Sorting through electronic publishing opportunities, returns and fighting for exposure for their titles were three issues highlighted by a dozen independent publishers and distributors contacted by Publishers Weekly as the industry celebrates Small Press Month, which began March 1. The general consensus was that 2000 was a solid, if not spectacular, sales year, and most were expecting modest gains in 2001 as long as the nation can avoid slipping into a prolonged recession.
Keys to growth in the year will be how publishers cope with the challenges and opportunities posed by electronic publishing and the ability to cut returns, as well as how publishers can compete with the larger publishers for shelf space. "Returns are becoming a bigger and bigger problem, especially for fiction titles," Consortium Book Sales president Randall Beek told PW, adding that in addition to receiving returns all year long, many books are being returned in damaged condition. Higher than expected returns from Barnes & Noble resulted in a flat year at Sheridan House, said president Lothar Simon, while Carolyn Sakowski, president of John F. Blair, Publisher, sees returns as a "concern. What happens if the chains have a downturn?"
To protect her company against a slump in the trade market, Sakowski explained, Blair is "aggressively looking into alternative markets. We sell lots of books to gift stores and are acquiring titles that we feel will sell well in those stores." In fact, many small publishers are increasingly looking beyond the bookstore market to find new revenue streams. "It's difficult to be a viable business and just sell to the book trade. You need to look to other markets," noted Aaron Silverman, president of SCB Distributors. Roger Waynick, president of Cool Springs Press, intentionally keeps his trade sales below 50% of total revenues. Specializing in gardening books, Cool Springs does a significant amount of business through lawn and gardening centers, and through such chains as Home Depot, Lowe's and Target. Waynick claims that his return rate in 2000 was 2%. A number of Consortium's most successful publishers in 2000 did well in special markets. Applewood Press, which concentrates on history titles, did very well selling its books through Civil War Web sites and into the history market, while Griffin House, which focuses on publishing educational materials, had solid sales into the school market. Other publishers are increasing their sales to such outlets as Restoration Hardware, Target and libraries, Beek said. Jan Nathan, executive director of the Publishers Marketing Association, noted that one of the findings of PMA's study on returns (see sidebar) was that its members were able to keep returns down by seeking "alternative venues. Bookstores aren't always the best place for a particular title."
One of the benefits of selling books in non-bookstore outlets is that an independent publisher's title will often receive more prominent display than at superstores. Ken Lupoff, publicity director at Encounter Books, said getting exposure and shelf space at the superstores is extremely difficult, and he was worried that the decision by Borders to regionalize its community relations coordinators (News, Feb. 26) will exacerbate the situation. Kevin Lippert, publisher of Princeton Architectural Press, said that as the larger publishers have consolidated, they are in a stronger position than ever to offer the chains and large e-retailers significant amounts of co-op dollars. "It's tough to play the game of pay-for-display," Lippert said. With the tremendous number of books being published, it's hard to create consumer demand for a specific title, Beek said, and asked, "how does a customer find a book at Barnes & Noble?"
Alternatives to bricks-and-mortar stores, of course, are e-retailers, and Beek allowed that the Internet has made it easier for customers to find titles. John Blair's Sakowski reported that 20% of her company's sales come from the Web, and the company has a full-time employee dedicated to working with the publisher's online accounts. E-retailers also have been an important sales outlet for Davies-Black Publishing, publishing director Lee Langhammer Law told PW. But not all independent publishers are convinced that e-retailers have leveled the playing field between themselves and the large publishers. "Online selling has not been the salvation" that many independent publishers hoped it would be, Lippert said, noting that sales seem to be plateauing at around 15% of total revenues.
The glut of books being released is also making it harder to convince bookstores to keep slower backlist titles alive, maintained Sheridan House's Simon. "Many backlist titles that are returned end up being reordered anyway, but even superstores get a bit itchy with a slow-moving title after three or four months," he said. And all independent publishers agreed that a successful backlist is a key to survival. Virtually every small publisher who reported sales gains in 2000 cited strong backlist sales as a major factor. Cool Springs' Waynick spends more money promoting his backlist than frontlist, and a significant number of the 200 events the company held last year centered on backlist books. PMA's Nathan said that the association encourages its members to aim to convert 80% of their frontlist titles to backlist sellers. Lee observed that one of Davies-Black's bestselling titles in 2000 was Coactive Coaching, which was first released in 1998. The company sold about 2,000 copies in its first year of publication and approximately 7,000 last year.
To E or Not to E
Like many of the larger publishers, independent publishers are still grappling with electronic publishing. For Law, "ferreting out the opportunities in electronic publishing" is her number-one priority for 2001. "It's difficult to keep abreast of all the changes that are occurring and deciding which projects are worth spending time on," Law pointed out. She agreed with Nathan that time is especially crucial to independent publishers with small staffs. "If a small publisher invests lots of energy into an electronic publishing project, it's likely that something else didn't get done. You can't forget your bread and butter," Nathan advised.
Most publishers interviewed by PW were ambivalent about e-books, although Sakowski said Blair has had some success with an e-book version of On Any Given Day, a book about Lou Gehrig's disease written by Joe Martin, a former vice-president of the Bank of America. "On Any Given Day was a natural for an e-book. Many ALS victims can't turn a book's pages," noted Sakowski, who added that she communicated with Martin, who has ALS, via computer. Several publishers have teamed up with online information providers. Davies-Black, which focuses on business books, is working on deals with several business-oriented online services. Cool Springs has licensed some content to the still-surviving PlanetGarden.com Web site, while Princeton Architectural Press has an agreement with ebrary. "We'll see what happens," Lippert said. Publishers and distributors are much more enthusiastic about the prospects, however, for print on-demand.
"I'm a champion of print on-demand," said Eric Kampmann, president of Midpoint Trade Books Inc. "We're looking into a number of alliances with different printers to print books on a timely basis for our publishers," he said. He said that while the cost of POD may be a bit high now, "I'd rather give up some margin to get cash." Beek said he is very excited about the long-term prospects for POD. Consortium is already doing business with Bookmobile.com, which handles all of Consortium's clients' POD needs, usually printing between 100 and 200 copies. "When the prices come down, this will be a great boon for independent publishers," Beek predicted. Cool Springs is using POD for a number of its titles, printing about three to four months' supply. Even Princeton's Lippert, who said he had a "disastrous" experience with a POD project, remains optimistic about its applications in the future.
SCB's Silverman said some of his publishers are experimenting with POD, but he was quick to draw a distinction between an ongoing POD program and publishers (or authors) who want SCB to distribute their titles one book at a time. "I'm not interested in that. There is no way to make money," he said. Nathan noted that the proliferation of online POD vanity presses, such as iUniverse and Xlibris, have made many first-time authors "think they are publishers, but it isn't true." Besides the fact that some POD houses own an author's ISBN, many online vanity titles "are not professional products," Nathan explained, noting that the packaging, for example, looks like something done 20 or 30 years ago. These products "can cause confusion in the marketplace," Nathan warned.
A Look at the Books
While independent publishers are devising strategies to cope with returns and a world of electronic publishing, successful publishers continue to grow by sticking to niche areas and publishing quality books for a specific audience. Law said Davies-Black learned about niche publishing the hard way. The company's first few lists covered a number of different areas, but with only three full-time staff, Davies-Black "was too small to pursue that approach. We evolved into a business book publisher by learning what to say no to," Law said. Net sales increased by 8% in 2000, with sales in its core business book area up 28%. In addition to the strong sales of Coactive Coaching, Davies-Black did well with a new title, Learning Journeys. Law said the publisher, whose books are distributed by National Book Network, has benefited from the formation of NBN's business book division, which has helped boost sales to the trade. Sales to the professional market have also risen steadily. The company published 12 titles in 2000 and plans to release 12 again this year. Law has high hopes for What's Your Type of Career by Donna Dunning, an April title that has a first printing of 17,500.
Although another NBN client, Sheridan House, had a flat 2000, president Lothar Simon said he has no plans to cut back on his title output, about 25 books per year. Since acquiring the house in 1980, Simon has focused Sheridan's program on the sailing market; buoyed by the popularity of sea adventure stories and outdoor adventure books, the company has posted revenues over the last five years of between $1 million and $1.5 million. To complement its nonfiction works, Sheridan launched the Mariner's Library Fiction Classics series in 1999, primarily as a vehicle for the nautical works of British author Richard Woodman. The first three titles in the Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater series are being released this spring and Simon has hired NBN director of publicity Carole Juarez to launch a major publicity campaign.
Princeton Architectural Press had an 11% increase in sales last year, with net revenues approaching the $4-million mark. The company upped its title output to 47 books from 42 in 1999, and benefited from an expansion in the design field, where strong sellers included Soak, Wash Rinse Spin by Tolleson Design and I Am Almost Always Hungry by Cahan & Associates. PAP publicity director Lottchen Shivers said the company's backlist "remains the backbone of our publishing program." Perennial sellers include Wright Sights and Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture. In addition to its own titles, PAP serves as the distributor for several European publishers, including Lars Muller and Birkhauser.
Another house that distributes for other small publishers is John F. Blair. Blair focuses on travel guides, folklore and history and has been slowly expanding its appeal beyond North and South Carolina. For 2001, Blair will reduce its own list from 18 to 15, but expects its distribution clients to make up the difference. Blair's 15% increase in sales last year was led by On Any Given Day, which shipped about 25,000 copies in hardcover, plus States of Mind, which has sold close to 23,000 copies. States of Mind received a big boost last year when author Brad Herzog mentioned the book while he was a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? In addition to spurring sales, the plug also helped Blair sell the paperback rights to Pocket Books.
At Cool Springs, a doubling of its title output to 17 books helped push sales up by 56% in 2000, to more than $2 million. Top sellers in the year included The Ohio Garden Book, Month-by-Month Gardening in the Carolinas, Month-by-Month Gardening in Texas and Bruce and Sharon Asakawa's California Gardener's Guide . A number of backlist books also sold well in the year, said president Roger Waynick. A series of vegetable books for eight Midwestern states will be introduced this year and new gardening books include Month-by-Month Gardening in Georgia and The Tri-State Gardener's Guide. Cool Spring handles its own sales and distribution, because Waynick believes "books need to be sold rather than bought." But as a small player, Waynick's biggest issue is getting paid in a timely fashion.
Encounter Books grossed over $1 million in its first year in business in 2000, publishing 14 books in the field of conservative politics. Its leading seller in the year was Creating Equal by Ward Connerly, which has 30,000 copies in print. The Long March by Roger Kimball was another steady seller, and a surprise hit was The Abolition of Britain by Peter Hitchens. In addition to publishing its own hardcovers, Encounter supplemented its launch list by publishing several trade paperback reprints, and future plans call for publishing a trade paperback line of reprints of its hardcover titles plus some acquired books. Encounter uses a commissioned sales force to sell its titles and the company considers its most important distribution channel to be independent booksellers. Twenty books are set for release in 2001, led by Commies by Ronald Radosh, which has a June 1 pub date.
Despite the many challenges faced by independent publishers in the fast-changing book industry, the entrepreneurs who run these companies seemed determined to turn those challenges into opportunities to not only survive, but to thrive.
