Publishing Plus
Where's the book publishing business headed? Look at where HarperCollins is going and you'll get a good idea. The pioneering work it's doing on direct-to-consumer marketing suggests that communicating directly with readers is a vital part of the new business model. HarperCollins initiatives in this area already include AuthorTracker, which enables readers to get e-mail updates on a book's progress; Invite the Author, which lets book groups have a telephone chat with a writer; and First Look, which provides early copies to readers and gets feedback on the contents and its cover.
Next up is Publishing Plus. Pitching new books directly to readers through e-mail and offering "bonus material", much the way additional features are regularly included on DVDs, are at the core of the new project. Digital audio will be a key part of Publishing Plus and is set to replace audio books on CD and cassette. After all, downloadable books are cheaper to produce and more profitable to publish than the other varieties.
The person driving most of this change is Jane Friedman, president and chief executive of HarperCollins. Friedman worked her way up from typist at Random House to the top of HarperCollins, helping to make it the third-largest publishing company in the US along the way. Last week, News Corporation, its parent, said HarperCollins's revenue grew eight percent, to $741 million, in the first half of fiscal 2005, while operating income rose five percent, to $122 million. So, if anyone can make a success of Publishing Plus, it's Friedman. Her feel for innovation is legendary. In 1970, her job was to schedule author Julia Child on morning TV shows to promote "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Friedman added a series of cookery demonstrations by Child at department stores across America, and the author tour was born. Who started the audio book business at Random House, thereby bringing the idea of recorded books into the mainstream? Jane Friedman.
Book publishers are now competing with film, television, radio and computer gaming for attention but Friedman has discovered that the internet allows businesses to establish a direct relationship with their customers, inexpensively. Target your marketing and watch those sales grow. Ask Jane Friedman. Since taking over HarperCollins in 1997, profits have risen 1,000 percent. Her boss, Rupert Murdoch, is happy and so is her star author, Michael Crichton.
