One of the long touted facets of the shift to digital reading is that it enables publishers and platform providers to glean data about their customers' reading habits. But with the data now flowing in, are publishers ready to put it to use?
“The owners of e-book platforms now have unprecedented and previously unattainable knowledge about how people read,” noted CCC’s Chris Kenneally, who moderated a closing Digital Book World panel on reading data. “They see every time an e-book is opened; on what device it is opened; how fast it is read; whether passages or entire works are re-read, and perhaps most dismaying for authors which books are never cracked, or never finished." So what have we learned so far?
For one, more than half of all digital readers read on more than one device, noted Jared Friedman, cofounder and CTO of subscription service Scribd, and 10% of Scribd users read on three devices or more in any given month. “As people become more familiar with e-books and e-book reading services, [reading] is permeating their digital lifestyle,” Friedman said.
David Burleigh, director of marketing and communication, OverDrive, Inc., which facilitates library e-book lending, agreed. “We’re seeing about 40% of users reading on more than one device,” he noted. (To Read the Rest)
