This Sunday I had the opportunity to present during the Tools of Change (TOC) conference at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, a daylong event filled with a ton of interesting conversation on the digital world of kids’ books. A number of people I met there have asked me for my slides and as promised, I’ve posted the full presentation below. The presentation focused on the changing world of children’s books, and these were some of the key points that I found interesting. I would love to hear your thoughts and/or questions! The slides can also be found directly on SlideShare.
Sourcebooks Publisher and CEO Dominique Raccah’s presentation on the changing world of children’s books, from the the 2012 Tools of Change (TOC) conference in Bologna, Italy. This may be more than you might ever want to know about agile publishing:
1) Here are links to the slides from the Tools of Change (TOC) panel last week on Real World Agile Publishing with Brett Sandusky (@bsandusky), Joe Wikert (@jwikert) (http://slidesha.re/wxfriM) and myself (@draccah) (http://slidesha.re/zsqYxO). 2) This is a write-up from Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) for all of Tools of Change. Our agile session is towards the bottom. The whole thing is worth reading: http://janefriedman.com/2012/02/16/writing-on-the-ether-25/ 3) I really liked this end quote from Brett: http://pic.twitter.com/7Q2o9Lu4 (Here's what it says if you didn't check out the link: 'The consumer does not behave as they say, they do not say what they think and they do not think what they feel.'). It was a point Eric Ries (The Lean Startup) made well and you may want to check out this video of his TOC keynote: http://bit.ly/x4g8PN 4) And Lynn Neary also mentioned agile publishing in an NPR story this morning entitled "At Last, They See: E-Books 'Democratize' Publishing" which is about Tools of Change (http://n.pr/AD04Go). 5) You may also want to check out the Hippo In Ballet Shoes, Or Greyhound On The Track? Applying Agile Methodologies To Traditional Publishing presentation by Kristen McLean (Bookigee) which covers both thinking and terminology. http://bit.ly/wadjm6 At Digital Book World we announced our Agile Publishing Model (APM) and partnership with futurist David Houle—and it looks like we’re on to so something exciting here.
From all of the comments and tweets following the announcement, the first big question has become clear: What exactly is the Agile Publishing Model and how does it work? We’ve posted our thinking on our Agile Publishing Blog. We'd love to hear any feedback you might have as we launch this new and exciting initiative. Thanks in advance for any discussion. Dominique There are loads of things that are interesting about ebooks. One of them is that you can fairly easily change the price of an ebook. So how eBooks are priced and why has to be a major aspect of any publisher’s (or author’s) strategy.
Pricing (as lots of people have talked about and discovered) is also one way to get your book or author discovered. But there's also been a conversation going on that free doesn’t work any more and there are loads of opinions about why or why not. This week Amy Denim noticed two of our titles available for free and posed this question: I mean, Sourcebooks Casablanca is a pretty big publisher (I'd die to get published by them) they sell zillions of Romance novels every year. Why are they offering free books? (both of which I downloaded as soon as I could possibly make it to the one-click button) So I pulled some data together about why we did it. (Thanks for the question, Amy!!). We ask ourselves this kind of question every week as we are evaluating eBook promotions. Here’s a bit about what we’re seeing. We have offered 7 adult fiction titles (in romance and in general fiction) for free within the past 6 months. On average, full-price sales for the 4 weeks after the promotion were 46 times greater than the 4 weeks before the promotion. That’s a really BIG increase – both in sales and in exposure for what are (in most cases) backlist or deep backlist titles. There’s a lot of variability in the results. Some titles saw a relatively weak 7-12 time increase. One book saw a staggering 844 time sales increase. The average was a 46-fold sales increase. The kind of novel seems to make a big difference here and we (as always) need more data. We obviously use this tactic sparingly and as part of pretty wide arsenal of marketing and publicity tactics. We're testing a lot of different ways to drive sales and discovery. And while we are interested in driving sales and marketing results, we are unwilling to do that at the cost of the value of our authors’ work. So again, there's both analysis and discussion around when different tactics work best. Anyone else have any data they’d be willing to share? I’d love to understand this better. What are you seeing from other publishers or authors? What is your opinion of using free or discounted backlist to drive discovery? Would love to hear what people are seeing and think works. Thanks in advance for any discussion. Dominique Check out this interview with Sourcebooks CEO and Publisher Dominique Raccah. After participating in the CEO Panel at Digital Book World, Dominique explained to GoodEReader why she’s so excited about the publishing transformation and coming innovations in the juvenile book space, including ebooks and enhanced digital books.
To watch the video and read the full article, click here. A New Platform for Authors--Faster, More Flexible, and with Reader Feedback
Sourcebooks is excited to announce the creation of an Agile Publishing Model (APM) that will allow for the rapid and interactive development of books, ebooks, articles, videos, and other content by its authors, where the content evolves through a partnership between the author and their community. This framework allows for a more iterative publishing process—making content available faster, getting real-time customer feedback, and shaping the final product based on the collaboration between the author and customer. “The traditional publishing model—long schedules, creating in a vacuum, lack of involvement with the readers of the end product—drives some authors crazy,” says Dominique Raccah, CEO and publisher of Sourcebooks. “This model is a great fit for experts who are highly immersed in their field and where the field is evolving rapidly.” Entering the Shift Age, by futurist, advisor, and speaker David Houle, will be the first book published under this model in fall 2012. Sourcebooks will release several related ebooks and other materials from Houle as part of the APM over the upcoming months. “The model came to our attention from work O’Reilly Media was doing, and what was really interesting to me was having a physical book come at the end of a community-building process,” says Raccah. Houle is one of the featured keynote speakers at the Digital Book World Conference & Expo on January 25. Raccah will speak at the opening panel of the conference (“The CEO’s Perspective: Lessons Learned”; January 24), where she will discuss the Sourcebooks APM. Attendees of the conference will receive an exclusive ebook, featuring an excerpt from Houle’s book The Shift Age and a compilation of his publishing-related columns, and will be invited to join the Entering the Shift Age blog that will serve not only as the community site for review and discussion of the book, but also as a platform for the development of the Sourcebooks APM. “One of the reasons we are really excited to announce this new model at Digital Book World is that we will be able to test it with individuals who are interested in new, innovative ways to bring content to readers,” says Raccah. “We want this group to be the first to interact with David’s content, provide feedback, and think through various models within the project. What better way to launch than with a futurist.” Working together, Houle and the blog community will shape and change the content as the book moves from its initial stages as an interactive, digital platform to a “traditionally published” product. “I’m thrilled to be with Sourcebooks,” says Houle. “I have been searching for a publisher to partner with on inventive, inclusive, future-facing publishing models—Dominique and her team are doing just that, ahead of the curve in so many ways.” The Sourcebooks APM will be used across a variety of subject matter and content with nonfiction, expert-based authors. Anyone interested in learning more about agile publishing, and joining the Entering the Shift Age community, can sign up at our Agile Publishing Blog. To learn more about Sourcebooks, its authors, or its manuscript submission process, visit www.sourcebooks.com. About David Houle As a futurist and strategist, Houle has always been slightly ahead of the curve. He is often called the “CEOs’ futurist,” having spoken to or advised 2,000+ CEOs and business owners in the past four years. Houle spent more than 20 years in media and entertainment. He has worked at NBC, CBS, and was part of the senior executive team that launched MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, and CNN Headline News. He won two Emmys, a Peabody, and was nominated for an Academy Award. David’s most recent book, The New Health Age: the Future of Health Care in America, coauthored with Jonathan Fleece, sets forth what health care and medicine will look like in the years ahead. He is the futurist in residence and a faculty member at The Ringling College of Art & Design. David writes the highly regarded futurist blog www.evolutionshift.com, and can be found on Twitter @evolutionshift, as well as YouTube. About The Shift Age The Shift Age is about humanity’s new era. As the Information Age gives way to the Shift Age, we are entering a time of transformation and change that offers both great risk and incredible opportunity. David Houle identifies and explains the dynamics and forces that already have reshaped and will continue to reshape our world for the next 20 years. He comments from the front lines of the Shift Age on issues and topics that affect our lives. We have entered the final, global stage of humanity’s cultural, social, and economic evolutionary journey: The Shift Age. About Dominique Raccah and Sourcebooks Dominique Raccah (@draccah) is the CEO and Publisher of Sourcebooks, where she is in charge of creating the future—not just a future for the company but for authors, readers, and the book itself. The classic example of a successful entrepreneur, Dominique has driven innovation and expansion by kicking her way out of boxes and creating possibility where none existed. The result has been double digit annual revenue growth over the past 10 years, twenty-five New York Times bestsellers, #1 category leaders that range from baby names books to college guides, and a publishing company that many consider on the leading edge of the digital transformation. Most recently, Dominique has managed the launch of the new cutting-edge education division, Sourcebooks EDU. Dominique currently serves as co-chair of the Board of Directors of the Book Industry Study Group. For Sourcebooks news and announcements, visit the NEXT blog and follow us on Twitter @Sourcebooks. Sourcebooks Adds Financial Aid Resources to Rapidly Expanding Education Portfolio
Financial Fit Revolutionizes the College Search Process by Addressing Affordability First (Naperville, IL)—Dec. 5, 2011 - Student debt has surpassed credit card debt for the first time in U.S. history, and the amount of outstanding student loans is expected to exceed $1 trillion in 2011. College seniors graduated with an average of $25,250 in student loans in 2010, up 5 percent from the previous year, according to The Project on Student Debt. Every year, thousands of college-bound students and parents face the complexity and anxiety associated with filing for and receiving their college financial aid packages, as well as making decisions that will affect them financially for years to come. In fact, financial aid was cited as the most challenging aspect of the college process, according to a recent survey of guidance counselors. In a process fraught with myths and misinformation, families often find out at the last minute that the colleges of their choice come with unexpectedly high financial burdens. Barnes & Noble Chairman Len Riggio gave the keynote address Friday morning at PubWest 2011. I had the pleasure of introducing him and then found I spent much of the day thinking about what he said. So I just wanted to share some of what he said (and I apologize in advance to Mr. Riggio for any errors or misrepresentations here which are strictly my own):
On books, pricing and reading
On possibilities and publishing
On culture and books
On entrepreneurs and publishing
On the value of bookstores and publishers
One of Sourcebooks’s most important discoveries in the digital transformation has been the dramatic new level to which precise metadata has elevated our business results—both in discovery and in closing sales. In his presentation from the Frankfurt Book Fair, Editorial Manager Peter Lynch discusses the impact of metadata on editorial and sales. From a publishing perspective, he describes the importance of creating a metadata culture and provides a practical approach to capturing metadata in every department.
Sourcebooks Director of Sales & Marketing, Chris Bauerle, was at the Publishers launch Conference in Frankfurt last week, where he gave a presentation about book publishing workflow. The article below appeared in the Publishers Launch Conference program and highlights the innovations Sourcebooks has made in the digital workflow transformation over the past few years.
BOOK PUBLISHING WORKFLOW IN TRANSFORMATION Changes You Can Make Today to Prepare for an Age of Exploding Opportunity By Chris Bauerle, Sourcebooks The digital transformation offers opportunities for authors and books that we couldn’t have imagined five years ago: from instant digital access to an author’s work to interactive children’s books, from web-based platforms for content to highly engaging mobile apps. This new digital revolution in publishing has taken an industry that remained relatively unchanged for decades and provided it with a virtually limitless platform from which to create new products and ideas. Seeing these opportunities on the horizon, Sourcebooks’s founder and CEO Dominique Raccah began to retool our organization several years ago to capitalize on the game-changing shift, and a digital workflow was at the heart of the changes made. I’m not sure that we could have articulated “digital workflow” when we set out, but our content delivery team was tasked with automating our workflow and preparing content to be repurposed in a host of new ways. |
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