Category Archives: publishing analytics

How to use metrics to make informed publishing investment decisions

My Numbers, Myself – Personal Reading Metrics

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Tom Masters

Personal metrics – information that we collect about ourselves – have a natural appeal.  We want to be better – if we can measure something about ourselves and optimize it, we will.  Today that process is becoming easier with the … Continue reading →

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Books by Number – Super Crunching to Find Profitable Titles

Posted on April 3, 2009 by Tom Masters

In his book Super Crunchers: Why Thinking by Numbers is the New Way to be Smart, Ian Ayres outlined how statistical methodologies are challenging expertise and intuition in a multitude of fields including seemingly unlikely areas such as film making.   In the book, … Continue reading →

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Teaser Books and Micro Market Testing

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Tom Masters

Recently, Penguin Books announced it would be bringing out more ultra short run teaser editions to better test the market for new titles and avoid the risk of longer book runs.  This cautious attitude is not surprising given the economic climate … Continue reading →

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e-Books: a New Way to Optimize for Print?

Posted on February 8, 2009 by Tom Masters

The Business Blook as Beta PublishingOne of the benefits of living in a digital world is that it gets easier to measure everything.   For example, if we have an online store, we can measure the traffic that comes to our … Continue reading →

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Book Publishing’s Month of the Long Knives

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Tom Masters

OUCH!!  The retrenchment of consumer spending which has led to declining book sales is now beginning to ripple through book publishing.   Book sales have fallen dramatically in both the US and UK during the final four months of the year and … Continue reading →

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Author Lofts and Pyramids of Value

Posted on November 11, 2008 by Tom Masters

Why do authors write?  They want a wide exposure for their ideas and stories.  Publishers have generally focused on playing the role of Darwinian gatekeeper for those ideas; determining which will live and die accoring to often opaque criteria.  This … Continue reading →

Posted in author tools, blog to book, blogs & writers, book marketing, open publishing, publishing analytics, publishing networks, publishing strategy, readership strategies | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Blog Touring – End of Innocence, Beginning of Wisdom

Posted on September 17, 2008 by Tom Masters

While blog touring is still relatively new as a book marketing and promotion strategy, some anecdotal learning and tribal knowledge are beginning to emerge.  There are a number of good reasons why authors, publishers and book marketers should consider blog … Continue reading →

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Does Anyone Know How to Price an e-book?

Posted on August 26, 2008 by Tom Masters

What are the components of value in an e-book?  How much of the price depends on format, how much on content? The debate about the best way to price an e-book seems to be endless.  The digital format severs that convenient … Continue reading →

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The Global Author 50

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Tom Masters

In an age focused on all things global – it’s instructie to see who are the most global authors in terms of their work being translated into other languages.  UNESCO’s 2008 index of translations, published annually and called the Index … Continue reading →

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Can’t All Books Be Above Average?

Posted on July 17, 2008 by Tom Masters

If we lived in the Prairie Home Companion’s village of Lake Wobegon, all of our book titles would have above average sales.  Want to know whether your book’s sales are above average?  The staff at the Southern Review of Books (SRB) have … Continue reading →

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