Verso’s Spring 2010 Newsletter is in the works and due to come out soon, filled with useful tidbits, useful campaign ideas, and a few surprises. If you’d like to be added to our email list, send a note to tom@versoadvertising.com.
Verso Reader Survey at the ABA’s Winter Institute
We were honored that the American Bookseller Association asked our own Jack McKeown (alias @bookateur) to present the keynote at this year’s Winter Institute — and excited at the chance to expand on the “Indie Mindshare vs. Marketshare” meme that is developing out of the first Verso Survey of Book-Buying Behavior. After the great conversations that started at Digital Book World, we knew independent bookstores would have a lot to say about our results. And did they ever! The twitter activity was off the charts and is still rolling a week later (thanks to @jchristie for creating the archive). See below for a small sampling of Winter Institute press and tweets that mention Verso’s Survey.
Some of the Press
Bookselling This Week wrote, “For 90 minutes on Thursday morning at the Winter Institute, booksellers zeroed in on the provocative aspects of consumer demographics and book-buying preferences offered by Jack McKeown…”
The day after the keynote, Shelf Awareness called it a “well-received breakfast keynote [that] many booksellers said gave them both hope and ideas for concrete action.”
Publishers Weekly reported that “Jack McKeown’s keynote on Verso Advertising’s survey of consumer book-buying habits was a relief . . . [highlighting] potential opportunities for independents to be in the digital space.”
In their wrap-up of the Winter Institute, Shelf Awareness wrote, “After the first day of sessions on technological trends, many booksellers felt overwhelmed and feared an e-future that would bypass bookstores. But the next morning, the mood changed, beginning with a presentation by Jack McKeown…”
The news was even picked up in Australia. From the PNP Booksellers Blog: “Even though [the Verso Survey] was about US readers there is a tonne of relevant information for the Australian market…..”
Some of the hundreds of Tweets
Verso’s stats about indie mindshare are definitely heartening #dbw [full results here: http://bit.ly/bR5WEQ ] –@vsandbrook, 2/11/10
Thoughts from #WI5: from the Verso survey: How can indies convert mindshare into marketshare? — @corpuslibris, 2/9/10
RT @permanentpaper Reader stats A+ RT @DBerthiaume: Complete #WI5 presentation Verso survey results http://www.versoadvertising.com/survey –@WNBA_NATIONAL 2/8/10
Hey indies! RT @DBerthiaume Complete #WI5 slide presentation of Verso survey results now up at http://www.versoadvertising.com/survey/ — @vertigobooks 2/8/10
Beyond thrilled to be hearing ebook convo based on DATA, not just feelings and anecdotes. Many thanks to @bookateur. #Wi5 /via @bookavore @oblongirl 2/5/10
RT @BooksellersNZ: #Wi5 check out www.versoadvertsing.com/survey for insightful research of importance to booksellers — @KatMeyer 2/5/10
Feel much more encouraged & excited on #wi5 day two! :) — @AvidBookshop 2/4/10 (tweeted after Verso Survey Presentation)
Over 45% of males 18-34 download pirated copies. Bad boys. Whatcha gonna do? #wi5 — @yrstrulyREL 2/4/10
Hooray, data bears out that a large chunk of people are interested in bundling. Hope pubs saw this at DBW. #Wi5 — @bookavore, 2/4/10
RT @AvidBookshop: Thinking the same!RT @bookavore: Search engine marketing needs to be priority for indies. Good thing I went to a panel on it yesterday. #Wi5 –@JogglingBoard, 2/4/10
RT @bookavore: “Think about older market as cash cow to pay for experimentation with younger market.” #Wi5 –@NVbibliophile, 2/4/10
Interestingly, much of @bookateur’s #wi5 keynote applies to niche publishing, too. “Community, convenience and price.” –@glecharles, 2/4/10
Cannot tell last time I’ve seen “hissy fit” in PowerPoint. <3 @bookateur. Good job doing #s in early AM. #wi5 –@SarahRettger, 2/4/10
Adriana Trigiani on the Today show
Today’s Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb talk to bestselling author Adriana Trigiani about her new book “Brava Valentine” and show off our full-page ad!
Read more to view the Today show clip.
Verso Survey in the News
The recent Digital Book World conference was one of the best run and most useful conferences we’ve been part of in recent years. It did a great job of airing necessary conversations and forging new ideas about the present and future of our industry. We couldn’t have picked a better place to debut the initial results of our Consumer Survey. This is an industry that’s ready for hard data. There has been a lot of talk going on related to the conference over the last week, easily trackable with Digital Book World’s own link round-up, here.
If you want to focus on what people are saying, reporting and questioning about the Verso Survey Results in particular, however, here’s a list of some of the talk our survey helped generate:
Publishers Weekly reports that “Verso’s Jack McKeown offered a consumer book survey that acted as a counterweight to Napack’s manifesto…”
On the Digital Book World blog, Guy LeCharles Gonzalez comments on our survey results, “Indie Mindshare Offers an Opportunity…”
The Philadelphia Social Media Examiner cites Verso’s “massive” survey results in the article headlined “Nervous publishing community braces for the e-book revolution…”
Pete Nikolai uploaded the Survey slides to Business Week’s “Business Exchange” site, with brief commentary.
Library Journal mentions the survey in their article, “Digital Book World Attendees Address Changing Future of Reading.”
Industry media reporters Galley Cat reports that the Verso presentation was well-received, “cheering up the publishing crowd.”
In Huffington Post, Steve Ross comments on Verso’s “significant amount of relevant and at times meaningful demographic information…”
Also, here‘s Galley Cat talking about Verso’s pinpointing “Publishing’s Statistical Sweet Spot.”
Publishing industry newsletter, Publishers Lunch headlines an article, “Verso Presents Consumer Survey; Asks Why Indie Market Share Is So Much Lower than Mindshare.”
Industry newsletter Publishing Trends is not available without subscription, but here’s a glimpse of their report on the conference:
SOME OF THE BLOGS:
FSG’s Ryan Chapman: “Verso’s Jack McKeown notes that people who go through the effort of downloading illegal copies, for the most part, represent an opportunity for booksellers….”
Dainty Ninja: “Among the findings was one surprising bit of data that could be a sign of encouragement for beleaguered US independent booksellers…”
Paul Biba led off his Teleread post with “Dedicated e-book readers won’t be the easiest sell if you go by Verso’s 2009 Survey of Book Buying Behavior—presented at DigitalBookWorld…”
Mick Rooney on the Verso Survey Presentation, “It was perfect, and set the tone among delegates for the rest of the day….”
SOME OF THE TWEETS:
@MJRose BTW, I think studies such as Verso’s and BISG’s on book buying behavior are very valuable. –@DonLinn
If you’re an indie bookseller,you need to see Verso’s #DBW presentation and think abt converting mindshare to mkt share http://bit.ly/aAF7qS –@DonLinn
“Turning Indie mindshare to marketshare” Fantastic title! @bookateur @TatteredCover @DBerthiaume @DonLinn #DBW –@AnnKingman
RT@GalleyCat: RT@eBookNewser: Generation Lost? #DBWverso: 2/3rds of avid readers surveyed are 45 or older; 28% are in the 18+ bracket #DBW –@CitrusNaNo
RT @DigiBookWorld: RT @ljndawson: Survey says even avid readers who own ereaders are buying both p-books and e-books. Not mutally exclusive. #DBW #DBWverso –@coopertjon
RT @DigiBookWorld: RT @ljndawson: Maximum $ willing to pay for ebooks! 28% won’t go above $10. 28% are flexible between $10-20. 37% not sure. #DBW #DBWVerso –@krishvenkatesh
RT @BookPros: RT @RonHogan: RT @ljndawson:Author publicity and instore events are biggest driver to purchase. But author tours are dying! #DBW #DBWverso –@ShennandoahDiaz
RT @KatMeyer: slides from @versodigital will be available on slideshare and versoadvertising.com — EXCELLENT information. highly recommend #dbwverso #dbw –@toddbeals
am i crazy to think verso study shows demo most likely to pirate books is demo least likely to *buy* them in any format –@Booksquare
… AND FOR FUN:
CNN’s report on the iPad quotes pundits at the conference and shows Verso’s presentation (don’t blink):
E-Book Pricing: A Split Opinion Among E-Reader Owners
Over 27% of e-reader owners are unwilling to pay more than $9.99 for e-books, while an equal number, 28%, are willing to entertain a range of prices up to $20.00. (The typical Amazon price-point for Kindle e-book sales is $9.99.) Further, over 37% of e-reader owners have yet to form a firm opinion about e-book prices.
The results are based on Verso Digital’s 2009 Survey of Book-Buying Behavior, the full results of which will be presented at the upcoming Digital Book World conference, January 26-27 at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers in New York City. Conducted in two waves during November and December, 2009, the survey polled 5,640 book-buying respondents, weighted to mirror the U.S. adult population. The results are statistically reliable within a 1.6 percentage-point margin of error, at a 95% probability level.
The Survey further reveals that only a very small minority of e-reader owners, 7.5%, is willing to entertain prices typical of new-release hardcover books, $25.00 and above. “The results suggest a much greater diversity of opinion among consumers regarding the emerging e-book market than the industry pundits allow,” says Jack McKeown, industry consultant and Director of New Business Development for Verso Digital. “We think the survey results point to a potential ‘sweet spot’ for publishers in the $13.00-$18.00 price bracket, including the prospect of converting a lot of the undecided owners. The results should offer some encouragement to publishers that have been struggling with issues of e-book pricing, timing and potential cannibalization of print sales.”
Could it be true that current e-book users are willing to entertain more flexibility in e-book price points than it first seemed?
E-Book Piracy a Growing Concern According to New Verso Consumer Survey
Over 28% of e-reader owners have used unregulated file-sharing services, such as RapidShare, Megaupload and Hot File to download at least one e-book within the last twelve months, and 6% have used such services to download ten or more titles during this interval.
The results are based on Verso Digital’s 2009 Survey of Book-Buying Behavior, the full results of which will be presented at the upcoming Digital Book World conference, January 26-27 at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers in New York City. Conducted in two waves during November and December, 2009, the survey polled 5,640 book-buying respondents, weighted to mirror the U.S. adult population. The results are statistically reliable within a 1.6 percentage-point margin of error, at a 95% probability level.
The Survey further reveals that questionable downloading, while affecting all age and gender brackets, is concentrated disproportionately among younger male readers. Among males aged 18-34, over 45% report engaging in such downloading activity within the past twelve months. Nearly 13% have downloaded ten or more e-books from file-sharing services, more than twice the level of the Survey population as a whole.
Jack McKeown, industry consultant and Director of New Business Development for Verso Digital, acknowledged that “the results are bound to set off ripples of alarm within a publishing industry already distracted by issues of e-book pricing, timing and potential cannibalization of print sales.”
What do you think?
7x20x21 for 2010!
As part of the lead-up to the Digital Book World Conference, Verso Digital is sponsoring the next 7x20x21 event this Wed., January 13 at 7PM. (It’s the same pecha kucha format and feel to the 7x20x21 event Verso helped spark for last year’s BEA). It promises to be a fun evening with some super-smart people — booksellers, marketers, artists, and more — who care deeply about books and have gathered together to give us all reasons to be optimistic about publishing. It will be held at the Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, NYC. For more details and to RSVP, you can go to the Meetup page.
Digital Book World
Verso Digital will be presenting the results of our first consumer survey across our Reader Channel network at the January Digital Book World Conference. Register now to attend. If you can’t, watch this space for more in coming weeks.
Follow the Reader
Read the two part interview with Verso Advertising’s Denise Berthiaume and Tom Thompson about book advertising in the digital age on the blog, Follow the Reader (Part 1, Part 2).
Read the tweet chat summary from the #FollowReader discussion on Twitter.
Making Book Ads Work
“As publishers and authors strive to connect with their audiences through more channels than ever, what can the latest trends in book advertising teach us about how readers are engaging with books on the web and beyond?…” Thanks to Charlotte Abbott, the Follow the Reader blog, and the #followreader community on Twitter for a thought-provoking week of interviews and live chats. Part one of Charlotte’s interview with Denise Berthiaume and Tom Thompson is here. Part two is here. And the tweetchat summary, “Book ads in the Publishing Ecosystem,” is here.