The Book Industry Study Group has been working to combat metadata pollution, in which simple fields like “subtitle” are turned into marketing crud such as, “A Thrilling Suspense Novel from the Bestselling Author of X.” The problem resides on both sides of the Onix feed: “BISG understands that some metadata senders claim they are placing promotional copy in title and subtitle fields explicitly because some retailers do not display the data provided in fields such as ‘Promotional Headline.’ Retailers could be more transparent about how they categorize and display metadata. Without transparency, publishers have chosen ‘known-to-be-indexed’ data elements like subtitle […]
Marketing
Open Road Launches Metadata Service
Open Road is launching an enterprise SaaS program, offering metadata-as-a-service to all publishers on an annual pay-per-title basis. The initiative is designed to “continually optimize metadata and maximize title discovery” by using machine learning and proprietary data on Open Road’s consumer audiences “to automatically and continually optimize metadata.” (The service is a good example of how machine learning can sometimes provide unambiguous benefit, without encroaching on anyone’s rights.) The service is also being provided to publishers who participate in the Open Road’s ebook backlist marketing service at no additional cost. But the SaaS offering gives Open Road a product that […]
Calling Attention to Banned Books Lifts Them Up
Open Road has found that highlighting banned and challenged books in targeted promotions significantly drives awareness and sales. In their initial marketing efforts to “highly targeted segments of power readers” identified by the company’s data science and machine learning technology, “The initial response from readers has been extraordinary, with unheard-of open rates above 75 percent on segmented email sends.” As a result, the company is rolling out a Free Voices marketing initiative, open to all publishers, that can promote ebook editions (which require “limited time, consumer-friendly ebook pricing”), print and audio editions, or both. Chief marketing officer Peter McCarthy says […]
Open Road Targets Ad Initiative, Flips Process
Open Road has revamped their Activation service, an advertising program for frontlist books introduced last summer, reflecting the insights of new chief marketing officer Pete McCarthy. The initiative now harnesses granular consumer data from the company’s core Ignition service that markets and distributes ebooks for client publishers, providing a broad spectrum of very specific audience targeting. Consumer segments they can market to range from, as the release says, cyberpunk and military history to vegan cooking, and “hyper-specific targets include such segments as neuroscience, birds of prey, ancient greek history, mixed martial arts, and parisian enthusiast.” As McCarthy says in the […]
Initiatives: Open Road to Promote MG and YA Hardcovers
As part of their Activation service to promote frontlist titles to their subscribers, Open Road Integrated Media will launch the Fall Hardcover Discovery Initiative for hardcover middle grade and young adult titles. Participating publishers can choose up to five titles to be featured on the company’s websites and newsletters. The initiative is a response to Barnes & Noble’s decision to reduce stock of MG hardcovers. “With changes in the retail and media landscape, it has never been more challenging to publish a new middle grade or YA hardcover,” ceo David Steinberger said. “The Fall Hardcover Discovery Initiative will provide middle grade […]
Washington Post To Bring Back Standalone Book Section
Washington Post Book critic Ron Charles announced in his Book Club newsletter on Friday that the newspaper will bring back its standalone books section starting September 25. The news follows the announcement that John Williams will become the new editor of Book World on September 6. Reviews by Charles and Michael Dirda will move from the daily paper to the new Sunday section. Charles writes, “Along with reviews, readers will find Q&As, publishing stories, author profiles and anything else we might dream up for this luxurious new space. As a print junky, I’m also excited to have weekly cover art […]