In today’s Wall Street Journal , Ron Adler and William Vincent see ads coming soon to a book near you. I’m torn with this prediction, although when I was at Lulu I often speculated that we could make some money by putting ads for other Lulu titles inside some of our POD books.

We never attempted this for several reasons. First, the right way to do it would have been to ask for the author’s permission before doing so, which would have been a hassle–in addition to the need for our engineering team to create a way to manage which authors would allow it and which ones wouldn’t. Second, we weren’t sure about what the reaction from the reading community would be–and you never want to harm that cherished relationship. It was a new concept, and as some authors on my Facebook Page have mentioned, some readers may not like the distraction that book ads may present. Third, we had to deal with the fact that Lulu wasn’t a publisher, and authors could change or remove their titles at any time. As a result, the strong possibility existed that we could create an ad insert that would be erroneous–such as a title that was now inactive or at a different price. Such a situation would be an embarrassment to Lulu and authors alike.

Needless to say, we didn’t implement the program. But now, with the rapid adoption of ebooks, there might be a technological and marketing solution out there that will work for both authors and publishers.

Adler and Vincent are right about the financial woes surrounding today’s publishing landscape, saying:

“Especially in light of the rush to e-books, the industry faces a troubling future. In the first place, overall sales have been stagnant or decreasing for over a decade, even as more books are published every year. Production costs are higher than ever now that publishers must produce both physical and digital editions. Above all, pricing remains a challenge: No matter what the split between publisher and retailer, at $9.99 a digital book is far less profitable than its hardcover cousin priced at $25.”

They go on to paint a possible picture for ads:

“What would the world look like with ads in books? For consumers, the free samples of digital books now available would surely include ads. Because not every consumer who reads a sample chapter will buy the book, it’s reasonable for the publisher to extract some additional value. Seeing ads in the sample may also convince a reader to pay for a premium, non-ad version of the full-length book. The old market segmentation of paperbacks and hardcovers will be replaced by ad-supported or ad-free books.”

They may be onto something, but again I’m not sure. One of the basic tenets of good business is not to bite the hand that feeds you, so publishers should tread lightly–and move slowly–with this idea. But if it does work it just might help the publishing industry breathe a little easier through these disruptive times.

As an author, could you go along with this idea? As quickly as the book industry is changing this advertising model may be here before you know it.

Until next time–keep publishing!

Henry Hutton
PublishandSell.com
hhutton@publishandsell.com
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