Booksquare

One of the worst-kept secrets in my household is the fact that I buy multiple copies of the same book. For myself. I am not alone in this habit, but I’ve noticed a new twist on an old concept. Last week, I observed a discussion among readers: the importance of purchasing comfort reads to store on digital readers.

Make the reader happy, and that reader will buy more books.

These readers weren’t looking for free digital copies of books they’d already purchased. No, they were discussing second or third purchases of favorite books. This time, the discussion focused on the quest to build a digital library of old favorites. To paraphrase: “I can have all my comfort reads with me all the time.”

If I understand industry parlance, these are “additive sales”.
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Todays links of interest:

• The Lie that is Bookscan
  Andrew Zack on the problems with using Bookscan numbers to make publishing decisions: they aren’t accurate.
• FTC Targets Internet Affiliate Programs
  We believe is this part of the government stimulus package: monitoring and resolving these things will require A Lot Of Manpower!
• Oprah For Teenage Readers: Where Are You?
  While Mark Bertils makes an excellent point, the end of this post highlights the bigger problem. If you’re building community and are a few days behind in approving, your community moves on.

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Ann Kirschner, after reading Little Dorritt in four different formats:

Oh boy, have I had a lot of arguments along the way to the marriage of Little Dorrit and her long-suffering beau, Arthur Clennam! Readers are passionate and opinionated advocates for their preferred formats. Flip announced that she reads only hardcovers; end of conversation. “I get it,” said Bill, watching me read on the iPhone: “You like your books little.” Bob is no Luddite, but he insists that Steve Jobs has bribed me, since the Kindle is so obviously superior. Just wait for the Apple tablet,” advises techno-sage Joe. And Judith derides my affection for audiobooks as “not really reading.”

That’s the worst accusation: that I am not a serious reader. Not guilty! I love books as much as anybody. But I love reading more. It is the sustained and individual encounter with ideas and stories that is so bewitching. If new formats allow us to have more of those, let us welcome and learn from them.

• Reading Dickens Four Ways: One readers experiment

• More on Joining the Conversation
  June 16th, 2009 · 13 Comments

  The first thesis of The Cluetrain Manifesto is “markets are conversations”. Stretch, twist, transform, voila!: books are conversations.
  I was reminded of this last week as fragments of a Twitter discussion caught my eye: a reader and bookseller (both located in different states) engaged in a conversation about buying from local booksellers. The reader noted that [...]

• Commercial Break: Twitter and Tweet Camp
  June 10th, 2009 · 2 Comments

  While it can seem like the move to digital is the only topic consuming publishing industry, online marketing has resurfaced as a trending topic. Once the province of display ads (with a few wild experiments with the evil pop-ups!), online marketing is now, for better or worse, all about social media. Your MySpace, your Facebook, [...]

• BEA 2009: A Bit of Deja Vu All Over Again
  June 1st, 2009 · 41 Comments

  It is perhaps telling that I left BookExpo America 2009 with the same feeling I had in 2006. And 2008. This time, however, there is also a layer of optimism, the product, actually, of the Publishing 3.0 presentation from the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. It’s too big for a nutshell, so hang on [...]

• Pre-BEA Lazy Post: Round-Up Style
  May 26th, 2009 · 2 Comments

  As you all know, the entire United States publishing community is gearing up for BookExpo America 2009 (#BEA09). For a show that conventional wisdom pegged as leaner and smaller due to the economic downturn, there is a whole lotta buzz going on. So buzzy, in fact, that I’m packing my bags and heading to the [...]

• Ebooks, Prices, Consumers, Choices. Again.
  May 18th, 2009 · 24 Comments

  Resolved: digital books will be a growing and important part of the reading mix of the future. Resolved: readers are not monolithic nor predictable and will expect digital books to be as flexible as they are. Resolved: digital versus print is not an either/or decision. Resolved: due to laws and insanity (not necessarily in that [...]

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