Last week, Grattan Street Press’s publisher, Sybil Nolan, travelled to Nashville, Tennessee to attend Digital Book World 2019. Digital Book World is an annual conference that takes a look at all aspects of ebooks, audio books, digital book marketing, and the future of book publishing.

Sybil was lucky enough to attend the conference, which ran from the 10 to 12 September, and here are ten quick lessons she gleaned from the presentations:

• Audio books are still the fastest growing part of the US book market with no sign yet of that growth slowing
• Corporate publishing is already the next big thing, and it will only get bigger (Mike Shatzkin)
• Same as last year – rich metadata sells books
• SEO: If you’re writing online marketing content for your books, make sure that you use a strapline containing keywords at the top of the post
• Ensure that headings and straplines are consistent throughout your marketing material and that they don’t send contradictory signals about your book. (This tip from Open Road Media)
• Goodreads remains an important avenue for reaching book buyers: publishers should encourage authors to keep their Goodreads page active by choosing books for their Goodreads shelves, and by connecting with other authors. Then remember to promote the author’s Goodreads page on your publisher website (Pete McCarthy, Ingram Content)
• Despite the proliferation of podcasts, they are still a very useful way to market books because they enrich title metadata (podcaster and DBW organiser, Bradley Metrock)
• Advance copies – particularly in physical format — are still essential for promoting trade fiction (Liz Perl, Simon & Schuster)
• If you use Alexa in Australia, and Alexa often fails to understand or to successfully complete your command then make sure it’s the Australian version of Alexa that you’re signed into. (This is a tip from the Alexa people.)

Featured image retrieved from Pixabay. Nashville, Tennessee.