Monday, April 25, 2011

Dreams


"Every man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds... Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain (1835-1910)
I saw this quote this morning in another source and it really sparked my mind to thinking. No matter where you are in life you probably ask yourself, "What if I did this or that when I had that chance." Often the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful is the motivation to follow a dream to achievement. Let's face it a lot of companies fail or suffer when their leader has no vision. Just operating under a survive day to day mentality or just trying to hold will lock your company in a steady decline until the owners decide a change is in order. Hopefully before its too late. If you have one of those jettison them quick because they aren't changing anytime soon.
In every market it is always the visionaries that take their companies to the next level because they see three steps ahead and have thought through the possible outcomes. They know where they are steering the ship. When the staff sees that confidence and direction of their leader they begin to believe as well.It is no longer a job or career it becomes a mission.
If you're in publishing today we all know it wasn't because you wanted to get rich.It was because of your love for the written,audio or electronic word. My hats off to you as I know the times are getting harder. You will see though among you the visionaries, the wacky dreamers that will make their way through it and even excel because of their vision. They are the ones looking for the opportunities even today.
My point in all this is simple, no matter where you are in the workforce believe in yourself and find what it takes to achieve your dreams and goals. To the leaders of the publishing industry who are seem to not be able to steer through the storm, there is an old saying, lead, follow or get out of the way.

iPUB can help you with your dream. http://www.ipubtech.com/
Steve Becker

Monday, April 18, 2011

Data Synchronization


Imagine your at a concert and the singer is singing a different songs than the musicians are playing. Everyone would walk out. Let's jump to your company. Do you customers have the same retail prices that you have on your books? Does you website or are you waiting for a webmaster to get you caught up? Wait for it, wait for it, no I don't think so. If you want your customers to give you their valuable time you need to be the vendor that doesn't cost them time and money.
I know what your thinking, in a perfect world you could do all that or if you could afford a module from your business system people and the data services people you be right there. I'm here to tell you although the world will never be perfect,you do have a friend in the business.No we can't control what those data services charge but syncing your data to them is why the iPUB advantage is the only way to go.
http://www.ipubtech.com/V2/iPUB_Functionality/v2Web_Data_Synch.html

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Whats Important


“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
Dale Carnegie
I was talking with my daughter-in-law (the daughter I always wanted) last night about some friends who are going through a real tragedy right now. Our conversation had me asking myself do I spend enough time on the important things in life. Will people say one day he was a great guy but not be able mention a good thing I did? He was a good salesman(you know they will say that, LOL). Do we spend all our time trying to be successful or just make it in these troubled times that we forget God, family , and others.
What I'm trying to say is that although you may enjoy your work, don't allow it to be what defines you.
I am a Christian, husband, father,grandfather,son,a neighbor and friend that enjoys and works in sales.
What are you? Ask yourself today and try to do something nice for anyone today that you wouldn't normally do. Before you know it you'll be doing two or three good things. You can affect your street, your street affect your neighborhood,your neighborhood your city and so on.

Steve Becker
iPRO Business Systems
steve@ipubsoftware.com
www.ipubsoftware.com

Friday, March 25, 2011

Read the Instructions


My dad once told me that he had a teacher once handout a test and told the class, "Read all the instructions before starting the test". Many of the kids immediately, confident in their knowledge started feverishly through the questions while a few read the instructions,put their pencils down and sat quietly.When those who had confidently answered all the questions finished the teacher asked if everyone was done and then said to the kids, "Let's go over the instructions". The instructions talked about how to fill in bubbles and stuff like that, but finally, the last instruction was do not answer these questions this is a test in following instructions, put your pencil down and sit quietly.
Are we so sure of our knowledge and experience that we feel we don't need instructions(data)to tell us the direction to take our companies. Can you even get that data? I've seen those that thought the gray in the hair assured them of wisdom and those who thought that a degree meant they were brilliant but ignored the market to follow their own confidence and took their companies backwards.
iPUB through its state of the art Pubvision system with numerous custom reports can help you map your company's future.http://www.ipubtech.com/.
"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is."
C. S. Lewis



Steve Becker
iPRO Business Systems

Monday, March 21, 2011

Change


I heard a marketing guy once say "Isn't it funny that many businesses say I can afford to advertise but the same businesses can afford a going out of business sign".
In the same way as a business owners we have to ask ourselves is it the way that we operate the business that keeps us from affording what we need to improve. A self fulfilling prophesy, I can't improve because I need to improve. Mechanics need proper tools to work on cars,painters need brushes, and politicians just need a camera pointed at them.
You as a business owner need the tools to help you thrive in these lean times. iPUB can help you become more efficient and market responsive.To find out how iPUB can help you check us out at http://www.ipubtech.com/.

Monday, March 14, 2011

AR Yeah It's That Important


Book returns and inefficient billing -- nothing can snarl up your
bottom line faster. iPUB makes sure you account for every
return and track every invoice to collect exactly what you are
owed.

Your publishing business depends on reconciling book returns to
control cash flow. At the same time you need to know your invoices
are received and paid promptly.

In a perfect world, bookstores take credit only for books that they actually return. But in the real world, we all know that many invoices are paid with credits charged-back from book returns that either are slow to arrive or never arrive at all.

iPUB tracks these credits and reconciles them against books actually returned. So you know exactly what you are owed, iPUB tracks each transaction, invoice and payment.
http://www.ipubtech.com/V2/iPUB_Functionality/v2ar.html

Friday, March 11, 2011

What's In Your Warehouse?


Without enough inventory, sales will suffer and the bottom line
weakens. Inventory control is critical to a publisher's profitability.

Inventory is tricky – too little and you might miss a sales opportunity;
too much and it creates a glut of books you can't get rid of. It is crucial to maintain accurate numbers of what is on the shelves. Knowing what has sold and what is in the warehouse or with distributors can make or break your company.

iPUB's real-time inventory gives you all the information you need to make informed decisions.

Features

* Automated inventory updates
* Sophisticated algorithms track sales history and project
supply longevity
* Reorder and reprint reminders
* Virtual warehouse tracking systems

Publisher Benefits

* Every book order entry displays and highlights available inventory.

* Each sale automatically adjusts inventory as well as royalties, commissions and sales analysis information.

* Predict how long supplies will last based on actual sales history figures.

* Built-in alerts tell you when it is time to reorder or reprint.

* Know exactly how much inventory is off-site; at each distributor and at each warehouse.
http://www.ipubtech.com/

Monday, March 7, 2011

What is EDI?


Electronic Data Interchange- You are a publisher regardless of your size and you just received a letter from a major chain saying you now must receive orders through EDI. You think to yourself I can now automate order entry and invoicing. This is going to save me money.Then you find out the costs involved.
You see my friends this paperless society will put a dent in your bank account. When I looked into EDI for a company I worked for I discovered that EDI services are basically little to no cost for the retailer and supported almost completely by the publishers. Then you the publisher must buy hefty license fees for each vendor you wish to work with. Then every document you receive comes with a fee. The prices range from some EDI companies with high document fees and low license fees to the opposite. In the end you justify the expense because it is going to save you time, postage, and paper. Then you ask your software company that you operate with about helping you with bringing in the EDI documents.
" You need an EDI module", I was told, to the tune of over $20,000.I like trees but not that much. This doesn't have to happen to you. Yes EDI is going to cost you quite a bit for using an EDI mailbox but your software company doesn't have to hammer you with module fees for bringing in the data.
You need the iPUB Advantage. http://www.ipubtech.com/ or call 1-866-482-4408.Ext 701.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Royalty help has arrived.


Imagine waking up and strolling into your office. You have a fresh, hot roasted cup of your favorite Starbucks blend. You sit down at your desk, open up your Outlook and a reminder flashes before you. TIME to pay out royalties! No matter. You couldn’t be the least bit concerned.

Reports come streaming in from channel partners. The formats are markedly different. Some are excel spreadsheets, while others are extracted data, and yet others are the product of proprietary home-grown reporting systems. With the push of a button, you upload each of the data sets into your royalty engine and in a matter of seconds you know exactly what your authors are owed. Sounds nice, right? But is this how your business operates today?

Why are Royalty Payments so Problematic?

From the outside it looks pretty straight forward. As a publisher, you negotiate a deal with an author, draw up a contract, leverage sales channels, get reports from those channels, and then pay out royalties. Simple, right? If only this were the case.

The Real Story

Here is the unfortunate reality. Every contract is different and the terms can be quite complex. As a publisher you may have to pay based on a sliding scale, a fixed price, different time intervals, volume thresholds, and the list goes on. And on top of that, you have to make sure you fulfill on every single contract covenant or trouble could ensue. Now for problem #2...

The book is now published and in the hands of many partners, all of whom are making sales. Suddenly, these partners are sending you sales reports and you have to determine royalties owed.

The problem is every report you get is different. To make matters worse, these reports leave you swimming in a sea of data, grasping at ways to roll it all up into a simple, easy to understand royalty statement.

Automation is the Key

The fact of the matter is the royalty process involves too much manual labor. If you were using Giallo however, nearly 95% of the royalty payment process would be automated, saving you time and money.

Introducing the Giallo Royalty System
With the click of a button, Giallo will:

* Import sales from all your sources
* Verify all the data
* Report on ‘royalty liability’ to be booked to the general ledger
* Calculate the royalty payments owed in minutes
* Run reports to analyze sales, review trends, and estimate reprint quantities

With over 30 years experience in the Publishing industry we have spoken to thousands of people about their business issues. The 2 largest issues that always come up are managing the royalty payment process, and finding “Good” publishing management software that doesn’t cost $50,000 or more.

Gone are the days where you need to have the IT infrastructure to house all your software applications. In today’s world, you can operate in the cloud. You can access the applications you need only at the times you need them.

With Giallo, we have built a royalty solution that lives in the cloud. You don’t need to own any hardware. You don’t need an IT staff. You don’t even have to input your royalty contracts, because we will do it for you. All you need to do is login, and import your vendor sales reports.
http://www.royaltymgmt.com/
Get the iPUB Advantage. 1-866-482-4408 Ext 701

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Sales Analysis


Using a system without great sales analysis is like having a boat with no rudder. You'll soon be sitting broken on the rocks.It doesn't have to happen to your business.
Get the iPUB Advantage www.ipubsoftware.com.

Have you ever wondered who is buying your books? Are you awash in meaningless sales data that prevent you from identifying trends or making sound publishing decisions? Your business cannot survive unless you have access to comprehensive reports and sales information.

Inadequate or unreliable report capabilities are disastrous to a publisher’s business. You must know exactly who is buying your books and help your sales force identify viable customers. Trends and projections also are vital to growth. Moreover, you cannot afford to waste a single dime of your marketing budget – every cent must be strategically spent for maximum return.

Features

* Decision Support
* Sales Analysis
* Comprehensive Reports
* Sales Integration
* Easy “Build-Your-Own” Reports interface
* Trend Analysis
* Period-to-Period Comparisons

Publisher Benefits

* Easily identify top customers, titles and market segments

* Quickly analyze sales data; generate comprehensive monthly trend analysis reports and period-to-period sales comparisons

* Identify key sales opportunities and stay ahead of dwindling supply with inventory reports that are as easy as a click of the mouse

* Real-time sales numbers display in every customer’s record, tracking purchase quantities by month, quarter or year, titles purchased, complimentary books sent, books returned and more

* Create engaging graphic presentations and save your reports in multiple formats, like Excel and pdf

* Import sales data from virtually any internal or external system to create AR and sales reporting

Contact us now. Email: steve@ipubsoftware.com or call 1-866-482-4408

Monday, February 28, 2011

Order Processing


In today's economy can you afford to waste employee hours and productivity?
iPUB's order processing enables you to enter orders efficiently with maximum flexibility in the minimum amount of time.Regardless of their source – whether by phone, fax, Internet or EDI– orders are entered and processed quickly and accurately.
iPUB's quick order keeps order entry time to a minimum.
Wherever possible, defaults from the product and customer master
are used to reduce the input time for an order. Order Processing
can also take advantage of complex pricing and discounting. It is
possible to use future pricing dates, or special source pricing, to track your marketing dollars. It's time to get the iPUB advantage. Visit us at http://www.ipubtech.com/ or call 1866-482-4408 ext 1 for a no obligation demo.

Friday, February 25, 2011


Whether you are a small, one-author publisher or growing into a large, diversified enterprise, the business software you choose should know the publishing business – specifically, your business. It must be easy to use while it stays current with changing business conditions. At the same time you should expect it to make you more efficient by providing immediate access to data intelligence,thereby giving you a competitive advantage.
Selecting and implementing a business support system is far more than a simple software preference. It could be the most important business decision you will ever make. The right business system can propel you to success; the wrong system can stifle your growth.Think about how the publishing industry has changed over the past 15 years. You simply cannot do business today like you did then.Competition is stiffer, Profit margins are tighter. Consumer tastes have changed. Your operation must be lean and efficient, your distribution process controlled, your turnaround fast and your inventory projections accurate to ensure profitability on every book
that leaves your warehouse. You need the integrated feature-rich capability of iPUB, the business system for publishers.www.ipubsoftware.com

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

New Technology


Working with the most contemporary technology will give you the best chance to enhance your bottom line. Many publishing systems today were built back in the 70s, before Windows or the Internet! Some have been refurbished, reshaped, and modified to work with a mouse or look nice on the screen, but the truth is they were built 30 years ago. After decades of patchwork updates the systems are crippled with limited scalability and hard to program changes to achieve functionality. Sadly many publishers don't realize they are buying 30 year old technology or that they are trying to enhance their operations with technology that is obsolete! Modern publishers are looking for a system built in the 21st century with current, contemporary technology.
It's time to make the move to IPUB.
wwww.ipubtech.com or call 1-866-897-4782

Steve Becker