From physical conferences and book fairs to email marketing campaigns and social media posts, digital showcases are forward-thinking tools that allow book publishers to promote individual titles alongside each other in collections.  

Publisher services provider Exact Editions has launched ‘Reading Rooms for Books’, a tool that facilitates exactly that; a collection of books displayed in their original print format and laid out side by side on a clean, ad-free platform, from which readers can both browse and buy at the click of a button. Read on to find out the five big benefits of using this technology for your books:

Open-Access Book Collection, created by Exact Editions’ ‘Reading Rooms for Books’ tool. Click here to browse the collection until the end of 31st December 2022.

1. Drives Sales and Expands Book Fair Audiences

Promoting books through digital showcases is incredibly important from a practical standpoint, as the industry adapts to an increasingly digital landscape. When it comes to book fairs and conferences, enhancing displays of print books with a single link to a digital showcase is a no-brainer.

Not only do digital showcases feature an individual shop link for each title included (shortening the sales funnel from browse to buy), but they also empower you to reach a much wider audience than that of the physical event itself if they also distribute your showcases across digital channels before, during and after a book fair.

2. Readers Can Search Collections of Content

Collections built using ‘Reading Rooms for Books’ benefit from a powerful search function that facilitates complex searches across individual titles and complete collections for specific key words or topics, an activity that would be otherwise time-consuming using their print counterparts.

The appeal of individual books can also be consolidated and even strengthened by displaying them next to complementary titles to show the full range and true value of your content in a specific series or within a certain genre.

3. Tailor Your Promotion

A primary advantage of digital showcases is that you retain complete control over exactly when, where, how and amongst which other titles your books are promoted, e.g.:

  • Choose the time period for which books are accessible
  • Decide whether books are fully-accessible or offer certain previewable pages
  • Name, edit, and collate multiple (sub)collections together to build even larger collections of books that are easily navigable and split in to clear-cut sections

Collections created using ‘Reading Rooms for Books’ are also only available when you decide to publicise the link; they cannot be found by anyone accidentally and are GDPR and privacy compliant.

COP26 Children’s Book Collection featuring collections from 11 publishers. Find out more about the collection here and click here to access the collection until the end of 31st December 2022.

4. Flexibility

Digital showcases, which can be accessed through either singular links or downloadable QR codes, are completely flexible in terms of the platform on which they are deployed.

You can promote collections of books across a whole range of digital mediums, including:

You can target different audiences simultaneously, who can all access your content at the click of a button.

5. Works Towards a Sustainable Industry

We are all looking for more sustainable ways to create, distribute and promote content. There is no doubt that the publishing industry requires structural change, highlighted by the International Publishers’ Association SDG Publishers Compact, aiming to inspire action amongst publishers.

Utilising digital showcases is a practical tool to contribute towards a more sustainable model of promotion, both economically and for the health of our planet. For example: digital showcases bypass the carbon cost of printing, wrapping and transport books to events; they do not need to be stored physically, saving energy costs; and they are only accessible on-demand, avoiding waste.

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Digital showcases are a key element in the future of sustainable book promotion thanks to their logistical benefits, flexibility, and ability to decrease financial and environmental costs.

Publishers can generate fully-searchable previews of individual books for free by signing up here.