Oklahoma based book publisher, Education Development Corporation recently stopped selling on Amazon and other big stores like Costco and Sam’s Club in favor of “an army of home sellers”.
The home selling division, Usborne Books & More currently has 7,000 consultants selling books through an MLM business model.
The home division is a multi-level marketing organization, in which amateur sales reps around the country not only peddle books but recruit new representatives into the program. Mary Ann Wartman signed on 20 years ago with a goal of providing books for her own children and maybe springing for pizza a few times a month. Gradually, she rose through the ranks, from team leader to senior team leader, executive leader to senior executive leader. She is now one of a handful of directors, with a salesforce of a few thousand in her “downline” – all passionately devoted to EDC and its titles. In a good year, she pulls in a six-figure income, she says, money she and her husband credit with helping them adopt their daughter Adelie, a special needs child from China.
Honestly, I think there is only more news like this to come. There are some industries that really need to compress and relieve themselves from very high overhead. MLM is a proven business model.
Good for them. The book business is a tough business for publishers and authors alike. The Kindle and eBook market has crushed the price and profit for most authors. Now, most people don’t want to pay more than $2.99 for a Kindle book, regardless of quality.
If Usborne can build up their sales force there is no doubt in my mind that they will do very well.
Great post!