Nosy Crow demonstrated incredible initiative and mobility that comes with being a new start-up when they partnered with John Lewis in 2012 to create a companion book to their hugely successful TV campaign for Christmas. The book itself was written within ’48 hours of the release of the advert’ by Nosy Crow’s managing director Kate Wilson and hit the printers within a week when John Lewis loved the concept (Page, B, 2012). Wilson described the effort the sort of ‘flexibility that’s possible in a start-up independent publisher’ (Nosy Crow, 2012). This now yearly tradition has been incredibly lucrative for Nosy Crow, with their third edition just published for this coming Christmas (Eyre, C, 2014), and a fun interactive e-book for their 2013 effort (John Lewis, 2012). Technology is the key cog that enables independents like Nosy Crow to conceptualise and communicate new projects to clients in mere hours.
Smaller publishers also have the advantage of putting a personal touch on their products. It helps if the individual pitching to a distributor is a passionate co-founder rather than a hired salesman. This made a difference to BeE, a quarterly woman’s professional magazine, when they won a contract to appear in Whole Foods and Wild Oats, despite being very small (Kinsman, M, 2007).
Ennis Books is another small book publisher who saw pre-pub orders for their second book up to 55,000 from their online marketing (Milliot, J, 2003). Their president and publisher Richard Hunt commented that it helps to be ‘small and nimble’ and their extended online marketing effort for each book helps push sales. It means the publisher can ‘turn around quickly and meet the demand’. However, Hunt also mentioned that big publishers have the benefit of not making decisions ‘on a cash-flow basis’.
Yes, it’s understandable to quiver under the ginormous shadow of the big 4, but the truth is while they have their heads in the clouds, independent publishers can be down on the ground utilising digital technologies and quick communication to grasp new opportunities. As Canadian Business quite nicely puts it, ‘today there are three times as many publishers as there were 25 years ago, and more hope for the future than ever’ (McBride, J, 2013).
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Bibliography
Eyre, C. (2014) Nosy Crow publishes third John Lewis ad book. [Online] Available at: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/nosy-crow-publish-new-john-lewis-ad-book. [Accessed: 7th November 2014].
John Lewis. (2013). 'The Bear Who Had Never Seen Christmas' eBook is now available on iPad & iPhone #bearandhare http://goo.gl/yQCy7w ‘ [Tweet] Available at: https://twitter.com/johnlewisretail/status/402453904836685824/ Accessed: 7th November 2014].
Kinsman, M. (2007) Secrets of Newsstand Distribution for Smaller Publishers. [Online] Available at: http://www.foliomag.com/2007/secrets-newsstand-distribution-smaller-publishers#.VFz01UteKxo. [Accessed: 7th November 2014].
Phillips, A. (2013) Inside Book Publishing. Routledge: London.
McBride, J. (2013) It’s alive! Canadian Business. 86(14). p.32-34.
Milliot, J. (2003) Emmis Books Hopes For Quick Start. Publishers Weekly. 250(47). p14.
Rosen, J. (2014) A Good Time for Independent Presses. Publishers Weekly. 261(16). p.6-8.
Nosy Crow. (2012) Nosy Crow partners with john lewis partnership to create an instant picture book of the john lewis christmas television advert the journey. [Online] Available at: http://nosycrow.com/media-kit/press-releases/nosy-crow-partners-with-john-lewis-partnership-to-create-an-instant-picture-book-of-the-john-lewis-christmas-television-advert-the-journey. [Accessed: 7th November 2014].
Page, B. (2012) Nosy Crow to publish book of John Lewis Snowman ad. [Online] Available at: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/nosy-crow-publish-book-john-lewis-snowman-ad. [Accessed: 7th November 2014].