Spark Collaborative

PROJECT PURPOSE

From Q2 2019 to the end of Q2 2021, Spark Collaborative created a book entitled The Victory of Greenwood. The book was published on June 2nd, 2021. Because of the COVID pandemic, the author (and 50% Spark Collaborative owner) was unable to participate in any live events, in-person speaking engagements, and could only conduct one book signing event. These limitations negatively impacted Spark Collaborative's ability to sell the book and make a profit. Moreover, the time and effort to promote the book through non-tradition means meant that we were unable to create an audible (audiobook) version of The Victory of Greenwood. This audiobook would reach a wider audience and help promote the project further. The audiobook production itself would provide contract employment to a project manager, voice talent, audio engineers, editors, and marketing staff. We intend to hire as much of this talent as possible locally and/or provide opportunities to voice talent who are from Tulsa, OK but may be living in another location. This project would allow us to recover lost income, hire local talent, and provide more experience for those who seek opportunities working in the publishing industry here in Oklahoma.

EVIDENCE

None

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

According to the International Publishers Association (IPA), the book publishing industry suffered greatly due to the covid-19 pandemic due to the closure of bookshops, cancellation of book events, and general uncertainty/industry disruption. Book sales were down 10% in 2020 from the previous year. The IPA recommends that government economic stimulus packages be used to help publishers and booksellers survive the economic crisis. A market research report from IBISWorld indicates that "operators in the Book Publishing industry are expected to continue to struggle over the next five years, even as the rest of the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic." Publisher's Weekly, another book industry expert, indicates that e-book and audiobook purchases are rising, while print book sales continue to experience supply chain and other challenges. Media production companies (audio and video production) are also struggling during the pandemic, and we hope to help this industry as well.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

Spark Collaborative currently has a website for The Victory of Greenwood, as well as social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Our intent is to publish the audiobook version of The Victory of Greenwood through Ingram distributing, on Amazon.com's audible platform. We would measure book sales as well as audience reception and reviews via reports from Ingram. We would measure the marketing and audience reception to the audiobook via social media and website analytics. We would also create a report of the local talent hired, and hours worked.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

One-time project will not need continued funding