How Data Changed Publishing in 2015

Data enables book publishers to connect with their readers in deeper and more meaningful ways — and sometimes, interact for the very first time. As digital exchanges between publishers and readers increase, data insights culled from those interactions continue to emerge and make a significant impact on how book publishers operate. Publishers are using data insights to refine social media campaigns, build email lists, improve book pricing, and even guide book acquisition. The rapid growth in data collection in the industry motivated Book Business to release its first ever “Data Issue” in 2015, which explored how data insights are impacting the creation, marketing, and sales of books. Book Business continued its data-centric coverage throughout the year and shared new ways that technologists and book publishers are utilizing data insights to pursue new revenue opportunities.

Here are some of the ways book publishers used data in 2015:

The Book Industry’s Quest for Data Intelligence - Leaders from Hachette, HarperCollins, and Cengage share how they have grown direct book sales, developed more targeted book marketing campaigns, and informed product development through greater data collection. Here’s how those publishers have put data into action.

Gale’s SVP Paul Gazzolo Wants to Unlock the Publisher’s Information Vault - SVP Paul Gazzolo wants to build Gale into a global reference and education platform that actively engages students, library patrons, and academics with more personalized services.

How Cengage, HarperCollins, And Scribd Are Using Data Analytics - At Book Business Live Cengage VP of data analytics Tom Breur, HarperCollins senior director of digital business development Adam Silverman, and Scribd VP of content acquisition Andrew Weinstein discussed how they are unlocking new business opportunities through data insights.

Here’s How Reader Analytics Can Help Publishers - Joe Wikert asked book publishers what they want to learn from reader analytics -- that is, data on how readers actually read. Here Wikert shares what trade, educational, and professional publishers want to learn using reader analytics.

As Book Purchasing Behavior Changes, So Must Publishers’ Sales Metrics - Today consumers are engaging and reengaging with companies prior to buying their goods or services. Publishers need to develop better ways of tracking these consumers as they nurture them towards a book purchase, writes Iobyte Solutions founder Dan Lubart.

How Trajectory Is Making Books More Discoverable, Everywhere - Technology startup Trajectory helps connect readers with the perfect book through its semantic data algorithms. The algorithm-based technology evaluates a book’s language, reading level, complexity, sentiment, keywords, and more, explains Trajectory chief content officer Scott Beatty in this interview.