While the music, TV and film industries have grabbed headlines in terms of how their business models have changed and new players have disrupted the market, little is made about the changes in the publishing industry. The focus has largely been on how the relationship between publishers and the suppliers of e-books is defined. However, although important, the bigger issue in the e-book industry is how sustainable business models can work and what readers should expect and need.
These issues are particularly pertinent in countries where e-readers are not ubiquitous – primarily emerging markets. In these countries piracy is generally a big problem and makes subscription-based models that work for the likes of Netflix and Spotify in the West, difficult for e-book companies to sustain. The answer could be to redefine what e-book companies provide for readers beyond simply access to e-books themselves - namely social features.
Across Africa, Asia and South America, piracy is rife and compounded by cultural attitudes that generally regard content as something that should be free. Many people in countries like Russia don’t feel like they should pay for e-books, digital music or TV media. This was the first challenge that faced us when we started Bookmate. Our solution was to build a sticky social layer with features like author pages and book playlists, coupled with access to e-books via subscription on their phones. We found consumers became much more willing to pay as they came in search of a book on Bookmate but stayed for the all the other features.
Social is appealing to readers because it mirrors the experience that they get and enjoy when they consume other media. Other media forms are inherently social: we watch movies together, we go to concerts and enjoy music together and it is human nature to want to experience and share books together. Emotional engagement when reading is arguably higher, as the reader’s experience with a book can last over many hours and days and often the relationship with the characters may extend across multiple titles.
It also brings the real world appeal of a book club online – discussing favourite chapters, quotes and characters and recommending books. By integrating a user’s social network accounts, their reading is shared through several different and complementary networks. This leads to exponential growth, as a book is shared, commented upon and recommended across several networks all at once. Research by Shoutly, a monetisation platform for the social web, revealed that a friend’s recommendation on social media is the most influential factor when buying software or e-books, much more influential than an advert on TV or in online search results.
Currently, the approach of most e-book companies has been to spend a lot of time and money producing algorithms that recommend books for users based on behaviour. As good as these algorithms may be, we feel they cannot replicate the success of recommendations from friends, family or like-minded readers. Intuitive social functionality combined with the convenience of a subscription model is a winning formula as it creates value in the eyes of the consumers.
The e-books sector is starting to gain real momentum and from the perspective of consumers, reading e-books will only become a more social, flexible and enjoyable experience. For e-book companies and traditional publishers that embrace the necessity of expanding their technical offering to crack emerging countries, there is a huge, lucrative, untapped market. Other complimentary industries such as marketing should also take note, as the use of e-book apps grows, so do to the opportunities to offer innovative services to readers.
By Simon Dunlop, Founder of Bookmate
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