Book publishing is an industry under attack. Book publishers know they have to adjust their business to a new world of digital platforms, of which the Kindle is just the fastest-growing. But I wonder if they realize that crossing that digital divide is just as necessary to retain their Boomer women readers who keep them afloat as it is to attract the younger consumers whose loyalty they have not yet earned.

Book publishing in the digital age

In a recent article in Wired magazine, Clive Thompson wrote:

"Books are the last bastion of the old business model—the only major medium that still hasn't embraced the digital age. Publishers and author advocates have generally refused to put books online for fear the content will be Napsterized. And you can understand their terror, because the publishing industry is in big financial trouble, rife with layoffs and restructurings. Literary pundits are fretting: Can books survive in this Facebooked, ADD, multichannel universe?

"Every other form of media that's gone digital has been transformed by its audience. Whenever a newspaper story or TV clip or blog post or white paper goes online, readers and viewers begin commenting about it on blogs, snipping their favorite sections, passing them along. The only reason the same thing doesn't happen to books is that they're locked into ink on paper."

Authors and publishers who agree with this argument (as I do) need to release control over the format in which their work is published. But they may not recognize that doing so is just as important to reach the Boomer reader, too.

Reaching the Boomer reader online

VibrantNation.com recently participated in a panel discussion at BookExpo America that reflected the growing awareness that the Boomers who still read hardcover books must also be engaged online.

The panel, called "Wired and Receptive: Reaching Boomer Book Buyers Online" and hosted by our own Senior Strategist, Carol Orsborn, featured publishing leaders who instructed a standing-room only audience on this important topic. They included:

• Ellen Archer, publishing veteran and Boomer woman herself, who told her colleagues and others that the publishing industry must embrace change and get more comfortable sharing content across platforms. Archer's own imprint at Hyperion is called Voice and targets Boomer women as both authors and readers. Among her recent successes is The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan, whose bestsellerdom was promoted by a low-key but extraordinarily viral youtube video (almost 4.5 million views to date!) of the author reading a chapter from the book to a group of women.
• David Singleton, the Director of Publications Planning & Promotion at AARP, spoke to the strong interest in books in his 50+ audience, through the AARP magazine, website, and its own book publishing efforts.
• Steve O'Keefe, Executive Director, Patron Saint Productions is another Boomer who has been mastering online marketing for authors and publishers since (no kidding) 1987.

Each panelist made some version of the following points: first, that content has to cross boundaries to gain meaning among readers; and, second, that reaching Boomers online is essential to keep them buying books.

Conclusion

At VibrantNation.com we know that the Kindle (together with the iPhone) is the tech device most coveted by women over 50. And I have not been on an airplane in many months now without seeing several people reading (is reading the right word?) a Kindle; one of those readers is usually a Boomer woman.

Publishers will succeed in tough times by viewing the Internet not only as the place they reach new consumers but also the place where they engage, amuse, and retain vibrant women as their most important consumer base. more flash forward»