Peter McCarthy. Success in Self-Publishing.

Self-publishing e-books has entered the mainstream and continued to grow. This democratization of access to publication allows more diverse perspectives to be shared. It also means that the sheer volume of available book content has grown considerably and getting a book discovered by a reader has become that much more challenging.

Our guest today is Peter McCarthy. He is director of consumer insights at Ingram Content Group. He has more than 20 years of experience in publishing, ranging from executive positions with Penguin and Random House to start-ups and consultancies, and brings a strategic, technical, and data-informed approach to selling and marketing books and other content.

In today’s conversation we explore the mechanics behind sales success – and how authors and publishers should be thinking about their book marketing.

Topics discussed include:

• What the current publishing landscape looks like.
• How social platforms function with regard to content discovery and publishing success.
• Best practices for the self-publishing (or self marketing!) author.
  • What your amazon sales page needs.
  • Why it’s so important to carefully craft the first sentence of your descriptive copy.
  • Why you don’t want to wait to ask your friends and family to post their book reviews.
  • Why you want to be sure to think small (phone friendly!) about your book cover.
  • Why the “look inside” the book marketing asset is important to the Amazon algorithm
• How people’s eyes travel across your amazon page
• Why your own profile and website matters when thinking about your marketing.
• How audio books relate to the success of your book – now and in the future.

Peter McCarthy is director of consumer insights at Ingram Content Group. An audience-centric, data-informed, technical and creative marketer focused on books and media, he has more than 20 years of marketing, sales, technology, editorial, management, data analysis, and strategic leadership experience. He has worked at the New York Review of Books, Penguin, and Random House primarily as a trade book publishing executive. He has also founded three companies, the most recent of which, a software-as-a-service company, was acquired by Ingram Content Group in 2017. His current focus on the collection of consumer insights to inform the building of software that supports marketing and selling books at scale.

He enjoys exploring technological innovation with the goal of putting the right book in the hand of the right reader.

Ingram Content Group The world is reading. Ingram helps connect our world with the books they want—print and digital—when they need them, in the simplest ways. To better serve an increasingly connected global community of readers we are transforming the book industry for the better: through smart leadership, cutting-edge technology, and revolutionary innovations in the manufacture and distribution of books. Providing comprehensive services for publishers, retailers, libraries and educators, Ingram makes these services seamless and accessible through technology, innovation and creativity. With an expansive global network of offices and facilities, Ingram’s services include digital and physical book distribution, print on demand, and digital learning. Ingram Content Group is a part of Ingram Industries Inc. and includes Ingram Book Group LLC, Ingram Publisher Services LLC, Lightning Source LLC, VitalSource Technologies LLC, Ingram Library Services LLC, and Tennessee Book Company LLC.

Follow & Learn More:

Peter McCarthy

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Peter’s previous interview

Ingram: 

• LinkedIn
• Current product focus

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