Better Books is a conversation in multiple parts between me and Raincoast publicist Dan Wagstaff.
* Introduction
* Part 1. Market challenges.
* Part 2. The music industry and the book industry.
* Part 3. We go on a bit, discussing what we’ve learned.
* Part 4. Ebooks and POD.
* Part 5. POS materials.
* Part 6. Marketing plans.
* Part 7. Innovation.
It’s been a struggle to close up this series because both Dan and I feel that we have too much to say yet lack the words to say it. In the end, Dan finds the perfect words.
Here’s Dan:
Quote: We have covered so much ground that it is difficult to come to wrap this up succinctly isn’t it? And the issues surrounding technology are constantly changing (who knew book trailers were going to rise from the dead?),
I guess the problem with these questions is that they only look at part of the picture, focusing on issues of delivery and marketing, on the assumption that we already publish books people want to buy (if only they knew it!).
But what if we’re publishing too many books that people don’t actually want? Then the whole problem looks a little different, and digitisation and better marketing can only help so much.
Perhaps this is the issue facing the music industry too? Could the downloading issue actually be a sideshow? I guess blaming customers is easier than improving your product,
In any case, there’s no use in thinking about any of these issues in isolation. We need to think about them holistically. Just as hyping crap e-books isn’t going to work, producing unknown masterpieces that no-one can buy isn’t going to cut it either. We need to look at the whole process. How we can publish smarter, AND improve our marketing and delivery? Certainly, technology can help us with this, but ultimately it is only a tool.
Thank you for following the Better Book series.