Dominique Raccah, founder and CEO of Sourcebooks, gave the keynote speech on Saturday, June 18, 2016 at the American Society for Indexing/Indexing Society of Canada annual conference in Chicago. Ms. Raccah spoke about the current transformation of media and where publishing is situated within that changing world. She gave an optimistic prediction for the future of print publishing. She described the evolution of innovation at Sourcebooks, which was founded in 1987, and which publishes non-fiction, including self-help books, and fiction, including young adult and children’s books. Sourcebooks publishes 400+ titles a year, and 80+ national and international bestsellers a year. It has experienced 200% growth.
Put Me In The Story is a series of personalized books that add real value for customers by adding their names to well-known children’s stories. The individualized book has the child’s name on the cover and throughout the book. It mixes content, creativity, and technology, she said. The publisher uses proprietary technology with a book builder engine.
The Put Me In The Story books are the number one personalized books in America, she said. This website has gotten three million visitors. Not only are these books a transformative source of revenue growth for Sourcebooks, but the books add to the author’s revenue stream.
To build on this success, Sourcebooks may next publish custom books, such as Simple Truths, which are motivational books. These books could be branded with your name and/or business logo. Sourcebooks is also experimenting with augmented reality (AR) books, which expand and enhance the experience of reading. Sourcebooks innovates with mixed media publishing, such as the Poetry Speaks books combining audio and text, which create an interactive experience for children. The Shakesperience is an interactive product which includes audio and video to enhance the understanding of Shakespeare’s plays.
In creating a successful publishing market, she stressed the importance of focusing on the customer. What are customers trying to do? Innovation is iterative, she said. Find a viable model and scale, she added. Build on your success, she concluded.
In future blog postings I will discuss other sessions from the American Society for Indexing Conference. For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com