Dangerous Trends Affecting Authors Today

Your book just got published, what next? First, an initial diagnostic of common hindrances authors face in today’s market… Which one identifies with YOU?

• Your Book is seen as a commodity, and PRICE is the main buying criteria.
• You can’t seem to get your Book ready for the market
• Your market/ niche is highly competitive and your prospects have way too many choices.
• The economy has sacked your market, and caused buying to come to a standstill orslowed it considerably.
• Your market doesn’t know they need your Book, but if they could find out – they’d buy
• You’re a premium Author (more expensive) in a market that has become much more price sensitive.
• You’re trying to break into the market as a new player, and your marketing dollars don’t allow you to compete effectively.

A SNAPSHOT OF THE CURRENT BUSINESS CLIMATE

• A publishing house fails every 4years
• To ensure a spot on The Wall Street Journal's Bestseller list, you need to sell about 3000 books in the first week and to hit gold and the New York Times Bestseller list, you'll need 9,000 copies sold in the first week.
• There are somewhere between 600,000 and 1,000,000 books published every year in the US alone, depending on which stats you believe. Many of those – perhaps as many as half or even more – are self-published. On average, they sell less than 250 copies each. - Forbes
• A publishing company changes control every 2 years.
• 96% of Authors fail within 10 years with 80% of those failing within the first 2 years.
• E-book sales fell by 10% in the first five months of 2015 and 20% in 2017, according to the Association of American Publishers, which collects data from nearly 1,200 publishers. Digital books accounted last year for around 20 percent of the market, roughly the same as they did a few years ago.
• 46 – 50% of readers/customers change brand loyalty in one evening of watching commercials online.
• 74% of readers/consumers buy outside their “favourite” Authors.
• The average book sells 3000 copies in its lifetime (Publishers Weekly, 2006).

DANGEROUS Trend #1 Fighting the Clutter Factor

In 2002, the average reader/consumer was presented with 13,000 commercial messages per day. In 2016 – that number has reached 45,000!
Even though we’re already overwhelmed, buried in information and deafened by constant voices pleading for our attention – and already unable to discern what’s valuable and what’s waste – more and more information is being presented to you daily. – Rich Schefren
The advertising and information clutter only worsens when it comes to your Inbox. According to Ferris Research, in 2018 we'll waste 32.2 hours per year deleting spam e-mail, compared to 8 hours in the year 2010.
Recent statistics illustrate a staggering volume of interactions initiated by companies to customers on Social Platforms …

• 5 billion pieces of direct mail are sent yearly
• 19 billion outbound telemarketing calls are placed monthly
• 5 billion spam emails are blocked daily

Attention has become the scarce resource of the information economy. – Wired Magazine
…but every company must market…

• 99 MILLION are on the “Do Not Call” registry
• 89% of consumers purchased ad blocking technologies

WHAT TO DO NOW…?

1. Consistently Communicate to Your Network What Makes You Unique and How You BENEFIT Them.
2. Select a Narrow Specific “Ideal” Target and Market Continually.
3. Market Through Your Strategic Partner Relationships to Benefit Their Network.
4. Get a FREE copy of my e-book “6 STRATEGIES FOR CRACKING THE CODE ON SOCIAL MEDIA”

DANGEROUS Trend #2 - Customers Leaving You for Perceived Indifference

Why customers leave you…

• 1% Death
• 3% Move
• 5% Buy from a friend
• 9% Sold by a Competitor
• 14% Product Price
• 68% Perceived Indifference

Major authors now lose, and must replace, HALF of their customers in just 5 years.
A typical author’s customers leave at a rate of 10% to 30% per year, and this number GROWS annually. - Frederick Reichheld, The Loyalty Effect

• A typical author hears from only about 4% of its dissatisfied customers. 96% just go away, and 91% will never come back.
• Most customers just go away because they believe their complaints will not do any good, not worth the trouble or personal stress, or don't know where or to whom to complain.
• With the INCREASING number of choices for customers, retention is more difficult.

56%-70% of the customers who complain to you will do business with you again if you resolve their problem. If they feel you acted quickly and to their satisfaction, up to 96% will do business with you again, and they will probably refer other people to you.
A dissatisfied customer will tell 9-15 people about it. And approximately 13% of your dissatisfied customers will tell more than 20 people about their problem.
Most authors spend their hard-earned marketing and sales effort attempting to attract elusive new customers when they probably have most of the business they will ever need sitting on their database. – Jay Abraham

• It costs 5 to 6 times as much to get a new (first time) customer as it does to keep a current one.
• It takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for one negative incident.

What to do NOW…?

1. Create a System of Surveys and Ongoing Requests for Feedback.
2. Dedicate Someone to do Client Relations Tasks and Monitor the Results.
3. Send Consistent Beneficial Communications to Your Network Via Mail, E-Mail, InPerson & Phone.
4. Get a FREE copy of my e-book “6 STRATEGIES FOR CRACKING THE CODE ON SOCIAL MEDIA”

DANGEROUS Trend #3 - Increasing Marketing Costs with Decreasing Effectiveness

It now costs 3X more in 2017 than it did in 2002 to reach your prospective buyers.
In 2002 – it took an average of 6 attempts to reach your buyer. In 2017, it now takes 18.4 attempts. Therefore, ½ the results from the previous same efforts are now commonplace.

• That means in 2002 if it cost $13.33 per lead, in 2017 it is now $40 and above in USA alone. (MarketingInsiderGroup)

As the popularity of Search Engine Marketing has increased, so have the costs of playing the game. Pay-per-click advertisements are being driven up in costs as the demand for online advertising space increases.
Organic search engine marketing is a long-term, uncertain and often costly endeavor. – (Implied By Design, LLC).
The recent postal rate increase is inflicting HIGHER COSTS on small publishers/authors, and no author that uses the mail to reach its customers is escaping unscathed. –( LA Bsn Journal)
Nonprofits were hit with increases in expenses last year that were 2 and 3 TIMES the rate of inflation, driven by a hike in the federal minimum wage and the ever increasing cost to raise a dollar. – (Entrepreneur - Start, run and grow your business.)

• Regional newspapers are too broad based and untargeted, and Sunday newspaper readership by percentage of population has gone down steadily since 1964.
• Client conversions when direct mail was a major part of the campaign: 2007: 18% 2009: 16% 2012: 11% 2015: 7% 2017: 4%

12,439 companies surveyed - Simmons Market Research Bureau, Inc.

What to do NOW…?

1. Implement Marketing Strategies That Begin with the Lowest Cost for the Highest Reward.
2. Implement 3 to 4 Ways You’ll Systematically Seek Referrals.
3. Continually Test and Monitor Your Advertising, Sales and Marketing Campaigns for Their Effectiveness.
4. Get a FREE copy of my e-book “6 STRATEGIES FOR CRACKING THE CODE ON SOCIAL MEDIA”

DANGEROUS Trend #4 - Increasing Competition & Increasing Business Failures

Did You Know…?
That there are over 60,000 new author/writers EVERY YEAR? – SBA Training Network
Ebook consumption in the United States from 2011 to 2016 is just 28%( The Statistics Portal)
Nearly 672,000 new companies with employees were created in 2015.
“We are in the midst of the largest entrepreneurial surge this country has ever seen.” – FORTUNE
39,000 more startups than in 2014, and 12% more than at the height of dot-com hysteria in 2006.
96% of ALL authors Fail within the first 10 years… 80% of those Fail within the first 2 years.

MANY REASONS INCLUDE:

* Lack of sufficient capital
* Poor management/people skills
* Lack of sales
*Lack of Good Content

OVER THE LIFETIME OF A BUSINESS:

• only 39% are profitable
• 30% break even
• 30% lose money
• with 1% falling in the "unable to determine" category- Wells Fargo/NFIB study

“Although we're not yet officially in a recession, many medium to small authors have seen a dramatic slowdown as consumers and readers are buying less or not buying anything at all.
These factors are causing many small authors and mid-size publishing company CEOs to file for bankruptcy protection.”

What to do NOW…?

1. Spend an Hour Per Day or Per Week with Your Team Working ON Your Business (and Not Just In It).
2. Build a Sound and Tested Process for the Way You Sell to Your Prospects, and Add Value to Your Clients.
3. Create a Workable Plan for Strategically Marketing Your Business.
4. Get a FREE copy of my e-book “6 STRATEGIES FOR CRACKING THE CODE ON SOCIAL MEDIA”

DANGEROUS Trend #5 - Lagging Behind Web/ Technology on the Internet

Over 1 Billion people are now online, nearly 300 Million through a broadband connection.

• Studies show that a striking number of them contribute content and interact with each other socially and economically in expanding networks, rather than using the Web simply to shop or access information.

Now, more than ever… authors MUST utilize and actively embrace new technologies like: RSS Feeds, Wikis, Social Networks, Mashups, Blogging, Streaming Video, Webinars, Video Blogging, etc.
Did you know that, over 50% of internet marketers surveyed, are now utilizing or expect to pilot the following marketing channels because of recent market shifts: - RSS - Podcasts - Interactive Banners - Ads Within Online Video - User-Generated Content - Blogs - Social Networks

EMERGING CHANNELS CAN COMPLICATE MATTERS

The problem is that, too many authors do a little bit of facebook, a little bit of twitter, a little bit of youtube but all they get when they do this is random noise, that is what their customer hear about their business.
Most Small Authors are racing to play catch-up with publishers that are prospering
with Web applications that establish interaction, dialogue and deep connections with
their Customers, Prospects, Employees and Partners. Adapted from IBM e-magazine article
The Internet has shifted the balance of power to the customer, and authors that fail to empower customers – risk losing them to competitors who are only a short click away.

What to do NOW…?

1. Spend an Hour Per Day or Per Week with Your Team Working ON Your Business (and Not Just In It).
2. Build a Sound and Tested Process for the Way You Sell to Your Prospects, and Add Value to Your Clients.
3. Create a Workable Plan for Strategically Marketing Your Business.
4. Get a FREE copy of my e-book “6 STRATEGIES FOR CRACKING THE CODE ON SOCIAL MEDIA”

 A comprehensive research study
 
by Create, Write & Earn Team (CWET)