Collective Content Ltd.

Simon & Schuster

“Somehow, content is still the gift of the Gods. And this helps us navigate the world.”

With these words, Simon & Schuster CCO Vivek Shah sums up what he and the publishers at his company are about to reveal to Forbes.com. Simon & Schuster publishes more than 60 books, roughly 2,000 publications, covers everything from thriller to cookbooks. As one of the top publishers in the world, the publishing house put itself in a position where it was able to build an arsenal of 600,000 titles that Shah and his team can distribute quickly and easily to outlets across the globe. And so with the help of their 10 full-time writers, approximately 500 interns a year, they create mini business and self-help books and articles that help spread the word.

Shah says his company’s content marketing focus is to create quality content that readers find helpful and compelling and to position them in their desired field. In other words, content is the only way to communicate anything these days.

“People don’t want to just read a book anymore,” Shah says. “Now they want to share, discuss, comment and engage. At any given moment in time, there is a content market. You could make a list of just the people who are creating content right now. It’s the future of marketing.”

Shah and his colleagues weren’t always content creators. But after attending Harvard Business School, he opted to work in publishing, first at Harcourt Brace & Taylor and then founded Vanguard Publishing Company, where he was president. That experience gave him a solid understanding of content marketing and publishing in general. In fact, he credits it with helping him develop his content marketing strategy and master his craft.

From his days in publishing, Shah started writing his own books. Since then, his passion has grown to a point where he now has two titles under his belt: a book on business etiquette and a book on the power of the human voice. But he quickly sees the need for more and thinks there’s room in the marketplace for more and different content marketing strategies that leverage the power of social media.

To see a full list of Shah’s books on this topic, visit: http://www.shahsbooks.com/