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.
- 30 -
|
Gordon Burgett |
(800) 563-1454 |