In a post I made on June 7th I checked out different publishers’ websites to see if they were targeting niche markets in line with the Long Tail approach. I discovered that they did not seem to be, but that there was a more subtle technique that they’re probably considering using to do just that.

Shelfari is a book-based online community that allows members to set up their own profile page just like MySpace or Facebook, but the difference is that you can build a bookshelf for all to see. Other Shelfari members can browse through the spines on your shelf and decide if you have enough in common with them to be worth chatting to, or members can weigh in on literary debates at the forums.

There are now a staggering 40+ such sites online, and they’re growing in number. The more successful of them have been invested in by different bookselling organisations. http://www.Shelfari.com itself was invested in by Amazon in Feb 07. ABEbooks bought 40% of http://www.LibraryThing.com in 06.

The relationships between book community sites and publishers are now so common that http://www.booktribes.com quotes its independence from publishers as a major advantage over competition.

These sites work in much the same way as book clubs do. Each site allows its many thousands of members to divide themselves into groups based on interest, then hey presto, each individual is reading books not just out of love of literature, but also a desire to connect to his fellow humans. This naturally causes members to read and buy more books than usual. The book selling sites that are linked to these areas benefit from this.

So this is good news for the book industry. How about individual publishers? Whose books will benefit most? This depends on the rating system on each site, and they are overwhelmingly based on peer review, meaning the quality reads get the biggest boost. So should publishers throw up their hands and simply compete on the level of their products?

That’s not what happened when they let their marketing departments think about book clubs. Many publishers bought up book clubs and various mail order networks to try and cement a customer base for their books (See F&W’s ownership of Reader’s Union). They offered extra value to members: early access to books / discounts / author correspondence or appearances; and the book clubs promised to buy a certain number of books before reviews came out. The system worked.

It seems to me that a similar arrangement is possible for these book-based social networking sites. Although their recommendations are based on peer review, there are ways for sites to promote certain imprints or books while maintaining the customers’ input. Amazon have been doing this for years without generating significant user complaints. I expect we’ll see publishers doing the same with their newly acquired social networks affiliates soon. It’s my guess that consumers will allow a little corporate invasion in return for added features. Would you say that an avid Stephen King fan would sacrifice a chance to ask his idol questions in order to chat in a corporate free zone?

Here are a few more sites I looked at while researching this article.
( http://www.whatsonmybookshelf.com ; http://www.swaptree.com book exchange networks)
http://www.connectviabooks.com ; http://www.douban.net (Chinese site with English version); http://www.bibliophil.com (links with Amazon)
http://www.goodreads.com (bought by monster.com) ; http://www.x-libris.com (for the Russians)