Merge and be Damned: Penguin and Random House

Apologies to Pingu and Spongebob SquarePants

News today that the Penguin and Random House merger is definitely on. If reports are accurate, the Owners of Random House (The international media group based in Germany, Bertelsmann) will own 53%, with Pearson (the US owner of Penguin) left with 47%.

In the month of Microsoft's launch of their Surface tablet and Apple's new iPad Mini, for the self-publisher the merger is worth noting because it shows the power of internet retail, and the strength of the world beyond the traditional publisher. This merger is a straightforward attempt to survive in a tough High Street climate where the legacy publishing houses struggle with strategies and structures built for a bricks and mortar age. 

In the world of print, change is slow because although, at its best, the industry carefully curates its output, in the end, business is business so Pearson and Bertelsmann need to make a profit in an environment that is changing more rapidly than at any time over the last 100 years. The last two years alone have seen astonishing growth in digital sales, reflecting the swift change in consumer habits represented by ipads, tablets and smartphones. It’s hard for the bigger publishers to keep up but the figures tell the story (information from The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch and Bloomberg Business Week):

• The new merged entity, Penguin Random, will turnover 3 billion USD
• Pearson annual net sales in 2011 were 5.88 billion up from  5.14 billion in 2009
• For Barnes and Noble (the largest book chain in the world) turnover was 7 bn in 2011, up from 5.1 bn in 2009.

These appear to be significant numbers, and in the contained world of publishing, they are the biggest fish in the pond. But compare them to the broader, modern phenomenon that is the Internet, and they don't look so mighty:

• Amazon annual sales in 2011 were 48 billion, up from 24 billion in 2009
• Google achieved 37 billion in 2011, 23 billion in 2009

This is the market that controls access to the hallowed consumer.

Even more extreme, are two manufacturers on whose mobile devices the internet retailers rely:

• Samsung Electronics sales were 150 billion in 2011, 124 billion in 2009
• Apple reached 108 billion in 2011, up from 42 billion in 2009

For the self-publisher this is good news: as the market grows online so the opportunities grow. Promoting single titles into Amazon, Nook and Apple has never been easier (this is the liberated world of self-publishing). Quality matters, good editing matters, but ultimately the role of the bigger traditional publisher (whatever their size), so reliant on big sales to cover the big advances for the big celebrity authors, is rapidly diminishing for a great many authors trying to maximise their own impact online. 

Coming Next: Amazon Direct or Traditional Publisher?

How to Publish eBooks: Twitter and Linkedin. The Personal vs the Professional

Last week Twitter announced an end to a significant part of its near three year relationship with Linkedin (many news links on this include http://mashable.com/2012/06/29/twitter-drops-linkedin-partnership/ and http://allthingsd.com/20120629/twitter-cuts-off-linkedin-whos-next/). Some of these stories are pretty technical and for self-publishers might seem rather abstruse, but they reveal an essential truth: the need to think carefully about how you use social media to develop your self-publishing brand. Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest can all be employed for different facets of your life and control the interaction between these different services.

On the basis that both self and traditionally published authors use social media to promote their work, at least for some of the time, it is important to think it through:

1. All forms of social media are instant. You can post a blog and receive an instant reply, you can see an interesting tweet and immediately respond. No waiting for the post office to open, no irritation over early closing, weekend shutdowns, or 1970s style communications. BUT, keeping control is the key to making social media work for you, not the other way round.
2. Personal contacts with true friends are different to even the most subtle forms of promotion for your ebook, or writing projects. Being true to your personaility and writing heartfelt social media posts are not the same as telling a friend what you had for breakfast, or whether your children are ill, or what your 5K running time was this afternoon. Real friends are forgiving and affectionate so you can be relaxed with them. 
3. Professional contacts can be addressed in a relaxed way as well, but some caution is required. A visit to the bank manager requires a little preparation, slightly smarter clothes perhaps, carefully formulated sentences in discussion. Online, even a chance encounter with any professional contact can be loaded with significance.
4. Twitter is used for both personal and professional reasons by millions of people. Generally though it's a swift form of interaction, reaching out to a global community of like-minded individuals. You can choose how to make it work best for you and mold it  accordingly. Some people have two accounts, one for their work, one for personal contact. The distinction forces you to be clear about what you say, when and to whom.
5. Some also make a distinction between their use of different social media: Facebook feels more personal for instance, Linkedin is clearly professional, Google+ can be both, Twitter can be both. It is worth having a view about this. Once you’ve posted online your words live forever as part of your slowly accumulating digital identity. 

So, the separation of Twitter and Linked in interesting because Linkedin is a dedicated professional network, while Twitter is used for both the personal and the professional. Twitter will have their own commercial reasons for their recent action but it highlights the need to be clear about the nature of your posts. Twitter feeds will no longer be sent automatically onto Linkedin, but you can send your Linkedin status to Twitter. For self-publishers this can be used as part of the build for your author brand, because when you use Linkedin as the starting point, there is no confusion in your mind about how to approach what to say - it’ll be focused and professional, clear-headed and targeted to your market. 

By the way, you do have a Linked in account don’t you?

Coming Soon: More Twitter Hints and Tips and Why I chose Indie Publishing.

Writers on Writing: Ray Bradbury RIP

To start a series of instructive and inspirational posts about writers on writing I decided to begin with the pugilistic titan that was Ray Bradbury who passed away in the last couple of weeks. He was a massive personal inspiration and will be much missed by generations of readers. His classic Fahrenheit 451 still resonanates today as society shifts its focus from printed forms of learning and culture, to electronic mobile technologies. Enjoy this terrific video.

Coming Soon: Writers on Writing: Amanda Hocking and Marketing Advice for Self-Publishers