Top 5 Title Monitoring Mistakes…and How to Avoid Them

Does it ever seem difficult, or maybe even impossible, to successfully monitor your titles once they’re out in the digital marketplace? Do you ever feel defeated, unable to catch the issues and opportunities that are passing you by?

Monitoring your titles on retail websites can often seem like a full-time job and, even then, can feel like you’re only scratching the surface of titles that need to be cared for, despite consistent effort. Enter Eloquence on Alert!

“…a ridiculously awesome tool.” – Joe Hauer, Barcharts Publishing

Eloquence on Alert is an affordable and advanced title monitoring tool that helps you easily take control of your data. But how does it work?

Create regular alerts and notifications that specifically matter to you and solve problems before they escalate.
Boost your sales by reacting faster to critical changes that may cost sales, such as Buy button disappearances, third party seller activity, incorrect pricing, cover image errors, and more!
Receive hard-to-access information from major retail sites, like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads
Detect trends and promptly respond to rating changes, reviews, and other audience behavior.

Read below to learn more about five mistakes publishers might be making with their title performance monitoring, and how Eloquence on Alert can help.

Mistake #1: Making Assumptions

Many publishers assume that once they have set up their titles and sent out their metadata, they can just move onto the next title launch and not worry about anything else. Nothing can be further from the truth! Titles in the marketplace are constantly changing and data problems are extremely common.

Don’t assume that online retailers will correctly maintain the information you send. Here are some assumptions we’ve seen publishers make:

I sent data and stock for my title to Amazon, so it is discoverable and available for sale
My price changes get ingested without any issues
My partners are all showing the correct cover art
That title I canceled has been removed from online stores

The unfortunate reality is that metadata, prices, cover images, and more can change on retail sites at any time. Eloquence on Alert can help you monitor these changes so your data is always accurate.

Mistake #2: Missing Trending Titles

According to NPD, backlist titles make up nearly 70% of all book sales in the United States; however, for many publishers, backlist titles are rarely, if ever, given the time of day. As a result, publishers often miss out on tremendous opportunities that could have led to more sales.

Some publishers do watch their backlist, but only by checking sales reports each month, which means you could potentially miss important trends, also leading to missed sales.

Eloquence on Alert helps you catch sales rank changes, allowing you to capitalize on these key trends, and also helps you manage stock issues by tracking sudden sales jumps to make sure you don’t miss any potential sales!

“With Eloquence on Alert, we have finally been able to manage our backlist titles. It’s amazing how Eloquence on Alert can actually show us the sales trends as they happen.” – Brandy LaMotte, Tuttle Publishing

Mistake #3: Doing Manual Metadata Checks in Browser Tabs

One of the most important tasks of a metadata manager is to visually review titles on retail sites on a regular basis, ensuring the data is correctly displayed on the product page. The problem is that this manual metadata checking is often limited, overlooked, or ignored because it typically involves opening countless browser tabs, which can be a pain to manage.

Eloquence on Alert’s Site Explorer tool makes this process easy and straightforward. Seamlessly jump from one title to the next and view live retail product pages on one platform, with the ability to quickly add tags to titles you’d like to revisit later.

It’s that easy!

Mistake #4: Missing Reviews and Rating Changes

Reviews and ratings are some of the most accurate indicators of how a title is doing in the marketplace. If your ratings start dropping drastically, there’s a high chance there’s something wrong with the quality of your product.

These potential issues are highly variable, such as a bad print run resulting in missing pages, unreadable ebook quality issues, and more. Don’t lose out on sales by ignoring these shifts.

Mistake #5: Missing Third Party Seller Activity

“Just like other publishers, we have big swings in third party seller activity. Is that just commerce, or is it nefarious? After using Eloquence on Alert for the last few years, now I know what the patterns are and what to expect.” – Anne Patota, Guilford Press

Third Party Seller activity can sometimes indicate a title has been counterfeited, or that you have a stock or data issue. Eloquence on Alert tracks third party sellers that take your Buy Box, and provides a dedicated interface where you can see how often that happens for your titles and where you can track your investigations into each seller.

Are any of these mistakes familiar? If so, know you are not alone. These are common issues that publishers of all sizes encounter. The good news is that Eloquence on Alert is here to help!

To schedule a demo today, email Joshua Tallent, Director of Sales & Education (joshua@firebrandtech.com)