Ebook Ads

[old goat]

Smashwords announced a partnership with ScrollMotion to deliver ebooks as apps for various mobile devices.

On the Smashwords Forum is a poll and comment section about ebook ad revenue sharing.

The question is "What percentage of ad revenue should authors receive from ebook ads?"

Another question is "Should ebook apps have ads?"

Yet another question is "Are ebook apps any different than other copyright content that is earning ad revenue?"

[Anke Wehner]

The first question should be, "Will Smashwords add ads to these books?", no?

[crich70]

Figuring out how much an author should get for ads sounds problematic to me. Is each ad going to be about just one author or a group defined by genre for example? And who decides which authors get ads and/or how much attention via ads? Advertising isn't a cheap thing to arrange I'm sure. Someone has to do the physical work to create the ads and if people are in the ad vs. a still image ad they have to be paid, etc. And should an unknown author get the same percentage from the ads as a name author? Plenty of things to work out yet I would think.

[neilmarr]

There's a huge problem in attracting advertising to ebooks. Unlike other media, it's impossible to project sales potential of an ebook title. I can see advertising, though, applying to a particular device or a brand author with a sales track record that can fairly be applied to his/her digital versions.

Smaller advertising revenue might be available to a target-readership of specific genres and non-fiction/technical. Again, though, there are no meaningful sales projections on which to base advertising cost.

Unless an advertiser is tied to some means of increasing basic 'on launch' payment for space as sales build, I think we're in a cocked hat. Neil

[drewwa]

It's going to be interesting to see how well ebooks with ads in them actually works. Can't help thinking it will be rather irritating.

I must admit, I switch off wireless and mobile service on my HTC phone when I'm using 'free' apps... then they can't download ads!

Cheers,

Drew.

[old goat]

Originally Posted by Anke Wehner

The first question should be, "Will Smashwords add ads to these books?", no?

Yes, if you mean could Smashwords make it possible in the future for authors to include ads in their free or fee-based ebooks.

[old goat]

Originally Posted by crich70

Figuring out how much an author should get for ads sounds problematic to me. Is each ad going to be about just one author or a group defined by genre for example? And who decides which authors get ads and/or how much attention via ads? Advertising isn't a cheap thing to arrange I'm sure. Someone has to do the physical work to create the ads and if people are in the ad vs. a still image ad they have to be paid, etc. And should an unknown author get the same percentage from the ads as a name author? Plenty of things to work out yet I would think.

"Is each ad going to be about just one author or a group defined by genre for example?" I don't think ads are going to be about an author or a group, but more likely an ad for a third-party product or service much like Adsense or other ad delivery systems.

"And who decides which authors get ads and/or how much attention via ads?" As the author holds the copyright to his/her work, the author would decide to have ads or not in his/her ebook. I don't think ads in ebooks would be promoting authors as much as advertising third-party products or services, although anything is possible.

"Someone has to do the physical work to create the ads and if people are in the ad vs. a still image ad they have to be paid, etc." Yes, which is why ad delivery systems pay content creators such as forums, web sites, and perhaps ebooks in the future for displaying an ad.

"And should an unknown author get the same percentage from the ads as a name author?" If authors control the ad content themselves and can set their own fees for displaying an ad in their works, then a name author can charge more than an unknown author, just like a high-traffic web site can charge more for displaying ads than a seldom visited web site.

[old goat]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

There's a huge problem in attracting advertising to ebooks. Unlike other media, it's impossible to project sales potential of an ebook title. I can see advertising, though, applying to a particular device or a brand author with a sales track record that can fairly be applied to his/her digital versions.

Smaller advertising revenue might be available to a target-readership of specific genres and non-fiction/technical. Again, though, there are no meaningful sales projections on which to base advertising cost.

Unless an advertiser is tied to some means of increasing basic 'on launch' payment for space as sales build, I think we're in a cocked hat. Neil

Ads can be tailored to the geographical location of a reader, keywords in an ebook, and a host of other methods in order to deliver relevant ads to a reader. It wouldn't surprise me if Google, Microsoft, OpenX or other ad delivery companies aren't actively working on tuning their systems to deliver relevant content to ebooks.

[old goat]

Originally Posted by drewwa

It's going to be interesting to see how well ebooks with ads in them actually works. Can't help thinking it will be rather irritating.

I must admit, I switch off wireless and mobile service on my HTC phone when I'm using 'free' apps... then they can't download ads!

Cheers,

Drew.

Ads in ebooks might well be irritating. It depends on the intrusiveness of the ad, and consumer acceptance of ads.

According to a post in the Smashwords Forum, "84 percent of people never click on a Web ad in an average month, according to Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, a company that analyzes Internet behavior.

This behavior is changing as people are spending much more time reading publications through an app."

[Anke Wehner]

What I'd actually like would be "ads" of authors recommending other authors, in the back of the book. "If you liked this book, you might also want to give [title x] by [other author] a try" - at least in an ideal world, where the books really have things in common, and the author actually considers the book good, rather than swapping ads unseen for mutual backscratching.

[old goat]

Originally Posted by Anke Wehner

What I'd actually like would be "ads" of authors recommending other authors, in the back of the book. "If you liked this book, you might also want to give [title x] by [other author] a try" - at least in an ideal world, where the books really have things in common, and the author actually considers the book good, rather than swapping ads unseen for mutual backscratching.

Smashwords allows you to do this through their Affiliate system, for authors who are participating in the program.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by old goat

Another question is "Should ebook apps have ads?"

For what it is worth I will never under any circumstances buy an ebook which has ads in it.

Regards, Alex

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by old goat

Another question is "Should ebook apps have ads?"

Are they talking of apps as in iPod apps?? I notice on iTunes there are several apps that are just one ebook, mainly a classic. I don't understand, nor do I see, people buying individual apps for each book, especially if it has ads in it.

If ebooks start coming with ads I will buy my ebooks from places without ads. I don't mind a page at the start with a list of other ebooks by the author, or a couple of pages at the back (either way I can ignore them) but if ads start showing up on the bottom of my ipod as they do with some apps....well delete is a lovely function. I don't need my reading to be distracted with attempts to sell me stuff.

[neilmarr]

***Ads can be tailored to the geographical location of a reader, keywords in an ebook, and a host of other methods in order to deliver relevant ads to a reader. It wouldn't surprise me if Google, Microsoft, OpenX or other ad delivery companies aren't actively working on tuning their systems to deliver relevant content to ebooks. ***

You could well be right, Old Goat. It'll be interesting to see what develops. Cheers. Neil