Topic: Marketing, Marketing, Marketing

This episode of The Roundtable was webcast live at 1pm EDT on Thursday, September 9, 2010.

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Featuring:

Laura Dawson, Publishing Industry Consultant
Kate Rados, Marketing Director, F+W Media

Moderated by:

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, Dir. of Programming & Business Development, Digital Book World

Links:

Challenges of Cross-Channel Marketing Integration
eMarketer

But achieving marketing integration can be difficult. According to US online marketers surveyed in June by interactive marketing agency Zeta Interactive, their organizational structure was the top problem, suggesting many companies are still keeping marketing activities siloed rather than working to coordinate them. Technology and the problems of working with multiple vendors and agencies were also an issue, along with a simple lack of cross-channel expertise.

Open Leadership: Must-Read For Ethical Marketers
DJ Francis, OnlineMarketerBlog.com

When she speaks of humility, Li notes that open leaders accept “that their views…may need to shift because of what their curious explorations expose.” (page 169) She quotes Ron Ricci, Cisco’s VP of corporate positioning, as saying “Shared goals require trust. Trust requires behavior. And guess what technology does? It exposes behavior.” (page 198) You begin to understand that Li isn’t railing against command-and-control operations nor does she dive off into kumbaya territory. But she does convince the reader that a world of ubiquitous social technologies, business transparency, and digital communication will require a different kind of leadership.

Dee Dee De Bartlo Leaves HarperCollins & Joins February Partners
Jason Boog, GalleyCat

“We really feel the future of the industry is dismantling the silos that exist between publicity and marketing in the big publishing houses and coming up with solutions that maximize a book’s exposure … Our campaigns are fully customized and we spend a lot of time with authors, publishers and agents to create strategies and tactics that will guarantee that a book finds its biggest audience.”

The Four Primary Types of Social Media Strategy
Geoff Livingston

The hardest of all forms of social media strategy, empowerment assumes that the organization will commit to building a far flung community. In essence, the empowered Fifth Estate members create conversations and ideas that are so extensive they exist well beyond the organization’s reach. Instead, the company or nonprofit becomes much more of a host and facilitator, available when called upon. The organization then creates initiatives and helps to sustain the effort over the long term. Crowdsourcing, large scale events, cause-based initiatives, and loyal customer communities are examples of the empowerment strategy.

Beyond Here There Be Dragons
Don Linn, Bait ‘n’ Beer

Communities are interesting but not valuable if they cannot be monetized in a profitable way and doing that isn’t easy. In fact, it’s not a skill set that most publishers, including (maybe especially) the newest and most innovative ones, possess. While you’re busy building your community, don’t forget the object of the exercise is to make money from its members. Otherwise, you’re in Dragon Country.

Twitter (as RTd by @digibookworld)

RT @babetteross: marketing: Not just Sales & Advertising- EVERYTHING done to acquire customers, maintain relationship with customers. #dbw

RT @jennybullough: Metadata affects marketing — if they can’t find it, you can’t sell it #dbw

RT @eBookNoir: #dbw part of marketing is listening. Not just spouting what you want but listening to audience about what matters to them.

RT @jennybullough: .@harlequinbooks always had strong community; not just pushing info, actually interacting #dbw <- shoutout @tarzansgrrl!!

RT @kellymcclymer: Niche and community are different. So true. #dbw

RT @jennybullough: All publishers have niches, they just might not be talking to them directly #dbw

RT @richfahle: #dbw Do pubs have taste/budget for training authors to build platforms? Or do they expect DIY authors that arrive w/platform?

RT @MatthewDiener: If customers determining what you publish… role of acquisitions editor? Changes from picking/acquiring to finding. #dbw

RT @MatthewDiener: “Marketing has never been a promise.” Mktng isn’t responsible for sell-through; editorial, marketing, and sales are. #dbw

RT @kellymcclymer: Communication through metadata in the digital age. I need to go tag my books! #dbw

Back in January, Shiv Singh gave a great keynote presentation, Engaging Readers in the Digital Age, at the inaugural Digital Book World Conference that, in retrospect, set the tone for what was to come in 2010.

“Build consumer brands,” Singh exhorted, “because your current value chain is breaking.”

Since then, we’ve seen the introduction of the iPad, the Agency Model, and ugly public standoffs between Amazon and several publishers over ebook pricing; notable authors like J.A. Konrath and Seth Godin have made a fuss about eschewing “traditional” publishing channels; and uber-agent Andrew Wylie challenged Random House to a stare-down over ebook royalties, launching his own ill-fated ebook imprint, Odyssey Editions.

Underscoring all of these dust-ups is one recurring theme: publishers’ lack of a direct relationship with readers leaves them vulnerable to disruption and disintermediation.

While Singh and others, myself included, have noted the need for publishers to move from a business-to-business model to a business-to-consumer model, some arguments have mistaken “brand” for “community”, using them interchangeably.

Geoff Livingston, author of Now Is Gone – A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs, illuminated the difference by contrasting two well-known consumer brands: Madonna and Lady Gaga.

Madonna is an unmatched branding genius. She is able to transform and reinvent herself decade after decade and stay relevant. Her 2008 album Hard Candy was a #1 bestseller, the seventh of her 27 year career.

Yet Madonna is not a huge social media success. The branding doesn’t translate. Why? I think you need go no further than her community page, which reads: “Please note that posting Madonna unreleased material (including photos, audio and video) to your profile is not allowed. Doing so could result in the immediate termination of your membership with Icon.”

Madonna is in control, Madonna is messaging at you. And her image is complete, her content quality secure. And no one really wants to talk about her in conversational media forms, and given how she has controlled her community, is it any wonder?

–“From Branded Content Publishing to Networks (Madonna vs. Lady Gaga)”

Livingston contrasts Madonna’s approach to community vs. the artist most often compared to her, Lady Gaga, noting the latter “has transcended 20th century marketing to become the ultimate brand of the 21st century.” Her 15.3 million digital download sales in 2009 made her the best-selling artist, even beating Michael Jackson, whose death led to backlist sales skyrocketing.

“Gaga is dedicated to her fans,” notes Jackie Huba, co-author of Citizen Marketers: When People are the Message, “and clearly knows the elements of cultivating a community of evangelistic fans.”

The takeaway? Establishing a consumer brand is only half the equation, and arguably the easier half.

“Brand does not equal community,” says Kate Rados, Marketing Director for F+W Media (Digital Book World’s parent company). “Brand shouts: loud, in your face, shouting at you from a street corner. Community listens: takes your opinions seriously, asks your advice, shares knowledge to help solve a problem. There are brands out there that straddle the line very effectively — Vitamin Water on Facebook, for instance, with 1.7 million Fans — and Publishing should take note.”

Some publishers already have. Two years ago, F+W announced a restructuring that changed its focus from channels (books, magazines, events, etc.) to communities (writers, designers, gardeners, etc.), with CEO David Nussbaum explaining that it would “enable us to understand deeply the information and networking needs of our passionate enthusiast communities and enable us to be of the community rather than outside the community.”

Building upon well-known brands like Horticulture and Writer’s Digest, the restructuring was only the first step in establishing a direct and ongoing relationship with their respective audiences.

“Horticulture has evolved into a virtual village,” explains Patty Craft, Publisher and Editorial Director of the 100+ year old brand, “where we interact daily via social media outlets, the forum and blogs, and where the goal is mutual success. For example, an avid reader and former advertiser is now a business partner in GardenersHub.com: Dorian Winslow’s 25-year passion to provide the best gardening gloves for women coupled with our desire to offer our readers products they can trust is a perfect example of the mutually beneficial power of the community we’re building.”

“The difference between a brand and community,” notes Brian Klems, Online Community Editor for Writer’s Digest which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, “is that a community offers content its audience actually wants. The dialogue allows for us to stay on the same page with each other and our audience. That’s more valuable than you realize.”

Earlier this year, Nussbaum reported one notable metric underscoring both Craft’s and Klems’ points: F+W’s e-commerce revenues grew by 113% in 2009.

“These are not classic e-commerce stores,” he said. “You can shop, read blogs, join a message board, swap goods. We have fully baked communities, offering a lot more to the shopper than we ever did before.”

“Some of these conversations ended in a sale, but don’t let that fool you. The sale was merely the exclamation mark at the end of the sentence.”

–Doc Searls and David Weinberger, The Cluetrain Manifesto

Despite first being published back in 1999, when AOL was King and and Mark Zuckerberg was 15 years old, the lessons of The Cluetrain Manifesto still hold up, none more so than the first of its 95 Theses (and, coincidentally, my favorite chapter in the book): “Markets are conversations.”

Without a real, vibrant community, commerce is a tough sell, no matter how strong you think your “brand” might be.

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is a published poet and writer, and active blogger since 2003. In 1998, he founded and led a thriving poetry slam community in NYC (a little bit louder) that has since evolved into the non-profit literary arts organization, louderARTS. An old and new media pragmatist, social media realist, and marketing strategist, he views publishing as a community service, and is optimistic about its future.

Sony’s latest e-readers: Understanding the trade-offs and global strategy
Larry Dignan, ZDNet

Sony’s situation won’t be that dire. Sony will be a player in the U.S., but the real win will be in places like Russia, Brazil and China. Why? Sony’s brand carries a lot of weight. And Sony has the retail partnerships that wrap around the globe. Meanwhile, Amazon and Barnes & Noble will be hard-pressed to replicate Sony’s global reach. If the global trend is to move away from paper to bits of data the e-reader market worldwide is just beginning. Sony can be everywhere its primary rivals can’t. Meanwhile, Sony’s real rivals—companies like Samsung—don’t have e-readers or the content that needs to ride shotgun. Sony’s store is comparable to the others and has seen its 10 millionth book download.

Worth fighting for?
Tom Tivnan, The Bookseller

The colourful Burkle—he’s a close pal of Bill and Hillary Clinton and is the godfather to P Diddy’s two children—has launched a proxy fight to unseat the three directors up for re-election at B&N’s AGM in late September, including Riggio himself. To shore up his position, Riggio last week bought almost one million B&N shares, to the tune of $16.8m. Exciting stuff, if you’re into blood-on-the-boardroom-carpet shenanigans. In a strange way, though, I am rather cheered at the animosity: it means at least two people think that a bricks and mortar bookseller is worth fighting for.

Minnesota’s Reading Frenzy Set to Open
Shannon McKenna Schmidt, Shelf Awareness

The interior of the nearly 1,600-sq.-ft. space, which was unfinished so that it could be built for the occupying business, has been transformed into a booklovers’ haven with a reading nook and decorative touches like tables adorned with painted images of book spines. “We really want the store to be a hangout, which our community desperately needs,” said Olson. Ready Frenzy is the only bookstore in Zimmerman, which is about 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis. And yes, there is a connecting door to the coffee shop.

Groupon for Publishers & Bookstores
Jason Boog, GalleyCat

Watermark Books and Cafe, a bookstore in Kansas, used Groupon to create a special deal. In June, they promoted the “pay $10 for a $20 coupon” offer on Groupon–banking on the idea that at least 10 customers would take advantage of the deal. Hundreds of other customers ended up taking advantage of the Groupon offer. Read this retail case study to find out how it works. Maybe publishers could cut unique coupon deals for bestselling books as well? Here’s more about the Watermark Books deal: “Though an online book glows in the dark, it can’t be shredded to make a papier-mache wig or taped to a shoe to replace an ice skate. Peruse useful reading material with today’s Groupon: for $10, you get $20 worth of books, drinks, and sandwiches at Watermark Books and Cafe on Douglas Avenue. This Groupon is valid for in-store purchases only and is not valid toward magazines, newspapers, or gift cards.”

What science fiction writers can learn from the flood of SF lit novels
Charlie Jane Anders, io9

And that brings me to the third thing I’ve noticed about a lot of these books — in comparison to the earnest, heartfelt works of the mid-2000s like The Confessions Of Max Tivoli and The Time Traveler’s Wife, the dominant mode of science fictional literary books is satire — and dark satire at that. Whether you’re looking at the would-be captains of the technological near future (as McEwan does) or its hapless victims (as many other authors seem to) a jaundiced look at human failings seems to be a key ingredient. The only way to navigate the bewildering, horrible future is with irony and satire. And copious amounts of weirdness — a lot of these books lavish a lot of description on some jarringly odd situations, from McEwan’s protagonist’s penis getting frozen to his zipper in the Antarctic to two of Moody’s characters getting groped by a severed hand — not to mention his lengthy zero-gravity gay sex scene. So it’s finally come true — the literature of the future has become the future of literature.

A video game made of paper: Les Editions Volumiques
Andrew Webster, ars technica

They describe their company as “a publishing house focusing on the paper book as a new computer platform.” Prior to forming Les Editions, Duplat and Mineur did everything from designing games and websites to creating game development tools. Eventually, the two decided to see what would happen if they merged some of their passions together. “We both loved books and video games and we wanted to reconcile the two!” the pair told Ars via e-mail. The result was an actual video game made out of paper.

Tweet of the Week

That’s just a taste of what you may have missed this week. To stay on top of the most interesting news, commentary and tweets related to publishing, keep in touch via our RSS feed, follow us on Twitter, join your publishing colleagues in our LinkedIn group, and connect with the broader DBW Network.

By DJ Francis, Author, OnlineMarketerBlog.com

Charlene Li, formerly of Forrester Research and co-author of Groundswell, does with Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform How You Lead what so few authors would find possible: making a convincing argument regarding a real and very powerful movement in the zeitgeist, despite it being inherently fuzzy to understand and difficult to prove.

But just because it is difficult to determine ROI, does not mean the elements of open leadership are not effective. From Li:

“In actuality, the activities taking place on [social sites] are inherently highly measurable, but we have not yet established a body of accepted knowledge and experience about the value of these activities versus the costs and risks of achieving those benefits.” (page 77)

The Value of Ethics

And not only is this leadership style actionable and (somewhat) measurable, but it also serves as a venue for your personal values. My favorite aspect of this book is the relation of an open leadership style to the leader’s own ethics.

Li writes in great detail about trust building, personal values and humility. Social technologies and open leadership simply allows broader activation of the leader’s (your) personal values.

When she speaks of humility, Li notes that open leaders accept “that their views…may need to shift because of what their curious explorations expose.” (page 169) She quotes Ron Ricci, Cisco’s VP of corporate positioning, as saying “Shared goals require trust. Trust requires behavior. And guess what technology does? It exposes behavior.” (page 198)

You begin to understand that Li isn’t railing against command-and-control operations nor does she dive off into kumbaya territory. But she does convince the reader that a world of ubiquitous social technologies, business transparency, and digital communication will require a different kind of leadership.

Open Leadership Isn’t Trying To Be The New Groundswell

As a huge fan of Li’s previous book, Groundswell, I couldn’t wait for Open Leadership. But they really are two different animals.

I found myself wishing there was more about the inevitability of openness. That – along with KPIs and a few other fundamentals – are given short shrift. Maybe there’s not a lot to say. Maybe not many studies have been done.

But unlike Groundswell, which was data-driven and highly intuitive, Open Leadership doesn’t provide enough ammo for younger leaders to march these ideas into the C-suite.

In order for these ideas to be enacted, one likely must already be in some position of leadership. While Groundswell provided the facts and figures for anyone to persuade doubters, Open Leadership does not. It’s an idea book, not a textbook. That’s OK – just something to know before you begin reading.

Buy The Book

Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend Open Leadership. It’s innovative, smart, and unlike any book you’ve read before. All that and it’s highly convincing as well. Do yourself (and your employees) a favor and read this book.

[I received a free advance reading copy of this book from Jossey-Bass publishers, but that did not influence my review of the book. I profoundly apologize to Ms. Li for a stunningly late review of the book she kindly sent me. Better late than never, I hope.]

This article was originally published at OnlineMarketerBlog.com, and has been reprinted with Mr. Francis’ permission.

DJ Francis writes OnlineMarketerBlog, a business blog about content strategy, online marketing, and social media. He also serves as a Senior Content Strategist at Critical Mass, Chicago.

“The first publisher willing to stand up and bid on a new publishing model will set the standard for the future. But don’t wait too long; the perfect model is out there and someone is going to beat you to the punch.”

–Andrew Davis, Seth Godin and the Flower Clock

Seth Godin’s decision to not publish his theoretical next book(s) via traditional channels has caused a predictable stir amongst the pundit class, with proclamations about “The Death of Publishing” coming from many of the usual suspects looking to scare up page views. Predictably, few have acknowledged the unusually nuanced statement Godin actually made about his situation:

“The thing is–now I know who my readers are. Adding layers or faux scarcity doesn’t help me or you.”

It’s similar to J.A. Konrath’s stated rationale for signing on with AmazonEncore a few months back, though at a graduate level:

“I signed a print deal with a company that can email every single person who has every [sic] bought one of my books through their website, plus millions of potential new customers.”

While Konrath simply chose a different intermediary to publish his books, Godin has reached a point where his platform is diverse enough, and his connection to his readers is so firmly established, that both the traditional book deal and format have faded in importance for him. It’s a pretty good example of what a non-fiction transmedia creator’s platform might look like.

Is his move a bellwhether for the industry? Yes, but not for the pessimistic reasons most are noting.

As Shiv Singh pointed out, “Godin believes in the power of his brand and is betting everything on it.” It’s a pretty safe bet, though, a natural next step in the direction he’s been paving the way for for years. It’s a step the vast majority of authors aren’t in a position to take yet, even many of the biggest names, because their platforms are still pretty much limited to books.

But publishers have the same opportunities to transition from a business-to-business approach to a business-to-consumer approach, and engage directly with their readers via what Singh presented as the “Community Manager Driven” model.

In his presentation at the Digital Book World Conference in January, Singh framed his community-driven approach like this:

1. Consumers act not as individuals but as communities too
2. You need to find the communities online and market to them
3. You must know the lifetime value of a customer and a community
4. And provide discounts based on that lifetime value too

Just because the customer has already bought the book, it doesn’t mean you should forget about him or her.

Godin found his community long ago, online and offline, and has built a platform beyond his books that few authors (or publishers) can match. He blogs daily, speaks widely, and educates, inspires and empowers his community to achieve their own goals.  He uses a variety of digital tools to connect and engage with his community, and most importantly, he enables them to connect, engage with and empower each other.

The main difference between Godin and most publishers (and authors) is that he knows who his readers are and what they want, as opposed to what intermediaries tell them they want, and he’s reconfiguring his platform accordingly, focusing on “audiobooks, apps, small digital files called PDFs and podcasts.” I have no doubt that if the demand from his readers is there, and there will surely be some, he will also publish more print books, though perhaps not through Portfolio but via POD.

While he’s not short on ego, his platform isn’t all about him; his focus is on serving his community.

“If you can just assemble these 30,000, 50,000, 100,000 people who love literary fiction, then you’ve earned the right to be the ringleader, the leader of that tribe—and you’ll never, ever again have trouble selling literary fiction.”

–Seth Godin, How to Fix the Publishing Industry

Farrar, Straus and Giroux’s aptly named “Work In Progress” is an intriguing step in that particular direction, and there are numerous other examples of publishers making bids on new publishing models, not necessarily to set the standard for the future — in the digital age, there is no “standard” and nothing’s “perfect” — but rather to better serve their unique community of readers, existing and potential.

Godin’s move isn’t a threat to the future of publishing; it’s yet another sign that those who are most connected to their communities will be the ones best-suited to manage the risks of the “digital transition” and seize the myriad opportunities that are there for the taking.

That’s a good thing.

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is a published poet and writer, and active blogger since 2003. In 1998, he founded and led a thriving poetry slam community in NYC (a little bit louder) that has since evolved into the non-profit literary arts organization, louderARTS. An old and new media pragmatist, social media realist, and marketing strategist, he views publishing as a community service, and is optimistic about its future.

I’ve discovered that “Something is Dead” headlines attract a lot of attention so I couldn’t resist using one myself today. With Seth Godin announcing that he’s going to ditch his traditional publisher (Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin), does it mean that book publishing as we know it is dead?

I find this topic especially interesting as it’s something that I discussed at length when I spoke at the Digital Book World Conference [click for video] back in January.

Here’s my take. Seth Godin is among the most popular best-selling marketing authors and his latest book Linchpin sold over 50,000 copies. The publisher probably played a big role in the editing and the distribution of that book. However, for future books, Godin is planning to release them over the Internet in electronic book formats as well as in the form of apps, small digital files and even PDFs.

What does this mean?

1. Seth Godin knows his readers better than his publisher does. Godin has realized that he really knows his readers. He knows what they want, he knows how to reach them and he knows quite clearly what he wants to share. He has is own marketing platform via his blog and his twitter account, too. He doesn’t need a publisher to play that role for him. And with the Internet he can distribute his book to his readers electronically.
2. Seth Godin believes in the power of his brand and is betting everything on it. At the most fundamental level, this is a brand play. You’ve got to believe in yourself and in your words if you want something to work, he’d say himself. And that’s exactly what he’s doing. He’s putting his money where his mouth is. Will he sell as many books? Fewer? Will he reach new readers versus just his fans? Time will tell but it’s an adventurous move without a doubt.
3. Seth Godin doesn’t believe his publishers provide him enough value. By saying that he’s going to sell his book online and directly to his readers, Godin is basically saying that his publishers aren’t providing him enough value. He appreciates the need to have a strong editor (and he’s going to hire one independently) but everything else is not valuable enough for him. Publishers should be worried, and so too should Barnes and Noble and Borders. If other leading authors adopted this model they’d all be in trouble.
4. Seth Godin knows that the book format itself is worth a second look, too. There’s a secret about writing books that no one likes and having just been through the process, I’ve witnessed it first hand. You have to fill the pages. Even if your idea and what you want to convey only needs a 100 pages, you are obligated to stretch it out into 200 or 300 pages. That’s how books are made. You have to conform to those guidelines. If the book is too thin, publishers won’t be able to charge enough for it. Godin recognizes that micro-book formats as well as audio files and apps are worth exploring as mechanisms to share his ideas. That way he’s not limited by the structure of the book market.
5. Seth Godin has figured out the economics are in his favor. I’m guessing that for every book of his sold, Godin gets probably 15% in royalties. That’s not bad when you’re selling 50,000 books priced at $17.13. He’s made $2.5 per book sold or $128,475 in total.But imagine if he sold online only where he’d probably get something closer to 80% in royalties. He’d make a whopping $685,000. Imagine if he only sold half online versus through the book chains (the distribution channels that the publisher owns), he’d still make $342,600. Or if he sold just a quarter, that would be $171,300. I don’t think it is hard for him to sell 12,500 books directly. He doesn’t need a publisher to be better off.

Time will tell whether other leading authors adopt a similar model. For an author, nothing is better than being able to get closer to your reader. The question is whether this model will work and whether other authors have the personal brand, the distribution platform and, most importantly, the courage to try something like this.

I’d argue that if book publishers followed the model I outlined in this deck, they’d be less worried about what’s happening around them.

This post was originally published at Going Social Now and has been reprinted with Mr. Singh’s permission.

Shiv Singh is a recognized digital marketer who focuses on how brands are being forced to transform with the evolution of digital communications and social media. In September 2009, he was recognized by Ad Age as a Media Maven, and is the author of “Social Media Marketing for Dummies.” He has been with PepsiCo since July 1st, 2010 where he is responsible for digital in its beverages business. Prior to that he worked at Razorfish for over eleven years (one of the largest interactive agencies in the world and part of Publicis Worldwide).

From a fragile network of brick-and-mortar direct market retailers and the often fickle tastes of hardcore, social media-savvy fans, to online piracy and the tantalizing possibilities of the iPad, comic books have been out on the bleeding edge of the digital transition for years.

While some comics publishers have had success expanding beyond the limited (but non-returnable) direct market into mainstream bookstores, ICV2 reports the first half of 2010 saw continued challenges in the once-booming graphic novel market. Manga, which represented 35% of all the graphic novels released in the U.S. in 2009 and accounted for a similar percentage of sales in the category, has been hit especially hard:

Graphic novel sales in the direct market have declined by double digits every month in 2010 so far with the exception of February, when they posted a 1% gain.

Graphic novel sales appear to be down in the bookstores as well with Yen Press’ Twilight graphic novel the only breakout hit.  The other bestselling movie-driven graphic novel in the first half of 2010, Marvel’s Kick-Ass Hardcover posted sales that were less than 10% of what Watchmen achieved during the same period in 2009…

After two years of double digit declines in sales of manga, American manga publishers have formed a coalition with their Japanese counterparts to battle the illegal Internet distribution of unlicensed manga via scanlation sites where translated versions of manga often appear just days after publication in Japan.  The coalition has had some success in shutting down some of the main aggregator sites, though it’s far too early to see if sales will be boosted by making it somewhat more difficult to read manga for free online.

The opportunity to expand comics readership beyond its hardcore base of fans was one of the topics on the agenda at the “Digital Now” panel at this year’s Comic-Con International: San Diego. Moderated by Boom! Studios’ Marketing Director Chip Mosher, with representatives from all of the major digital comics platforms, including David Steinberger (comiXology), Michael Murphey (iVerse), Wade Slitkin (Panelfly) and Micah Baldwin (Graphic.ly), the need to grow the overall audience was noted by all.

Bruce Lidl, covering the panel for The Beat, noted two significant obstacles comics publishers share with their traditional book publishing counterparts:

Mosher challenged the panelists to explain how digital comics were going to expand the overall comic book market beyond what his research characterizes as the “300,000 regular weekly shoppers” at the 1800-2000 brick and mortar shops in the U.S.  Here the answers were very similar to a year ago, highlighting the potential benefits of bringing comics to non-traditional readers via technology, and to capitalize on the general pervasiveness of comics IP in the culture generally.  Steinberger claimed that the retailers participating in comiXology’s program had seen sales increases of “20%” but the general feeling was that digital comics were still too new for much comprehensive data to have been collected yet…

The price pressure on digital copies is likely to increase in a downward direction, as we have seen in other industries, including book publishing.  Because of the intensely collectible and visual nature of comics, far greater than CDs or books of course, comics sales are likely to remain far more dependent on physical sales than those other media, while the successful prices of digital comics are, in my opinion, almost assuredly going to decrease consistently over time.  Comics readers may be willing to read comics online, but whether they are actually willing to pay for them in that form, at least in significant numbers, remains very open.

Pam Auditore, covering the panel for Comic Book Resources, notes another potential hitch for digital comics:

The hope is the growing number of hand held devices will grow sales and to continue to perpetuate the popular art form on yet another technological platform.  Keenly aware of this, Mosher said BOOM! Studios was partnering with each of the panelists to so that all of the publisher’s library is available with new items 30 days from initial release date.

Is the opportunity to expand the audience for comics, or for books in general, simply a matter of leveraging multiple distribution channels, physical and digital, or is there something more to be done?

If branding and direct engagement with readers, two things many comics publishers do very well, is truly the holy grail for traditional publishers, does the comics industry offer any lessons, positive or negative, to learn from?

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is a published poet and writer, and active blogger since 2003. In 1998, he founded and led a thriving poetry slam community in NYC (a little bit louder) that has since evolved into the non-profit literary arts organization, louderARTS. An old and new media pragmatist, social media realist, and marketing strategist, he views publishing as a community service, and is optimistic about its future.

Digital publishing is either going to expand the audience for books, in print and electronic form, or it’s going to destroy publishing as we know it and authors will be left to fend for themselves in a flood of unfiltered content that we’ll all mindlessly pick our way through based on provocative titles and pictures of half-naked celebrities.

–Weird and Wonderful: Digital Book World and Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

So I’m tweeting along, minding my own business, when up pops a very nice tweet from @glecharles about how Book View Café is getting epublishing right. How wonderful! And weird.

Who @glecharles is, I can’t remember. I’ve always enjoyed his tweets, but have no idea where I found him or why I decided to follow him. I run over to BVC Central and ask around. Amy tells me he IS Digital Book World. Is, as in not just the “Chief Executive Optimist” of his title, but also the CEO, CFO, and the CIO.

On Nancy Jane’s urging, I decide to interview him. I don’t often interview people. If I have a burning question I’ll take the opportunity, but that’s about it. Today’s burning question is: where is all this (meaning digital publishing) headed? I can’t think of a better person to ask than the person who IS Digital Book World.

So I give you Guy LeCharles Gonzalez aka @glecharles.

Sue: Guy, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. Before we get into the Burning Question, tell me what Digital Book World (DBW) is and what your role with them is.

Guy: My official title is “Director, Programming & Business Development,” which is sort of equivalent to a magazine’s publisher and editorial director. DBW’s tagline is “The Publishing Community for the 21st Century,” and the broad vision for it is to be fully embedded in the industry as an educational and networking resource for publishing professionals. We produce a variety of events, online and in-person, including our main event, the Digital Book World Conference in January. Through digitalbookworld.com, we also publish articles from a broad range of publishing and technology professionals intended for publishing and technology professionals, including writers who want to stay on top of the myriad transitions happening in the industry. I solicit and edit those, and occasionally write some of my own, too.

While I’m arguably the most visible member of our team, especially on the website and via social media, it’s not quite a one-man show. Mike Shatzkin serves as our Conference Chair with a pretty impressive Conference Council helping him develop the program, and behind the scenes, our parent company, F+W Media, has a great events and emedia staff who help make the magic happen.

For better or worse, though, I have a hand in pretty much everything that’s connected to Digital Book World.

Sue: I like the description I found at the site:

“In the midst of the gloom-and-doom naysayers and pundits, there’s a thriving community of publishers, editors, marketers, agents, booksellers, librarians, authors, and readers of all kinds who are passionate about the book, in all its forms, and are working within the industry to help change it for the better.

That’s the description of a DBW Member.”

That sounds like a good place for a member of Book View Café, but DBW is expensive to join. Considering what an ebook author needs (readers), is it worth it for them to join? What would they get out of it?

Guy: First, let me say that I don’t define authors by their format. An author is an author, whether their work is published in hardcover, paperback or eBook formats.

That said, authors, especially independent-minded authors who either aren’t getting what they want from their publishers or have gone the self-publishing route, need to understand the publishing business, both how it works and how it’s changing.

There’s a lot of fluff and blather right now that makes it sound like eBooks are a magic bullet and simply uploading your book to Amazon makes you an independent author.

Most of that fluff and blather is coming from new intermediaries who take a smaller cut than traditional publishers, while putting your eBook on a virtual shelf where no one who doesn’t already know it exists will ever find it. And, of course, some of them will also upsell you on services to help you market your eBook and increase sales, for which they’ll get their cut.

In a lot of ways, it’s basically Vanity Publishing, in a shiny 2.0 coat.

I’m biased, of course, but I’d argue that the value DBW offers authors really depends on their goals. The free information and resources we provide will suffice for most, while $99/year is pretty cheap for access to the full range of content we produce. The information and insights in the video and audio from January’s conference alone makes it a worthwhile investment, and access to our archive of on-demand WEBcasts is the cherry on top that grows in size and value every month.

Sue: “Vanity Publishing, in a shiny 2.0 coat.” I like that. I don’t know if new authors are aware of how much marketing they’ll need to do regardless of where they’ve published. (I might remind everyone at this point that all of BVC’s authors have been published by traditional publishers as well as here at BVC) I noticed that DBW has a lot of information for authors on the subject of marketing. What strategies should ebook authors be thinking of, keeping in mind that non-fiction writing cuts into fiction writing time?

Guy: My advice to all authors is to write about what they’re passionate about, both in their books and online. Warren Ellis is one of my favorite examples of an author with an amazing platform, but he’s a pretty extreme example. Cherie Priest and Matt Ruff are two more who find time to blog and engage online while still writing and publishing excellent books.

Chuck Wendig is a well-published freelancer (day job) working on a novel and a screenplay, and maintains an excellent blog that he updates daily while also being active on Twitter.

It’s not easy, but it can be done. As the old saying goes, “Nothing worth doing is ever going to be easy.” But if you’re passionate about it, you often won’t notice how “hard” it is because you’ll be enjoying it.

Also, having a day job is an excuse to avoid all this, not a reason. So is being an introvert, actually.

Sue: Good advice and expanding on that, there’s this provocative statement at your personal blog: “Instead of worrying about the latest trends and what’s on the bestseller list this week, writers should focus on telling the stories they want to tell. And publishers should focus on connecting those stories to the readers who will appreciate them, via every available channel, not simply hoping for intermediaries and serendipity to do their jobs for them.”

It seems you’re laying responsibility for marketing on the publisher. Lately publishers seem to be laying it back on the author. Why is that?

This an excerpt from an interview originally published at Book View Café. Read the full interview there.

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is a published poet and writer, and active blogger since 2003. In 1998, he founded and led a thriving poetry slam community in NYC (a little bit louder) that has since evolved into the non-profit literary arts organization, louderARTS. An old and new media pragmatist, social media realist, and marketing strategist, he views publishing as a community service, and is optimistic about its future.

Sue Lange has been one of the following (pretty much in this order): child, student, potato picker, first chair flautist, librarian, last chair flautist, babysitter, newspaper deliverer, apple picker, form cutter, drama club treasurer, track and field timer, Ponderosa Steak House salad server (before the salad bar days, of course), disco dance instructor, waitress, wire harness assembler, usher, Baskin-Robbins ice cream dipper, volleyball team captain, biology club treasurer, circuit board checker, form reader, day camp counselor, tutor, stock room attendant, nurse aide, chemistry technician, senior chemistry technician, right fielder, Plant Laboratory Supervisor–non-radiological, house sitter, first base, receptionist, stage manager, data input technician, actor, bookkeeper, vocalist, typesetter, songwriter, recording artist, home builder, viticulturist, Digital Production Manager, orchardist, and Applescripter. Lately she’s been writing.

The READ: In Defense of Amazon

• The real trouble with Amazon, it seems, is that nobody truly believes we were better off without it. This is where the often-made comparison of Amazon with other monoliths such as Wal-Mart falters. Wal-Mart is not known for its catalog of obscurities; the merchandise it sells is all available elsewhere. It put the mom-and-pop drugstores and hardware stores and grocery stores out of business by offering the same items that they sold, just at lower prices. This isn’t the case with Amazon.

‘The Los Angeles Review of Books’ to Launch This Fall

• Lutz seeks a mix of written, audio, and video content on LARB’s site, with daily updates. “We want to be the people’s home page,” he quips. And while reviews will include single takes on a title, “if two, or for that matter 10 of our contributing editors want to review a book, we will post all 10,” he says. “We want a curated site, not a user-generated free for all, but we also want a range of opinion. I want the discussion not to be relegated to a “letters to the editor” page, but to have the discussion to be what we offer.” A prospectus anticipates coverage of both new books and classic authors and forgotten works—and vintage reviews for that matter, such as Melville writing on Hawthorne.

COSLA’s Ebook Feasibility Report Suggests National Buying Pool

• But libraries face firm opposition, according to the report: “Publishers want library models that collect payment for every use”–as is the model in the UK–”lease access instead of sell objects, or have digital rights that enforce methods that worked for print, such as one copy one user.” In the comments, which are not attributed to people by name, frustration with vendors is palpable, with an edge of hostility: “It’s not like we missed the boat. The boat left without us because we don’t rate.” Another comment takes aim at the dominant consumer ereader companies directly: “If COSLA is really trying to figure out where to put the energy, spend it talking to Apple, to Amazon. They are keeping us out of the game on this.”

What’s the Future of DRM?

• In other words, when I download a Kindle file that is protected, I can make and email a dozen copies of that file to my friends or even seed a torrent feed, all without bypassing the DRM.   That’s unlawful infringement.  But if I bypass DRM so that I can have access, then it’s not a violation of DMCA, so long as a copy isn’t created.  Of course, this is only true in the 5th Circuit so I guess to be fully protected right now, I’d have to move to Texas or Louisiana.  What the court decision doesn’t say is whether if I have access and want to strip for format shifting purposes whether that is a violation of the DMCA as you are technically creating a copy.

NPD: Consumers Resetting, Not Recovering

• And above all, the recession sharpened their focus on value. “If consumers learned anything,” she says, “it’s that I can walk out of the store not buying something, and it will be okay.” She says that even prior to the recession, there was clear evidence in consumers’ losing trust in retailers. For marketers, that has important implications about selecting the stores they are sold in, she says — having your brand massively marked down in one channel will affect the way people see you.

10 reasons you need a digital marketing strategy

• You’re not integrated (“disintegrated!”) – It’s all too common for digital to be completed in silos whether that’s a specialist digital marketer, sitting in IT or a separate digital agency. It’s easier that way to package digital marketing into a convenient chunk. But of course it’s less effective. Everyone agrees that digital media work best when integrated with traditional media and response channels.

 Tweet of the Week

That’s just a taste of what you may have missed this week. To stay on top of the most interesting news, commentary and tweets related to publishing, keep in touch via our RSS feed, follow us on Twitter, join your publishing colleagues in our LinkedIn group, and connect with the broader DBW Network.

The Internet As Competition To New Non-Fiction Books 

• There is lots of talk about how curation is a key tool for publishers in the modern era and I agree, but we underestimate the ways in which curation can happen. Suite101 is curating the Cognative Surplus that Clay Shirky talks about and harnessing it to its own advantage and it’s reader’s demands. Publishers could be doing that for niche subjects as easily as Suite101. Publishers, with experts in certain fields already on their books on niche subjects, SHOULD already be doing it.

 Comic-Con 2010: From Tron to Angelina Jolie (via peanut butter) 

• Britain’s China Mieville (Kraken) allowed a light shower to fall on this parade. “Unfortunately, awesome plus awesome doesn’t necessarily lead to more awesome,” he pointed out, before making himself very unpopular with the audience by casting aspersions on the utter bliss of the Reese’s formula. “Above all, genres are marketing categories. Even what’s described as literary fiction is a genre; in Britain, it’s just the result of a very successful marketing campaign to persuade readers that it’s not a genre. But even if you think genre is a marketing idea, that isn’t to say it doesn’t have its own integrity and protocol. If you set really stupid, rigid rules for yourself, you can rise to the occasion.”

 United Artists Redux 

• If a similar group of content creators were to establish a new “United Artists” organization they wouldn’t find it difficult to hire executives to act on their behalf to establish a new publishing organization. This new organization would be unencumbered by either the traditional publishing model or (more importantly) the cost structure of the business. These United Artists would sit atop an organization that would be largely supported by external third-party agreements with accounting firms, editorial and production services, distribution and fulfillment, etc. Important value-added services such as marketing, promotion, content rights and licensing – those functions that, by definition, worked closest to the content creators and added real value to the consumer experience would be full-time hires of United Artists.

 The iPad is Great But Remember—It’s Apple’s Way or the Highway 

• Most digital magazine vendors are offering an iPad app these days and serve as an intermediary between the publisher and Apple. But working with Apple can be frustrating for them as well. “It’s tough because they really want you to play by their rules,” Marcus Grimm, marketing director at NXTbook Media, tells me.  “In the process of submitting our app to the Apple Store, we wanted to include Omniture tracking because our publishers have come to expect a lot of data. Apple has been very upfront about saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to watch how much data you can give people.’ The Apple process says, ‘If you do anything special with tracking, please let us know ahead of time so we can guide you’ and we wrote a long e-mail about what we wanted to track and why, and their response was, ‘We won’t comment until you submit the app.’ We’re developing according to how we think they’ll react but that’s not really a business partnership. You just read the spec guide and say a prayer.”

 One-Word Explanation of Why Enhanced E-Books Won’t Work  

• Unfortunately, Aronson doesn’t address how the book’s creator would divide payments among movie companies, music composers, photographers, videographers, and garden variety authors.  Nor does he venture into the question of how to place comparative values on a one paragraph quote from an obscure journal versus a three minute clip from a blockbuster movie versus a top-of-the-charts hit song. Nor does he tell us how a humble little vookmaker will be able to afford the permissions cost of all that imported content when even a few minutes of music will bust his budget. In all likelihood Aronson didn’t venture into this territory because it’s radioactive.

 Emanata: The Phone is the Panel is the Page 

• That’s not just a philosophical abstraction: it directly affects the way readers perceive every image in a comics narrative. If a panel occupies the entire screen of an iDevice (without, say, a browser providing a frame within the frame of the device), the border around it is also black rather than white. As a very simple example, the image on this Frank Miller cover, in print or without a border in a context that normally has one, gives the jolting impression of everything but its central figure having fallen away. Put it on a computer screen, inside a thin blue border (as at that link), and it becomes much less effective; surround it with a thick black border, and it’s just got a bunch of negative space. The following issue’s cover, on the other hand, is a fine piece of work in print, but I bet it’d be even more bracing bordered by a black screen–the web would look like it was superimposed on the screen itself.

 Tweet of the Week 

That’s just a taste of what you may have missed this week. To stay on top of the most interesting news, commentary and tweets related to publishing, keep in touch via our RSS feed, follow us on Twitter, join your publishing colleagues in our LinkedIn group, and connect with the broader DBW Network.