A case study presented at Digital Book World on the transformations Sourcebooks and the industry have experienced and where we are headed with regard to personalized content, new business models, and the tools and tactics we use to create change.

1. Transformation in Action:
Sourcebooks
Digital Book World 2016
Dominique Raccah, Publisher and CEO

3. 4 sections
1. why transformation
2. transformation at Sourcebooks
3. critical ideas
4. some tools we use

4. transformation in the book industry

5. Online Distribution/Retail
Print
Digital
Brick and Mortar Retail
Online Retail
Format/Content

6. digital transformation

7. eBooks Growth: 2008 – 2013

8. retail transformation

9. Online retail is
still around
10% of retail $
in America

10. Shoppers’ Top Priorities
ü Spending as little as possible
ü Feeling like I got a good deal
ü Having a stress-free experience
ü Doing all/most shopping in one place
ü Completing my shopping quickly
Omni-Channel is shaping what’s important:

11. Average
Number
of
Retailers
in
Shoppers’
Networks*
Shoppers Eliminate Retailers from Their Networks
Streamlining,
simplifying,
and
engaging
in
“retailer
ra?onaliza?on”
Green: Total Retailer Portfolio; all retailers shopped in any given month
Blue: Core Retailer Portfolio; retailers shopped every month, at least once a month, on an ongoing basis
*Inclusive of visits to stores and online shopping Web sites
Source: Kantar Retail ShopperScape®, January–September 2007, 2013, 2014
Total
12.4
5.8
Core
10.7
5.0
Total
Core
Total
Core
9.7
4.6

12. Online, Especially Prime, Resets Shopper
Expectations Across Retail
Penetration of Amazon Prime Membership
(among all U.S, primary household shoppers)
How Prime Membership Changes Shopping
Patterns
(among all Prime Members)
Source:
Kantar
Retail
ShopperScape®,
December
2011–
2014,
Kantar
Retail
es?mates
Source:
Kantar
Retail
ShopperScape®,
December
2014

13. Today, book
retailers are
working hard
to buildout
their
ecommerce
capabilities to
compete with
Amazon

14. Book Publishing today is fundamentally a
Red Ocean

15. And it’s only going to get more crowded

16. 2. transformation at Sourcebooks

17. The Strategic Problem—need to add more value
Publishers
Retailers
Don’t compete with
our retail partners
Creative Partners

18. Our Strategic Thinking: Creating New Kinds of Value
Through Direct to Consumer in Every Vertical
Exclusive channels that provide more
marketing mojo and increasing revenue
in a crowded ecosystem
Publishers
Retailers
Readers
Don’t compete with our
retail partners
Creative Partners

19. Using digital and ecommerce to
add real value for authors and
retail partners in ways they can’t
do for themselves
What’s drives transformation at Sourcebooks
From Sourcebooks new hire orientation

20. “
”
…nothing says
'transformation'
more than
revenue
sources you
didn’t used to
have.
—Mike Shatzkin,
ideolog,
Nov. 5, 2015

21. Sourcebooks Sales by Piece of Business
2015

22. Driving Innovation + Transformation in 4 ways
Physical books
(units)
eBooks ($)
Put Me In The Story ($)
Simple Truths ($)
Core business
Direct to consumers/
eCommerce

23. creating new revenue streams
for authors + partners

24. The #1
Personalized
Books Site in
America

25. NEW revenue for bestselling books
+ licensed content partners

26. Put Me in the Story adds significant value
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
90.00%
100.00%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
PMITS
%
of
Sales
PMITS
%
of
Sales
AVERAGE
36%
On average
Put Me in the
Story adds
36% NEW
units

27. 3. transformation at Sourcebooks — how
4 critical ideas

28. 1
Defining
strategic
model

29. “
”
innovation
is
iteration
Michael Cader
BISG Making
Information Pay
2008

30. The Lean Startup Model

31. The experimental model we use…
challenging to implement

32. this model makes you think about
experimentation differently

33. And what’s critically important
is that we rethink our whole
view on FAILURE

34. In this model:
failure is an event.
It’s about the facts.
It’s not about you.

35. Your goal is to…

36. a change in our frame

37. These were all things we believed would work…

38. These were all things we believed would work…

39. 2
Understanding
the customer
experience

40. “
”
You’ve got to
start with the
customer
experience and
work back
toward the
technology—not
the other way
around.
Steve Jobs

41. 2. transformation: what?
Look to what your customers are
already doing with your content and
books. What are your authors
telling you about? What do they
need?

42. Started by enhancing existing "
customer experience
Marianne
Richmond
Greg
Lang

43. Started with app built to replicate
what customers seemed to already be doing
Incredibly easy-to-use interface in the app…

44. The #1
Personalized
Books Site in
America
Customer
experience—
Visualize the
user and the
purpose

45. 3
Create
the
culture

46. “
”
…always tension
between control and
innovation…
transformation is about
cultural change within an
organization
— John Ingram,
Digital Book World March 2016

47. New Model
Mindset
How a transformation changes our work

48. 4
Data
Data
Data

49. Need more and better data,
better processes, and more
transparency around every
step in the publishing process

50. Innovation => the gritty stuff

51. 4. transformation at Sourcebooks
the tools we use

52. All of the tools we use at Sourcebooks were organically created
The Tools We Use

53. Management Team Quarterly Offsite

54. SMART Outcomes (SMART Goals)

55. Bimonthly Breakthrough Meeting

56. Questions? Thoughts? Comments?
dominique.raccah@sourcebooks.com
@draccah