But this is no accident. As a book publisher, we knew from the beginning which projects would definitely "explode" and which projects would definitely be at the bottom.
According to the data of China Book Publishing Research Institute, at least 250,000 books are published every year. Among so many books, some will become phenomenal bestsellers, which will be printed for a long time every year, dominating various lists, while others will be piled up in warehouses and destroyed at maturity.
Why is there such a contrast?
Some people say that the best-selling of a book is the result of the right time, the right place and the right people, while others say that being on time is just luck.
Many people want to publish books and earn a steady stream of money from royalties.
So, what kind of books can "explode"?
How to build a high-quality explosion-proof book?
Create books with product thinking
In our publishing industry, it is said that a good product is the reason to buy, design is the reason to enlarge the purchase, and marketing is the reason to spread the purchase.
If a book wants to sell well, it must be a good book first. Books are our products, and good products will make people want to buy them.
So, let's talk about what a good product is.
As far as a book is concerned, it has a classic topic, excellent production and uniqueness, and we think it has a good foundation.
For example, last year's best seller was the best seller Ruyi Linlang Atlas published by the Palace Museum. No matter from the content, binding, or reading form, it is a classic.
Content, it is no longer a boring historical science book, but a charming retro game book, which makes people feel the charm of China tradition in the process of playing.
In order to restore its elegant and retro characteristics, the binding design adopts the antique technology of four-hole thread-bound books, which the machine can't complete, so each book has to be threaded by hand and finally wrapped with silk cloth.
The reading form is novel. You can only look at the content, or you can use 18 kinds of exquisite props attached with the book to solve puzzles and open hidden plots.
Such an ingenious work, the initial crowdfunding goal was 654.38+10,000 RMB, but in the end it miraculously set a crowdfunding score of 20.2 million and won the support of 87,700 people.
Super visual symbol
Why is the design to enlarge the reason for buying?
When you have never heard of a book, what determines you to buy it?
The answer is the cover.
When you go to a bookstore and see rows of books on the shelves, it's like going to a supermarket and facing the goods on the shelves. When we make books, we need to have bookshelf thinking and think about how books stand out when they are placed. )
So the cover of a book must have recognizable symbols. It can be different formats, small and bright colors, prominent fonts at the waist, or even a unified element of a series of books.
The creation of the cover is by no means a waste. If you want to occupy the shelves and make a deep first impression, this is the investment you have to pay.
One of the most representative is the cover design of Utopia translation series.
Hardcover, silver to create a sense of high-grade, each cover has a capital letter M, but each M is a different font.
Compared with other books on the market, it is more recognizable. Moreover, as a series of books, it has continuity, and people want to buy the next one after buying one.
The books we make, whether it is a single product or a series of books, will have brand tonality and will not make people feel like cheap paper products.
Marketing activities
Whether a book sells well is also closely related to its mode of communication.
Marketing is like snowballing. Only by continuous accumulation and constant momentum can we get an unprecedented snowball.
In the past, a book sold well, relying on the strength of traditional distribution channels, and only publishers with excellent distribution channels could produce bestsellers. Now, because of the prosperity of the Internet, there are more opportunities for a book to be exposed.
The influence of "network celebrities" should not be underestimated. When you master KOL resources, community resources and marketing methods, you can change more.
After finishing a book, we usually do this:
1. First, let the head users from the media bring goods online to create word of mouth. Cluster brand fans and quickly accumulate loyal consumers;
2. The three major e-commerce channels follow up and actively play the list;
3. Layout offline boutique bookstores and Xinhua Bookstore.
Such radial marketing can even shake many readers who are not going to buy at first or are still hesitating.
In this way, we once sold 200,000 books with a first print of 5,000 in half a year, and kept printing them.
Similar practices, such as Sister Wendy's Narration 1000 the world famous paintings, were launched as Ten o'clock Reading, Gu Shengxiong and Book List as soon as they were listed, and were promoted several times in a month, and then distributed in various channels.
Such a strategy made this book explode the market in a short time. Although it was expensive, the first print of 65,438+0,000 copies sold out within 20 days, which became a story in the industry.
A book that has just been listed, the exposure rate is directly proportional to the speed of communication. The content of the book is ready, and if it is not spread, it will be submerged in the noisy sea of information.
Therefore, there are three keys to creating a super bestseller: good products, symbolic packaging, and momentum.
No matter what you do now, you must have user thinking and know where your customers are and what they need.
Because of the development of the Internet, people's desire to get involved in various topics is getting stronger and stronger, and they need deeper absorption reading.
As a pastime for reading needs, it has faded out of paper readers. They have higher expectations for reading, so the level, theme and overall quality of a book are their greatest concerns.
More and more publishing organizations begin to pay attention to topics with high knowledge content and practical concern. This kind of topic takes the boutique route, and it is easier to get a good reputation.
For public topic selection, users of such books are not sticky and have great influence. How to guide them?
This requires the intervention of powerful media, occupying the visual center of bookshelves through symbolic packaging, and making all-round exposure through effective marketing means to tell them which book is worth choosing.
Good products, symbolic packaging, marketing campaign, the secret of this set of explosive books, do you understand?