fun to play with – but 10 years later there is still a thriving book market for college guides even though almost every company that collects college data posts the content free online. 100% free content can drive print sales! [emphasis added]

The full post is well worth a read.

"So Change. Or Die"

Andrew Savikas
March 10, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

As he leaves the struggling San Jose Mercury News, Ryan Sholin provides an excellent elucidation of why newspapers are failing in a digital age:

I don’t believe that local movie, TV, or music critics have a great amount of unique local value in the era of Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix. I don’t believe that a newspaper in San Jose needs a national issue on its front page every day, with few exceptions. I don’t believe in the Editorial We. I don’t believe that the best newspaper columnists can keep up with the best bloggers in the niches or styles I care about.

Ryan also goes on to offer some great suggestions for newspapers interested in turning things around (how many of those are out there is certainly debatable), summed up nicely with, "So Change. Or Die." [Thanks to Peter Brantley for the link.]

Over on Publishing 2.0, there's a related post on newspaper evolution:

This is not an indictment of the value of print newspapers conceptually — it’s an indictment of newspapers that are still publishing the same content on paper as they are publishing on the web. Newspapers used to see the web as a complement, a value add to the print edition. Now they have to flip the equation.

Scott gets at the critical error most newspapers made with the Web, which was to merely put the printed paper online. Newspapers failed to understand that readers on the Web expect (and demand) very different things. Specifically, newspapers did not (and still don't) take advantage of what the Web can do. (Go ahead, count the number of hyperlinks within the top five local stories for this paper.)

There is a very real risk of this pattern repeating within book publishing, especially relating to e-Books. (For example, if you know when it's being written and produced that a book will be in e-Book (or other digital format), it better have hyperlinks.)

That Was Fast: $300 "Free" Album Sold Out

Andrew Savikas
March 5, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

1. "Nine Inch Nails mainman Trent Reznor released his latest work "Ghosts I-IV" on 6:00 p.m. PST, March 2, 2008, via NIN.com."

2. Those $300 "ultra-deluxe" packages are now sold out.

As Kevin Kelly said so succintly, "When copies are free, you need to sell things which can not be copied."

The Price of an Album (approaching zero) and the Price of a Souvenir (sky's the limit)

Andrew Savikas
March 4, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Following the lead from Radiohead, the new Nine Inch Nails album is available not with a "name-your-own-price," but in an array of options from free to a $300 "ultra-deluxe limited edition", with each level including more physical goodies to complement the digital downloads.

At TOC 2008, Seth Godin talked about how much of the utility of a printed book lies in its "souvenir" value (coverage from Medialoper), drawing some skepticism from the audience:

While I think Godin may have a point, the market for souvenirs has to be considerably smaller than the market for books that people actually want to read. I suspect more than a few publishers were surprised to find out they might soon be in the souvenir business.

What Reznor's done is aim at both the smaller "souvenir" market and the larger "just want to read -- or in this case listen to -- market" (and several points in between). While there's a certainly a large audience that will gravitate toward the low (and zero) priced options, I have no doubt they'll sell out of those "ultra-deluxe" packages:

Ghosts I-IV in a “hardcover fabric slipcase containing two audio CDs, one data DVD with all tracks in multi-track format, and a Blu-Ray disc of Ghosts I-IV, plus a four-LP set on 180-gram vinyl, which is packaged in a fabric slipcase. Two limited-edition Giclee prints are included; package is numbered and signed by Trent Reznor. Limited to a run of 2,500, and one piece per customer. Ships May 1 and includes immediate download.

Selling all of those ultra-deluxe packages would bring in $750K in gross revenue. Corresponding $750K volume numbers for all of the non-free options are:

I expect we'll see more of this kind of pricing, which addresses that emotional need among fans of varying degrees for a "souvenir" of their devotion.