Book Publishing Websites = Information Overload

Previous to this blog post, I never would have considered the world of publishing to be competitive in the industries of entertainment and technology. I wouldn’t have guessed that the presentation of a book publisher’s website would focus on captivating a media crazed audience.

After perusing a dozen or so websites, I started to detect a common thread and thus discover that my conceptions were sorely misconceptions. The majority of publishers are attempting to provide consumers with the most information possible in a multitude of ways. These companies are trying to reach the consumer culture, or those captivated by social networking and youtube, flashing graphics, twitter links, iphone app ads, and video links. A large publishing company’s homepage (such as HarperCollins) strives to reach as many audiences as possible through organization or by dividing their books by subject, as well as bestsellers, new releases and upcoming books. These sub-categories enable consumers to directly access the books they wish to see in as little amount of time as possible.

Out of all the publishing sites I surveyed, I found Random House to be the most successful. LIke all of the other large publishing sites, Random House’s goal appears to be providing the most information to as many people as possible. Where they succeed is through organization. While other companies‘ website presentation leaves much to be desired in terms of accessibility, Random House breaks their information down into subgroups and links, in an organized fashion. Subject categories are easily accessible in a list form. Authors, books and features run horizontally on the top of the page. “Books for a New Year” are centrally located and customers can see both the title and book cover. Editors picks, featured authors, best sellers and kid’s books all have precedence on the homepage and the presentation is anything but cluttered. Random House does have links to facebook, myspace and twitter but the user must scroll down to the bottom of the page to access them. The website format appeals to a media-happy audience, but in a covert way. Random House claims to bring the consumer the best in fiction, nonfiction and children’s books. Their website speaks directly to this claim. Children’s books, nonfiction and fiction are all represented. Random House is aware that their readership is quite diverse, some readers want to know and read the latest and newest book, others want to read whatever is the most popular, while others are concerned with awards and reviews. This website is successful because it satisfies the company’s readership needs.

I am a fan of McSweeney’s, as such it was my first website to explore. McSweeney’s appeals to a hip, young and presumably educated audience. Their backlist features a lot of experimental works as well as new writers. I assumed that their website would stray from the ordinary. While McSweeney’s is surely not trying to reach the consumer culture through flashing graphics and twitter links they also really aren’t trying at all. Boring and bland are two credible adjectives that aptly describe the layout of this website. It’s almost as though they aren’t trying to sell anyone to buy their books. You have to already know about them and be willing to suffer through their website. The homepage is just a long list without much color or graphics. There is a link to their magazine and store but no descriptions. Then the consumer must scroll down past an angel food cake recipe, past submission guidelines, etc. There is virtually no organization, no navigation tools, and no separation between any of the content.