Download Sally: Several issues need to be addressed

What is
Special Sales Marketing?
Many authors and independent publishers lament, “I have 5,000 books in my garage. How can I
get rid of them?” Their original dream of selling large quantities of books through traditional
bookstores is shattered, like being awakened from a pleasant sleep by an ominous sound. If you
find yourself in this situation there is still hope. You can sell your books to new buyers in
special markets at any stage of a book’s life cycle.
Selling to special markets may be no different from what you are doing now selling to
bookstores particularly in the non-traditional retail sector. Hesitation in pursuing new sources of
revenue is usually caused by 1) thinking bookstores are the only places in which to sell books
and 2) not knowing where or how to find new markets, companies and buyers to which your
books could be sold.
For now, simply acknowledge that there is a potential opportunity for selling large quantities of
books in segments other than the brick-and-mortar and online bookstores. What and where are
these mines of cash? They are all around you, but you probably overlook them because they do
not have canyons of bookshelves. They are disguised to look like corporations, associations,
home shopping networks, book clubs, schools, catalogs, gift shops, retail stores, government
agencies, military bases, supermarkets and drug stores.
Sometimes publishers overlook these hidden sales opportunities because they are blinded by
tradition. “I’ve always done it this way” has become their mantra, its soothing familiarity lulling
them into a feeling of security befitting the passengers of the Titanic as they began their journey.
Figure 1
Hesitation caused by uncertainty can be overcome by reading this book. Soon
you will have more ideas for new sale opportunities than you will know what
to do with.
Figure 1 illustrates how “hidden” markets reveal themselves if you know they
exist. When asked, “How many squares do you see?” most people answer
sixteen. Then some beam proudly as they blurt out “seventeen” after seeing
the large square around the perimeter. A peaceful satisfaction ensues, with the
knowledge that all possibilities have been counted.
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That is the way some publishers feel when looking for places in which to sell books. They see
the obvious places -- national superstores, Internet bookstores, mall bookstores, independent
booksellers and regional chains – and then console themselves with the thought that those
channels represent their entire book-selling opportunity.
Instead, stimulate your thinking by asking new questions such as, “In how many other places
could we sell books?” Or, “Where else do our target readers look for information on our topic?”
Or, “Who else could be a prospect for our books?” Such questions force you to seek additional
possibilities in places in which your competitors will not be found. See Section Five for a
question-and-answer technique that will grow your revenue.
The purpose of APSS is to answer those questions. It will give you step-by-step instructions for
finding the opportunities in special markets, and then contacting prospective buyers. You will
soon be able to increase the sales, revenue and profits of your fiction and non-fiction books,
regardless of the process used (i.e. offset printing, digital printing or electronic means) to
produce them.
Figures 2 and 3 metaphorically demonstrate how introspection may expose new sources of
revenue. As additional squares, i.e., opportunities, reveal themselves. In fact, if you search
creatively, you will find at least 30 squares where you might have originally thought there were
only 17. These new squares might represent sales to schools, supermarkets, associations,
hospital gift shops, a museum gift shop, a teachers lounge or through companies seeking a
premium to entice and reward customers for buying their products. The important thing is to
“look where everyone else has been looking, and see what no one else has seen,” to paraphrase
Robert Kennedy.
Figure 2
Figure 3
What is the difference?
The difference is not huge, but it is hugely important. According to Chris Anderson in The Long
Tail, “The average Barnes & Noble Superstore carries 100,000 titles. Yet about a quarter of
Amazon.com’s book sales come from outside the top 100,000 titles. Consider the implication: if
the Amazon.com statistics are any guide, the market for books that are not even sold in the
average bookstore is already a third the size of the existing market – and what’s more, it’s
growing quickly. If these growth trends continue, the potential book market may actually be half
again as big as it appears to be, if only we can get over the economics of scarcity.”
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Bookstores have been losing ground as the place to sell books. Over the past few years, sales of
books to buyers in non-bookstore segments have exceeded those in traditional bookstore to the
point that more than half of all book sales are in special markets.
Still, special sales and trade distribution are not mutually exclusive approaches to book
marketing. In fact, there is overlap in definition, strategy and implementation between the two.
In some cases the channels of distribution are identical, as Figure 4 demonstrates. If your titles
are listed with Midpoint Trade Books, they can sell your books to Barnes & Noble, Books-AMillion as well as airport stores. The same is true with other segments. Understand the
similarities before looking into the differences; you may be farther along the path to selling to
special markets than you know.
Figure 4
Change your focus to see more clearly
Non-traditional marketing is basically the
process of writing quality content in response
to an identified need, publishing it in the
form desired by the reader and then selling it
to people in defined groups of prospective
customers.
1) Focus on the content of your book, not
the book itself. A recurring theme of APSS
is that what your book does is more
important to buyers than what it is. This
means that successful special marketing
begins by writing content that will satisfy an
unmet need in the marketplace, not in the
author. Content is king in special marketing,
and the old adage, “find a need and fill it,”
was never more relevant.
2) Focus on people rather than on markets. It has been said the good doctors treat people, and
mediocre doctors treat diseases. Adapting this to special-sales marketing, successful publishers
market to people and average publishers market to niches. We talk about selling books to
schools, or to the military or to corporations and sometimes forget it is the people in each of
these to whom we are marketing. People buy books for their own reasons. People use books for
their own purposes. Find out what those are and market to them.
3) Focus on the marketing end of the business more than the production end of the business.
The concepts of frontlist and backlist are irrelevant in special markets. Publishing more titles to
keep your frontlist current is not nearly as profitable as concentrating on selling those titles you
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already have. “Booklet Queen” Paulette Ensign has made a business and a career out of selling
one title over sixteen years.
4) Focus on getting people to buy rather than selling to them. This may seem like a minor
difference, and it may just be a matter of degree. But today’s business buyers are more astute
than those of the past. They are not simply looking for ways to reduce costs, but how to create
value for their organizations.
Discover what the customer needs -- which will probably be some combination of products and
services -- then describe how you can help improve revenues, margins or brand image. Add
value to their way of doing business. For example, you may be trying to sell a barbeque
cookbook to buyers at Lowe’s or Home Depot. They do not want to sell cookbooks as much as
they want to sell high-priced, more profitable barbeque grills. So you could sell your cookbook
by demonstrating to them how it could be used as en enticement to get people to buy the grills.
They could use your book – rather than sell it – by giving one away with each grill purchased.
This is the concept of cross merchandising.
5) Focus on the differences of your content, not on its sameness. Authors, particularly of fiction,
sometimes describe their book as being similar to a current trend leader by saying, “It’s the next
Harry Potter,” or “It’s like Tipping Point, but better.” Buyers do not want more of what they
already have. They want to hear how your information is different from the better-known titles,
and why it is better.
6) Focus on push vs. pull. Push marketing is directed at the channel members, helping them sell
more books to the next higher level in the distribution network. On the other hand, pull
marketing is directed at the ultimate consumer, making people aware of your title and getting
them to buy it. While both strategies are important, push marketing is the preferred strategy in
non-retail special-sales marketing and pull is the strategy of choice in retail marketing.
7) Focus on what you can control. There are four primary activities you can control in book
marketing: 1) its content and form, 2) the price at which you sell it, 3) the ways in which you
distribute it and 4) how you promote it. The responsibility for success falls squarely upon your
shoulders as you direct and control the journey of your title from manuscript to its ultimate
buyers.
 Product control. The format in which it is delivered, while relevant, is not mandated as a
book. It could be a booklet or even a series of podcasts.
 Distribution Control. In non-bookstore marketing you can devise your own sales channels
to various segments. You might sell your business books as textbooks or through airport
stores; your book about dogs, in Petco or to the ASPCA; or your book about car safety to
driver-training companies or automobile manufacturers. You might sell your romance
novel in supermarkets, negotiate with Godiva Chocolate Company to use it as a premium,
or have cruise ships and limousine services purchase it as a gift for their passengers.
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 Pricing control. In non-traditional marketing, competitive titles are usually not on a shelf
next to yours; so immediate price comparisons are unlikely. The price ceiling is raised, if
not eliminated. At the same time, distribution discounts may be eliminated and your print
run could be higher. A strategy of pricing your titles based upon the value they offer the
customer is more the rule. The result is more pricing flexibility and more leeway in
offering price incentives such as discounts, two-for-ones or coupons. It is entirely possible
that you could lower your list price and still be more profitable.
 Promotion control. You no longer have to cringe when a careless newspaper editor
misinterprets your press release, or when a reviewer pans your book. Instead, you can
create and communicate your story in your way. You have the freedom to directly contact
people by mail order, telephone or personal visit to make your case and negotiate the terms
of sale.
8) Focus on market segments instead of the mass market. Some people looked at Goliath and
thought he was too big to hit. David looked at him and thought he was too big to miss. You
might look at special-sales marketing and think, “Is the non-traditional market big enough to
approach, or is it too big?” The answer is yes. A market of $16 billion is too big to pass up, but it
is too big a market in which to compete profitably -- if you look at it as one goliath market.
Selling books is much like selling housing. Not everyone in the housing market is seeking a
similar residence. There are groups of people with preferences for apartments, condominiums,
colonials, contemporaries or ranch houses. Within each segment, some people may also
demonstrate a unique preference for layout, location, yard size and color. There are demographic
breakdowns in age groups that buy certain styles, as well as psychographic differences among
people who buy particular homes to express themselves. There is also geographic segmentation
for those who prefer city dwellings vs. homes in the suburbs or in rural settings.
Perhaps an example will help you transfer this concept to selling books. Michael Andrew
Smith’s Business-to-Business Golf: How to Swing Your Way to Business Success is a book that
can help sales people develop successful business relationships while playing golf with their
clients. He could market to companies that sell sporting goods, or appear on national or local
television and radio shows. But much of his effort would be wasted on people who are not
interested in his subject.
The total market for sports products is depicted in the larger circle in Figure 5 as being made up
of several smaller segments. These could be school athletic programs, retail sales through
sporting-goods stores or even in the sporting-goods section in stores of larger retailers such as
Target or Wal-Mart. But few of the people in these segments are prospects for Michael’s book.
He is targeting one sub-segment: sales people interested in using golf as a means to improve
relationships and sell more of their products.
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Figure 5
Segment of sales people who use golf as
a means of conducting business
Instead of creating a mass-communications program, he chose to implement a strategy of marketing
only to people who could use the information in his book. To approach people in this segment he
sold through online stores such as www.GolfWarehouse.com and golf pro shops. Mr. Smith could
barter advertising space for articles written for golf magazines (Golf and Golf Digest). The readers
of airline magazines might be interested in articles about business-to-business golf, as would editors
at magazines whose readers include sales people and business executives. And there are niche mailorder catalogs catering to golf-related books and products, including www.GolfSmart.com.
Sales managers might purchase Business-to-Business Golf to give to their sales people. Firms
that manufacture golf equipment & accessories could use it as a premium or as a self-liquidator.
The national PGA and the state PGAs might use it as a sales promotional tool to promote golf as
a business sport. Michael could approach associations like National Association of Sales
Professionals (http://www.nasp.com/) the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association
International (http://www.hsmai.org) or the Canadian Professional Sales Association
(http://www.cpsa.com/) to speak at their conferences or have them use his book as a premium.
The essence of special-sales marketing is this concept of segmentation, the act of breaking the
mass market down into smaller pieces, each more relevant to your particular title. Once these
niches are selected, you create and implement a separate marketing strategy for each.
TIP: The more carefully you define each niche, the more successful you will be in
penetrating it with information people in that niche find important.
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