essentials of digital books from the consumer’s point of view angela james, carina press...
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Essentials of Digital Books from the Consumer’s
Point of View
Angela James, Carina Press (@angelajames)Jane Litte, Dear Author Media Network LLC (@jane_l)
Sarah Wendell, Smart Bitches Trashy Books LLC (@smartbitches)
“If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, to buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think.”
-David Ogilvy
Do you feel like publishers care about you as an ebook reader?
75.11%NO
Let’s be rude: how old are you?
0 500 1000
60-69
50-59
40-49
31-39
26-30
18-25
Under 18
• Largest group: 31-39 and 40-49 years
• Second largest age group: 18-25 yrs.
• Third largest: 50-59 yrs.
All About Digital Readers
• 2, 247 of respondents have been reading for ten or more years across multiple genres.
0
1000
2000
3000
Genre
ScienceFiction/FantasyRomance
Gen. Fiction
Mystery
Nonfiction
Book Purchasing Habits
New books each month:
14%
50%
25%
10% 1%
<1 book
1-5 books
6-10 books
11+ books
I don't buy new books
Used books each month
46%
36%
9%
9%
<1 book 1-5 books6-10 books I don't buy used
What do readers want?
To be heard.
Do you feel like publishers care about you as an ebook reader?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
No Yes
How can publishers be responsive?
Social networking should not be used exclusively for publishers to talk to one another.
It’s a conversation that requires listening to the consumer.
What Consumers Want
• Quality
• Flexibility
• Consistency
• Searchability
“The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife. She wants all the information you can give her.” – David Ogilvy
Customization & Use
Is 9780684868530 _10036.pdb by Unknown Author on the Times Bestseller list today?
Survey Responses: • “Sometimes I am bothered by the way the book 'looks' digitally. It's
not that I don't understand what the author is saying, but I know the format is skewed.”
• “Ebook tags and filenames for authors & titles are not easily sorted by author LAST name and by series order. This is a HUGE frustration for me as I want to be able to easily know what order to read books in a series!”
• “Oftentimes an eBook's formatting is off and it's bothersome. I just purchased an eBook that double-sized words in the first few paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter. It was very annoying.”
• “We want the same time and consideration put into ebooks as is put into hardcover books.”
Irony is not good PR
Pricing is still in flux. “FUnfortunately,” so is quality.
DRM: Driving Readers Mad
73% of readers surveyed have not pirated
Despite all that, we still want ebooks.
Good News & Bad News:
The optimal point of sale experience has not yet been created.
Every online bookstore has essential features – and flaws that need to be eliminated.
Optimal Purchasing Environment
• Easy
• Intuitive
• Encouraging
• Comprehensive
Optimal Purchasing Environment
12
3
Optimal Purchasing Environment
1
2
3
The Ideal Merge: Paper & Digital
The inability of print and digital books to promote one another for greater collaborative success is the true cannibal of everyone's profits.
Digital Readers are Borderless
“Please drop geographical restrictions. Its antiquated! I'm a legitimate customer, but being prevented from buying a book just because I'm not in an area makes me feel like a second-class customer.”
“US-based publishers need to recognize that the publishing world does not end at the border. If they wish to increase their sales, they need to increase the availability of formats available to other countries.”
“Bloody geographical restrictions! Isn't my non-US currency good enough??”
Once and for all: print sales are not at war with digital sales.
In the eyes of the end user, it's a book to read.
Sarah Wendell
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com
http://sbsarah.com
@smartbitches