Book Publishing Experts Speak Out

Interview With Paul Hochman, Director Of Social Media, St. Martin’s Press

1.      Paul, less than a decade ago your position didn’t exist. Are things really moving that fast in book publishing? Faster than fast! Publishing is more dynamic then ever and to adapt to the ever changing consumer behavior, publishers need to be fleet of foot.

2.      Where do you see growth for the industry? Clearly eBooks and effectively using Social Media.

3.      What do you love most about working in book publishing? I love to see the fruition of the book  from idea to acquisition to available.

4.      What do you advise authors in regards to what they should do to promote their books? Find a Social Channel that your comfortable with, build your platform, and connect with your readers as often and effectively as possible.

5.      How can a publisher work more closely and in concert with an author to market their book?  Social Media-wise, we should be working with our authors 365 days a year. Social Media never sleeps.

6.   As a buyer for Barnes and Noble, your previous job, what influenced your decision to buy certain books? As a buyer for Barnes & Noble.com, I bought almost every book available in my categories (Fiction, Science Fiction, Mystery, and Romance). Divergent of the store buying group, we weren't hampered by square footage and space. 

 7.  If you can change one aspect of social media, what would it be? Why? Not sure I'd change

      any aspect of Social Media. It's fun (and informative!) to see all the different pieces of the medium 

      evolve -- what sticks and what doesn't!

Interview With Chris Angermann, Editor-in-Chief, New Chapter Publisher

Chris Angermannm the editor-in-chief of New Chapter Publisher, has been in book publishing for four years. He shared his insights with Book Marketing Buzz Blog below:

1. Please tell us what your organization does. We area a small independent press in Sarasota, Florida, and do both traditional and hybrid publishing – we either take on all the financial risks of production, or we split them with the author in return for a more equitable split of the profits. In the traditional model, an author can expect about $1 a book. In hybrid publishing the remuneration can go as high as 50% of the take. We concentrate on self-help, novels and poetry.
2. How do you help authors and publishers sell more books? By making clear from the start how important their involvement in marketing and promotion is and helping them with that. These days, it’s all niche marketing, and unless the author is willing to paddle his or her canoe with passion, nothing much happens at the sales end.
3. What do you love most about being in book publishing? I enjoy a good story, whether fiction or non-fiction. I used to be a professional theater director, and I found playwrights among the most interesting folk around. The same is true for prose writers and poets. They’re curious about the world and other people.
4. What do you see is the industry’s fate? Fate sounds so ominous. I think it’s all about information dissemination. The industry will go more digital, especially with genre novels, biographies and how-to publications. Interactive readers for children’s books with embedded videos and audio files is an exciting prospect. But there will always be an demand for beautifully made books – photography and coffee table – and, who knows, perhaps there will be a retro interest developing in “brick and mortar” books, just as with vinyl records.
5. What should  authors and publishers do to promote and market their books? Be creative, unique and outrageous. You have to make a splash for people to notice you. At the same time, your product needs to be outstanding – in editing, design and content. You want to be among the top two or three books published in the field.

Interview With Dr. C. Daniel Miller, CIPA President

Dr. C. Daniel Miller, president of Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA)

http://www.cipacatalog.com, is also the co-owner of Integrated Writer Services, LLC, a service provider to independent publishers since 2002. His recent interview with Book Marketing Buzz Blog follows below:

1. Please tell us what your organization does.  CIPA is a nonprofit association of independent book publishers, authors, future authors, and related publishing service providers that has been providing leadership since 1992.

2. How do you help authors and publishers sell more books? CIPA conducts a continuing education program to help our members successfully become independent publishers who can compete in today’s marketplace. In addition to monthly meetings that feature presentations on timely topics, we offer live and recorded classes on basic topics starting with manuscript development and continuing with advanced topics in marketing.

3. What do you love most about being in book publishing? Independent publishers represent the new frontier of publishing because they can produce and make available a far greater variety of books in a more timely fashion than traditional publishers.

4. What do you see is the industry’s fate? Book publishing is in a state of revolution, not evolution. Publishers who can adapt to these changes will prosper. Those who stick with their old methods of doing business and refuse to change will not. One area in which traditional publishers seem to be missing the target is in e-book “sales” to libraries. The 26-use policy of licensing titles to libraries is very shortsighted. This is one area in which independent publishers will be able to gain market share because many of them are willing to sell their e-books to libraries under certain conditions such as the one-title, one-user model.

5. What should authors and publishers do to promote and market their books? Make their books available as e-books in the major formats, including ePub. Participate in book award programs that seriously assess the content to ensure that the quality of the content meets acceptable standards. CIPA has such a program, for example, called the CIPA EVVY awards. Books that win these awards are being readily accepted into CIPA’s Library eBook Project. Details about this project may be found at: http://www.cipacatalog.com/pages/Library-eBook-Partnerships.html

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person.