The Long Tail of Publishing
Insights and strategies from Chris Anderson’s bestselling book The Long Tail
Presented by a nerdy YA writer who likes to read economy books for fun-Serena Robar
The evolution of markets
• Location, Location, Location• We go to the goods=the goods come to us• We are turning from a mass market back to a
niche , defined not by our geography but by our own interests.
What is the Long Tail?
• Look! A pretty graphic
New growth market:Products you can’t find anywhere but online
30%
Amazon:5 million titles
Avg.
Sup
erst
ore
B&N
sto
re: 1
00,0
00 ti
tles
Products not available in largest offline retail stores
* 3/2008
80-20 sales
• Traditional Brick and Mortar sales model vs Long Tail
• Both are here, which can you influence?
The evolution of the 80/20 rule
Products Revenues Profits Products Revenues Profits0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Online-only RevenueEveryone elseHits
80%
25%
50%
Bricks & mortar retailer Long Tail retailer
80%
20%
20%
100%90%
8%
2%
25% 33%
33%
33%
Hits are not dead, but their monopoly is over
• Type 1: Authentic Top down products that are excellent and resonate with a broad audience (Harry Potter and Twilight series)
• **Type 2: Synthetic top down hits: lame products with lots of marketing that get people to try them (but regret that they did)
• Type 3:Bottom Up hits that rise from word of mouth and grassroots efforts (13 Reasons Why, True Blood)
Three Forces of the Long Tail
• Make it• Get it out there• Help me find it
How to find it
• Aggregates for everyone– Online sellers for physical goods• Filters such as keywords, recommendations based on
other people’s purchases, etc
– Blogs/social networking for information• Filters such as by topic or niche (ie: romance novels and
smart bitches, trashy books)
Filters in a niche market:Without filters, everything in the long tail is
just noise.
• One size filters do not fit all– Don’t compare apples to oranges
Pre filters and Post filtersPre-Filters Post-Filters
Editors Blogs
Record label scouts Playlists
Studio executives Reviews
Department store buyers Customers
Marketers Recommendations
Advertisers Consumers
We go from predicting tastes(pre-filters) to measuring tastes(post-filters)Once something is measured or quantified, it creates a market. Vampires anyone?
6 rules of successful Long Tail authors
1. Your books, your backlist2. Let the fans do the work3. One distribution method doesn’t fit all4. One book=many opportunities5. Understand the power of free6. Art of social networking
Your books and backlist
• Don’t keep your backlist from the readers because a publisher doesn’t have it in print
• Strategies
Let fans do the work
• Make banner ads to give away on your site• Encourage fan fiction• Get a street team going• Allow comments and interact• Yahoo groups or forums
One distribution method doesn’t fit all
• Make books available in all formats– Print (traditional)• POD
– E-books• E-Readers• Cellphone
– Audio• iTunes• Mp3• CD
One book=many opportunities
• Manga• Magazine excerpts• Movie/tv options• Video game tie ins• Merchandising tie ins
Understand the power of free
• Online excerpts• Deleted scenes• Interviews with characters• Free book, novella, backlist• Graphics• Podcasts• Video• Niche things (recipes, knitting patterns, etc)
Art of social networking
• Who is influential in our space?• How do I influence them?• Effective blogging• Building your customer list• Art of begging for links• Contests, gimmicks, meme and other link bait
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