Connections. January 2021
It’s safe to say, as a strange year ends and another begins, the only normality we can expect is that strange is the new normal. But, as books offered escape in the toughest moments last year, they will again. January is a month of new plans, new initiatives and ideas after all.
It’s exciting that we can see some of these rolling out already. BookMachine have launched BookMachine Campus, to further help professionals get the most out of publishing. Publishers are announcing book release slates for 2021 and launching campaigns left right and centre, begging the question: how many Super Thursdays may we see this year? Perhaps things will be easier going forward, now the industry is more acclimatised to new modes of working – see our blog post on how publishing has changed since the pandemic for more on this.
We too have some exciting developments and projects in the making. On some of them though, our lips are sealed for the time being. We’re rolling out a re-energised social media look and feel, with campaigns focusing on your books and what you, the publishers, have to offer.
We’re thrilled with the success and growth that Glassboxx has seen through 2020 and we hope only to see more of the same. As more publishers join us in the UK and across the pond, we’re excited by the very real notion that Glassboxx can help change publishing.
Yes, our offer of unlimited gratis copies is still standing, for the next five months. To reiterate, we’re waiving our fulfilment cost on all gratis copies. Make the most of this by offering gratis copies in exchange for newsletter sign-ups or online book event registration, for example – you name it. The cost is gone, the opportunities yours.
We’ve still been enjoying the buzz of Andrew Cotter’s Olive Mabel and Me, with the audiobook launching on Glassboxx exclusively for a number of months. We shared some of the marketing we’ve done with Black and White Publishing for that title in our previous newsletters.
We’re pleased to see that on this release and the likes of Ian Dunt’s How To Be Liberal, readers were quite receptive to the idea of supporting publishers. Some took to twitter to share their enthusiasm…
We’ve got an update on the way for the Glassboxx app. This will contain some minor bug fixes and improvements just to keep up the performance of the app.
For Vendor+ publishers, we have an exciting marketing feature update. On the checkout page, we have added a checkbox containing this message: Receive marketing communications from Glassboxx publishers and vendors.
Along with this, there’s a new page in the Vendor Portal called Subscribers. From here, you can download a CSV file containing a subscriber list picked up from those who have given marcom consent. So, as more readers are using Glassboxx, you can expand the audience of your newsletters and email marketing.
This month we’re drawing your attention to a nifty feature within the Vendor Portal – Subscriptions. This is a great way to deliver titles to readers. You can easily offer selected books in a neat, little package that your readers can’t resist. Among other features with Glassboxx, this works as a great way to build your relationship with readers. A good one for the educational publishers among you to utilise.
See how it works in your Vendor Portal, just sign in and get started.
You can also let your customers rent your books. You set the terms of the purchase and for how long the reader has access to the book, and the reader finds it waiting in the Glassboxx app over the duration of the renting period.
Our social media is having a makeover, and it’s got your books at the centre. We’re launching several different series of posts that help us interact with you, our publishers, so that you may share and amplify our posts to your channels. Working together, we can boost sales. Here’s an insight into what you can expect…
- Book of the Month
On our social channels, as posts and stories, we’ll be selecting a book of the month. We want your readers to know they can buy direct, so waving our Glassboxx social media posts in front of them will remind them it’s possible. Our posts will be tailored and designed to the book cover so it suits your feed. Share our posts! We can send you the graphics too. - Top 5 Books
We’re going to pay close attention to your upcoming releases, with posts about your Top 5 books of a given month. You can contact us with tips on your biggest releases of the hour as well. Again, will fit the colours to you. - Publisher highlights
And as we explore your books, we want to encourage readers to explore their publishers. Keep an eye out for any posts we do with your books and your logo plastered on.
Below is a sliver of the action from January as we’ve just set the ball rolling. This includes the Book of The Month: Memorial by Bryan Washington (Atlantic Books) and a roundup of 2021 titles we’re excited about. Long story short, we’re planning to be talking about books a lot more.
We’re still working on improving our onboarding journey for publishers, and we’re almost ready to share some new resources that will help publishers go through the motions of signing up, setting up and uploading content.
We’re also going to start sharing customer service reports each quarter, so you know exactly how we’re responding to issues raised from publishers and end users. It’s important to us that we share these analytics and keep you in the loop because, at Glassboxx, we’re all about transparency.
