eBook Distribution the Bookhitch Way

Today’s technologies are reshaping the publishing landscape with eBook sales expecting to rise to $36 billion in 2015.  New companies have emerged on the scene offering various eBook services, but the business model still mimics the system set-up for print books by utilizing a middleman in the distribution channel.  In an earlier blog, we asked the question, “Why shouldn’t the publisher just use a service to sell its downloaded books, and keep that distribution margin?”  Or, publishers and authors can offer direct-to-reader distribution by selling titles from their own websites. 

One viable option is to list titles on a book portal such as bookhitch.com, which was conceived primarily as a sales funnel to direct the profits into the pockets of publishers and authors.  The comparison chart below gives a visual explanation of how monies are divided in the traditional distribution model verses the bookhitch model.  

It is easy to add titles to the bookhitch search engine.

• Click Get Started

• Create an account by registering as an author or publisher

• Login to Add Your Books to Create Free or Premium Listings.

o        For Mass Uploads of multiple titles, publishers can use this form, and send it as an attachment to cs@bookhitch.com

Choosing a Printer - 8 Tips to Consider

1.  Do Your Research - It is important to know what you want your end product to look like and the work that will be involved in getting a final printed project.  Educate yourself on the printing process by visiting printer websites.

2.  Do Try to Supply Basic Information About Printing Specifications, including:

• Size
• Color
• Binding
• Quantity
• Paper Type
 

3.  Do Get Price Quotes From a Few Printers - Make sure that you get detailed information on any and all fees, so that there are no surprises.

4.  Do Make Sure That You Feel Comfortable With the Printer You Choose, and the Customer Service Representative that you will be working with.  It is important to note whether your communications will be via email or through telephone contact. With a printing project, you are looking for the increasingly rare combination of great service and a great end product. There are many online automated sites that can print your books, but some use templates and many do not have representatives that are accessible by phone.

5.  Do Decide If You Want To Print as a personal project (poems to your grandchildren) or for commercial distribution.  If you want to sell your book through a wholesale or retail distributor, there are necessary requirements, such as an ISBN (International Standard Book Number).

6.  Do Make Sure That You Provide the Correct File Type That the Printer Requires - Some criteria may include:  PDFs, embedded fonts, proper bleed.  Also, find out the printer's specific requirements for submitting images with the correct resolution -DPI (dots-per-inch.)

7.  Do Be Realistic About Time Frames - Give your printer enough lead time to get the job done right.  For first printings, calculate approximately 10 to 15 working days.  Reprints are generally about 4 to 8 working days.

8.  Do Consider Digital Printing - It offers:

• Shorter print runs that require less initial cost outlay
•  Easy version changes (edits) for the next time you print
• Excellent quality

Variable Data Printing Basics

Variable Data Printing Basics

In simplest terms, Variable Data Printing (VDP) involves varying or changing the information that is put on a printed piece.   But that description greatly minimizes the full scope and sophistication of this method of personalized printing.  A print shop equipped with VDP technology can customize every piece of a single print run with a targeted message that resonates with each direct mail recipient.   This capability is light-years beyond laser-personalized letters and a simple change of name in an address box. Variable Data Printing combines design and text elements with data analytics to ensure that a promotional mailer speaks directly to a customer.  Once a customer’s personal profile (age, gender, location, purchasing habits) is determined then graphics, color, logos, and pictures can be adjusted to create compelling and unique content for a specific audience.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Planning a VDP Campaign

WHO  should use it?

Anyone who is currently marketing with direct mail should seriously consider Variable Data Printing customization rather than continuing to deliver non-personalized, static messages.

WHY use VDP?

Statistics confirm that messages targeted to an individual’s profile and preferences result in higher direct mail response rates and increased ROI.  In addition, short run printing with digital technology has made VDP possible and very affordable. 

WHERE do I begin?

Partner with a company that has the proper tools and equipment, which includes digital printing technologies, in-house design with specialized VDP software, expertise in direct mail, and expertise in data analytics.

WHAT is the best usage?

Any direct mail campaign designed to: attract new clients, raise funds, purchase a product, or sell a service. VDP can be implemented for catalogs, postcards, letters, envelopes, packages, self-mailers, booklets, business correspondence, event tickets, custom publications, and cross-media marketing campaigns.

WHEN do I start?

Start now.  Don’t wait.  The University of Nebraska Medical Center describes their ROI in this way, “The returns for variable printing vary from double the normal return at the basic level to 10-15 times the return for fully variable jobs.”

Tips on How to Save With Direct Mail

The Direct Mail Association (DMA) reports that 79% of households read or skim through their direct mail. In addition, response rates for direct mail have held steady over the past four years.  This information secures direct mail’s status as a highly effective mode of marketing communication for generating a very positive ROI.  This is good news for marketers.  But if you are just slapping a stamp on a mail piece, you could be missing out on substantial postal discounts that can often cover the entire costs of printing and mailing.  

Whether you prefer first class or bulk mail, USPS offers discounts on postage if you follow certain guidelines.  Essentially, the less the USPS has to physically interact with your mail, the more savings that is passed on to you.  A few simple modifications can make your direct mail piece “machinable”, which is post office terminology for being fully automated. By tweaking a few basic design characteristics, you can ensure that your direct mail campaign has benefited from optimum discounts. 

1.  Dimension and weight of the piece (postcard, self-mailer, letter, flats)

2.  Design features

o   Fold style/orientation (horizontal, vertical, bi-fold, quarter fold)

o   Location of address block and address placement

o   Ancillary Service Endorsement

3.  Closure methods

o   Tabs (wafer seals)

·         Sizes (1, 1 ½, 2”)

·         Perforated/non-perforated

·         Quantity and placement (top, trail edge, lead edge)

o   Glued (continuous glue lines or glue spots)

4.  Quantities

o   Minimum of 500 pieces for first class (estimated 2 to 3 days for delivery)

o   Minimum of 200 pieces for bulk (standard) mail (estimated 2 to 9 days for delivery)

Mail regulations can be complicated and often seem open for interpretation. For this reason, we recommend building a relationship with your bulk mail center.  It is best to call ahead to find out the most convenient time to pay them a visit.  Bring a sample of your mail piece and solicit their advice on the best way to achieve postal discounts. They will usually provide you with a “take home” package containing templates and other pertinent information.

To achieve even further discounts, it is best to partner with a direct mail house that has capabilities in both Intelligent Barcode, and postal/courier route presorts.

Evolution of a Printer

The phrase “cassette player” has joined the ranks of words that have been eliminated from the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.  Apparently, a cassette player fits into the category of “obsolete technology”.  One might wonder if the term “traditional printer” will soon face a similar fate, with the changes in the publishing industry, the rise of digital books and textbooks, and the reduction of large print runs resulting from print-on-demand services.  

Many printers embraced the new technologies and transitioned to digital printing, guiding their businesses beyond just plates and ink.  Digital printing, which  links printing presses to computers and works with toner instead of offset printing plates, results in lowered production and set-up costs, faster turnaround times, and the ability to personalize documents more easily. 

To stay ahead of the curve, the next generation of digital printers are reinventing themselves once more.  They are evolving into full-service enterprises offering capabilities in Variable Data Printing (VDP); direct mail campaigns; design services; customized software solutions; shopping cart services; eBook conversions; and data cleansing/analytics. Multi-channel or cross-media marketing is another growth area that takes advantage of the new mediums such as PURLs(Personalized URLs), QR bar codes, mobile devices, and social networking.

The new age printers, of course, will continue to honor their proud tradition of printing books and other materials for their customers.  But the printer “redefined” is a proactive partner.  In this expanded role, they are instrumental in helping customers to create and disseminate print and digital content to targeted audiences through a range of communication channels.

 

Grogg Blogs -- Service

We here at NetPub like to think we know a lot about service and how best to offer it to our customers.  The print business has for its whole history been a very service-driven industry with all kinds of personal touches. We believe in providing full service, but as customized, web-based solutions like our CLIENTNET have been developed, technology has taken over much of the service part of the transactions-eliminating the human element. This type of self-service is not about having the customer do everything; it is about systematically choosing what products, services, and functions would best benefit from using technology-based operations.  This is why customized print solutions are best setup on the web, since the user is placing the copy on the piece or directing what parts of the database should be used for the requested document.

As we see more print solutions being suitable for web-based, self-service, we are trying to give our customers what they want when they want it, in a fashion that they feel gives them the best customer service. When technology can deliver better and more efficiently than a human, we give our customers control over their needs and individual requirements to deliver the results they want in a very efficient format. Of course, we always have the phone lines to actually talk to our customers. It is our opinion at NetPub that no business can be completely self-service; sometimes a phone call, with the human touch, is the best way to deliver the service that is required.

Multi-Channel Use

As our customers explore all the avenues they now have to communicate their messages to current and future customers, it is quite overwhelming to many.  With our knowledge footprint of digital print, file/data management, and fulfillment services, NetPublications can execute and scale multi-channel communications programs. Our agility in moving quickly to develop a custom program for each customer has earned us high marks.   

What is a multi-channel campaign?  We have never had as many “output” opportunities to use as we now have at our disposal.  While print has been around for hundreds of years, the new digital outputs add options for our clients.  Planning is the key to managing any successful multi-channel campaign.  We sit down and consult with our customers to find out what areas they are having “pain” in.  From that vantage point, we can get a good understanding of what our customers want to offer, and the best way to communicate with their customers.  We can then work together to formulate a plan based upon the data the customer has, or needs to get, in order to complete the campaign. We then outline a time line, and the type of output areas that will be used in the campaign.  Their client’s data is scrubbed so that the outputs used will not be wasted on multiple addresses.  By taking the customer data and looking at the resources within the data, we can start a print campaign along with a PURL (personalized landing page), or add QR Codes on ads or products to direct customers to specific messages.  The key to a successful campaign is planning from start to finish.