The sales department is in transition for a variety of reasons–declining bookstores, increased digital sales, an emphasis on just-in-time inventory, and more. At Digital Book World on Tuesday, David Wilk queried Rich Freese from NBN, Alison Lazarus from Macmillan, Michael Selleck from Simon & Schuster and Jaci Updike from Random House on the changes underway and ahead. Clearly the traditional sales rep is turning into more of a local marketing officer, though the exact expression of how that’s working varied among the participants. Lazarus expressed it most dramatically, saying “we’re telling our physical sales reps, ‘don’t sell so many of […]
