The survey lasted more than 36 hours from Monday morning to Saturday night. We divide the day into three periods: morning, afternoon and evening, and take two periods every day (3-4 hours each) for investigation. First, we distribute questionnaires (ten in total on Saturday, targeting men, women and children, with education ranging from middle school students to masters, and occupations including students, engineers, teachers and retired cadres. , two of them have filled in the "message" column). Second, the information of the store [consider all parts of the book together with the new book recommendation and monthly sales ranking, mainly involving humanities and social sciences, education (including educational theory, teaching cases, teachers' books, etc.). ), teaching AIDS, extracurricular books for students, and children's classes. Pay attention to the number of visits, sales volume and reader composition of such books, and pay attention to the author, publishing house, content, format, binding, printing quantity, printed sheets and format of books. Because the bookstore refused to provide data, I can only summarize and analyze the results of the above three surveys, and on this basis, combined with the situation of our agency, try to explore the possibility of fine-tuning publishing marketing.
(A) Questionnaire survey and analysis
1. Young readers (25-40 years old) pay more attention to literature, social science and natural science, and parents pay more attention to teaching AIDS; Middle school students are more interested in teaching AIDS and literature extracurricular reading materials; The elderly pay more attention to social science and natural science (including medical knowledge).
Readers, regardless of occupation and age, continue to pay attention to humanities and social science books, which is basically consistent with the information provided by the book city-more than 20 million yards a year, of which social science books account for about 40%. If we expand the scope of humanities and social sciences and add literature, the proportion should be higher. It seems that although readers have different reading needs for their age groups, they are more common.
2. Readers generally tend to buy paperback books, whose binding and price are below that of 30 yuan.
The influence of book binding and printing number on pricing is becoming more and more obvious. Although readers think that recognized books are free of price, considering that there are few books with distinctive uniqueness at present, the influence of pricing on buyers is also increasing.
3. When buying books, most of them pay attention to publishing houses, and most of them have bought our books.
Readers' recognition and evaluation of the publishing house is becoming more and more obvious, and our agency has certain traditional advantages.
On the reader's message, a teacher said that in 2004, he used the college entrance examination teaching AIDS compiled by our college, but because of the general quality of the content, he abandoned them. Although it is a provincial proposition now, the school has not chosen our college entrance examination teaching assistant; Another junior high school student suggested adding a reading part after the textbook as extra-curricular reading material.
Buyers have higher requirements for teaching AIDS and teaching, and the actual situation of this province has higher expectations for the publishing house of this province, but the current publication does not seem to meet the market demand well; A student suggested adding the reading part of the corresponding subject at the back of the supplementary book to make the supplementary book multifunctional, which will be a selling point in future publication.
(b) Storage of information and analysis
1. Book category
(1) With the rapid development of social sciences, book publishing is characterized by serialization, branding and combination with TV media. At the top of the sales list in September, there were books of Lecture Room series, and self-management and inspirational books also had good visits and sales in the store. In recent years, our publishing in this field has intensified. The survey series of the Republic of China period has been sold out, and Liu Yanmin's life sketches have also sold to a certain extent, but other books are hard to find in stores.
Generally speaking, readers pay more attention to humanities and social science books, and the influence of TV media and network on readers is expanding day by day. For example, "Lecture Room", the publishing house is more a process of finished products, and readers don't care about the reputation of the publishing house, but pay more attention to the effect of TV media. Therefore, although the publishing houses in Yi Zhongtian, Yudan and Qian Wenzhong are different, their sales effects have not been greatly affected. Online novels, especially online historical novels, such as Those Things in the Ming Dynasty (China Friendship Publishing Company), Those People in the Qing Dynasty (New World Publishing Company), Notes on Grave Robbery (China Friendship Publishing Company), and summary books such as Reading the History of the Qing Dynasty in One Breath and Reading the History of Europe in One Breath (Jinghua Publishing Company), are obviously in line with the essence of fast food reading at present. In addition, in recent years, with the development of social economy, readers have an increasing demand for books with psychological and medical attributes such as "Success" and "Self-cultivation". These books seem to show two trends in binding: one is strong color and exaggerated design; Second, the style is fresh and elegant. In terms of publishing, many publishing houses are trying to grab the market at present, such as Nanhai Publishing Company's "A woman's life depends on her twenties", China Traditional Chinese Medicine Publishing House's "It's better to seek medical treatment than to seek for herself" and Jinghua Publishing House. Carnegie's books on success and eloquence skills are also widely favored by readers, and education publishing houses have gradually begun to pay attention to the trend of reading habits. Our society has the ability to study books of the Republic of China and a certain amount of life essays. Our society has its own traditions in book serialization, such as the Muli series in earlier years, the Tomorrow Education Library and the New Education Library in recent years, and Lu Xun's research on the Republic of China in recent years. If there is further packaging in book marketing, it should be able to achieve both social and market effects.
(2) Literary books are still elegant, and the popularity and traditional advantages of publishing houses have deepened the influence on the sales of such books. Classical literature and domestic classics in the early 20th century were constantly repackaged by publishing houses, while foreign classics were translated by many people, among which the four classic novels and the May 4th period were the most obvious.
Because extracurricular reading is regarded as a very important part of examining students' reading situation in middle school curriculum standards, literature reading and students' extracurricular reading cross frequently, so the age span of such book readers is large. In terms of sales, People's Literature Publishing House, Zhonghua Book Company and Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House have higher recognition among readers. In addition, some writers' works have become bestsellers and bestsellers in the new period. For example, Yu Hua's work Brothers (Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House) with obvious modern writing features has a print run of more than 600,000, while Mo Yan's return to the traditional writing Sandalwood Punishment (Writers Publishing House) has a print run of about 1.5 million.
(3) Tool books are popular, dictionary publishing houses have obvious advantages, and dictionary categories are diversified.
Dictionary publishing houses such as the Commercial Press, foreign language bookstores and Chinese publishing houses have obvious advantages. Although dictionaries are diversified at present, the number of publishing houses is also increasing. In terms of sales volume, reference books published by publishers with a long history and high authority in this respect are more recognized. However, some publishing houses compile dictionaries based on readers' query habits, and get a certain amount of visits.
(4) The scale of children's books (including children's literature) is constantly expanding, and it is gradually compatible with educational books, becoming a relatively strong growth point in the book market. During the investigation, Harry Potter 7 went on the market and once occupied the first place in sales. Books such as Little Prince (Yan Qun Publishing House), Little Peas by the Window (Nanhai Publishing House), Give Me Your Hand, My Child (Jinghua Publishing House) and Absolute Child (Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House) are not only loved by ordinary parents, but also recognized by teachers, and have become children's books truly accepted by parents and children. In domestic children's literature, Zheng continues to maintain his influence, and his latest series "Pipiru" (2 1 Century Publishing House) is very popular, and Cao Wenxuan's work "Straw House" (Jiangsu Children's Publishing House, Writers Publishing House, etc. ) has also attracted the attention of readers. As far as regional characteristics are concerned, children in Northeast children's literature writers, such as Dong Liu, also prefer browsing. In addition, the reading of pocket classic literature and the trend of graphic culture are obvious, and many publishing houses have launched a series of books in combination with the current upsurge of Chinese studies. The computer query results show that the series of Olympic Boys published by our society has a certain sales volume, but it is not easy to find in stores, and children's books, especially preschool books, are relatively not concentrated.
With the popularization of preschool education, preschool children's books account for an increasing proportion of children's books. At present, the content of children's books published by most publishing houses is rough, and the picture effect is not in line with children's reading habits. The best-selling books are Encyclopedia of Infant Cognition by China Children's Publishing House (the calorie wall chart picture book is specially designed for infants aged 0-3) and Children's Learning Package (Fujian People's Publishing House). But even in this case, parents are still very impulsive to buy, which shows that children's books have great market potential. On the other hand, People's Literature Publishing House and traditional children's publishing house continue to invest heavily, and many comprehensive publishing houses have also begun to increase their involvement in children's book publishing, such as Relay Publishing House (naughty bag series) and Nanhai Publishing House.
In terms of sales and praise, in addition to the well-received Harry Potter series, books with more simulation space, such as The Little Prince, can combine children's books with educational books well, which have both selling points and tastes, giving more room for sales objects and means, and should be the future publishing direction. If the children's version and the adult version are published, the effect should be better.
(5) The sales volume of teaching materials has increased steadily, the competition in the supplementary teaching market is fierce, and the potential of examination teaching materials has increased. Because the textbooks follow the Xinhua Bookstore system, there are fewer varieties sold in Transocean Bookstore, and because children are easy to lose books, the textbooks in lower grades sell better.
However, the competition between teaching assistants is fierce, and the publishing houses in the province have almost no share in the market sales, and the provinces have done a good job. There are Complete Interpretation of Middle School Textbooks (Shaanxi People's Education Publishing House), Three Points One Test (Longmen Bookstore), Qidong Middle School Exercise Book (Longmen Bookstore), Qidong Huanggang Examination Paper (Northern Women and Children Publishing House), Synchronous Composition (China Children Publishing House), Junior Middle School English Teaching Assistant compiled by Beijing Renai Education Research Institute, and Synchronous Coach. Our teaching assistants are now on the market, and the vocabulary is widely recognized. It is suggested that you can continue packing.
Exam books are mainly civil service exams and self-taught exams, and vocational qualification exams are relatively general. In the competition with authoritative publishing houses, the civil service examination books put on the market by our agency in the first half of 2007 are still sold out early.
The sales of teaching materials are affected by policies and quota subscription, so they cannot be put on the market. However, the development of teaching AIDS is almost unrestricted, and a large number of teaching AIDS from other provinces flood into Fujian market, which shows that: 1. Fujian province has more than enough promotion of supplementary education system, but less market promotion; Second, the actual market demand is large, and the phenomenon of multiple sets of teaching AIDS for one student is prominent. The teaching AIDS subscribed by schools are increasingly becoming one of the teaching AIDS in students' hands; Third, the systematic distribution and marketing of teaching AIDS are not completely opposite, but should be complementary. Best-selling teaching AIDS, especially non-graduating students, mostly focus on the analysis of the learning process, so that children who really need teaching AIDS can obtain learning methods more intuitively. Although the sales volume of such books in Yueyang Bookstore this week is average, the richness of varieties can explain the potential demand for educational books in the market from the side. Because teachers are under great pressure and time is tight, books such as teaching analysis and cases are more popular. However, the sales of Sun Shaozhen's interpretation works with high theoretical level and analytical level show that this kind of books has initially formed a scale in our society and has been recognized by the market. Considering the book pricing and sales, as well as the book publishing strategies of other publishers, it is feasible to publish books in stages in the future and form a series, which can also reduce the sales pressure of a single book.
2. Book production
Best-seller production is relatively fine, the price is basically below that of 30 yuan, and the title is unique.
The author, title and binding of a book greatly affect or even influence the reader's choice. Nowadays, the cover design of bestsellers is bold, and the literature and social science books that traditionally pay more attention to elegant style are now moving towards gorgeous and unique binding style. Highlighting the title of the book and leaving a lot of blanks appropriately can attract people's attention. Because most books only show the spine, the design of the spine is also widely concerned. In addition, the cover is increasingly undertaken by some art studios.
At present, irregular 16 open paper is common, but it also brings paper waste and price increase. Therefore, the cost of books with more prints is lower. At present, the price of 1 glossy paper is basically maintained at around 1.3 yuan ~ 1.6 yuan, with the lowest 1. 1 yuan and the highest 2. 1 yuan (imported version). At present, the total print run of books in our press is about 5 100, so the accounting and pricing of book costs should be properly considered.
(c) interview results and analysis
1. Readers. Most readers buy books according to their personal hobbies, authors, publishers and recommendations, hoping that the book price will come down. Young readers have requirements for binding, while old readers say that "the biggest function of books is communication, and the price should not be too high".
At present, the homogenization of books is obvious. Under the same conditions, readers choose books from the perspective of good quality and low price. Older readers are mostly retired workers, and their purchasing power is not weak. If they can win in price, it should be more attractive to be concise and elegant from binding to format.
On the other hand, readers said they knew about our organization, but they all said it was difficult to find relevant books in the book market. Considering the fierce competition in the book market at present, we may increase our contact with bookstores, at least within the province, so that we can recommend more eye-catching counters on books.
2. With regard to sales representatives, we interviewed the sales manager of the sales department and the sales representatives of primary and secondary schools.
(1) interview points of sales manager.
A What is the best-selling book at present? Which publishing houses are more recognized, educational book publishing houses?
The sales of humanities and social sciences are good. Social science accounts for about 40% of the annual sales of more than 20 million, such as Lecture Room, which sells well. Books such as People's Literature Publishing House and Relay Publishing House sell well. As for the education press, the books of Higher Education Press, Education Science Press, People's Literature Press, Beijing Normal University Press and East China Normal University Press are all recognized, and the books used by teachers in your community also have a certain scale.
Which books in our club sell better? Are there any cooperative promotion activities between the two parties in the store? How do other clubs do this?
The famous school case sold well before, but it didn't arrive this school year. Later, I heard that it was the education system rather than the market. There is no absolute opposition. Can you accept it as an aid to the system? Of course, although it will be affected, it will still be sold and will enrich our varieties. The book buyer will continue to pay attention to us in the future because he can find the books he needs here. Last year, on the 70th anniversary of Lu Xun's death, several sets of books in your club (Chronology of Lu Xun's Complete Works and Justice Series) were combined and interacted. The overall atmosphere of Fujian's books is not strong, so the effect is relatively general. In fact, the means of promotion and advertising are similar. The key to giving small gifts is to look at the reading atmosphere and the needs of readers.
C what is the delivery form of other publishing houses at present? What about my club?
Send out book information first, and send out some book information regularly, such as introduction. Your company usually delivers goods first, we receive them, and then they go to the counter. A variety has about 10 copies. Of course, we prefer to read the book information first. If it is more suitable, you can get more books first, which makes it easier to deal with books. Not yet. (What if publishers are willing to cooperate in this respect? ) of course, it is quite welcome, and we also want to know the basis for publication. These can all cooperate.
I noticed that the books published by our association this year, such as I am a Language and Sun Shaozhen classics reading, were all sold out through computer search. However, a new education library published in 2005 has a series of five books, namely Education and Dreams and Education and Enlightenment, four of which have been sold out. What will the bookstore do?
(After inquiry) If the recently published books are sold out, we will contact the publishing department of the publishing house, because the formalities will have to go a little bit, and both parties may delay some time. The two books you mentioned should be dealt with as soon as possible, and our bookstore will naturally be happy to sell more books. Like the series of books in the new education library just mentioned, we republished them in February and March this year, not just republished them. If the bookstore knows this information, will it consider replenishing it? ) Oh, it may be a lack of communication, because we have to contact many publishing houses, so if a publishing house takes the initiative to inform us, we will reply soon.
● Strengthening and expanding the contact with stores may be a working point in the future. If the information of book publishing and sales can be exchanged in two directions, the cooperation between the two sides can have more in common. For example, the sales department hopes that the publishing house can provide publishing information in advance, so that the promotion of the store can keep up as soon as possible and be detailed. On the other hand, in the increasingly fierce competition of publishing houses, information communication can effectively prevent books from being returned and booksellers from receiving goods passively. In addition, paying attention to the sales situation and actively contacting and informing the reprinted book information may also be beneficial to the in-depth cooperation between the two parties. In terms of teaching AIDS, it seems that publishing houses outside the province pay equal attention to the education system and the market, so there are many books circulating in the market, which may also be of reference significance, because the teaching AIDS used by students at present are not only those subscribed by the school.
(2) interview points of sales representatives
Which teaching AIDS sell better? Who wrote them all?
Shaanxi People's Education Publishing House's complete set of teaching material solutions, Longmen Bookstore's 3.1 test and Qidong Middle School's exercise books all sell well. Edited by Xue Jinxing, edited by Beijing Renai Education, and some teaching AIDS compiled by famous schools, many people buy them.
B what about the content?
Explain nature. Most of the topics are similar, and many teachers recommend students to buy the books just mentioned.
● The buyer is introduced by the teacher, and the second is to pay attention to the nature of the explanation. As mentioned above, some students suggested adding extra-curricular extension materials of related disciplines at the back of the teaching materials and supplementary books. If we can dig deeply in these three aspects, the types and contents of "famous school cases" will be diversified.
(4) Thinking and suggestions
1. Book publishing
At present, the popular books are humanities and social sciences (which can cover literature), children's books and teaching AIDS. Although there are many kinds of books for teachers, there are many people related to teachers, colleges and graduate students, so the development of market quota is still very small. Our society has a tradition of developing such books. According to recent observations, we suggest:
(1) Take the series of books of the Republic of China as the radiation point, and make the social science books bigger and stronger. The existing series of books in the Republic of China form a brand and have social benefits. In recent years, events and figures in the Republic of China have gradually become hot spots. If we can combine the current interest in the history of the Republic of China and gradually combine subject research with historical popularization, it will have better results.
(2) Children's books can start from an early age, make use of the advantages of this province, and focus on opening up preschool education resources. In addition, according to children's reading habits, classic literature or folk stories are published in the form of fairy tales with pictures and texts, which can be used as parenting books, children's books and extracurricular books.
(3) Pay attention to the research and development of teaching AIDS in primary schools.
2. Book marketing
(1) Based on the books on folk education, regularly publish the information and pictures of the books in time, and inform the store immediately through electronic documents and paper products. Among them, for some key books, it is suggested to change the practice of publishing news after publication, and adopt the methods of closely selecting topics, timely publishing, brewing and later follow-up, so that book publishing and publicity are no longer two layers.
(2) Recommend books according to official media and popular periodicals. Official, such as China press and publication, publishing house, etc. China Reading Newspaper and Reading, especially Reading, are widely recognized by the public, with a readership of more than100000 and a high academic record. It is suggested to strengthen cooperation with its publishers.
(3) Keep in touch with bookstores in sales, and strive to keep in close contact with stores in the province, so as to collect market information and store information in time. With the mode of "book information-book-sales information-market information", the distribution and publication are integrated.
(4) Establish a reading club focusing on educational books.
Through a week's investigation and study, I feel that our book has both traditional advantages and fierce competition. I made a personal summary and analysis on the basis of a certain understanding of the market. Considering that the data and analysis are obtained from personal observation, it is inevitable to miss one-sidedness, hoping to attract more attention.