Bookmarketology

Food for Thought on Books, eBooks, Publishing, Bookselling, Marketing and Social Media

Link: Tablet Usage Doubles Among UK Readers but Kindle is King

Mediabistro’s appnewser reports on the headlines from Bowker’s latest Understanding the Digital Consumer Study, which shows that tablet usage has doubled amongst UK ebook consumers in the past twelve months.

The original press release at Bowker.co.uk highlights the reading preferences of under-15s in terms of device screen-size. They also report that “among adult readers of e-books there has been a huge increase in the use of the Kindle device, with 40 percent of e-readers using it most often” and “Those under the age of 35 remain slightly more likely to have purchased an e-book, but growth in e-book consumption is being driven by older readers, particularly those aged 45-54″.

There’s more info via the above links, or you can fork out £3,500 for the full report from Bowker.

Link: Seth Godin on The Real Threat to (big time) Book Publishing

Marketing gurus’ marketing guru and all-round thinker extraordinaire Seth Godin says that the biggest threat to corporate, legacy publishing comes from the industrial-scale publishers’ own inertia and resistance to change in an industry that’s already been utterly changed by factors beyond their control:

“It happens to just about every industry, from hard drives to furniture – the insurgents, coming up from the bottom of the market, had an incentive to refine their techniques, engage with their customers and innovate. The incumbents, saddled with much higher costs and less innovation, watched themselves go bankrupt, one by one.”

Seth’s proposed solution, as most of Seth’s proposed solutions tend to be, is simple yet radical:

“Instead of working hard to keep their share of a shrinking pie, or working even harder to make sure the industry stays as is, I think the most essential thing legacy book industry players can do is set up independent ventures with great people and little interference and work really hard to put themselves out of business by starting at the bottom, not by reinforcing the top.”

Or: rip it up and start again.

Or: adapt or die.

Which is interesting and logical and most probably true, but it does rather assume that large corporations are actually capable of large-scale, radical change. Which I somehow rather doubt.

Anyhow, it’s a very interesting article, well worth a read at www.thedominoproject.com.

Link: Fandom Matters, says Damien G. Walter

Damien G. Walter, writing for The Guardian makes a number of very good points about the essential importance of fandom – with reference to the fine and long-established traditions of genre fandom, but with wider implications for writers, publishers and creators of all types – and of engaging with a fan-base in a very real, very genuine way:

“The publishers that survive will be the ones that understand that their role is to amplify the signal of those artists already chosen by fandom. The writers who succeed will be the ones who are there day in and day out, as much a part of fandom as any other fan, and on first name terms with the neighbours. Because if you aren’t willing to live on the ground as one of the fans, why should you expect them to hoist you on their shoulders for your shot at reaching the stars?”

Read the full article at Guardian.co.uk.

(Further reading: pretty much anything by Seth Godin, particularly Tribes and We Are All Weird).

Link: How do People Spend Their Time Online?

Via an infographic posted at All Twitter we learn that the global online population now exceeds 2 billion people – 53 million of whom are in the UK, which is 85% of the UK population – who spend 35 billion hours online per month.

All that online time breaks down as follows:

Online Time - click for full infographic

Are there any authors out there who still think you don’t need to use social media or maintain an effective website in order to market yourself online and reach your potential audience?

Click the image or visit All Twitter to see the full infographic.

Link: Cory Doctorow Hails the Death of DRM

Cory Doctorow writing for The Guardian on the decision by Tom Doherty Associates to remove DRM limitations from its ebook files:

“Now that Tor has dropped DRM – and acquired a valuable halo of virtue among committed ebook readers, who’ll celebrate their bravery – it’s inevitable that the competition will follow. It seems we have reached the beginning of the end of the ebook format wars, which is good news for readers, writers and publishers.”

More on ‘Why the death of DRM would be good news for readers, writers and publishers’ at www.guardian.co.uk.

Link: Do Publishers Expect Authors to Market Themselves?

Felice Howden asks: “do publishing houses ask authors to do too much?”

“I won’t deny that publishers are keen for authors of all types to get involved in online conversations. But I think it’s important to remember why publishers might be suggesting authors do this.

Is it because, as I’ve heard suggested, we’re expecting authors to market themselves? Or is there more to it?”

Read the full post for more thoughts from Felice on the subject at Bookmachine.org.

I’d add a rider of my own as well: it’s important for authors (and publishers) to remember that when you’re engaging in social media or any other form of online activity, everything you do is marketing, whether you think it is (or intend it to be) or not. Because everything you do in a public forum could potentially affect someone’s decision as to whether or not to buy your book(s).

Link: CMO.com 2012 Infographic Guide to the Social Media Landscape

CMO.com Guide to Social Media 2012CMO.com have posted a very useful interactive infographic that offers a high-level overview of the most popular social media channels and assesses their value in terms of Customer Communication, Brand Exposure, Traffic to Your Site and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

Once again, the information there is just as applicable to individual authors wondering how much of their marketing development time to spend on which social media channels as it is to their publishers or agents.

Link: Why You Need Social Media Even if You Think Your Readers Don’t

This Hubspot article is just as applicable to individual authors and writers as it is to their publishers or agents. Just substitute ‘readers’ for ‘customers’.

From the intro with strike-throughs and bracketed additions by yours truly:

“So let’s pretend that your customers readers aren’t on social media, or that you work for someone are someone who thinks they aren’t and, as such, doesn’t see the point in investing in a social media marketing program. We all know how hard it is to convince non-believers of the importance of social media, so this post will serve as your guide for having that conversation getting a grip on reality. Here’s how you can make the case for social media marketing to your boss yourself [or your publisher or your agent if they're a social media refusenik as well] – even if he or she doesn’t believe your target audience is using social media!

Read the full article at blog.hubspot.com

Link (+Video): Profile Launches Interactive Frankenstein iApp

(Via The Bookseller) Profile Books, working with Cambridge-based digital agency Inkle Studios and author / video game designer Dave Morris, has launched an interactive, ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ style Frankenstein App for iPhone / iPad (doesn’t look like there’s an Android version) that’s avaiulable for £2.99 / $4.99 from the iStore. They’ve also put out an associated Facebook page and a Pinterest board and the following trailer:

Read the full story at www.thebookseller.com.

Link: Eoin Purcell says Publishers Have Lost the Battle and the War

I’m arriving late to a very interesting thought-piece that was posted a couple of weeks ago by long-time publishing industry commentator Eoin Purcell, who says that by setting up the Agency eBook pricing model as a means of protecting the Legacy publishing system, the Big Six publishers have shot themselves in the collective feet.

“Resisting the shift towards digital distribution and the attendant earthquake in industry structure makes publishers the bad guys. After Agency, suddenly publishers are not the nurturers of talent but the maintainers of high prices, not the finders of new voices but the conniving capitalists, the slick backroom dealers, not the men and women who live for the written word. Their companies are known worldwide for being sued by the US Government and for alleged collusion rather than for being companies with iconic brands and valuable legacies.”

Read the full piece at eoinpurcellsblog.com.