Martin. rowling. kipling. marks. tolkien. sebold. scott fitzgerald. hosseini. collins. martel.
digitized
Of all the many various business models around these days, the one that is probably the most annoying (yet most profitable), is advertising. Don’t get me wrong, a good advert here and there has certainly made itself useful in my digital lifetime, but the majority of the time, they just get on my nerves. Popping up halfway through a really intense game of ‘Piggy Break’, flashing at me from the side of a page while I'm attempting to get some research done, tracking my every move across the internet so that next time I go on Facebook they can attempt to offer me the latest crazy hotdog-pizza that you can find in Australia if you buy these tickets for only £2000 (!!!) - it’s just not my cup of tea shall we say. Hint to all businesses: it just makes me hate you. But hey guess what’s coming? Ebook advertising. The lovely chaps down at Wowio have finally found the publishing industry cowering in the corner and is intending to drag it out and line it up with all the other unfortunate industries. Here’s a clip to give you a better idea: I guess I am being slightly melodramatic, let’s get some perspective on this… They ARE offering us cheap or sometimes even free books which sweetens the deal somewhat, and even promising to make the adverts demographic to each specific reader means we won’t have to put up with having denture cream paraded in front of us while reading our soppy romance. But still… it just doesn’t seem right. Take a look at Figure 2. This is a template of the proposed new ebook layout (Kozlowski, M. 2014). Having space in the left and bottom margins leaves space for your mind to feel almost like it has space to roam free; allows the imagination to interpret what is happening in the story. Now looking at the opposite margins (top and right), how is it possible for the mind to concentrate on a novel when it has cluttered, clustered adverts flashing away in your face? Personally, they would ruin the story for me, constantly distracting me from the plot. But hang on… adverts have been published in printed books as far back as the 1950s? According to an article from The New York Times, ‘Roy Benjamin’ founded the ‘Quality Book Group’ in 1958. By 1959 the company had published its ‘biggest success of them all’, publishing a 500,000 Pocket Books print run titled “Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care”. It included adverts by ‘Q-Tips, Carnation and Procter and Gamble’ (Collins, P. 2007). Figure 3 gives you an idea of what they looked like. Later on in that article it speaks of authors distaste and readers feeling not too dissimilar. Although ‘A 1972 study of paperback advertising found that although readers professed to dislike the idea of ads in books … brand awareness climbed’ (Collins, P. 2007).
Despite this factor, the question we really have to ask - the question the author really has to ask - is am I prepared to sacrifice the quality of my book, of the readers experience with their artwork, for a little extra money in the bank? I know I wouldn’t. Would you? Bibliography Abel, S. (2011). Advertising in ebooks: Heresy or genius?. Available at: http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/Column/Flexing-Your-Content/Advertising-in-Ebooks-Heresy-or-Genius-77412.htm [Accessed 14th October 2014]. Collins, P. (2007). Smoke this book. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/Collins-t.html [Accessed 14th October 2014]. iMedia Connection. (2014). Why ebook advertising is the next big thing, part 1. [Online Video]. 25 March. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Lf8eTpXhM. [Accessed 14th October 2014]. iMedia Editors (2014). Why e-book advertising is the next big thing. Available at: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/36199.asp#multiview [Accessed 14th October]. Kozlowski, M. (2014). Advertisements in ebooks - is it a good idea?. Available at: http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/advertisements-in-ebooks-is-it-a-good-idea [Accessed 14th October 2014]. National Research Council. (2002). Technical, business, and legal dimensions of protecting children from pornography on the internet. Washington D.C.:National Academy Press. Schuessler, J. (2011). The secret history of ads in books. Available at: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/the-secret-history-of-ads-in-books/?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3As [Accessed 14th October 2014]. StudioW Digital (2014). Available at: http://www.studiowdigital.com/ [Accessed 14th October 2014].
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