COVID 19 has not left any industry facing its worst financial crisis in 2020. The global pandemic has impacted almost every person, business, or talent, except for those who were engaged in inspiring, exciting, and guiding people through their intellectual abilities.
To simply put, people working in the book publishing business successfully survived and flourished during the global pandemic.
Nationwide lockdown made people rest and lock themselves at home. Meanwhile, book sales picked up the growth, as people had started reimaging the joy of reading books during the pandemic.
Thanks to publishing companies in Seattle for eliminating the gap between the thoughts of self-published authors and aspiring readers.
Authors have now discovered a flexible approach to reach their prospective readers during the pandemic. The new publishing culture is flourishing pretty well in the post-pandemic age.
But what made the publishers so successful in 2020? Is the future of authors and book publishers steady? Few questions are still left to answer, so let’s reach the depth of these points.
How Global Pandemic Brought Profits for Many Publishing Businesses?
Consumers’ reading and book-buying habits have changed a lot over the past few years. However, this change has been primarily driven by the global pandemic.
Being trapped in their own home due to social distancing norms, aspiring readers or book lovers had no way to go outside and buy a book. Those who were somehow able to buy books had confronted many challenges due to interruption in supply chains and canceled book fairs.
Challenges weren’t just limited to the book readers; book publishers as well had struggled a lot to make their publishing work reachable to their customers.
In due course, few savvy, independent book publishers became the most successful in the global pandemic age as they harnessed digital technology to keep their business up and running in corona time.
According to Jane Friedman – a famous publishing observer and analyst, there were a few big publishers in the industry who enjoyed the global pandemic much more than others. These publishers have witnessed a big spike in their publishing business in 2020, which was the highest so far.
These big names are-
- Penguin Random House: 4.6% increase in sales and 23.3% in profits
- Simon & Schuster: 10.7% increase in sales and 11% in profits
- Hatchette: 3.9% increase in sales and 11.8% in profits
- Harper Collins: 7.9% increase in sales and 3.9% in profits
The United Kingdom has also witnessed a big rise of 5% in its printing sales. It happened due to readers’ and customers’ strong responses towards reading materials.
Shift from Traditional Publishing to Modern Culture
The shift from traditional publishing to modern books is grabbing popularity in the mainstream. The fluctuating interest patterns of consumers have primarily driven these large-scale changes.
To simply put, traditionally, only one or two approaches were employed for marketing a book and making revenue through it. But modern landscapes have diversified the areas of marketing for publishing work. According to Publishers Weekly, consumers’ interests have been shifted more towards digital entertainment.
Digital content consumption is on the rise, mainly after the global pandemic. So independent authors switch to digital routes for book publishing as this new-age digital canvas is proving a more flexible approach to reading and learning from the authors’ sayings.
Many independent authors embraced similar business patterns and opted for diversified marketing channels rather than relying on a single one. The subscription-based model was the most impressive business strategy, which helped so many big players capture big figures in sales and return.
One of the great examples comes from a famous name; the Bookseller reported a whopping 151 percent rise in the performance owing to its subscription site. The modern business approach built a flexible approach for the publisher to retain customers long-term.
Emerging Opportunities By Digital Media
Beyond a doubt, savvy publishers are witnessing explosive growth in this post-pandemic age. After all, the publicity for your book has turned easier by tech-driven approaches and advanced tools.
For example – publishers can now take help from conferencing tools to speak about their books and interact virtually with aspiring readers.
You can even encourage them to attend library presentations and can give them a quick glimpse of what publishing work comprises.
Storytelling with visuals is another innovative method to create hype among readers about your published work. Video marketing is one of the amazing methods to target an audience.
However, many publishers may strive to switch their textual content entirely to video content. Without a doubt, it could be an excellent idea. 74% of consumers accepted that the global pandemic made them spend most of their time on video content consumption.
Better Returns from Book Trailers
While marketing your book, ensure not to overlook the power of trailers. A quick glimpse of your ultimate content is the best weapon to win the game.
It is one of the most impactful ways to generate interest for your books among the readers. The concept of online booking reading isn’t new in the industry, but an early trailer of the content is assumed as the latest marketing module in the publishing market.
However, we aren’t talking about a textual trailer alone. Rather than relying on a specific trailer, take help from visual content. Pictures, videos, and other marketing material allow you to give a quick intro about your product simultaneously to encourage readers to “watch more.”
Pitching and Promoting Books
Don’t stop yourself. The digital world has brought immense power to publishers. Connect with companies if you don’t want to promote your self-published book individually.
Book sales have been up over the past few years, but the diversified market in this post-pandemic age is a challenging phase. If you are ambitious for strong sales, search for a relevant audience. Pitch the right customer at the right time.
Go viral on social media, where billions of readers are already waiting for the best content to spark their minds with the power of words and lines.
Being an author or a self-publisher, embrace the power of social media if you want your capabilities to shine on the big picture. Go digital and no more restrict yourself within the boundary of traditional publishing work.
Traditional book publishing is still in trend, but digitalized approaches encourage publishers more. So outsource a company for your support or get yourself digitally involved because the probabilities are that the upcoming pandemics may again encourage people to turn book readers in their home isolation.
Conclusion
Beyond a doubt, the book publishing sector is evolving. Publishers have enjoyed a remarkable uptick in their revenue stream despite the global pandemic. Many publishers were enjoying the highest profits of their lifetime. But if you are still relying on conventional publishing solutions, leave them and upgrade yourself with time. Tech-powered solutions have benefited publishers during the global pandemic in multiple ways and are still effective in the post-pandemic age.
