CREATING A PARALLEL
ELECTRONIC
PUBLISHING PRODUCT LINE
(1,500 words)
by
Gordon Burgett
|
From the ASJA Newsletter, December 2000. pp. 3-4 ASJA is the American Society of Journalists and
Authors |
Electronic publishing can be a godsend in
the niche publishing field, where self-publishing is almost always the method
of choice and selling is rarely through bookstores and to libraries.
It allows us to create a parallel product
line to profitably meet more needs a different way.
What follows is an actual example of that
currently being done. It could easily be modified to meet your present or
future needs.
After writing Publishing to Niche
Markets, I sought a test case to apply the book’s
TCE (target-customize-expand) method. (In fact, I went beyond the call of duty
and married the author of that book, Standard Operating Procedures for
All Dentists!)
We zeroed in on a need that all dentists
have (sensible, consistent office procedures), found the best mailing list
brokers, and did a market test to see if the dentists would spend money to meet
that need. The results told us to produce the book!
The first edition, five years ago, was an 8
½" x 11" perfect bound trade paperback, with the contents also provided
in an accompanying disk (for IBM or Mac), so each page could be customized to
the buyer’s practice. By the fourth and
current (2000) edition, it had grown to 487 pages in a three-ring binder, with
an easier-to-use disk—all at twice the price.
Around that core book we built five
supplemental SOPs books, now in three-ring binder format with disk, to meet the
additional clinical needs of orthodontists, endodontists,
periodontists, oral surgeons, and pediatric
dentists. Plus we added two related books in three-ring binder style (with disks)—Standard
Marketing Procedures for All Dentists and Get Paid for Your Services—and a pair of cloth books about dental risk
management and designing the perfect dental practice.
The product line was completed by four staff
meeting audio cassette programs and an 80-minute, seven-part video that helped
the dentist implement the SOPs program in their office.
In the past five years, though, publishing
has changed significantly. No longer must we print a thousand bound books,
hoping to hit profit at 300 or 400. With PQN, we can now produce 25 or 50 of
the core books at a time, order the binders in four-box lots, and have 500 of
the colored binder covers run and ready for insertion
when the product is assembled and shipped. If demand gets slow for the
specialty supplements, we may even produce them POD.
The greatest impact, we feel, will be
through electronic publishing, particularly since we are already half-way there
by providing disks with all but our cloth books. Which is why we will have
every printed product available in both ink-on-paper and virtual forms by the
end of 2000.
The change at D.C.U. actually had little to
do with the publishing industry. Our buyers simply told us what they wanted,
and technology was suddenly available to make it possible.
The first electronic push came from
"Why couldn’t
I send it to you as an email attachment?" I asked, having no idea if it
was even possible.
"Great! When?"
he replied.
I gulped and promised it in a month or
sooner.
For much longer a small but persistent
segment of our American dental buyers had gently attacked the sacredness of the
whole book with pesky questions: Can I buy one chapter? Can you reassemble it
differently? Why can’t I just buy two or three standard
operating procedures (SOPs)? Most of the questioners were young dentists long
on dreams but short on cash. Others wanted a more manageable sample around
which to develop their office procedures manual.
Occasionally we would assemble smaller
components, and we posted a dozen free samples on the website (www.sops.com).
Finally, we were forced to wrestle with heresy—could
we pull the big book apart and sell it in different formats without puncturing
the heart of the SOPs process (and our coffers)?
Our biggest problem still remains: we simply
believe that the binder book works best for the dentist. So our primary efforts
will continue to be directed at its sale.
But for those who simply didn’t
want the whole car but were hot for the fenders or hood, we worked from the
core outward. The whole book was simply too large to sell as an attachment, so
we broke it into its seven sections (the opening three chapters in one, the
rest a chapter apiece), then took apart the "forms" chapter at the end
and appended the appropriate forms to each section.
While we were at it, we could identify seven
critical functions in the dental office that we addressed in the core book—such as appointment scheduling, back office equipment,
and patient relations. So we reassembled all subject-related SOPs and forms
into seven new topic packets.
And finally we identified 193 SOPs and 47
forms that stood alone and could be sold individually, for $3 each, minimum of
five please!
The attachment format presented a wee
problem since we wanted the buyers to be able to download the product, call up
the component SOPs or forms, and rework them to conform to their own needs.
Adobe Acrobat wouldn’t work since most dentists don’t have the 4.0 version needed to alter the
downloads. Our decision was to produce all attachments in Microsoft Word
7.0 because 93% of our buyers use IBM/compatible computers. (Word 7.0 is also
compatible with WordPerfect 6.1 or higher.)
To make the transfer simple, we used both a
WinZip compression and extraction program to tie the individual SOPs (each in
its own file for quick modification) together into an easily attached .exe
file, with the e-mail thanking the buyer and instructing them how to find and
open the items attached.
We will use Adobe Acrobat, incidentally, for
the cloth books, and direct them to the free reader download, since there is no
reason to alter either text.
How do we get paid? Before
the transfer, with of course a guarantee of satisfaction. When ordered,
the buyer gives us the needed VISA or Mastercard
information, or mails a check.
And how does the dental world know that this new format and product exists? Promotion’s always
the rub.
Since we are just completing the creation of
the parallel virtual line, we have so far limited ourselves to sending an
update postcard to all former
We will redo our selling brochures, contact
the dental publications, keep information about the new products current on the
web, and both tell our distributors of the changes to date and provide even more
information as the total electronic line unfolds. All future selling will begin
by explaining the two ways they can buy our products.
Will the new electronic line affect our
prices? Yes, in three ways now, with more future thinking and testing as both lines
emerge in final form: (1) our clients currently upgrading can buy either format
at 20% off while we initially offer the new eline,
(2) the electronic version costs about 10% less since neither shipping nor tax
are involved, and (3) buying the core book in sections costs more than the
three-ring version simply because we think the latter makes more sense—although if they buy many sections, then want the
remainder to equate a master book, we will give them a rebate (or the rest of
the sections free) once they reach the core book price.
It’s too early to tell what percentage of our sales will
come from ink-on-paper or through email attachments, but a quick guesstimate is
15-20% in the first year. We’ve yet to fully explore the potential abroad, where a dentist in any
corner of the world can have our product on hand or usable within an hour of ordering—or immediately. And we have likewise only begun to
identify those areas where future editions will link to a far richer electronic
trove of digital photographs, office designs, animated practice procedures,
even workshops and one-on-one consulting, as the Web continues to evolve and
downloaded digital products likewise grow in sophistication.
E-publishing isn’t
salvation—we must still produce quality ideas
and text, then get others to buy it—but it certainly
opens up exciting and profitable paths for niche publishers eager to share
specific information with a pre-qualified readership.
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|
Gordon Burgett |
(800) 563-1454 |