When it comes to the web and the general consumer, all signs seem to keep pointing back to convenience. It’s not a user-friendly interface or personalized suggestions based on previous purchases that keep us going back to Amazon for more. Instead it’s one-click ordering, 24/7 availability, and the ability to order that book you’ve been wanting while you order clothes for your mom’s birthday, DVDs for your dad’s, and the tent you need for camping next weekend for yourself.
Publishing companies have not yet faced this reality when designing their websites. Perhaps direct online sales were a potential market when the internet first became a phenomenon, but today’s reality is clear: Amazon rules.
Amazon holds convenience, selection, and is well known and easy to locate. It is a household name, unlike the majority of publishing companies. Most average consumers probably know at least one or two publishing companies, likely big ones, such as Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, or Penguin. Aside from avid readers, publishers, and niche-specific readers, it is probably safe to assume that a majority of book consumers do not pay attention to the publishers of their books.
When an Amazon transaction can be completed in five clicks and three minutes, few consumers will venture to Google to locate a publisher’s website, click over to the website, find a particular book, and finally click over to purchase. It’s just not realistic in today’s age of convenience.
Unless you are a business lucky enough to not be featured on Amazon, your likelihood of turning much of a profit with direct online sales is slim.
So why are publishers still directing their websites towards an unresponsive audience? I think they just aren’t sure who to target. They’ve realized that it’s essentially a requirement in our internet-savvy culture to have a business website—but that’s as far as they’ve gotten. Unless a company has a very specific niche or a particular deal available to consumers who purchase their books though their website, it seems highly unlikely that online direct sales will ever generate any significant income for companies.
Instead of pumping marketing dollars into creating fantastic websites for selling books, publishing companies need to use their marketing budgets to reevaluate the audience and best use for their web presence.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Growth of the E-book: It's Only A Matter of Time
The Shelf Awareness for Tuesday, January 20 featured a letter sent in by author and marketer M.J. Rose, which you can find here. For those who don’t feel like clicking over and reading the letter in its entirety, Rose recounts purchasing an e-book in under a minute on January 16—for a title that won’t release in bookstores as a hardback until January 27. What?!
Within the publishing industry, we’re anticipating the growth of e-books. That’s why publishing houses across the world are experimenting with various e-book platforms and even Ooligan has recently decided which of our titles will be our first e-books. The ability to publish an e-book is quickly becoming an industry requirement.
But Rose’s letter got me thinking: what happens to bound books when e-book buyers get perks for switching platforms? Will bound books go the way of cassette tapes, CDs, and records? Will being a digital customer garner additional perks, like advance release dates? If music is any indication, the answer is a resounding YES.
Look at the transition that the music industry has undergone in the digital age: full-length tracks are released online way ahead of an album’s release, iTunes albums frequently include material, such as additional tracks or videos, unavailable on a traditionally purchased CD, and some musicians have gone so far as to make entire albums of material available to stream for free. While you cannot yet purchase an album ahead of a physical album’s release date, consumers definitely get a few perks by being tech savvy.
I anticipate that the transition to e-book perks will take more time than the digital music revolution did, but it will eventually occur. It will take awhile because e-book readers need to skyrocket in popularity and availability. Once a user-friendly, budget-conscious e-reader is released, it will only be a matter of time before e-books have advance release dates and include additional content, such as author interviews. iPods and digital music did not become popular overnight, and neither will e-readers and e-books.
For the record, the Wednesday edition of Shelf Awareness arrived with a letter from Margot Sage-El, the owner of an independent bookstore, affirming that HarperCollins admits that the early release was a mistake on their part, the issue still got me thinking about the future of bound books versus e-books.
Bound books may not become obsolete during our lifetimes, but as universities toy with adopting electronic versions of textbooks and publishing companies release e-books earlier than bound books (though by mistake), it is only a matter of time before the e-book will prevail. One thing is certain: we’re entering an industry that’s in transition and we’re the ones who will define its future.
I dread the day when bound books are a rarity, but have come to realize that I have to be open to e-books. If I can’t embrace it, I have no business being in the publishing industry and might as well start browsing the want ads. But not at Craigslist. That would be hypocritical.
Within the publishing industry, we’re anticipating the growth of e-books. That’s why publishing houses across the world are experimenting with various e-book platforms and even Ooligan has recently decided which of our titles will be our first e-books. The ability to publish an e-book is quickly becoming an industry requirement.
But Rose’s letter got me thinking: what happens to bound books when e-book buyers get perks for switching platforms? Will bound books go the way of cassette tapes, CDs, and records? Will being a digital customer garner additional perks, like advance release dates? If music is any indication, the answer is a resounding YES.
Look at the transition that the music industry has undergone in the digital age: full-length tracks are released online way ahead of an album’s release, iTunes albums frequently include material, such as additional tracks or videos, unavailable on a traditionally purchased CD, and some musicians have gone so far as to make entire albums of material available to stream for free. While you cannot yet purchase an album ahead of a physical album’s release date, consumers definitely get a few perks by being tech savvy.
I anticipate that the transition to e-book perks will take more time than the digital music revolution did, but it will eventually occur. It will take awhile because e-book readers need to skyrocket in popularity and availability. Once a user-friendly, budget-conscious e-reader is released, it will only be a matter of time before e-books have advance release dates and include additional content, such as author interviews. iPods and digital music did not become popular overnight, and neither will e-readers and e-books.
For the record, the Wednesday edition of Shelf Awareness arrived with a letter from Margot Sage-El, the owner of an independent bookstore, affirming that HarperCollins admits that the early release was a mistake on their part, the issue still got me thinking about the future of bound books versus e-books.
Bound books may not become obsolete during our lifetimes, but as universities toy with adopting electronic versions of textbooks and publishing companies release e-books earlier than bound books (though by mistake), it is only a matter of time before the e-book will prevail. One thing is certain: we’re entering an industry that’s in transition and we’re the ones who will define its future.
I dread the day when bound books are a rarity, but have come to realize that I have to be open to e-books. If I can’t embrace it, I have no business being in the publishing industry and might as well start browsing the want ads. But not at Craigslist. That would be hypocritical.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Amazon.com: Good or Evil?
I admit it.
I have a certain affinity for convenience. We’re talking the “point and click, I’ll take this and this and this in my shopping cart, check out” kind of convenience. Thank you, Amazon.com. Two to seven days after a few mouse clicks (unless I chose to spring for overnight shipping), my purchases of choice show up on my doorstep—and I didn’t have to drive anywhere, stand in line, or go to multiple stores to find exactly what I want. And that’s what Amazon is great for. I don’t venture to Amazon.com to browse. I click over to purchase.
From Amazon.com’s reported success, including their best holiday sales season in history (during a nationwide economical slump, at that), it seems that I’m not the only one who finds Amazon’s business model tantalizing. I feel guilty even admitting it, but it is, for better or worse, the truth.
Rather than threatening the publishing industry directly, I think that Amazon poses a greater threat to the independent bookstore. It’s not the readers, publishers, and authors most affected, it’s the storeowner who just can’t pay the rent because readers have succumbed to the allure of convenience and endless inventory that Amazon has to offer.
For the budding author unable to find someone to publish his or her self-proclaimed “next bestseller,” Amazon’s BookSurge is a godsend. I suppose it all works out for the best—author ends up happy, those who care can get their hands on the book, and Amazon walks away with their little share of the publishing venture. Given the number of books I’ve had pitched to me when meeting someone new and telling them I’m studying book publishing, there’s no shortage of this segment of the population.
All in all, I don’t think this aspect of Amazon really hurts the publishing industry. It’s a strange idea that anyone can publish just about anything (edited or not, but that’s a pet peeve for another time), but if anything, everyone ends up happier because of it. Authors get their work published, readers get another book to read, and publishers (potentially) get fewer unsolicited manuscripts to add to their slush pile. Everybody benefits.
When it comes down to it, Amazon isn't the monster that so many people make it out to be. It has its perks and its annoyances, just like any other business. The greatest difference is that Amazon can get its hands on more inventory than any concrete store can warehouse and with that, the Long Tail continues to grow longer.
I have a certain affinity for convenience. We’re talking the “point and click, I’ll take this and this and this in my shopping cart, check out” kind of convenience. Thank you, Amazon.com. Two to seven days after a few mouse clicks (unless I chose to spring for overnight shipping), my purchases of choice show up on my doorstep—and I didn’t have to drive anywhere, stand in line, or go to multiple stores to find exactly what I want. And that’s what Amazon is great for. I don’t venture to Amazon.com to browse. I click over to purchase.
From Amazon.com’s reported success, including their best holiday sales season in history (during a nationwide economical slump, at that), it seems that I’m not the only one who finds Amazon’s business model tantalizing. I feel guilty even admitting it, but it is, for better or worse, the truth.
Rather than threatening the publishing industry directly, I think that Amazon poses a greater threat to the independent bookstore. It’s not the readers, publishers, and authors most affected, it’s the storeowner who just can’t pay the rent because readers have succumbed to the allure of convenience and endless inventory that Amazon has to offer.
For the budding author unable to find someone to publish his or her self-proclaimed “next bestseller,” Amazon’s BookSurge is a godsend. I suppose it all works out for the best—author ends up happy, those who care can get their hands on the book, and Amazon walks away with their little share of the publishing venture. Given the number of books I’ve had pitched to me when meeting someone new and telling them I’m studying book publishing, there’s no shortage of this segment of the population.
All in all, I don’t think this aspect of Amazon really hurts the publishing industry. It’s a strange idea that anyone can publish just about anything (edited or not, but that’s a pet peeve for another time), but if anything, everyone ends up happier because of it. Authors get their work published, readers get another book to read, and publishers (potentially) get fewer unsolicited manuscripts to add to their slush pile. Everybody benefits.
When it comes down to it, Amazon isn't the monster that so many people make it out to be. It has its perks and its annoyances, just like any other business. The greatest difference is that Amazon can get its hands on more inventory than any concrete store can warehouse and with that, the Long Tail continues to grow longer.
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