by Ulatus
Bowker | Tue Jun 12, 2018
Translating a book into another language exposes it to an entirely new market. This is extremely valuable for both the publisher and the author: it both increases the book’s potential revenue and extends its reach to a global audience. Publishing a book in English makes it accessible to 360 million native speakers, plus the billion people who speak it as a second language; but publishing a translation to Mandarin, for example, exposes it to an additional potential audience of 955 million!
by Cheryl Russo
Bowker | Tue Jun 5, 2018
You’ve written your book, you have your ISBN and barcode, but who will print your book?
Many Bowker customers ask us…do you print books? Do you know of a printer that I can contact? Since we service all the US, that would be a large list to keep and quite a job to maintain. So, I thought I would list a few things to aid our self-publishers with this process.
Before looking for a printer make a list of your specifications:
What type of book is it?
Paperback, hardcover, maybe just a spiral bound. Will it have a dust jacket? How many pages are there? How many copies do you want to print? Will this be printed traditionally or digitally? This will get you started, and then you can search for a printer that can accommodate you.
by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue May 22, 2018
(This is the second of a two-part series)
You can generate more publicity, sell more books and become more profitable if you follow several simple techniques for writing promotional material sent to business buyers. These are people in corporations, associations, schools and other non-retail organizations.
Part One in this two-part series described writing attention-grabbing headlines. Part Two tells how to write body copy that keeps the reader through your communication. Once you hook the readers with your headline, you must deliver on their expectations or they will stop reading immediately. Use the body of your press release to continue the momentum started with the headline and get the readers to take the action you recommend.
by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue May 15, 2018
(This is the first part of a two-part series)
You can generate more publicity, sell more books and become more profitable if you follow several simple techniques for writing press releases. This is particularly true when communicating with buyers in niche segments such as corporations, associations, schools and the military. Part One in this two-part series describes writing the headlines, and Part Two tells how to write body copy that leads the reader through your release.
Publicity is the least expensive and perhaps most productive of the promotional strategies publishers use to generate exposure for their books. And a press release is the tool most commonly used to stimulate publicity. However, too many publishers' press releases go unheeded because the publicity copywriters make one major mistake – they write their press releases about their books.
by ISBN Agency
Bowker | Tue May 8, 2018
What is a ‘publisher imprint’, and why does Amazon/CreateSpace ask me for one?
An imprint of a publisher is a trade name under which it publishes a work. A single publishing company may have multiple imprints, often using the different names as brands to market works to various demographic consumer segments (for example, to differentiate between your cookbooks and general fiction novels).
When Amazon/CreateSpace asks for your ‘publisher imprint,’ it is the name you have registered with us at myidentifiers.com (and appears as your publishing company name on Books in Print). This name is displayed to the public wherever you sell your book and in distribution channels. It is also listed on your book’s copyright page, and assigned to your ISBN.
by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue May 1, 2018
Have you heard of Abraham Maslow’s Need Hierarchy? It describes a pyramid of needs through which people move as they are motived to fulfill unmet needs. The foundation is made up of the very basic needs (security, food, etc) and people advance ultimately to self-actualization.
Did you ever think about how this same concept applies to the business-to-business (B2B) buying process in which you can make large, corporate sales of your book? B2B buyers begin the purchasing process with objective criteria (prices and specification), but quickly move through underlying, subjective influences on the decisions. These levels of influence on the buying decision can be demonstrated in The Value Pyramid.
by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Apr 24, 2018
One of the most misused words in the publishing business is marketing. Some people think selling is marketing, but it is not. Others think publishing is marketing, but it is not. Marketing is a distinct business philosophy that, if understood and applied properly, can help your business become more profitable.
There are four competing concepts under which publishing companies can conduct their marketing activities. These are the Publishing Concept, the Product Concept, the Selling Concept and the Marketing Concept.
The Publishing Concept holds that consumers will favor those titles that are widely available and low in cost. These mass-market publishers concentrate on achieving high production efficiency and wide distribution.
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Apr 17, 2018
As indie authors, we all want to sell more books. And so, I want to share with you several ways that you can make the most of your book promotion efforts. As I’m sure you’ve learned a successful book marketing plan is made up of a range of actions that build on one another, and it’s wise to vary your efforts to get the most bang for your investment – whether its time or money, or a combination thereof. So with this in mind, here are some of the top ways that you can sell more books this year.
1. Be consistent: Whatever you do, do it consistently. So often indie authors try to do more than their time and bandwidth allow. Fix this by picking the things you know you can do consistently and forgetting the rest. Trust me, you will make greater strides if you remain consistent in your efforts.
by Richard Smith
Bowker | Tue Apr 10, 2018
If you’re an author and want to stay on top of the important issues in the world of publishing — issues that affect you — you need The Hot Sheet.
With all the chatter out there, it will help you sort through the noise with stories that focus on relevant topics from across the publishing spectrum. From author success stories to key industry statistics, you’ll find what you need to know in The Hot Sheet.
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Mar 27, 2018
It’s a fact of life. As you read this sentence, I have already begun to lose you and your attention. Maybe you’re thinking about dinner. Or your dog. Or what your kids are doing way too quietly in the other room. Now, let me try and get you back. On average, we have an 8-second attention span. And since goldfish have an average attention span of 9 seconds, they’ve surpassed us.
Do I have your attention now?
Attention is now the hottest commodity that you need to be after. If you can’t get and keep someone’s attention, you’ve lost the opportunity to close the sale. So what does that have to do with you? Well, if you look at most people’s pitches these days, you’ll see something repeatedly. They follow a stale format. By leading with a long, overly detailed backstory, they meander along for a paragraph or two, before coming to a point.
