Stikky backgrounder

Detailed information on our current titles can be found at www.stikky.com. Answered in this document: Answered in this document: What are Stikky books? Why Stikky? How do you choose topics? How do you create a Stikky book? Whats different about the Stikky learning method? How does Stikky compare to other How To books such as Dummies? How do you distribute Stikky books? Why a guarantee and how does it work? Which charities will benefit from the proceeds? What future titles are planned for the series? Are Stikky titles written by experts? What are the Stikky values? Who are Laurence Holt Books?

WHAT ARE STIKKY BOOKS? Stikky books are a new type of How To book. They are for people who want a gentle, fun introduction to a new topic and to learn something valuable in as little as one hour. These people are not well served by existing How To series such as For Dummies, which are too detailed. Our research showed that most people (58%) read less than half of How To books they buy. In contrast, people who read Stikky books often go on to read more detailed books on the same topic, having understood the basics and established for themselves a genuine interest. We believe Stikky is the first innovation in the How To field for over a decade. WHY STIKKY? - It signifies the key benefit: what you learn sticks in your head - Its memorable because its different (I found a great new book - check it out, its called Stikky Night Skies - Stikky with two k's) - It piques the interest of the impulse buyer - so they pick up the book to find out more - It establishes a master brand for the series. In testing, we asked readers to recall the title after a weeka minority could remember the full title but almost all could recall the word Stikky.

145025856.doc, LEH, 5/13/2013

HOW DO YOU CHOOSE TOPICS? We commission research. The first title, Stikky Night Skies, was the result of nearly a years market research. We asked 300 peoplefrom a cross-section of the American publicto select from a list of 20 topics which one they would most like to see a starter guide on. The winner was finding your way around the night sky. Each subsequent topic is a combination of popularity and how well the Stikky method will work for that topic. HOW DO YOU CREATE A STIKKY BOOK? We prepare a draft version of the book and spend several months testing and refining it with volunteer readers. We go page-by-page with them, recording what works and what doesnt, where they get stuck, and where they lose interest. Then we revise the draft and go through the whole process again. This level of testing is highly unusual in the publishing world. Everything about the product is informed by this research: the name, how the content unfolds, even the original format, size, and binding decisions (for instance, we use Otabind, a special binding that makes the book lay flat since test readers found this easier to work with). If a book in development continues to test poorly, we scrap it. So we only launch a title when we know it will work. In pre-launch testing for our first title, 63% of the 300 readers who expressed a preference said they would buy the finished book. 63% is off the chart in market research terms. One reader said she was desperate to read more. We believe in our product: it works; it has near universal appeal; and it is in a genre thats ripe for innovation. WHATS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE STIKKY LEARNING METHOD? 1. It starts with small items of knowledge and builds them into bigger pieces. Most How To books dive quickly into big, complex issues. Taking Stikky Night Skies as an example, Astronomy For Dummies does not talk about finding your way around the night sky until page 43and then it refers you to a star map in an appendix. 2. It makes the learning environment as close as possible the real world environment. So we have few line drawings or cartoons of constellations because, when you look at the sky, there are no line drawings or constellations. Artificial aids may speed learning, but the student learns about the aid instead of the underlying knowledge. 3. We organize the topic around readers goals such as: How do I find which way is North? Most How To books are organized in a structure that makes sense to the experts who write them (planets, stars, telescopes, etc)but experts are seldom the best people to explain their topic to a beginner.

145025856.doc, LEH, 5/13/2013

4. Repetition: 80% of learning is re-learning and testing your knowledge. But How To books not only ignore this, they strive to avoid repeating themselves. The result is readers read a lot and retain little. We give readers lots of opportunitiesincluding a whole epilogueto reinforce what they have learned. HOW DOES STIKKY COMPARE TO OTHER HOW TO BOOKS SUCH AS DUMMIES? We believe Stikky represents a new category of How To books and so it is not a direct substitute for series such as For Dummies and Idiots Guides. With Stikky, readers get a succinct distillation of a topic, delivered to them in a memorable and fun way in about an hour. They may then decide to explore further but, if they decide not to, they will come away knowing more than they did going in. This is appealing to people who have not yet decided they are interested enough to invest many hours in reading a detailed How To book. So we believe Stikky books bring many more people in to a topic they may otherwise decide not to explore. The appeal to them is to be able to impress their friends and family, to teach their kids or just to learn something they always wanted to know. (A side effect is that Stikky books are more likely than traditional How To books to be purchased as a gift or novelty item.) We believe segment is much larger than current purchasers of How To books. For example, if we create a Stikky Photography title it would be aimed at people who take photos but dont want to read a full photography text. They just want some simple advice and tips that they can absorb in an hour with little effort. That is a large proportion of people who own a camera. Oh, and we choose not to insult readers by calling them Dummies. Or Idiots. HOW DO YOU DISTRIBUTE STIKKY BOOKS? We have a there-pronged distribution strategy: - We distribute to the trade through Midpoint Trade (www.midpointtrade.com) and, through them, to Ingram, Baker & Taylor, etc. - We service independent retailers directly (not just book stores: news stands, coffee shops, etc) through our toll free number: 1-888-4-STIKKY. - We have a National Accounts team selling to major non-book chains and creating special editions. WHY A GUARANTEE AND HOW DOES IT WORK? Guarantee promises on books (and other products) are often non-specific: the marketing people just felt the word guarantee might help.

145025856.doc, LEH, 5/13/2013

The Stikky guarantee is backed up by a specific promise: return the cover (anyone dissatisfied enough to mutilate their copy qualifies for the guarantee) in exchange for another title in the series. We dont refund the purchase price because we only get a small proportion of it. We are not using a guarantee as a blunt tool. We want to overcome a very specific issue: the buyers perception of risk in an impulse-buy situation. A reader standing in a store wondering whether to buy our title or a traditional one will perceive that the Stikky book is different, correctly. For some that will be attractive in itself. But more conservative readers will hesitate to try something new and unproven. The guarantee helps them over that hurdle. WHICH CHARITIES WILL BENEFIT FROM THE PROCEEDS? We promise to spend 10% of profits from the series on knowledge-based charity. For example, a World Health Organization booklet explains how to sterilize water using a plastic bottle and sunlight. But water-borne disease is still widespread in poorer countries. We will seek ways to improve peoples lives through disseminating simple, useful, sticky know-how. Since knowledge generates independencenot dependenceit may be the most liberating for of aid. WHAT FUTURE TITLES ARE PLANNED FOR THE SERIES? We released our first title in 2003 (Stikky Night Skies) and two new titles in 2004, Stikky Weight Management and Stikky Stock Charts. The frequency of new titles will accelerate in 2005. Were not yet revealing which titles are in development. Not all of them are traditional targets for How To books. ARE STIKKY TITLES WRITTEN BY EXPERTS? Yesexperts in learning and usability. In researching each topic we also work with subject matter experts and all final material is reviewed by these experts before publication (some of their endorsements are on the back covers). But we dont believe subject matter experts are always the best people to write books aimed at non-experts. In fact, we think that has been a problem with previous How To books. WHAT ARE THE STIKKY VALUES? - Better ways of learning - Accessible knowledge; learning for everyone - Fun - Learning through simple building blocks - The 80/20 rule: a little knowledge goes a long way - Learning can be fast

145025856.doc, LEH, 5/13/2013

Reader-centricity: an obsession with testing on real readers The value of knowledge (hence the charity commitment) Learning that sticks in your head.

WHO ARE LAURENCE HOLT BOOKS? Laurence Holt Books is the independent publisher of the Stikky series, based in New York City.

145025856.doc, LEH, 5/13/2013