{"id":5636,"date":"2011-08-02T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T06:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/?p=5636"},"modified":"2014-12-23T17:07:57","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T11:37:57","slug":"the-gamification-of-book-marketing-and-promotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookbuzzr.com\/blog\/the-gamification-of-book-marketing-and-promotion\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cGamification\u201d of Book Marketing and Promotion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"As part of my volunteering activities to serve the community, I teach public speaking to 14 year old school children at a local school on Saturday mornings. Sometime ago, one of the challenges I noticed was that students would not applaud and cheer when one of their peers completed a speech on stage. Worse, many of them would speak to each other and be distracted while one of their classmates was speaking. As you can imagine, this was demotivating for the young speakers, many of whom were giving a speech for the first time in their lives.<\/p>\n

Then, I introduced a simple idea which has changed the atmosphere of these sessions considerably. With the help of a few \u201cstudent officers\u201d, we divided the class into four \u201chouses\u201d (groups) that competed against each other in a friendly manner. Next, we started giving points to the group that was the most enthusiastic audience. Overnight, we had a class full of hyper-interested students that were willing to listen carefully to their classmates\u2019 speeches and cheer their progress.<\/p>\n

The human brain is wired to play games. Competition, evaluating and managing risks, teamwork, chasing goals while overcoming obstacles and staying within boundaries (rules) and keeping score are part of what make us human.<\/p>\n

What is a Game?<\/em><\/strong>
\nJesse Schell, author of the excellent book \u2013 \u2018The Art of Game Design<\/a>\u2019 offers this definition for a game:
\n\u201cA game is a problem-solving activity, approached with a playful attitude.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, what if we phrased the problem of marketing and promoting books using the \u201clens\u201d of games? Then the game can be defined for readers in the broadest possible manner as:
\n\u201cA game where you solve the problem of discovering new books and evangelizing them while having fun\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, maybe you\u2019re thinking that this will never work. People are busy. They are serious. They don\u2019t have time to play games. If this is your thought, then I ask you to reconsider \u2026 after thinking about the following examples:<\/p>\n

\"\"1. The stock market<\/strong> \u2013 The stock market is a game. There are rules. There are goals (make as much money as possible while managing your risks.) And it can often be fun (especially if you make money!)<\/p>\n

\"\"2. Discount sales<\/strong> \u2013 Have you ever been to a Labor Day sale at your local fashion store? Have you felt the rush of excitement as you get your hands on your favourite brand at 50% off? Here again, there is a problem (get a good product at a lower than normal price), there is competition and it is mostly fun.<\/p>\n

\"\"3. The Wii<\/strong> \u2013 For most people, exercise can be boring. Then the Wii came along with the WiiFit and became a leader in the category of games called Exergaming. Overnight, many children who were glued to playing computer games started living more healthful lives by playing these games.<\/p>\n

As can be seen from the above examples, even boring activities can be made exciting by bringing in some of the concepts of game design. At BookBuzzr, we\u2019ve been hard at work trying to incorporate principles of game design into the book marketing and promotion process. For example, we\u2019ve created a Hangman word game which allows authors to market their books in a unique format. In the example below, the author is attempting to capture the interest of those people who hate their bosses. All you have to do is to guess the \u2018colourful\u2019 name. As you can see this game would appeal to those who have had a bad boss. While they guess the words, they are likely to get interested in the author\u2019s book.<\/p>\n