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Rebuck: 'direct consumer engagement pivotal'
20.12.11 | Charlotte Williams
Random House Group UK m.d. Gail Rebuck has said the rules of "agent, publisher and retailer are being rewritten", and revealed that e-books now account for around 11% of RHG's total net sales.
In a year-end letter to staff, Rebuck said that the group should finish 2011 ahead of internal targets despite a year characterised by a "turbulent economy", and with the "struggling High Street, particularly in Australia with the collapse of The Red Group".
She also said 2011 would be looked back on as "a time of significant digital-led change" with the publishing industry in transition. She added: "Traditional business models are in flux and new, exciting ways of doing things are coming into focus while the roles of agent, publisher and retailer are being rewritten," creating "opportunities for those who are ready to embrace and lead change".
Looking to 2012, she said: "Increasingly, direct consumer engagement will play a pivotal role in our campaigns as online discoverability and recommendation become ever more crucial to the future success of our books."
Rebuck said e-book sales values were up more than 500% on 2010. She highlighted apps such as The Magic of Reality and The Primrose Bakery, as well as digital projects such as the short story initiative Storycuts, as being successful examples of digital being integrated into publishing programmes, and the online game for The Night Circus as being a way to build pre-publication attention and "a platform to talk directly with consumers".
In physical publishing, Rebuck highlighted Madeleine by Kate McCann, Terry Pratchett's Snuff and Christopher Paolini's Inheritance, as well as S J Watson's Before I Go to Sleep and Julian Barnes' Man Booker-winning The Sense of an Ending as particular successes for the year.
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This follows on from Carolyn Reidy's statement regarding e-books and the UK seems to be catching up with the US at last. There’s no reason why publishers shouldn’t be trying to push the digital boundaries too. However it's important to remember that there will always be a place for traditional physical books as there will always be people that love and support them.
i think this comment is directed at agents, which they plan to bypass to further improve profit margins in compensation for decline of volume and revenue. The idea of going direct to consumer with an offer that is attractive to consumers is also hugely ambitious.
I think the likelihood is E books comprising about 25% of the retail book market by 2014, driven by format transition , and a reduction in the number of retail bookselling outlets . This is clearly a massive change for the industry and as stated above,necessitates and encourages a return to publishers transacting directly with the reader.This was their original route to market, and now has massive implications for retail and wholesale as the original model re engages dumping the construction of the existing supply chain . A case of back to the future, with big consequences.
I find it incredibly encouraging that ebooks have taken off to this extent. Smaller publishers need this as our profit margins are tight and being able to expand our ebook market would really help. I don't see this as meaning ebooks are replacing printed books, because publishers tend to publish in both formats.
Agents would still be needed for the same reasons some publishers need to use them now.
The big difference is in marketing, because this opens up the chance to market ebooks direct to buyers online. I think bookshops perhaps need to combine traditional selling with online selling in more ways too. I know it's happening but more could be done.
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