Thursday, February 14, 2013

TOC: Density


Density - Tobias Nielsen

International book marketing for the small publisher. How to compete.

20,000 titles in hardcover is a huge success in Sweden

Sometimes the digital edition in English of the Swedish title is offered by a competitor at half the price.

International Competition
What you buy: translated vs original
When you buy:
-                the fans
-                titles in English: time, price, search (status) (search shows the English translation right next to your Swedish text)
-                the buzz


English language can sell 13 times better than Swedish version in Sweden.

Tying back to the keynote, ABBA wrote the narrative for how Swedes can go international

Key Lessons
Focus – being available is not equal to being discovered
Dedicated distributors vs. self-publishing platforms – dedicated distributor helps get your titles featured which is why they are better
Monitor, evaluate, and adapt
Local PR support is very helpful (local agencies w/n market you want to enter) work with aggregators who are in contact with online booksellers
Don’t be Swedish – thought that labeling as Swedish would be useful, but in truth most people want a general take away and don’t care about that branding

Stockholm text launched last summer 2012 with 15 titles. 4 of 15 titles did well. Mystery and crime fiction did well. Used creative campaigns, active price stargy, and focus on retailer promotions. Thought as a traditional print publisher instead of out of the box.

40k – Italian publisher who thought digital would be easy, but some of the big hurdles are the same as print


Crossroads ahead
Digital-first vs. physical books
Niches vs. the big market share
Densified format (short reads) vs. traditional format – kindle sales show that densified does better, though you are locked into certain number of words and low price (especially if you assume long tail is true)

Density
Knowledge is important
Specialized knowledge critical
But clear and fast
Hence, “densify” knowledge
A gap exists today


www.theDensity.com

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