In an Aug. 26 webinar on marketing and publicity, representatives from Ingram—the largest wholesaler and distributor of books in the US—said that while overall demand for books has not lagged, the purchasing journey has shifted from in-store placement to social media and retail websites. For publishers’ book-marketing efforts, this means search engine optimization and metadata optimization replaces shelf space, online customer reviews replace handselling, and sponsored ad carousels replace point-of-sale displays. (Here’s a definition of metadata. Learn more about metadata optimization for publishers and authors. Ingram also provides a metadata cheat sheet.) Separately, NPD Group reports that in the US, online purchase traffic for all goods is up by 16 percent, while in-store purchase traffic is down by 20 percent.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
