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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