News

Taunton Wins with Niches
Jim Milliot -- 8/21/00
Publisher is hoping for a stronger second half


Home Niche: Sequel
to big seller.
After revenues doubled over the last two years, sales growth has slowed a bit in 2000 at the book division of the Taunton Press, but book group publisher Jim Childs is hoping for a stronger second half. One reason for his optimism is the scheduled fall release of Creating the Not So Big House, which has a first printing of 75,000 copies and is the follow-up to Taunton's big bestseller The Not So Big House,which has sold more than 250,000 copies in hardcover since its release in 1998. Childs has also set a 40,000-copy first printing for Power Sewing Step-By-Step by Sandra Betzina, whose four previous books have sold more than 300,000 copies combined.
Like many of Taunton's authors, Sarah Susanka had never written a book before The Not So Big House, and cultivating first-time authors is one of Taunton's priorities. "A lot of the authors we use are not professional writers, so we need to keep them on track," Childs said. The main advantage of using people who are experts in their respective fields but have never been published before is that "they bring an original point of view" to their books, be it in the areas of home design, fiber arts, or woodworking, Taunton's largest publishing segments, Childs told PW. Childs believes another reason for Taunton's success has been that the niches it publishes into "have a well-educated audience who have a lifelong passion" for specific interests.

Another key has been moving its distribution to Publishers Group West. "Trade sales have tripled since we joined PGW," Childs said. In addition to increased sales through the trade, Taunton's titles also sell well in specialty outlets such as Home Depot and Restoration Hardware, where the company has a return rate of about 15%. Sales through e-retailers, especially Amazon.com, have grown quickly, and sales via the Web may receive an additional boost when Taunton is through with a redesign of its Web site, www. taunton.com. In addition to improving sales in its core categories, Taunton has had gains in gardening as well as in home building, for which the company is courting contractors as authors.

Taunton publishes between 40 and 45 books annually and has a backlist of 450 titles; backlist sales represent about 60% of total revenues. Looking at 2001, Taunton is planning a couple of new series, including Updating Classic America that will feature books on how to update certain types of houses, such as Capes.