Scenario One:
You’re out at the mail doing some shopping when you pass by the bookstore. You don’t have time to go in and browse like you usually do, but you notice a poster for the latest novel from one of your favorite author’s right there in the display window. While looking it over you see a Quick Response Code icon next to the words – “Get the first chapter free!” You pull out your mobile phone, take a picture of the code, and within seconds the first chapter has been downloaded to your phone for reading at your leisure.
Scenario Two:
You’ve finished your shopping and are now catching the subway back uptown. You pull out your mobile phone and begin reading the sample chapter you downloaded outside the bookstore display window. The story is excellent and when you get to the end you’re hooked – you know you have to get this novel as soon as possible. In fact, you wish you had it here with you now as you are still facing a forty-five minute subway ride back home. Turns out you are in luck – there is a link to download the book right at the end of the sample chapter. You follow the link to the website, purchase the book, and it automatically downloads to your phone. Even better, you never had to pull out your credit card – the purchase price is added directly to your cell phone bill!
The above scenarios are just two ways digital publishing companies are taking advantage of current technologies and delivering content to readers in a variety of new and significant ways. Statistics from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) show a steady increase in the sales and interest in ebooks for the first five months of this year. Don’t take my word for it – see for yourself:
Jan – “E-books sales jumped up by 173.6 percent for the month ($8.8 million)”
Now granted, no one is selling as many ebooks as they are print books – far from it. But that’s not really the point. What’s important here is the fact that this particular medium is finally beginning to pull itself out of the back of the closet and will more than likely continue to grow, becoming more and more important in the months to come. Which begs the question – what are you doing in your career to take advantage of this growth?
Go back a month or two ago and I couldn’t have answered this question too well. Sure, I’d put a couple of my backlist titles up for sale at the Amazon Kindle store but I wouldn’t call that a strategy. It was more a token effort to say “See, I’m participating” than anything else. But when a coaching client came to me asking what they could do to help themselves in this area, I realized it was time for me to get serious about it myself.
Over the next several months some of my works are going to be translated into multiple languages and sold via one of the largest telecom companies in the world. They will be available in much the same way that I described above – from posters in bookstores, magazines, print media, you name. Customers will be able to sample chapters right on the spot and can order the book directly from within those samples, making the process quick, easy, and painless. More traditional ebook versions will also be made available, for those who wish to read them on the Kindle, the Sony Reader, or several other popular formats.
Recognizing that I was neglecting a vital part of my writing career, I did some research, made some inquiries, and decided to get my feet wet. I wasn’t just observing – I was taking action.
So here’s my question to you – what about you? Are you taking advantage of the possibilities open to you in this area? If not, why not? What’s holding you back? This is such a new area of opportunity that I’m intensely curious about what others writers are doing, so feel free to comment and share your views.
