Extensive Consumer Network Grows Revenue by More Than 2X for Partner Titles
(New York, NY — April 30, 2018)—Paul Slavin, CEO of Open Road Integrated Media (OR/M), announced that the Ignition full-service marketing program delivered an average of 138% increase in revenue year-over-year in Q1 2018 for the 573 partner titles currently enrolled in that program.
“We continue to see opportunity to grow backlist revenue for our partners even as sales across the industry stagnate or decline,” Slavin said referring to a recent trade piece on sales in PublishersWeekly. “As of now, we have doubled the number of partner titles in Ignition for Q2,” Slavin added, “and as the results continue to demonstrate enormous value for publishers we anticipate that number growing exponentially.”
One of the first partners in the Ignition full-service program was Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s trade division. HMH President Ellen Archer said “we’re delighted with the results. The focus and sophistication Open Road brings to backlist marketing has greatly benefited our eBooks. Working together on this initiative has been a great way to target audiences and increase sales.”
The elements of the full-service program include curated titles listings, powerful consumer outreach vehicles, direct demand stimulation, strategic and tactical pricing, consumer segmentation and personalization, content syndication, metadata and copy optimization, all executed by a team of marketers with deep publishing and marketing experience.
Another tier of Ignition is a suite of marketing services all of which drive direct economic benefits for under-marketed backlist titles, including increased revenue, audience exposure, discoverability without access to retail shelf-space or merchandising, a demonstrated “halo” effect across alternate formats and titles in a series or by the same author, and expanded readership. These services utilize OR/M’s extensive, search-first content marketing that showcase books or brands on any of OR/M’s six digital properties. These include Early Bird Books, a daily eBook deals newsletter and website; The Lineup, for fans of true crime, horror, the mysterious, and the paranormal; The Portalist, for fans of science fiction and fantasy; Murder & Mayhem, for fans of mystery and thriller; The Archive, for fans of history and non-fiction; and A Love So True, for fans of romance.
“We’ve seen powerful results for partner titles as well as our own titles when they are marketed to our audiences of avid readers,” Slavin said, referring to over 1200 titles from top trade publishers as well as self-published authors that ran in paid promotions through OR/M sites and newsletters in the past year.
“The key to the whole engine is our increasing refinement through audience data, which drives both development and engagement,” Mary McAveney, OR/M CMO, said. “This means giving our consumers books and products they love. Our publishing partners participate with their own bestselling, award-winning backlist titles allowing us to provide our readers with an even broader selection of high quality content we know they will enjoy.”
About Open Road Integrated Media
Open Road Integrated Media is a prestige content brand delivering digital experiences that entertain and inform readers around the world; their network of digital properties produces compelling stories that keep audiences engaged—across devices and around the world. The Open Road brands include Early Bird Books, a daily eBook deals newsletter and website; The Lineup, for fans of true crime, horror, the mysterious, and the paranormal; The Portalist, for fans of science fiction and fantasy; Murder & Mayhem, for fans of mystery and thriller; The Archive, for fans of history and non-fiction; and A Love So True, for fans of romance; and Open Road Media, a global eBook publisher whose catalog includes legendary authors such as Joan Didion, Graham Greene, William Styron, Alice Walker, Pat Conroy, Gloria Steinem, Octavia Butler, John Jakes, Pearl S. Buck, Walker Percy, and Ruth Rendell.