Admittedly I only discovered these books after watching the Twilight movie, which takes me on to the reason for writing this blog. After reading the first book in the series I couldn’t stay away from the bookstore, I simply had to have the next edition in the Twilight Saga. Therefore it comes to my attention that without the marketing of the film and the experience of enjoying it, that I would have had no desire to go to buy the books? Why you ask…. Well, I would have no knowledge of the books and admittedly I’m not one for regularly visiting my local bookstore. I find this somewhat depressing to feel that I could have missed out in reading and being fascinated with the Twilight Saga due to the lack of interest I have with the bookstore.
…. So why is it that the bookstore isn’t as popular as the local cinema? ok some might say that the film industry has the upper hand when it comes to marketing but I personally believe that we aren’t gaining enough from our visits to bookstores to make it become part of our social routines. I feel that they need to open our eyes to how incredible the stories in these books really are. They need to make us trust them in our purchases. We need reassurance that we are buying the right thing. When you enter a bookstore it can be rather intimidating with so much choice, where do you begin to try to find the perfect book that’s right for you?
Ok so you have Amazon and other online websites that sell books and offer reviews but is it the same? Do you get to feel the book, experience it and really enjoy the experience of being in store surround by so many wonderful stories?
Which brings me to my next topic, what If you could walk in to a store and pick up a book and get an instant rating or even a review by your favorite critic or maybe info on the author and their past pieces of work. Well new technology being created at MIT will allow you to do just that. They have created a wearable device with a projector that helps create easier interaction with our environment. To find out more select the link below
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html
Imagine what this kind of technology could do. It would help us build and gain more trust in our day-to-day decisions. This could offer a whole new dimension to going to a bookstore and could offer a deeper insight into the books and help us to more openly interact. The only problem being is that this technology is about 10 years away from now and bookstores may not last that long if they don't react to the changing market.
By looking at today's market and what is currently available we can try to adapt that and make it work for bookstores. Currently the IPhone is a great example of how much technology has progressed and by using data feeds to run applications it gives us access to knowledge we may require. This could be brought to bookstores by creating info points where you can scan books and the screen will use its data feeds to give appropriate info such as reviews and ratings. This is just an idea but I am still hopeful that bookstores will see the change in customers needs and therefore will adapt to become more current with technology.
