Posted on 2013-Sep-26
Why Does Data Matter at All?
Having written a novella or a full-length novel, every author has engaged themselves in a marathon effort to put their best works out for their readers. Books are fascinating in a sense that each and every one tells different stories and journeys from several angles based on the author’s perspective. Ultimately, each individual author’s creativity and proficiency is to weave meaningful words on the physical/digital whitepaper for their readers to witness and appreciate. Marketing your book to reach the widest group of readers can be a bit rough and challenging but there are a few things you might want to study to expand your distribution and promotion channel.
BitTorrent Bundle
Before we introduce you to the link that many pirates might have known all too well, let us state it clearly here that we do not support illegal file-sharing under any circumstances and respect the enduring effort of the original content creator. BitTorrent, the company famous for its copyright-infringing influence, has worked with 8 business partners to debut their Bundle program. Although their bundle package might not be a state-of-the-art innovation, their list of well-known artists combined with media files in various formats and file sizes seem to promise the thrilling experience for the end consumer. Note that whatever the artists choose to offer will be given away plus subscribing to each artist’s mailing list that will unlock the premium content which enhances your experience. According to The Digital Reader, there are many opportunities left untapped for authors to produce their valuable content.
1.5GB Worth of Ads
The screenshot shown below is taken from Tim Ferriss’ audiobook freemium page. In order to obtain the chef’s instant download, the first page will simply give you a choice between choosing a hardcover (on Amazon) or downloading a bundle file directly from their website to spice up your cooking skills. If you are happy with his offer and want to support the chef in this case, there is a commercial store you can visit with your head held high to own a legit product.
If you are not sure about his brand, the latter option may seem like a safe bet that will allow you to know the chef better. Based on the quick skimming of the filenames, these bundle files can be optimized to better promote your identity or brand. This can be a great tool for aspiring authors to test the water.
For established authors, you can strengthen your brand loyalty by offering several different promotional materials and engage super fans with lots of multimedia files of your book signing events, book trailers, games, press clippings, book review, and many surprising offers irrespective of size limitation. When I unlocked the premium content, the media files’ total size of 1.5 GB surpassed my expectation to imagine what they can bring.
Never Leave Your Data Behind
The latest bundle program from BitTorrent has tied nicely into what Digital Book Worlds’ practical advice how to build audience and control your future. It is a double-edged sword to live in a world where the flood of information and products are competing against one another to influence us to make a decision. Regardless of how many useful sources are publicly available online, what’s important for authors as content providers is to collect and analyze their data regularly and pragmatically. Traditionally, you trade business cards to follow up what you and your potential clients might have shared the same interests and thus looking forward to using their services. The more places you go, the better chance you get to meet more people to pitch your products. However, when the meeting scenario has shifted from live interaction and first impression to the virtual giveaway introduction, the physical contact is transformed into quantifiable data to justify your strongest sales medium. Each time you give away your free eBooks or chapters, it has become your golden opportunity to methodically predict the best way to better promote and sell your product. Apart from the excellent points raised by the author in his post, you can possibly look for other areas of information e.g. the eBook format, different pricing strategy, book promotion services to include in your data analysis. We keep track of how our Substance B authors have sold their books while running BookBub ads. Although it is inevitable that most of them did achieve an honorable status in best-selling charts, in each author’s back office, they can comparatively study which of their books in the series benefit the most from the $0.99 discount or free booster. If they run an ad for different books, they can perhaps learn which title attracts their fans the most and what type of cover seems to be the most appealing for the eyes of the beholder.
Essentially, “data is worthless if it can’t be the catalyst for actionable steps that lead to future sales and audience-building.” With a well-researched data summary, you can possibly lessen your risks and maximize your potentials to meet the needs of your readers.
Balancing Free and Paid Content
Despite the accusation of being associated with digital theft online, BitTorrent seems to stick what they do best to complement the peer-to-peer relationship between content providers and audience. According to CNET, BitTorrent will eventually provide the balanced level of free and paid content for business. In the initial phase of their alpha testing, several big names are invited to join the bundle. Justin Knoll, Chief Architect at BitTorrent, said that their bundle program is “a publishing platform designed to address the issues of distribution, reach, and virality, that every independent creator is up against.” As an indie author, this is not the first time you are familiar with how the free offer can attract new readers to promote your books on major online vendors. It will be interesting to wait and see how many independent creators will be interested to participate in the program. While free content can significantly increase your audience, if done properly with data and collection and analysis, your unique identity will play a major role in attracting the audience with more focused determination and intensity.
Migration to the Cloud
Before I wrap up this long and winding blog, I would like to leave you with the exclusive slides from Microsoft when I attended the Meetup session to meet with Mr. Haresh Khoobchandani, Managing Director of Microsoft Thailand, and listened to his 20-minute talk.
Without a doubt, the cloud solution is one of the hottest trends right now. More than 80% of news in 2012 was on the cloud and the digital content percentage grew 48% in 2012 as compared to the previous year.
Apart from general users, enterprise customers seem to embrace the cloud with arms wide open..
My point is these slides indicate the rise of digital content that stirs consumers’ attention away from physical commerce. With increased stability and security, smart devices owner will continually need to consume digital content more than ever. Are you on the cloud?
Label: eBook Industry News
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