January is the colossal month of all months to generate lists. Whether it be a list of how to improve yourself, others, or your product, everyone is interested in reading last years do’s and don’ts and motivating themselves to make 2008 really count. So, we thought that a list of the most important highlights of 2007 would help you to prepare for the New Year.

1. Direct, Online Sales (the New Distribution Channel): More and more consumers feel comfortable buying products online especially as they do not have to duck and dive through traffic and stores to get the items they want (plus they are delivered to the door). Even those individuals who feel uncomfortable using their CC online can now get pay-as-you-go cards from their local drug store. So, sell your book to online retailers who stock general titles, as well as those who cater to a niche market. They have unlimited shelf-space for books and will more likely offer your book to consumers. You can then use these sales figures to get your book into brick and mortar stores.

2. E-book Readers and E-books: With the Internet playing such an enormous role in boosting online sales, companies are constantly looking for new ways to reach consumers through innovative techniques. E-book readers have been out for a few years, but this year they've particularly taken off! With e-book sales jumping by 24% alone last year, it has finally come time for technology giants to take notice, and take advantage of sales opportunities. Although readers are in their infancy, just like MP3’s were a few years ago, we can expect continuous growth in this market segment. E-books are easy to sell, especially as you should already have a PDF copy of your books readily available, so make them available to e-book sellers already! Amazon committed an industry no-no by not accepting PDF downloads on their reader, and until they accept PDF’S the cost might outweigh the benefit of making your files compatible with their reader.

3. Book Videos: Video sharing websites are growing in popularity and numerous companies are gearing up to offer television shows online. More and more people are looking to the Internet for entertainment, so it is vital to be following and using trends like this to your advantage. So far, in our own survey about book videos many of the respondents have stated that watching a video about the plot of a book would influence their purchasing decision. Even if you only use pictures, a bit of music and words you can show potential readers your book in 30 seconds: it doesn’t have to be an Oscar worthy! Play around with it, have fun, put it on your site and get some constructive feedback! Why not?

4. New Media and Technology: Aside from e-books the overall popularity of online media means that there will be increased competition, which translates into increased competition for sales. You will need to segment your market, and find niche groups of individuals to target in order to really boost your sales for 2008. Take time, research and figure out your market based on genre and overall message. Print On Demand (POD) has really taken off in the past few years so take advantage of short-run books and less inventory which can translate into lower start-up costs (which also means lower barriers to entry for writers looking to become authors) and therefore more wiggle room to focus on marketing your work.

5. Me-Society Concept: More than ever, we are seeing websites that are geared towards individuals. Consumers have a huge say in which books make it to the shelves and stay there. Gear your marketing efforts to reaching consumers versus bookstores and distributors. This can also be called using a pull market strategy versus push. Meaning that instead of pushing your book down the chain of distribution (and the throats of companies), you are marketing to consumers who will ask for your book and therefore pull it down the chain of distribution (consumers ask for a book, bookstores ask their distributors, etc).

6. Go International!: Although the U.S. generates the largest portion of revenue for publishing worldwide, Europe closely follows and is set to have a higher growth rate over the next five years. Does your distributor have offices in Europe? Why not ask them to test market your book in the UK for 2008? For those of you who published your book in 2007, you can use your sales figures as a selling point to international distributors to see if they will take on your book. They don’t call it the World Wide Web for nothing, the Internet is a wonderful thing, so don’t just limit yourself to U.S. markets.