I used to think the book industry, unlike the music and newspaper industries, really understood the digital evolution/revolution. E-readers hit the market and they were publishing and selling e-books, on top of the digital audio book downloads available on iTunes and other digital distribution sites. They had it all figured out. The book industry had developed three channels of distribution and three revenue sources. Even better, they were getting more books to more people. Better still, they were letting consumers of books get the content the way they wanted to consume it. Awesome!
Then I read this headline from the Associated Press: “Publishers say they’re holding back some e-books.” My head exploded. It seems some book publishers like HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette Book Group USA intend to hold some titles back from digital release by as much as four months. Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy was quoted in the Associated Press article as saying “The rise in e-books has led to cannibalizing of new hardcover books sales.” Really! Duh! Why is that a bad thing?
Amazon sells an e-book for $9.99, much lower than what a hardcover book costs. Obviously, the publishers make greater profits from hardbound book distribution. But as I think about the types of book readers that I know, I’m not sure publishers are thinking this all the way through.
I know at least three types of book readers. One is my sister-in-law, who reads books like they are going out of style. She can read a book in a day, and she can’t wait to start a new title. My sister-in-law was the one who showed me her Kindle at least a year ago. She loves e-books because she can consume books as fast as she can download and read them. She loves to say, “I just finished a great book by so-and-so; you should read it” or “Did you ever read such-and-such?”
The other reader I know is my mother. She reads almost daily and follows a stable of favorite authors. She is not a fast reader, but rather a casual reader who loves the weight of the book in her hands as much as she loves the smell of the ink on the pages. If the book is by one of her favorite authors she will run out and buy the hardcover. She even collects vintage first-run books and loves to show off her finds.
And then there’s me. I hate reading. The last ten books I read were books on tape … so I guess I didn’t really read them. I like it when someone like James Earl Jones reads me a story while I am flying cross- country or driving in the car. As my high school and college teachers learned, if you hand me a book to read, I’ll look for the CliffsNotes or the movie. For me, nothing is better than an iTunes gift card and a good book on tape. Ahem… I mean iPod.
Now, as I think about these types of readers and put on my marketing hat, I see one huge glaring mistake with the publishers’ e-book withholding strategy. My sister-in-law is a book influencer; she reads more books than anyone else I know and uses her knowledge to influence others to buy books based on her suggestions. The book companies are wrong to withhold books from her, for two reasons. First, she buys more books than anyone I know. Volume sales! Book readers like my sister-in-law are buying reading material at much higher levels than others. She also adopted the Kindle faster than anyone and that’s the audience for e-readers and e-books. Secondly, she can sell a good book better than anyone named Simon or Schuster. Instead of withholding books, they should leak the books to their best digital customers and ask them to review it on their social media sites. That would provide instant peer-to-peer marketing through social media. Too smart!
Maybe I am wrong to think that the book industry is trying to save the dinosaurs from dying. A coworker of mine has a theory … he thinks the publishers are looking for leverage against the online retailers and that this isn’t just some shortsighted digital slight. He thinks the publishing industry is trying to learn from the music industry by establishing better financial terms with online retailers like Amazon. The music industry had no digital foresight and was forced to fight a pitched battle first with free peer-to-peer sharing sights like Napster and later with retailers such as Apple to gain control — and a share of — digital music distribution. By withholding digital titles from e-retailers like Amazon, they have leverage to negotiate a bigger slice of the digital distribution pie. He might just be right.
Either way the book industry stands to alienate their best customers and lose out on a huge opportunity to harness the peer-to-peer influencing power of the super readers. And, yes … I did get through college without reading the Iliad and the Odyssey. I have seen the movie so I know what I missed.
