Selling Ebooks in Retail Stores

For the last 20 months we have been developing our Enthrill Books retail system, to bring ebooks to retail. In that time we have generated a few technologies, sold one of our patents and launched our product.

The system includes an online deployment system, manufacturing (printing, QA and testing), logistics (warehousing & shipping) and customer service. In the development of this we were able to create an answer for cross-platform DRM and cross-platform deployment of digital assets, consumers of mass retail stores will demand this.

We were not the first to sell ebooks in bookstores, Symtio did this in 2008-2010 and from the publishers that I spoke with, it worked pretty good considering that the market was just lightly peppered with reading devices. They sold the company just as the iPad, and the ebook phenomenon broke open in the spring of 2010. From what I can tell, their focus was primarily religious book stores in the Central US market. Great idea, great execution but too small of a market and far too soon.

When we looked at this idea of selling ebook gift cards in stores, we knew it had to be built on volume and as such we needed some big volume stores on side to build the program overall. We have the support of some of the best retail companies in the business with stores in the US and Canada. In addition to a market more readily saturated with reading devices, there is a growing need for ebook gifting, so our timing is perfect. We have approached our program with a long term vision, creating a new sales eco-system for publishers and retailers.

We launched in June and have a great deal of data to pour through and analyze, some success stories, some not so much - but that was to be expected. Our retail audits and research has helped to identify areas of opportunity and best practices as we roll out to more and more stores. I look forward to presenting these findings to our partners over the next few weeks and months.

One of the joys of bringing this program to retail has been the fact that we've been able to include independent bookstores as part of our consumer offering. In addition to selling ebook gift cards in store, independent bookstores are now able to participate in digital sales online through our POIT (Point Of Interest Tracking) system. In fact, all retailers that sell our products can earn money from online sales that were initiated at their store. When we announced our program in May of 2011, bookstore owners actually hugged me, how cool is that? We created a way of rewarding stores for sales initiated through merchandising our product!

Through the POIT system, we can associate the physical store with the consumer, so that when they make a purchase online through the connection that was made, that particular bookseller gets credit for the online sale. This of course has application beyond books and will no doubt be huge. We sold the patent on this cool feature to fund our development, but have license to use it in the ebooks category. The creation and development of this patent came from a need to not compete with the stores we are partnering with - our goal is to ensure that every sale made through our system is credited to a specific retailer.

And, we know we're onto something, because there's a company launching today in retail stores in the US, doing something similar on the ebook gift card front. It will be interesting to see how their launch goes. This means we now have a competitor; we were very happy to learn this. Not only does it validate our assumptions on a market for what we are doing, but it means there are two of us growing this new category within stores and with consumers. This is no small feat.

We've put together a great (understatement) team of pros to take us to the next level and are looking forward to the next phase in our journey as we expand across Canada and into the US.

Packaged Digital Rights Messaging

“Let’s talk about the elephant in the room…” is how Matteo Berlucci, President of Anobii, opened his address to publishers at Digital Book World this past January in New York. He was talking about Digital Rights Management, (DRM).

Mr. Berlucci's presentation was compelling as he urged publishers to drop strict DRM and embrace a social DRM or watermarking style of rights management. This announcement, coming from the president of a book company owned by three of the world’s largest book publishers, certainly caused a stir.

It generated a lot of discussion as well; not too dissimilar to the conversations I was having with publishers since introducing the concept of the retail ebook card system we are poised to launch soon.

To market to a mass customer base as we will be doing, our system needed to distribute ebooks for use across all platforms, and this included a platform-neutral watermarking solution. So, this is what we've been developing for the past 18 months - a method to protect content while distributing to all platforms, we began with social DRM and watermarking.

Publishers that drop strict DRM typically do so in favour of social DRM or watermarking, which promises to open up the ebook business to more consumers, allowing publishers to sell ebooks across all ebook reader platforms. 

The State of the Industry

Currently, social DRM works by inserting a consumer’s information into the epub or mobi file, usually without the user’s knowledge.

In the case of watermarking, when a consumer’s information is inserted into an ebook, it is visible to the reader. 

The premise is that the consumer will not share or copy the ebook because their information is embedded into the file they purchased, it is supposed to act as a deterrent. It also makes it possible for publishers to trace and catch people who distribute the ebook unlawfully.

I believe that this is only part of the solution.

The current use of social DRM and watermarking makes huge assumptions. It assumes that because the consumer’s information is in the file, visible or not, that the consumer knows that copying and sharing the file is copyright prohibited. It also assumes that the consumer has actually read the mandatory “terms and conditions” prior to entering into a clickwrap agreement with the seller.

Realistically, most people do not read the “terms and conditions” and simply scroll to the bottom to hit “agree” in order to access their purchased content. That's fine, it's still a binding contract though. And, binding or not, sellers haven't effectively communicated the rights messaging to the reader. 

In an effort to better the current model, the team at Enthrill has come up with a rather simple option that makes social DRM and watermarking more effective by ‘packaging’ Digital Rights Messaging in a visible manner that is comprehensive to readers while offering publishers with a level of security.

We felt that treating readers with respect by offering clear communication about the terms in which they are bound to was imperative to this option being effective. Understanding their responsibility in the stewardship of the book file they have purchased overcomes this huge assumption that previous versions of watermarking make.

So, now it's time to talk about the elephant in the book...

Tomorrow, we will announce the PACKAged Digital Rights Messaging solution or PackaDRM™ as another one of Enthrill's groundbreaking advances in digital publishing.

PackaDRM™ combines social DRM and watermarking to insert information that identifies the consumer visibly and invisibly into the file they have purchased. This is done for two reasons, neither of which are obtrusive to the consumer experience.

First, the seldom-read “terms and conditions” are reiterated at the front and back of the ebook to remind the consumer that they have purchased the ebook solely for their own use. Second, this method can track errant copies of ebooks back to malicious users and provide the basis for prosecution.

Using PackaDRM™ will help to ensure that readers never forget their obligation to preserve content ownership... we are promoting responsible stewardship and believe that type of communication is integral.

I am excited about this advance and I believe this is the best approach for a platform-neutral marketplace. It's not going to change any one's mind on DRM but for those publishers that choose social DRM or watermarking, PackaDRM™ is the best way to do it.

New York State of Mind

I look forward to traveling to New York, it's one of my favourite places to visit in the entire world. I love the energy, the pace, the fact that everyone is going somewhere. I love the fact that every time you turn around you see something familiar, so many movies and television shows are set in New York City, something you really notice after visiting.

I visited New York for the first time ever in May of 2010, been there several times since and will be back again and again. New York is always moving at the speed of light and I feel right at home with the hustle and bustle. It's I'm now accustomed to, in a weird way the pace is almost calming, relaxing in that everyone is moving at the speed I've been operating at these days.

Digital Book World in January is what's brought me here this time. Aside from the conference, I will be meeting with several publishing houses to acquire content for Enthrill's exciting new ebook retail program. Looking forward to this, the publishing industry is filled with many smart and passionate people.

So, two for two. I get to go to New York and meet with people I really enjoy and respect, circumstance and luck has put me in front of some of the most important people in the industry.

The past year has been one of complete focus. Laser focus. I began working on Enthrill Distribution full time, after months of planning, researching and exploration into the market we are to disrupt.

What provided some complication was the fact that I already had a full time job running Francomedia, my digital/creative firm. But, I wasn't too worried about taking time away from the company I built over the past 8 years, my staff is fantastic and fully capable of creating great work without me standing over their shoulders. I'm very proud of my team, they have been so patient with this change in our operation, I'm thankful for this.

So, for the last 8 months I went from being busy to being so busy that mere words can't describe it. This short-term pain is necessary though, and as unpleasant as it is at times - coming home after the kids have gone to bed, working weekends and holidays - we are introducing something to the market that will benefit a great many people. Our program is important and timely, in fact, some in the industry have called it 'necessary' some have called us 'white knights' and 'game changers'. I suppose these types of comments set a certain expectation, this drives me even further to ensure its success.

The next few weeks are going to be critical, we've got a new office, we're scaling up on staff, we're going a million miles an hour getting ready for launch. If you've ever done a retail launch, you know what's involved, if you haven't just know it's a lot of work. We've got a good team, we have to. And, I'm confident in our team, in our concept and in our product.

My next posting on Enthrill will include some details on our product, how we're launching and maybe even some pictures. These are exciting times for everyone involved with Enthrill.

Perhaps when this is all over and I'm visiting New York purely for pleasure, I will find the pace unsettling. Nah, I doubt it. I'll always love New York, as is.

Ebooks for the Masses

Everyone remembers the Betamax vs. VHS format war, but do you remember the player piano format war? How about the rail gauge format war? In nearly every innovation since the beginning of time there have been a handful of contenders ready to bring a new way of doing things to market. And in each case, a victor has emerged and this has not always been based on the best option, but the most readily available, simplest to produce or the first to market.

In many cases it has been industry itself that has decided on the winner of these contests, few times has the consumer been the decider. Whether decided by an industry group or business owners themselves, one thing is clear, the winner has always been selected with the consumers' best interest in mind. 'Best interest' is wide open for interpretation here, keeping in mind the context of business owners, just use your imagination, OK?

VHS won over Betamax because of several reasons really; it was easier to produce (cheaper), it allowed for more content on each tape and JVC was faster at licensing to other manufacturers than their counterparts at Sony. Some argue that Betamax was a better product, in today's reality, who cares? Nobody uses either now, tape format got us from 1975 to 1995 quite effectively no matter which format it was on.

What gets chosen as a format, is not nearly as important as the decision of the format itself. Anytime there are multiple formats, there is a fragmentation in the market, content makers are forced to spend extra efforts and money to produce and market multiple formats in multiple channels and consumers are confused or corralled.

When a format is chosen, a robust multi-device environment is created where content producers are eager to supply content because it can scale quickly and they can focus their efforts on a single manufacturing/promotional method rather than two (or more).

VHS beget DVD, DVD beget Blu-Ray and Blu-Ray beget the cloud. What's next? I don't much care. I've been buying my favourite content in every container so far, I've already budgeted to purchase another few more before my days are done. Heck, I don't even have to own it now thanks to Netflix. I'll rent it over and over again.

So, if the format wars have taught us anything it's that there's a mass audience that can be served if one format can be decided by an industry. The video industry is used to changing formats every couple of years, they have a protocol in place, a bi-weekly meeting on the newest format, they make their selection without much fuss. I'm simplifying this, but not too many industries have experienced this much change ever. Well, except for maybe the music industry, but those changes have been a little more spaced apart - going from vinyl to 8-track to cassette to CD to cloud.

With all of this knowledge on format wars, all of the learnings from similar industries and lots of business cases to draw from, why is the book industry so fragmented when making it's third format change in 500 years? The publishing industry is ripe with smart people, passionate about what they do and keen on advancement into the digital space. It's hard to figure out until you add one thing to the mix: The consumer. Not just the consumer, but the choices they are given and who is reaching them and where.

Now, in publishing there's not so much a format war but rather a go to market war. There are two formats, sure, but they are not so different - and either can be made to work on any device. So, it's not the format per se. It's what a singular format can provide in the way of a catalyst for the industry to go to market. We don't need a single file format, we need a single delivery format to the customer - a device agnostic approach that can scale with mass adoption, this can work with the existing file formats. In fact, the format doesn't much matter, it's irrelevant.

In nearly every format war that has anything to do with media content, decisions were made to provide the broadest appeal to the largest audience - to provide quick scale and mass adoption. You see, in the past, the retailer controlled the consumer and the retailer was hands off on the development of the product. The retailer was between the device manufacturers, the content producers and the consumer acting as a filter/flood gate and discovery point for products. This was a good mix, this is how things have been done for decades.

Right now, publishers are going to market through online retail or device specific deployment methods. Where are the brick and mortar booksellers in all of this? For centuries they have proven to be the best form of discovery and sales for books - B&M retailers are good at selling books, that's their job... and they sell a lot of them. Imagine what they could do if they were given the tools to sell ebooks.

It's 2011, almost 2012. We're not communicating with our minds or driving flying cars yet, but there is a distinct change from what we remember the role of the retailer to be. Retailers are becoming less and less utilized and doted on in today's marketplace by content producers. The consumer can now go direct to purchase content. "Dear Louis CK, here is my $5 cheque, please forward me a copy of your latest video." In today's model, the retailer can be bypassed, they are irrelevant in the eyes of some. This sounds like a utopia for content producers, but utopia also sounds like dystopia, which is not good (I looked it up). Which in the foreseeable future, is really what is being created.

I'm not criticizing Louis CK, he's a brilliant and funny comedian. He did a great job in creating buzz and getting people interested, the buzz and interest created discovery, discovery lead people to buy his video. A great story on many fronts, especially for DRM - when given the choice people will pay for content rather than steal it.

And, I'm not criticizing consumers for going direct to the source for content at all - I think it's great, that is... if consumers know what they want. In many cases, they don't. And, this is the major change in our paradigm right now - and many don't even realize it's happening. We are losing our points of discovery.

You see, where things really begin to break down with purchasing direct is in the discovery - consumers don't know they want until they see it or 'discover' it. They can only buy it direct if they know it's there. For years, consumers relied on good old brick and mortar retail stores to help them discover content. It was the act of shopping that exposed them to new titles, new releases, remainders, backlist, new authors, new genres and new ideas.

Shopping direct via online or through a reading device removes discovery from the consumer, they are unable to discover anything beyond the display of 4 or 5 titles on their tiny e-ink window. What's more is their curation is self induced by their own keywords. With each word they search, they are narrowing the field of discovery to the point where choice is a misnomer.

Good old brick and mortar stores allow humans to use all of their senses to discover, by touch, sight, feel, smell and taste (although, the latter is not preferred in most established shops). The act of discovery is aided by retails insatiable need to outdo one another with lavish displays and effective merchandising. The entire act of merchandising has been finely honed for the last 200 years to aid in discovery - to entice the purchase of products.

Retail shops are masters of merchandising for the sole purpose of discovery. This is their job; to make content attractive to a mass audience.

I've been told that large publishers can publish out 500+ titles in a year. How exactly will all of these titles be discovered once brick and mortar stores are eliminated from the equation? How can you effectively merchandise online? Sure, you can feature a title, perhaps even up to 10 titles can be featured through the sales window of a device. Ten spots for how many publishers? Publishing how many books? As a creative person, I've never been brilliant at math, but I'm sure the outcome of this equation isn't complimentary to the bottom line for any publisher.

What's worse is that consumers are locked into purchasing through a retail environment provided by the device they've happened to choose. "Device specific deployment is akin to selling milk to someone based on the model of refrigerator they have."

If you want to sell milk to a mass audience, you need to ask people if they’re thirsty, not ask what kind of fridge they have.

Trapping one’s self with a single device/platform serves the needs of few and alienates many – how does the consumer select the best provider? How, as a publisher, do you reach a mass audience? How do you encourage discovery on 500+ titles a year?

As we see today, content makers (publishers) are held hostage by the device makers, allowing the latter to dictate format, sales terms and pricing. In the end, consumers are left with little choice in the matter and little to choose from. Device makers have content makers at their mercy; pushing them into areas they don’t have expertise in (yet).

Without content, devices are useless. Content makers ultimately have the control.

What consumers need, what publishers need, what the retail industry needs... is one powerful voice pushing for content over device. Don't lock customers into an environment where they've got no choice. If you want an ebook, you should be able to buy it from anywhere and put it on whatever device you want. A device agnostic format and the ability to buy ebooks anywhere (online or in a retail store) puts the control back into the hands of the publishers and out of the device specific realms.

To target a mass consumer base, this is what needs to happen.

These are my observations as I prepare to launch ebooks into traditional brick and mortar stores. We have built a bullet proof system that deploys content to any device - allowing consumers to decide where to purchase content and what device to put it on. Mass retail stores that will be selling our ebook cards will once again provide merchandising services to the book industry, creating discovery amongst their many thousands of patrons each and every week.

Bespoke Ebooks

In a previous blog I said that printed books were nothing more than packaging for the story. And, ebooks are the exact same story, sans packaging. I touched on the challenge facing digital publishers is one of consumers perception that the digital asset is not highly valued. It is casual if not insouciant – a file is a commodity, and although the contents may be revered, guarded and even highly valued, the fact is it’s just a file. This lack of packaging in ebooks makes the negotiation of a profitable transaction a bit of an obstacle.

So, I explored a couple of ways that are being implemented currently to give ebooks a bit of ‘packaging’; transmedia and DRM. I’d like to expand a bit more on these and introduce a couple of other examples including our bespoke ebook.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m no fan of DRM, at least not in most of the forms we’ve been ‘treated’ to so far. Having said that, the social DRM, imprinting the purchasers’ personal information into the delivered file, seems to be one method that I can get behind. It offers little friction in the buying and reading process and puts the onus on the reader to not share it by way of an implied deterrent. I like this.

Transmedia storytelling is an area that I have been focusing on as a way to enhance the reading experience and add value – not just to the ebook but to the story overall. When I say transmedia storytelling, I’m talking about using several forms of media to TELL the same story – not to promote the story. This is a bit of a grey area however as readers experience a transmedia story, they will share it with others – so the experience of the story becomes the promotion.

I’ve heard the adding of video to a book being called transmedia. This is not correct. I think the term they struggle for is just simply, enhancement. And, there’s nothing wrong with enhancement – this is another form of packaging for the e-book and a necessary one in my opinion. Adding value to the content and giving a little more to the reader in return will be the key to accessing the readers’ wallet with greater success.

The way I see it, enhancements such as interviews with the author (video or audio), trailers and readings from the book are going to be commonplace among ebooks, if for the only reason to retail the ebook at or near par with the printed book. Without enhancements, I think it will get tougher and tougher to retail ebooks over the $10 mark in the coming years.

I think everyone can agree that book pricing is going to fluctuate over the next year as publishers try to find the sweet spot in the growing online store. Last year was a completely different shop for consumers than this year – titles are added in bulk everyday to the hoards of online selling points and the amount that readers can choose from, just in this last year has multiplied at alarming rates. Many of the publishing companies (for various reasons, mostly rights based) haven’t even begun to touch their backlist and OOP titles. All of which has to impact the price. Doesn’t it? The demand is increasing, but this increase is being outstripped by the supply.

There are some that have speculated a ‘Netflix’ model for books may be in the future for ebooks. I have to agree. Subscription based services are taking hold in music and video – why not books? Some find it hard to imagine it working, but think of it in terms of a book of the month club. For titles with no enhancements or ‘packaging’, I can see this being a good fit. This model is ideal for publishers and authors looking to connect with a potentially huge audience through their backlists. I was very hesitant of this type of model when I first heard it discussed, however the more I think of it – and the more I use Netflix – the more I see the potential for the book industry. It's not the 'solution', just another channel to sell content.

Of course the subscription model wouldn’t work for all ebooks, new releases would be excluded from this one would assume as would ebooks with ‘packaging’. Ebooks with packaging have more to offer and will be valued at a different level, by the authors, publishers, retailers and ultimately readers. I know this is a sales model, but the subscription model relates to packaging vs. non-packaging as it’s potential and possibilities illustrates clearly where ‘packaged’ ebooks and non’packaged’ ebooks would or wouldn’t fit.

So, what other ‘packaging’ methods are there? Bundling – putting an ebook together with a print book, pre-sales – pre-selling a much anticipated release, re-sales – for an additional fee, allowing ebook purchasers to re-sell the book (putting controls on the resale market) and how about special editions - multiple versions of the same story? These are all forms of packaging that ebooks can employ.

When we released One Child, our online story was slightly different than our printed book as it included small edits throughout to coincide with actual events that were happening in the world as the story was released in real time. This meant that you could buy the print book after reading online and get a slightly different experience – the story was the same, but some of the details were changed. This would be equivalent to the directors cut in the movie industry… a great way to connect with fans wallets on multiple occasions with the same story… How many versions of Star Wars are there? How many do you have at home? I know I’ve got a few… don’t even get me started on Lord of the Rings. So, are books any different? Right now the answer is mostly yes, but special editions are easy to do in ebooks… at least I think so.

But, what if every single reader got a different experience from the same book? What if every single book that was purchased was different? What if it was personalized for each reader of the book? That is some powerful digital ‘packaging’ on an ebook. Margaret Atwood touched on personalization and value at the TOC conference in February, on her last slide (a scan of an illustration she drew and coloured) - she asked the audience how much the image on the screen was worth on the internet (free?), how much was the original worth (a lot more?), what if she signed it (a hell of a lot more?). This interesting concept added fuel to the fire of my thoughts on digital asset valuation and what personalization adds to the mix.

Creating original content en masse has not really been thought of as a feasible venture. If something is personalized or customized, it’s typically a one-off, expensive and takes time to get/make. Creating digital content for one person at a time is possible… completely doable and we’re working on it.

Introducing the Bespoke Ebook.

I’d like to think that the next iteration of packaging, at least what we’re working towards is the bespoke model. Creating stories tailored for the reader, highly customized with reader input – creating one-off stories. This compliments the transmedia storytelling experience and is an area that we are exploring with great delight and enthusiasm. We have an opportunity to do something really different and creative with our next thriller novel and we’ll be looking at ways that offer a more immersive experience as well as a number of ways to promote and monetize the story. I don’t want to tip our hat too much, becauase we’re in the exploration phase right now and will likely do some testing before launching it publicly. Everyone is excited by the possibilities it has to offer, the business side likes the upside of having a ‘packaged’ product that could yield more dollars and the development team likes that fact that we’re breaking down new walls.

I’m looking forward to sharing information on this at the Books in Browsers Conference in October.

The Product is the Package

Much has been talked about the publishing industry; the impending downfall of print books, ebook pricing, DRM and so much more, ...so much, that I am reluctant to even add my two cents. Regardless (or irregardless as I sometimes like to say), here is my humble opinion on some of the issues facing the industry.

First, let me clearly state my bias; I am digital publisher with a focus on transmedia storytelling and distributor of digital content. I believe strongly that, barring some global internet shortage, digital is the future of everything... it just needs some sorting out still.

Now, I'm also of the age where I have a massive collection of vinyl, which I still listen to regularly while working in my office (when there's nobody else here). I also have a pretty good collection of first edition print books from each of my favourite authors. So, I have more than an appreciation for analog formats, I still engage with them regularly.

This engagement and tangible experience is why I don’t see print books ever dying. But, I think their sales will decline gradually over the next 5 years as ebooks continue to take off and erode the print market. This will see a rise in exclusive print runs, special editions and fewer and fewer titles seeing any ink at all.

So, what’s the matter with a decline in pulp and an increase in 1’s and 0’s it’s just a trade off, right? Well, no. As this transition takes place, millions of sales dollars are at stake and all traditional publishers are in the same boat. At this time, consumers don’t see ebooks as having the same value as printed books – but it’s the same product, isn’t it? Well, no. Consumers perceive digital assets as having a very low value which is a huge obstacle when selling them something such as an ebook.

I suppose if we can increase a readers’ perception of value we could maintain a price level on ebooks that offers a sustainable environment for publishing as well. Sure, but to do this, we need to really understand what we’re selling and demonstrate to readers a tangible experience worth paying for.

When you break it down, books are nothing more than packaging. No product is. Now, the publisher and author will tell you, ‘the content is what you're buying, not the packaging’. I say this is dead wrong. Most are under the assumption that the packaging is what the content resides in, and while technically that’s true, without the packaging, there’s not much left to sell or for the consumer to connect and engage with other than maybe 95,000 words, and that can be saved as a .txt file.

If 20 years in marketing consumer products and brands has taught me anything, it's that people buy packaging. Sure, some will argue this, including consumers themselves, but in the end this is what it comes down to... people buy packaging.

And, what exactly is packaging?

It's the wrapper, the container, the vessel that the content is presented in. My definition of packaging is a little more vast than that of perhaps a dictionary, or well, you. But, packaging to me includes many things and encompasses everything you are trading your hard earned dollars for. Good product packaging should include some sort of tangible remnant or an artifact of the product and/or allow you to engage with the product, offering you an experience that you associate with that product.

While listening to a good old-fashioned record, I can read the liner notes and marvel at the cover art – this is packaging at it’s best. The better sound quality and this visceral, visual, tangible packaging experience is why artists and record companies are releasing on vinyl again… there’s a premium price attached, but it’s well worth it.

Having just paid $40.00 for the new, beautifully designed Strokes 10 song LP – the packaging was beautiful and the experience of opening it, handling it and engaging with it while it plays is worth every penny spent. Now, as a digital album, it’s $9.99 – same songs, but there’s no further experience or added value… just listenting. It’s priced right. Heck, at .99¢ a song and I’ll probably pick that version up too so I can listen to it in the car.

For 4 times the price, the music publisher has offered me an experience by creating packaging around the digital asset. (and, don’t for a minute think this wasn’t digital first, just as books are typed into a digital environment, then typeset and printed analog in a book, so too is music). The wrapper or packaging of the digital product is where the perceived value is for the consumer.

In the case of the good old print book, the packaging was done in the form of subtle, beautifully designed text, printed on crisp, porous papers that were easy on the eyes but spoke of quality and importance. This was further packaged with stitched eight page signatures and set into a hard back cover, the linen stretched taut, folded and glued with precision - so much so that the average reader didn't give the construction of it a second thought - it just came that way, it was perfectly bound and solid. The linen was hot foil stamped with the title and author's name. Then this is all finished with a gloss-laminated dust-jacket with embossed text and a perforated price tag inside the fold. I think you get the picture, when you fork over $38.00 for this book, it's not for the 95,000 words inside, it's for the packaging.

Without this packaging, what are those words worth?

Surely there is a price to be paid for something that someone has spend so many hours creating. A team of people were involved in the creation of the digital asset, surely their time is worth something. Unfortunate as it is, if the consumer can’t see it they have challenges understanding it’s value.

In the case of ebooks, there is no packaging. Or, rather the packaging that does exist is 'owned' by the digital reader or store front, and that has little to do with the publisher or author. It also has little to do with the reader and the experience with the product is controlled by the retailer or the device, who has varied interests in your experience outside of the text you are reading. In essence, the retailer and devices own the packaging through the digital storefront – your enjoyment and experience is secondary to volume.

So, if this is the case, if it’s true that consumers buy packaging and not the product itself, and what little packaging exists is controlled by the retailer and device, how do you go about pricing something with no packaging, if packaging is what the consumer has been indoctrinated into purchasing?

Consumers expectations sans-packaging are low, which is why digital content has suffered the label of being worth less, but not worthless. They still want the product, they’ll even pay for it, but not at a premium. ‘It's just a digital asset – what can it be worth?’ We've all heard this. Most of us have seen what 95,000 words looks like in a .doc file, some of us have put them there. Take the time spent typing all those words away and what do you have? All you have is text that can be copied and pasted like a funny image on the web, it’s void of value – until you introduce experience and packaging.

The same goes for any digital asset. We need to be inventive to create experiences around digital products to make money with them.

Digital assets are all the same; we used to purchase Lettraset sheets, sometimes hundreds of them for specific client fonts. There was value inherent each time you rubbed out a letter. Fonts used to be packaged – now, you just select a different font from your toolbar. The end product is the same, the experience is different, less valued. Ergo, in the consumers mind, it should be priced less.

In Apple's App Store, the Apps range from free to $899. The device is the packaging, you experience each app though it and the varying degrees at which the software manipulates and displays the data… or slingshots birds. The point is that you are constantly interacting and engaging with this digital asset and that’s the where the perceived value is. This is similar to cloud based apps – maybe you remember when software was packaged in a box with instructions and a CD or two, you may also remember, there was a much higher retail price.

I think you get the point – the product is the package.

Until this issue of packaging gets resolved, publishers have been willing to look at many ways to maintain a price that defies perceived value on the digital asset they call ebooks. They crave a price that is closer to the heavily packaged print book.

Two ways that have been explored by publishers and debated endlessly are DRM and Enhanced ebooks.

Personally, I’m not a fan of DRM, I feel it undermines the trust the author and publisher have with the reader and quite frankly, I’ve paid for my product (or packaging) and I’ll do with it as I please. Jumping through hoops to access content or restricting access to devices does not make for that same carefree enjoyment and experience you get with a physical product. I know why publishers want DRM on their products, but I would rather see them incorporate some ‘packaging’.

I need to applaud the Pottermore project for bringing ‘social DRM’ into the spotlight, a process where the readers personal information is embedded into the product as a way to prevent copy – this is a far less intrusive and acceptable form of protection than anything I have seen so far.

The other method employed by publishers to create more value on their ebook properties is enhanced versions. Enhancements come in various forms, from the inclusion of video or audio and web links or a full on transmedia experience. Enhancement is where I think publishers need to focus their attention. This is as close to ‘packaging’ as you’re going to get in the digital space – creating experiences around the 95,000 words demonstrates value and commands a higher price.

My company has decided to focus on the transmedia storytelling side of things, and with my background in consumer packaging and brand experiences, we should be able to create that elusive engagement with the reader, providing some tangible experience that they will want to explore again and again.

At the end of the day, consumers want to feel good about the purchases they made and purchasing things makes them happy. Packaging is validation of money well spent.



Packaged in this blog, what do you value my 1791 words at?

app vs. epub

Since this keeps coming up in discussions and in questions with people, I thought I just post a few quick thoughts on apps vs. epub as formats to produce your book.

Both formats are solid and can do a lot of the same things, it really comes down to what you want to do with it and how you want to market it. 'It' meaning, your book. Marketing an ePub is different than marketing an app - I may go into greater depth on this in another posting, this one will be short and sweet.

Typically, apps cost more to produce... or at least have in the past. With ePub3 and all that html5 has to offer, you can do some damage to any sized budget with either format!

Approach your decision like this: If your audience would consider your project a 'book' more than an app, it may be best to build it in ePub so that it resides on the users bookshelf. Storing books together makes sense and is easier for the user to find your content.

You may also want to ask yourself, is it a consumable or a legacy product. So, will people read it once and forget about it or will they want to come back to it time and time again. If the latter is the case then an app may be better for you as you can update the app over time, whereas epubs, once delivered, are pretty much done.

Apps allow for in-game purchasing, which is something that isn't quite there with ePubs, or at least not in conjunction with all devices that ePubs run on.

You may also want to consider your audience. Producing an app for Mac OS only sells to that group, you will need to build another app to go after the 'others' in that space. An ePub is good for nearly every reading device, including desktops, laptops and smart phones. So, it's a bit more versatile.

Some non-fiction titles are beautiful apps - check out Elements - it is a work of art, but I would consider to be a coffee table book if it were printed.... maybe that's the type of titles that should go app - coffee table books?

My personal opinion is one that favours curation... I like to put my books on the shelf and see their covers... or someday when I have enough, ...spines. The universal use of ePub files is also attractive, meaning I only have to build it once.

I know it's short, but it's not really that difficult. It really comes down to what you want to do with it.