Tag Archives: Winter Institute

Verso Reader Survey: Reasons for Optimism

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We are thrilled that our agency’s research was part of of two big reasons for optimism in book publishing over the past two weeks:  The American Booksellers Association “Winter Institute” and Digital Book World. Both conferences revealed crucial data from book publishing’s recent-past and evolving present, and both generated actionable ideas for our industry moving forward.

Here’s a link to our slides from 2012 Winter Institute.

Here’s a link to our slides from 2012 Digital Book World.

For links to news reports related to the latest Verso Survey of Book-Buying Behavior, click here.

For a final word, check out Library Journal‘s report from Digital Book World, “A More Optimistic Unconference,” which noted “a markedly different psychology among the Big Six,” and remarked that “the all-important data to buy into a new, bigger picture [of the publishing ecosystem] is compelling.”

 

Verso Survey: “Moving Toward a Hybrid Market”

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Publishers Weekly reports on our presentation at the ABA’s Winter Institute (Wi7):

“Even as more consumers buy dedicated digital reading devices and tablets, a hybrid market for books is developing in which readers will buy both print and digital books.”

The article also details how the Survey indicates some opportunities for Independent Booksellers in the wake of the Borders shut-down.

Moby Lives mentions our Wi7 survey, and reports that they’ve been seeing hybrid all along.

Shelf Awareness reports a full roundup of our Wi7 presentation.

2012 Verso Survey news as mentioned in previous InVerso posts, includes:

Our presentation at Digital Book World this Wednesday, January 25, will discuss the Survey’s implications for the publishing industry as a whole. Join us!

For those who’d like to follow along on Twitter, the hash tag  is #dbw12.

 

Verso Survey: The Borders Effect

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Information from the forthcoming release of our December 2011 Reader Survey continues to make news. Yesterday, “Bookselling This Week” published an extensive report on what the Survey results mean for independent booksellers.

 

Previous news releases, include:

Shelf Awareness with the first take on the Borders Effect,

Publishers Weekly on consumer interest in an indie-branded e-reader,

and Publishers Lunch on the changing dynamics of reader format preferences.

 

Verso’s Jack McKeown will discuss the Survey’s full implications for independent bookstores at Wi7 on January 19 and what it means for the publishing industry as a whole will be discussed at Digital Book World on January 25.

 

Verso Survey: The Borders Effect

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Shelf Awareness reports on our third annual survey of book readers, focusing on the effect of the Borders closing on booksellers. Verso Digital will be presenting the full results of this survey and its implications January 19, 2012 at the American Bookseller Association Winter Institute and January 25, 2012 at Digital Book World.

 

For reference, here are links to the first survey (version presented at the ABA’s Day of Education at the 2010 Book Expo America) and the second annual survey (version presented at the 2011 Digital Book World conference).

What Do Readers Really Think?

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Learn about the results of the Verso Survey of Book-Buying Behavior

At the 2010 Digital Book World Conference, Verso presented the results of our first “Survey of Book-Buying Behavior” — creating a stir there that resonated with publishers, booksellers and readers as far away as England and Australia. Powered by the expertise of Burst Media, the Survey was conducted across the full breadth of the Reader Channel network in two waves during November and December, 2009. The Survey polled 5,640 book-buying respondents, weighted to mirror the U.S. adult population. Adhering to the highest standards of online survey data collection, the results are statistically reliable within a 1.6 percentage-point margin of error, at a 95% probability level.
Early reports from Publishers Lunch followed up on the Survey’s implications for two of the hottest topics in publishing—e-book piracy and e-book pricing—and generated immediate interest in book industry circles. The American Booksellers Association immediately saw how the Survey’s provides actionable data for their members, and invited Verso’s director of business development, Jack McKeown, to Winter Institute (Wi5) to give a keynote address on what the Survey results mean for independent booksellers.

VersoSurvey_chart11At the 2010 Digital Book World Conference, Verso presented the results of our first “Survey of Book-Buying Behavior” — creating a stir there that resonated with publishers, booksellers and readers as far away as England and Australia. Powered by the expertise of Burst Media, the Survey was conducted across the full breadth of the Reader Channel network in two waves during November and December, 2009. The Survey polled 5,640 book-buying respondents, weighted to mirror the U.S. adult population. Adhering to the highest standards of online survey data collection, the results are statistically reliable within a 1.6 percentage-point margin of error, at a 95% probability level.

Early reports from Publishers Lunch followed up on the Survey’s implications for two of the hottest topics in publishing—e-book piracy and e-book pricing—and generated immediate interest in book industry circles. The American Booksellers Association immediately saw how the Survey provides actionable data for their members, and invited Verso’s director of business development, Jack McKeown, to Winter Institute (Wi5) to give a keynote address on what the results mean for independent booksellers.

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Verso Reader Survey at the ABA’s Winter Institute

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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