Joe Wikert recently asked what questions publishers would like to see answered via reader analytics. Here he shares their feedback.
The painful reality is that we still live in a print-under-glass world, struggling to produce content that leverages our powerful phones and tablets. I was explaining this to a publisher recently and the phrase "escape velocity" came to mind.
In simple terms, escape velocity is what's required for an object to break free from another object's gravitational pull. For example, a rocket being launched from earth or, in this case, a publisher trying to create content that's more deeply engaging than simply putting the print edition on a digital screen. In the latter case, everything from significant print revenues to industry indifference represent the gravitational pull that needs to be escaped.
The ebook subscription space has grown increasingly crowded over the past couple years, with the launch of Kindle Unlimited, Oyster, Scribd, Entitle, Storia -- the list goes on. One of the first ebook subscription services in the world, Spanish-based 24symbols, is striving to differentiate itself from the pack through global expansion and a unique social reading environment
Gamifying ebooks has been bandied about the book industry plenty without much to show for it. Some cite the success of interactive children's books that are helping children learn to read faster than ever before. But others question whether a book that is adopting game-like qualities is still a book. And further, many publishers doubt they should be investing time and money in essentially becoming game developers -- a foreign and expensive pursuit.
The Javits Center must have some sort of time warp technology. I recently attended the BEA event there and I kept asking myself the same question: Is this 2015 or 2005? The digital vibe was almost nowhere to be found in the expo hall. For example, publishers are still handing out stacks of print galleys and samples. Is that really more effective than digital copies? Wouldn't it be better to distribute e-versions and gather customer info along the way? All this talk of establishing direct relationships with readers and having access to the resulting data still seems to be the stuff of fiction.
Although it is only in its second year, BookExpo's Startup Challenge has become one of my favorite parts of BEA. For those unfamiliar with the Challenge, it pits tech startups that serve the publishing industry against one another over the course of two days. Each startup is required to pitch their service to a panel of judges and four finalists will pitch live on-stage to the BEA audience. The winner takes home $10,000 and an elevated status in the industry.
The initial promise is compelling, especially for voracious readers. For $10-$15/month consumers get access to more content than they could possibly read in a month. That ultimately creates a bigger problem than the subscription platforms probably realize. For more than a year now I've been a subscriber to both Oyster, for books, and Next Issue,…
Tom Breur, VP of data analytics at Cengage, Adam Silverman, senior director of digital business development at HarperCollins, and Andrew Weinstein, VP of content acquisition at Scribd share great tips for integrating data insights into a publishing organization.
I was delighted when I saw Joe Wikert's article "Lessons from One Publisher's Aversion to Ebooks" and its mention of our book The Real McCoy: My Half-century with the Cincinnati Reds, by beloved Reds beat writer Hal McCoy. When you are an independent publisher, all press is good press, and it's great to see commenters combing through our website.
I recently did something that I haven't done for more than five years: I bought a physical, print edition of a book. For myself. I didn't want to, but I had to. The publisher made me do it. The story behind my purchase offers lessons for all book publishers, but especially those who have yet to embrace the ebook market.
