� WHAT IS THIS EBOOK? �

This ebook started out as our own in-house document -- our notes on our strategic direction. We wanted to be clear in our own minds about which publishers we wanted to be talking to. We came up with the publisher profiles described in this ebook because they are the publishers that we know Bibliocloud can help the most. We also describe the features of the sorts of publishers that we most want to work with: those that share our values.

Now we’ve decided to make this document freely available to our current and future customers. In the spirit of openness and insight, we think it’s useful for you to know what we’re thinking, and where our energies are focussed.

It’s typeset a bit more nicely, but the words are unedited from the original in-house document... no holds barred. So enjoy the read!

--- Emma Barnes, Founder & CEO, General Products LtdJanuary 2015

𝌐𝌮𝌔 Introduction

General Products Ltd is on a mission

...to help small and medium-sized publishers grow their business more efficiently, so they have the time and insight to take advantage of the digital revolution.

Our clients understand that their businesses need structured systems, and are looking for help. They

daydream of having their data all in one place, with chores such as metadata dissemination and royalties

automated. They fear a repeat of their last disaster -- which could have been wrong data on Amazon, or lost sales from ebooks being late, or late royalty statements -- where poor data management caused

embarrassment and lost sales.

They want to grow and know they can’t do it with the business workflow supported as it is.

Our kindred spirit publishers -- the companies with whom we have the best fit -- view our software as indispensable. They like our responsiveness, our low costs and our human way of doing business.

We initially engage with the editorial, production or operations departments of small and medium-sized publishers to streamline their working practices, sort out their data and get them to a baseline of efficiency. After that, we help them to use their data, for example in catalogues and ONIX feeds.

The clients who most benefit from Bibliocloud look a bit like this:

Location

Their customers

TurnoverOutput

Headcount

System

Attitude to strategy

Based in the UK for ease of access on training & project implementation days

Sell through multiple channels, which means they need to get their data to and from lots of other systems

£500k+, with plans to grow

Publishing 15+ books a month but fear their processes won’t scale to many more than they're doing now

Have sufficient staff for the company to be broken into functional silos, so they are facing the complexity of working as a team.

Constrained by the limits of their existing system -- whether that’s because of limited functionality, or the prohibitive cost of buying more modules.

Have given some thought to business workflow and processes and are confident that they will have the discipline to use the system to its best advantage and excited by the idea of improving their processes.

These clients are

What do our customers worry about?

Worried about inefficiency

Aware that they need to change just to stand still, because the data volume is getting greater -- and they want to grow

Aware that adding more people is not the solutionWorried about falling sales

Worried about the digital revolution

Struggle with project management

Inexpert at systems configuration

Comfortable in their departmental role e.g. editor, print manager

OUR IDEALCLIENT HAS

PEOPLE£500K - £5M ANNUAL SALES

Small enough to be FLEXIBLE and eager for improvement and growth; successful enough to have realistic aspirations to GROW; large enough to be facing the PROBLEMS of running a sizeable operation and with sufficient headcount to make it FINANCIALLY VIABLE for us.

c.10 to 50+ _

Multi-channel, multi-format book publishers:

• Seeks time saving and efficiency• Wants to be proud of what they do• Values beautiful and clear design• Wants data and metrics• Dreams of work life balance• Seeks growth.

Their customers span trade, wholesalers, Amazon, ebook retailers and their own website Their formats are ebook and print, mono and colour, and they are interested in apps

Clients engage us when they:

When do our customers first get in touch with us?

• Want a system to help them get on top of their data...

• Which is within a reasonable budget...

• With a provider where they feel they are going to be an important client

• Want to sell to more customers but dread the additional administration load, or are already overloaded with it

• Have a crisis which spurs them into action. The royalty run might have been late, or the wrong print files might have been sent to a printer. Or there have been too many near misses for comfort.

IDEAL

• A way to grow during the digital revolution: to sell more books to a wider range of customers in more formats to more markets, with more engaging marketing

• To feel professional and to delight their authors, partners and staff with their competence

• A way out of the endless slog of metadata & workflow management

• A system that they feel is tailored to them & their needs

• A way to hedge their bets: they don’t want to commit or buy hardware

• A way to publish more good books, and do less admin in the process.

Our clients want:

What is our ideal client looking for?

• Are drowning in increasing amounts of data

• Can't get their systems to speak to one another which is causing duplication and dropped balls

• Know what they should be doing but they can’t do it -- controlling costs, analysing performance, sending out data on time, having one version of the truth

• Struggle to get data in and out of the business in the right format

• Have to do a lot of manual work to keep on top of their publication programme

• They believe that the solution to their pain is to get a system to manage all their data. Which is where we come in.

Our clients want us because they:

What is our ideal client suffering from?

But we know that a system won't fix a broken business: so we ALSO work with clients to find the right workflow and cultural change to make them fly.

� Our Vision for 2015 �When we picture General Products at the end of the year, what do we see?

We are helping a select group of 15-20 clients grow their businesses by using Bibliocloud to reduce their administrative burden & improve their efficiency

We are providing a personal service, high-quality code, and measurable results to our clients, with a proven and efficient implementation process

We are working with clients and partners who value & promote efficiency, pride, and doing things right

We are efficient, reliable, flexible, and a joy to work with.

We have enough revenue to grow our business to the next stage

� Our Three Unique Attributes �

We are knowledgeable about real-world publishing

Our product is built for the future

We have a nimble & responsive service model

Over the page are some client profiles. They're made up, but they're drawn from

our experiences with the sorts of people we like to work with. The profiles articulate our

clients' fears and concerns, questions and pain-points.

MEET: LouiseAge: 46Job: Sales & marketing directorWorldview: “My team needs help to meet these ever-increasing sales budgets.”

Motivation:

Looking for: If we have a system, we can see for ourselves what the status of books are and get the AIs ourselves. It would help us to see where problems might arise. And we can keep our data straight so we can focus on selling.

Support from the rest of the business. We have hugely ambitious sales targets, which we are excited about but we can’t achieve them if books, blads, covers and AIs aren’t ready on time.

We need decent, timely data from editorial. I also hate duplicating data which has led to issues and wasted time -- one team member creates the ppt for Waterstones, another for Amazon and they’re practically identical.

Changing prices, producing the catalogue, finding out which pub dates have moved, getting the latest cover, tracking copies: all this takes ages now and would be solved by a decent system that people commit to using.

How hard will it be to use? People need to maintain this data properly if we’re to get the benefits.

Can it produce AIs tailored to our campaigns?

I used Biblio3 in my previous job and it was fine. Why should I switch to you?

Client profile

PAIN POINTS: HER QUESTIONS:

Client profile

MEET: BillAge: 55Job: Finance controllerWorldview: “We need to put in processes because various departments here are out of control. ”

Motivation:

Looking for: There are only so many financial levers. Price, volume, and cost are the main ones. We are pressured on price, say the sales team, and they’re struggling to reach the volume we used to get. Cost is the best option open to us and we need to control it.

Controls. We need to agree processes and stick to them. We’re spending more than we need to just through sloppy business management. We need a simple but solid system and the discipline to use it.

I see the effect of poor processes through the invoices which come to me for sign off. Our procurement is sloppy and I’m sure we’re not getting best value. Certainly I see huge advances paid where the net receipts are £50k.

My editorial colleagues seem to be motivated by ‘winning the auction’ and not actually making money. I need to introduce the basics of the P&L to the wider business so they appreciate the effect of their actions. We need to agree budgets and stick to them.

How much will it cost?

Will it interface with my other financial systems?

I used Biblio3 in my previous job and it was fine. Why should I switch to you?

PAIN POINTS: HIS QUESTIONS:

Client profile

MEET: AstridAge: 48Job: Publishing directorWorldview: “Sales are under pressure and we have to grow. And to do that, we have to get organised. ”

Motivation:Looking for:

There are plenty of opportunities -- more ebooks, partnerships, exploring apps -- but we aren’t organised enough I can’t afford more headcount. And I need the time to keep current and not miss out on what technology can do.

A way through this crisis. Shops are closing, digital is in flux. We need to make more money. I need a clear plan to deliver results, fast.

My team are drowning and I’m not going to start typing in metadata. I need to give them the tools to start pulling their weight.

I don’t particularly like or understand computers, so I get exasperated when it’s not immediately obvious how a system works. I need it to be logical, but to reflect how the real world works, warts and all.

This is going to cost thousands and the whole point is that we’re already under pressure. I can’t afford a big systems project.

How will we get all our backlist data in? If that was organised already enough to import it into a system, there wouldn’t be a problem!

This isn’t IBM or Kloptek. Am I going to get fired for choosing a small company’s software? How do I justify it to the board and cover my back?

PAIN POINTS: HER QUESTIONS:

MEET: CharlotteAge: 28Job: Editorial assistantWorldview: “I didn’t think my dream job would be so administrative -- and it’s going to get worse”

Job: Editorial assistant

Motivation:

Looking for:

I don’t have time to do my actual job because I’m always drowing in admin -- and if management hope to grow the business, I won’t be able to cope.

A system that saves me time, stops me making mistakes and gives me a chance to get some Actual Work done.

I am working extra hours already. And as we set out our growth plans, I know that we’ll drop the ball because we can’t cope with the current volume.

I don’t have the training or expertise to manage ONIX data, or to do project management. I need tools and training.

I want to do the job I was hired for. The way things are going, I’m going to end up hating books and authors.

Won’t a new system just add to the workload? How will I learn how to use it? At least now I have my spreadsheets.

How will we get all our backlist data in? If that was organised already enough to import it into a system, there wouldn’t be a problem!

What if I want to do a bespoke AI for a book -- will the system be flexible enough? Am I going to be constrained?

Client profile

PAIN POINTS: HER QUESTIONS:

Client profile

MEET: FrankAge: 52Job: Production controllerWorldview: “If they want me to use POD and expand into other countries, I need investment. ”

Motivation:Looking for:I have tried hard to get my colleagues to adopt sensible project management approaches, but they just don’t listen. And now they’re saying they want to grow by 150% . I’m putting my foot down -- we have to do things my way.

Something which supports what I’ve been saying all along, which is that we need to get organised, because people keep asking me for last minute urgent numbers.

Too many last minute requests, no sense of organisation. And I’m damned if I’m letting people use the scales -- they’ll get it wrong.

I have to admit that my trusty spreadsheet has let me down a few times. It’s all this POD, and reduced stockholding. I need headcount to help me -- or a system, IF it works. We work differently to other companies, though, so it needs to be flexible.

Will other people be able to wreck my data?

Print management is an art and a science. Is the system going to stop me using my talents?

I used Biblio3 in my previous job and it was fine. Why should I switch to you?

PAIN POINTS: HIS QUESTIONS:

If you recognise yourself and your company in any of what's been said, and if you want to find out the answers to the

questions the client profiles pose, then get in touch to see if

we're kindred spirits.

Email emma@bibliocloud.com or call me on 07554 885 365.