Book Trailer Envy: The Price of Everything

by Jonathan

So, we’ve been focusing a lot on trailers lately, largely because there’s so much experimentation going on with them. Production values are going up, as we saw with Tim Ferriss’ trailer last week. But the question is always:

Is it fun to watch AND does it make me want to know more about the book?

I just discovered the new book trailer for Eduardo Porter’s forthcoming book The Price Of Everything: Solving the Mystey of Why We Pay What We Do.

Here it is…

It’s clearly a high-production video.

But, what really got me was the artful way they aligned an amazing soundtrack, provocative graphics, compelling story and copy in a way that not only made for a powerful viewing experience, but also, at least for my interests, accomplished the fundamental purpose of a book trailer…it made me want to know more about the book.

What do you guys think?

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Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Body Book Trailer: Did It Work?

by Jonathan

Well, he’s at it again…

If you’re an author or an aspiring author and you’re not following Tim Ferriss, you’re losing out on one of the best book marketing educations on the planet.

You don’t have to like Tim, his writing style or even a word of his content. You just have to watch how he prepares a market, builds it to a feverish pitch, then takes the pain away with the salve of his book.

Tim’s new book, The 4-Hour Body, is out on December 14th, it’s already a shoe-in for every major bestseller list, been doing double digits on amazon for more than a month already.

Once the campaign has wound down I’ll be back with a substantial debrief. But, for today, I just wanted to share the book trailer, which was released last week.

What Tim did with the trailer is pretty fascinating. Instead of putting together a standard (read “useless”) trailer that summarizes what the book is about and maybe has an interview with the author, Tim went straight for the movie-trailer approach. Super high production value, fast cuts, graphics, killer soundtrack, big-time teases and huge promises.

No doubt, this is serious fun to watch.

But, it didn’t make me want to buy the book…and that’s actually a GOOD thing.

What the?! How could that be a good thing?

Because I’m not his market. Tim is a very smart guy and an exceptional marketer. In making the video, he could’ve tried to position the book to appeal to as many people as possible.

But, instead, he did what great marketers do. He segmented his market and decided to craft the video to make a bee-line for the hearts and souls of the most rabid, hyperbolic, youth and performance driven part of the market, knowing:

  • There were more than enough of them to push the book onto the NY Times list,
  • It was strongly aligned with his blog readership, which is largely defined by that very market AND
  • That market tends to also be hyper-connected in the digital world and bent on talking about and sharing everything that smacks of “holy crap, this is cool.”

So, when the video promises you’ll learn to hold your breath for 5 minutes, lift 500 pounds, run 100 miles and lose 100 pounds, guess what…I couldn’t care less about those things. I’m a 45 year married dad who just wants to be healthy and feel good about himself. But, for the market Tim’s going after, it’s a hella tease. I’ve been tracking how often the video has been mentioned and shared outside of YouTube and it’s gotten some serious play. Good and bad, people are talking about it and the early claim being made about the book.

Still, here’s the interesting thing, even with Tim pushing it hard on his blog AND turning off comments on the post that premiered it then telling people to go comment on youtube instead (which is critical in getting a video to go viral), the video got some nice views, but it never tipped. It pretty much stalled at around 70,000 views (yeah, I know, the average author would kill for that, but that’s way below the number Tim was gunning for).

So, here’s the video below. Curious, what do YOU think?

I’ll circle back in early January with a fuller debriefing of Tim’s entire campaign, so stay tuned…

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What Got You Here Ain’t Gonna Get You There

by Jonathan

I just posted a 3,000 word essay called A Modest Proposal For Publishers And Authors over on JonathanFields.com. It’s intense and it has my thoughts on where the industry is going and how both publishers and authors can maximally leverage the future. So I wanted to share it with you guys over here, too. Here’s how it begins…

The publishing world is in mass-flux.

I don’t know where it’ll end up. Nobody does. But, I do know, as I sit and write this, that the other side of upheaval is opportunity. For both publishers and authors…who get what’s really happening here. For generations, big publishing houses have played a huge role in selecting, shaping, packaging, printing, distributing and marketing books.

What they offered, you couldn’t easily get anywhere else.

By controlling each of these processes, they drove the engine that sold a mountain of books and helped build large followings for authors. This was their value proposition in the eyes of aspiring and signed authors. And, it was a model that kept control focused in the hands of publishers.

In part, because authors didn’t want to do all the non-writing work that publishers did, but also because authors didn’t have an easy way to take control of each element of the publishers’ value proposition, especially identifying and reaching directly out to their followings.

There were just too many people and steps between the pocketbook and the pen.

Interestingly enough, the publishers didn’t even have direct access to buyers. Still don’t. There was no list of who bought what, along with contact information. But because of their position at the helm of the brick and mortar bookseller distribution machine, publishers knew where these folks shopped and still sat in the gatekeeper’s position to be able to deliver books into those places.

Enter the digital age. What’s changed?

On the “today’s reality” side, not much…at least for MOST authors. On the possibility side, a lot. And, it’s the possibility side that’s freaking out certain publishers, leaving most authors confused and making a smallish group of authors dance with glee.

Read the entire essay over here

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Would You Crowdsource Your Book Title?

by Jonathan

If you could get thousands of people to tell which title or subtitle they’d be most likely to buy…for free…would you do it?

The obvious answer is yes. And, that’s exactly what New York Times bestselling author, Tim Ferriss, did with the subtitle of his forthcoming book that last I heard was going to be titled something like “Becoming Superhuman.”

Last week, he tweeted:

The link then took you to a one-page survey on Surveymonkey.com with the following options:

I didn’t love any of them, so I left all unchecked and entered my own in the answer box for item #3. And, interestingly enough, the system rejected that option. Very interesting indeed. You HAD to choose options ONLY from the list being offered.

I love that Tim, who’s a hell of a marketer, blogger, innovator and testing fanatic turned to his potential readers to help choose his subtitle. Very cool idea on a number of levels. But, I wondered:

If you’re looking to tap the collective wisdom of the crowd, why not go all the way and see if they can help you not only choose between options you’ve come up with, but create new options that could potentially outperform everything else you’ve thought of?

Maybe it’s just an issue of option-management. Maybe the publisher said “these are the only ones we’ll consider.” Dunno. But, it makes me curious.

Either way, there’s another big caveat when making marketing decisions based on what potential buyers “tell” you would make them buy. And, that is…

They lie. WE ALL LIE. Not intentionally.

But, very often…

The things we think and say would trigger us to buy fall flat when it comes time to actually buy.

There’s even some pretty fascinating fMRI research on this that reveals a big difference in what people tell you lights their buy-fires and what actually does.

The mouth says hell yes, but the brain says WTF?!

So, while it’s an interesting exercise to ask the crowd what title or subtitle would make you buy a book, it’s also a good idea to take any answers with a pretty giant grain of salt.

A better or at least complementary bit of info to fold into the title-choosing hopper is something that Tim did in choosing the title of his first book, The Four Hour Workweek. Test the titles by turning them into pay-per-click ads, running a mini-campaign and see which one get’s the highest click-thru rate.

At least there, you’re more likely to be getting responses from people who’ve raised their hands by clicking on an ad while very likely searching for a related solution. Meaning, they’re likely a solid step closer to being in a present buying state of mind when they “register a vote” by clicking on your ad.

Of course, running a campaign like that will cost you a little bit of money. But, if you push the ad-clickers through to a related blog or other email capture page, you may also be able to build your tribe as a secondary benefit.

In the end, kinda makes you wonder:

What’s better, going with your gut or going with the collective forecasts of what large numbers of people say they’d do sometime in the future?

What do YOU think?

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Jim Kukral Talks Attention, Money and Book Marketing

by Jonathan

Jim Kukral and I have known each other online for while now. And, when I heard he was coming out with a a new book called “Attention! This Book Will Make You Money”, the title was just too much for me to pass up.

It sounded pretty hypey, but I know Jim’s one of those guys who likes to get behind what he says. So, I took this as an opportunity to grill him not only on his book, but on what he’s doing to market it.

Here’s what unfolded…

Okay, let’s start with the big, fat, obvious question. With a book named, “Attention! This Book Will Make You Money: How to Use Attention-Getting Online Marketing to Increase Your Revenue,” you’ve got a lot on the line with this launch. It’s pretty much a test of whether the content works, at least in the context of launching a book. Brogan and Julien had a similar “proof of concept” approach to their launch. Are you at all concerned about this?

Yeah, it’s a concern for sure. I mean, minutes after I decided on the title I began thinking about the launch and the marketing of it. At first I thought to myself “What in the heck did you get yourself into Jim?” Because I realized that if was going to write a book about getting attention, I had better come up with some amazing attention-getting ideas for the book launch.

But it turned out not to be a problem for me since I’m full of ideas, many of which have already worked very well, even before the book launch. But the title is also “This Book Will Make You Money”, and it will. The lessons and case studies and tactics in this book will teach you how others have done it, and how you will too. I’m very proud of the content and message.

There’ve been a flurry of books about blogging, social media marketing and creating buzz in the last year or so. So, let’s get meaty fast. Four questions…

Why this book?

I think every person has a book in them, at least one. I’ve been writing this book in my head for over 10-years or more. From the very first time I used an attention-getting idea to get a sought-after job out of college, to getting the attention, and future business, from a billionaire, I’ve know what this book was all about and why I needed to write it. In the last few years the concepts in the book became even clearer and more effective with things like social media.

Simply put, there’s never been a greater time in the history of the world to be able to build a brand or have a successful business without having to spend millions on public relations firms and traditional advertising. This book will show you how others have done it and give you inspiration to do it yourself.

What makes it different?

I purposely didn’t not write a book that was about theories and 40,000 foot strategies and concepts. Those types of books are great, and those authors are amazing, however, I wanted to write something much lighter and fun. This book is more like a snack as opposed to a 10-course meal. By that I mean, you will pick up this book and fly through it, learning from the case studies in it, and being inspired by the stories and lessons. At the end, your head will be spinning with actionable ideas about how to improve your business at that very moment. Everyone wants to be inspired, right? I know I do!

Why you?

I’m just a regular working class guy from Cleveland, Ohio, except I’m in the Web business. In fact, I still live here and I love it. I got into the Web business about 15-years ago, right when the Web started to become a “business”. Since that time I’ve worked with Fortune 100 companies, and small business owners. Why me? Well, to be frank, I’ve seen pretty much every Web business model that’s existed, and more importantly, because of that background, I’ve seen which ones fail and which ones succeed. My main mission is to teach businesses and brands how to make more sales, leads and publicity online.

And…why now?

As I said earlier, there’s never been a greater time to do this. I don’t care who you are, or what business you’re in, or what career you have… now is the time to use these free, amazing social media tools and the general power of the Internet to help yourself. Now is the time to take your shot, either starting your own business, or fixing the business you have already, you have to get out there and do. I’ve always said, doer’s get what they want, and everyone else gets what they get. Are you a doer? You need to be.

Okay, now let’s turn the ideas in the book back onto your own book launch. I’ve seen some of the things you’re doing to drive pre-orders, bulk sales and buzz and partner with organizations to create pretty irresistible premiums for early buyers. I’d love if you’d share some of your strategies and show how they grew out of the ideas in the book.

I’m a marketer at heart and by career, so this stuff is fun for me. But this is my first published book so the pressure is on, right? First off, if you’re writing a book, pick a great title. Hire a copy writer to help you. Check out Copyblogger.com and read about how to write headlines/titles.

Your title really needs to communicate to the reader what the book is about, without them having to think. I’m a huge fan of titles that “say what they do”. So that’s how I named by book. As far as promotions go, it starts the day you conceive the book. Obviously get a site or blog up for the book by itself, then begin to start promoting the book, even before you write it! Get an email signup list on it and begin to build your list. Even if it takes you a year to write the book, you can hopefully have a list of people on the email list who have been waiting you can email the first day your book launches.

Also, don’t ignore videos. Make some videos or even video screencasts to get people hyped up early about the book and content. My secret tip? Get an account at www.animoto.com and use that to make some fun videos very easily.

Tactically, I’ve done some things that have helped me with early orders. I considered preorders a big part of my marketing strategy. When my launch day hits, I want to have all those preorders trigger at once and hopefully propel my book to the #1 spot on Amazon and other places.

For one, I worked out a deal with the Affiliate Summit conference to allow me to give away silver passes to their show if someone bought a copy of my book during a 5-day period. Obviously not everyone is going to be able to pull this off, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Look for tradeshows or events in your industry who might want to offer a discount or coupon.

Another early tactic for preorders was to give away my time as a consultant for book orders. For example, if you wanted a month of my time as a consultant, you could either pay me straight up normally, or, I’d give you two months of my time, but you had to buy a certain quantity of my books instead. Of course, those books had to be shipped to me. :) Then I can use those books for future outreach and giveaways or however I want.

You’re one of a small handful of people I know who seem to straddle the line between “internet marketing” and social media really well. That’s not an easy dance to do. Because, as we both know, those two worlds often don’t play nice. So, what’s your secret sauce?

Yeah, it’s tough. People see Internet Marketer’s in the wrong light in my opinion. Those people are just really good, and focused, on generating sales, leads and publicity using Web tools, including social media now. They’re not trying to cheat or lie to you, those are the spammers and scammers. There are thousands and thousands of big-time, real, legitimate Internet Marketing type brands and businesses that are just good Web business people. But nobody really knows about them because A. All people pay attention to is the scam artists, and B. Most Internet Marketer’s frankly don’t want you to know how and what they’re doing because they are literally making millions and millions doing it.

We’re seeing a shift right now though. People may not want to believe it, but this is happening. Big-time brands and businesses and celebrities are finally cluing into the potential of Internet Marketing techniques and tactics, and they’re quietly seeking out people who can teach them how to get into the game. Expect to see some HUGE brand names get into the IM business in the next few years, and don’t be surprised when you do.  There’s a reason “bonus” items exist when you buy Oxyclean or a Snuggie. There’s a reason why long-page sales letters keep popping up. There’s a reason why membership sites run by regular people are making millions per month. This stuff works, and when done right, it’s real, problem-solving, helpful information and services.

As far as social media goes. Even the purists are beginning to realize that at the end of the day it’s hard to make money off of a “friendship”. Sure, social media is social, and people should continue to use it that way if they wish. However, let’s not pretend it’s not an amazing tool to build a brand and a business with. You just have to know how to do it the right way. Leverage it for revenue. Don’t sell. Solve problems, and communicate those solutions using social media, and then watch the money roll in.

Last question – Pretty much everyone who reads this blog knows, even if you’re backed by a big publisher, the marketing ball is in your court. Is there a single piece of advice you’d give to aspiring authors to give them the best shot at selling a serious volume of books?

Before you sign your contract push for as much extra stuff you can get. For example, ask for 100 early copies of your book to be sent out to the list of people you choose at the publisher’s expense, not yours. Get them to nail down and provide you with a specific list of the things they’re going to do to help you promote the book.

Of course, that’s hard when you’re a first-time author, so you need to prove to them ahead of time how you’re going to market your book. The truth is that it’s pretty much in your hands. Sure, they do some of the marketing, but it’s all on you. Have a plan ahead of time and show them how you’re going to market. Excite them. You’re pitching them on you!

++++

For over 15-years, Jim Kukral has helped small businesses and large companies like Fedex, Sherwin Williams, Ernst & Young and Progressive Auto Insurance understand how find success on the Web. Jim is the author of the book, “Attention! This Book Will Make You Money”, as well as a professional speaker, blogger and Web business consultant. Find out more by visitingwww.JimKukral.com. You can also follow Jim on Twitter @JimKukral

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It Got Her Book Lots of Attention, But Was It Ethical?

by Jonathan

When writer, Jennifer Belle, was unhappy with the lack of coverage coming from her publicist for her new book, The Seven Year Bitch, she decided to take things into her own hands. According to an interview on PublishingPerspectives…

I put an ad in Backstage requesting actresses, aged 25-75, with compelling and infectious laughs, to read my book on the subway and at New York City landmarks for $8/hr….Approximately 600 actresses sent their headshots and resumes to my personal email address….

I’d let the New York Times reporter Corey Killgannon know about it and he arrived at the audition and filmed and took notes. ..

The week I started the stunt, I sent the girls out in teams of two to the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the steps of the TKTS booth in Times Square, Washington Square Park, and the 1 and L trains. I asked them to pick up a copy of my book from my doorman, meet their teammate at a particular time and place, and then take photos of each other with their phones and text the photos to me throughout their two hour shifts. They also called me when they were finished and reported that they’d had fun, that people had looked, asked about the book, ignored them, etc.

Corey Kilgannon at the New York Times wrote about it in the Metro Section in the Sunday column called Open and Shut and had a video he had taken of the actresses on the steps of the Met and some footage of me, without makeup, at the audition. Then Richard Johnson wrote about it in Page Six…

The best surprise was that other authors blogged about it. Elizabeth McCracken tweeted the New York Times piece. Other writers seemed to take it in the spirit it was intended and called me “their hero.” Judith Regan invited me on her Sirius radio show to talk about it, and I got calls from other shows in America, Germany, and Canada.

Here’s the video of some of the try-outs…

I love to see authors getting seriously creative about their book marketing campaigns, doing wildly-innovative things to raise eyebrows and get attention for their books. And, Belle’s stunt definitely qualifies. Hell, I’m writing about it and linking to it here, and lots of others have done the same.

But, is it right?

As a blogger, when I write about a book, if I have even the slightest potential for financial gain, the FTC says I now need to disclose that relationship on my blog. Testimonials and reviews for books, movies and other works in mainstream media are also required to be real. There’s a reason for that. Because if people cannot distinguish between a genuine opinion and an ad, anarchy breaks out and the world order falls.

Okay, so maybe that was a wee bit of an overstatement, I doubt any pillars of society will come crumbling down simply because Jennifer paid a handful of people to laugh. But still, people just don’t like to feel duped. It’s why so many people were so angry when the truth about A Million Little Pieces came out, even though people still loved the actual read.

So, I’m curious, how do you guys feel about this?

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How to Sell 1,000s of Books to Giant Discount Stores and Groups

by Jonathan

How cool would it be to get an non-refundable order for 10 to 50,000 copies of your book?

Enter the relatively secretive world of what’s known as “special sales.” Massive, non-returnable bulk order for either retail or internal distribution.

I”ve been fascinated by how these orders happen, so I tracked down Brian Jud, the president of The Premium Book Company, an organization focused on selling books on a non-returnable, commission-only basis to non-bookstore buyers. Brian is also the author of How to Make Real Money Selling Books (aff link) and the Publishers Weekly title, Beyond the Bookstore. He’s the editor of the free, bi-weekly ezine, Book Marketing Matters, and he’s even written five books on career transition that are distributed internationally.

Here’s what happened when we got talking…

JF: You operate in an alternative universe to the mainstream bookselling world that many authors don’t even know exist, what is premium or special book sales?

BJ: The term “special sales” typically applies to books sold in non-bookstore markets. But most people think only in terms of libraries or the big discount stores. I break the special-sales segment into two parts. The first is retail (airport stores, specialty stores, gift shops, supermarkets, pharmacies, museums, zoos) where sales are made in the same fashion as to bookstores.

In each case you work through a distributor or wholesaler. The other is non-retail, which includes corporations, associations, schools, government agencies and the military. Publishers can sell directly to buyers in these organizations.

JF: When you sell in bulk in this way, are those sales returnable the way they are from bookstores?

BJ: In most cases, sales in the retail sector are in small quantities and are returnable. The discount stores may also seek an escrow account in the amount of potential returns. In the non-retail sector the sales are in large quantities and are non-returnable, especially where any customization is required.

JF: What type of book tends to do well in this area?

BJ: In retail selling it depends on the outlet. You have to think about who their customer is before selling to them. For example, the typical customer in an airport store is a business traveler or families traveling on vacation. They seek books with content important to them. Museums want books with content related to the museum theme – the same with zoos and aquariums.

They also prefer hardcover, and price is less of an issue than in a supermarket. Specialty stores seek books with information related to their customers, such as Home Depot, Michael’s Crafts or Bed, Bath & Beyond.

In the non-retail segment, it depends on how the book will be used. Corporate buyers may use the book as a premium, ad specialty, gift or motivational device for employees. Associations may want to use a book to support its cause, to resell in their bookstore or to use as a fundraiser. Schools want information related to their students’ grade level and curriculum.

In general, know your customer’s customers and show the buyers how your content can help them be more successful.

JF: How do you find the buyers for bigger volume sales like this?

BJ: In retail sales, you go through the standard wholesalers and distributors for each segment. In most cases you will use Ingram, B&T, Levy or Anderson Merchandisers. Anderson News and Hudson sell to this segment, too. But in the non-retail sector you are selling directly to the buyers.

You can find them at trade shows, networking, or by searching SIC/NAICS listings. You can find lists of associations at www.weddles.com. There are rep groups to take you to gift shops and corporate buyers. You can reach the military through www.aafes.com. The Marketing and Sales Group is one national rep organization that can sell for you to most non-retail buyers. You can reach them at Guy@msgpromo.com.

JF: I know some mega-stores like Costco carry a very limited selection of books and sell a huge volume, any tips on getting into stores like that?

BJ: My advice is to start locally. Go to your nearby store and speak with the book buyer. Offer to do an in-store event. If your subject is of local interest, this will help you. Tell the buyers how your promotional efforts will help build their store traffic and profit per square foot.

JF: When trying to get into the big mainstream booksellers, being self-published tends to be a big barrier, is this true with premium/bulk sales too?

BJ: In the retail segment, the reputation of the author is important. Here, cover design and pricing are vital decision criteria, too. But in general, special-sales buyers are looking for content – not necessarily books. If your content is relevant to their customers and can help them increase their sales, motivate their employees or increase store traffic then they should be open to hearing your proposal.

JF: What’s the most important thing to think about when actually writing your book to give it the best shot at being well positioned for special sales?

BJ: Think about how you will sell your book. If you are writing a cookbook, think about how you can approach the producers of the ingredients (Heinz ketchup, Kraft cheese) to use your book as a premium. If you are writing fiction, keep in mind the concept of product placement.

Use brand names for certain items (cars, soft drinks) and propose that the manufacturers of those products sell your book, too. It is relatively easy to change the names when using digital printing. Also think about cross-merchandising opportunities. If your cookbook has barbecue recipes, then it could be used at Home Depot as a premium for selling barbecue grills. Marketing is a process that may be implemented at almost any stage of the writing and publishing process for books sold in special markets.

———–

You can learn more about Brian at brianjud@bookmarketing.com or www.premiumbookcompany.com

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Tony Hsieh Taps Groupon to Sell 1,642 Books in 3 Days

by Jonathan

Toward the end of my last Tribal Author Book Marketing Camp in NYC, I talked about “ninja” book marketing strategies.

These were tactics that were on the cutting-edge. They generally fell into one of 3 categories:

  • Strategies that’d either been tried, but not yet refined enough to make sense
  • Under-the-radar approaches that nobody had yet tried, and
  • Thing’s I’d done or been working on, but never shared publicly

Well, last week, one of these strategies was tested in a very public way.

Tony Hsieh, who many of you know as the founder of Zappos, teamed with group buying service, Groupon, to sell 1,642 copies of his new book, Delivering Happiness (aff link), in about 3 days at $10 a book or 58% off retail price (which is substantially below what even amazon is pre-selling the book for).

For those not in the know, Groupon is the leading group buying website. The way they work is:

  • A vendor proposes to have Groupon offer it’s members a particular product or service at a steep discount
  • Groupon schedules the offer to go live on their website for a short period of time.
  • Groupon then emails their list of up to 3 million (maybe more now) people to tell them about the offer
  • People commit to buying whatever is being offered, but…
  • The offer does not go live or “tip” until a specified minimum number of people have committed to buying
  • People tap social media to spread the word to push the offer to tip, so they get the deal
  • Once the minimum is hit, the offer goes live and more people pile on until the offer period ends.

That’s what happens publicly, but what most people don’t know is that, behind the scenes, Groupon takes about 50% of the revenue that comes in and passes the rest along to the vendor. So, for example, in this case, the book was selling for $10. Groupon would take half of that as their fee, leaving you with $5 on a $24 hard cover book.

Because of this, it’s not unusual for businesses to only break even, lose or gain a very small amount. But, if it’s the right product and the right business, Groupon and serivces similar to it, like Living Social, can send thousands of new buyers your way…people who may end up repeat customers at full price.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to make Groupon work for bookselling for a while now. And, apparently, so was Tony Hsieh. Because last week, Groupon featured his new book, Delivering Happiness (aff link), as what they’d call a secondary offer (it was positioned as a smaller offer next to the featured offer for a number of days.

Here’s what the offer page looked like:

The minimum was hit and the offer “tipped” or went live at the 1,000 book mark a little more than a day into it and ended up selling 1,642 books.

Question is…can you do what Tony did?

First, my sources have confirmed what I believed to be true. This deal was made directly with Tony, not through his publisher. Because the publishers can’t sell at a price low enough to make the numbers work. Could they sell to Groupon at 58% off? Yes, but remember, Groupon takes another 50% of the sale price, so publishers would actually have to sell the book at 79% discount to make this deal happen…and that will never fly (at least not for a new/non-remaindered book).

So, the deal would have to be done privately between the author and Groupon.

The likely scenario goes something like this: the author commits to buying the minimum (here it’s 1,000 books) from the publisher at a 60% discount, then eats the Groupon fee and shipping costs. In this case, that’d end up costing the author around $7 for each book sold for a loss of about $11,500.

Now, could Tony have struck a better deal with Groupon to be the first bookseller to try this? Sure, I’m guessing he did. But, I still can’t see how he could’ve walked with anything but a loss.

The question is why would he do this at a loss…and why might you?

Three potential reasons:

  • If you feel there’s enough PR and advertising value in that (3 million people will be exposed to your book every day of the offer), you may be willing to chalk up the loss as promotional expense.
  • If the book is more of a lead generation piece in a bigger business funnel, it may still make sense to take the loss in the name of sending thousands of new leads into your funnel in a matter of hours. And…
  • If you’re self-published, there may be enough extra margin to allow you to make it through a group buying promotion without taking a loss.

So, where does this leave us?

First, you’ll have to do the deal yourself, traditional publishers won’t/can’t sell at a low enough discount to make it work. So, you’ll have to buy at your best discount, then take the loss incurred in paying Groupon or some other group buying service their fee, then figuring out how to cover the costs and logistics of shipping.

I’m still looking at this at a potential channel for my next book. But, truth is, the vast majority of authors aren’t willing to take the loss in the name of buzz. Nor do they have a bigger business funnel set up, making group buying sites, at least for now, not a hugely viable means of marketing and selling books.

Keep your eye on future book offers through these sites, though. There’s may be some interesting strategies that evolve over time.

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Good News, Bad News: Over 1 Million Books Published in 2009

by Jonathan

A recent article in Publisher’s Weekly revealed:

A staggering 764,448 titles were produced in 2009 by self-publishers and micro-niche publishers, according to statistics released this morning by R.R. Bowker. The number of “nontraditional” titles dwarfed that of traditional books whose output slipped to 288,355 last year from 289,729 in 2008. Taken together, total book output rose 87% last year, to over 1 million books.

That’s great news for some authors and aspiring authors…and terrible news for others.

It’s now easier than ever to get a book to market, and spend very little money doing so. And, the time it takes, once written, edited and designed, is coming closer and closer to rounding to zero.

BUT, it’s also terrible news for authors who are not willing to build communities and aggressively market their books. Because, in the space of a single year, your competition for hearts, souls, eyeballs and dollars has just gotten nearly 500,000 books larger.

There’s now 87% more noise in the span of a single year.

Your quest is to become the signal.

Question is…are you willing?

And…are you able?

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Alice on iPad: Is this the Future of Books?

by Jonathan

Alice in Wonderland was just released as a hugely interactive version that leverages a number of the unique properties of the iPad. Check out the video:

Question is, is this the future? And, if so, how can we leverage this new platform and technology to launch and sell more books? More thoughts on this coming soon…but I’m curious what YOU think?

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