Until recently, it was a herculean task for publishers to predict which books would actually make it to the readers’ choice in the market. However, advancement in technology, particularly in relation to the business of publishing, has enabled near accurate predictions of the consumers’ reading habits and market behavior. Data-driven publishing tracks reading habits of consumers and analyzes readers’ reviews and other information to provide actionable insights.
With an increasing number of people using digital readers, publishers today are able to track reading habits of consumers. Digital devices have built-in synchronization with the reading programs through which they track reading patterns. These include tracking the time spent by a reader on a particular book, the genre of books a consumer reads, what passages the reader dwells on, how many times a particular page has been opened and the time spent on it, or the time the reader puts the book down. These devices trace readers’ interests, the notes the reader makes and also the terms that the reader searches for. eBook readers also collect the user and device id and track the geographical location of the reader.
When the reader accesses an eBook like those powered by EPUB3 the publisher receives plethora of information, from reviews to discussions on the social media platforms. The data collected also includes the readers’ searches, including failed searches, i.e., the searches that did not lead to any results, which in turn indicate the users’ expectations.
eBook publishers and sellers can record and analyze the captured data. The reams of data available about the consumers’ reading patterns enables publishers to study the market and offer tailored content. Publishers and sellers can offer customized books, the ones that are in line with the readers’ interest, choice of genres or a part of a series of books that interested the reader. Consequently, this will help build a loyal reader base, meet the needs of the consumers and in turn drive business growth.
