The Shatzkin Files


The publisher’s evolving role

Posted by Mike Shatzkin on May 21, 2009 at 7:06 am · Under Authors, Community, General Trade Publishing, New Models, Publishing, Vertical


Michael Cairns has a really good post today that distills a lot of thoughts I have had over the last several years into a clear formulation: that the publisher needs to serve as a “digital concierge” for its author.

Three years ago, Brian O’Leary, Ted Hill, and I did a study of marketing spend for a mid-sized trade house. At that time we articulated the notion of a “new marketing partnership” between publishers and authors. We urged then that publishers do what is necessary to make it easy for authors to promote themselves on the web because, in the modern world, that marketing energy would be indispensible.

What was a fairly forward-thinking suggestion in 2006 has become a common understanding by 2009. Harper has launched several author-centric initiatives. Sourcebooks just unveiled a suite of tools and advice for authors to promote themselves effectively. And, of course, I’m a co-founder of Filedby, Inc., and the filedby web site is all about delivering web promotion capabilities to book authors, photographers, and illustrators at scale.

I guess it won’t surprise any frequent readers to hear that I believe that the success of this concept depends on…verticalization!

The swingeing volume of detail that Michael points out is impossible for authors to navigate (Twitter, Facebook, and Friendfeed are just the start, really) is also really impossible for publishers to navigate as well. I believe that is becoming increasingly obvious in many houses. The web worlds of knitting and beading are quite distinct, even if books on either subject would go into the crafts section at Barnes & Noble. The web world of parenting is one thing; the web world of parenting an autistic child would be quite another. Publishers who don’t specialize, focus their specialization, and learn the web world for the fields they are in are trapped in marketing that is massively labor-intensive and yielding no advantages of scale.

Publishers (anybody, really…) gains expertise by repeated use, involvement, familiarity. Publishers have had credibility telling authors what will work with a B&N buyer, a NY Times book critic, or the booker for Oprah or Today. They’ve worked with these outlets many times before and the author hasn’t. The digital concierge, in order to really help me, has to be able to tell me which of the sites for my book on summer night stargazing will take my posts, link to my blog, generate followers on Twitter. Otherwise they’re just giving me general advice a bit more easily, but no more personalized, than I could get from a web site dispensing advice. Or a book.

This is very much a transitional need. Ten years from now, most authors will have arisen from the ranks of the digital community for their subject. We’re very much in a transitional time (one very important point that will be made in my “Stay Ahead of the Shift” talk next Thursday), and the concierge will be characteristic of the transition.

I’m working hard at BEA. Please join me. “Stay Ahead of the Shift”: Thursday 5/28 at Javits Center at 11. “StartWithXML for Editors”: Thursday at 3. And “Digital Debut Tool Time” Friday morning 5/29 at 9:30.

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  • http://www.eoinpurcellsblog.com Eoin Purcell

    Mike,

    Another great post. I think you are spot on regarding the vertical idea.

    I have only one real data point against it and that is the impact that the multi-tweeting team at Harper Studio seems to have. They have no vertical to speak of but their digital presence is very much felt and I think seems to be achieving results far beyond their weight.

    Eoin

  • http://www.idealog.com/ Mike Shatzkin

    Eoin, not sure how to measure how much impact the digital presence of HarperStudio that you think is “very much felt” is actually having. In a sense, “horizontal” is still a “vertical”. That is: the 20th century book-interested world is still here, and HarperStudio might be having success reaching that cohort. I would expect HarperStudio, and all publishers to find it increasingly difficult to sustain a marketing effort across different interest groups. Just too labor intensive, and the more they’re doing it by tweeting, the more labor intensive it is! Thanks for the kind words.

  • http://www.eoinpurcellsblog.com Eoin Purcell

    Mike,

    That’s a good point. When I say ‘very much felt’ I mean they have reached out to me in a number of ways, either intentionally or by being present in channels I tend to visit. Through this I have learned about their plans, their books and their authors.

    I’m not saying I disagree with you about the workload and the need for verticals, simply that right now, my experience seems to offer one example that trends away from your view.

    On the other hand the Sci-fi & fantasy vertical created at Tor.com has swallowed up online time I used to spend on other activities and I think it acts as a very strong indicator of the vertical model!
    Eoin



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