Are Ads on Books a Good Idea? (China's Starting to Do It)
SodaHead News
2012/05/08 19:00:00
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Ads are everywhere. They're all over the Internet, dotted along the highway, in the middle of your favorite television shows, plastered on the walls of the mall. It's how businesses work together to generate interest and revenue. But it's also a double-edged sword, because no one particularly likes ads. We're naturally repelled. Unfortunately, it looks like the infection is spreading. The Chinese publishing industry, threatened by the success of tablets and e-books, is starting to put ads on book covers.
According to China Daily, "My Son" by Marina Lu, mother of cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma, is the first book to feature an ad on its cover. It's not as blatant as you might fear -- it's actually on the back cover, and it's apparently just the logo of a textile manufacturer. But Jinghua Aobo, a Chinese advertising agency, has already signed deals with more than 100 publishers. Right now it's just an experiment, but the potential could be worrisome. Do you think it will actually help the publishing industry, or will it backfire?
According to China Daily, "My Son" by Marina Lu, mother of cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma, is the first book to feature an ad on its cover. It's not as blatant as you might fear -- it's actually on the back cover, and it's apparently just the logo of a textile manufacturer. But Jinghua Aobo, a Chinese advertising agency, has already signed deals with more than 100 publishers. Right now it's just an experiment, but the potential could be worrisome. Do you think it will actually help the publishing industry, or will it backfire?
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FYI: There are 2 versions of the Kindle.. With Ads for $79, and without Ads for $130 - - so in a way, they are already doing books with ads.
It does seem that the print ads in my Sunday newspaper are shrinking, but they still take up more paper than the newspaper content itself. (I pull out the ads and throw in the recycle bin without looking at any of it).
I'm sorry, if you're threatened by something (like say eBooks), does tossing on ads help? No. Getting the ads into the eBook versions will, because then people will hate the eBooks for having ads, and go back to hardcopies. Putting ads on your hard copy book will instead get more people to want eBooks, because they don't have ads!
Except for other books. I have no problem seeing an ad for a related book in the back of a novel.
Oh sure, there will likely always be one or two out there putting out coffee-table gifts, etc. But the real market, especially for fiction, is in e-books & THAT'S where we need to keep advertising out... at least out of the pages. Who cares if it's on a cover? No one really looks at the cover.
But, then again, were there an ad for some immoral firm/org on the cover of a book, I wouldn't buy it (my definition of immoral is likely different from yours & yours different from his/hers, etc. & so forth). So, I would think that it might hurt sales for some. (With Amazon, there really is no book that can't be "published" anymore... anyone can do it.)
Figure out the logic here; magazines okay' we're accustomed to it. But to put ads on" or inside a book or novel, would absolutely be very annoying.
http://www.the-digital-reader...