© opening the book ltd anne downes investing in readers: a new approach to audience development

© Opening the Book Ltd

Anne Downes

www.openingthebook.com

Investing in readers: a new approach to audience development

© Opening the Book Ltd

Traditional model of audience development

© Opening the Book Ltd

Support writers by building an audience

© Opening the Book Ltd

A model of engagement

Build up Choosing READING Reader 2 Reader Impact echo

opportunities for intervention making meaning

adapted from Alan S. Brown ‘Making sense of audience engagement’.

© Opening the Book Ltd

Developing the reading audience

• Raise the status of reading as a creative act

• Open up readers’ choices

• Build readers’ confidence to choose something new to them

• Bring readers together to share their reading experiences

© Opening the Book Ltd

Promoting the reading experience

• The reader-centred approach promotes the reading experience and what it can do for you, rather than selling individual books or writers.

• This builds the audience for literature by moving readers beyond brand loyalty to individual writers, developing confidence and interest in trying something new.

• Promotional messages that bring together a range of books that offer a similar reading experience and mix the familiar with the new.

© Opening the Book Ltd

© Opening the Book Ltd

© Opening the Book Ltd

© Opening the Book Ltd

© Opening the Book Ltd

Bookmark tools

© Opening the Book Ltd

Reader-centred reading lists

© Opening the Book Ltd

Making readers visible

© Opening the Book Ltd

Audience development in libraries

• Builds a unique cultural role

• Trusted, accessible, local and free

• Changes the focus of the service from the passive provision of books and computers to meeting the needs of an audience

• Offers staff new skills

© Opening the Book Ltd

© Opening the Book Ltd

Opening up reading choices online: whichbook.net

• Search engines and catalogues reinforce choosing of known names

• Commercial marketing invests in a few big authors

• How can we promote the new, the less well-known, books on the edge?

© Opening the Book Ltd

whichbook model

• Starts from the reader and what you want from the reading experience

• Combines smart technology with individual readers to deliver depth and quality

• Averages 90,000 visits per month

• WelkBoek in Netherlands coming next year, Ønskebok in Norway ran for 5 years

• Unique – it does things Amazon can’t do

© Opening the Book Ltd

© Opening the Book Ltd

© Opening the Book Ltd

• ENGAGE: a european readers’ project

• Using the experience of reading to link young people across the boundaries of language, geography and culture.

© Opening the Book Ltd

Which book best reflects life where you live?

• Young people share their choices and their reading experiences with others online

• Representative extracts are translated and shared

• Activities and games encourage readers to try something new to read and exchange recommendations.

• Readers champion their own choices.

• Translate and publish a winning book

© Opening the Book Ltd

Anne Downes

anne@openingthebook.com

www.openingthebook.com