DESIGN CORPS AND PUBLISHING 2.0:

helping authors find their way in a transformed publishing industry

Anyone in publishing knows the landscape has been in great transition.

1. For a while now it has been increasingly incumbent upon the authors to create their own audience and customers through marketing and promotion. And it has increasingly become a prerequisite for authors to show success in sales numbers before a large publishing house will even consider picking them up for distribution.
2. Add to this that many authors are choosing other avenues to publish even without the big publishers. While traditional publishing is cutting back due to decreased sales revenue (1), self-publishing, custom-publishing, and vanity-publishing are increasing.
3. And then there are e-books. E-books can be published online (to be read on your computer or cell phone) or as books specific to certain types of e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader, or the Barnes & Noble Nook. Sales of these last sort of books are rising as new e-readers are developed and become popular.

All these tectonic shifts in publishing come together to give us a brave new world for the new author.

DESIGN CORPS has had the pleasure of working on several books this past year which have not only embraced these shifts but capitalized on them to advance greater corporate objectives. Not one of them has been through the traditional publishing industry. Yet the following is true for each of them:

• each one has used a publishing and marketing consultant

• each one has grown out of, and been intended to promote, a larger business or ministry endeavor which included public speaking, conferences, and seminars.

• each one has used professional editors and book designers (that’s us) to help craft a book that is marketable and effective in promoting the larger goals of the business.

• each group also used additional means to promote the book and, therefor, their business or ministry as well. These included web sites, blog sites, e-mail campaigns, brochures, posters, Amazon tools, and Social media profiles. And several required e-book versions in addition to printed copies.

Today’s publishing landscape has changed. Books are changing as well but they will remain to be both desired and useful. A company or author needs to clearly understand their audience and objectives in writing a book. Once they do they can select from a wide range of business and technical resources to help them prepare, produce, and promote the book. At DESIGN CORPS we have the experience and strategic partnerships to help any author produce, and promote your self-published book in a variety of means. Call us today to find out more.


(1) “As traditional publishers look to prune their booklists and rely increasingly on blockbuster best sellers, self-publishing companies are ramping up their title counts and making money on books that sell as few as five copies, in part because the author, rather than the publisher, pays for things like cover design and printing costs.…In 2008, nearly 480,000 books were published or distributed in the United States, up from close to 375,000 in 2007, according to the industry tracker Bowker.” — (“Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab ”, Motoko Rich, New York Times, Book Section, January 28th, 2009)

TAKING INTELLIGENT ACTION IN A BAD ECONOMY: marketing basics and options

In today’s economy many businesses are saying, “We have to do something, but what?” Depending on whether you are primarily
business-to-business or business-to-consumer now may be the best time for action. Consider, for example, the fact that the gross domestic product (GDP) has reversed direction and is now going up even while unemployment is also still on the rise. Also, consumer spending grew 3.4 percent in the third quarter.(1) All of this could mean that potential for future revenue gains might be growing (depending on your market) while cost of services will remain relatively low for a while.

But knowing you need to act is never enough. Intelligence is also needed. Marketing is using strategic tactics to identify, create and maintain relationships with customers in which both you and the customer benefit. And all of us need to return to the basics of marketing principles:

1. identify your key strengths and your audience’s key needs in order to speak to them in terms of how you can benefit them
2. know your competition and be able to distinguish your products or services from theirs
3. continually use creativity to show your value, emphasizing your key benefits and corporate strengths
4. move new clients to becoming long-term clients by maintaining good service and earning trust

All these fundamentals rely either on personal communication or marketing communication through a variety of designed tools such as web sites, marketing collateral, or advertising. Too often design is seen by companies (and by some designers) as coming after the fact and as being merely aesthetic. But design is an integral part of any marketing effort . Strategic marketing input is what makes design more than just merely ”art”, it becomes part of the process of effective communication which bridges the gap between your organization and your target audience. Marketing efforts without design as part of the planning and strategy end up creating marketing tools that do not fully translate or convey the message of your company to its audience.

At Design Corps our goal is to design marketing and branding communication tools that work with your market strategies as well as your budget. That is why we offer you a flexibility both in our range of deliverables (number of concepts, alterations, etc.), and in the range of types of services. We can price design by itself, offering the standard design services:
Or we can offer you additional strategic services from our strategic partners. These services include:

• branding and marketing analysis
• advertising space strategy and purchasing
• social media consulting
• publishing consulting
• editorial services

Either way, we strive to take into account your objectives, audience and corporate character.

At Design Corps we understand that design goes hand-in-hand with branding and marketing which require analysis, strategy, development and evaluation. We offer communication tools designed for specific functions, intelligently integrated with all your marketing efforts. Marketing is a process and, therefore, design is an integral stage that must look at intentions, objectives, and results. Whether it is analysis of your business marketing and branding needs, developing communication devices such as marketing collateral or web-based tools, or establishing advertising channels and evaluating responses, Design Corps can help you communicate in your marketplace. And isn't that what you really need design to do.

(1) numbers reported by the Department of Commerce

E-MAIL MARKETING: A Primer

E-mail has come a long way. As you are well aware, it is no longer just plain text. Today most e-mail software can display highly graphical messages with visual appeal. Mass e-mails, (also called e-letters and e-blasts), look like designed ads and newsletters.

By now you have probably received thousands of these types of messages and maybe you are wondering how to do it for your own organization. Like many businesses and organizations who want to employ this efficient and inexpensive means of reaching out to targeted markets, you may not know where to start and you may lack the technical expertise. Creating and sending e-letters legally (by the laws and rules), with efficiency and cost-effectiveness can be done easily with the help of services like Design Corps Emailer, a new addition to our host of services. This article will help get you started in e-mail marketing, or help improve your current email campaigns.

Mass e-mailings are not Spam if you play by the rules and use good taste
E-mail has been a necessary mode of business communication since the mid-1990's. And like any form of communication it also was quickly adopted by legions of unscrupulous marketers. Thus, to the ranks of telephone solicitations disrupting our dinners, faxed advertisements using up our toner, and junk-mail filling our mail boxes was added e-mail spam, taking up our working days. But as of 2004 spamming went from just bad etiquette to officially illegal, carrying fines of up to $11,000 per addressee. Therefore, it pays to know how to use e-mail both legally and effectively for your organization.

6 Simple Rules
Despite the profusion of spam, e-mail is still an effective marketing tool when used politely, according to the rules and with good taste. You yourself may get e-mail newsletters, sale announcements, or special offers that are appreciated. So the same may be done by you for your clients. Six simple rules to follow in your own e-letter marketing are:

1. Write subject lines that are honest and not laden with spam-like come-ons. Be straight forward and indicate who you are and why you are writing.
2. Offer something either of interest or of monetary value to the recipient.
3. Include the required "opt-out" (UNsubscribe) link at the beginning and/or end of your e-letter. This is the law.
4. Remember that e-mails are not read, they are scanned. Write short copy with lots of bulleted items. Articles can be introduced with a few lines of copy followed by a "Read more" link which might take the peaked reader to the full article on your blog.
5. Make your point quickly, and stress benefits to the reader.
6. Include lots of pertinent links for the recipient to click on. This will give you items to observe and track in statistical reports which will help you improve forthcoming campaigns.

List Etiquette
Unless recipients know you or your organization, your e-letters have a good chance of being regarded as spam, either by their own email software spam-filters or by remote mail filters, preventing them from reaching your audience. In fact, if a mail server thinks you are spamming, you may be blacklisted on internet mail servers, worldwide, which will block campaigns emanating from your domain.

• Use an E-mail campaign service like Design Corps Emailer, our new e-letter marketing product. Don’t attempt to send mass mailings directly from your desktop email software. Putting a large list of names in the “TO” field where everyone can see them is bad e-mail etiquette and violates privacy rules. And don't think blind copying solves the problem. Blind copying large groups of addresses (usually anything over 10 to 20 addresses) just alerts outgoing mail servers to the possibility that you are spamming. Using a service like Design Corps Emailer will keep you legal, make the process efficient and easy, and offer powerful tracking tools for gauging the success of your e-letters.
• You have to develop lists. But assemble your lists from your own sources and address collection mechanisms. For example, clientele who have given you their email address have granted you the privilege of writing them. That makes your address book a legitimate source from which to build a list. But, no matter how you build your lists there has to be some trail of permission granted to be perfectly legal and proper. You may not include addresses from purchased, borrowed, rented or "skimmed" lists. Skimming websites for addresses to build mailing lists is bad practice and libel to get you in trouble. See the Design Corps Emailer List Policy for more information on this important subject.

How to avoid being labeled a spammer
Even when using an e-mail campaign service like Design Corps Emailer you can still make mistakes. You don't want to be thought of as a spammer by your audience, but you also don't want to be placed in the e-mail trash by spam filters and you definitely don't want to be blacklisted. Take these precautions for following good e-mail etiquette and law.

• Avoid using spammer tricks like type that is intentionally misspelled to avoid being caught by filters (m0rtg4ge, v1agr4).
• Avoid the more innocent but overused ways of emphasizing: ALL CAPS, type in red and bold, multiple exclamation marks, etc.)
• avoid phrases like “CALL NOW”, “CLICK HERE”, and “FREE”. These are picked up by spam filters.

E-mail, when used correctly, can achieve the very goals you have established in marketing your organization. It allows you to stay at the forefront in the minds of your audience, it gives you control of how you are perceived by allowing you to develop and distribute your message and branding, and it allows you to be seen as a benefit to clients or prospects. The keys are to stay active and stay educated.

DESIGN CORPS EMAILER is one way to make it happen. We can design your email template (“e-letterhead”), setup your account and train you to create your own campaigns. Start sending colorful and attention-getting e-mails for pennies per address. For more information, visit Design Corps Emailer, e-mail Design Corps, or call Dan van Loon at 630-761-9650.