The book has become irrelevant due to its lack of presence where decisions are made today, in the digital media. This is what we explained in the article Cheap excuses: how book sales are sinking while the sector confuses causes and effects, and we closed this one by saying that we will have to fight evil on its own terrain, on the Internet.
What can be done about it, and how will we know that we are on the right track in the challenge of achieving a strong book presence on the Internet?
What good practices can be expected?
Here are eight ideas:
The book on the Internet: not like this
A book in digital media can no longer be a static file with a cover and a four-line synopsis, which is repeated the same in all digital stores.
To begin with, it is worth noting the following: a paper book is one thing, an e-book is another, and a digital book representative is a third. E-book and digital book representative are not the same thing. The e-book is a file with a text. It is not taken into account by search engines and generally should not be shared because of rights issues. The digital book representative is a compendium of information that can be crawled by search engines such as Google and can be freely shared on any web and social network. In other words, it is the information that people can find about a book in digital media, in 99% of the cases the file in a digital store that we mentioned.
The store cards have several drawbacks:
- Because almost all digital bookstores take their data automatically from Dilve, the synopses of the books are the same in all of them. This, in Google’s eyes, makes them uninteresting for lack of originality, which is devastating when competing to appear in any search engine.
- They are commercial and, therefore, are rarely shared.
Thus, the book, whether electronic or paper, must have better representatives on the Internet.
- videos (booktrailers)
- tailor-made multimedia web sites
- scripts
- other formats to be invented.
The paper book must link to its digital representative
Any book should be escorted by all kinds of supplementary digital content, all coordinated from its digital representative, content such as:
- reviews
- reviews
- images
- extra chapters
- biography of the writer
- information on possible sequelae, etc.
The paper book must show the link to associated digital content because in the digital world it is easy to establish a relationship with the reader, for example through a social network or a mailing list. This reader is more likely to echo his or her satisfaction with a work and is also more likely to purchase related works.
An integrated promotion: digital with traditional
Successful marketing campaigns, those that arouse the admiration of specialists and the devotion of consumers, are those that wisely unite real life with the digital world. Books should be no exception. It is necessary to work integrating traditional promotion with the digital world.
Has anyone had the opportunity to follow a successful author’s book presentation via streaming?
How many authors do you know who offer a hashtag to follow when they give a talk?
There are endless possibilities to take advantage of digital media.
E-books: untapped advantages
The e-book should not be seen as competition to paper, but as a supplementary channel that opens up a world of possibilities.
An example of what can be done with the infinite possibilities offered by the tandem e-book + QR code: I go to the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum and, next to the painting “Jesus among doctors”, I am offered a QR code to buy a novel biography of Dürer.
It is weightless, immediate, can be placed anywhere at a ridiculously low price: the e-book has many advantages, yet they are hardly exploited commercially.
Working new niches
The e-book is creating new followers where it was least expected. For example, among
Does anyone know of marketing actions aimed at these groups? Both groups, by the way, have regular revenues.
Selling e-books in traditional retail outlets
Can e-books be sold in subways, gas stations, stores, museums, etc.? Can e-books be given as gifts?
Yes, you can and you should: physical e-books, that exists and has tremendous potential. They can be created on demand, the logistical costs are minimal and they make the e-book palpable and collectible.
Writers: change of mentality
Publishers no longer have the margins of yesteryear and, therefore, few will be able to afford to include a digital promotion of a first-time author in their publishing bets. Writers must realize that their personal brand and the digital promotion of their books is mainly up to them. This requires training and dedicating time to promotion.
Legal content must displace illegal content
A strong digital presence will displace pirate sites from the first pages of search engines. I recently googled “La traición de Roma”, with the intention of buying the novel by S. Posteguillo. I found on the first page two web results that offered it to me for free. Note that I had not used the word “free” or anything like that in the search. On top of that, the pirate websites that appeared were foreign. This is a symptom of the extreme weakness of such a bestseller on the Internet, something perfectly avoidable.
Working with data
The enormous advantage of the Internet over the real world is that it provides all kinds of data on the behavior of a product: how is it received, how does it like it, who buys it, in what format, in what context?
In the case of books, who has data? Well, basically the digital stores, the main owners of digital book representatives. Publishers and authors have to be content with very basic data (such as monthly sales) and some intuition that they can get from their social networks. So no one can make informed decisions.
When we see publishers and writers making an effort to collect data, then we will be closer to the solution.
Finally, a thought to oppose those who think that we have never been worse off: did the majority of the population ever carry a book with them at all times in history?
Well, they do now, it’s called a cell phone. All you have to do is take it out of your pocket?
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