I bought a non-fiction paperback the other day called 'What on Earth Happened?' by Christopher Lloyd, and my mind was blown by the account of how the Earth, life and humans evolved.
What blew my mind even more was all the excellent additional things I found out I had access to after reading the book and the impressive online support it has.
Firstly, there's the original hardback version, which is more detailed and has lots more photos and this has gone straight onto my birthday wishlist. Next, I saw there's an online quiz, a video, a forum... though the site housing all this isn't exactly glamorous, it is simple and un-gimmicky, quick to load, easy to navigate and I love it.
The 'about' section answers many questions about the book such as:
What is the book about?
What makes this book different from other world histories?
Why is this book so important?
The answers to these questions really sell the book. I'm very pleased there's a second book in the series for me to buy - "What on Earth Evolved? 100 Species that Changed the World."
It makes me think that one day, there will be a site like this for every book.
When I finish a book I loved, I want to talk about it, Tweet and write about it, recommend it, maybe review it on Amazon - this is all because I want to connect with other people who love the book as much as I do. If you can get these people connecting on the site dedicated to the book, owned and run by the publisher, then you have a valuable and useful site for the reader, author and publisher. Mo Hayder's site is another good example.
Can you imagine if Twilight had set up a site like this right from the outset, with a forum? By now it would have millions of unique users per month, creating thousands of pounds worth of advertising opportunities to book addicts. Wow.
Here's the Chris Lloyd giving a three-minute demonstration of some of the ideas in the book:
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