Book2Look, the embeddable book widget service, is expanding its global reach by partnering with U.S. bookseller Books-A-Million and HarperCollins. These new deals build on last year's partnership with Bookshop.org, boosting the German company's presence in the American market.

Enhancing Book Discoverability

Book2Look's unique widgets, known as "biblets," provide readers with a comprehensive preview experience. These biblets allow users to view multiple book pages, offering a "look inside" similar to Amazon's feature with added capabilities. The service includes reviews, video and audio clips, buy links, and built-in analytics to track user engagement, making it a powerful tool for publishers and booksellers.

Founded in 2008 by publishing veteran Rolf Möllers, Book2Look was initially developed for the German book industry. However, its utility and effectiveness have made it a popular alternative to Amazon's preview technology, leading to its expansion into the U.S. market. The company collaborates with Bowker to market its services across the United States.

Beat Barblan, general manager at Bowker, emphasized the importance of discoverability in an increasingly crowded book market. Given the increasing number of books published yearly, creating online marketing tools to help titles stand out is important. Nielsen market research indicated that the ability to look inside a book before purchase is one of the top deciding factors for consumers, following author, topic, genre, and price.

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Positive Market Reception and Publisher Success

The impact of Book2Look's services has been significant. Over 400 publishers have integrated biblets into their marketing strategies, citing enhanced digital footprints and increased audience engagement. Mary Carlomagno, Bowker's sales and business development director, noted the service's positive reception and expanding use. She is actively working to solidify more distribution channels in the U.S. and Australia and sign up more social media-savvy presses.

According to Carlomagno, Bowker offers affordable pricing with promotions like a free backlist upload with new title purchases. This feature is popular with smaller presses with limited marketing budgets and often none for backlist titles.

Andy Hunter, CEO of Bookshop.org, noted the effectiveness of Book2Look, observing that titles with a Book2Look widget are three times more likely to be purchased and 35% more likely to be added to a shopping cart.

Publishers have reported impressive results since adopting Book2Look's technology. Jayne Royal, editor-in-chief and publisher at Regal House, mentioned that the service has expanded their digital footprint, increased brand awareness, and provided quality content accessible in various formats.

Kelly Hannagan, senior digital manager for Johns Hopkins University Press, observed a remarkable 350% increase in the duration spent on their book pages. Mary Barr of Warbler Press also saw a 10% sales increase after implementing biblets for her entire catalog.

Looking Forward

Bowker offers promotions such as free biblets for backlist books to attract more customers when the service is purchased for frontlist titles. The service is also available to self-publishers through Bowker's website, making it accessible to a broader range of authors and publishers.

Book2Look has achieved a noteworthy milestone with its development in the U.S. market and collaborations with well-known publishers and booksellers. As it continues to improve reader engagement and book discoverability, Book2Look is positioned to become a vital component of digital marketing plans for publishers and booksellers worldwide. 

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