Waste on Demand- Why POD is the Green Alternative the Industry doesn’t want?

There is an alternate reality where in a sane world business revolves around demand being created, supplied and fulfilled.  This world does not rely on an artificial or should I say superficial business model which is based solely on waste, heavy on resources and harmful with its impact on the environment.  Yet this world, crazily, is ignored by the majority of people owning and operating the industry.  In fact the industry works against a business model which is not built on a vanity turnover, excessive and unsustainable waste and greed.  I am of course talking about the crazy world of publishing.  The more sustainable model of ‘Print on Demand’ (POD) can address many issues of waste, environmental impact and democratise the industry, so why is it not a natural choice.  It is clear that many forces in the industry conspire against it becoming the chosen model for the industry moving forward and those factors run deep within the whole industry from distribution through to bookstores. 

For instance when our titles are set up we state that we allow returns just like any other publisher, yet part of the distribution chain which allows our books to be ordered just like any other publisher makes a decision which we cannot control not to allow these returns to happen – even though we have given permission for this to happen.  Believe me, we would rather books were not returned but we are realists and if a book is returned after sale for whatever reason we would rather have that book come back so it can be redistributed or checked for whatever reason. This is how the system works with mainstream publishers and it means that booksellers reduce their risk when overstocking. Overstocking is a part of the publishing business model which Caffeine Nights Publishing is against as it is not sustainable and carried out solely to enhance publisher and book store turnover.

A pattern starts to emerge where it is clear that some parts of the industry are against POD for a number of reasons.  Many of them are spurious and most are designed to protect a system which clearly is coming to an end.  Some bookstores won’t order a POD title because a distributor won’t accept the return or will only sell it as a ‘firm’ sale even though the publisher has expressly stressed that it is willing to accept returns.  The bookshop will then make a decision not to stock a title which it can’t return.  The bookstore may even turn down requests to have author signings because of this in the mistaken belief that it is the publisher’s decision.  POD means that book store managers could actually order a very limited number of a single title and have it in stock or respond to demand and order it when requested. Surely an ideal situation if distributors would play ball.

There is also a myth perpetuated by many elements in the industry that POD is inferior quality, in fact that all elements of publishers using POD is inferior, from design right through to content.  This is a number one myth perpetuated by an industry which refuses to accept POD and new smaller publishers.  Yes, it is true we don’t have the resources the major publishers have, but the fact is and what frightens many of them, is that you don’t actually need the deep pockets to produce a quality product people want to read and enjoy. The music industry has fought long and hard against change but gradually accepted it and seen that it can be healthy ad exceptionally creative.  Publishing is still very class driven and pretentious, so I guess the reactions to protect a business model which has been around since the year dot is not wholly unsurprising.

Book shops all over the world can order out titles in whatever quantities they wish to but we would rather that ordering was based on demand and fulfilled this way.  We don’t believe in printing a million copies of our titles unless we can actually sell a million titles.  Sales are far more important than having our titles sitting on shelves for months on end unsold, but for a large part of the publishing industry they don’t care as long as they hog space in stores and provide turnover for both parties.  These publishers don’t care if books are returned in their thousands or tens of thousands;there is always the remainder stores and supermarkets to flog off excess quantities at massively reduced prices and if that doesn’t work there is always the shredder and landfill.  Because let’s face it in the quantities in which they are produced each copy probably costs a matter of pence.

Does this mean POD publishers have no ambition?  No, we want to have million sellers not million returners, but we also want to be given an even and fair playing field in which to operate. If a publisher says he will accept returns then why cannot the distributor accept that fact and allow the books an even chance.   

London Book Un-Fair 2010

The early signs are not promising for this year’s London Book Fair or at least the omens are not good.  Back in December I went online to purchase tickets to visit, six weeks later and four phone calls it was finally discovered that my purchase which initially through a ‘computer’ glitch had gone through twice had indeed not gone through at all.  The organisers had all of this on record but never once contacted me either by email or phone. A further phone call persuaded them to take my credit card details by phone.  A week later I finally received an invoice but still no tickets. Now this in itself shouldn’t be too disconcerting, after all we are all used to bad service but after I had finally managed to extract my badge number to log into the site and begin the usual process of making appointments I found that this function has been scrapped.  One of the single most useful aspects of the whole LBF website has been scrapped.  No longer is it possible for visitors to go online at the site and make appointments through the calendar system which has worked so well for the last few years.  It seems parts of the industry don’t want ‘outsiders’ coming in to their cosy little club. 

The Internet has democratised publishing and it scares the pants off certain parts of it.  Digital publishing has arrived and it scares the crap out of most of it.  I am hoping that this year we see a much greater presence for digital publishing with more emphasis on eBooks and eReaders.  Of course it would be great to see Apple their with the iPad or even Microsoft with its ‘Courier’. I hope this year we start to see more acceptance of new independent publishers who are changing the face of the industry.  We need doors being opened and not closed and personally I would like to see the area for agents, TV & Film rights and International rights made far more accessible.  It is not impossible to get appointments but clearly it is designed to keep interlopers out. 

Only time will tell if this year will be a step forward or a step into the dark.

Independents wish it could be Christmas everyday.

By Darren E Laws

Independent bookstores and Foyles, the largest independent bookstore in the UK, have reported excellent Christmas trading figures despite maintaining recommended retail price on titles or minimal price cuts.  Whether this trend continues as the year progresses will be interesting to see but it is encouraging and maybe shows that the consumers love affair with the traditional bookstore is not over yet. The holiday season is a traditional time for strong sales growth, with many people giving books as gifts.  So it is not unusual to expect increased footfall and sales recorded, but it would appear that many consumers have made a decision that price may not be the key factor when making that purchase.  So what are the key reasons for this growth; the answer has to be choice.  Consumers have made the decision that the supermarkets might have the strength when it comes to bargaining power but they don’t have the range.  Ultimately consumers want choice even if it comes over price but the sad reality is that Christmas does not come every day and while these trading figures are good news, they won’t sustain shops for the other 11 months of the year when consumers pick up their top 20 bestsellers for the supermarket.

Waking up with Dan Brown

By Darren E Laws
So Christmas came and went and all the retail outlets are returning sales figures and stats. While it’s still too early to call it is clear that the book buying public have stayed true to form in purchasing the most popular title of the year during the festive season. The honour going to Dan Brown for ‘The Lost Symbol’ as the book most people found in their Christmas stocking. The bad news is that this title only sold 58,468 copies in the week to Saturday 19th December; this is nearly ⅓ of the titles sold to last year’s biggest seller.
Meanwhile the public appetite for ‘celebrity’ named driven titles seems to drive on with seemingly unabated hunger which is almost as depressing as the dip in sales, the closure of bookstores and the failure of publishing houses to grab the bull by the horns and stop supplying supermarkets with titles at prices which make a mockery of recommended retail prices.
We are moving into a year which may make 2009 seem like a golden year. VAT increases next week, while this won’t have as big an effect on the book trade as other areas it will still impact greatly because anything which reduces consumer spending ability will impact on non-essential purchasing and books, when all is said and done, are non-essential in the grand scheme of putting food on plates and people worrying about remaining in employment.
So why does the industry keep churning out titles using the same business model which had led us to this point? On the 24th December, Borders UK closed its doors along with a number of other industry related companies who have struggled all year against an economic tide which has become a veritable tsunami. Like Border UK some of these companies may not reopen come the New Year. The fault does not lay with the bookstores that are unable to compete with 40 heavily discounted top fiction and non-fiction titles residing in the crop of supermarkets which have had such an impact on the industry but with the business model employed by the major publishing houses who rely on a false turnover of income with titles printed by the thousands and shipped back and forth to bookstores, remainder shops and supermarkets. The fault lies squarely on the shoulders of these publishing houses that are prepared to give away their titles to supermarkets and then complain about the declining state of the industry.
The more publishing feeds supermarkets even with this substantially reduced list of titles the less the consumer will care to venture into book stores and search the thousands of titles available, especially as these stores simply cannot compete on price.
Many people who wake up with Dan Brown this year may not see the supermarket sticker that has been removed. I’m all for fair competition and do not blame the supermarkets for wanting to give a bargain to their customers, but I do squarely lay the blame at the feet of the publishers that continue to readily supply titles at a pittance at the cost of the industry, the author and the vital lifeline to that industry and to the consumer...the book store.
For smaller publishers who do not totally rely on selling thousands of copies through an ever decreasing base of book stores but are learning to embrace new digital platforms, there may be solace, but the bell is tolling for many major publishers and I am sure that we are going to hear a resounding chime that will reverberate through the industry that will shake the industry to its core in 2010.
The question is: Who is the bell tolling for?

Submitting, Sub-missions and Surrender

 

There is no denying 2009 has been a tough year. I blogged a year ago about the recession and the impact it was going to have on publishing and I have spent the past year talking about the positive aspects which publishers and authors can turn to their advantage. A year on it appears that the impact of the recession is still hurting the retail sector, especially in publishing. The current turmoil at Borders UK shows the severity of a sector in trouble, and many book shops are going to be hoping for a little comfort and joy over the coming holiday season. Supermarkets are doing their utmost to cripple the industry through ridiculously reduced retail prices and even more frighteningly reduced range and options. Publishers are not helping by bowing to their demands the way farmers did. The results of which we have seen in our high streets, towns and villages for the past two decades as local shops – many of them having been established for generations – were forced to close through not being able to complete on price, even if the level of choice, standards, knowledge and understanding of both product and consumer was far superior. What supermarkets don't kill, the lack of flexibility on behalf of landlords and retail business rates will and if we add the submission of the publishing industry to cheapen and give away its products and brand then the future could be very bleak indeed.

It would appear that 2010 is going to be even more challenging a year than the last. A local bookstore close to the town I live in, one which has supported local authors with stocking titles and organising book signings, is closing its doors in a few weeks for the last time after 30 years of service to the area leaving only one chain store and supermarkets as the shoppers choice to purchase books from, not just in that town but the town next to it too.

With the demise of Dillons, Ottakers, Books etc and Borders UK, the outlook does not appear too bright for chain stores let alone the small independents, so what are we left with? A future dominated by one chain store and the supermarkets; Waterstones, appear to have changed its position regarding the way it handles distribution and orders. It is now trying to take on the supermarkets at their own game with promotions that position celebrity novels and teen biographies above genuine new talent. This is commercial suicide unless the approach opens the eyes of consumers in their stores to the increased range over their local ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsbury or Tesco. One thing is for sure, I do not want to be writing about the death of Waterstones in a year's time.

eBooks are being seen as the light at the end of the tunnel and maybe they will realise a genuine revenue stream for authors, publishers and retailers alike, somehow thought I can't see Santa delivering huge numbers of eReaders this Christmas, though I would love to be proven wrong. It appears Amazon is still struggling to get its act together regarding the Kindle in the UK and Sony is not capitalising on the strong market share it should have established here over the past year.

With all this turmoil happening is it any wonder more and more authors are going down a self-publishing route. This is one of the few growing trends in the industry and possibly the one which may be the most worrying for established publishers. Knowing what is involved in setting up a company and taking a book from conception to birth and then on to graduation, I understand the work involved and it is not something I would actively encourage, unless the author has a huge support network; having said that I can understand the frustration with an industry which seems set on pushing the self-destruct button. Our own submission season this year which usually runs for a minimum of three months is closing after only 30 days. The reason why is down to the huge numbers of submissions we have received and to allow us to stay on top of things and provide a decent return time for the authors, be it yes or no.

We hope to open our books again in the New Year, once we have had a chance to review each and every manuscript, but if we reach our target with this batch then nothing will happen again until November 2010at the earliest. The one thing I can say about this year's submissions is that the standard has improved tremendously since last year. I don't know the reasons for this, maybe like wine it is just a good year with the right conditions to deliver a vintage year. Or maybe it is the result of the larger publishing houses cutting back acceptance letters through budget restraints and culling their current long lists...who knows?

What I do know is that for all authors' life is getting harder on all fronts and in some respects the same can be said of publishers and retailers. So maybe now is the time to stop trying to commit commercial hari-kari and have the gumption to set realistic recommended retail prices which actually mean something and stick to them. People willingly part with between £10 and £20 for a film on DVD which will give two hours entertainment. Yet publishers seem unwilling to stand by an rrp of under £10 for a novel which will give many more hours entertainment. I would not like to know the author's royalty payment on a novel sold in a supermarket for £1.99, but I do know you would need to sell a hell of a lot to make it viable.

Submission Season Open

But only for a short while.  Our goal this year is to sign five excellent authors and already this year’s submission season has got off to an excellent start even though the books only opened on Sunday 1st November.  Last year we only signed two authors – Nick Quantrill (Broken Dreams) and Greg Dawe (Theta Head) both of whom have novels being published by us early 2010.  I have been asked by people why we take so long to publish being that we are only a POD company.  I answer why should it be a rushed experience with no editorial guidance for the author or marketing support.  We are a ‘new wave’ publisher who believes in digital technology and on lessening the environmental impact with our approach and we take each submission seriously, as seriously as a traditional publishing house. 

Could the Recession Kill the eBook?

With Borders announcing the closure of its UK brands, Books Etc and Borders Express and ever-increasing competition from supermarkets the world of publishing is looking for a saviour and some see eBooks as being the golden egg laid by the goose. It is true there is a number of new eReaders about to hit the stores but with the recession still having an effect it may be timing that is the biggest enemy.

Waterstones has increased its product display for the Sony machine in its stores and this will raise the profile of the machines and eBooks among those who are unaware of the product but it won't lead a stampede to the tills. There may be a sales blip at Christmas as the curious struggling for the latest must-have gadget or are at a loss for what to buy as a present for a loved one. Unless 2010 shows a real end to the economic downturn publishing may have to endure not only more store closures but disinterest from a public strapped for cash and struggling to cope with a technology which unless fully explained may appear pointless to a majority of potential customers.

Unless the major publishing houses and the supporting media tell the story that needs to be told to the public, eReaders could become a lost opportunity and possibly one of the last opportunities for quite some time. We have seen the erosion of independent book stores from our high streets as they fall to the competition of the chain stores. We are witnessing the erosion of the chain store as it falls to the competition of the supermarkets. If the trend continues we will soon be left with a choice of few titles available (Supermarkets are not known for their wide reaching stock buying, instead choosing to concentrate on a handful of popular titles), fewer authors making a living from writing and ultimately fewer publishers.

We are not at the last chance saloon yet and publishing is pretty much to blame for the state of the trade, so eBooks really could be a saving grace, but there is a combination of events which must occur for them not to become a redundant technology. Much of the onus lies with publishers ensuring they are talking with the people who make the readers, the people who buy the readers and by sticking to a format which is usable across a range of readers. At present this still has not been universally accepted, though ePub should get the nod thus saving another damaging battle between formats which leave the consumer afraid to buy a machine which will not be supported. We all remember what happened to Betamax or HD DVD and the negative impact it has when the public spends its hard earned cash on a system that gets dropped. In a recession people are looking at every penny and need persuasion that their hard earned money is not going to be wasted on yet another technology which won't receive the support it requires.