there is a story behind every book
Samples are a critical tool in the customer journey from book discovery to purchase. The cross-industry platform, which Jellybooks is building in partnership with Blackwell’s, gives UK bookshops and retailers across the United Kingdom and Ireland access to the equivalent of Amazon’s look-inside tool at no cost.
Publishers can also use the excerpts and snippets on their own webpages, in email newsletters, and social media or when engaging influencers, bloggers reviewers and others.
The platform supports narrative books, illustrated books and audiobooks.
The purpose of the cross-industry platform is to enable independent bookshop and retailers in the UK and Ireland to make ebook excerpts and audiobook snippets available to readers in support of better book discovery. The platform provides booksellers a vital tool to engage readers with and encouraging readers to buy locally.
Ebook samples and audiobook snippets are provided as URLs powered by the Jellybooks Cloud Reader. This makes it remarkably easy to integrate samples. Users open the sample in their browser simply by clicking the link.
One of the special features of the platform is that bookshops and book sellers, as well as publishers, can customise the samples to engage readers and help prevent showrooming.
Publishers also have the option to create a tailored version for their own in-house needs while retailers customise the samples for themselves. The platform is very flexible.
The samples and excerpts are also available as QR codes for use as stickers on packaging or dustjackets, in posters, display windows and other points of interaction where physical contact might not be desired or possible.
The pandemic has seen scanning of QR codes become more widespread and this is an opportunity for publishers to offer contactless samples to readers in a variety of settings including stickers on book jackets and outdoor advertising.
Buy links are included in every sample at the end of the book and in the navigation menu of the Jellybooks Cloud Reader. These links can be customised by bookshops and a list of all participating bookshops with online shops is automatically pre-integrated on the linked buy page for publishers.
Publishers can also incorporate a special button to link to their own shop site at the top of the list, as well as create a list of top destinations for readers.
The required format is ePUB 3 for narrative books and ePUB 3 in fixed layout format (FXL) for illustrated books.
Jellybooks also offer a conversion tool for smaller publishers who only have ePUB 2 files available. Large-volume submission must always be made as ePub3 files.
Audiobooks should be submitted in the W3C lightweight packaging format (LPF), ensuring each chapter has is dedicated MP3 file. Jellybooks has an online tool to help create this package format if the publisher has not already done so.
We are open to discussion regarding other variants and formats. Please contact us if you have additional needs.
The system is online and browser-based, but individual chapters are stored for offline reading allowing users to continue reading even if they temporarily lose their Internet connection.
In 2021, Jellybooks will also roll out support for offline reading of full length ebook excerpts and audio snippets as well as full-length books including open access (OA books).
There is a modest annual fee of between two and ten pounds per title for publishers to have their ebooks or audiobooks included in the cross-industry platform. This fee supports the maintenance and further development of the platform. The exact level of the fee depends on the number of titles submitted.
In recognition of the difficult economic circumstances caused by the pandemic and the support Jellybooks is receiving from Innovate UK under the sustainable innovation programme, we will waive the publisher fee until 30 June 2021 for all independent British and Irish publishers with less than one million pounds in annual turnover.
For small regional publishers and publishers primarily supporting diverse voices underrepresented in traditional book publishing, we will waive the fee until 31 December 2021.
In addition, we will waive the fee until 31 December 2021 for imprints, even if they are part of a larger publisher or publishing conglomerate, if they predominantly support diverse voices underrepresented in traditional book publishing.
Open access books are a special category and not yet explicitly supported as part of the platform. We will roll out support in 2021 to better support the specific use case of open access books and to promote the sale of print versions of open access books through bookshops and retailers.
We will be also rolling out special tools in spring 2021 aimed specifically at supporting pre-orders through independent bookshops.
In 2021 we will also launch an analytics dashboard to get detailed insights into how books are samples across retailers, how the links are shared and much more. Detail on this programme will be announced in early 2021. Please feel free to contact us with suggestions and ideas on what data and insights you would like to see.
