Henley Point Newsletter: Winter 2025 Issue

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Winter Issue 2025

This issue takes 6 minutes to read

Podcasts in the News

Video Podcasting

Video podcasts are the new thing, right? To paraphrase an early 80s song, will video kill the podcast star? Not quite (since video didn’t even kill the radio star). Video podcasts are “not equally sensible and beneficial for all podcasts” concludes a group of German podcast marketers and publishers who produced a white paper explaining the benefits of audio-only podcasts. Advantages include better distribution and monetization, and audio podcasts have a 150% higher listen-through rate than video podcasts. Phew, so we can continue producing and recording audio-only podcasts while still wearing our pajamas.

White House Briefing Room

The US government is opening the White House briefing room to podcasters, and will create a dedicated seat in the first row for such media representatives. Now that tells us something about the impact and stature of podcasting.

Social Commerce: How a Self-Published Book Broke ‘All the Rules’ and Became a Best Seller

Keila Shaheen is a 25-year-old author of The Shadow Work Journal. Shaheen self-published the book in 2021. To date, she has sold more than 1 million copies. How? TikTok and the support of influencers.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, upwards of 70% of Shaheen’s sales derive from TikTok’s retail platform. Influencers on the site have also helped promote the book, and they, in turn, earn a 15 percent commission for each sale. In other words, this self-published author didn’t just harness the power of e-commerce – she tapped into and harnessed the power of social commerce.

One influencer on TikTok originally bought her book (which is a non-fiction, self-help book, by the way). That influencer made a video about the book, and from there things exploded.

Of course, you have to have good content, an appealing package, and a decent promotional plan needs to be in place, all of which can necessitate a cash outlay. Yet, without a physical store location or a traditional publishing house and its related business models, the publishing world is slowly being up-ended by social commerce platforms like TikTok. This story and its original New York Times article came to our attention through Reddit, another social platform based on sharing content and ideas.

Content Creators and Storytellers By-passing Traditional Publishing

Telling Your Story – Is a Book the Right Vehicle for your Content?

The aspiring writer once assembled a type-written manuscript, begged agents for representation, and politely pleaded with publishing houses to consider taking on their books. The end-result was a signed deal, a cash outlay, and the joy of seeing one’s work on the shelves of a bookstore.

Several years ago a few online platforms appeared and provided an alternate route for the self-published author. For many people, however, the cash investment was still prohibitive.

Then the likes of Amazon KDP, Barnes and Noble and Ingram Spark offered a place to format, upload and publish books, and tap into retail and distribution networks. The best part for the aspiring writer? The services were very affordable or free.

Every writer’s work must still be edited and proofed (some of which can now be accomplished with online services or programs). But with the templates provided, and the ability to upload an entire book by simply clicking a button, the publishing world is open to a far greater spectrum of people.

Anyone can now tell their story with a book. Everything from a company’s special edition book to a family’s history, an academic thesis to a collection of poetry and children’s stories, and even high-end, glossy, hardcover cookbooks.

With the choices of hardcover, softcover, e-book and audio book, online publishing companies are transforming a writer’s vision into an available product in a fraction of the time required by traditional publishing houses, and at a fraction of the cost. And with the right promotion, social media perseverance and user engagement (ie. reviews!), the potential for sales and revenue very quickly open up.

Another benefit is found in the print-on-demand services, or POD, offered by such companies. POD circumvents the need to print bulk orders of a book, instead only printing the exact number purchased—even one at a time. While authors certainly can order far greater quantities, these newer publishing services eliminate the risk associated with authors having to deal with boxes of unsold or surplus product. If physical product is your choice, you only purchase the number of copies you want, and pretty much at the manufacturer’s cost.

So if you or your team decide that a book is the right direction for you to communicate your content and your story, explore some of the options discussed here to determine if online, digital and POD services are the right fit for you. And you might decide that you don’t need physical books, and instead only want e-books, an option that includes the services mentioned above as well as several that specialize in digital-specific publishing (including Apple, Google Play, and Draft2Digital).

What the Heck is Social Commerce?

While online shopping has exploded in volume and popularity, especially since 2019, it’s the explosion in innovation that is really interesting. An exciting breed of innovation is when we see a convergence of worlds, an integration of digital realms. This is the breeding ground of social commerce.

Put simply, social commerce happens when someone sells something directly on social media. The entire experience, from locating what the customer wants, to comparison shopping, purchase, check-out and letting others know about your choice, all takes place on one platform. This is the integration that makes social commerce truly innovative.

E-commerce, on the other hand, has been around much longer. This occurs when, say, a store puts its catalogue of products on a website or app. The customer visits that specific location, selects, purchases and checks-out. The customer closes the app or leaves the website.

Social commerce places the customer at the centre of everything, and there is no need for the customer or user to leave. In contrast, e-commerce offers a technology or service online, allows the customer to visit, but, like a bricks-and-mortar store, provides no further incentive or reason to remain in that location once the transaction is complete. Social commerce is a more fulsome, more robust, form of e-integration. E-commerce lacks the social media experience, whereas social commerce blends e-commerce with social media experiences. Platforms like TikTok, and increasingly YouTube and Instagram, lead the pack on social commerce.

The Social Function of Henley Point

Every now and then the directors and principals of Henley Point become excited about helping craft, package and tell a story outside of our normal client relationships. Two such examples of this work include a former Member of Parliament in Canada and a Canadian-based registered charity that provides training opportunities for people with disabilities.

The Life of a Servant is a podcast by Dennis Mills, who served for 16 years as the Member of Parliament in Canada’s House of Commons for an east-downtown Toronto electoral district. Dennis’ objective in this program is to advance conversation around public policy issues – so it’s educational – and to engage people, especially younger people, to consider running for elected office – and in this respect it’s motivational, how-to-oriented and advocacy-driven.

The podcast was launched in 2023, and its content is non-profit in nature. So, for us, someone who dedicated the prime of his career-years to serving the public is a perfect fit for us to contribute and participate. After all, one good turn deserves another. The content is a blend of re-purposed audio, from interviews and conferences, with original content about current political issues. And, in many ways, each episode is equally filled with rich instructional lessons as one would find in any university or college course on public policy, election campaigns, political representation or public relations. Years ago, many people would advise someone wanting to study for a political science degree to instead simply watch a few episodes of Yes, Minister – we would update that advice for any young political aspirant to simply check out a few episodes of The Life of a Servant.

We couldn’t be happier to have helped put this program together, and to share it with you in this newsletter.

Connect 4 Life: The Podcast is a special donated work produced and published by Henley Point. This program tells the stories of people with disabilities, and how the work of this Canadian charity makes a difference in their lives and livelihoods.

With more than 20 episodes to date, this podcast was launched in November of 2024, and, in that short amount of time, has grown and attracted listeners across Canada and throughout the US, with impressive analytics in Japan and South Africa.

Listeners comment on the compelling nature of the stories, about the frailty and resilience of the human condition, and how our lives can be changed with renewed opportunities. The episodes are inspiring and educational, and offer ways for people to join together and to enhance the economic and social participation of anyone with a disability.

For those of us at Henley Point, whose mission is to help tell a story, to help provide or enhance a voice, we feel this podcast is a great expression of what we do and how we can help make a contribution.

Check out these two programs when you get a chance. And we encourage you to consider how you can help out and make a contribution to some special cause or organization in your community.

Share with Others

Did you find anything in this issue useful or informative in this issue of The Point? If you did, please consider sharing with your network of contacts, asking them to simply subscribe.

The Point is a production of Henley Point. The Point provides information updates and “did you knows” to the world of content creation and promotion.

Henley Point is a Toronto-based company that produces content, helps others develop and manage content, and runs content promotional campaigns. By reaching a desired audience in measurable and lasting ways, our work is defined by Making Content Work! It doesn’t matter whether it’s an idea, a product, a company, an election candidate, a social issue, a political or government relations matter, it’s all about content, and moving that content from its origin to its customer.

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