Publishers Design Group | Custom Publishing: Case Study

Custom Publishing: Retail Product Line

CUSTOM PUBLISHING: BOOKS WITH RETAIL PRODUCTS

Custom publishing is an excellent platform for establishing or extending a product line. Sometimes books are the product themselves. Sometimes books are combined with other products and sold along with that product.

Typical examples would be children’s art instruction guides packaged with paint or drawing supplies, or gift books that have pockets for memorabilia, while some allow the customer to personalize content. Most books of this type tend to be craft kits or they contain other products with packaging that has gift-appeal.

CASE STUDY: The Fitness Boutique Publishing Program

Publishing Goals: The Fitness Boutique came to PDG with a rough idea for creating a retail product consisting of an exercise stretch band with an illustrated guide for travelers. They wanted to use book publishing as a way to establish the product line, primarily to the boutique, travel, and gift markets, with the book trade as a secondary channel. Publishing would help establish the author as a travel-fitness expert, and could be used as a springboard for future product launches and publishing projects.

Primary Consideration: How to distinctively position and design a fitness book/kit to sell without the benefit of a famous author or celebrity/expert endorsement.

Primary Solution: Avoid the fitness category, downsize the book/kit to 5” x 7”, create several editions for sub audiences (women, seniors, maternity, and disabilities), come up with an upscale boutique/gift design approach, and hire the best book publicity agency for the travel/gift category.

Client Consultation: Instead of trying to publish one book for all, we suggested splitting the concept into four distinct titles targeted to four different audiences. Publicity would be easier to acquire if the product were directed to only seniors, or only women, or only women who are pregnant, etc.

Bookstore Stocking Issues: Bookstores would shelve the title in either Fitness or Travel. Fitness books tend to be 6” x 9” paperbacks. If the author were Denise Austin or Jane Fonda the books would be displayed with the front cover facing out on the shelf—if not, they will be displayed spine-out. Bookstore customers looking for books on fitness tend to want serious, hardcore programs. Borders and Barnes & Noble shelved the books in fitness because they had no way of fitting the titles in the travel section. Travel sections of bookstores shelve titles by country of destination (Russia, Spain, Brazil, etc.). Thus, The Fitness Boutique’s series of books and products would not, and did not, sell well in the bookstore environment.

Concept and Product Development: Early in the project’s development stage, it became apparent that the book/kit needed to weigh less than eight ounces, fit easily into a purse or carryon luggage, and it needed to lay flat when opened. A special book shell was designed with a custom envelope/pocket that would hold the stretch band; this was glued into the inside front cover. The binding was wire, allowing the book to lay flat when opened.

Each book contained a stretch band with resistance to match the age/audience. Replacement and upgrade bands, along with their packages, were designed and manufactured. A counter display that would hold a dozen of each edition and two dozen replacement bands, was designed and manufactured along with shipping cartons for the prepacks.

Marketing Approach (pre-launch)
The first edition launched was The Fit Traveler: Take Your Workout with You. It targeted women between 30 and 55 who travel for leisure or business. Within months, the next edition, The Fit Traveler: Senior Edition, was released.

Research showed that most women who travel for business and leisure are not exercise junkies and prefer not to use a hotel gym. Research also showed that most dropped their exercise programs while traveling because of the inconvenience and privacy concerns.

Addressing the main consumer concerns: convenience, privacy/safety, weight/size, a short and effective program, along with an upscale feminine design theme, helped garner over 100 magazine and newspaper reviews, features, articles, and mentions in major publications such as the Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Fitness Magazine, Shape, and Oxygen, among others.

Design & Production Approach
The books needed to be small, attractive, and unique. Each exercise needed a photographic illustration to demonstrate how it should be done, and text was kept to a minimum. PDG created the company logo, shot all of the photography, designed and oversaw the manufacture of the stretch bands, and applied fashionable, sophisticated graphic design to the layout of the books, packaging, and display cases.

Marketing Approach (Post-launch)
Having obtained a wealth of media attention, the demand and interest in the series was high. The titles went on to win three national book awards and have been cited in major media and, since launch, have been written about in over 100 publications by other writers.

Line Extension
Plans are to extend the line further with the release of The Fit Maternity and The Fit Disability over the next two years.

Publishing Model
The Fitness Boutique book/kit series was a Custom Publishing project and was eventually published to the book trade by PDG. The client handled all other retail and wholesale venues in the gift and travel markets.