Books Becoming Popular Marketing Tools-Generate 'Invisible Income'

Another view on book publishing...or reasons to publish a book.

Nontraditional authors (entreprenuers, dentists and other professionals) published over 764,000 titles in 2009! That's double the number in 2008 and six times the number published in 2007 according to Bowker LLC, which assigns the unique ISBN numbers that identify books.

These authors do not write and publish in hopes of writing a best-seller...but, instead, to generate what has become known as 'invisible income'.

When you publish a book you become somewhat of an expert and the 'invisible income' results from speaking engagements, consulting, press and new customers.

Makes sense.

Sarah E. Needleman writes this for the Wall Street Journal:

Charles Martin is among hundreds of dentists doing business in the Richmond, Va., metro area. But his resume lists one credential that few of his peers boast: Author.

"If you write a book, you are an expert," says Dr. Martin, who spent roughly $40,000 to publish and market five books, including "Are Your Teeth Killing You?" and "This Won't Hurt a Bit."

Dr. Martin says those books have brought in roughly 450 new patients to his practice. "Who would you rather go to?" he asks. "Someone who has written a book, or someone who hasn't?"

Books are becoming popular marketing tools for the self-employed. An estimated 764,448 titles written by entrepreneurs and other nontraditional authors were published in the U.S. in 2009, including reprints. That's more than double 2008's figure and six times as many as in 2007, according to Bowker LLC, which, for U.S. publishers, assigns the unique ISBN numbers that identify books.

Entrepreneurs in most cases aren't actually looking to produce best-sellers. Instead, most are taking advantage of new forms of publishing, including electronic publishing and print-on-demand, to generate "invisible income," says Adam Witty, founder of five-year-old Advantage Media Group Inc., a Charleston, S.C., publisher. That income stems from "speaking, consulting, press and new customers. It's not about selling copies." Mr. Witty is the author of "21 Ways to Build Your Business with a Book."

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Reader's Digest Takes Center Stage with New Products

Readers Digest (RD), having emerged from Chapter 11 last February, is rolling out new print AND online products to grow and , hopefully, prosper in the 21st century!

Read my previous posts on the RD dilemma for background: RD Morphing into 24 New Products, RD Association(RDA) Emerges from Chapter 11 and RD, Playboy and Others Miss Rate Base

Readers Digest is 88 years old (that's even older than I am!) and it's editorial insight and expertise is unsurpassed! Not to mention the extremely relevant cutting edge humor. I wish them all the success in the world...and then some...

Matthew Flamm, writing for Caine's New York Business, has these details:

Reader's Digest gambles on new products

The venerable company is rolling out several mobile products next month, as well as a new brand, Best You, which will target women over 35 with e-mails, magazines and books.

The 88-year-old brand, which previewed a coming overhaul in September, will debut a slew of new online and print products next month. First up is Best You, a brand launching Jan. 6, the New York City-based Reader's Digest Association Inc. announced on Tuesday.

Best You, which will target women 35 and older, will include a free daily e-newsletter, a series of newsstand-only magazines and a new book imprint, all focused on health and wellness subjects. The imprint's first title will be Le Personal Coach, by French trainer Valerie Orsoni.

Reader's Digest had initially planned to roll out a Best You magazine last March, but cut back on plans for that title and others following the continued weakness of the economy and the company's bankruptcy filing last summer. The publisher emerged from bankruptcy in February.

A new Reader's Digest will also debut next month when the redesigned magazine hits newsstands Jan. 18. In a money-saving strategy that the company describes as going back to its roots as a content curator, the 10-times-a-year title will mostly consist of stories that have already appeared elsewhere.

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U.S. Publishers Dove Deeper Into Digital in 2010

This year big house publishers have experimented with video ebooks and complex content, digitized their older titles and made their new publications available in both digital and print.

They are accepting and learning to utilize digital e-formats instead of fighting the new trending technology...And, that's good if they want to adapt, survive and ultimately thrive again!

As a result of this digital acknowledgment, U.S. publishers' profits are up and looking brighter.

This report by Julie Bosman of the New York Times through the Stateman.com, an Austin, Texas news site:

U.S. publishers expanded digital offerings in 2010

Industry embraces electronic books, sees big jump in sales, but hardcover concerns linger.

The publishing industry used to be afraid of electronic books. In 2010, it embraced them.

Publishers expanded their digital divisions, experimented with video-enhanced e-books, worked on digitizing their older titles and made sure new books were available simultaneously in e-book and hardcover editions.

Now, having laid the tracks for digital growth, they are waiting to see what their efforts will bring in 2011.

"Is it going to be cause for celebration because it takes us to another level and makes books accessible and popular in new ways?" said Anne Messitte, publisher of Vintage/Anchor, a division of Random House. "Or will the story be different?"

E-books now make up 9 to 10 percent of trade-book sales, a rate that grew hugely this year after accounting for less than half that percentage by the end of last year. Publishers are predicting that digital sales will be 50 percent higher or even double in 2011 what they were in 2010.

January could be the biggest month ever for e-book sales, as possibly hundreds of thousands of people download books on the e-readers that they receive as Christmas gifts.

The anticipation of that jump in sales, and a feeling that the recession might have loosened its grip, has dissipated some of the death-of-print malaise that has lingered in the publishing industry for years — and helped soften the blow of a significant drop in hardcover sales this year.

"There's definitely less doom and gloom," said Peter Ginna, publisher and editorial director for Bloomsbury Press. "Most of us publishers have seen big gains from electronic books this year. We've seen some tailing off of the print sales, but for most companies, the growth of e-books has been so great that there's a lot of revenue coming from that side that's sort of gravy for us."

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How Many Authors Are Dumping Their Publishing Houses to Self-Publish?

"Until someone comes up with an algorithm to sort the good manuscripts from the bad, publishers and their human network of agents and editors maintain an advantage," McQuivey said. 'But sooner or later someone will create a new way for readers to find the books they most want to read, and that someone may or may not be a traditional book publisher.'"

Great, previously-traditionally-published authors are jumping from their old publishing houses to self-publishing to take advantage of higher percentage earnings, cheaper operational costs and faster distribution directly to their readers.

New technology, eBook stores, apps and platforms are blooming all over the bloody place!

This phenomonon, coupled with the fact that big plublishing has been lousy "gatekeepers" for at least the past three decades (or since they essentially sold out new authors and talent for their quick bottom-lines--sort of the greedy condition that happened on Wall Street), was exactly the stimuli needed to invent better ways to accommodate writers, recognize more talent and satisfy the vast market of unquenchable readers.

I believe big publishing has always underestimated the reading market.

Further, big publishing became arrogant and got the cart before the horse; putting greater value on just the business of selling a creative commodity over the commodity-creators themselves and just leaving the real producers/artisans chump change.

Alex Pham reports these details in the LA Times:

Book publishers see their role as gatekeepers shrink

Writers are bypassing the traditional route to bookstore shelves and self-publishing their works online. By selling directly to readers, authors get a larger slice of the sale price.

Joe Konrath can't wait for his books to go out of print.

When that happens, the 40-year-old crime novelist plans to reclaim the copyrights from his publisher, Hyperion Books, and self-publish them on Amazon.com, Apple Inc.'s iBooks and other online outlets. That way he'll be able to collect 70% of the sale price, compared with the 6% to 18% he receives from Hyperion.

As for future novels, Konrath plans to self-publish all of them in digital form without having to leave his house in Schaumburg, Ill.

"I doubt I'll ever have another traditional print deal," said the author of "Whiskey Sour," "Bloody Mary" and other titles. "I can earn more money on my own."

For more than a century, writers have made the fabled pilgrimage to New York, offering their stories to publishing houses and dreaming of bound editions on bookstore shelves. Publishers had the power of the purse and the press. They doled out advances to writers they deemed worthy and paid the cost of printing, binding and delivering books to bookstores. In the world of print, few authors could afford to self-publish.

The Internet has changed all that, allowing writers to sell their works directly to readers, bypassing agents and publishers who once were the gatekeepers.

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Merry Christmas, Inspirational Writing and Ingenious Publishing!

I want to wish all my readers (and those that stumble here accidently) a warm and happy Christmas filled with love and inspiration.

I sincerely hope that you all receive the truly important gifts this season. Gifts of love, caring, family, giving, insight, compassion and passion...

Keep writing and publishing!

***Merry Christmas***

Will FTC Privacy Restrictions Damage Online Publishing?

There already exists a good deal of privacy protections on the net. There's opt-out choices, opt-in choices and other notices that one must give permission to in order to have your preferences tracked.

This tracking (through cookies is one example) is simply done so more targeted ads can be sent to you...You know, ads that you will be more interested in.

Now, I must admit, I'm conflicted on this subject because I DO NOT LIKE ADS!

However, I'm also a pragmatist and realize that paid ads make possible more free web content. And these paid ads might even monetize your own web site one day (if they don't already).

Legal firm, Wiley Rein LLP, has this to say about the proposed Federal Trade Commission's privacy framework for online eCommerce:

Privacy threatens online ads

Broadcasters may comment until January 31, 2011 on how the proposed privacy framework of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should be improved. Without changes, the FTC's proposals could reduce online advertising revenues while not significantly enhancing privacy.

Broadcasters with websites, mobile applications or a social networking presence supported by advertising have a stake in this debate. The "Do Not Track" proposal-discussed in a previous article-is one among several concerns raised by the FTC's recent Preliminary Staff Report. Without careful consideration, "do not track" could erode the ad-based funding that allows broadcasters to provide free or affordable online services that consumers want. Likewise, requiring third party marketing networks to "enhance" privacy could block customized ads on broadcasters' sites that individuals find convenient, without materially improving on the notice-and-choice that such networks often already provide.

FTC actions like publishing the report have an outsized influence. They frame the national debate about privacy and preview the agency's enforcement actions. Such "soft legislating" has already spurred industry to provide consumers with more notice of online advertising and opportunities to opt-out. So, while further formalities seem unnecessary to protect privacy, strong voices from broadcasters and others are needed to demonstrate the benefits online advertising provides to consumers and industry alike.

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Random House and Marketing Books Directly to Consumers

When you know who is looking for something to download, you can make suggestions directly to that person! Right on. AND, when you know that the download device is a new eReader, you know what that person wants...EBOOKS!

Simple enough concept, even for me.

Well, Random House has used this simple concept to come up with a delightful, functional and FREE marketing device for the holidays helpful to us consumers.

Julie Bosman, New York Times, has the details:

A Christmas Morning Spree

This year, the book publishing industry has its own version of Black Friday or Cyber Monday. It’s called Christmas Day.

On that day, hundreds of thousands of consumers are expected to unwrap new e-readers that they received as gifts, and quickly begin downloading books to read.

Random House, the publisher of Stieg Larsson, John Grisham and Stephen Sondheim, is hoping to be there to make a few suggestions. It has prepared a free e-book, “The eBook Insider,” that is full of recommendations, reviews and book excerpts directed squarely at consumers who have just received e-readers.

“With so many people receiving an e-reader for the first time on Christmas, one of the things they’re going to want to do is go looking for the books they want to read,” said Anne Messitte, the publisher of Vintage/Anchor, a division of Random House. “And we think it’s an ideal moment to really begin helping a reader curate the collection of e-books that they want.”

Unlike the traditional holiday book advertising that takes place in the weeks leading up to Christmas, the promotion for “The eBook Insider” is scheduled to begin on Dec. 25, first with social media messaging and then with Google ads and also print ads in The New York Times Book Review and The New Yorker.

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