Is There Room On Your Shelves For Ebooks?

Are you scared by ebooks?Why?

Are you scared by Audiobooks?

Hardbacks, Paperbacks and all the other formats of books?

So why are ebooks different then?

Sadly as much as we may want to click our heels three times, close our eyes and think of home that's just not going to make ebooks, kindles, and apps go away.

Instead we have to deal with them head on and if we can turn what we might think of as a predator to our shops and sales instead into a bit of pet project then we are likely to make it safely through the forest of change.

Who reads ebooks? And how do they read them?

Who here has an ebook reader...

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Sony, Other?

Who here has an Ipad or tablet?

Android, windows or generic...

Who here has a smart phone or blackberry...

Who here has a laptop or desktop computer...

So who here doesn't have an ebook reader...

Pretty much everyone has an

ebook reader, ebook app, or the ability to read ebooks – it's pretty much integral to the tech these

days.

Who here doesn't sell ebooks?Why?

Technology, ability or desire –

which one is it and how hard is it to overcome really?

So first off do you need to sell ebook readers to sell ebooks?

NO

in fact my suggestion, having ebook readers on sale and instock in the shop, is that truthfully I've found as a small bookshop that the costs have outweighed the gain...stockholding, knowledge base needed etc set against low return sales income (given most people largely buy 'free' or exceptionally low cost books) just don't in my experience make the scales balance.Add into this the growing trend is in fact away from dedicated ereaders and into tablets and apps means you are likely always going to be one model behind...

So do you need to sell ebook readers to sell ebooks?

Maybe?

That said it is fair to say that 'Kobo' is a strong and growing brand and the GoTab from Gardners is a lovely little piece of equipment, so it may be that you do want to sell ereaders – that's a personal shop choice and I do know a few shops that have done relatively well with them, more often slightly larger shops in more urban or affluent areas though from what I have gathered talking with folks around the place.

Don't be a DummyGet in a demo or dummy model (you can pick secondhand ones up quite

cheaply) to make a 'feature' of the fact that you can sell folks ebooks (indeed you can always offer to order them ereaders anyway if need be!).

If anything that's been the only real benefit I've gotten from actually stocking ereaders, it's a talking point, it makes people stop and play for a few minutes, it makes them ask questions about ebooks which gives me an 'in' to promote the ways they can get ebooks and still shop with and support my shop – their local bookshop and place of discoverability...

Before you make any decision, if you haven't already, here are some basic questions you need to ask yourself...

What do I get for every device sale and is it worth the display space and retail energy I will be devoting to it?

How do the subsequent e-book sales factor into the equation?

What should be the new staff-training protocols?

How will I handle customer service?

Do I own the customer data or does someone else?

and finally here are a sample of some of the questions that customers ask...

Does this get WiFi? Do I need the internet?

What kind of processor does it have?

What’s the battery life?

If I download a book to this, can I transfer it to my phone? How? Can you do it for me please...

What’s DRM?

So, is this a Kindle then?

These few questions are just the beginning,

because remember when you move into selling ereaders you are moving into selling

electronics and that's a whole new market and set of skills

and issues...

So Ebook selling then...Some methods and venues for sale

of ebooks...

Amazon, Kobo, Hive, Bookdepository, 10ofthose,

Gardners, bespoke/own website, BA ebookcard & site...

(to name a few)

Which of these are closed doors for booksellers?

Amazon, Kobo, Hive, Bookdepository, 10ofthose,

Gardners, bespoke/own website, BA ebookcard & site...

Answer … None of them,

they are all venues booksellers can tap into and make use of

– if not directly then through affilliate schemes!

So why aren't you selling ebooks again?

So what are the costs?

Mostly time and a little effort for most of them...

Setting up an affilliate partnership takes time to fill out a form, send a few emails, get your codes back and start using them by adding them to your websites, profiles, emails etc...

The ones where you set up a shop can take a little longer – filling in the details, arranging it,

updating it, uploading it...

Some of them have larger costs, for instance to sell ebooks via Gardners or Hive you need to have a Gardners account and you need to

use them regularly …

Own website/bespoke – well the cost on that one...

how much have you got to spend because there's a model out there for you whether it be through someone like

merlio/booksolve or a more shopinabox system that you plug in, or even just a simple site like mine where you just

put all your affilliates in one place...

the choice is yours, the cost is yours to decide...

The question as much as anything isn't so much what is the cost,

so much as what is the loss if you don't...

So good things about ebooks for booksellers... and consumers...

Do you sell audiobooks?Do you sell large print books?

Ebooks are a good way to deal with the issue of large print for many people – and not just large print, but for some it's actually a matter of black on white and most

ebooks easily allow these issues to be resolved so they are a great tool for consumers with reading issues, and a

great way for you not to lose those customers...You can encourage them to come into the shop and even

offer to help them load and download books onto their readers, thus ensuring they go through your affilliate links

and that you can still gain their add on sales of other items.

Ebooks are just another form of book and we can use them to our advantage …

Some more good things about ebooks for booksellers...

Don't just sell the ebooks, think about selling the add on's that go with them...

so sell covers not just for ebook readers but what about for ipads and tablets, and even mobile phone cases, or

memory cards, chargers...

think about it, a whole new range of add on sales and all with pretty good margins usually.

Encourage ebook readers into your shop, no not the tech but the folk that own them

and that read ebooks..

Offer them offers that then get them to realise you sell ebooks – that encourage them to set up and use your

ebook site or links, so how about you 'buy' the physical books they probably no longer want, however offer it in

an ebookcard form, or through an ebook instore purchase via gardners or the like...

How about running an ebook readers bookgroup! But make it so they have to purchase the ebook from you - you provide the ebook to them via email link or affilliate link or direct them instore etc so that again they get used to perceiving you as an ebook seller and using you/your

site as an ebook provider...

How else could ebooks work for you?

Are there resources missing from your area? Can you produce them and offer them out in ebook

format?

Does an ebook always have to stay an ebook...

Bindworx the next generation offering?

What can we talk to publishers about?

Clone files iniatitive – can we get our publishers to do the same thing, ie bundle an ebook with the pbook...

Reading notes are going over to ebook & app formats – are there ways we can work together on this, just as once some of the publishers did subs gift cards can they do subs ebookcards that shops can sell...

And moving one step sideways from ebooks but keeping in with the ecard idea … can we get our publishers such as kingsway etc to offer an icard that can be used for purchasing downloads or physical product of any format … Something we sell in the shops with their branding that can be used on their websites (wouldn't this solve quite a few legacy and ongoing issues and problems...)

So to conclude …

is there room on your shelves for ebooks?

Yes there definitely is...

there has to be doesn't there?