The digitalization of books has changed many aspects of book deliveries. How readers wish to access reading materials and their expectations have also evolved.
Since everyone and their grandmas can publish eBooks nowadays, you need to differentiate yourself from the herd. One way to do that is customization.
eBook Customization – Do You Need It?
Suppose you have just written the best horror novel ever and you publish it exclusively as an eBook. Looking into the metrics, you’re not happy with the number of people buying your eBook.
Now, let’s have a look at this matter from the readers’ perspective. Do you think your potential readers are just a homogenous group of people who are interested in the horror genre? Nothing can be farther from the truth.
Your potential readers are comprised of smaller groups of males, females, those who read for fun, those who read just because, bestseller browsers, adventurers, and many more. Out of these people, there’s a good chunk who are willing to pay more for a personalized experience.
“How much are people willing to pay for customization?”
Research shows that people are willing to pay more for an eBook with customized features. The catch is, you need to be proactive about it. Very few authors and publishers offer customization. Let your readers know the feature exists and that it comes at a premium.
Research also shows that people who are interested in customizations are the ones who pick their reading based on recommendations from fellow readers. This means the best method to advertise your customization feature is through word of mouth or social media.
“Why is that?”
Friends’ recommendations increase awareness. If you self-publish, there’s also a sense or risk of buying your eBook. However, when a book is recommended by fellow readers, people tend to be more willing to take that risk.
For fiction writers, offering customization is a great way to offer more value as perceived by the readers. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should give it a go. Of course, you should also make your eBook available in various formats to increase your reach.
“Hol’ up. You haven’t even told me what kind of customization I need to make!”
For fiction books, the customization includes:
- Different book covers
- Graphics, sounds, and videos
- Shorter or longer version of the story
- Personalized messages
When offering customization, you must limit the options so your readers won’t feel overloaded with choices. Keeping things simple is the best way to go.
Now, completely customizing an eBook for each reader may be too costly. The alternative is “customerization.” That just means eBook customization directed at each sub-groups of your target demographic.
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