there is a story behind every book
Access and use of the platform for ebook excerpts and audiobook snippets is free to bookshops and book retailers.
Any bookshop in the UK and Ireland can use the platform to create customised samples and excerpts in support of book discovery and reader engagement.
Book samples form a critical tool in the customer journey from discovery to purchase and have been used extensively by Amazon, Apple, Kobo, and Google. This new nationwide platform now provides independent bookshops with the same quality of online tools to engage their customers, as well as additional features found nowhere else.
Bookshops and booksellers who wish to access the platform are encouraged to register via the link at the bottom of the page.
Ebook samples and audiobook snippets are provided as links. Readers can open samples in their browser for instant reading or listening by simply clicking on the link.
Bookshops can use the sample links on their website, in email newsletters and on social media for readers to browse and explore the first five to twenty percent of a book whether they are narrative books, illustrated books or audiobooks.
QR codes can be used as stickers on dustjackets or included in posters, flyers and window displays.
Bookshops and book sellers can brand and customise the samples specific to their needs.
When receiving an invite to set-up an account, bookshops will be given the option to upload an image or graphic of their shop, address, opening hours and contact details. These will then be included in each sample either as a book plate (ebooks) or audio introduction (audiobooks).
Book chains can opt to have a unified version for the entire estate.
Each sample has a call-to-action at the end.
Simple version:
Bookshops with no online shop or ecommerce functionality can configure the call to action button so readers can send an email to the bookshop about the book the reader has sampled, to check availability, reserve or pre-order a copy or ask for recommendations similar to the book.
Advanced Version:
Bookshops with an online shop (and an API or programmatic interface for sending Jellybooks the buy link for each book) can have the call-to-action button configured so it is a buy link that takes the reader to the product or pre-order page for the book. These links are tailored to each bookshop. Blackwell’s is an example of a partner implementing the advanced feature (live from January 2021).
The samples and excerpts are also available as QR codes for use as stickers on sealed books, on posters, in display windows and other points of customer 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 booksellers to offer contactless samples to store visitors or those passing a window display in a quick and simple format for immediate or later reading.
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 rollout offline reading of full length ebook excerpts and audio snippets.
