What is an Aerbook ? by Nicolas Fahey
Today 23% of US publishers’ sales come from ebooks. As this number is expected to continue growing, many art book creators are not seeing their fair share of profit. 30% of books made are image based but only a fraction of these books have been digitized. They have not been digitized because early ebook formats would rip apart and basically destroy page layouts and images. When your book is text based it does not matter where a word starts or ends on a page, but with an image-based book the layout is a divine creation.
It is only recently that technologists have started to take into account the needs and concerns of art book creators. One such company is Aerbook. They have created a tool set for artists to make, sell and market their content. Without any knowledge of coding, artists can create ebooks and apps from their internet browser with the Aerbook Maker. Once these files have been created they can be uploaded to iTunes, Amazon or your own digital distribution channel.
Aerbook Maker allows artists to create original ebooks in the browser or to upload previously created PDF documents made in Quark to InDesign programs, along with other file types. Users also have the ability to add audio, video and other html 5 widgets into the book file. Once you have built your file in the Aerbook Maker you can export it out as an ebook to every mobile file type as well as a web friendly version. Customers can buy and preview the book from the web friendly version.
Most people that have made an ebook will tell you that getting your book approved through iTunes is a nerve racking experience. Apple can take up to two weeks to review and deny your book or app entry to their store for any reason they see fit. Using the Aerbook Maker, you don’t need to wait for approval since you are in control of your own store. Also, iTunes and Amazon store fronts take 30%-65% of sales, while Aerbook’s commission is only 15%, leaving more money for the artist.
Today artists have to take marketing into their own hands. That means collecting data and information on how people interact and purchase their art work. Aerbook gives them access to data that companies like Apple try to keep secret. Artists can now see which cities they are most popular in, what pages of their ebooks people look at the most and what their conversion rates are for marketing efforts.
A couple of years ago, the number of reproductions were the only thing that limited how many people got to see an art work. An art history teacher could only assign something if it was in the book. This has changed in the past couple of years with the introduction of mobile devices. Ideas are no longer being shared like they once where in printed books. The reach of digital devices turns the printed book into a collector’s item while using the content in its digital form to inform the masses.
When people collect art they are looking for rarity, but how do you make something rare? If no one knows about it, its worthless. But if everyone knows about it and no one can get it, then it becomes rare. When you print a physical book you can only sell as many as you had printed. When you create an ebook you can sell as many books as there are e-readers (hundreds of millions). Aerbook allows artists to market their work to millions of people which increases the rarity of the objects they have created.
Nicholas Fahey
