What Training Tools do the Vendors Offer?

Training is critical to the the success of any book publishing software implementation.

At Kensai when we evaluate software for our clients we rank each training tool on a scale of 0 to 5.

These tools include:

1. Software Documentation
2. Software Tutorials
3. On-Site Training
4. Off-Site Training
5. On-Line Training
6. Flash Tutorials

We also get first hand feedback from the vendor's clients. Is the training effective? Did the employees retain what they learned?

We compile this information to come up with a training score of 0 to 50 for each solution.

Evaluate All of Your Options

Smart publishers evaluate all of the available software options. They don't look at just one or two solutions.

They gather information on all of the available publishing specific software solutions.

They look at best of breed solutions.

And they evaluate hiring programmers to build a custom solution for their needs.

When Random House looked for a rights management solution they talked to all of the vendors. They looked at the PC based Bradbury Phillips Rights 2000 product and they looked at the costs of building their own solution, using SAP. They choose SAP, which their company already used.

Another large publisher followed the same evaluation process and selected the Bradbury Phillips Rights 2000 product.

Both publishers evaluated all of the options available to them and made a decision based on their business requirements.

Evaluate the Vendor's Tech Support

Evaluate the technical support offered by each book publishing software solution you are considering.

1. Tech Support Hours - Does the vendor offer support during your working hours?

2. How many Tech Support Reps per Client?

3. How much does Tech Support Cost?

4. Do they offer training classes?

5. Do they offer on-line training classes? Online training generally costs less than off-premises or on-site training classes.

6. How good is the vendor's documentation?

7. What do current clients say about the vendor's tech support?

PMA AnyBook Software Review

At the Publishers Marketing Association web site you will find a review of AnyBook, a most affordable book publishing software solution for small publishers.

Rights Tracking Software

Two well known, and very affordable desktop based solutions for tracking sales of intellectual property; such as translation rights and permissions, are;

Rights 2000 with an up-to-date Explorer window interface. Suitable for publishers, packagers and agents. Holds details of interest and submissions, contracts and sub-rights monies. Extensive reports and analyses include chasing overdue submissions, monies due, overdue royalty statements, due contract dates and reversions, projected income and bookfair reports. Invoices can be generated and a Royalty Ledger is maintained. Exports to Mailmerge, Excel and HTML. Available in MS Access or SQL versions. Available from Bradbury Phillips.

Another solution is That's Rights.That's Rights! is a desktop application that helps you manage and drive your rights activities. Designed primarily for publishers, That's Rights! is for anyone who buys OR sells translation or subsidiary rights around the globe. Available from Thats Right's.

Controlling Expenses via Budgeting

Many managers make the mistake of tracking expenses in a manner that negates any responsbility for managing them.

One example is office supplies. Suppose your annual expenses are $12,000. Would you rather A) Divide the expense among six departments or B) Assign one person responsibility for managing this expense.

The correct answer is B. Why? People are more likely to actively manage large expenses ($12,000) than smaller ones ($2,000).

As a general rule you should not have a General Ledger Account for any expense with a project yearly expense of less than $1000.

Controlling Freight Costs

Book publishing software that compares the amount charged for shipping to the actual shipping cost can help save you money.

At one client using an outside fulfillment (pick, pack and ship) service we were able to quickly write a report that showed invoices where the actual freight charge was greater than the invoiced amount. By segmenting this list we found that promotional copies were being mailed via UPS for $6 to $8 a book.

By switching the shipping method for promotional copies to media mail; a service of the USPS (United States Post Office) , they cut their cost per shipment by 60% and saved $24,000 a year.

How was this possible? The fulfillment service sent their software a file with the invoice number, shipping date, tracking number and actual freight cost for each days' shipments. If they were processing the fulfillment in house they would have their internal shipping manifest system (UPS Worldship for example) send back similar information to their internal information system.