SXSW Mini TOC presentation on the need for and techniques related to promoting books using mobile.

1. SoLoMoBo(oks)
Going social, local, and
mobile…
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/fearlesszombie/3674122871/
@skemptas@c

2. Mobile
is
a
wonderland.
Every
adventure
requires
a
first
step.
Let
reader
needs
guide
your
behavior.

3. Books: The Original “SoLoMo” Experience?
Books have always been
– Social: Lend to friends;
discuss in depth
– Local: Before Amazon,
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/shu"erhacks/4474421855/
there were local
bookstores
– Mobile: Take it anywhere;
no charger or device
needed
How
can
“solomo”
technology
help
books
get
discovered
and
read?

4. SoLoMoBooks should…
Be easy to find
– Social discovery (social reading)
find
– Local discovery (where you are is what you read)
– Mobile discovery (relevant ads and engagement)
Be easy to get
– Device compatibility
get
– One-click buy
– Fast downloads
Provide a great reading experience
experience
– Proper formatting
– Notes and highlights
– Storage and sharing
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/nseika/5234548420/

5. find
social
local
mobile
build
awareness
in
the
moment
call
to
ac@on

6. Curiouser and curiouser.
STATE OF THE MOBILEVERSE

7. 42% of Americans have
smartphones
comScore
2012

8. 57% of adults read for pleasure
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/foolstopzanet/151936713/
NEA
2007

9. Reading is changing
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/katerha/4254555589/

10. Tablet ownership is up

11. % U.S. Adults with Tablets
29%
18%
Dec-­‐2011
Jan-­‐2012
Pew
Internet
and
American
Life
Project

12. E-book Purchasing Shifts:
Apps & Amazon up; chains & indies
down
%
of
Audience
Repor;ng
Shi=
in
Channel
Usage
50%
33%
Apps
Amazon
Indies
Chains
-­‐29%
-­‐33%
BISG
Consumer
A`tudes
Toward
E-­‐Book
Reading
Study,
Volume
Three
(2/28/12)

13. Print vs. E-book Revenue:
Print down; e up
Overall
Revenue
Growth
117%
Print
E-­‐book
-­‐17.50%
• Print decrease in certain print categories (adult trade fiction) nearly
matched e-book increase (AAP)
• Digital content & subscriptions market grew 26% in 2011
(comScore)
• eBook revenue expected to grow 300% by 2015 (Goldman Sachs)

14. E-Reader & Tablet Owners
Spend More
January
2012
Amazon
Spend
by
Device
Type
$151
$136
$87
No
device
Kindle
Kindle
Fire
Codex-­‐Group
LLC

15. Device Usage: E-Readers down;
tablets/smartphones up
Preferred
E-­‐Reading
Device
80.00%
2010
2011
71.60%
70.00%
60.90%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
17%
13%
9.20%
10.00%
5.30%
0.00%
Dedicated
E-­‐Readers
Tablets
Smartphones
BISG
Consumer
A`tudes
Toward
E-­‐Book
Reading
Study,
Volume
Three
(2/28/12)

16. So, besides read…
…what
do
people
do
on
mobile?
How
can
we
reach
them?

17. Pew
Research
Center
Global
A`tudes
Project
75% text
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/kamshots/204036348/

18. h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/tonythemisfit/3427097197/
80% use during downtime
Compete
Jan
2010

19. 52% play games
limfy.com/
2011/04/
download-­‐
angry-­‐birds-­‐
desktop-­‐
wallpapers/
Flurry
2012

20. 22% use
social
networks
Flurry 2012

21. More
media
@me
spent
on
mobile
than
on
newspapers
and
magazines
combined
eMarketer
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/lara604/3492303904/

22. Books
slower
to
catch
on
than
Apple
Media
Download
Totals
(Millions
of
Units)
Months
amer
Launch
songs,
apps
Million
Units
Downloaded
Data
from
Asymco

23. What does it all mean?
ownership
@me
discovery
purchase

24. Competition for discovery
“The crucial principle at work [in new
publishing, journalism] is the idea that your
real competition isn’t the book or news outlet
that is better than you, it’s the one that is
good enough for a majority of your audience.”
– Mathew Ingram for GigaOm
Good enough… or discoverable enough?
Is the first found the first bought?

25. Not everyone needs to discover the same thing.
Suddenly, there isn’t one bestseller list. There are a
million. And almost all of them aren’t relevant to you.
Except the few that are, and those lists are the lists that
matter…. The person who knows what’s hot right now,
and has permission to talk about it, has earned an asset
that will be valuable for a long time. – Seth Godin
http://www.thedominoproject.com/2012/01/rethinking-
the-bestseller-list.html

26. To get found
Be where customers are (on mobile)
find
– Social, local, mobile: SMS, games, social,
media, apps
Provide what customers want
get
– Updates, relevance, deals
Make it easy to find and buy
experience
– Device optimization, few clicks,
reasonable choices

27. Marketing is already huge

28. Adding mobile can be overwhelming
"Would
you
tell
me,
please,
which
way
I
ought
to
go
from
here?”
"That
depends
a
good
deal
on
where
you
want
to
get
to,"
said
the
Cat.
"I
don’t
much
care
where—"
said
Alice.
"Then
it
doesn’t
ma"er
which
way
you
go,"
said
the
Cat.
”—so
long
as
I
get
SOMEWHERE,"
Alice
added
as
an
explana@on.
"Oh,
you’re
sure
to
do
that,"
said
the
Cat,
"if
you
only
walk
long
enough."

29. Actual quotes, actual publishers
• I am sorry to tell you we are horrible about
keeping statistics and tracking sales.
• We have struggled with QR codes… we
haven’t really done any separate tracking.
• Our need for mobile is not very large at the
moment.
• It's not something that is on our radar at the
moment, but definitely something we would
like to explore down the line.

30. Primary
Website
3 4 5 6 7+ Easy Steps
Text
Going Mobile in
Apps
Search
Ads
Emerging
LBS
Camera
QR
AR
NFC
Components
Social
Contests
Coupons
Vo@ng
@raypunsd
for
Adobe
mobile
Mul@media

31. Mobile Modes of Discovery
LBS
bring
them
site
search
app
QR
AR
they’re
there
LBS
social
text
media
QR
AR
cool
content
excerpts,
interviews
mul@media
blurbs
related

32. Mobile works when it’s
immediate
interac@ve
relevant
updated

33. What’s different about mobile with books?
Social: Build awareness
– Dedicated social reading sites
social
– Broader social networking sites
– Recommendations from these or other sites / contacts
– Following authors/publishers, not just titles
Local: Capture in the moment
– Location based recommendations (events, bookstores)
local
– Locally relevant content, books related to events or venues
– QR codes and AR to enhance in-store or reading experiences
– Games or challenges related to book content
Mobile: Elicit action
mobile
– Mobile optimized content
– Apps
– Ads
– Connect real world and mobile (QR, text offers in-store/at-event)

34. facebook
twi"er
Build awareness.
BE SOCIAL
“Well!
I've
omen
seen
a
cat
without
a
grin,"
thought
apps
Alice;
"
but
a
grin
without
a
cat!
It's
the
most
curious
thing
I
ever
saw
in
my
life!"

35. Twitter and Facebook (and LinkedIn)…
Oh my!
• Dominant social networks
• Millions of regular users
• Millions of regular mobile users
• Targeted mobile promotions:
– Raise awareness of titles, authors, events
– Enter contests/giveaways
– Trivia contests, votes
– Cross-media promotions
– Anything interactive: grab attention, keep coming back
– Particular item: pinning, promotion
• Mobile concerns:
– Optimized sites
– Easy actions
– Compatibility

36. Taft 2012
social:
facebook

37. Tweeting the Rev
social:
twiRer

38. “I braced myself for widespread ridicule
(‘What kind of moron's ever going to read
a novel on Twitter?’) and was accordingly
astonished when the feedback was
supportive. I wound up making headlines
worldwide and landing a book deal with
the ballsiest publisher of them all (Soft
Skull).”
"It was extremely empowering and
liberating”
social:
twiRer

39. Goodreads Giveaway
social:
goodreads

40. Social Reading Sites/Apps
• GoodReads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, etc.
• 2 books discovered on GoodReads every
second; 1 book finished every 2 seconds
• 19% of GoodReads recommendations at
signup, 19% from search
• Additional room for social recommendations
• Need to share from mobile devices, apps
• Creating own app has potential, but should
have specific/unique capabilites; requires
dedicated promotion
*h"p://www.slideshare.net/PatrickBR/goodreads-­‐how-­‐people-­‐discover-­‐books

41. Once people are hooked…
you’ve got ‘em.

42. "Who are YOU?" said the
Caterpillar.
This was not an encouraging
opening for a conversation.
Alice replied, rather shyly,
”I—I hardly know, sir, just at
present—at least I know who I
WAS when I got up this
morning, but I think I must
have been changed several
times since then."
GO LOCAL
Be in the moment
(even as the moment changes)

43. Local: Everywhere’s a bookstore
• Where you are is what you read
• Travel book downloads on touchdown
• Baby books with doctor visits
• Historical texts for tourist visits
• Running plan upon marathon signup
• Improve: Instant recs based on where
and what (boundless), though this isn’t
always what people want
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/305504788/

44. Libraries…
The Original
Local
• Apps in stacks
• Text msg
reference desk
• Holds
• Ebooks
• Mobile self
checkout
local:
libraries

45. local:
scvngr
SCVNGR + Scholastic
• Scholastic SCVNGR challenges
• Interact with authors
• In-store & live book tour challenges
• “Dark and Stormy Night:” Give us your best opening line
for a story. Need inspiration? Check out “this is teen” titles
like “Abandon,” “Forever,” and “Beauty Queens.”
• “Essential Item:” “Beauty Queens” centers around a plane
crash on a desert island. If you were trapped with the
group, what one item from the mainland would you miss
the most?
• “Get it Signed” (at tour locations): Meg Cabot, Maggie
Stiefvater and Libba Bray are here and signing their books!

46. Location based marketing
• Where you are is what you want

47. Atmosphere based storytelling
http://www.sixtostart.com/wanderlust/
The people go where the story takes place
Live your story… on the right venue?

48. Call to action.
MOBILE

49. Books Born Digital
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/80565685@N00/3186540497/
The immediate effect of books born digital is that they can flow
onto any screen, anytime. A book will appear when summoned.
The need to purchase or stockpile a book before you read it is
gone. A books is less an artifact and more a stream that flows
into your view…. Reading becomes more social. We can share
not just the titles of books we are reading, but our reactions
and notes as we read them. Today, we can highlight a passage.
Tomorrow we will be able to link passages. We can add a link
from a phrase in the book we are reading to a contrasting
phrase in another book we've read; from a word in a passage to
an obscure dictionary, from a scene in a book to a similar scene
in a movie. (All these tricks will require tools for finding relevant
passages.) We might subscribe to the marginalia feed from
someone we respect, so we get not only their reading list, but
their marginalia—highlights, notes, questions, musings…
Ebooks won't be owned. They'll be accessed. –Kevin Kelly

50. Real-world driven mobile discovery
Use existing content or services to drive
access (QR, SMS, URL) on mobile
• Serials
• Previews
• Giveaways
• Commute
• Related content
• Supplemental content
• Author interviews

51. Engaging in-store
• Improves customer experience
• Set platform for future interaction
• Has the potential to increase spend

52. Search-driven mobile discovery
• People seeking info on a specific topic

53. Device Discovery: Kindle + iPad
• Succeed by making it easy to find and buy on device
• Device usage constitutes/continues discovery
• Lack of external data on path: “I have absolutely no
context for my buyers. Where are they coming to
Amazon from? Are they finding me here on this blog
and then clicking through to Amazon? Searching for
me or [title] on Amazon itself? Coming from some
other site? Finding me from some other page on
Amazon…? Amazon knows, but it won’t tell me.
–Suw Charman-Anderson
• Kindle Singles opening new discovery channel,
perhaps also with incomplete data
• Survey readers to find out about discovery points?

54. Facebook Mobile Ads
• "We are evolving from advertising to
stories…"Ads are good, but stories are
better.” – Mike Hoefflinger
• Reach: Hit 75% of fans per month / 50% per
week by page posts that become ads
• Upside: reach; downside: cost
• “Among the many admirable things about
books, they don’t metamorphose into ads
for Omaha Steaks when you aren’t grasping
them in your optimistic fingers.”
– Dwight Garner

55. Do mobile ads work?

56. Mobile email campaign
• Drives to site

57. Use mobile in the real world
• Books
• Bookstores
• Author events
• Festivals
• Products
• Stores
• Connect with QR, checkins, geolocation
• If someone visits in reality, connect virtually
• Your customer never leaves your store

58. Mobile Discovery Platforms
• Texting
• Apps
• Mobile sites
• E-books
• Author sites
• Related products
• Reviews
• Recommendations
• Social media
• Email
• Way more than ads
• Anything can go mobile

59. example:
hypothe;cal
Let’s tell a story.
• Alice just signed up for a half marathon
• Alice RSVPs for it on Facebook
• Facebook uses this data to show her a relevant status update
• Alice buys a training book and reads on her commute
• A QR code on her half marathon bib leads to an interactive
training program where she can sign up
• Alice gets mobile optimized email about a new book
• Alice buys the book
• Alice runs a marathon

60. example:
hypothe;cal
Let’s tell a story 2.
• Alice listened to Fresh Air
podcast on mobile
• Alice heard about a book
• Ad told her to text NPR to 3984
for $5 off
• Alice texts, buys, reads
• Publisher now knows where
Alice found the book
• Can continue similar promos

61. Content – Device Relationships
Readers of fiction, she went on, seem to prefer Kindle and
Nook devices, while nonfiction readers like using tablet
readers like the iPad.
Angela Bole, BISG's Deputy Executive Director, “In these
reports, the data have suggested that dedicated e-readers may
be better optimized for narrative reading, while the richer
media capabilities of tablets may be more appropriate for
nonfiction, education, and scientific and professional titles,”
said Boyle. “The greatest interest today seems to lie in
narrative fiction and nonfiction, with interest in more
interactive nonfiction and education taking longer to develop.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/
2012/0229/E-book-readers-are-buying-plenty-but-not-in-
bookstores

62. Mobile is continuous.
TRACK IT ALL

63. Importance of tracking

64. Typical items to track
• How you act / what you do / what you buy
• Who you are
• Where you live
• Who you seem like
• Social proximity
• Now data gathers
• Re/targeting
• Publication gathers, advertiser advertises
• Adjust based on results

65. Ideal model? Not one platform fits
all, not one size fits all
Mobile
can
be
Books
the
direct
Readers
connec@on

66. Mobile: The new marketing frontier
The people [who] read, rate, review,
recommend and refer books are the new
gatekeepers of the industry. The power of
the old gatekeepers (Agents & Publishing
Houses) is in decline, and will never
recover. —WaveCloud

67. What if everything could be a hit?
• “The long tail”
• Create once publish everywhere
– Books
– Ebooks
– Mobile
• Create once promote everywhere?
• No mobile web, no e-books
• Just books, accessible in print or online

68. As mobile creates opportunities, it
also creates problems
• Device/format compatibility
• Apps as barrier to accessing content
• Tablets
• No standard marketplaces
• Sometimes simplicity is better
• Just buy a book
• But mobile can lead to that book too

69. And so what?

70. So readers can find more books.
• Social connections (outside of dedicated
sites)
• Location awareness and
recommendations
• Device/platform agnostic download
options

71. Listen to Google…
Let’s play.