Ad-supported e-books and the New York Times
Caveats first. I don’t want every book to be ad-supported, not even in part. Here’s to different business models, especially the bookstore and library ones, along with Gutenberg-style sites and Wikipedia!
Still, I can’t help but notice a report in TechCrunch, saying that the New York Times’ Web traffic is “going through the roof.” The big reason? The Times dropped its paywall. Relevant to e-books? Definitely. According to TechCrunch, the Times “gained 7.5 million readers worldwide from the end of August through the end of October (November numbers are not out yet). That is a 64 percent jump (to a total of 19.4 million).”
Joining the party
Those are not small numbers, and it isn’t hard to see some ad-supported books eventually reaching tens of millions. Already Yahoo and Adobe have come up with a way to insert advertisements in PDF files—progress even if I’m rooting for .epub to be the dominant standard. No, I don’t want books to be billboard-ugly. But as the New Yorker and other upscale magazines show, there are ways to be stylish about it.
What’s more, in-book ads can be endlessly localized, as well as updated, to offer the most relevant information. Though I love “free,” the decided preference of most surfers, who’ve generally shunned for-pay sites on the Web, someone has to foot the bills. Advertising would be one way for books to join the party online. Americans are spending precious little on books, as it stands now, and I see advertising as yet another source of revenue—not the only one, just an additional option.
I can remember all the skepticism that the usual suspects showed back in the 1990s when I was advocating big, well-stocked digital libraries. Too many thought in the present—complaining that the technology wouldn’t be able to cope with, say, searching. Wrong. Google nuked that argument. In the case of ad-supported books, I see a similar pattern: smart skeptics caught up in the present. Yes, software interfaces will have to be better—and appropriate for displaying ads without being obnoxious (I like one idea already proposed: advertisements between chapters). Greater deployment of always-on broadband could help as well. Of course, as with digital libraries, the obstacles aren’t just technical but also human. Let’s hope that minds change—with, I’ll emphasize, proper respect paid to the aesthetic and social ramifications of ads inside books.
December 11th, 2007 at 7:36 am
Ads between chapters? What for - cultural breaks?
December 11th, 2007 at 8:35 am
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,546599,00.html
A news story from a few years back about Fay Wheldon receiving sponsorship for a novel she wrote. So why not novels supported with product placement, just like on TV.
It could even be applied retrospectively with Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” sponsored by a pest control firm.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:12 am
I think you’re confusing two different audiences and activities. Books are one of the last sources of ad-free entertainment, and I think readers expect them to stay that way.
I wouldn’t pay a penny for an ebook with ads in it. Maybe you can make it work if the ebooks are free–but I find it hard to imagine that most advertisers are going to be willing to completely subsidize the cost of an e-book–especially if it isn’t a big-name author with a guaranteed readership.
Meanwhile, personally the absolute last thing I want is a book with ads flashing in the margins or cartwheeling across the text. And as for keeping it tasteful–yeah, right. Because the advertising industry is so, you know, tasteful.
I’ll buy my e-books on the Baen model–reasonable prices, multiple formats, DRM-free and without advertising.
December 11th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
I love ad-supported freesites. Why? Because my browser blocks the ads for me automatically. But when I check out Yahoo, for instance, from someone else’s browser I get a very nasty shock.
I suspect that ad-funded sites/eBooks will turn out the same way — popular with users like me who are savvy enough to locate and install ad blockers, less popular with those who can’t or won’t. Whether the latter group will remain large and placid enough in the long term to make them work is open to doubt.
December 11th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Here’s a representation of an ebook device displaying Nytimes.com, serving up standard digital advertising model:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUvzDCeCjkM
December 11th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
I am in love with the idea of ad supported books ESPECIALLY for academic publications. Make knowledge accessible for those who can’t/won’t pay for pristine margins. Would this not also further the aims of OLPC?