lessons from stanza
DESCRIPTION
Lessons learned by Stanza developing the book app for iPhoneTRANSCRIPT
February 11, 2009
Building a New World Publishing Business:
Lessons from Stanza
O’Reilly TOC ConferenceO’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing
Conference Neelan ChoksiCOO, [email protected]
Who Am I?•COO, Lexcycle•Former COO, SpringSource – open source•President and Co-Founder of SolarMetric
(acquired by BEA Systems in 2005)•Previous Employers – Exxon, Andersen
Consulting, TechTrader, MIT Blackjack Team•Board Seats – SpringSource, Tasktop, Lexcycle•BS from MIT, MS from Stevens Institute of
Technology, MBA from Univ. of Chicago Booth
e-books – Inflection Point
•$44 million Wholesale e-book sales in last 4 quarters
* Source: IDPF US Trade Wholesale Electronic Book Sales
Mainstreaming of e-books•Oprah Effect
Big Name Vendors
Improved Displays: E Ink
Improved Mobile Displays•Larger touch screens w/ crisp color
•OTA, wireless•App Store
New Hardware•Netbooks•Lots of new eReaders
iPhone DistinctionsAs an eReader:•International reach•Color display•Multi-function device•Built-in wireless•No external light required•App Store
Enter IDPF’s EPUB•Standard format – users don’t want to
care about formats (or DRM for that matter)
•Proliferation of proprietary formats (and DRM) is bad for users, creates lock-in for vendors
•Standard format eases a historical burden of conversion
e-book Alphabet SoupFormats
- .LIT- Mobi- AZW- PDB- FB2- PDF- RTF- BBeB- EPUB
DRM- Microsoft Reader- Adobe Adept- eReader- Mobi- Apple FairPlay- DNL- many others
- HTML- RB- CHM- OEB
Stanza Overview
Stanza iPhone & iPod Touch
Primary Usage•In bed – 31%•Commuting on bus / train – 29%•In waiting areas – 13%•At home – 12%•At work – 5%•At a bar or café or lunch or dinner – 5%•On an airplane – 5%•2 write-ins mentioned “In the bathroom”
Readers enjoy having access to their library at all times in their pocket or handbag
Stanza Fictionwise Store•44,000 titles
•3x sales growth since December 3 launch
•5,000+ purchasers•Average title price point ~$10.25•Buying patterns representative of print
sales
Publisher Promotions•Pan Macmillan Excerpts – first to notice
Stanza•Random House Free Titles- Back list of certain authors- Included excerpts for forthcoming books
•Harlequin Free Titles- 4 free “Minis” in December- 15 free titles from each imprint in January
O’Reilly Book Application• O’Reilly’s iPhone: The Missing Manual
application• Currently at TOC discounted price of $4.99
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned - Readers•Quality matters – Virtuous or Vicious Cycle
•Every reader is unique – Give readers lots of options to customize their reading experience
•Every device is unique – Things that work for one device may not work on another device
•Listen to the user – they are happy to tell you what you are doing wrong
•Give your readers a voice
Lessons Learned – Readers
(continued)•Holistic view of the entire experience for a reader:
•Not enough to focus just on one piece. Readers expect more.
Search / browse content Find book Start ReadingDown-load bookPur-chase book
Available now via partners.
Lessons Learned – Readers
(continued)•Moving users from established
behaviors takes time and patience•Friction = bad•All about the reader and the reading
experience•Immersive reading
Publisher Lessons•Calls to action need to be clear and
contextual•KISS – make it simple for the user•Hold your technology providers,
conversion houses, and distributors to a higher standard
•Keep experimenting•Support EPUB