Making the optimum use of social and digital space!

Digital publishing market in India is still a very small traction, except for Academics which is growing at a faster pace. The trade segment of Digital publishing in India is 2%, of which DC Books share is 1- 2%,” says, Ravi DeeCee of DC Books.

An organization which has a strong market presence, DC Books has successfully promoted its authors and has prominent titles each crossing over 100,000 copies. DC Books is number 2, after Penguin Random House, India in Nielsen Book Scan with 12 percent market share of total bestsellers in India and descry the lion’s share of intellectual property as well as content suited for the Indian market and publish approximately 1500 books every year. The publishing house is making optimum use of digital medium for the promotion of their books. Let’s see how.

The DC Books News Portal (www.dcbooks.com)

Delivering unique and pro-literature news on a daily basis in both Malayalam and English languages keep the portal platforms engaging and informative to the literature fans. The portals also run Podcasts, columns, interviews etc of featured writers in lieu with news of latest releases.

Optimal use of social media

Facebook: With almost half a million followers on the main account and 6 sub accounts to enhance a better organised promotion and reach, DC Books is one of the finest promoters of Literature content and books online in the country. DC Books’ account is verified by Facebook. The editors of DC Books play a more than active role in promotions with their presence in strong readers forums, groups and communities that account to almost 150 properties connecting to over 30 million people.

Youtube: “With 1000 plus videos on the verified official youtube channel, we have garnered more than 1.5 billion views across our videos. With almost 3 videos uploaded a week, the youtube channel is closing in on a lakh subscribers,” tells Ravi. A visual representation done by DC Books of the famous poem “sakhavu” has garnered over 7.5 million views and is still, after 3 years , garnering steady and increasing viewership.

“Digital medium is a key to marketing and promotions and publishers should make the best use of it,”

Instagram: With an active user base that has a predominant younger crowd, DC Books has almost 20,000 followers with weekly visits to the page that crosses 1000. With active stories and interesting pop quirks and contests, the Instagram page is one of the most active publishing house accounts on Instagram in terms of stories and interactions. “With bundle sales and offers communicated mainly through our stories, the click through rates are staggering with 60 percent of the leads getting converted. Instagram has proved a powerful platform for cross promotions and influencer marketing playing a key role in the growth of the page and thereby to sales,” tells Ravi.

Twitter: Often capitalising on trending hashtags and engaging in conversations with influencers and audience base, DC Books twitter is highly active and engaging to the wide customer base and followers.

Other digital domains…

Whatsapp Groups & Readers Forum: With multifarious groups(40) and numerous Readers forum (25), specific to geography, readers profile and interests, our whatsapp groups trigger powerful debates, conversations and reviews about newly released books. This keeps the promotion side of a newly released book, event or even news reach relevant target group at almost an impossibly organic range.

Whatsapp Broadcast: “Straight out extension of the DC Books Portal, our news releases reach the subscribers at the comforts of their phone with an option to unsubscribe whenever they please,” tells Ravi.

Social Media News Aggregators: “DC Books is the only publishing house providing content to news aggregator platforms like helo, dailyhunt etc. These platforms have more than a billion active users and getting literature news and content in the vernacular space along with the usual cultural, socio political breaking news and other similar click baits ensure a massive boost for literature in the Malayalam vernacular space,” tells Ravi. “This has also directly contributed into revenue share with banner ads and scroll ads bringing in lateral income from these news platforms.

“Digital medium is a key to marketing and promotions and publishers should make the best use of it,” concludes Ravi.