Capturing the power of eBooks

The idea of an electronic book—an eBook—has been around for many years. But it seems like in the last 6-9 months, interest in eBooks has increased significantly. At Tate Publishing, our eBook sales have been the highest they've ever been.

At the risk of sounding like an Apple fan boy (which I am), I really believe the iPad helped kick start this sector of the marketspace. Many devices, including the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader have come before it, but I was never convinced that people were ready to shell out hundreds of dollars for a device that simply let them read books. At least... not yet.

But an iPad—it lets you check your email, watch a movie, log into Facebook... and it lets you read eBooks as well.  A device that does all of that makes the $500+ more justifiable. And as more people have grown to enjoy eBooks, it has only helped the sales of Kindles, Nooks and everything else.

As a publisher that helps first-time authors, Tate Publishing works directly with iTunes, Amazon and Barnes & Noble to make sure our books are available for download for the major, popular devices and their respective online stores. It's not good enough to just have your eBook available for download on a website; you need to go to the places people are already looking for digital content.

Although I think we're a long way from eBooks overtaking physical copies sold, the eBook market is large enough that it must be a part of your marketing and distribution plan for your book. Just like music, having a physical CD is not enough—you need to be on iTunes, Amazon and the other major digital music distributors.

1000 books in your garage does no one any good

I talk to so many people that have a good story, a good song, a good idea. There's a lot of talented people out there that no one has heard of. Many people feel their talent alone will carry the day. It's like the phrase, "If you build it, they will come." But, unfortunately, the end result of this philosophy is 1000 books sitting in your garage.

But if you're serious about publishing your book or recording a music CD and connecting it to people, you have to realize one thing: you're starting a business. And the product you're selling is—YOU!

This makes certain people uncomfortable, especially creative people. It's really easy to sit behind your computer and write a novel or hide in the studio and record an album. But when it comes time to share it with the public, it gets difficult. You have to face criticism, you have to face rejection. You have to stick yourself out there and take a risk. But marketing yourself is essential to a project's success, whether you're JK Rowling or Bob Smith. If you're not willing to market yourself, why should your publisher or record label take the risk? And with any risk, there's the opportunity to succeed.

At Tate Publishing, marketing is key. We employee some of the best editors and graphic designers in the world, because you have to have a good product to sell. But nothing can touch our marketing department's ability to partner with an author and create an impact in a over-crowded marketplace. And nothing can touch an artist that's willing to sell themselves.

Tate Publishing is beating the odds

I was reading an online article on The New Yorker website called Publish or Perish: Can the iPad topple the Kindle, and save the book business? It's an excellent article about the iPad, the Kindle and the fight to save the publishing industry. But there was an interesting line towards the beginning of the piece that grabbed my attention. It says:

"Between 2002 and 2008, annual sales had grown just 1.6 per cent, and profit margins were shrinking. Like other struggling businesses, publishers had slashed expenditures, laying off editors and publicists and taking fewer chances on unknown writers."

I have been with Tate Publishing since the beginning of 2004, so I've been working in this industry for most of the time period mentioned in this quote. And what's amazing to me is that Tate Publishing is doing the exact opposite of that quote point for point.

In the last three years, Tate Publishing has seen growth in sales at almost 200 percent. Our staff has consistently grown each year from a group of six to a staff of almost 150 (and an majority of the employee interviews we do are to fill newly created positions—not fill a current position vacated because of someone else leaving). And everyday we're looking for first-time unknown authors.

It's amazing to come to work each day and know that you're beating the odds, that what you're doing is changing the industry—for the better! I'm thankful each day for the talented staff we have and the hard-working authors we partner with that make it all possible. Check out www.tatepublishing.com for more info.

What the new Apple iPad means for the future of publishing

After many months of rumors, Apple finally announced their new tablet computer, called the iPad. The goal was to create a product that was in-between a laptop computer and a smart-phone. At the size of a typical sheet of paper, you can hold it in your lap to surf the web, read email, watch movies and view photos.

But the most exciting feature of the new iPad is its eBook reader. With an iPad, you can download eBooks from their store—similar to how someone can download music and movies from the iTunes Store now—and read them on the device. Essentially, they've created an iPod for books.

But this idea is not new. Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Sony have been trying for years to create and market an "iPod for books," and they have been somewhat successful in doing so (most notably Amazon and their Kindle device). But the reason I think the new Apple iPad will be the device to blow it out of the water for eBooks is because the iPad's primary function is not to read eBooks.

An eBook reader dosen't fix a problem. No one is saying to themselves I have so many books I'm reading right now. I wish I had a convenient way to carry them all in my pocket (except many the college sophomore taking 18 hours). I can't see a large number of people buying a device just to read eBooks (and sales have reflected that). But I can see a large number of people buying a device that lets you check your email, surf the web, watch movies... oh, and read eBooks. I think Apple has a good product on their hands, and I think you'll see the way we publish books change in the next 2-5 years because of it.

At Tate Publishing, we've always looked for new and different ways to "publish" our books (you can read more at our website), and an eBook is just another way to deliver content. All of our current eBooks will be able to be read on the Apple iPad, and we're already working with our distributors and partners to make our eBooks available in Apple's new iTunes Store for books. It will still be another 60 days before the iPad is available to purchase, but 2010 could very well be the year of the eBook.

The future of books, eBooks and more

I've been receiving several emails lately regarding eBooks, eBook readers and how authors should to respond (if at all) to these changes in the industry, so I thought I'd take a moment and share my thoughts on the subject.

An eBook is a digital version of a traditional paper-based book. Instead of selling an actual book, you sell an electronic file that someone can open and read on their computer, cell phone or other electronic device. The beauty of this format is that there are no production costs—no paper, no ink, no glue, etc.—so you can sell it for less than an actual book and still make more money.

There are many devices designed specifically for reading eBooks, including the Amazon Kindle, the Nook from Barnes & Noble, the Sony Reader and even a new device called the "Skiff." Most of these devices have their own file format they prefer, but all the devices I've seen will display a PDF file either natively or with the help of third-party software. At Tate Publishing, we've adopted the PDF as our format of choice for the release of our eBooks, which are available at our bookstore. We also submit many of our titles directly to Amazon to be released in the native Kindle format from the Amazon website.

Over the next few weeks, I want to touch on a few topics including why I feel every author should release their book as a PDF eBook, my opinion on whether or not the traditional paper-based book will ever go away, how to address concerns of piracy and how the rumored tablet computer from Apple could change the industry. But the main thing I'll say is this: people will always want content. People still want to be entertained by novels or receive self-help information. People will always want your content, but as an author, when publishing your book, be aware that the method of delivering that content can change. That's why at Tate Publishing we strive to release books in as many formats as possible (more information about that is available at our website).

Tate Music Group, viral marketing and nationwide TV exposure

At Tate Music Group, we continue to look for ways to be innovative and creative to best serve our artists. We are now offering our artists a :30 second commercial to be used in a viral marketing campaign and even nationwide television exposure. But more on that in a second...

Viral marketing has become an essential component to an aggressive marketing campaign. Although it gets its name from the fact that this kind of marketing spreads quickly and far-reaching like a virus, the results are anything but sickening! Facebook alone has 70 million daily active users sharing information and connecting with one another, and viral marketing is the process of tapping into that network of people and creating awareness for what you're doing.

Just a few years ago, it used to be you had to have a website to compete. Now, many people are replacing their websites with Myspace pages, Wordpress blogs and YouTube channels. Why? Because in the addition of making your content—your message—available online for the world to see, you gain the ability to network with a group of people already formed and connecting. It's "word of mouth" marketing on steroids, because you're already mixed in with a group of people sharing their thoughts and opinions in massive amounts of small, digestible sound bites.

So, back to Tate Music Group and our viral videos. We are now creating and producing viral commercials that will help promote the artist, album and single. Our team of multimedia producers will build the :30 second video around the artist's music, using their photos and album artwork to build excitement and visibility for the music. Then our artists can post these videos to their Facebook fan page, their Myspace page, their YouTube channel and use the power of sound and video to stand out among the crowd.

But Tate Music Group goes even one step further. Not only do we hand over the video to our artists in order for them to use as they see fit, but we will also use the video for national and regional TV exposure on major music TV networks (MTV, MTV2, VH1, CMT, BET, FUSE, etc.). Tate Music Group is running national and regional commercial spots based around album release date, events or for a blanket period of time.

There are many new and exciting ways all the time to create awareness for what you're doing, and its in your best interest to make sure you make use of all of them!

Kenny Rogers and Neal McCoy visit Tate Publishing

In the past few weeks, I've had the chance to meet not one, but two legends in the music industry. And it's so refreshing to meet artists who are at that level in their careers and yet are still gracious and humble. I can say that about both Kenny Rogers and Neal McCoy.

Kenny came to our Tate Publishing offices a few weeks ago. Many are already familiar with his songs like "Lady," "The Gambler" and "Islands In The Stream," but who knew he was a photographer—and an exceptional one at that! He has a beautiful book of photography that is breathtaking. We're currently working on the possibility of publishing his photography book as well as other projects he's involved with.

Neal McCoy has released ten studio albums over the past ten years and has released almost 35 singles to radio. Besides the possibility of Neal working with Tate Music Group in some fashion with his music, Neal is also interested in sharing his story as a book.

Both of these men are a joy to be around. They graciously signed autographs and took pictures with our staff, though you know they've been asked to do that sort of thing literally thousands of times before. Kenny shared stories about his sons, and Neal made it a point to ask people their names wherever he was. Their humility is contagious and their passion for their art is evident.

I'm excited to work with people like Kenny Rogers and Neal McCoy. Both are looking for a partner in the process, and I believe Tate Publishing and Tate Music Group will come through now and through 2010 like no one else can.