By Colleen T. Reese
Since its advent, the e-book game has been, comparatively, a more generalized market than its printed brethren. It seems only natural. E-books are inherently a widely democratized form of information consumption—and thus can be marketed to a larger audience.
So naturally, one of the seemingly greater struggles for readers and publishers is not one of potential audience size, but is simply one of product discoverability: How do you find new e-books?
Per TeleRead’s last questionnaire on e-reading behaviors, a great number of TeleReaders responded that they use blogs and e-book community forums as a venue for discovering new e-books.
At face value, this doesn’t seem particularly alarming. Nor does it seem out of sync with the inherently democratized nature of e-books. However, doesn’t this just scream “missed opportunity” for publishers? The disconnect between publishers and a typical reader of e-books seems to be rather large if readers are not utilizing the publisher to find new titles.
At the risk of sounding like a paranoid alarmist, I’d like to focus instead on smaller publishing companies that are making good on the struggle with e-book discoverability.
Quirk Books is a Philadelphia-based niche publisher that serves a … well, quirky global audience with very specific cultural tastes: pop culture, humor, horror, food, parental advice, and the seemingly infinite permutations of the latter. You may recognize Quirk as the publisher of the best-selling parody title, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. They’re also the team behind the hugely popular Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series.
We had a brief chat with John McGurk, Quirk’s director of print and digital production, and Brett Cohen, the company’s vice president, about e-book publishing in a niche market.
ON E-BOOKS
TeleRead: How many book titles does Quirk publish annually?
John McGurk: Quirk Books publishes 25 to 30 titles annually.
TeleRead: Of those titles, how many will be available as an e-book?
John McGurk: About 70 percent.
TeleRead: If you’re offering e-book versions of new releases, when are you releasing them?
John McGurk: We usually release e-books the same day as the print version, though recently we released the e-book version of The Kickstarter Handbook a month ahead of the print book, since the content lends itself so well to a digital version.
ON LOCAL PUBLISHING
TeleRead: Even though Quirk is more of a culturally niche, as opposed to a regionally niche publisher, is there an emphasis on engaging local e-book readers?
Brett Cohen: Not really. As you said, we are a culturally niche publisher. Our books are meant for a broad audience. Our website, social media, traditional media and blogger engagement allow us to speak to a global audience of Quirk customers.
TeleRead: Do you think that ‘buy local‘ is a viable option for regional/niche e-book publishers? Why or why not?
Brett Cohen: I think ‘buy local’ is a viable option for all publishers. As I said earlier, it’s about choice. Give the consumer the options and let them decide. On QuirkBooks.com, consumers have the option to purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and [to] buy local through Indiebound. Of course, with e-books, the reading device has created a barrier to buying locally; it’ll be a more difficult one to overcome. But the local stores have an opportunity to create a reading and buying experience vastly different from Amazon.
ON DISCOVERABILITY
TeleRead: Some of e-book publishers’ greatest challenges are marketing and publicity. How are you increasing user awareness of an e-book title’s availability?
Brett Cohen: Currently, we’re promoting print and e-books together. It’s a platform-agnostic approach in the same way we don’t push consumers to one retailer over the other for print books. Let the consumer decide when and where they want to purchase. With that said, we are working with our e-book retail partners to create exclusive pricing and seasonal promotions to help our e-books stand out. This is extremely important, as the e-book browsing experience isn’t as easy as walking into a bookstore and pouring over the shelves.
TeleRead: How has the role of book publicist changed at Quirk since the advent of e-books? Is e-book discoverability an integral part of that role?
Brett Cohen: I’d say that the role of publicist has evolved to include a broader range of media. At the same time, the role of a marketer has become absolutely necessary. Marketing is no longer about buying ads (that publisher budgets typically couldn’t afford). It’s about engaging online. It’s about optimizing content for the web. It’s about understanding SEO, contextual advertising and creative engagement. So, yes … discoverability is a huge part of that role.
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Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (Quirk Books, 2009) | book trailer
The Meowmorphosis (Quirk Books, 2009) | book trailer
