Entitle CEO Bryan Batten Has His Mind on Mobile and Big Data in 2015

Book Business interviewed several leaders in the publishing industry to discover what new trends will disrupt publishing in 2015. We featured those interviews in our December issue. Here we want to share the full interviews, which offer valuable insight on the future of the book business.

Following Bryan Batten, CEO of subscription platform Entitle, shares his insights on the year to come in publishing.

What's the next big trend publishers need to keep an eye on?
The explosion of mobile devices in general is something that publishers will have to deal with. The majority of people have some sort of mobile reading device, essentially a bookstore at their fingertips. I think that going forward publishers and retailers need to find ways to tap into this huge expansive group of people that have a bookstore with them at all times. Publishers need to find a way to get these people interested in buying their books and reading in general. I think that the explosion of mobile is going to continue to play a huge factor in reading and the industry as a whole.

What technology are you most excited about in the publishing industry?
It goes back to mobile. We're all reading on tablets and phones now and this really opens up a much bigger audience for publishers. Every time Apple sells a device that is another potential customer for us. That is the really exciting technology that publisher need to watch.

I'm also really interested in the big data machine learning. What can we learn from people's reading patterns and behaviors? How can we turn that data into better recommendations for them? It's something we spend a lot of time with at Entitle. As publishers become better versed in big data, I think we'll be able to solve more of the discoverability issues.