Cook Partners

"Print on Demand is the Salvation of the Industry"

There's nothing wrong with the book business that can't be cured by distributing books a different way," declares Richard Curtis, a literary agent writing about the success of Lightning Source and other print-on-demand delivery systems. He adds, "That's why I believe POD is the salvation of the industry." Read more here.

Serving the Recession Shopper

The Retail Bulletin reports on a survey whose results suggest "the emergence of a new kind of consumer - the Recession Shopper." That consumer is distinguished by the online research he or she performs prior to visiting a store:

92% of respondents have more confidence in online information than [in the] sales people in-store. Some 81% are doing online research 'most of the time' before buying a product and 78% say this is because TV advertising does not give them enough information to make an informed decision. There is a net decrease of 19% of those who expect to make high street purchases in the coming year, compared to an anticipated 22% net increase in online shoppers.

What implications does this have for Christian publishers and booksellers? Here are just a few:

• Your Web site, whether you own a publishing house or a store, needs to be current.
• If you are a publisher, look for ways to facilitate use of your Web content, providing data that your retail customers can easily aggregate to their own sites.
• Recession shoppers are "migrating their purchases online." Offer "Web-only" discounts or special offers to build loyalty and good will among these direct buyers.
• If you have a bricks-and-mortar store, consider providing an area where customers can engage in  online research on the products in your store.
• Ensure your store staff is aware of the information available on the Web regarding the products you carry.

US, UK Publishers To Sell More English-Language Titles in Foreign Markets

The Guardian notes:

Across the world, the appetite for English language books is booming and publishers struggling under the weight of the recession in their core markets of the US and UK are increasingly turning their sights overseas. ...

A combination of the recession, which has pared back consumer spending, and a longer-term demographic change brought about by a fall-off in population, is hitting book sales in the US and Britain. Both markets are still the largest for English language publishers, but growth has stalled.

The article highlights India and China as the markets with greatest potential for increasing sales of English titles overseas. The Guardian article focuses on the foreign branches of publishers such as HarperCollins, Penguin and Random House, but does not offer the perspectives of independent indigenous publishers. For an alternative view, consider Barine Kirimi's "Publishing Trends and Their Effect on Publishers in the Developing World," from Cook Partners magazine.

Middle East: Better Book Distribution Needed; Globalization

At the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, Bachar Chebaro, the secretary general for the Arab Publisher's Association and general manager of Arab Scientific Publishers, lamented the lack of effective book distribution systems in the Middle East. Abu Dhabi's The National reports:

Although there are 340 million people living in the Middle East and North Africa and an additional 442m Arabic speakers living outside the region, there is currently no way of selling an Arabic-language title to all of them at once.

“There are no pan-Arab or local book distribution companies," [says Chebaro.] "There are no companies specialised in [distribution to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council], Middle East or North Africa. We have no mega-distributors.”

Globalization is also having an impact in the region:

The increasing intermixing of the world’s markets has created a new demand for fiction, children’s books and philosophical writing. “In the last decade, translation was based on academic books, because universities needed them,” he said. “But with globalisation, translation has started to move to a different phase. There is more importance given to the novel.”

Globalisation, combined with the internet, has also helped to roll back censorship in the region, he said, which the Arab Publishers Association opposed “in all its colours.”

Want Some Literature With That Lipstick?

Avon, a beauty products company that "markets to women in more than 100 countries through 5.4 million independent Avon Sales Representatives," can be a formidable outlet for books. Though the company's catalog carries mainly cosmetics, jewelry, and clothing, Avon also offers toys, books, videos, travel accessories and seasonal items.

 In Brazil, Christian publishers have found success with this distribution network. Publish News highlights an article in Valor Econômico, which reports:

In January, in a single month, Thomas Nelson Brasil sold 100,000 units of [two ] Max Lucado titles. "In the bookstores... since 2007, 34,000 units had been sold. Avon has already sold more than 320,000 units in a smaller time frame," affirms Carlo Carrenho, Thomas Nelson Brasil's publisher, who wound up the year passed with a total of one million units sold. Today, Avon represents 15 percent of the monthly invoicing of the publishing company in the country.

... One of the most prominent titles in Avon's catalog is Stormie O'Martian's The Power of a Praying Wife, [published in Portuguese] by Mundo Cristão. In the last 12 months, Avon ordered 275,000 units of this title. Currently, the cosmetic manufacturer is one of Mundo Cristão's main sales channels, accounting for 13.5 percent of its annual invoicing of R$ 12 million.

CTAI Inspires International Buyers

More than 208 book buyers attended the Marketsquare International 2009 show, held January 15-17 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA by ChristianTrade Association International in conjunction with the CBA Industry Conference.

Buyers from outside North America comprised 36 percent of that number. ChristianTrade president Jim Powell explains: "Those attending Marketsquare Internationally typically are not simply buying for their own store, but as a distributor or chain of stores. Kobus Johnsen of the CUM stores in South Africa is buying for a chain whose total purchases are higher than those of some entire African countries.  [Another] buyer, who spoke about a weekly 40-foot container, clearly is a massive buyer, far larger than the typical buyer at [CBA's International Christian Retail Show, which takes place in July.]"

The conference "succeeded on many levels," says the CTAI press release. Powell adds, "The Lord... met with us again this year. A lot of business was conducted, but networks also grew, and we were all inspired to the task God has called us to.”

For those unable to attend the event, you might be interested to learn that the Industry Conference event content will be available via live webinars on February 10, 17, and 24. Click here for more information.

Spain: Book Sales Channels

Sala de Prensa, a site for communication professionals, this month features an article on the state of Spain's publishing industry. In addition to decrying "excessive production and short print runs for [a population] with low reading indexes," the article provides percentages of book sales per channel. The highest percentage of books (32.7 percent) are sold through bookstores and bookstore chains (16.1 percent), accounting for almost half of all book sales. The next three channels each a account for almost ten percent booksales: hypermarkets (mass market retailers that combine traditional department stores with supermarkets; 9.8 percent), credit sales (9.6 percent) and business enterprises and institutions (8.6 percent). Street kiosks (5.3 percent), mail order (4.0 percent), book clubs (3.9 percent), telephone sales (3.1), subscriptions (1.1) and internet sales (0.8 percent) all, surprisingly, surpass sales to libraries (0.5 percent. Finally, 4.5 percent of all book sales are attributed to "other channels."

How do your sales per channel compare to this list? Christian publishers take advantage of some channels that are not evident in the figures above, cited from the 2005 report prepared by The Federación de Gremios de Editores de España (FGEE, or the Spanish Association of Publishers Guilds). For most Christian publishers, sales to churches, denominational bodies, and mission agencies would likely not be combined with sales to businesses. Schools are not shown as a separate category in the FGEE list, but some categories of Christian titles are sold primarily to schools, Bible schools, and seminaries. Some publishers rely on colporteurs and individual agents. Others count on export sales. What does your list of distribution channels look like? And, how should this guide your efforts this year?

Spain: Great Challenge for the Catholic Book Market

In a lengthy interview in Spanish for Periodista Digital, Fernando Prado of Publicaciones Claretianas describes the market for Roman Catholic books in Spain:

There are 35 Catholic publishing houses in Spain. We get along well. Each has its niche... We could say there is healthy competition, which is normal and, I believe, good.

The problem we publishers have is the public. It is very limited. While it is true that Spanish society is Catholic, just as in the general market people do not read, neither do Catholics read more than the rest of the population. We find, therefore, a limited public and also very limited access to general bookstores. Our books are sold, first and foremost, through religious bookstores. If you want to work with chains or other kinds of bookstores, that is more difficult. They have, to some extent, pigeonholed us. It seems that with regard to religious books there is a certain prejudice or fear of making them known... I think this is our great challenge: to make that leap from the specialty bookstore (which is a very good channel) to the general bookstore.

...Why can't we offer the happiness that we believe the Gospel offers to the public, with the same ease and [benefits] enjoyed by other books in the general market?

Using RFID to Track Inventory

RFID, or radio frequency identification tags, are not a technology often used by publishers to track the books they sell to stores. Still,

A Japanese publisher is tagging books to improve payment processes in the industry and to try to reduce returns and waste. Shogakukan, a Japanese book publisher, has applied RFID tags to more than 70,000 home medical dictionaries sold through bookstores. Retailers can purchase the books from Shogakukan and resell them, or choose to be paid by consignment. Sales terms have been encoded into Gen2-standard RFID tags to help Shogakukan manage returns and pay retailers accurately, according to UPM Raflatac, which announced its inlays are being used in the ongoing system.

Read more here.

Canada: Ideas for Saving Christian Retail

The October 2008 issue of The Christian Herald includes an article focusing on the recent developments with R.G. Mitchell. A sidebar lists ideas for saving Christian retail:

• Become a destination store
• Go digital with music
• Consider print-on-demand services
• Get ready for e-books
• Sell music instruments
• Support home schooling
• Build traffic with in-store events
• Partner with others to offer events

What ideas work for you? How do you bring customers to your store—and keep them coming?