Open Road Integrated Media works with Fab Over Fifty to create a new book club, 'Spread the Words,' which opens this month with Erica Jong's 'Fear of Flying.' Open Road Launches New Book Club With Fab Over Fifty #backlist titles Other Publishing stories related to: That's exactly what Open Road Integrated Media is up to by devoting more resources to promoting ebook editions of backlist titles from other publishers. “We’re a different kind of company.Many startups launched during the beginning of publishing’s digital transformation pivoted to find a way to actually earn a profit. At Open Road, gone are the days of launching authors with a bang and leaving them to settle into the backlist. “We’re not talking about 2,000 titles with 2,000 authors,” Chou noted. And every quarter, she added, Open Road revises plans for the roughly 250 authors on its list-which raises another factor: scale. The time from contract to publication for an Open Road e-book is three to six months, “so we’re not doing marketing plans for books that will come out 18 months later.” That keeps efforts timely and relevant. As a mostly backlist e-book publisher, Open Road’s publishing time frame is condensed, Chou says. While a number of publishers are moving their marketing in this direction, Open Road has been able to get out in front for a few reasons. Milestone marketing recently helped to propel Walter Lord’s classic bestseller, A Night to Remember, a definitive account of the Titanic’s last hours originally published in the 1950s, to #1 on the New York Times e-book nonfiction bestseller list, tied to the anniversary of the ship’s sinking. And in another video, bestselling fantasy author Barbara Hambly donned a pirate costume.Īccording to Chou, Open Road’s targeted videos in various outlets have a “significantly” better click-to-buy rate than traditional ads. Last year, Open Road used this occasion to push out a video with author James Gleick, who talked about being a science nerd. Chou recalled one such offbeat milestone: Geek Pride Day. The team closely tracks events and milestones that may present an opportunity-including some of the more offbeat occasions-and keeps a large white board in Open Road’s downtown offices to track potential openings. If you look at Pepsi, even its ad-spend is shifting to social media, bloggers, and social networks.” Chou cited the benefits of better analytics as well as the ability to adjust plans on the fly as an opportunity presents itself or perhaps succeeds beyond-or, perhaps, doesn’t work to-expectations. “It’s a new way to do product marketing, whether it’s indie films, or music, or whatever. “I don’t think of it just in terms of e-books,” Chou said. Of course, the digital revolution is changing the marketing game not just for e-publishers, but for everyone. On National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, for example, Open Road might push an author’s favorite recipe into the conversations showing up on reader sites, news sites, and social media. But this also includes current events, and an ever-growing litany of “Twitter-milestones,” as Chou called them. “Milestones” are hooks around which new marketing efforts and videos can be pushed-whether events in an author’s life, anniversaries, historical events, or periods of recognition, like Black History Month. Among its efforts to give backlist a fresh look, Open Road has adopted a “milestone” marketing approach.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |