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With
the traditional publishing world in flux as publishing houses balance the cost
of printing and advertising books against their sales numbers, more and more
book loving entrepreneurs are finding ways to stay abreast of readers' changing
habits and bring the words of authors they admire to the public's attention. To
publish means, in its simplest sense, "to make public," and with the
advent of online literature, print on demand, e-books, blogging, and social
networking, tremendous possibilities are opening up for readers to receive the
written word. New venues for authors to connect with their readers seem to be
tripling every year. When I heard about the Libertary
website and its efforts to keep out of print books and books that are not well
supported by their publishers in the public eye, I contacted its founding
partners Alice Porter and Kenneth Shear to find out more about the site and its
goals. Here is our conversation about Libertary
and how authors and book lovers can get involved.
Sheila
How do you describe the mission of your new web business?
Alice
Libertary's mission is to connect more readers with more books and give
them new and exciting ways to share and experience books.
Ken
We're readers and we love books. We saw this enormous potential for the
Internet to expand readership and enhance the reading experience. I have helped
start a couple of businesses, and I've written a book; Alice has decades of
editing experience. We know lots of authors who have written great books that
haven't ever reached their potential audiences due to existing limits on the
business side of publishing. So we both felt it was a great opportunity for
creating a business that makes a real contribution by exposing books to readers
and helping give books a bigger role in online communities.
Sheila
How will your website make this contribution?
Alice
When readers
find their way books on our site, they see pages designed and formatted for
easy reading on the web (as opposed to a simple scan or PDF). We provide
information about the authors and the printed copies. In some cases, authors
have added new material for their Libertary editions. Visitors can navigate
easily through our books and even change the text size to one that is most
comfortable for them. We are planning a whole range of new ways for people to
respond to books and share books with other readers.
For authors,
we provide new life for worthwhile books that have not been successfully
marketed or are otherwise under the public radar. We find new web-based markets
for our books by placing links on sites that are already attracting readers on
their subjects. We raise exposure, and through our book forums, discussion and "buzz."
Authors also share in any revenue generated by book sales through Libertary and
donations made directly to our site. We encourage authors to read how it all
works on the Libertary page called "For Authors."
Ken
So far, books are not a big part of what people read on the web. We think it's
really important to make books available free online -- just like magazines and
newspapers that did not attract readership until they opened up their content.
The web is full of existing communities looking for information on just about
any subject and for good things to read. We are all about connecting books to
readers in this way. The idea is to build constituencies around books online,
by generating links directly to the book from other websites and blogs where we
find communities interested in the book's subject matter and ideas. When people
come to read books at Libertary, we provide a more pleasurable reading
experience than other online book sites. And as we further develop our site's
functionality, we will create opportunities for readers to exchange comments on
books, review and discuss them in forums, share books with other readers, and
interact with books in a variety of new and interesting ways.
Sheila
How do you think this effort fits in today's publishing and book markets?
Ken
What we've done so far is put a bunch of very good books up for free
reading. You can read a book for free on Libertary and comment if you want.
We've only just started our website, so most of the functionality we envision
isn't there yet. But keep an eye on us -- we're going to create all sorts of
new ways for readers to experience books and share their experience.
There are already lots of e-book sites. There are many great public domain
books available for free, and some enlightened authors have begun to offer
their books free online. The Kindle does a good job, for some readers, of
creating an e-book experience that resembles reading a printed copy. We think
all this is great because it makes books more available. But we're only scratching
the surface when it comes to using the Internet to add to the reader's
experience and the value of books.
Alice
We love the way putting books online can turn them into a more interactive,
shared experience, and can expose books to more people. We don't think anyone
has as yet brought this together yet very effectively.
Ken
Our plan is to establish and develop new avenues to compensate authors
beyond their existing publishing arrangements. We aren't talking about the
world of bestsellers but the vast majority of books with low or moderate sales
where we think we can help improve business for both publishers and authors.
It's been shown pretty clearly that sales of printed books increase when a book
is available to read online for free. (Just like offering books free in a
library encourages sales.)
Alice
We believe that we can generate important additional sources of revenue for
authors, sources other sites are not exploiting well and which authors would
have difficulty managing on their own. For example, people can click through
from our site and easily buy a printed copy. We have ads that will generate
revenue for particular books. As we develop traffic, we'll also be moving to an
optional, pay-what-you-want model, where people can support our site, authors,
and publishers.
Ken
So on the business side, we're offering new alternatives to authors and
publishers to promote sales of printed books and to develop new revenue
streams. But beyond the business side, we're making books more accessible to
readers and enhancing the reading experience.
Alice
And that's where we want to make our real contribution to the world of
books and publishing.
Ken
People already read an enormous amount on the Internet, and many join
communities where they not only read but also offer their own thoughts and
reactions. So we treat each book as a website and look for ways it can connect
to other websites, blogs, and web-based reference sources like Wikipedia
Alice
One of our important goals is to build constituencies and advocacies
around books. We have opportunities on our site for people to play the role of
Book Advocate. That's a person who looks for websites and blogs where a certain
book might be of interest and tries to get them to link to the book. The Book
Advocate might insert references to the book on websites or might post comments
or reviews of a book. A Book Advocate might work with the author to figure out
how to best highlight the book's appeal. As we go along, the Book Advocate
might have first crack at leading discussions on our site or moderating
comments. Right now, we're primarily a reading site. But we want to become a
place where people interact in new ways around books, and book advocates will
be in the middle of this.
Sheila
What do you think makes a good Book Advocate? I can see having students in
particular courses take on book advocacy as an internship or class project.
Have you been encouraging this?
Alice
We have. Three characteristics make an effective book advocate: love of
books, some web-based research skills, and an interest in learning how books
can be effectively marketed on the web. Book advocates make their own hours,
can work anywhere, and will learn a great deal quickly about the exploding
world of online publishing.
Sheila
How do you attract and keep readers and authors using your site?
Alice
When readers
find their way books on our site, they see pages designed and formatted for
easy reading on the web (as opposed to a simple scan or PDF). We provide
information about the authors and the printed copies. In some cases, authors
have added new material for their Libertary editions. Visitors can navigate
easily through our books and even change the text size to one that is most
comfortable for them. And as we've discussed above, we are planning a whole
range of new ways for people to respond to books and share books with other
readers.
For authors,
we provide new life for worthwhile books that have not been successfully
marketed or are otherwise under the public radar. We find new web-based markets
for our books by placing links on sites that are already attracting readers on
their subjects. We raise exposure, and through our book forums, discussion and
"buzz." Authors also share in any revenue generated by book sales
through Libertary and donations made directly to our site. We encourage authors
to read how it all works on the Libertary page called "For Authors."
Sheila
Could you take a stab at stating your "philosophy of the book"?
Alice
We believe that books should be read. Our motto is Freedom of the Book, and our
first goal is to broaden readership. The web is a boon to readers with content
that is growing exponentially, but most book sites on the web either severely
limit the number of pages a reader can see, feature impenetrable PDFs, and
charge for electronic versions. With Libertary, we hope to duplicate the
traditional bookstore environment that welcomes readers and encourages them to
read as much of the books as they want for free, even if they pay for books
they take away with them. Using our HTML version, we can easily create new
features for discussing and sharing books.
Sheila
How do you see your site growing in the future? What do you hope for one
year from now? Five years? Ten years?
Ken
A year from now! For an online business, this is long-term thinking. We
expect to have several hundred books by then. We plan to have many new features
added to the online reading experience. We hope to have many book lovers
involved in our site as book advocates or in other roles that emerge. We hope
to be connecting books to readers and making the experience richer and more
enjoyable than what's currently available.
But we're a new Internet business. Our future depends upon connecting with
online communities and learning what people enjoy and find useful in this
environment. There's no formula or recipe for what we're serving. We have very
strong ideas about building communities around books and promoting readership,
but these will work only if we are flexible, learn from our audience,
experiment, and go with what really works to meet these goals. So, we can
assure you that Libertary will be after the same goals a year from now though
it will have evolved in ways that we can't predict.
Five to ten years from now, we hope to be an important part of how books make
the transition from printed objects to shared texts. We think that due to
environmental and economic concerns, the mass printing of books on paper using
highly toxic processes, and the use of internal combustion engines to haul them
from one place to another will have declined considerably. We hope that printed
books will still be a big part of reading, probably using some print on demand
technology, hopefully an environmentally friendly one. But we want to be sure
that books -- those wonderful, various, complex connections between readers and
writers -- continue to transport people, even if we don't spend so much effort
transporting the books to their readers.
Sheila
What are the biggest obstacles you see?
Alice
We've encountered some resistance from publishers of books that are still
in print. We've found wonderful books that simply aren't selling and whose
authors are eager to give them the exposure that Libertary can provide. But
although they
aren't selling the books, some publishers are reluctant to release the rights
to publish on Libertary. We think this is partly because the business
environment for publishers is changing so rapidly -- they are deluged with
proposals for presenting books online, and publishers are waiting to find the
approach that works best for them. Some publishers are too attached to the way
things were done in the past; they're locked into a business model where the
only way to do business is to charge per book. We think Libertary is the best
approach to mobilizing the web for publishers, authors, and readers alike.
Sheila
What do you most want authors to know about your site and work?
Alice
We want them to know that Libertary can bring readers to their books! And for
authors, there is no risk; if they don't like the way their books appear on
Libertary, we will take their book page down. This hasn't happened yet, and
frankly, we'd be surprised if it did. And we want authors to know that we're
dedicated to finding ways for online books to improve their exposure and the
rewards -- financial, professional and personal -- from writing.
Sheila
What are your favorite stories about what has happened with books on your
site?
Alice
One of the first books we posted is a true crime account, Fatal Flaw, by Kansas
author Phillip Finch. It relates an extremely unsettling story about a multiple
murder in Florida in the mid-'70s, the botched investigation that followed, and
a wrongful conviction. The man still sits on Florida's death row, more than 30
years later. We've been working with sites such as the Innocence Project to
link to the book, which had been out of print for several years. Phil writes
mostly fiction, and one of his novels, Sugarland, is also on Libertary. But I think Fatal Flaw
might demonstrate how effectively our site can draw readers to important
material that, for one reason or other, hasn't been effectively marketed until
now.
Ken
Drug Crazy, the first book
we put online, is a brilliant and very readable account of what's gone wrong
with America's policies on drugs. It sold well when it first came out, and now
we've attracted several thousand people to read it online. We asked a few sites
to link to the book, and now we're seeing links multiplying on sites we haven't
had contact with. So the book is starting to have a far-flung presence on the
web, exposing it to lots of people who would not otherwise have heard of it.
Sheila
Does a book have to have had a print run before it can make it onto your
site?
Ken
We also are starting to produce new books. We currently have three in the
works, including a book that I wrote about a hotly debated legal issue
involving the early history of press freedom in America. This book provides an
interesting case study for us, because it shows how free online reading can
open up new publishing avenues.
Only a week after the online version went up on Libertary, it got the attention
of an important national legal organization, the American Constitution Society,
which highlighted it in their member newsletter. After a few days, I started
getting requests for review copies from magazines. From the time I approved the
proofs, it took only two weeks for the printed book to be available from
several sources online. So we have shortened the timeline for production as
well as for developing new ways to publicize the book to groups of people who
might be interested.
Other books we have in the works include one about cinematic storytelling
and a comic mystery novel with a twist, in that the solution has to do with a
company improving its sales techniques. We like to experiment.
We offer books through print on demand, which means they will not be in
bookstores unless the author finds some other avenue for this sort of
distribution. This allows us to reduce overhead considerably. We are
investigating ways to shape the relationship between authors, editors, and
business management of books which will hopefully provide some increased
compensation for book creators and better ways to reach the reading public.
Sheila
How can Writing
It Real readers make a suggestion about a book you might want to include on
your site or get in touch with you about their own books?
Alice
We're always eager to hear about books! And if they're a good fit for
Libertary, we'll make every effort to clear away any hurdles to presenting them
in our inventory. Just write us at Info@Libertary.com,
and you'll hear back from us soon.
Sheila
Your project is certainly one a lot of us will be visiting and watching. It
isn't easy to change an aged and hallowed form of publishing into something
new. Talk of changes in publishing began almost as soon as I started publishing
books in the nineties and it has been very interesting to see what prejudices
remain about the big publishing houses and print copies being the only way to
get books into the world. But with social networking and online groups becoming
something more and more of us participate in, your idea of how to use the
virtual world to connect around books seems very natural.
Thanks for talking with us. Let's talk again in six months to a year to see
what's happened.
****
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