The Hollywoodization of Publishing
Publishing "summit" addresses key issues relevant to libraries, too
Francine Fialkoff, Editor -- Library Journal, 6/15/2003
There was little notion that publishing might have another mission besides growing the bottom line and that that mission might be cultural. Nor was there much disagreement that Hollywood-style marketing might be transferable to the book industry. Given that many of the Hollywood studios themselves are currently scrambling to push sequels or remakes in the wake of a banner 2002 season driven largely by quality films, the movie industry may not be the best model to follow. There was, however, a nod to doing more consumer research, à la the entertainment industry, to find niche markets and segments, and to building future readers among children. Much of what was discussed had implications for libraries as well.
Admittedly, the occasion for the meeting, the first annual Publishers Weekly Publishing Summit, held in New York in May, was to address business concerns. Among these are stagnant sales in the hardcover and mass markets, including waning popularity for name authors like John Grisham and Stephen King; competition from other media, with the concomitant thrust to find new readers; and lack of consumer loyalty to channels for buying books. With a marketplace in such flux, it's not surprising that the summit focused on business.
Some statistics are truly startling and reverberate for librarians as much as for publishers and booksellers. In the past 15 years, the average consumer has added 300 hours of entertainment a year, said John Marmaduke, president and CEO of retailer Hastings. The good news for retailers, he said, is that "consumers involved in one form of entertainment will be involved in many more forms of entertainment." That certainly is borne out by library use, where multiple media formats and Internet access are flourishing simultaneously. Nevertheless, the proliferation of media means that there is less time spent on reading and more time spent on entertainment that users can flick on, or click on, while doing other things. Addressing that issue, several children's publishers and buyers said they are doing more research on what kids want: edgier books for YAs, who may prefer to "read up" and need to have a space in the stores devoted to them (something many libraries have already). They all agreed the business would profit from more sustainable brands—though Scholastic President Barbara Marcus said, "We haven't figured out how to maintain [the business] when the cool thing [Harry Potter, Goosebumps] is over."
Another problem facing the industry is the shortened life cycle for products. Publishers, said Marmaduke, are still mired in "a 1950s distribution model," with deliveries coming "after the consumer is on to the next big thing." For librarians, getting titles to their users at the same time they hit the bookstores is crucial, as is getting reorders filled when there are too many patrons queuing for holds. Like libraries, Hastings has a new model for getting titles quickly to its customers that is helping sales. Marmaduke calls it "bricks and clicks," but it is similar to libraries' remote access from home. Buyers, or patrons in the library's case, put books on hold and come in the next day to retrieve them.
Most of the consultants took publishers to task for raising book prices every three years to compensate for declining sales and the increased costs of doing business. Meanwhile, the price for competing media, like a DVD or CD, is less than the cost of a hardcover book at $24. The consensus was that price inflation must stop in favor of expanding the pool of salable authors and titles. Again, several speakers proposed following the entertainment model, with flexible pricing on new releases and lower pricing for fledgling authors.
There was one distinction between libraries and publishers—aside from the obvious profit motive—and that had to do with customer loyalty. "The consumer is no longer loyal to a channel," said Marmaduke. I guess he hasn't heard about the library, used regularly by 70 percent of the population. That's a figure publishers (and retailers) can only dream about, no matter how much entertainment-style marketing they do.
