Marketing

Hey Girl, Learn Sales Analysis

Publishers have access to a huge amount of data about their titles, but knowing how best to use that data to give your business a competitive edge can be tricky.

Erin Creasey is the sales and marketing director for ECW Press, one of Canada’s largest independents, where she has access to data from sources including SalesData, BookScan, and traditional and ebook retailers. “I’m always looking for the story behind the numbers,” she says.

A Closer Look at 360

Yesterday, HarperCollins Publishers announced a new “global publishing program”, called HarperCollins 360. In their press release, HarperCollins said: “The goal of the initiative is to ensure that all books published by any division of HarperCollins around the world are available in print or digital format in all English-language markets.”

Thinking B2C: Is Scaling Back Imprints Enough?

In a post on Monday, Mike Shatzkin advised publishers to reconsider the number of imprints they currently have as they shift focus from B2B branding to B2C branding. Shatzkin reminds us that imprints were originally used to brand titles to buyers, librarians and media—not consumers. Having an established imprint helped a book get its foot in the door and increase the chances of wider media coverage and stocking.

It seems that somewhere along the way some of us forgot this.

So what are the branding opportunities and challenges presented by imprints, and what are the implications for publishers?

Using Custom Reports in Google Analytics to Inform Marketing Decisions

Measuring the value of your marketing efforts is a constant struggle for businesses because there are so many factors that indirectly affect sales. On top of that, online marketing can drive offline sales and offline marketing can drive online sales. All of these factors make it difficult to really know what is influencing a sale. What then is a publisher to do?

Monique Sherrett of Boxcar Marketing leads us through Goals and Custom Reports in Google Analytics to give you insights into the two things that the people holding the marketing purse strings care about: Sales, and Things That Lead to Sales.

What's in a Name? Using a Nom de Plume

Yesterday’s piece in the New York Times about the author who used a pen name to sell a manuscript is piquing the curiosity of authors, literary agents and publishers. But using a nom de plume to find a new audience is nothing new.

We take a look at the PR implications for publishers of the pen name.

#CMPTO Offers 10,000 Points to All Attendees

Over 50 tech printies turned up to hoist a beer to the changing dynamics of the reading world last Wednesday night at our third Code Meet Print event.

Gamification, social reading, and crowdsourcing were the topics of the night. Here’s a recap of how the night played out.