Book Printing Forum

Are Book Publishers Going the Way of the Railroads?

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Over 72% of publishers surveyed on the impact of digitization on book publishing by the Frankfurt Book Fair and the German trade magazine Buchreport said the development of new business models, new multimedia products and effective marketing strategies are the biggest challenges facing publishers as they transition from print to digital.

Duh! The publishers are slow to react to the changing customer demands.

The publisher’s lateness to the party reminds me of the train industry’s reaction to the airplane. Railroad companies ignored the airplane until it was too late, and air travel replaced the railroads for passenger travel and some forms of shipping.

The railroad companies realized too late that they were in the transportation business, not the railroad business. If railroad companies had realized this earlier, we would have had Union Pacific Airlines and Burlington Northern Airlines instead of American Airlines and United Airlines.

The book publishers are in the information business, not the book business. If they had realized this earlier on, they would have made the transition to e-books and other digital forms of communication more easily. Instead, they find themselves wringing their hands and searching for new business models to catch up to consumers’ demands that have already passed them by.

Ingram's Automated Telephone Computer Died This Month

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:10:00 +0000

I regret to announce that Ingram's computerized telephone stock & sales system no longer works. The message when you call 615-213-6803 sadly says the telephone number is not on the phone system anymore. I confirmed with an Ingram customer service rep who told me the number no longer works. Sales and stock information must be obtained directly from the publisher or from an Ingram representative.

This telephone number was extremely useful over the years to check a book's sales through Ingram. It was easy to use and anonymous.

If I find a way to gather the same information, I will post it in a future blog post.

Opportunities for Savvy Publishers

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0000

In the 20th Century, the American book market grew to be the world’s largest (with over 33% of total books sold) because of superior titles. From Fitzgerald and Hemingway to Kerouac to Tom Peters, publishers produced new titles so compelling that readers had to have them. In the decade of the 2000s, however, more and more books were published (thanks to POD and short-run, digital printing) and quality was negatively impacted. In 2008, over 400,000 new titles were introduced—many of them were not well written or properly vetted. The same hard cover book that sold for $19.95 in 1999 cost $29.95 in 2008, yet the production value and the content were worse than 1999.

When readers rebelled in 2008 and 2009 against paying more for the same or less quality product, publishers were forced to cut costs. Publishers worldwide laid off hundreds of employees and blamed it on the recession.

On closer examination, and with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, the slow down in book purchases (which should have increased, or at least stayed flat, as people cocooned in their homes) was caused by traditional publishers inability from 1999 to 2008 to provide new, compelling titles. Small publishers poorly informed readers of exciting titles traditional publishers were not providing. And the brick and mortar retailers made the business decision to offer less shelf space to all but the top selling titles. All this forced consumers from 1999 to 2008 to spend money on an increasingly limited set of titles—driving up prices and alienating readers.

Out of chaos comes opportunity. There has never been a better time to publish compelling titles that readers want.

The Future of the Book?

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0000

You must see this video from France on the future of the book. It shows some pretty interesting ideas of what that future might be.

http://www.editis.com/pages_html/video_possible02.htm

I'm not sure I agree with the idea that traditional books will become simply objets d'art.

They say there's nothing new under the sun. Compare the French book video to one done by Apple Computer in 1987 (22 years earlier) on the future of the computer. See any similarities?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mLqJNDWx-8

Margin Erosion for Book Publishers, Booksellers and Authors

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:15:00 +0000

David Streitfeld writes in the Sunday, December 28, 2008 NEW YORK TIMES, about the death of the book industry. In an article titled, Bargain Hunting, and Feeling Sheepish About it, Streitfeld notes the effect of online web sites on profit margin erosion for bookstores, publishers and authors. He writes of his experience buying ROOM FOR DOUBT for 25¢ on the Internet. He claims the book retails for $13.95 plus tax in a conventional bookstore.

While the article may be hyperbole (see Tom Campbell's rebuttal on his blog, http://regulatorbookshop.blogspot.com/), authors and publishers should note the trend of online book retailing and its effect on book marketing and distribution.

10 Ways to Maximize Cash Flow & Profits in an Uncertain Economy

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:59:00 +0000

1) Start with the end in mind.
Understand how you will sell your book before you sell it. Have a sales plan and stick to it. Selling will be the number one problem in 2009. Clearly identify why anyone should buy your book. Distribution channel expansion is your number one job.

2) Know how to keep score.
What criteria will determine success or failure for your book? Focus more on profitability than sales growth.

3) Analyze your Balance Sheet.
The balance sheet is more important than the income statement during difficult times. Carefully manage your cash, inventory, Accounts Receivable, cash advances to authors and returns. Understand the hidden costs of the business—write-offs. Specifically, manage your inventory write-offs, your returns reserve write-offs and your royalty advance write-offs.

4) Print Fewer Copies.
Inventory is the number one expense for publishers. Print fewer books to keep inventory costs down.

5) Forecast Better; Print Smarter.
Be more conservative when forecasting how many books to print. Base your forecasting on sales of similar books. Package your books better before printing. Better packaging will help save printing costs. You will never fix a book after it's printed.

6) Reprint Smarter.
The hardest print run to forecast is the last one. It is inevitable that there will be books left over. Use Print-on=Demand technology to manage the print runs at the front end and the back end of a book's life cycle.

7) Ask for Terms.
Typically vendors pay accounts receivable in between 105-120 days. Demand faster payment. Ask your suppliers for terms—60 to 90 days. Suppliers may not agree on the first request. Keep asking. It may take up to 10 times before they agree. The, if they do agree, pay promptly on the 60th or 90th day.

8) Ship Fewer Books; Manage Returns.
Ship 60%-80% of what a vendor orders—based on return rates. For most publishers, returns are running around 35% of books shipped. Shipping fewer books may actually make you more money!

9) Collect What You Are Owed.
Control your accounts receivable. Run aging reports monthly. Alter payment terms to various vendors if they are slow to pay you.

10) Manage Your Marketing Budget.
During tough times, you'll read many consultants advising publishers to trim marketing budgets. If you've done a good job of forecasting (step 5), then you'll only need to manage your marketing budget, not reduce it.

Print-on-Demand Book Sales Figures

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 13:33:00 +0000

The average print-on-demand book sells 75 copies, according to Penny Sansevieri, CEO of A Marketing Expert (www.amarketingexpert.com).

Print-on-Demand is a manufacturing process. There are circumstances when Print-on-Demand makes sense as a publishing strategy—at the beginning or end of a book's life cycle or as a bridge between print runs when a book's demand exceeds expectations. For most, however, selling 75, or fewer, copies of a book is unacceptable because most authors want their message to reach a wider audience.

THE ECONOMIST Facts & Figures on Book Publishing in America

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 01:30:00 +0000

THE ECONOMIST reports in the June 7, 2008 edition that 411,000 new titles were published in America in 2007. The adult trade segment of the book publishing market grew at 4.3%. Since 1985, books' share of entertainment spending has fallen by seven percentage points. Books have changed little in the past half millennium, but they may be on the verge of going digital. Unlike digital music or video, however, digital books require consumers to change their consumption habits. Another new technology that is less visible to readers is making itself felt—print-on-demand (POD) which allows books to be printed and bound to order. POD makes million of books available even if they appeal to a narrow readership (see THE LONG TAIL by Chris Anderson).

Keeping Publishing History in Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:24:00 +0000

Marshall McLuhan pointed out that the printing press was created in 1468. It took a hundred years before you get to Cervantes and Shakespeare.

What Are The Implications?

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:51:00 +0000

Five of the ten best selling novels in Japan last year were written on mobile phones, according to THE ECONOMIST magazine.

What are the implications of this for authors, publishers, distributors and printers?

Does this indicate a change in the way novels are written? Is this a sign that a younger generation of writers are more mobile and don't want to be shackled to a computer? Will future authors be more "nomadic" — able to work and write anywhere, even while on the move? Or is this a return to simpler time when authors carried their manuscripts with them everywhere they went and worked on them when they could?

Book Numbers Go Way Up

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 23:20:00 +0000

R.R. Bowker issued their annual statistics on new books published: 291,920 for 2006. That's an increase of 120,000 over 20o5's figures.

The huge increase is the result of a new methodology Bowker used to calculate the figure.

Whether one believes the new figure or not, there is no doubt that many new books are published each year. This represents a great opportunity for book printers. It also reinforces the competitive challenge faced by any new author looking to break into the industry.

Nonfiction Trumps Fiction

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Thu, 31 May 2007 23:38:00 +0000

Shannon Rhoades, from Morning Edition radio show on NPR said, "when booking a guest on the show, nonfiction trumps fiction."

Morning Edition is the second most-listened to national radio show. The first most-listened to national show, Rush Limbaugh.

BookTour.com Announced at BEA

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:28:00 +0000

Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of the book, The Long Tail, will announce his new start-up, BookTour.com, at the Book Expo of America on May 31, 2007. No details are available yet. Look for coverage in all the major media when the announcement is made.

Television Shows Sell Books

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:12:00 +0000

The New York Times reports Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report are among the most effective broadcast sales boosters for books. The two shows are on a par with 60 Minutes, Imus in the Morning, Larry King Live and Oprah.

The shows have ratings of 1.6 million and 1.2 million viewers respectively. Martha K. Levin of the Free Press called them "the television equivalent of NPR. You have a very savvy, interested audience who are book buyers, people who do go into bookstores, people who are actually interested in books."

Source: Shelf Awareness

Starbucks As A Bookseller

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:36:00 +0000

Starbucks has sold 92,000 copies of Mitch Albom's For One More Day.

This is an incredible number of books sold. It clearly demonstrates that there are opportunities to sell books outside the bookstores.

Source: Shelf Awareness

Audiobook Facts

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 21:41:00 +0000

Downloadable audiobooks represented 9% of audiobook sales in 2005. Audiobooks are often one third less expensive than CD versions.

Source: Shelf Awareness

Disappearing Booksellers

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 19:30:00 +0000

Membership in the American Booksellers Association dropped to 1,800 from 4,000 since the early 1990s.

Source: Associated Press, October 2006

Competition to Books

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 19:26:00 +0000

26 percent of all publishers cited "competition from online/Internet formats" as a business challenge. This is the highest this challenge has been in a decade.

Source: The Industry Measure, October 2006

E-Books as a Sales Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 17:30:00 +0000

The number of book publishers who saw e-books as a sales oppoortunity rose to 24 percent from 10 percent between 2003 and 2006.

Source: The Industry Souce, October 2006

Differentiating Between Critical Publishing Dates

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:31:00 +0000

When working with a publisher, to avoid confusion it is important to understand the difference between three critical dates for a book; the Bound Book Date, the Ship Date and the Publication Date (more commonly known as the Pub Date).

The Bound Book date refers to when the book comes off the printing press.

The Ship Date refers to when the publisher releases backorders and ships to bookstore accounts and wholesalers.

The Pub Date is when the book is actively marketed to consumers. The Pub Date determines media appearances, advertising or in-store display promotions.

Typically, the time between the Bound Book date and the Pub Date is between four to six weeks to allow time to prepare marketing efforts.

If you enjoyed reading this, please forward the URL to colleagues who might also enjoy it, http://bookprint.blogspot.com.

2006 Book Summit Reflections

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 18:29:00 +0000

The 2006 Book Summit was a blast to moderate. I was, once again, fortunate enough to moderate an excited, interested and informed group of industry professionals as we explored the current and future state of publishing.

My first revelation was the mix of participants at this year’s Summit. We not only had publishers, digital book printers and distributors, we had Google, Microsoft, SONY and Chris Anderson from Wired Magazine. The incredible mix of new technology companies now involved in publishing would have been unthinkable five years ago.

The discussions were different, too. My second revelation was the in-depth discussion about metadata and its role in searching for information on the Internet. Publishers, distributors and authors will benefit from understanding metadata, its role and how to capture, store and display it on the Internet. For a good example of a site considered a prototype rich with metadata, see the International Movie Database, imdb.com.

The third epiphany I had was the importance of summits such as ours. Industry leaders rarely meet to discuss issues affecting the industry in a setting where there are no scripted messages, rehearsed speeches or company propaganda. Our roundtable format allows free, unfiltered, and sometimes critical intercourse about the industry. Participants from all disciplines report they learn something new through our dialog.

Based on the feedback, my final revelation is how valuable our participants feel the Summit is. The response to the event was gratifying and overwhelmingly positive.

If you enjoyed reading this, please forward the URL to colleagues who might also enjoy it, http://bookprint.blogspot.com.

First Half 2006 Book Sales Figures

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 13:16:00 +0000

According to the Association of American Publishers' figures, here is a breakdown of sales figures for the first half of 2006 by book genre.

Notice the percentage increase in e-books is the highest among all categories. This is a trend worth following. The impact of e-books and the digital world on book publishing and printing will be the topic of the 2006 Book Summit in New York City on September 27, 2006. Chris Anderson, author of "The Long Tail," (2006's most influential business book) will discuss the long tail of publishing. Joel Barker, author of "The Five Regions of the Future" will discuss e-books as a core enabling technology for the future.

International Interest for Short-run, Digitally Printed Books

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 20:41:00 +0000

I check my blog to learn from where my readers come periodically. To date, I have had readers from outside the United States from:

Australia
Belgium
Canada
Chile
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Ghana
Great Britain
India
Iran
Japan
Korea
Mexico
Romania
Russia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Vietnam

This broad-based, international readership confirms a worldwide demand for short-run, digital book printing. Consider the opportunity of printing several copies of a single book in each of these countries. Book printing is experiencing The Long Tail phenomenon.

Thank you to my readers from throughout the world.

If you enjoyed reading this, please forward the URL to colleagues who might also enjoy it, http://bookprint.blogspot.com.

Book Printing Acceptance Guidlines

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:03:00 +0000

The most exciting book printing & publishing job I am currently involved in is a book entitled, "The Death of Manolete," by Barnaby Conrad. The book chronicles the final days leading to his death in the ring of Manuel Laureano Rodríguez, known as Manolete, arguably the greatest bullfighter of modern times. The book is being re-released in trade paperback after being out of print for over fifty years. Its republishing is coordinated to coincide with the release of a major motion picture, Manolete, in March 2007.

Two things make this project exciting. First, the connection between the book and the movie gives this project high energy and cross-promotional opportunities. Second, the subject matter of bullfighting is quite controversial, especially with organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA commends LolaFilms, the movie’s producers, for not harming any animals during the filming of Manolete. The bullfight scenes are recreated using Computer Generated Images, CGI. PETA remains steadfastly against bullfighting, however. In PETA’s opinion, therefore, the book is controversial because it celebrates bullfighting.

Book printers, in general, benefit from deciding in advance which types of books to print. In my opinion, the historical significance of "The Death of Manolete" outweighs the controversy over bullfighting. A little controversy is good for book sales, too, and I have no issues over exploiting it. I did, however, choose not to print two genres—pornography and hate books. This is a personal decision each book printer must make individually before accepting any book project. Clear book acceptance guidelines help employees make better decisions when dealing with customer. Put the policy in writing, whenever possible. You’ll be glad you did.

If you enjoyed reading this, please forward the URL to colleagues who might also enjoy it, http://bookprint.blogspot.com.

Explaining Print-On-Demand to Potential Customers

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Frank) — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 08:16:00 +0000

New, digital printing technologies permit authors to publish a book and print as many copies as needed, in quantities as small as one book. Print-on-Demand provides the author with the control of self-publishing. Some profit potential is traded off for a smaller initial investment compared to self-publishing. Print-on-Demand is ideally suited for books at the beginning or end of their life cycle—before they find their true audience or as sales decline.

Book printers courting customers interested in Print-On-Demand may use marketing text such as the June 15th posting to attract prospects.

If you enjoyed reading this, please forward the URL to colleagues who might also enjoy it, http://bookprint.blogspot.com.