Read between the lines for the secret of success
Rick Warren's book, released by rival HarperCollins, hit the headlines this month when Ashley Smith held hostage by the alleged courtroom murderer Brian Nichols read passages to her captor before persuading him to release her. In the cut-throat world of consumer publishing such publicity is invaluable.
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The Purpose Driven Life has sold 22m copies, more than twice the hardback total for Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, the Random House best-seller.
Mr Olson is not downcast, however. In spite of intense competition and hefty author advances, he told employees last week: “Expressed in any currency, Random House continues to be one of Bertelsmann's pillars of profitability.” The world's largest consumer book publisher defied market trends by reporting a 25 per cent jump in operating profits to �140m ($186m) for 2004, even though sales were flat at �1.79bn.
The Random House performance contrasts with sluggish conditions at other publishers, notably Penguin, the sister company of the Financial Times within the Pearson group. Penguin recently reported a near halving in profits amid costly distribution problems in the UK and a weak second half for its US mass-market authors.
Random House executives claim their success comes from modelling the business partly on the company's German parent. Costs and back-office functions are co-ordinated centrally, but publishing units, including Doubleday and Bantam, operate almost autonomously in their dealings with authors.
“We are a microcosm of Bertelsmann,” says one insider. “We often have two or three of our own houses bidding for the same book. It means we get more than one look at it.”
Different imprints also allow specialisation in a greater variety of titles, such as the recent best-seller French Women Don't Get Fat, by Mireille Guiliano, which exploded from an initial print run of 65,000 to more than 700,000 copies sold. Tight controls on printing and distribution are designed to keep a lid on average costs per book, a key performance measure at Random House.
Like the music industry, Random House can rely on established stars to fund the risk investment in new talent. The trick is to find high-quality new authors while controlling advances for big-name titles. “I don't think there's been any author inflation for six or seven years,” says one Random House director. “On the best-seller list you have books which are very profitable because someone is at the start of their career, and some which are not because you have had to pay so much for the title. It's about getting the balance right.”
That risk is offset partly by the back catalogue. Like music labels, book publishers can reap a windfall by reissuing titles where costs have already been written off. Random House, for example, has sold 160m Star Wars books and expects another wave when the latest film is released in April. But the music industry parallel ends there. So far, consumer publishing has not been undermined by online consumption. Price erosion is a smaller issue, managed through distribution deals with mass-market retailers. And volatility in one market can be offset by ventures elsewhere Random House has delivered record years in Britain and Canada, while expanding its Mondadori joint venture in Spain and Latin America, and developing new partnerships in Japan and Korea. It has also enjoyed a boom in cross-genre books those that appeal to both children and adults, such as Harry Potter. By investing in such authors and international tie-ups, Random House hopes to expand in an industry dominated by small and medium-sized publishers.
Mr Olson, a board member at Bertelsmann, believes that balancing act with sophisticated distribution and a transparent royalty system justifies his business model. “We're off to a very good start to the 2005 fiscal year,” he told employees last week, “with standout publishing performances across the board.”
在字里行间寻找出版秘诀
问起彼得?奥尔森（Peter Olson）最希望那本书是由他们出版的？这位兰登书屋（Random House）的首席执行官马上点出《标杆人生》（The Purpose-Driven Life）。
瑞克?华伦（Rick Warren）写的《标杆人生》一书，由兰登书屋的竞争对手HarperCollin出版。一位在法庭上被控有杀人罪的布雷恩＃尼克斯（Brian Nichols）绑架了一位叫作埃斯里?史密斯（Ashley Smith）女士。在当人质期间，史密斯女士向绑架者讲述《标竿人生》一书的部分章节，成功地说服他释放了自己。该书本月由此登上了各报头条。在竞争残酷的消费者图书出版市场，这样的媒体曝光显然是无价之宝。
《标竿人生》销量已经突破2200万册，超过精装版的《达芬奇的密码》销量的两倍多。丹?布朗（Dan Brown）的《达芬奇的密码》一书是兰登书屋最畅销的书籍。
然而，奥尔森先生并不沮丧。尽管竞争异常激烈，而且预支给作者的稿费也很多，但他上周告诉员工“无论以哪种货币计算，兰登书屋仍然是贝塔斯曼集团的利润支柱”。这家全球最大的消费者图书出版商并没有受到市场潮流的影响，2004年该公司的营业利润大升25％，达到1.4亿欧元（1.86亿美元），尽管销售收入基本持平，为17.9亿欧元。
兰登书屋的业绩，与其他业绩停滞不前的出版商，特别是企鹅书屋（Penguin）形成明显对比。企鹅书屋是金融时报的姊妹公司，同属培生（Pearson）集团。企鹅书屋最近公布的利润几乎下跌了一半，加上在英国市场高昂的分销费用等问题，和下半年针对美国大众市场的销售也不理想。
兰登书屋的总监们宣称，成功源于他们部分模仿了德国母公司的商业模式。集中协调了成本和后端办公，但是出版部门，包括Doubleday 和 Bantam，基本上都是自主地与作者联系业务。
“我们是贝塔斯曼的一个缩影”，一位内部人士说道。“我们内部的两三家书屋往往会竞争同一本书。这就意味着相比只有一家去竞争，我们往往得到更多”。
在各种风格的书目中，不同的印数可以专门出版更多类型的书籍。比如，由米哈莉?古利雅诺(Mireille Guiliano)撰写的近期畅销书《法国女人不发胖》（French Women Don’t Get Fat），第一次印刷不过6.5万本，现在销量已经超过70万册。严格控制印刷和分销渠道，可以给每本书的成本设置上限，这也是兰登书屋重要的业绩评估指标。
就像音乐行业一样，兰登书屋也能依靠成名作家，以保证有足够的资金来承担为新人出书的风险。其中的奥妙就在于发现优秀的作家新人，同时控制给大牌作家的预付稿费。“我认为作家的薪水有六七年没有涨了”，兰登书屋的一位总监说道。“在畅销书排行榜中，有些书利润很高，因为这些作者的职业生涯刚刚开始，也有一些书的利润不高，因为已经为此支付了很多费用。关键在于保持平衡”。
在一定程度上，一些保留书目抵消了这种风险。就像音乐产品一样，图书出版商也能再版一些不再产生费用的书目，从而获取利润。比如说，兰登书屋已经出售了1.6亿册《星球大战》，估计等到4月份最新的《星球大战》电影上映的时候，该书又将掀起一股热潮。但与音乐行业的比较却只能到此为止了。就目前而言，消费者图书出版市场并没有被网上图书消费所蚕食。价格竞争只是一个小问题，可以通过更好地管理针对大众市场的零售分销渠道来完成。在一个市场销量的波动性，也能由其他市场的销量情况来抵消。比如兰登书屋在美国和加拿大创在销售纪录的同时，积极开拓其与蒙达多利（Mondadori）出版社在西班牙和拉丁美洲的合资企业，同时在日本和韩国发展新的合作伙伴。另外，在同时迎合儿童和成人口味的跨流派的图书市场中，他们也获益不少，比如哈利?波特（Harry Potter）。通过投资于这样的作者和拓展全球市场，兰登书屋希望能够在这个由诸多中小出版商为主体的行业中进一步扩大市场份额。
奥尔森先生也是贝塔斯曼集团的董事会成员，他相信科学分销渠道和透明的版权系统，将会证明他的商业模式是正确的。“2005年财政年度开端非常良好”，他最近对员工说，“各部门的出版工作都非常出色”。
