Strategic implications of the digitization of publishing popular fiction in the 21st century: introducing the Octopus Theory

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STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE DIGITIZATION OF PUBLISHING
POPULAR FICTION IN THE 21
ST
CENTURY:
INTRODUCING THE OCTOPUS THEORY

by

Monique H. Moss

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS)

May 2010

Copyright 2010 Monique H. Moss

ii

Table of Contents

List of Tables iv

Abstract v

Introduction 1

Chapter One: History of Publishing 7
The Advent of the Printing Press 7
Storytelling for the Populace 9
Significant Attempts to Advance the Popular Novel 12
Critical Advances in Publishing 16
The Advent of the E-Book 21

Chapter Two: Today‘s Publishing Climate 27
The Book Business‘ Leading Convention 27
Author Membership Clubs 28
Social Networking 29
The Changing Landscape of Retailers 30
The Making of a Bestseller 32
Print on Demand Growth 34
Audio Book Technology 36
Changing Landscape of Book Reviews 38

Chapter Three: Positioning Strategies 40
Author Appearances 40
Media Relations 43
Author Acclaim 45
Readers Speak Out 46

Chapter Four: Capitalizing on Digitization 49

Chapter Five: Strategic Implications 58
SWOT Analysis 58
Delivery Mechanisms 61
Marketing Systems in Flux 62
What‘s Next? 67

iii

Chapter Six: The Next Decade 69

Conclusion: The Answer Lies in the Octopus Theory 76
A Roadmap for PR Professionals 76

Bibliography 82

iv

List of Tables

Table One: Historical Highlights of Popular Fiction Publishing 6

Table Two: On-Demand Printing Growth 35

Table Three: Attitudes/Opinions of Advertising on Book 49
Purchasing Population

v

Abstract

While the landscape of publishing has continued to evolve since the invention of
the Gutenberg printing press in 1439, the face of reading took a dramatic turn during the
last few years. Prior to the millennium, one could not completely separate printing on the
one hand and the retailing of printed matter on the other. Publishing platforms have
advanced greatly as the digitization of books becomes the norm. The challenge is finding
the most efficient ways in which traditional and non-traditional publishers can reach the
consumer effectively while providing the widest variety of product at competitive prices
in a fluctuating marketplace. This paper posits the OCTOPUS Theory as a way to
address the current volatility in the publishing industry and provides a blueprint for
public relations professionals in today‘s marketplace by analyzing multiple publishing
platforms, integrated technologies that allow the reader to access content efficiently and
the strategic combination of effective publicity and marketing tactics.
1

Introduction

The term ―publishing‖ means, in the broadest sense of the word, making
something publicly known.
1
Ever since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press,
the mass distribution of the written word has been used to inform, educate, entertain and
enlighten the world. We are at a point in history, however, when the digitization of the
written word bids fair to challenge the printing press. The medium in which readers
consume books is no longer only in print format. In the last few years, publishing
platforms have advanced greatly; we are progressing toward substantial leaps in the
history of publishing as the digitization of books becomes the norm.
According to a study conducted during the 2008 Frankfurt Book Fair, 1,000
publishing industry professionals from over 30 countries predicted that e-content and
digital influence in publishing will increase threefold in the next five years. Further,
these professionals reported that online bookselling is the most important development of
the past 60 years. They also listed the three main entities driving the digitization process:
consumers, Amazon and Google (in this order).
Instrumental to this process is the much-hyped e-reader—a digital, electronic
reading device that can store approximately 1,000 books, has a built-in wireless web
connection that makes it easy to sample, buy and download books and can run for days
between charges.
However, current opinion is divided on the future of e-books and digital content.
While 40 percent of respondents in this survey expect e-content to overtake traditional

1
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Retrieved from Columbia University Press 2008, 12/1/2009,
http://www.credoreference.com/entry/columency/book_publishing
2

book sales by 2018, a third predict that this will never happen.
2
Acknowledging digital
publishing is cost effective and borderless, they insist, it cannot completely replace the
printed copy.
There are numerous factors driving the move toward digitization – the conversion
of traditional printed words into electronic formats – beginning with consumer demand.
As digital reading devices become more affordable as well as easier to use, digital
content also grows easier to access. Consumer attitudes are evolving nearly as quickly as
advances in digital technologies which aim to perfect the process that allows any laptop
or mobile device to be ―transformed‖ into a virtual e-reader. Industry experts agree that
internet users will be even more willing to pay for digital content in five years.
3
Integral
to this trajectory in consumer preference are online retailers‘ aggressive tactics and
strategic marketing of digital content to their consumer base, along with groundbreaking
innovation in telecommunications.
While digitization of books opens up new avenues of partnership, perhaps nothing
lends itself more to collaboration than mobile telecommunications companies. While the
popularity of e-book readers is steadily increasing, there are many people, including
industry heavyweights, who believe that the growth of simple, dedicated devices used to
read books electronically, may not be sustainable without advanced mobile technology.
4

Toshiba, for example, is preparing to launch its new Biblio handheld device which offers

2
―How will Digitization Shape the Future of Publishing?‖ Retrieved from Frankfurter Buchmesse,
3/28/2009, http://en.book-fair.com/fbf/journalists/press_releases

3
Frankfurter Buchmesse, ibid.

4
―Toshiba Biblo e-Reader Mobile Phone Surfaces,‖ Retrieved from TFTS 11/2/2009,
http://nexus404.com/Blog/2009/10/05/toshiba-biblio-e-reader-mobile-phone-surfaces-small-toshiba-biblio-
with-3-5-lcd-wifi-dictionary-5-1megapixel-camera/

3

a possible path that future e-book readers may follow: integration with other devices.
Meanwhile, more than 12 million e-books have been downloaded by the 18-month old
Stanza e-reader iPhone application, which converts a cell phone into a small-screen
reader.
5

It is a given that one of the biggest challenges for the entire digital reading market
has been the price of these new devices plus the cost of digital content which must be
delivered via wireless modem. Considering this delivery mode, it is only a question of
time before the major telecommunications companies offer their own digital readers or, at
the very least, exclusive access to specific partners as is the practice in ―smart phone‖
sales. Industry insiders predict that Verizon could subsidize the devices and sell them in
its branded stores, as they do with the inexpensive laptops called netbooks.
6
It is logical,
many believe, that smart phones and 3G data networks may become the biggest drivers in
digital content sales.
The availability of choices the e-book consumer has today is staggering. Each
one – the iPhone, Blackberry, Kindle, Sony‘s Reader, the iPad and PC – offers its own set
of strengths and weaknesses. Industry consensus is that while traditional books are easier
to sell to a somewhat more predictable audience, there is a vast and growing supply of
increasingly savvy online users who are adept at operating multiple devices and can
maneuver easily through free content (including books). The answer may lie in
consumers operating multiple devices with an integrated content flow from platform to

5
―Are We on the Verge of an e-Book Explosion?‖ Retrieved from Book Business Mag, 10/19/2009,
http://www.bookbusinessmag.com/article/are-we-verge-e-book-explosion-413088_1.html

6
Stone, Brad, ―Best Buy and Verizon Jump Into e- Reader Fray,‖ Retrieved from New York Times,
9/22/2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/technology/internet/23ebooks.html
4

platform: the right e-reader device for the corresponding end-user with appropriate
content for the specific electronic platform/device.
In the past year, fiction had the upper hand with e-book debuts. Contemporary
fiction, an elastic term encompassing mystery, romance, horror and thriller – which
appeals to particular groups of readers in print form – is selling well digitally. Sales
show that avid readers already familiar with specific bestselling authors are willing to
access content in a variety of ways. As distinct fiction genres continuously evolve, so too
will the platform in which the words are read. Tapping into 2008‘s $14 billion total
annual book market
7
and strategically increasing the number of readers and early
adopters is the ultimate challenge.
Differential rates of digital adoption by certain demographics require a need to
explore both the various platforms on which readers can access content and the way
segmented audiences‘ prefer to consume content. Despite significant recent
technological advances, it is clear that the adoption of e-reader devices is lagging far
behind e-book publication. Amazon, for example, is expected to sell a half-million
Kindle e-readers domestically by the end of 2010 while an estimated 110 million adults
in the U.S. will purchase at least one print book in the same time frame.
Some traditional publishers have been connected to the e-book revolution since
the late 1990s; others have taken much longer to get involved (e.g. Harlequin, a romance
novel publisher, belatedly entered the market in 2005).
8
While popular fiction will
continue to exist in the next decade, the challenge is finding the most efficient ways in

7
Norris, Michael, Pawlowski, Warren, ―Trends in Trade Book Publishing 2009,‖ Simba Information 2009,
pg. 8.

8
Norris, Michael, Pawlowski, Warren ―Trade E-Book Publishing 2009,‖ Simba Information 2009, pg. 2.
5

which traditional and non-traditional publishers can reach the consumer effectively while
providing the widest variety of product at competitive prices in a fluctuating marketplace.
Publishers will necessarily be more nimble to be competitive in today‘s marketplace,
flexible to publish across multiple platforms with affordable pricing of content and
reading devices. Integrated technologies will allow the reader to access content
efficiently, offer two-way dialogue between authors and their audiences and enforce the
strategic combination of publicity and marketing. The logical proposition is the
OCTOPUS Theory: a multi-pronged approach to reaching diverse, segmented audiences,
whose print and digital content consumption vary from one demographic to another
dependent on need, usability, access and preference.

6

Table One: Historical Highlights of Popular Fiction Publishing

2007 - Present
1439: Gutenberg Printing Press
1995
1998
2002
1706: Publication in English of serialized novel, One Thousand and One
Arabian Nights
1837: Dickens’ Oliver Twist, first “serial” novel published in English

1740: Pamela (or Virtue Rewarded) first popular fiction bestseller

Rise of the popular “Penny” novel (aka “Dime” novel)
Sherlock Holmes, first blockbuster serialized novel
Book-of-the-Month Club established

Development of the offset press in the U.S.

Paperback’s rise to popularity in the U.S.
American attempt to serialize novels

Large print format launched

1971: Project Gutenberg (oldest digital library)
1970: Audio book rises to prominence

First online bookseller opens for business
1998: E-book publishing begins
2002: On-demand printing prevalent

2007-Present: Kindle, Sony Reader & other
portable e readers
7

Chapter One

History of Publishing

The Advent of the Printing Press

In 1424, Cambridge University library owned only 122 books—each of which
had a value equal to a farm or vineyard.
9
The earliest printing press, a mechanical device
for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth)
and thereby transferring an image, was first invented in 1437 in Germany and ultimately
assembled by goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1439. The overall invention of
Gutenberg's printing method depended, for some of its elements, upon a diffusion of
technologies from China, including the Chinese invention of paper. The first ―bestseller‖
was, of course, the Gutenberg Bible.
Gradually, the clergy‘s monopoly on literacy weakened. There was a substantial
rise in adult literacy over the course of three centuries following the introduction of
popular stories in print, among other factors. With this rise came a growing demand by
the general European public for lower-cost paper books, a demand driven by both the
middle class and students. Finally, for the first time in modern history, it became
affordable for ―commoners‖ to own a personal library.
The Renaissance was still in its early stages when Gutenberg invented his press.
At the time, the use of Gutenberg‘s printing press was the key technological difference
between European book publishers and their Chinese counterparts. The Europeans
enjoyed increased profits over their counterparts‘ still-ancient methods of printing

9
Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1998), pg. 58.
2007 - Present
1995
1998
2002
8

exorbitantly expensive parchment books. Printing methods based on Gutenberg's press
spread throughout Europe and soon after to the rest of the world. His invention
eventually replaced most versions of block printing, making it the most used format of
modern movable type, until being superseded by the advent of offset printing in the
United States in 1903.
Having previously worked as a professional goldsmith, Gutenberg made skillful
use of the knowledge of metals he had learned as a craftsman. He was the first to make
type from an alloy of lead, tin and antimony, critical for producing durable type that
resulted in high-quality printed books and proved more suitable for printing than the clay,
wooden or bronze types invented in East Asia. To create these his types, Gutenberg used
what is considered one of his most ingenious inventions: a special matrix enabling the
quick and precise molding of new type blocks from a uniform template.
10

The printing press was an important step toward the democratization of
knowledge.
11
Within fifty or sixty years of the invention of the printing press, the entire
classical canon had been reprinted in Latin and widely distributed throughout Europe,
giving readers access to knowledge both new and old. In the early eighteenth century,
book production grew to become a commercial enterprise and the first copyright laws
were passed to protect what are now called intellectual property rights.
In 1843, English-born American mechanic Richard March Hoe improved
Gutenberg‘s press by inventing a lithographic rotary printing press that placed the type on

10
Meggs, pg. 147.

11
Herwig, Malte, ―Google’s Total Library,‖ Retrieved from Spiegel Online International 12/9/2009,
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,621385,00.html

9

a revolving cylinder, a design much faster than the old flatbed printing press.
12
Hoe‘s
―lightning press," patented in 1847, led to the development in 1870 of a rotary press that
printed both sides of a page in a single operation. This invention, combined with the
Mergenthaler Linotype Company‘s major contribution in 1886 of equipment that justified
type, giving flush margins on the left and right, made printed product, like bound books,
more cost effective.
Storytelling for the Populace
The idea of stories being told in serial form dates back to Antoine Galland‘s
translation of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights into French in 1706. These tales,
told over days, consisted of a sequence of serialized stories or "serialized novels.‖ Its
frame story, often considered a template for the progression and rise of the popular serial
novel, centers around the legendary Persian queen Sheherazade‘s telling stories to King
Shahriyar to prevent him from executing her the next morning. Sheherazade often tells
the stories in a series, beginning each chronicle with a narrative hook, leaving off with a
cliffhanger and continuing the story the next night. This leaves the King in suspense,
waiting until the following night to hear what will happen next. Many of these tales
stretch over a substantial amount of time (or episodes) ranging from five to 78 nights.
Scholars consider Samuel Richardson‘s Pamela (or Virtue Rewarded), published
in 1740, a seminal fiction bestseller. The publication of Horace Walpole‘s The Castle of
Otranto followed shortly and cemented Richardson and Walpole as literary stars of the

12
Meggs, ibid.
10

eighteenth century. Each novel, for the first time, was purchased by countless buyers and
read aloud in groups.
13

In nineteenth-century literature, many writers earned a living by writing stories in
serial form for popular magazines. Most notable was England‘s Charles Dickens, whose
novels were originally published in this manner, which helps explain why many are so
long (the more chapters Dickens wrote, the longer the serial continued in the magazine
and the more money he was paid). Though other writers would complete entire novels
before serial publication commenced, Dickens often wrote his in parts, in the order they
were meant to appear. This method lent his stories a particular rhythm, punctuated by one
cliffhanger after another, keeping the public eager for the next installment.
14
First
published in the United Kingdom in monthly installments were Oliver Twist (1837-39),
followed by Nicholas Nickleby (1838–39), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-41) and,
finally, Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty (1840–41; part of the Master
Humphrey's Clock series). The success of these titles would largely dictate the course of
American fiction publishing.
America‘s homegrown antecedent to today‘s mass market paperbacks was the
―dime novel,‖ a catch-all term for several different forms of mid-nineteenth century U.S.
popular fiction: ―true‖ dime novels; story papers; five-and- ten-cent weekly libraries and
―thick book‖ reprints.
―Dime novel‖ came to mean any quickly written, easily accessible, sometimes
serialized piece of written work. The term originated in 1860 with the first book in the

13
Fysh, Stephanie, The Work(s) of Samuel Richardson (University of Delaware Press 1997), pg. 58.

14
Stone, Harry, Dickens' Working Notes for His Novels (Chicago Press, 1987), pg. 92.
11

Beadle & Adams Beadle’s Dime Novel series—Ann S. Stephens‘ Maleaska, the Indian
Wife of the White Hunter. The novel was essentially a reprint of Stephens's earlier serial,
which had appeared in the Ladies' Companion magazine in February, March and April of
1839. Though dime novels varied in size, even within this first Beadle series, they were
roughly 6.5‖x 4.25‖ and about 100 pages. The first 28 books appeared without a cover
illustration, in a salmon-colored paper wrapper, but a woodblock print topped issue 29,
and reprints of the first 28 saw an illustration added to their covers. Of course, the books
were priced at ten cents.
This Beadle & Adams series ran for 321 issues, establishing almost all the
conventions of the genre, from the colorful and outlandish story (written presumably by a
woman) to the melodramatic double titling that was used right up to the very end in the
1920s. Most of the stories were frontier tales reprinted from the vast backlog of serials in
the story papers and other sources.
15

As the popularity of dime novels rose, owing to increased literacy in the
American population, original stories became the norm. The novels themselves were
reprinted many times, sometimes with different covers, and then further reprinted as
stories in different series, sometimes by different publishers and sometimes in pulp
magazines.
Still, the most respected author of serial literature at this point in time – on both
sides of the Atlantic – was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a Scottish author and physician, who
created the Sherlock Holmes stories for serialization in The Strand magazine. The stories
featured Holmes, a fictional London-based ―consulting detective‖ famous for his

15
Pearson, Edmund, Dime Novels (Little Brown, 1929), pg. 79.
12

intellectual prowess and renowned for his skillful use of astute observation, deductive
reasoning and forensic skill to solve difficult cases. Holmes starred in four novels and
fifty-six short stories from 1875 to 1907, with his final case told in a short story in 1914.
Doyle‘s analytic, stylized development of the prototypical protagonist, with
conversational exchanges between his two chief characters, Holmes and Watson,
precipitated the origin of American popular detective fiction.
Significant Attempts to Advance the Popular Novel
Harry Scherman was a copywriter for the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency
in 1916 when he set out to create the "Little Leather Library." With his partners, Max
Sackheim and Charles and Albert Boni, Scherman began the first-ever mail order service
for books. Offering "30 Great Books for $2.98," the service sold 40,000,000 copies in its
first five years.
16

Sackheim and Scherman founded their own ad agency in 1920 devoting it entirely
to the marketing of books. The problems they confronted in stirring interest in a new
book led Scherman, along with Sackheim and Robert Haas, to found the Book-of-the-
Month Club in 1926. BOMC became a "standard brand,‖ a commonly accepted seal of
approval.
17
(The act of a person ―belonging‖ to the club, which quickly established itself
as a sound selector of good books, became a symbol of an individual‘s prestige.) New
members were often offered a selection of books at an arbitrarily low price – "four books
for $4.00 each" – with the stipulation that once they had accepted this initial shipment,

16
Radway, Janice A. A Feeling for Books: The Book-of-the-Month Club, Literary Taste, and Middle-Class
Desire (University of North Carolina Press, 1997), pg. 124.

17
Radway, ibid.

13

and decided to join the club, they must then purchase a certain number of books within a
certain period of time.
Starting with 4,000 subscribers, the Club would attract more than 550,000 in
fewer than twenty years.
18
Being named a "Book-of-the-Month-Club" selection created
powerful promotional leverage with the general public and laid the groundwork for
numerous other membership ―clubs‖: the Science Fiction Book Club, the Mystery Book
Club and the Quality Paperback Book Club, all of which are run today by
Booksonline/Doubleday Entertainment (a subsidiary of Bookspan). The two largest book
of the month clubs – Book-of-the-Month Club and Doubleday Direct – have millions of
members and can make all the difference in moving a lesser-known book to bestseller
status.
The first mass-market, pocket-sized, paperback book printed in America was an
edition of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth, produced by Simon & Schuster‘s imprint,
Pocket Books in 1939, sold first in New York City and now considered a high-value
collectible. To reach the largest potential numbers of readers, Pocket Books initiated the
mass market route, through distribution networks of newspapers and magazines, which
had a lengthy history of being aimed (in format and distribution) at mass audiences. The
term "pocket book" eventually became synonymous with paperback in English-speaking
North America.
A number of companies entered the paperback publishing field in the United
States in the years after Pocket Books' inception, including Ace, Dell, Bantam, Avon and
dozens of other smaller publishers. Significantly, many of these were direct-to-

18
Lee, Charles, The Hidden Public; The Story of the Book-of-the-Month Club (Doubleday & Company,
1958), pg. 48.
14

paperback publishers who shunned hardcover publication and promotion. By the mid-
1940s, genre categories (mystery, detective fiction) began to emerge. Mass market book
covers reflected those categories. The impact of these mass market paperbacks on slick
magazines (slicks) and pulp magazines was substantial; the market for cheap magazines
and pulps diminished as consumers elected instead to spend their money on cheap books.
Authors also found themselves abandoning magazines and began writing for the
paperback market. Pulp-magazine cover artists were hired by paperback publishers to
entice readers with their exciting, familiar artwork. Not only were well-known authors
like Arthur Miller and John Steinbeck often published in paperback, but some, like
Dashiell Hammett, even saw their work published as paperback originals.
Before long a revolving metal rack was designed to display a wide variety of
paperbacks in a small space, a type of display that found its way into drugstores, dime-
stores and supermarkets. World War II brought both new technologies and an
increasingly wider readership of men and women in the military or employed as shift
workers; paperbacks were a cheap, readily available, easily transported means of
reaching and satisfying the demand of this readership. (G.I. books were published
literally as 3‖ x 5‖ books horizontally with two columns on a page—so as to fit in a
pocket. Wartime restrictions on travel and the uneven availability of popular
entertainment during this period allowed people additional time to read more
paperbacks.) Four-color printing and lamination developed for military maps later made
the paperback cover eye-catching and kept ink from running, allowing consumers to
easily examine the cover of the book over and over again.

15

A further surge occurred in the postwar period. Pass-around rates increased in
1949 with the success of Harlequin, which switched its focus from undistinguished
novels to the romance genre and became one of the world's largest publishers of
paperback fiction. (Harlequin is credited with publishing more than half of all romances
released in North America.
19
) By 1998 mass-market and trade paperbacks represented
about 14 percent of number of books sold in the United States.
Soon after the end of WW II, the New Yorker Magazine, which had been notable
for its editorial tradition since 1925, established itself as a preeminent forum for serious
fiction. The magazine entered a Golden Age for its medium, setting precedent as it
published short stories over the years by many of the most respected contemporary
American writers, including Ann Beattie, John Cheever, Philip Roth, J.D. Salinger, Irwin
Shaw, John Updike, E. B. White and Richard Yates.
While some styles and themes recur more often than others in New Yorker fiction,
the magazine's stories are marked less by uniformity than by their variety. They have
ranged from Updike's introspective domestic narratives to the surrealism of Donald
Barthelme, and from parochial accounts of the lives of neurotic New Yorkers to stories
set in a wide range of locations and eras and translated from many languages.
In the first part of the twentieth century, Cosmopolitan Magazine also spotlighted
numerous leading current-day writers, including Alfred Henry Lewis, Sinclair Lewis,
George Bernard Shaw, Upton Sinclair and Ida Tarbell. During the 1940s, the magazine,

19
Regis, Pamela, A Natural History of the Romance Novel, (University of Pennsylvania Press 2003), pg.
102.
16

which had undergone a number of changes, was subtitled The Four-Book Magazine.
20

By 1943, Cosmo‘s first section featured one novelette, six or eight short stories, two
serials, six to eight articles and eight or nine special features, while the other three
sections featured two novels and a digest of a current nonfiction book. The magazine
began to run less fiction during the 1950s and its circulation dropped to slightly over a
million monthly readers by 1955 from an all-time high of two million a few years earlier.
Like Cosmo, as magazines became purveyors of fiction, they were overshadowed by a
significant rise in the popularity of paperbacks and television; at the same time, general-
interest publications gave way to special-interest magazines targeting specialized
audiences.
Critical Advances in Publishing
In the past fifty years, there have been major advances to grow the popular fiction
genre. Large Print books published material in which the typeface (or font), and
sometimes the medium, are considerably bigger than usual, accommodating individuals
with poor vision as well as elderly readers. Large Print books first appeared in 1964 in
Leicester, England, when Frederick Thorpe, a retired book and magazine distributor,
decided to meet the needs of elderly, poor-sighted readers by reprinting older classics in
editions about twice the physical size of the original book.
21
The text was enlarged to
about double the type size of the original printing. Given plain dust-jackets with type
only, the books were color-coded to indicate categories: mysteries (black), general fiction

20
―History of Cosmopolitan Magazine,‖ Retrieved from Spartacus International, 12/19/2009
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcosmopolitan.htm

21
"How the Ulverscroft Foundation Began," Retrieved from The Ulverscroft Foundation 12/19/2009,
http://www.foundation.ulverscroft.com/foundation1.html

17

(red), romances (blue) and westerns (orange). In 1969 Thorpe's company, Ulverscroft,
began to retypeset the books in 16-point type and print them in normal-sized bindings,
again with color-coded plain jackets. This change greatly increased the acceptance of
Large Print in public libraries. Thorpe himself became a Large Print ambassador,
travelling around the English-speaking world promoting the acquisition of Large Print
books for seniors. Soon, special-needs libraries began stocking large-print versions of
books, along with versions written in Braille.
Today, Large Print editions of some current books are published simultaneously
with regular print editions by their publishers and usually feature the same full-color
jackets and jacket design. Since 2005 some companies, most notably Read How You
Want, began offering a variety of font sizes for Large Print books, allowing readers to
choose the font that best suits them when purchasing a book. The font size usually varies
from standard-sized, 11-and 13-point fonts, to large, 16- to 20-point fonts, and Super
Large, 28-point fonts.
22

With the development of the portable cassette recorder in the late 1960s, public
libraries became a source of yet another variation delivery system: audio books on
cassette tapes. By the beginning of the next decade, the Books on Tape Corporation had
initiated rental plans for audio books distribution. Audio books gained more and more
popularity until the middle of the 1980s, when the receipts of audio publishing amounted
to several billion dollars per year. Recorded Books and Chivers Audio Books were the
first new companies to develop integrated production teams that secured professional

22
―Read What You Want,‖ Retrieved from ReadHowYouWant.com 12/19/2009
http://www.readhowyouwant.com/formats/print-format.aspx

18

actors and established close connections with libraries. This strategy yielded consistent
revenue streams from the very beginning of each company‘s existence.
Audio book sales continued to grow, propelled by the establishment in 1996 of
the first-ever ―Audie Awards,‖ the Oscars for the talking-book industry, handed out
during the publishing industry‘s annual springtime convention, BookExpo America.
Mimicking print, the audio book industry promoted itself through the social
networking of its day, the audio book club. In 1997, the Columbia House Audio Book
Club included more than 150,000 members while Herrik‘s Book Club had amassed
215,000 members.
23
The invention of the compact disc (CD) in 1983 added to the
convenience and flexibility of listening, followed by the technologically advanced age of
internet capabilities, which continues to broaden the market for audio books today.
The first effort to digitize and archive literary works, cited as the oldest digital
library that aimed to "encourage the creation and distribution of e-books,‖
24
was Michael
S. Hart‘s Project Gutenberg in 1971. Hart, then a student at the University of Illinois,
obtained access to a Xerox Sigma V mainframe computer in the university's Materials
Research Lab. Through friendly computer operators at his university, he received an
access account to the institution‘s databases with a virtually unlimited amount of
computer time, explaining that he wanted to "give back" this gift by doing something that
could be considered of great value. His initial goal was to make of the 10,000 most-
consulted, public domain books available to the public at little or no charge, and to do so

23
―Evolution of Audio Books,‖ Retrieved from BooksAlley.com 12/19/2009
http://booksalley.com/bAMain/bAlleyT02_Museum.php

24
Hart, Michael S., "Gutenberg Mission Statement," Retrieved from Project Gutenberg 12/19/2009.
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Project_Gutenberg_Mission_Statement_by_Michael_Hart

19

by the end of the twentieth century. He fully believed that computers would one day be
accessible to the general public. The particular computer he used was one of the 15
initial nodes on the DARPA computer network that would eventually become the
Internet. Hart named the project after Johannes Gutenberg, the historic earlier named
figure, responsible for an equally monumental printing revolution. Hart stuffed a hard
copy of the United States Declaration of Independence in his backpack and this became
the first Project Gutenberg e-text.
By the mid-1990s, Hart was running Project Gutenberg from Illinois Benedictine
College. More volunteers had joined the effort. All of the text had been entered manually
up until 1989, when image scanners and optical character recognition (OCR) software
made making book scanning more feasible.
25
Hart later came to an arrangement with
Carnegie Mellon University, which agreed to administer Project Gutenberg. As the
volume of e-texts increased, volunteers began to take over the project's day-to-day
operations. Since its inception, the project has allowed consumers to access all the books
entered digitally free-of-charge, in long-lasting, open formats that can be used on almost
any computer.
In 1995, Jeff Bezos created the first online bookstore, Amazon, naming it after the
world‘s longest river. His concept – an online virtual bookstore – resulted in a
momentous advance in the retailing and distribution mechanism of the publishing
business. Bezos was forging a path to reach consumers in the most direct way possible.
While the largest permanent bookstore usually carried around 200,000 titles,
online bookstores suddenly offered substantially more choices at prices 9 to 16 percent

25
Vara, Vauhini, "Project Gutenberg Fears No Google," Wall Street Journal, 12/05/2005.

20

cheaper than brick-and-mortar stores. Bezos did not expect a profit for four to five years
but the strategy proved effective. Amazon grew steadily in the late 1990s and it wasn‘t
long before three of the biggest booksellers joined Amazon in selling books online.
Barnes and Noble, Borders Group and Books-A-Million all trail Amazon in market share.
Amazon‘s revenues were $20 billion in 2008.
26

One of the fundamental ways in which Amazon established consumer loyalty was
by making it possible for users to submit reviews to the web page of each available book:
Amazon became the first consumer-supported site in which the user engaged in a two-
way dialogue. As part of their review, users rated the product from one to five stars,
submitting this evaluation along with their personal critique. Word-of-mouth, always one
of the most important ways to sell books, had suddenly taken on a whole new dimension.
Now each individual could broadcast his or her endorsement of a particular book.
(Ironically, in 2004 a software error accidentally showed the names behind reviews that
were submitted anonymously, and some authors were shown to have written glowing
reviews of their own books. This was soon corrected by publishing reviewers‘ names
along with their evaluations).
In 2003, Bezos initiated a significant new feature, ―Search inside the Book," that
for the first time allowed customers to search for keywords in the full text of many books
in the growing catalog.
27
The feature, which leads the consumer directly toward books
with a preferred subject matter, started with 120,000 titles (or 33 million pages of text),

26
Norris, Michael, Pawlowski, Warren, ―Trends in Trade Book Publishing 2009,‖ Simba Information 2009,
pg. 3.
27
Mould, Michael E., ―Online Bookselling: A Practical Guide,‖ Retrieved from Amazon.com 12/25/2009,
http://www.amazon.com/reader/1427600708?_encoding=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=
0#reader_1427600708

21

now indexes 250,000 books approximately from 130 publishers. Its domain,
amazon.com, attracts approximately 615 million unique visitors annually.
The Advent of the E-Book
The e-book, defined by the Oxford Dictionary of English, as "an electronic
version of a printed book which can be read on a personal computer or hand-held device
designed specifically for this purpose," made its debut in 1998 when book publisher Kim
Blagg obtained the first International Standard Book Number (ISBN) issued to an e-book
and began marketing multimedia-enhanced e-books on CDs through retailers such as
amazon.com, bn.com and borders.com.
28
Shortly thereafter, through her company
"Books OnScreen," she introduced the e-books concept at BookExpo America in Chicago
to an impressed, but unconvinced, bookseller audience. Simultaneously, the first e-book
readers—mobile, computerized devices on which one can read a book—Rocket e-book
and SoftBook, were launched.
Early e-books – technical manuals for hardware, manufacturing techniques and
similar subjects – were by nature generally written for specialty areas and a limited
audience, meant to be read only by small and devoted interest groups. Following in
Blagg‘s footsteps were publishers of new e-books including Boson Books, Hard Shell
Word Factory and Online Originals. Each pioneered different aspects of what has since
become common practice among e-book publishers, i.e., the support of multiple formats
including the Portable Document Format (PDF), the payment of higher royalty rates than
conventional publishers (industry standards provide a royalty of 25% of net receipts) and

28
Noorhidawat, A and Gibb, Forbes. "How Students Use E-books: Reading or Referring?" Malaysian
Journal of Library and Information Science, no. 2, 2009, pg. 13.

22

the online presentation of free samples.
29
In 1999, websites like eReader.com (today
owned by Fictionwise) and science fiction specialist Baen Books‘ eReads.com began
selling e-books exclusively.
Numerous e-book formats have proliferated, some supported by major software
companies such as Adobe's PDF format, others by independent and open-source
programmers. Multiple readers naturally followed multiple formats, some of them
specializing in only one format, and thereby fragmenting the e-book market even more.
Due to exclusivity and limited readership of e-books, the fractured market of
independents and specialty authors lacked consensus regarding a standard for packaging
and selling e-books. Nevertheless, e-books continued to gain momentum in their own
niche markets and in 1998, Congress passed legislation that extended copyright
protection to digitized material. Authors with books that were not accepted by
conventional publishers were able thereby to offer consumers their works online with
equal protection of their original writing.
By 2000, thousands of digitized books were read online, downloaded, printed out
by the reader, and/or printed on demand by the publisher, thus assuring that their
electronic versions need never go out of print. That same year, as reading devices like
the Cybook Gen 1 became more compact and sophisticated, several of the largest U.S.
publishers opened separate online divisions while smaller electronic publishing start-ups
became more common. Meanwhile, some books also became available in component
parts (chapters, maps, tables and even paragraphs) that, for a price, could be customized

29
―Company History,‖ Retrieved from Hard Shell Word Factory 12/25/2009,
http://www.hardshell.com/custom.aspx?id=3

23

into new entities created by their readers and, like other electronic books, be purchased
and downloaded from the Internet or printed on demand by the publisher, bound and
shipped to the customer.
It is also possible to convert an electronic book to a printed book by print on
demand (POD). POD, sometimes called ―publish on demand,‖ is a printing technology
and business process in which new copies of a book are printed only when an order has
been received. POD began as a more commonplace way to publish beginning in 2002.
30

Print on demand with digital technology allows printing content for a fixed cost per copy,
regardless of the size of the order. While the unit price of each physical copy printed is
higher than with offset printing, the average cost is lower for very small print runs
compared to higher setup costs for offset printing.
Many traditional small publishing firms have replaced traditional printing
equipment with POD equipment or contract their printing out to POD service providers.
Numerous academic publishers, including university presses, use POD services to
maintain a large backlist; some even use POD for all of their publications and thus keep
slow selling items in print – to the benefit of both author, reader and publisher.
31

Larger publishers use POD in special circumstances, such as reprinting older titles
that had been out of print, or to test-market specific books.
32
Today‘s leading print on

30
Kleper, Michael L., The Handbook of Digital Publishing, Vol. II., Rochester Institute of Technology,
(Prentice Hall, 2000), p.22.

31
Jaschik, Scott, "New Model for University Presses" Retrieved from Insidehighered.com 12/25/2009,
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/07/31/ricepress

32
Snow, Danny, "Print-on-Demand: The Best Bridge Between New Technologies and Established
Markets," BookTech: The Magazine for Publishers (Jan-Feb 2001), Retrieved from U-Publish.com
12/25/2009, http://www.u-publish.com/pod2.htm

24

demand service providers for publishing companies are Lightning Source, a division of
Ingram Book Group, a leading U.S. book wholesaler, and, more recently, BookSurge, an
Amazon.com company. Replica Books is the POD arm of wholesaler Baker & Taylor,
strong in library and academic markets, as well as bookstores in the Northeastern United
States.
The first dedicated e-book reader, a device used to display e-books became
available to consumers in September, 2006. The Sony Reader PRS-500 was initially on
sale online and exclusively in Borders throughout the U.S.; there have been six models of
the Sony Reader since its launch. Each has improved technology from its predecessor at
a more reasonable cost.
By the time Amazon rolled out its e-reader in 2007, BooksOnBoard, the largest
independent e-bookstore, had opened, selling e-books and audiobooks in six different
formats. Both the Sony and Amazon e-readers have original software and hardware
platforms developed by their respective corporate parents with technology specific for
rendering and displaying e-books and other digital media.
Today, there are numerous competitors joining these two top-of-mind devices
(Amazon‘s Kindle and Sony‘s Reader) including iRex iLiad, the Jinke Hanlin eReader,
CyBook by Bookeen and the Barnes & Noble Nook. The main advantages of these
devices are portability, readability of their screens in bright sunlight and long battery life.
Any Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) capable of displaying text on a screen is also
capable of being an e-book reader, but without the advantages of an electronic ink
25

display. Additionally, software is now available to turn any laptop into an e-reader such
as that available by DNL E Books.
33

Most wireless reading devices use an electronic paper display developed by E Ink
Corporation with a 166 dpi resolution, eight levels of grayscale. They are viewable in
direct sunlight, require no power to maintain a static image and are usable in portrait or
landscape orientation. Many hardware e-reader devices can be used without a computer
and provide free access to the Internet. Content is downloaded over proprietary networks
for each device – for example, Amazon uses the Sprint network in the U.S. or, for newer
Kindle 2 devices, AT&T's international network globally.
Sony‘s Reader uses an iTunes Store-like interface to purchase books from Sony
Connect eBook store (currently US and Canada only). It also can display Adobe PDFs,
ePub format, personal documents, blogs, RSS newsfeeds, JPEGs and Sony's proprietary
BBeB ("BroadBand eBook") format. The Reader can play MP3 and unencrypted AAC
audio files. The digital rights management rules of the Reader allow any purchased e-
book to be read on up to six devices, at least one of which must be a personal computer
running Windows or Mac OS X. Although the owner cannot share purchased e-books on
others' devices and accounts, the ability to register five Readers to a single account and
share books accordingly is a possibility.
Barnes & Noble Inc. began selling its Nook, a roughly 8-inch by 5-inch, ivory-
colored plastic tablet that costs $259 and connects wirelessly to an online store, in
December 2009. Experts now believe it may have been rushed to market before it was

33
―Downloads,‖ Retrieved from DNL.com 12/25/2009 http://dnlebook.com/downloads.asp

26

fully ready.
34
The Nook looks similar to the current market leaders – a 6 inch reading
screen when measured diagonally, which allows for only monochrome text and gray-
scale graphics – but has key differences in capabilities, user interface and polish. The
two devices have essentially identical reading screens. Though the Nook also comes with
two gigabytes of internal memory, enough to hold about 1,500 digital books, it boasts a
second, smaller color screen beneath the main reading screen. This touch screen is used
for navigating and for typing via an on-screen keyboard when performing searches or
adding notes to books. Also, when the touch screen is dark, it can be swiped to turn pages
instead of using the physical page-turning buttons at the sides of the main screen.
Additionally, the Nook lets consumers ―lend‖ certain digital books to others for a limited
period, an innovation that removes one of the most common complaints about buying
books electronically instead of on paper.

34
Mossberg, Walter S., ―Nook E Reader Has Potential but Needs Work,” Retrieved from Wall St. Journal
12/09/2009, http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20091209/nook-e-reader-has-potential-but-needs-work/

27

Chapter Two
Today’s Publishing Climate

The Book Business‘ Leading Convention
The publishing climate today is at an incredible crossroads where business models
which formerly created sizeable profit no longer prove effective. Much of this is due to
the variety of delivery platforms the written word has today, creating new challenges and
creative strategizing to reach readers. The first decade of the new millennium has
brought a number of new technological changes to the publishing industry. Google,
Apple, Amazon and Sony are racing to become leaders in the digitization of books and
compete with each other to work with publishers and libraries. The ability to quickly and
cost effectively print books that consumers want to read in sizeable quantities now can be
accomplished in ways other than only the major publishers‘ processes – via Print on
Demand, accessible publishing and green publishing. Nowhere is the current state of
publishing more textured than at BookExpo America (commonly referred to within the
book publishing industry as BEA), the largest annual book trade fair in the United States
and the industry's premier trade show.
BEA is always held in a major city over four days in late May and/or early June;
in 2009 it was held in New York as it will be in 2010. Nearly all significant book
publishers in the United States, and many from abroad, host booths and exhibits at BEA,
and use the convention as an opportunity to showcase upcoming titles, sell current books,
socialize with colleagues from other publishing houses and sell and buy subsidiary and
international rights. Authors, librarians, and retail buyers also attend the event. Aside
28

from the trade show floor (where publishers exhibit their fall titles), there are education
and information sessions, author breakfasts and lunches, special event and many
opportunities to network with booksellers and publishers. All provide an invaluable
opportunity to get a sneak peek inside the world of bookselling.
One of the significant changes at the most recent BEA convention (attended by
29,000 professionals
35
) was the expanded New Media Zone Live (sponsored by Idpf), a
dedicated area in the center of the show floor designed to attract attendees interested in
learning about new media technology. It also provided a home for literary bloggers who
were looking for a place to sit down, plug in and blog about their experience at BEA.
The Zone, anchored by Border‘s prime-positioned, live production studio where the
bookseller captured author content from BEA for use on their website, saw a dramatic
increase in the number of bloggers applying for press credentials. BEA‘s 2009
specialized seminars on the convergence of digital media platforms, which ranged from
―Digital Debut Tool Time‖ to ―Wired and Receptive: Reaching Boomer Book Buyers
Online‖ to a Social Media panel headed by renowned authors Chris Brogan (Trust
Agents) and Erik Qualman (Socialnomics), were so besieged by attendees, organizers had
to turn people away.
Author Membership Clubs
Just as BEA attracts a wide array of authors who enjoy participating directly with
book lovers there are a growing number of contemporary popular fiction authors who
reach out to avid readers with regular monthly bulletins, consistent direct email updates,

35
―BookExpo America Concludes With Over 29,000 Industry Professionals in Attendance,‖ Retrieved
from BookExpo America.com 12/25/2009, http://bookexpoamerica.com/en/Press-Information/Press-
Releases/BookExpo-America-Concludes/

29

state-of-the-art websites and consistent participation in social media networking.
Michael Connelly (9 Dragons), the bestselling writer renowned for the Harry Bosch
series, has maintained a widely circulated monthly newsletter over the past several years
which is emailed directly to his fans and contains succinct, detailed information on his
newest release, signing appearances and latest commercial, all accompanied by
captivating excerpts from current and forthcoming novels. In each mailer, Connelly
reaches out to his stakeholders via contests and well-directed videos which include
footage shot on locations mentioned in his self-read excerpts. NY Times bestselling
author Brad Thor (The Apostle), one of the most popular thriller writers on the scene
today, has an interactive website which is experienced as a movie trailer engaging the
reader with visuals as captivating as any big screen motion picture. Dan Brown (The Da
Vinci Code), one of the world‘s most popular thriller writers, drives traffic to his portal
via multiple direct-to-consumer techniques predominately RSS feeds, defined as ―really
simply syndication.‖ Brown has hundreds of thousands of fans who receive his regularly
timed updates in web feed messages which include news specific to his international
bestsellers, plot development of current and forthcoming books and details of his
personal appearances.
Social Networking
Avid readers are creating online dialogue about book choices. They have the
ability to increase the prominence and popularity of particular writers on social
networking literary web portals; in a sense, it is the consumer lighting small niche fires
which can ignite a buzz about a particular work. The most active sites, Shelfari,
30

Facebook‘s Visual Bookshelf and Goodreads.com, each have dedicated users with many
crossing over to two or more of these popular websites.
Shelfari, launched on October 11, 2006, is a social cataloging website where users
build virtual bookshelves of the titles they own or have read, and can rate, review, tag,
and discuss their books. By February 2007, Amazon.com invested $1 million in Shelfari
and moved to acquire it roughly a year later.
36
There is another application called Visual
Bookshelf for those who are regular visitors to Facebook, which allows Facebook users
to show the books they are reading or have read on their pages and each of the book‘s
titles link back to Amazon.com. Users also can create book reviews and make
recommendations, keeping track of all the books they have read and want to read. Visual
Bookshelf was launched in 2009, but it already has millions of users. Goodreads, a
privately run "social cataloging" website started in December 2006 by software engineer
and entrepreneur Otis Chandler, permits individuals to sign up and register books to
create their library catalogs and reading lists. The first year the company was run without
any formal funding. However, in December 2007, Goodreads received approximately
$750,000 from angel investors.
37
As of May 2009, Goodreads had over 2 million
members fast-tracking its goal to ―connect people through reading.‖
The Changing Landscape of Retailers
The leading booksellers today are Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-
Million, Borders Group, and eBay Inc. The bookstore model has evolved over the past

36
Arrington, Michael, "Social Networking for Bookworms,‖ Retrieved from TechCrunch.com 12/26/2009,
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/02/25/amazon-invests-in-shelfari/
37
Arrington, Michael, ―Goodreads Raises Angel Round to Help You Find that Perfect Book,‖ Retrieved
from TechCrunch.com 12/26/2009, http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/17/goodreads-raises-angel-round-
to-help-you-find-that-perfect-book/
31

30 years to the point it has split into two camps: independent bookstores and chains.
There are some that straddle the definition (e.g., Powell‘s, the popular independent chain
in the Pacific Northwest) but those are few and far between. It is estimated that there are
over 1,500 independent bookstores in the U.S.; a far cry from the 4,000 plus which
graced the landscape just 15 years ago. These stores are believed to hold between 5 -10
percent of the book market.
Booksellers‘ product comes, predominately, from the top 20 U.S. publishing
houses: Random House, Penguin Group, Scholastic, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster,
Hachette Book Group, Harlequin, John Wiley & Sons, Macmillan, Thomas Nelson,
Encyclopedia Britannica, Rodale, Hyperion, Houghton Miffin, Andrews McMeel,
Workman Publishing, McGraw-Hill, Tyndale House, Health Communications Inc. and
Kensington Publishing. According to Simmons data, about 77 million adults patronized
brick-and-mortar bookstores to buy at least one book over the past 12 months; nearly
three times as many individuals as the Internet chains, and almost double the number of
people who buy from non-bookstores ranging from airport concessions to military bases
to the major superstore.
38

The growing presence of ―big-box discounters‖—superstores like Costco, Wal-
Mart, and Target—who are stocking and selling books which they are able to offer at a
significant discount, are noteworthy competitors to all booksellers particularly The Big
Three (B&N, Books-A-Million, and Borders). The perceived value of a bestselling book
has changed in the eyes of certain consumers consistent with price wars conditioning – in
other words, buying a book only when the price is drastically reduced. Superstores

38
Norris, Michael, Pawlowski, Warren, ―Trends in Trade Book Publishing 2009,‖ Simba Information 2009,
pg. 33.
32

offering books at below cost can fill this kind of customer preference. The growing
encroachment of big box-stores (Wal-Mart has over 1,000 more physical store locations)
is having a crippling effect on bookstores. They can price their books below cost, treat
books as loss-leaders and know how to target the changing demographic of book buyers
who purchase only a handful of books per year and are likely to be fine with satisfying
their literary cravings with whatever Wal-Mart or Target stock on their shelves. The big
three chains – Barnes & Noble, Borders and Books-A-Million – created with customer
service in mind, accentuated by real added value of selection and knowledgeable sales
staff, still provides the desirable environment for someone browsing who chooses to
spend over an hour perusing titles before buying and simultaneously develops consumer
loyalty for the specific bookseller.
The Making of a Bestseller
It has been more or less accepted by the publishing community that the U.S.‘s
growing population means a rising number of readers but there seems to be a limit as to
how long this will continue to be true, especially given the wide variety of leisure time
choices, shortening attention spans and impulse buys. The impact of bestselling fiction
hardcover titles is noticeable when looking at data broken down by format. For example,
the seventh and final book of J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter series was released on June
21, 2007 with a first printing of over 10 million copies. By all indications, 95 percent of
the seventh Potter book was sold to consumers within four weeks, crossing all age groups
and demographics. The percentage of consumers who bought the hardcover version rose
as 2007 turned to 2008, but fell again by the autumn. Likewise, the audio format saw
33

fewer buyers in fall 2008, partly because the year before the audio edition of Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows was plastered on bestseller lists.
39

The phenomenon of Rowling‘s Potter series extends to the enormous success of
the theatrical versions of her books and the accompanying merchandise which also are
multi-generational. Interestingly, Rowling does not allow her books to be digitized
which has, indeed, skyrocketed Potter print and audio sales. Some publishing houses like
Baen Books, an American publishing company noted for its science-fiction and fantasy
titles, pre-release e-books in parts before the hard-copy release. Many older Baen titles
are available for free, especially the first book in a series. This has benefited their hard
copy sales ensuring bestseller status in the genre.
Two formats that have experienced consistent growth during 2009 have been
paperback titles and digitized fiction and nonfiction. The sheer number of paperback
titles released last year, their wide availability and low cost in challenging economic
times have kept these figures up. As e-books become increasingly adopted by a variety
of consumers, the books that are on each bestseller lists have varied only slightly. In fact,
titles selling best in print and electronic formats mimic each other. Star novelists Stephen
King, James Patterson, Daniel Silva and Nora Roberts, among others, do well in both
formats.
The Simba Composite List (SCL), an in-depth look into the current trends in the
publishing business, combines its best-selling lists ranking the New York Times,
Publishers Weekly and USA Today and longevity (number of weeks on the list). To make
the top of the consolidated rankings, a book has to demonstrate good standing over a

39
Norris, et al, pg. 15.
34

period of time.
40
Stephanie Meyer, the first writer to carve a specialized niche in the
vampire genre, consistently topped all lists in 2008. Her Twilight series has captivated
younger readers in both spaces – print and digital. As one can surmise, several household
name authors including Philippa Gregory, Nelson DeMille, Nicholas Sparks, Vince
Flynn, Patricia Cornwall, Christopher Reich, John Sandford, Sandra Brown, Dean
Koontz, John le Carre and Jonathan Kellerman round out writers who have maintained
loyal readership no matter the platform.
Print on Demand Growth
The past year, because of significant technological advances in on-demand
printing, book publishing has, for the first time in nearly a decade, become more
accessible to authors and independent publishers. While the number of traditional titles
fell in 2008 by 3 percent, the number of on-demand, short run and unclassified books
soared 132 percent to 285,394. The 2008 jump followed an even bigger increase in on-
demand/short run titles in 2007 when output rose to 123,276 titles from 21,936.
41
The
combination of the rapid growth of on-demand printing and the decline in the number of
traditional titles resulted in the number of on-demand titles topping traditional titles for
the first time in 2008.

40
Norris, et al, pg. 21.
41
―Number of On-Demand Titles Topped Traditional Books in 2008,‖ Retrieved from Publisher‘s Weekly,
10/26/2009,
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6660299.html?q=number+of+fiction+books+published+in+2
008

35

Table Two: On-Demand Printing Growth

Title Output, 2004 –2008

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
% CHANGE 2004 –
08
Traditional 275,793 251,903 274,416 284,370 275,232 -2.0%
On-demand, Short Run, Other
Unclassified
19,730 30,597 21,936 123,276 285,394 1,346.5%
Total 295,523 282,500 296,352 407,646 560,626 89.7%
Source: Bowker 2009

It is important to note that in the prior four years, the number of traditional titles
published fell 2 percent while the number of on-demand titles released skyrocketed by
1,346.5 percent. In all, the total number of titles produced in 2008, including traditional,
rose by 38 percent to 560,626. While improved technology has made the use of on-
demand printing more attractive financially, the economy also played a role in reducing
the number of traditional titles released in 2009. Output of the number of fiction titles,
which most publishers consider riskier to publish than nonfiction, fell just over 11
percent. Conversely, categories that posted the biggest gains were education, up 33
percent and business, up 14 percent.
42
The decline in the publishing of traditional books
reflects not only the difficult economy but the decision by publishers to become smarter
and more strategic in the titles they published. Since 2002, production of on-demand

42
―On Demand Printing Drove Title Output in ’08.‖ Retrieved from Publishers Weekly.com 10/25/2009,
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6660299.html?q=number+of+fiction+books+published+in+2
008

36

titles has soared 774 percent compared to a 126 percent increase in traditional titles.
Even the major large publishing houses are using on-demand printing more.
43

Audio Book Technology
Another growing segment of readers are those who must use text-to-speech
(TTS), a system which converts normal language written text into speech. Synthesized
speech can be created by bringing together pieces of recorded speech that are stored in a
database. For specific usage domains, the storage of entire words or sentences allows for
high-quality output. Alternatively, a synthesizer can incorporate a model of the vocal
tract and other human voice characteristics to create a completely "synthetic" voice
output.
44
The quality of a speech synthesizer is judged by its similarity to the human
voice and by its ability to be understood. Many computer operating systems have
included speech synthesizers since the early 1980s. An intelligible text-to-speech
program allows people with visual impairments or reading disabilities to listen to written
works on a home computer and recently, the newest Kindle.
There are numerous text-to-speech book readers now available which include new
versions by Intel and the iPhone/iPod Touch. The Plustek BookReader, a text-to-speech
peripheral device comes with state-of-the-art software OCR (Optical Character
Recognition) and auto document orientation. The one-button Reader – specially designed
for the vision impaired with magnifying functions, font controls, volume controls, speech
controls, bookmark functions, PDF reading – converts printed text into high quality

43
In a case study of John Wiley's use of print on-demand, Lightning Source, the largest POD printer, said
the publisher now has 10,000 titles in Lightning's system and is adding between 150 and 300 titles per
month. In January 2009, Lightning said it produced 65,000 units for Wiley on a worldwide basis.

44
Rubin, P., Baer, T., & Mermelstein, P., ―An Articulatory Synthesizer for Perceptual Research, ― Journal
of the Acoustical Society of America (1981), pg 321-328.
37

speech with a lifelike voice and integrates high-speed scanning, natural voice synthesis
(for read back) and highly accurate text-to-speech in one device. These kind of e-readers
combined with cutting-edge technology opens up an exciting new segment of consumer.
The convenience and flexibility of listening to books is not only for the sight-
impaired. Many consumers choose audio books for convenience, portability and
flexibility of listening. With the advent of the Internet and broadband technologies, new
compressed audio formats are not only available on CD, but also on microdrive hard
disks on flash memory cards and tiny portable MP3 players, delineating another
demographic: readers who enjoy books – a traditionally solitary and concentration-
intensive pastime – while doing something else like mowing the lawn or cruising the
interstate, often in the company of others.
Audio books currently make up approximately 10 percent of any single title‘s
aggregate sales. Publishers of spoken-word audio are dealing with the transition from a
CD-driven market to one led by digital downloads. Statistics released in mid-2009 by the
Audio Publishers Association showed that CDs' share of the market fell from 78 percent
in 2007 to 72 percent last year, while sales of digital downloads increased their share
from 17 percent to 21 percent. ―It's like two different businesses,‖ Ana Maria Allessi,
vice president/publisher of Harper Audio, said, explaining that it is encouraging to see the
growth in digital audio, but discouraging to see the CD side struggle.
45
Despite the
obstacles facing CDs, industry predictions are that they will remain the biggest part of the
market for a while. CD availability on store shelves makes it easier for consumers to

45
Milliot, Jim, ―Spoken Word Audio Market Holds On,” Retrieved from Publishers Weekly 12/27/2009,
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6667828.html?q=spoken+word+audio+holds+on

38

pick one up compared with the digital space, where spoken-word audio faces an excess of
digital competition.
In addition to digital downloads, another growth area in 2008 was sales of
recorded devices, whose market share rose 3 percent last year. Nearly all of those sales
came from the dedicated audio book device, Playaway and represent licenses and
royalties paid to publishers from Playaway, which bundles the titles to the devices it
manufactures. The company has licenses with about 100 publishers and offers more than
7,000 titles, a figure Blake Squires, Playaway founder and chief strategy officer, expects
to rise to 10,000 by 2011.
46
Playaway, with authors like Dean Koontz on their playlist,
has posted compound annual growth of 250 percent since 2006, led by big gains in the
library and military markets, where the company recently landed a $10 million
Department of Defense contract.
Changing Landscape of Book Reviews
The last aspect of the book publishing landscape that has altered dramatically in
the past five years is the notion of literary criticism. Book reviews, a form of literary
criticism in which a book is analyzed based on content, style and merit, has experienced
one of the greatest recent changes. Though the New York Times still reigns supreme,
with Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews also extremely important, readers are getting
their recommendations in an entirely new way. Since reviews contain evaluations of the
book on the basis of personal taste, more and more readers are following key influencers
and sometimes, individual journalists, to see what they are reading and advocating as a
―can‘t miss.‖

46
Milliot, ibid.
39

At BEA‘s ―Book Reviews 2010: What Will They Look Like‖ seminar, the expert
panel agreed that there are only a few credible voices today and the lofty tone of the
literary critic is becoming less and less valuable. Publishers, independent booksellers and
smaller imprints have embraced this sentiment and instituted departments within their
organizations that reach out directly to their readers. And, in the realm of social
networking sites specific to avid readers, sites like Goodreads.com are using statistics for
site users to create Top 10 Lists in multiple genres so that individuals can vote for their
favorites and help select Goodreads Choice Award winners for 2009.
Similarly, book bloggers have become essential to the publishing business so
much so that BookExpo America initiated a new seminar, ‖Book Bloggers: Today‘s Buzz
Builders‖ at the 2009 convention from which one of the panelists has tried to implement
―Book Bloggers Appreciation Week‖ in late 2009. Many bloggers, particularly those
engaged in participatory journalism, differentiated themselves from the mainstream
media, while others are members of that media working through a different channel. In
most cases, blogging is a means of "getting around the filter" and transmitting messages
directly to the public. Their penetration is vast – from the Bookaholics Guide to Book
Clubs to BookClubGirl.com to citizen journalists who review recent purchases on
Amazon.com – bloggers who specialize in reviewing popular fiction can have a sizeable
influence in driving consumer sales.
40

Chapter Three
Positioning Strategies

The dilemma of how to get the most mileage out of allocated promotional and
advertising dollars has been the ultimate challenge for experts in book publicity and
authors to master. While increased positive word-of-mouth will assuredly jump-start
sales, there are several effective methods – especially at a time when staffs are shrinking
at most publishing houses and publicity budgets have dwindled – to reach consumers
when a new fiction title (often a genre necessitating expansive creative measures) is
being released. The first step before moving forward with creative outreach is the
preparation of concise, interesting collateral press materials – book cover art, notables‘
endorsements and a comprehensive press release on the forthcoming title – which will
spark the recipient‘s interest, albeit major book retailer, public appearance coordinator,
journalist or even the individual reader. The more information attractively packaged that
impacts the intended audience, the more incentive there is to engage the author in a
special appearance, include the book in an article or arrange for selection in book-of-the-
month club lists.
Author Appearances
While booking author appearances has been a tactic of public relations experts for
some time, originality and strategic ability to turn popular fiction authors into the most
newsworthy of subjects (via sponsored tours or like opportunities) is the benchmark for
forward-thinking marketing professionals. For the wide reissue of best-selling romance
novelist Debbie Macomber‘s Mrs. Miracle (Avon Books) during December 2009, the
41

author embraced a strategic partnership with the Hallmark Channel, producer of the
television movie adaptation of Macomber‘s A Perfect Christmas, to sponsor an expertly
orchestrated press event in New York‘s midtown Time-Warner Center. 25 ―Santas‖ took
over the author‘s only holiday in-store appearance by singing Christmas Carols and
dancing with the successful author as the star of her A Perfect Christmas Hallmark
Movie, Doris Roberts, greeted fans and signed autographs. The results doubled the reach
to the intended consumer by drawing an additional segmented audience of devoted
Hallmark Channel fans garnering landmark viewer audience ratings and substantial book
sales of the reissued title, Mrs. Miracle, as well as impressive sales of the new hardcover
title, A Perfect Christmas (Mira).
47

Mark Twain was the first superstar author to travel through the U.S. to promote
himself and in effect, increase his earnings. In 1856, Mark Twain made an appearance at
the Printers Banquet in Keokuk, Iowa which was followed by numerous lecture tours
around the United States and the world. The legendary popular fiction author often
lectured on a particular topic but fine-tuned his speech or public readings to meet the
needs of his particular locale, eventually increasing his earnings with additional speaking
engagements.
48
Similarly, contemporary novelist Anita Diamant, who has written 13
books which center on Jewish and feminist themes, including her international bestseller,
The Red Tent (Picador), speaks at carefully selected venues which draw a devoted

47
Carr, Nancy ―Hallmark Channel Original Movie ‗Debbie Macomber‘s Mrs. Miracle,‖ Retrieved from
Debbie Macomber.com 1/1/2010,
http://debbiemacomber.com/var/www/debbiemacomber.com/htdocs/graphics/File/macomber_pk_hallmark
movie_120809.doc

48
Schmidt, Barbara, ―Chronology of Mark Twain Speeches, Public Readings and Lectures,‖ Retrieved
from Twainquotes.com 1/1/2010, http://www.twainquotes.com/SpeechIndex.html

42

audience of avid readers and feminist followers. Represented by B'nai B'rith Lecture
Bureau, Diamant‘s speaking tour for her most recently published novel, Day After Night
(Scribner), which tells the story of four young Jewish female Holocaust survivors who
make their way to the land of Israel where they confront an uncertain future haunted by
the past, included sizeable Jewish Community Centers in various cities – Atlanta,
Toronto and San Francisco – to augment appearances at traditional bookstores with the
specific mission of reaching out to Diamant‘s proven demographic.
49

Book festivals, a regular gathering of writers and readers typically held on an
annual basis in a particular city, have been a traditional tactic at creating word-of-mouth
buzz, securing trade and consumer press coverage and reaching substantial numbers of
book-loving consumers. Events like the Los Angeles Times’ ―Festival of Books,‖ held
each April and attended by approximately 140,000 festival-goers, features over 100
author panels and activities.
50
The confab has become a ―must attend‖ for authors like
Ray Bradbury and Mary Higgins Clark and ranks as a major coup for newer authors like
T.C. Boyle, selected from hundreds of submitted newer fiction writers, to participate.
Other significant domestic book festivals include: New England Book Festival in Boston,
DIY Festival honoring independent authors and publishers, New York Book Festival in
Tompkins Square Park and Beach Book Festival spotlighting the ―hottest reads of the
summer season.‖
51

49
Retrieved from AnitaDiamant.com 1/1/2010, http://www.anitadiamant.com/schedule.asp?page=schedule

50
Conroy, John, ―The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books kicks off its 14th Storied Year ,‖ Retrieved
1/1/2010, http://www.latimes.com/services/newspaper/mediacenter/releases/la-mediacenter-2009-
0401,0,6836399.story

51
Retrieved from BookFestivals.com 1/1/2010, http://bookfestivals.com/PORTAL/

43

Media Relations
Mainstream media relations, securing and booking authors on traditional
television, radio and print outlets, has always been one of the sure-fire ways to effect
book sales. The goal of media relations is to maximize positive coverage in the mass
media without paying for it directly through advertising. Arranging for authors to appear
on network and cable television talk shows and national radio programs and receive
coverage in widely read print publications, still remains one of the most effective
methods of selling mass quantities of books. The ability to create an impact with a
chosen audience via a ruthlessly influential marketing vehicle, like Oprah Winfrey, can
skyrocket a writer‘s career as evidenced by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Love in the Time
of Cholera in 2007. The king-of-all king endorsements on the single most important
popular culture favorites‘ list – ―Oprah‘s Book Club‖ – and an appearance to support the
book on her show, included ―this is one of the greatest love stories I have ever read. … It
is so beautifully written that it takes you to another place in time and will make you ask
yourself—how long could you, or would you, wait for love?‖ wrote Oprah.
52
When she
announced publicly in the fall of 2008 that she was endorsing The Story of Edgar
Sawtelle, a book about a mute boy and his dogs by first-time novelist, David Wroblewski
— albeit a critical darling — its publisher had already ordered 750,000 "Oprah versions"
from the printers within two weeks.
53

52
Retrieved from Oprah.com 1/2/2010,
http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahsbookclub/loveinthetimeofcholera/cholera_book_excerpt_b1

53
Pickert, Kate, ―Oprah’s Book Club,” Retrieved from Time.com 1/2/2010,
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1844724,00.html

44

There are several other important major mainstream publicity outlets fundamental
in helping a title move up the bestseller list, impact online sales rankings and increase
royalty payments. These include the nighttime talk shows like The Jay Leno Show where
J.K. Rowling is a regular guest; the network morning shows including Good Morning
America with frequent visits by New York Times bestselling writers Stephen King, Alice
Sebold and Danielle Steele; and NPR‘s All Things Considered which was instrumental in
reaching a vital audience for Girl with a Pearl Earring author, Tracy Chevalier, as she
ventured out on media interviews for her most recent novel, Remarkable Creatures.
54

Depending on the story angle of the specific work, securing editorial coverage in
premium print media – national and major metropolitan papers as well as magazines –
still remains one of the most difficult to execute but when accomplished, as it has been
with the December 2009 released Too Much Money: A Novel by the late Dominick
Dunne, the results can be stellar.
Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews lead the pack of book-specific print media
which can positively impact visibility and unit sales of specific titles. There are a handful
of national public television shows ranging from CSPAN-2‘s prestigious Book TV, which
covers fiction works receiving national awards, to the esteemed WETA-PBS produced
The Book Studio, an eclectic one-stop innovative media outlet which features newer
writers, bestsellers and short-format fiction, that can properly position a new book.
There are also regional options, like the L.A. Public Library‘s monthly show hosted by
Barry Kibrick and the syndicated cable access weekly program, Connie Martinson Talks
Books, essential for authors as renowned as Sidney Sheldon to appear on while touring.

54
Retrieved from NPR.com 1/2/2010, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1035

45

Both of these shows reach a definitive consumer demographic that trusts the longtime
bibliophile hosts‘ recommendations. There is also a growing surge of genre-specific,
internet-only book outlets such as the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network, launched in
fall 2009, which has a highly-rated weekly program, The Author Hour: Your Guide to
Fantastic Fiction, specializing in science fiction thrillers.
55

Author Acclaim
The preeminent award for a fiction writer is the Pulitzer Prize, awarded since
1918 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American
life. Anyone, including authors, may submit a book during the calendar year as long as it
is published in the United States, the entry is available for general purchase by the public
in either hardback or paperback form and the author is a U.S. citizen. Notable past
recipients include giants Upton Sinclair, Saul Bellow, William Faulkner, Ernest
Hemingway and more recently, Toni Morrison, who experienced substantial exposure
upon her 1987 selection for Beloved, followed by nearly a dozen other prestigious awards
including the Nobel Prize in 1993 for which she was the first black woman to earn the
distinction.
56
The exceptional combination of winning both the Pulitzer and the Nobel
Prize in Literature, which has been awarded since 1901 and honorees nominated by
distinguished professors of literature and language, former Nobel literature laureates and
presidents of writers‘ organizations, undoubtedly made Morrison and her significant body
of work a national treasure.

55
Retrieved from VoiceAmerica.com 1/2/2010,
http://www.voiceamerica.com/voiceamerica/vshow.aspx?sid=1627

56
Grimes, William, "Toni Morrison Is '93 Winner Of Nobel Prize in Literature," Retrieved from The New
York Times 1/2/2010, http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/01/11/home/28957.html

46

Other important literary awards include: the National Book Awards whose goal is
to enhance the public's awareness of exceptional books written by fellow Americans and
to increase the popularity of reading in general; the Quill Awards, a consumer-driven
awards event created to inspire reading while promoting literacy supported by a number
of notable media corporations; the PEN Center Awards, an association of writers working
to advance literature, defend free expression and foster literary fellowship who take great
pride in discovering new writers; and the Edgar Awards, widely acknowledged to be the
most prestigious award in the mystery and crime fiction genre initiated by the Mystery
Writers of America. Winning any one (or multiple) of these awards is a coup which,
undoubtedly, helps sales as well as a book‘s marketing campaign.
Readers Speak Out
Subscription-based membership book clubs and reading groups who meet
regularly to discuss a book or books that they have read have maintained steady
popularity for more than 85 years. As one can imagine, there are countless groups
throughout the country with assorted tastes and varied selections of fiction. In fact, one
of the most popular portals for avid readers, an all-encompassing website, is the five-
year-old Book-Clubs-Resource.com, a comprehensive collection of links and information
from starting one‘s own reading group to participating on one online with an ardent user
base. The "Good Morning America Book Club," an offshoot of ABC's leading morning
news show and the "Book Club of the Air," formed as a result of NPR's popular Talk of
the Nation hosted by Ray Suarez, can impact the popularity of a fiction title greatly. But
the absolute sure-fire method of climbing the best seller list is earning a spot in "Oprah's
Book Club," which has helped unknown authors catapult into mega-sellers with a simple
47

recommendation. "Having an ‗Oprah Book Club‘ selection is pretty much the pinnacle,"
says Michael McKenzie, publicity director for Ecco, the small HarperCollins imprint that
published The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which debuted at #14 on the New York Times
fiction bestseller list with an initial print run of 26,000 and skyrocketed to #1 on the list
three weeks later.
57
In fact, Oprah‘s power and reach (and unique combination of
television and online platforms for recommending books to the masses) may
singlehandedly be the leading reason reading became popular again with millions of
Americans in recent years.
Expert reviews, literary criticism in which a book is analyzed based on content,
style, and merit, are having less impact today than they have ever had. Still, many major
city papers run condensed book review sections in their Sunday papers with the New York
Times Book Review setting the benchmark for excellence. It is, indeed, valid that even if
the reviews are simply informative and neither glowing nor decimating and the reviews‘
effect is to primarily inform readers of a book‘s existence and/or characteristics, there is
an opportunity that the exposure will increase sales. Given each magazine‘s sizeable
circulation, positive reviews in weekly magazines like People and Entertainment Weekly
(which include capsule reviews on new fiction releases bi-weekly) certainly can impact
sales. Book Reporter and Bookwire are leading websites with hundreds of reviews.
Bookmarks Magazine, launched in 2002, keeps a comprehensive database of book
reviews and coverage of contemporary authors. It also maintains ―best-of" genre reading
lists, reader recommendations and book group profiles, carrying the tagline, "for

57
Pickert, ibid.
48

everyone who hasn't read everything" counting Kurt Vonnegut as one of its biggest
fans.
58

The final tactic employed by popular fiction marketers in advertising. Since
consumers‘ opinions and preferences are malleable, they certainly can be changed or
influenced by advertising. As newspaper circulation falls more and more each quarter
and publishing houses face shrinking advertising budgets, the dilemma centers on the
best platforms to reach multi-tasking Americans who are getting their information from
two sources: the internet and television. It is too early to ascertain whether banner ads on
certain websites increase popular fiction sales and many believe that the availability of
new media has, in a sense, created the most disengaged consumers yet. Simba Research
found that the online buyer appears less likely to remember advertised products, more
likely to mute a television when a commercial comes on and is rarely influenced by
traditional advertising. The table below delineates the attitudes and opinions regarding
advertising among consumers who shop in bookstores, online and in other outlets.

58
Retrieved from Bookmarks Magazine 1/2/2010, http://www.bookmarksmagazine.com/

49

Table Three: Attitudes/Opinions of Advertising on Book Purchasing Population

Clearly, today‘s consumer is not swayed toward purchase by mainstream
advertising no matter how many millions of dollars traditional publishing houses budget
for a forthcoming book. The challenge is to find the efficient platforms which reach the
consumer who may make that impulse buy. One answer is for the bookseller to put items
which appeal to a customer‘s impulses near the checkout line to spurn an unplanned
purchase. It would be wise to allocate additional resources for contextual advertising –
targeted ads pertaining to or depending on the context – to reach segmented consumers.

50

Chapter Four
Capitalizing on Digitization

The face of reading took a dramatic turn during the last quarter of 2009. When
Dan Brown's blockbuster novel The Lost Symbol hit stores in September, it may have
offered a peek at the future of bookselling. On Amazon.com, the book sold more digital
copies for the Kindle e-reader in its first few days than hardback editions.
59
The
company also announced that its e-reader, Kindle, became the most gifted item in
Amazon's history during the 2009 holiday season. And, sales of digital books for the
Kindle outsold those of physical books on Amazon for 2009 Christmas season gifting.
The landscape of publishing and reading continues to change and evolve.
60
This can only
be explained as something of a paradigm shift in the book industry.
Digitization on a large scale is possible today due to improvements in the
technology itself: the photography process that creates a digital image of the work and
advances in optical character recognition (OCR) that interprets written content to extract
a version of the text on the pages. According to independent publisher Richard Nash, a
respected authority in the book world, the power within the industry is, for the first time,
slowly shifting from publishers to authors and consumers. Today, the buying public is in
the driver‘s seat. And, who is more directly connected to the consumer than the actual
bookseller? According to Nash, if the publisher could do a better job marketing their

59
Frisch, Matt, ―Digital Piracy Hits the e-book Industry,” Retrieved from CNN.com 1/3/2010,
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/01/ebook.piracy/

60
Joel, Mitch ―Six New Business Books for 2010,” Retrieved from the Vancouver Sun 1/3/2010,
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/business+books+2010/2394736/story.html

51

product, they would. However, with publishing houses‘ back list catalog – titles one-
year-old to fiction products first published 80 years ago – being their most profitable
area, the ability to target today‘s book buyer with new fiction offerings rests in discerning
the best platform for each title and its intended audience. Still, there are strata of
consumers – some who buy e-books and read digitally, others who buy print online and
many who still prefer to walk into a standing bookstore to purchase a book – that trust in
their chosen booksellers‘ persuasive suggestions of titles to buy.
Booksellers, therefore, from independent bookstores to major sellers, are hiring
digital marketing specialists to implement a strategic approach to media which impacts
all marketing and publicity campaigns. As Patrick Brown, digital in-house specialist at
Vroman‘s in Pasadena, California says, ―Publishers are certainly recognizing how
important we [digital communication experts] are to the ecosystem. Shelf space is
advertising space.‖ In December 2009, Debbie Stier, SVP/Associate Publisher for
HarperStudio and Director of Digital Marketing for HarperCollins moderated a lively,
online webinar with progressive topics including the idea of bookstores‘ websites as
social hubs, wherein ―some customers turn into members, patrons and donors,‖
referencing the NPR model.
61
Though this theoretical idea, which is being implemented
daily with online retailers where online e-book purchases are the norm, may be feasible
to implement in the future for brick-and-mortar stores, one of the current challenges is
how to drive consumers into bookstores to ensure their survival. Experts like Vroman‘s
Brown whose Twitter reach is 3, 000 avid readers and whose Facebook community

61
Gonzalez, Guy LeCharles, ―Indie Booksellers and the Digital Transition,” Retrieved from Digital Book
World 1/3/2010, http://digitalbookworld.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/indie-booksellers-and-the-digital-
transition-slides-and-recap/

52

numbers 2,000, sees tangible results from his online followers. Brown is continually
engaging with his store‘s targeted consumer who trusts his recommendations. Efficient
use of social media by booksellers‘ digital marketing specialists is a direct way to remind
consumers of how wonderful it is to actually be in the store; creative booksellers are
effectively using new media strategies to draw customers into their store.
Harlequin, which entered the digital space earlier than most of its competitors
when it began to sell PDFs of titles from its website in 1999, has created a model for
others to take responsibility in driving digital initiatives. The publishing house, which
just celebrated its 60
th
anniversary, has had a longstanding policy of acquiring worldwide
rights in all formats, giving it the ability to reach a global audience with whatever reading
format they choose: print, digital or audio. Harlequin recently launched a digital-only
imprint, Carina Press, which will operate independently of its mainstream division and
may pave the way for major publishers to invest in e-book-only divisions.
62
While
Harlequin has a moderate number of devoted fans on Twitter (approximately 4,000
followers) who receive daily updates on its voluminous catalog spotlighting signature
releases, the major retailers like Borders (40,000 Twitter followers) and Books-A-Million
(15,000 followers) cultivate the avid reader via social marketing far more aggressively
and strategically with hourly updates communicating a wide range of new titles and each
book‘s special characteristics.
While the way in which we buy and read books has changed in myriad ways, the
power of ―word-of-mouth‖ referrals and the thirst for great stories remains as strong as

62
Weinman, Sarah, ―Harlequin Launches Digital-only Imprint,” Retrieved from DailyFinance.com
1/3/2010, http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/harlequin-launches-digital-only-imprint-will-
other-big-houses-f/19228791/

53

ever. Whether books are published in traditional print or as e-books, online dialogue
between authors and book lovers on a community-membership digital path – social
networking sites – is having a substantial effect on popular fiction. The quickly growing
three-year-old GoodReads.com, which offers a place for the avid reader to share reviews,
recommendations, start online reader's clubs and keep up to date on what friends are
reading, has just under 3 million users. It is now commonplace for superstar authors like
Garrison Keillor and Sue Grafton to communicate directly with GoodReads members.
63

On Facebook‘s Visual Bookshelf, an application that has an aggregate total of
more reviews written on its platform than citizen journalist-posted reviews on Amazon,
the user follows a friend‘s reading list. The service has been likened to an ―aphrodisiac
for literary lovers.‖ Visual Bookshelf is also helping to enrich what was once a mostly
one-way relationship between writer and reader and, like GoodReads, allows users to
keep tabs on what their favorite authors are reading. With every book one selects as
having read – or as currently reading – a thumbnail picture of the cover image appears;
this can be clicked for a synopsis and reader reviews as well as a link to Amazon to
purchase the book. Similarly, Shelfari, launched in late 2006 and acquired by Amazon in
2008, is a global community of book lovers who share their literary passions with peers,
trusted friends and even total strangers. It is a gathering place for authors, publishers and
readers and connects lovers of certain genres, enhancing the experience of reading by
allowing Shelfari members to engage in meaningful conversations. Social media and its

63
Hudock, Jennifer, ―Goodreads Scores $2 Million in Funding,” Retrieved from Harrisburg Book
Examiner 1/3/2010, http://www.examiner.com/x-32220-Harrisburg-Book-Examiner~y2009m12d9-
Goodreads-scores-2-Million-in-funding

54

widespread horizontal reach is an increasingly natural and effective platform for
reader/buyer communication.
As traditional venues for criticism such as newspapers and magazines shrink or
disappear, there has been a proliferation of websites featuring both professional critics
and reader reviews — a phenomenon that first became popular on Amazon. This heavily
influenced the growing niche of citizen journalism and book blogs, including
LibraryThing.com, which also functions as a consumer‘s virtual catalog. Interestingly,
LibraryThing is the only site of its type which doesn‘t aim to sell to the book lover.
There is a preponderance of these sites, several of which impact popular fiction and are
important for publishers, major authors and independent novelists with which to cultivate
relationships. They include The Daily Beast Blog, Best-Selling-Novels, the Open Book
Society, Fiction Novel Reviews, Once Upon a Bookshelf, The Elegant Variation, The
Millions, Maud Newton, HTML Giant, Dr. Blogstein and Novel Teen Book Reviews to
name a few. Blogs have become such an influential marketing tool that most major
publishing houses assign an in-house specialist to solely concentrate on securing editorial
coverage and reviews with bloggers.
Book podcasts, a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are
released episodically and downloadable, which are genre or program driven and made
convenient by means of an automated feed accessible through web syndication, are
becoming more popular each year. Recently, books.podcast.com began offering mobile
apps on web enabled phones. Harlequin offers podcasts of several of its New York Times
bestselling authors and HarperCollins creatively packages genre authors to each targeted
audience as they did with Sweet and Sassy: Summer Girls of Fiction podcast with
55

bestselling authors like Meg Cabot, Louise Rennison and Rachel Vail.
64
While these are
not huge sellers and are offered by subscription only, they do sell content and fill a niche
audience – book lovers on-the-go and the sight impaired are uniquely able to enjoy a
book via digital audio download at their fingertips without the hassle of loading a CD.
Several leading news outlets including NPR and the New York Times offer free podcast
downloads of current book reviews and interviews with authors—both of which fuel
sales.
The three major e-readers – Amazon‘s Kindle ($259), Sony‘s Reader ($199) and
Barnes and Noble‘s Nook ($239) – combine to secure the lion‘s share of early adopters
who have gravitated to e-readers. Glimpses of the most technologically advanced e-
readers with color screens, interactive graphics and state-of-the-art flexibility and
portability were showcased at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
and seen by nearly 100,000 convention goers.
65
Those generating the most interest
included: the Que, a slender, lightweight device geared toward business professionals;
Skiff Reader, the first of its kind whose e-paper display is based on a thin, flexible sheet
of stainless steel covered in thin, virtually unbreakable plastic; Samsung‘s ―E-6‖ and ―E-
101‖ which is partnered with Google; the Alex ―Ereader‖ with flat-screen density; and
EnTourage‘s Edge, a clamshell-like device that is classified as a ―dualbook,‖ one device
with two screens (e-reader on its left side and netbook on its right side). It is expected

64
Retrieved from Podcasts.com 1/3/2010, http://podcast.com/

65
Griggs, Brandon, ―Bold New E-Readers Grab Attention at CES,” Retrieved from CNN 1/9/2010,
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/08/ces.ereader/

56

that e-reader sales will grow to $2 billion when the tally is totaled in 2010, more than
doubling 2009‘s $800 million in overall sales.
66

As Amazon has been able to offer public domain titles like Pride and Prejudice
and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and recently added the ―Kindle for PC"
application as a free software download for reading Kindle books on a Windows PC, the
dilemma of how to get consumers to pay for access to superior fiction, whether on an
existing digital device, forthcoming e-reader or in print format, ensues. When writers
including the well-known Cory Doctorow offer award-winning novels like Down and
Out in the Magic Kingdom (Thor Books) as free digital downloads timed simultaneously
to the release of the print edition and champion the necessity of maintaining gratis access
to new titles online (as long as they are not used for commercial usage), the question of
whether the availability of free content spurs print edition sales will be answered as the
industry continues to move down the digital path. Publishers like Macmillan's John
Sargent believe free content would rob the book industry of its value over time.
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But the
big publishing houses have not dissuaded upstarts like Electric Lit founders, Scott
Lindenbaum and Andy Hunter, from paying newer fiction writers‘ $1000 to serialize
their stories on Twitter building to print-on-demand orders or Daily Lit‘s Susan Danziger,
who gains traction to publish her contracted writers by offering a ―pay-what-you-want‖

66
Morphy, Erika, ―Amazon’s Big Kindle Steps into Global Market,” Retrieved from E Commerce Times
1/9/2010, http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Amazons-Big-Kindle-Steps-Into-Global-Arena-
69043.html

67
Albanese, Andrew Richard ―'PW' Looks at the Top 10 Publishing Stories of 2009—and Ahead to 2010,”
Retrieved from Publishers Weekly 1/9/2010, http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6713316.html

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model as she serializes books and stories in daily newsletters to thousands of
subscribers.
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A logical next step to targeting consumers who spend twice as much time online
than they do watching TV and reading newspapers and magazines
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is for publishers and
literary marketing specialists to embrace contextual advertising, yet to be implemented
for popular fiction. Web ―spiders‖ and algorithms could be programmed to look for key
words the internet user is searching for – whether a news article or general search term –
that match fiction titles or a book‘s synopsis in their advertiser database. For example, if
someone is online, reading the most current news coverage on the war in Afghanistan and
continually accessing similar articles which fall into a category of international
espionage, within seconds a sidebar ad can appear for Brad Thor‘s The Apostle (Atria
Books), his latest gripping CIA thriller set in Kabul. The self-labeled ―fictomercial‖ or
―literatisement‖ is a strategic way to directly impact a consumer who may not otherwise
be aware of bestselling fiction on a topic of interest. Contextual advertising is a natural
partner for mobile devices, e-reader devices and smart phones.

68
Boog, Jason, ―The Future of Free Books,” Retrieved from Media Bistro 1/9/2010,
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/ebooks/the_future_of_free_books_145993.asp

69
Retrieved from Internet Retailer 1/9/2010, http://www.internetretailer.com/internet/marketing-
conference/27865-consumers-spend-same-time-online-as-tv-but-tv-ad-spendings-highe.html

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Chapter Five
Strategic Implications

SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
● An e-book can be purchased, downloaded and used immediately (vs. traveling to a
bookstore or waiting for delivery from an online or brick-and-mortar retailer)
● A single e-reader containing several books is easier to carry around (less weight and
volume) than the same books – or sometimes even a single book – in printed form
● Hundreds of books may be stored on the same device; some devices allow removable
media usage for greater portability plus increased content storage
● Text can be searched automatically and cross-referenced using hyperlinks
● E-books allow non-permanent highlighting and annotation
● An e-book collection requires very little space
● An e-book can be offered indefinitely, without ever going "out of print"
● An e-book automatically opens at the last read page
● A free e-book can stimulate the sales of the printed version
● Today‘s e-readers are energy efficient
Weaknesses:
● E-readers rely on internet and broadband connectivity to operate
● An e-book cannot be bought and wrapped as a present like a print book
● Loss of the ability to quickly rifle through pages to search for a particular section or to
get a sense of the book merely by sight
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● E-book readers are more likely to be stolen than individual paper books
● Data storage of e-books is far less appealing than the aesthetic appreciation of a library
and the tactile feel of illustrated covers, quality paper and traditional binding
● Many e-book readers have only monochrome (black/white e-ink technology) displays
● The voice auto-generated text-to-speech software is lower quality than audio books
● As of August 2009, there were more than 2 million books available for free download,
possibly dissuading consumers toward purchase [of newer titles]
Opportunities:
● E-books can be printed for less than the price of traditional new books using POD
● E-books make it easier for authors to self-publish and build an audience they otherwise
may not have garnered
● State-of-the-art technology accelerates consumers path to purchase at the click of a
mouse
● Newer e- readers and second generation e-books have motion capability
● New technology is keeping pace with consumer demand allowing for shared
applications across multiple platforms
● E-books may allow animated images or multimedia clips to be embedded
● E-book readers have the ability to enlarge fonts past standard large-print size
● An e-book may be solar-powered, readable in low light or even total darkness; energy
consumption for reading without artificial light is eco-friendly
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● E-books do not consume paper or ink vs. printed books which use three times more raw
materials and 78 times more water to produce, relieving ―eco-guilt‖
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Threats:
● E-book readers are costly to the majority of American consumers
● The batteries on e-readers last for a limited amount of time; consumers must be
mindful of keeping their reader charged; a paper book will never turn off but an e-book
may shut down involuntarily mid-read
● E-book readers, susceptible to damage from being dropped or hit, can malfunction
● E-books can be damaged due to faults in hardware or software
● If an e-book reader is lost, stolen or damaged beyond repair, all e-books stored on the
device may be lost
● Many Americans with disposable income have a fear of new technology
● Customers cannot resell or loan their e-books to other readers
● Fiction printed before 1923 is in the public domain and available at no cost
● Ease of purchasing fiction online jeopardizes brick-and-mortar booksellers
● Digital Rights Management – controlling digital media by preventing access, copying
or conversion to other formats by end users – is a complicated issue
● The ease of piracy is a significant drawback; e-book titles can be hacked via use of
hardware or software modifications and widely disseminated via the internet and/or other
e-readers

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Siegel, Lucy, "Should We Switch to Reading Books Online?" Retrieved from The Observer Magazine
1/3/2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/aug/30/reading-books-online-eco-friendly

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● While printed books have sustainability and longevity, technology changes so quickly
today‘s e-readers may be outdated rapidly and transferability difficult
Delivery Mechanisms
Understanding how to connect the dots when delineating the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats as they pertain to the digitization of publishing is
the domain of an effective marketing strategist. When examining details of the major
challenge for mass consumer adoption, it is clear to see that new technology platforms
and digitized content – perhaps not yet at the price point with which some consumers are
comfortable – is a significant hurdle for many U.S. consumers to embrace. Early
adopters are, however, excited by each new device and innovation that hits the market.
One of the most recent advances in connectivity – dynamic synchronization, the
same technology that syncs a Blackberry or iPhone with a PC or MAC – mitigates the
possibility of a perceived drawback to reading and collecting books digitally. In March
2009, Amazon launched the signature technologies, ―Whispersync‖ and ―Whispernet‖
which allows Kindle for iPhone and iPod Touch owners to read Kindle content on any
internet-connected device and permits users to keep their place across e-readers, mobile
devices, laptops and desktops. This synchronization and the companies that are
perfecting this specialization – Amazon, Apple and Google – will set the agenda for
delivery of content in 2010 and the decade to come. Sync is the go-to technology for e-
books and for the first time, marks where the reading last stopped. Barnes & Nobles'
Nook e-book reader shares this fundamental new technology and along with Amazon and
Google, provides instantaneous access to literary content with ease of transition and no
interference. Sync, and the major companies who have adopted this necessary
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technological tool, enables delivery of a plethora of content while shifting informational
relevance to emerging mobile devices like the new Apple iPad Tablet which has
combined audio book, e-book, podcast and ancillary entertainment capabilities.
Similarly, Microsoft, thought to be lagging behind in not offering a designated e-
reader for its faithful consumer, has partnered with Marvell and Hearst on a new delivery
mechanism, maximizing its debut in the digital e-reader marketplace. Though the
consumer may not understand the beauty of its new, user friendly Skiff e-reader and its
technologically advanced processor, the mobile device is in a different league power-wise
and also offers sync capability.
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The new Skiff Reader Development Kit (RDK) which,
naturally, includes built-in software support for the Skiff eReading service and digital
storefront, is the computer giant‘s approach to toppling Amazon's e-readers and its
contractual service agreements they have a near-monopoly on by flooding the market
with devices hooked into a compelling value proposition for publishers and content
owners and ultimately, consumers. The Apple (Amazon Kindle) vs. Microsoft
(Skiff/Hearst Reader) war is beginning all over again.
Marketing Systems in Flux
With this in mind, it is becoming apparent that those in book publishing realize
the dramatic changes the e-book industry and digital technology is having on their
marketing systems. Efforts are being directed – from major and small publishing houses
to independents and individual authors – toward the most productive and cost-effective

71
Miller, Paul ―Marvell Debuts Quad Core Armada ARM Processor for Kicking your Mobile Apps in the
Face,‖ Retrieved from Egadget.com 1/10/2010, http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/06/marvell-debuts-
quad-core-armada-arm-processor-for-kicking-your-m/

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methods to reach profitability and hopefully, the bestseller lists. The antiquated
distribution system of signing high-priced authors, manufacturing hardcover books,
getting them to market and having titles purchased in mass quantities is no longer
yielding return commensurate with financial investment, especially with today‘s savvy
consumer always in anticipation of new trends. Publishers, small presses and authors
themselves must focus on advancing name recognition, targeting directed outreach to
core consumers and improving on the old-fashioned book distribution model. At the
same time, authors and pr professionals must be mindful of effective media exposure on
traditional and digital platforms.
Riding The Bullet (Simon & Schuster), a 2000 novella by Stephen King, marked
the author‘s debut on the Internet and was the world‘s first mass-market electronic
download which retailed at $2.50. During the first 24 hours, over 400,000 copies of the
book were downloaded, jamming software partner‘s SoftLock's server.
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Some Stephen
King fans waited hours for the download resulting in more than 500,000 overall
downloads. The buyers undoubtedly included a new, younger generation of fans coveted
by the publisher by charging an extremely low price. This was eventually followed with
free downloads on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
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The lasting effect was creating
renewed demand for content and driving existing and newer readers to Stephen King‘s
backlist as well as more recent works.

72
De Abrew, Karl, ―E Books are Here to Stay,‖ Retrieved from Planet eBook 1/10./2010,
http://www.planetebook.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=39

73
Ferguson, Kevin, ―For SoftLock, the Rights Stuff Wasn’t Good Enough,‖ Retrieved from Business Week
1/10/2010, http://www.businessweek.com/ebiz/0012/ec1226.htm

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What used to be called ―vanity press‖ morphed into alternative publishing and
more recently, print on demand. In some instances, this is author-motivated, with the
writer assuming the responsibility of being his/her individual publisher where one can
decide on whether to put the original publication between hard or soft covers, create an
electronic book and arrange for the title to join the appropriate distribution channel that
currently sells books. In fact, for some writers self-publishing constitutes the best way to
bring his or her work to market, satisfying a desire to get the book in print, whether in
electronic or paper form, and to avid readers. Getting known within a tight little circle
might be enough of a reward for such an author and keep alive hopes for a widening
circle of readers in the future. Indeed, there have been cases where an alternatively
published book has attracted the attention of mainstream publishers, as in the case of
Boyd Morrison, who parlayed his success with self-publishing his own e-books, The
Palmyra Impact and The Adamas Blueprint available (previously) only for Amazon
Kindles, into a lucrative hardcover book deal with Simon & Schuster.
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As stated earlier, bestselling science fiction novelist Cory Doctorow gained
renown for his groundbreaking strategy in targeting his own consumer and fan following.
Doctorow, who consistently espouses allowing readers to circulate the electronic edition
as long as they neither make money from it nor use it to create derived works, is one of
the most vocal bestselling authors endorsing the Creative Commons License which
emphasizes that copyright laws should be liberalized to allow for free sharing of all
digital media. ―I've been giving away my books ever since my first novel came out, and

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Retrieved from BoydMorrison.com 1/10/2010, http://www.boydmorrison.com/?page_id=15

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boy, has it ever made me a bunch of money,‖ says Doctorow.
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Within a day of his first
novel‘s release, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, released as a free electronic
edition simultaneously with the print version, there were 30,000 downloads. Three years
and six printings later, more than 700,000 copies have been downloaded from his site, the
book has been translated into numerous languages, key concepts have been adopted for
software projects and there are two competing fan audio adaptations online. Doctorow
has become financially successful because of his fearless tactic of adjusting the
distribution strategy for his books‘ releases. Though a small minority of individuals
downloaded Doctorow‘s e-book as a substitute for buying a print copy, hard copy sales
indicate there is a finite group of consumers who treated the e-book as an enticement to
buy the printed version. Subsequently, he was nominated for the Science Fiction and
Fantasy writers of America‘s prestigious Nebula Award (the Oscars in the field) and won
the Locus Award for Best First Novel in 2004.
The golden age of writers living off of nothing but their royalties has long passed.
Giving away e-books (free) sells printed books for authors like Cory Doctorow and this
helps target the consumer more efficiently. In many cases, the strategy is beneficial for
synergistic business opportunities. Having Doctorow‘s books more widely read opened a
succession of other avenues for him to earn a living from activities around his writing,
such as the Fulbright Chair he was awarded at the University of Southern California in
2006, well-paying articles in prestigious magazines, compensated speaking engagements
and ancillary opportunities to teach and even licensing of original work for translation

75
Doctorow, Cory, ―Giving it Away,‖ Retrieved from Forbes.com 1/10/2010,
http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/30/cory-doctorow-copyright-tech-
media_cz_cd_books06_1201doctorow.html

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and adaptation. When examining Doctorow‘s fans and their tireless evangelism for his
work, it doesn't add up to just selling books—it also sells him—as evidenced by continual
acclaim and his three literary awards in 2009 alone.
By 2015 we will look back and see the end of first decade of the twenty-first
century as a watershed moment in the history of reading, digital books and publishing.
While U.S. book sales were up a modest 3.6 percent in 2009, according to data from the
Association of American Publishers, e-book sales cemented their standing as the
industry's lone high-growth area with sales up 176 perfect and monthly sales reaching
$15.9 million.
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Innovations in the publishing model – a multitude of popular e-reader
devices, a wide selection of content at reasonable prices and protective measures that
treat publishers and authors fairly – represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is
possible in the digital realm. New digital ventures can offer readers a glimpse of the
industry-wide effort needed to develop new models for engaging readers in an interactive
and customized reading environment.
In September 2009, Simon & Schuster announced a new multimedia partnership
to release two fiction ―vooks,‖ which intersperse videos a minute or 90 seconds long that
supplement and, in some cases, advance, the story line. Throughout, electronic text can
be read – and viewed – online, on an iPod or iPod Touch. Anthony E. Zuiker, creator of
the CSI television franchise, released Level 26: Dark Origins (Dutton), a novel published

76
Zick, Jasmine, ―Book Publishing Sales Post Gains in September,‖ Retrieved from the Association of
American Publishers 1/10/2010,
http://www.publishers.org/main/PressCenter/Archicves/2009_November/BookPublishingSalesPostGainsin
September.htm

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on paper, in an audio version and as an e-book in which readers are invited to log on to a
website to watch videos that flesh out the plot.
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What‘s Next?
In the next few years, the publishing industry needs to focus on ways to enhance
the reading experience by maximizing its effectiveness in promoting digital books and
print titles. While word-of-mouth, social media conversations and niche marketing
creates exposure for established fiction writers and breaks newer ones allowing diverse
audiences to discover content that‘s right for them, booksellers will have to create
environments engaging and interactive for their regular patrons to continue shopping in
their actual stores. The possibility of using digitization for the consumer to be engaged,
their interest piqued and fully immersed in two-way communication with a favorite or
undiscovered fiction writer is at our fingertips and will, undoubtedly, be implemented in
the near future.
One solution would be to create computer kiosks in popular fiction sections of
bookstores, where the consumer can access virtual interviews with an author who would
discuss his/her inspiration for his/her latest work offering added value as to what the
reader will uncover by purchasing the print version of the book. The idea, predicated on
major booksellers‘ current in-store partner sales incentives (for example, Barnes and
Noble sells yoga mats in their health and wellness section alongside companion books) is
a concept easily translated to an author like bestselling thriller writer, Daniel Silva, who
spends an extraordinary amount of time researching international venues his protagonist,

77
Rich, Motoko, ―Curling Up with Hybrid Books, Videos Include,” Retrieved from the NY Times
10/2/2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/books/01book.html?_r=1&hp

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Israeli intelligence agent/art restorer Gabriel Allon travels to and operates within.
Another idea would be to offer searchable digital downloads at in-store only computer
stations which are proprietary to the specific bookseller and its e-reader and/or mobile
partner. The bookseller would then get a portion of the digital downloads that are only
available at these in-store computer stations for titles downloaded to an e-reader which
would include added value content.
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Chapter Six
The Next Decade

Dramatic changes in the publishing industry will certainly occur in the next ten
years predicated far more on consumer preferences than on what has transpired for
hundreds of years in publishing: internal management preferences. Most experts,
beginning with respected veteran publisher Richard Nash, predict these massive changes
will occur by 2015. According to Nash, William Faulkner‘s works make far more money
for Random House than a popular writer they currently publish like Dean Koontz. Major
publishing houses, he believes, will ―fail because they're already failing—their backlist is
subsidizing their front list and their owners/shareholders will eventually figure that out
and force a splitting up of the businesses. For close to 40 years economists have known
that they've been overpaying in auctions, that the ‗winners‘ are in fact losers. For the last
decade, every business down the supply chain has been shifting inventory risk back up to
the publishers, where it then stops.‖
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Nash believes the supply chain monopoly of producing and distributing books as
well as their predominant distribution channel, the retail model, is nearly finished.
―When a publisher‘s typical operating margin fluctuates between 7-12 percent to publish
a new title and the return on a hard copy version of (print) books is 10 percent plus you
have been running your business like this for years and years, you‘re in very deep trouble

78
Rivera, Jeff, ―Richard Nash: Book Publishing 10 Years in the Future,‖ Retrieved from Galleycat.com
1/16/2010,
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/publishing/richard_nash_book_publishing_10_years_in_the_future_
147747.asp

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in today‘s business climate,‖ he relayed to this writer. He does agree that long-form text
narrative — the popular novel — will continue to thrive and be predominately available
in new digital formats and that a couple of front list publishing enterprises will be in
business trying to emulate the Hollywood blockbuster model with enough success (e.g.
consistent bestsellers) to remain profitable and stay in business. Interestingly, Nash sees
2020 as an era when the disaffected twenty-somethings of the burgeoning middle class in
Brazil, Indonesia, India and China will be producing novels faster than anyone can
imagine.
Steven O‘Keefe, adjunct professor at Tulane University and executive director of
Patron Saint Productions, a book publisher and online marketing consultancy, thinks e-
readers currently are still a novelty and until they can display a wider range of content,
improved color, PDFs and web connectivity – which the iPad tablet exemplifies – the
appeal is only to early adopters. O‘Keefe does believe that e-readers will catch on in five
years, particularly as a way to replace magazines, catalogs and newspapers. He is certain
they will grow in use among students – especially college students – as the price of the e-
reader will drop to a price similar to a single textbook. However, O‘Keefe surmises that
e-readers will be a small market compared to laptops or mobile phones and that while
digital sales of books will increase rapidly, they will never amount to more than a
specialty market, similar to audio books today.
All experts interviewed agreed that there is inherent benefit of having hard copies
released simultaneously with digital editions and that certain genres of fiction sell better
in the new media space. According to O‘Keefe, romance titles, with Harlequin Digital
the leader in this area, account for the majority of the e-book fiction sales on the Amazon
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Kindle and the second largest category overall on all digital readers.
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This follows the
industry generalization that digital editions are best for scanning and chunkable content
that is valuable in paragraph doses. The great majority of avid readers still find it
uncomfortable to read long-form works on a screen and have a great sense of satisfaction
and accomplishment while progressing toward finishing a long novel while turning page
after page in a book. However, as consumers change reading patterns to shorter and
shorter pieces that contain graphics, animation and video, O‘Keefe believes it may
become less important to publish certain literary formats in print. The costs of publishing
four-color print will be prohibitive, he says, compared to the costs of displaying full color
on computer screens.
Chris Brogan, co-author of the New York Times bestseller Trust Agents (John
Wiley & Sons), believes that digital sales will be a huge growth space for the next five
years and that in ten years, digital sales will extend into many other bundled
opportunities, including subscriptions to books instead of single purchases. Brogan
believes new media community tools, particularly social networking, unequivocally
extends and can build the value of an author. ―When gratification is a few mouse clicks
away, it is a much simpler, effective method to move sales upward. Social networks
influence who buys what by group communications methods,‖ Brogan emphasized in our
interview. The respected authority in new media, interestingly, believes that traditional
media channels are just as important to promoting digital editions of books as online
channels and will ultimately lead to the convergence of multi-platform communication
tools that we will soon have at our fingertips.

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Norris, et al, pg. 76
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Multiple devices with an integrated flow from platform to platform where the user
finds the right device for the appropriate content is the aspiration of consumers in
anticipation of new trends, according to Henry Jenkins, Professor of Communication,
Journalism and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California and author/editor
of twelve books including his most recent, Convergence Culture: When Old and New
Media Collide (NYU Press). Thus, Jenkins touts a distinct disposition of the moral
contract between publisher and consumer for establishing increased value of content by
allowing easy access to the written word in the myriad ways we are experiencing today.
His prediction is that the ample exchange of information in our digital universe advances
the goals of authors to get more readers to enjoy their books. The former director of
MIT‘s Comparative Media Studies Program espouses that new media will not simply
replace old media, but rather will learn to interact with it in a complex relationship he
calls "convergence culture." Jenkins explains that the convergence impacting the
relationship between readers, producers and content is more a participatory cultural shift,
dependent on the active participation of consumers as they grasp the digital (literature)
revolution available on a plethora of devices, the majority of which are mobile.
Similarly, USC Annenberg School for Communication Professor Jonathan Taplin,
who spent many years in the music industry and is a savant when it comes to broadband
technologies, believes that the partnership between publishing and consumer is a new
business model heading toward seamless operations across media platforms –
wireline/wireless/broadband cable – which is device-centric and/or subscriber-centric.
Though consumers‘ adoption of reading digitally has been quicker than many had
predicted, Taplin believes that the price point of e-readers must come down for the
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platform to be competitive. He sees the Kindle, Sony Reader and other e-readers as a
huge benefit to lovers of popular fiction. However, Taplin recognizes a noticeable
parallel of the situation the publishing industry is facing to a similar predicament
encountered by the music industry in the past decade as digital downloads became the
norm – looser publishing standards and the overwhelming availability of free content
causes necessary stopgaps to be put into place to counter piracy. ―When we see what
happened to Dan Brown‘s The Last Symbol being pirated this past December from its
digital edition, it wasn‘t a question of ‗how‘ but rather, ‗when,‘‖ says Taplin. ―How do
you stop it?‖
According to Chris Brogan and other digital experts, print on demand is a solution
currently underused for limited run titles. A POD book from an independent publisher
can get to the customer in around 48 hours and is ideal for meeting short-term demand for
books where the publisher may be testing the market to see if there is consumer demand
for a bigger run or seeing if the title may suddenly take off. For example, some
Harlequin titles that have a loyal, but small, customer base are now being published in
this manner when they require a print run below 3,000 (break-even point).
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This digital
printing strategy improves inventory management and reduces over-ordering while
fulfilling consumer demand, even if limited, ensuring loyalty from the front list customer.
Patron Saint‘s O‘Keefe envisions that within a few years, we will all be able to
pick up a bound book printed on demand at Wal-Mart or Kinko‘s via the ―espresso book‖

80
Greenlaw-Scully, Dawn, ―16 Tips for Digital Printing Success,” Retrieved from Book Business.com
1/16/2010, http://www.bookbusinessmag.com/article/publicaffairs-harlequin-take-full-advantage-short-
run-print-on-demand-technology-here-their-insights-making-work-401221/1

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machine. The first Espresso Book Machine (EBM) was first installed and demonstrated
in June 2007 at the New York Public Library. For a month, the public was allowed to
test the machine by printing free copies of such public domain classics as The Adventures
of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Melville‘s Moby-Dick and Dickens‘ A Christmas Carol.
Public domain titles were provided by the Open Content Alliance (OCA), a non-profit
organization with a database of over 200,000 titles.
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A handful of libraries are using the
machine effectively today. The direct-to-consumer model of the EBM eliminates
shipping, warehousing, returns and pulping of unsold books and allows simultaneous
global availability of millions of new and backlist titles giving customers what they want.
In effect, consumers and libraries will be privy to quality paperbacks printed in minutes
direct from digital files for the reader available at lower prices. This will allow greater
royalties and profits to authors and publishers in a radically decentralized marketplace,
shortening one of the costliest bottlenecks for publishers to remain profitable: the
antiquated distribution process, which is too expensive and time consuming.
It is precisely the need to get a title to market combined with getting information
on new novels to the consumer that has changed the targets for publishing houses. The
public relations executives at the majors used to ―find‖ readers through the media they
consumed. Now, because of the pervasiveness of the Internet and the relative ease of
starting an online group, blog, book club, podcast or website, the reader is the media.
The PR specialist is dealing directly with the consumer and the line between publicity
and marketing is all but gone. ―We are finding that Twitter, Facebook and blogs will

81
―First Espresso Book Machine Installed and Demonstrated at New York Public Library's Science,
Industry and Business Library,” Retrieved from PRWeb.com 1/16/2010,
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/06/prweb534914.htm

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move mass quantities just as a Glenn Beck or Oprah can with one big difference. This is
happening after one hour of online dialogue where it takes quite a bit longer following a
broadcast media spot,‖ says David Brown, Simon & Shuster‘s senior public relations
executive, who specializes in contemporary fiction. ―If done correctly, you can build a
personality, expertise and a trustful following over a long period of time, much like a
radio talk show host who is on the air broadcasting personal thoughts for five hours a
day, five days a week. You can then co-opt that popularity and turn it into book sales,‖
Brown adds.
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Conclusion
The Answer Lies in the OCTOPUS Theory

The fluidity of the digitization of publishing encompasses layered strata of issues
– from content to technology – evolving at an alarming speed. Just as e-books enlist both
book content and multimedia to reach the reader, the survival of popular fiction is best
approached with a multi-pronged strategic methodology that identifies the targeted
consumer, the most suitable delivery mechanism for particular content and the
promotional bridge that connects the two.
The multi-pronged OCTOPUS Theory that will perpetuate consumption of the
popular novel includes:
Obligation to publish across multiple platforms
Cost-effectiveness of print on demand (POD) publishing
Technological syncing of digital content readable over multiple devices
Orchestration of direct communication between authors and readers
Pricing structure regulation for digital and print content
Uniform availability of e-readers at competitive prices
Strategic combination of publicity and marketing tactics
A Roadmap for PR Professionals
The amount of money an author has to work with or the level of bestselling titles
the writer is credited with will dictate actionable strategies and the direction of the public
relations campaign. Unless the fiction author is an anomaly like JK Rowling, who
explicitly does not allow digitization of her Harry Potter books, having a title available in
77

digital and print formats simultaneously is, in nearly all situations, integral to executing
an effective public relations campaign. The ability to offer a cost-effective, digital
version of a book provides numerous opportunities of inter-connectivity crossing over
from new media platforms to standardized outlets with the synergistic goal of selling the
title to more consumers. Just as the digitization of music created new recording,
marketing and sales options for the likes of Trent Reznor, Coldplay and even Susan
Boyle, the digitization of publishing creates new opportunities for all contemporary
fiction authors by targeting diverse consumer segments whose media consumption varies
depending on age, geography and other demographic factors. The Octopus Theory serves
as a compass of the most important elements to consider when launching a campaign.
When questioning the benefit of whether a hard copy edition of a new book
should be released in conjunction with an electronic version, print on demand (POD)
publishing with digital technology can used as a way of printing a new title at a
reasonable fixed cost per copy, regardless of the size of the order. It is a logical solution
for numerous authors who are not signed to a major publishing house or writers who wish
to retain all rights and control of their work. POD, underused in this capacity, is a viable
answer to having a tactile product which appeals to the majority of readers today. It is an
especially helpful tool for promotion of a newer author as it can be used for TV
appearances, media mailings, book signings, promotional giveaways and well-structured
contests, all of which will fuel print and digital sales of the fiction title. There is inherent
value to the consumer who either does not own an e-reader or values the tangible feel of a
bound book.
78

PR professionals must be aware of the technological advances in synchronization
capabilities of the various devices which, including the new iPad tablet, are expected to
revolutionize digital content consumption. The ability to sync digital content so that it‘s
accessible and readable over multiple devices is a necessity to reach the end-user who, at
a given time of the day, may be seamlessly moving between wired, wireless and
broadband cable devices. The connectivity between devices allows the innovative public
relations practioner to strategically target the specific consumer who is accessing
information on an analogous topic. In today‘s business environment of contextual
advertising and search engine optimization, it is imperative that one understands the
shortest and most efficient route to reach the consumer via peer-to-peer technology that
easily syncs and shares content among several devices, intentionally sending the end-user
to the online partner to purchase the product.
Direct communication between an author and the stakeholder, i.e., his/her readers,
creates two-way communication that PR experts will find instrumental to growing a
writer‘s loyal following. Whether it takes the shape of a subscriber-based, direct mail e-
newsletter or a pull-down tab on a writer‘s website with capability of the user to send a
note or question directly to the author, there is absolutely no substitute for engaging the
consumer with the originator of the product they‘ve purchased. Interaction with an
author‘s stakeholders is crucial; feedback from an individual reader directly to an author
may spark a new idea and/or characters for another book. It can even lead to additional
revenue such as a new publishing opportunity, speaking engagement or special
appearance.
79

With two million books available for digital download free-of-charge, big box
stores selling fiction hardcover titles at less than major booksellers‘ wholesale costs and
dollar book stores popping up throughout urban areas, pricing structure regulation for
digital and print content must be a consideration. With continual availability of no-
charge content online, the increasing impact of global forces on the U.S. publishing
industry and the seasonal nature of the book business where certain periods of the year
mean selling substantial quantities, public relations professionals should be realistic on
price points for specific authors they represent as well as a strategic time for release.
Ideally, there should be an acceptable pricing policy and pattern in place establishing a
range agreeable to the consumer for contemporary fiction hardcover as well as digital
editions of new novels. Perhaps the answer is to follow China‘s recently issued
regulations concerning fair competition among booksellers where publishers control the
retail price of new publications for their first year after release and discounts are limited
to no more than 15 percent for online booksellers.
82

As the PR expert is obligated to be conscious of rising printing and programming
costs, pricing pressures and global competition, he/she must also understand the
availability of e-readers at competitive prices and specifics each device offers its end-user
to strategically target the consumer. Amazon's Kindle and the Sony Reader allowed
consumers to get used to an e-book reader; Apple's iPhone added touch screen access.
The newer Barnes & Noble‘s Nook is a cutting-edge e-reader which combines the best of
both worlds into a small computer that gives unprecedented wireless access to millions of

82
―China to Limit Discounts for Online Booksellers,‖ Retrieved from Marbridge Daily.com 1/17/2010,
http://www.marbridgeconsulting.com/marbridgedaily/2010-01-
11/article/32755/china_to_limit_discounts_for_online_bookstores

80

electronic book titles on the market. Much like the iPhone, the touch screen is the entry
point for everything one does on the Nook from choosing books to navigating the
internet, an actionable application for contextual advertising especially as it works hand-
in-hand with Barnes & Nobles‘ massive book list. Apple‘s iPad tablet on shelves in early
2010 in the form of a ―tablet PC,‖ features a 10‖ touch screen with built-in WiFi and the
most interactive experience with links to interviews with authors, extra photos and video
content.
In this age of citizen journalism where reader reviews impact book sales and
word-of-mouth niche fires can be started via a myriad of traditional and/or new media
platforms, the PR professional must strategically plot publicity and marketing tactics
simultaneously as the line between the two is all but gone. As we see the pervasiveness
of book lovers‘ web presence and popular fiction fans‘ relative ease in creating their own
blogs, podcasts or online book clubs due to the recent simplicity of maneuvering the web,
publicity experts‘ campaigns must employ devices that target these ―super fans.‖
Engaging in bi-lateral dialogue via Twitter, Facebook, GoodReads and Shelfari is
mandatory for moving quantities of a title. The convergence of new media strategies
with tried-and-true traditional tactics – television talk show appearances, national and
major city radio interviews and editorial content in widely-read newspaper and blue-chip
magazines – will build a personality, expertise and trustful following for an author over
an extended period of time.
Finally, the sustainability of brick-and-mortar booksellers must be a concern to all
who work in the publishing industry. No customers want their local bookstores to go out
of business. Hence, it is incumbent for the strategic public relations professional to
81

implement creative approaches beyond the rudimentary in-store readings and author
signings which draw loyal customers regularly and perhaps from time to time, new
readers. Integration of digital technologies or added value content to popular fiction
departments in stand-alone book stores is a solid start. When the world renowned
landmark Bodhi Tree Bookstore in West Hollywood closes at the end of 2010, it will
have joined a long list of specialty booksellers across the country.
The good news is that only about 8 percent of adults bought at least one electronic
book in 2008 and only a fraction of these consumers saw the appeal of massive storage
space on a dedicated device or a desktop during that time.
83
The bad news is that
according to industry consensus, these statistics have been doubling annually and there is
continual innovation in the digital space. It may only be a question of time before the
non-specialized bookseller is faced with the decision of closing its doors like Duttons
Booksellers was forced to in early 2009 when its commercial property rent tripled. All
those involved in any segmentation of the book industry value chain, particularly, the PR
professional, will ultimately understand that in an era of strained consumer bandwidth,
books may have to be sold one at a time… to one person at a time.

83
Norris, et al, pg. 9.
82

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Abstract (if available)

Abstract While the landscape of publishing has continued to evolve since the invention of the Gutenberg printing press in 1439, the face of reading took a dramatic turn during the last few years. Prior to the millennium, one could not completely separate printing on the one hand and the retailing of printed matter on the other. Publishing platforms have advanced greatly as the digitization of books becomes the norm. The challenge is finding the most efficient ways in which traditional and non-traditional publishers can reach the consumer effectively while providing the widest variety of product at competitive prices in a fluctuating marketplace. This paper posits the OCTOPUS Theory as a way to address the current volatility in the publishing industry and provides a blueprint for public relations professionals in today’s marketplace by analyzing multiple publishing platforms, integrated technologies that allow the reader to access content efficiently and the strategic combination of effective publicity and marketing tactics.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Asset Metadata

Creator Moss, Monique H. (author)

Core Title Strategic implications of the digitization of publishing popular fiction in the 21st century: introducing the Octopus Theory

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 04/28/2010

Defense Date 04/28/2010

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Amazon,Amazon.com,Apple,audio books,Authors,blueprint,book publicity,Charles Dickens,digitization,e-books,electronic reading devices,e-publishing,Gutenberg Printing Press,iPad,JK Rowling,marketing fiction: Google Books,marketing strategies,marketing tactics,Microsoft,MP3 books,multi-platform publishing,OAI-PMH Harvest,on-demand printing,online booksellers,paperbacks,Project Gutenberg,Public Relations,publishing,serialized novels,smartphones,Sony,SWOT analysis,traditional printing: Kindle

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Floto, Jennifer D. (committee chair), Cody, Michael J. (committee member), Cray, Edward (committee member)

Creator Email mmoss@usc.edu,moniquemoss@astatic.net

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m2967

Unique identifier UC1219966

Identifier etd-Moss-3321 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-309492 (legacy record id),usctheses-m2967 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Moss-3321.pdf

Dmrecord 309492

Document Type Thesis

Rights Moss, Monique H.

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu