Independent Publishers, Meet Your Audience. Lessons from Indie Labels

Ken Auletta's "thorough and thoughtful exploration into Kindle-iPad-publisher tensions leaves you with a lot to consider. As he traverses his way through the current e-book jungle, he details publishers' (non)relationship to their audience:

...It would take years for publishers to learn how to sell books directly to consumers. They do not market research, have little data on their customers and have no experience in direct retailing. With the possible exception of Harlequin Romance and Penguin paperbacks, readers have no particular association with any given publisher; in books, the author is the brand name. To attract consumers, publishers would have to build a single collaborative Web site to sell e-books, an idea that Jason Epstein, the fromer editorial director of Random House pushed for years without success.

It's an interesting point; publishers think of retailers, not readers, as their customers, thus many publishers never connect with their authors' audience. Whatever is left of a press's marketing department is devoted to authors without consideration for the company. Yet, independent publishers' potential to draw attention by their own merit is huge.

Perhaps the indie press should take note of their music label brethren. While Warner Music or EMI do not (possibly could not) create their own fans, there are intensely loyal followings for indie labels of every genre. Listeners identify with the indies for the point-of-view, personality and lifestyle that they stand for. Labels directly engage fans as well as form trust through the music they support. A label's fans will try out new artists, check out new releases, and attend record label tours because of the label as well as the musician. Heck, my sister loves Trojan Records so much she had its logo tattooed.

This type of inherent value and trust can be cultivated by indie publishers. Some are starting; more need to. After all, literary aficionados want ink too.