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Originally Posted by emellaich
As you are reading your book, the right column, just like Google, has ads relevant to the page you are on.
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Google gets away with this because putting text in the right column still leaves me with several inches of screen space. On a 3.5" wide screen, there's not much room for a column of ads.
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Your characters are on a date in a skating rink, and in the right hand column is an ad for a skating rink local to you - click it to get discount tickets and/or a reservation.
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Click what? My PRS-505 doesn't have an internet connection.
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This would necessitate several changes in ebook readers. I wouldn't want them stealing my six inches of reading space, so the screen would need to add a one inch strip to the right .... and you would need interactivity -- click on the ad to order. This means faster response than eink, and online connectivity.
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I don't want an extra inch to the right. I want to upgrade to one of the 5" screens that can fit better in a pocket. And I don't want (1) companies peeking over my shoulder while I'm reading nor (2) stupid ads about bed linens and lightbulbs to clutter my erotica books. (Maybe they'll advertise Starbucks' coffee while the characters are having breakfast. Which is nice, except I don't drink Starbucks', and I'm very picky about my coffee. The characters have a romantic dinner, and they offer me, what, reservations at a restaurant? A selection of wines? I don't buy either of those.)
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I know that most of you aren't in favor of this, but I do think free sells. Forget about how its always been done. The question is whether the mass market will support it. For free, or very low cost books I think it will.
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Free *books*, with the nuisances you mention, would be popular. The question is whether the products would sell enough for advertisers to subsidize those books.
Google ads work because millions of people see those ads; if a tiny fraction clicks on them, they're successful. A bestseller ebook gets, what, 20,000 viewers? Reading on different devices, some of which have no connectivity, many of whom won't be interested in the particular thing being advertised. If the bestseller, normally $15, is going to be *free*, that's a lot of sales to generate from a very tiny pool of viewers, compared to google or tv shows.
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How about short stories? Download a six 'page' short for free and it comes with margin ads. The truth is that I don't like short stories, but it might be a modern version of "Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine" or "Amazing Stories"
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Has all the same nuisance problems, plus the fact that short stories get fewer sales. (The big publishers haven't yet figured out that ebooks can be any length, and they could sell individual short stories.)
The main problem with interactive (click here to buy) ads is that not all devices support them, and if you only allow the books to be sold to people with a limited range of devices, you're severely hampering your market. Maybe something could be worked out with Amazon, because the Kindle's the only device that has enough support--but there's still the problem of "this feature only works if the person has wifi turned on at the moment."