Evolution Part 4: The Power of Good Title Data

IPG's experience with Trafalgar Square put this problem in a different light. In 2007 IPG purchased Trafalgar Square, a company that distributes titles from the UK in the U.S. About half of the titles produced by the Trafalgar Square client publishers were, we thought, too British to work in our market. We listed these titles in our electronic title feed but did not include them in the Trafalgar Square printed catalogs. Our reps did not present them on their sales calls. Our expectation was that such titles would have little or no sales here.

But the electronic searchability and sourceability of these uncataloged Trafalgar titles turned out to be much more powerful than we had imagined. Orders for these titles started to turn up on Amazon.com and the other e-retail sites because of consumer searches by subject or author. Librarians on the lookout for books that fit their areas of special interest began to place orders through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and regional wholesalers. Individuals began to special order titles through their local bookstores.

From these small beginnings a strong marketing plan could be developed. IPG has software that trolls through weekly point-of-sale data to identify titles that start to show good activity. When we saw such activity, we began to provide increased publicity and PR support and to highlight these titles in the constant stream of information we provide to our sales reps and to our customers. We had strong evidence to present to the independent booksellers sales figures and reviews showing that there was demand for many of these titles. In some cases the national chains got on board. Nothing succeeds like success. Some of these uncataloged titles have by now sold thousands of copies. A great many have sold hundreds of copies. Many will be selling along nicely 10 years from now.

Part 3: A New Idea Takes Hold

Part 5 of 7: Pull vs. Push Markets