Emerging Trends in Publishing

Hello creatives!

I know I’ve been quiet the last couple of months, but life update: I am finally an MBA graduate! So, I will be posting more regularly from here on out. I have plenty of content ideas written out in a spreadsheet (I love spreadsheets and color coded everything). I’m looking forward to sharing it all with you!

Today, I want to touch base with you all on emerging trends in the publishing world. Although some of them have ben trending for a while now, but 2020 has created fantastic new momentum. There are three areas of trends that I want to discuss and this is by no means a comprehensive list:

  • Diversity

  • Indie book marketing

  • Artificial intelligence in publishing

Diversity

Diversity has been a hot-button topic in the publishing industry for a long time, so while this is not a new trend, 2020 has ignited a renewed vigor for the publishing industry to truly put their money where their mouth is.

It started in January with the controversial book that had received a multi-million dollar deal from a major publishing house prior to being written called American Dirt. It tells the story of a fictional Mexican woman fleeing for her safety to America…but the book was written by a white woman and there have been vocal critiques from Latinx writers who have written real stories of immigration to America and Latinx life.

And with the turmoil happening around the country and the passing of legendary figures in black media such as Chadwick Boseman, who many know as Black Panther, the need for black stories to be told has never been clearer.

So, I’ll highlight here some stories of priority demographics in publishing and books that have been in the limelight lately that are worth checking out:

Indie Book Marketing

I was listening to IngramSpark’s podcast, Go Publish Yourself the other day and there was one episode discussing how Indie publishing is experiencing a golden age. (Sorry, the best I could do was link to the podcast page because I can’t remember which episode I heard it in.)

Honestly, it’s probably true. More and more authors are choosing the indie route and there are several solid avenues to go about indie publishing. And I think there is a growing awareness that to be an indie author means to be an entrepreneur who understands how to operate a small business, because that is essentially what you become when you decide to choose the indie publishing route.

This means, you have to be savvy with marketing. The book marketing space is a niche in and of itself, filled with both scammers and sages looking for the bright-eyed aspiring authors. So I’m going to highlight a few digital tools that are popping up that may change the game for authors. Some of these tools are used in other industries, but only recently have people considered them useful for book marketing.

Side note: because I have professional experience in industries outside book marketing, it really astonishes me how antiquated so many techniques are in traditional book marketing. A book is a consumer product, like any other, just with a hyper targeted niche. A personalized product, so to speak, because the goal is to call out to the pieces of your readers that can be found in the book’s story.

So here are the digital tools that I have my eye on thanks to some things I’ve read/heard around the web:

  • Aer.io

    • This is a mobile-first book marketing platform built for Ingram authors, which are a lot. The basic premise is that you can create your own digital storefront and directly sell your book via social media using this tool.

  • Reedsy

    • This is a marketplace for indie authors to find and hire graphic designers, editors, publicity experts, marketing professionals and more to help launch your book. It’s free to join the community, too which is super nice.

  • PublishWide

    • I love data so this one is fun. This app syncs your Kindle, Amazon and Facebook Ads analytics into one dashboard where you can manage them all.

  • Storiad

    • This digital dashboard offers a place to seamlessly craft and implement publicity and marketing campaigns as well as provides profit & loss reports on your books.

These tools are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to technology disrupting the indie publishing space. I’ll be showcasing more as I find them.

Artificial Intelligence in the Publishing Industry

Artificial Intelligence has been a hot-topic for a while now. From smartphones to job hunting, this technology is permeating itself into every corner of our lives. The Creative Penn is a blog about writing, publishing and marketing books. She also has been a vocal optimist on artificial intelligence in the publishing industry.

If you get the chance, take a look at a blog post she wrote about AI disruption in the publishing industry. She talks about AI being used to create audio books and translations.

For example, Descript is a tool that uses AI to write transcriptions of written texts as well as provides a way to create rough edits for audio/video productions like podcasts.

This is important to note because voice search relies heavily on assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant to find content, which pull from voice-first content. Artificial intelligence can be used to expedite the production of audio content, which is imperative for the future of being seen on voice-first devices.

That’s all I have for today. Keep an eye out for the next blog post, which will be about disruptive technology in Marketing, PR, Advertising & Journalism.

Until next time,

Rochele

P.S. Are you an author or indie publishing house in need of a fresh set of eyes to elevate your branding and marketing efforts? Let’s work together! Feel free to fill out this form and I’ll be in touch to book a discovery call for a brand coaching session or my strategic planning consulting service.

2020, Read.Rochele RosaRead., creatives, WritersComment