Technology & Selling Books

Technology just keeps advancing. The number of different devices that can now access the Internet is astounding. At first, it was just desktop computers. Then it was desktop computers and laptop computers. Now it is computers, smart phones, ipods, e-readers, and numerous tablets, and more that I may not even be aware of.

With the advance of technology, one issue that comes up is how a website or an email displays on different devices. It is becoming hard to have one website design accommodate the requirements for all the various devices that can read the site.

One self-published author felt that he was losing sales of his book, because his “Buy Now” button was not straight forward enough to display prominently on all devices. Since different customers read ebooks on different devices (some on computers, some on Nooks, some on Kobo, some on Kindles, etc.), this author wanted to direct his customers to the online retail store of their choice and the ebook format of their choice. However, to do so, multiple “Buy Now” buttons for each retail store and format where the ebook was available for purchase were needed. As a result, the author found he was losing customers because how to buy his book was not clear and prominent on his site.

Out of frustration, the author, Jay Siva, developed a revolutionary “Buy Now” button widget. His EZBuyButton eliminates the frustration of losing customers at the point of sale because this one button allows customers to select their device and preferred retail store, all without needless searching.

This widget allows users to choose from among five different button styles and simply copy and paste a segment of code into their blog or website. Visitors will then see a “Buy Now” button attached to each book title. Clicking the button activates two drop-down menus—one for device selection, the other for store selection —allowing users to buy the books they want easily in their desired format and from their preferred store. The widget even geo-locates so customers are automatically routed to the retail store specific to their country.

Jay Siva is sharing his creation with other authors. You can get the EZBuyButton completely free.  Simply head on over to www.ezbuybutton.com and sign up for an account.

I love it when self-published authors come up with creative ways to make sure that they sell more books! It’s even better when they decide to share what they have discovered with others for free!

Selling Digital Books in the Physical Realm

As the publishing and book selling industry changes with more people buying books in digital format, how will authors (and retailers) sell digital books in the physical realm—in bookstores and during book signings and author appearances?

Two companies have innovative solutions for this dilemma.

One company, Boxette, based in the United Kingdom plans to sell ebooks in boxes shaped to look like books on shelves. The company will load the ebook onto a USB drive in Kindle, EPUB, and PDF format. The USB drive will be placed inside the box, which will be made to look like the front and back cover of the book (think DVDs but books on a flash drive instead of discs). Boxette has just started. As yet, they have not placed their ebooks into any retail stores, but hope to do that soon. The idea is clever and may take off.

The other company, Author Solutions, a large self-publishing company recently purchased by Penguin, has launched a new program called BookStub for their authors. In essence, BookStub is a service where authors can sell their ebooks in person via a credit-card-sized voucher with a picture of the book cover on one side and a unique product code to download the ebook on the other side.

So, now instead of toting books around in the back of a car, an author can carry books around in his wallet. If Author Solutions can get retailers to buy into this program, the next step would be to have these cards displayed on racks next to bookshelves for readers to purchase the digital version of the book right in the bookstore.

If you are an independent author, you can use the BookStub idea for your books. Simply have business cards printed with the image of the cover of your book on one side and the website and product code where the reader can download your ebook (each product code would need to be unique and only allowed to be used once to avoid multiple downloads per card). Then, you too can sell digital books in person at all your author appearances and as you go about your everyday life.

The World is Ready for eBooks

Bowker’s recent Market Research Global eBook Monitor Study looked at consumer attitudes about ebooks among the online population of ten countries: Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The study found that more than 20% of these global readers had bought an ebook in the past six months. Even most of those who had not purchased an ebook were aware that they exist—80% of the survey respondents.

I sometimes get email requests from people in Asian and African countries who request Christian literature. They ask that I mail them books to read since they are poor and cannot afford Christian books to help them with their spiritual growth.

While I am aware that many of these requests are probably scams, in the event that some are truly seeking help with their spiritual lives, I do respond to these emails. With the advent of ebooks, I am able to write these individuals back and let them know that since they have access to the Internet, they have access to a large body of Christian literature in the form of ebooks. I also provide them with some links to free Christian ebooks.

Not only have ebooks allowed poor individuals more access to Christian material for their spiritual growth, they have opened up a vast new arena of sales for publishers. Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publishing services at Bowker, says, “The world is ready for digital books and it’s a far bigger marketplace than we thought.”

According to Bowker’s Global eBook Study, Australia, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States led the world in ebook adoption rates, but Brazil and India may represent the best opportunities for publishers to sell ebooks in the future. More than 50% of respondents in India and Brazil plan to buy an ebook in the next six months as compared to about one-third of respondents in the United Kingdom and the United States who stated they plan to purchase an ebook in the next six months.

If you are looking to broaden your sales reach with ebooks, focus on the countries that lead the world in ebook adoption rates. These countries are by-and-large English-speaking, making sales into these countries via ebooks readily available for books written in English.

Selling Serialized eBook Fiction

Recently, Jonathan Fields interviewed Sean Platt for his blog. Sean Platt is a fiction author doing something new with ebooks.

Sean Platt, along with author David Wright, has written a fiction ebook titled Yesterday’s Gone. They have broken the book down into “episodes” (which are basically chapters). Each episode reads like one episode of a TV series. It is a complete story in and of itself, yet it ends with a cliff-hanger to hook the reader into buying the next episode. Each episode of the ebook costs $.99, or all six episodes (the entire book) can be purchased for $4.99.

If you are interested in learning more about serialized ebook fiction and what Sean is doing, watch this interview by Jonathan Fields. Note: I did find the large Buddha painted on the wall behind Jonathan a little distracting.