Customer Success Story

“I don’t waste time now chasing down publishers for statements,” Alice says. “Citinet gave us the tools to become better.”

BOOK IT: FILEMAKER UPGRADES IMPROVE PUBLISHER’S EFFICIENCY

The French Publishers’ Agency was a longtime FileMaker user, but its iteration was aging and the business wasn’t getting the most out of its platform.

FPA sells the English-language rights to titles from France that include fiction, humanities, science and occasionally graphic novels and children’s books. It negotiates publishing rights for American translation, print versions, ebooks and audio books.

With more than 150 American publishers to engage, and an average 50 new titles per year added to a 10,000-title catalog, with tasks for tracking contracts, revenue, royalties, sales reports from publishers and special promotions, FPA’s venerable FileMaker needed an upgrade.

Citinet Solutions added more process automation and improved the user experience by enhancing dashboards, resulting in more efficient information use and increased cash flow.

“I can go from one information source to another much more easily now,” says FPA Director Alice Tassel. “I can look at sales and royalties statements and see the performance of a title or publisher and determine whether we want to renew expiring contracts.”

The enhanced automation improved processes overall, updated dashboards with more versatility and plugged gaps in revenue stream tracking.

“It’s much more interactive now,” Alice says.

That’s especially important in spring and fall when publishers are supposed to submit sales statements and make royalty payments.

“I don’t waste time now chasing down publishers for statements,” Alice says. “Citinet gave us the tools to become better.”