Categories: DBW Insights | Tags: Discoverability, kelly gallagher
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When it comes to book discovery, things are going to get more complicated before they get simpler.
Reader behavior is in flux and the ways in which people engage with and discover new content has grown exponentially, according to data from Bowker presented by the company’s vice president of publishing services Kelly Gallagher at the Digital Book World Discoverability and Marketing.
Here’s some food for thought from Gallagher’s presentation:
– In 2011, nearly half of consumers changed their book-buying behavior (chart below)
– 39% of books are sold online, 26% in stores, and the rest in nearly a dozen other ways (chart below)
– People discover new books in up to 44 different ways
Perhaps most daunting is that e-reader owners, tablet owners, online book shoppers, customers of different retailers, people of all demographics, readers of all genres are all discovering books in different ways.
Imagine the complexity: a 27-year-old female romance reader from suburban Indianapolis who reads on a tablet computer but spends most of her time browsing the Web on her laptop versus a 43-year-old female romance reader living in Los Angeles who reads and buys exclusively on her e-reader. They’re both romance readers and female, but couldn’t be more different otherwise when it comes to how they discover and read books — and reaching them takes different marketing tactics.
Gallagher says that book marketers should begin their strategic thinking by focusing on the reader that they want to reach and knowing where they can find them and what kinds of marketing they respond to best.
For instance, tablet owners discover new books through free excerpts about 15% of the time; but readers of young adult fiction discover new books through the same way about 6% of the time. So marketers of young adult fiction have a lot to think about when they want to reach readers who read on tablets.
Amid all the change in how readers read and discover books, one thing has remained constant: in-person, personal recommendations are the No. 1 way people discover books, no matter who they are or how they read.
No. 1 way women 30-to-44-years-old discover new books: in-person, personal recommendations (~18% of new books discovered this way)
No. 1 way consumers find out about young-adult fiction: in-person, personal recommendations (~18% of new books discovered this way)
No. 1 way online shoppers discover new books: in-person, personal recommendations (~15% of new books discovered this way)
No. 1 way tablet readers discover new books: in-person, personal recommendations (~18% of new books discovered this way)
No. 1 way e-reader readers discover new books: in-person, personal recommendations (~18% of new books discovered this way)
Changes in Book-Buying Habits
Changes in Where People Buy Books
