E-books: Changing the Way We Read

For the past few months, I had been debating whether to purchase an e-reader.  My only hesitation was whether I could get past the tactile experience of reading a printed book.  I am also a frequent visitor to our local library, so that too had me a little skittish.

But then Amazon offered their free Kindle for PC, application and that did the trick.  Yes, I could read an e-book on a computer…and enjoy it!  So off I went to get my Kindle.  And now I get why it’s Amazon’s “#1 Bestselling Product”.

But you don’t need a Kindle to understand the power of e-books.  They are now being recognized as one of the more influential viral marketing tools. Lately, we’ve started to use e-books more and more as an offer strategy in our email campaigns.  Since they’re typically perceived as a value-add, they’ve turned into an extremely popular download item.  

Another major advantage of an e-book is its potential for interactivity.  Unlike print books, e-books can contain embedded links to audio and video files that can literally sell in the absence of a seller. A product presentation video, an actual demonstration of how a product works or interviews with key subject matter experts are just some of the ways key marketing messages can be communicated via an e-book.

Best of all, compiling an e-book can be a relatively economical venture.  We typically first look to repurpose existing materials — case studies, white papers, technical reports — by putting them into an e-book layout.  While you’ll find e-books in a variety of file formats, we’ve generally chosen to build ours as PDFs since they are universally accessible and easy to print.

You mean people still print things?