Overall, this looks like an instance of someone doing something simply because it hasn’t been done–and there’s a reason for that.
–Mike

You may be right, at least for those items that are in major library collections and are clearly in the public domain (Googlebooks is great for books in the public domain due to their age, but not for those in the public domain due to failure to renew their copyright).

But there are difficulties with Googlebooks too. I’m not sure its ideal for the casual LDS user, and I don’t think Googlebooks helps build an LDS market. In addition, even in the US perhaps half of all active LDS members don’t even have Internet access, let alone use the Internet as a source for Church-related information.

I’m not sure where that leaves things, but I think Googlebooks is a small part of the solution at best.

I’m not sure this would actually be a bookclub (as opposed to a bookseller), but that may just be a matter of semantics.

You are right that networking is a crucial part of most solutions needed in the LDS market — because of the lack of viable ways of reaching LDS consumers. And I agree that those efforts need to be rewarded.

Although Book of the Month is dying, I wonder if some other book clubs are doing well. A good friend of mine belongs to Conservative Book Club, which as I understand has grown a lot and is prospering. They’ve done it by offering products from a niche that appeals to motivated readers who are willing to spend money to get the latest publications.

In the LDS audience it’s conceivable that we would find a similarly motivated niche. I think it would also be possible to put together a book club without dues, where anyone who bought a book would be assigned a customer number. Buyers could write their own reviews/testimonials of the books and email them to friends (along with stock reviews provided by the club) and ask them to include their customer number when they made their own purchase. Each such referred purchase could earn the referring reader $2.50 off the full price of another book in the club’s selection; half a dozen such referrals would earn the referrer a new trade paperback.

I just think networking is the solution to market penetration barriers, but we can’t rely on personal enthusiasm to do all the work. Incentive of some type is needed. Perhaps this model would be the cheapest, most self-sustaining method and would take away the distasteful elements of an MLM.

I must say, it seems quite expensive, which makes me wonder if this won’t be another MLM scheme with all chiefs and no indians (i.e., everyone will be trying to build a business, with few customers who just buy books and aren’t trying to get rich.

If you join Bookwise just for the books (not to make money), then you pay $30 a year ($40 the first year) and $35 a month (total $450). For this you get 12 free hardcover books (selected from the Bookwise catalog — you can’t buy just any book) and a 40% discount on additional purchases.

The only way this sounds good, IMO, is if you are used to paying full price for hardcover books. Even moderately unknown hardcover books on Amazon.com get at least 20% off — so the list price of your $450 of books would have to be near $600 — or nearly $50 a book — for this to be a financial benefit.

Bookwise is also billed and operates something like a bookclub — you essentially have to purchase at least 1 book a month (for your monthly $35 fee), and if you don’t make a choice quickly enough, they send you the default choice. All fine and good, except most of the traditional bookclubs that still have this requirement are dying — at least in part because customers don’t like this requirement.

While, as I said above, I applaud the innovation here, I don’t see that this concept has what it takes to work. It doesn’t seem to me to be that different from the famous Book-of-the-Month Club, which has been loosing subscribers for years. The big innovation here is adding Multi-level Marketing to the mix.

But if I understand their faq correctly, it seems like one of the more egregious MLM plans — up to EIGHT levels which each get their cut of each sale. And with pricing that isn’t very competitive to online alternatives, I can’t see this one going anywhere.

Let’s hope some of Preston’s other ideas lead to innovations that have a better chance of growing, or that Bookwise can revise its pricing and MLM structure to make it more competitive. Or even that my analysis is wrong and Bookwise takes off as is.

We do need additional ways of reaching the market.

http://www.bookwise.com/main/faq

I think it’s an interesting model. In fact, the idea of selling subscriptions to raise funds for publishing hearkens back to the very early days of publishing and the rise of reading.

I largely agree with the thrust of your post, if not many of the details. Over the past year I’ve become convinced that the LDS market needs alternative ways of getting books into the hands of readers, so I’m interested in any ideas that might make a difference.

However, I too have doubts about the wisdom of any multi-level marketing system — mainly because they seem to put more layers than necessary between the producer and the consumer. Some MLM systems seem to attract people who want to put in minimal effort.

But you haven’t given me enough information to evaluate Bookwise as an MLM (how many levels can there be? How much of each sale does each level get?), but the idea is novel enough that it might be successful, and, as you say, may be a model that can be emulated in the LDS market.

You are also right that there are gems available in out of print books, many of which are in the public domain. [But, the Journal of Discourses are actually available at BYU's scriptures beta site.] I know of at least two small LDS publishers who do publish reprints of out-of-print titles. Of course, there are still many additional opportunities along these lines. But I doubt that any of these titles are likely to be very lucrative — they just aren’t likely to sell a lot of copies.

But, I do agree that innovative thinking is not only helpful, but needed. A number of small LDS publishers are taking small innovative steps (I count my own efforts among them). I expect that at least some of the ideas you have and the efforts of these innovative publishers will yield some improvements in the market.