Ryan Regier is a second term MLIS student at UWO, and is probably the
best one. His MLIS interests include, how graphic novel collections are
managed by public libraries, potential 'Big Data' information that
e-books can collect from their readers, and libraries' expansion into
more roles within the community. In his spare time he enjoys trying to
finish everything on Netflix, engaging in self-denial about the Toronto
Raptors chances of winning a NBA championship, and cuddling small
animals.
Ok. Let’s talk about
e-books.
Why readers read what they
do has always been a mystery for publishers and retailers. E-books and the
current growth of exploration into “Big Data” is changing this. E-books are
essentially reading you as you read them. They are collecting data
about how long it takes you to read (be it the whole book or a page), what
sentences you highlight, your reading habits (what time you read, what kind of
books you like to read, if you binge on a book or consume it slowly throughout
a month), what books you don’t finish, and so forth… This perhaps has scarier
implications with the recent Snowden NSA leaks, and privacy laws will have to
play catch up as this technology and information keeps advancing, but despite all these ‘big brother’ worries, the potential implications are fascinating.
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| Source: http://regmedia.co.uk/2013/04/19/kindle_bb.jpg |
Publishers can now go directly to writers and let them know specific details about how readers are reading their books. If a large amount of readers give up around a certain section, or perhaps stop reading the book for quite a while when coming to it, the author will know to steer away from the style adopted in that section in the future. A lot of information has already come to life about book-bingeing. Especially with current popular series like The Hunger Games or Game of Thrones (see above link).
Netflix has already begun
to show us our tendency for bingeing on entertainment and we can be sure that
thousands of researchers are now turning their pens and questionnaires in that
direction. We, of course, have begun to see “Netflix for books” companies and software beginning to pop up. It’ll be interesting to see if they become
contenders for producing original content like Netflix has. Amazon is already
stepping around publishers to create a more direct connection between
reader and author. Amazon is potentially worrying when it comes to ‘big data’
on ebooks because they sell lots of other products as well. Typically companies
have only marketed materials to you that come in the same form of material as
the one you originally bought, with Amazon we could see the rise of cross
material promotion, advertising sci-fi movies, shows and models based on your
interest in sci-fi books.
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| Source: http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/oyster-1.png |
So where am I going with
this hodge podge of ideas? I think that the reader’s tendency to binge on e-books,
the data collected about certain readers, and the rise of technology that
makes accessing such books easier and quicker will result in the comeback of
serialized novels and stories. Just like comic book storylines are currently
released in small issues for weekly readers and then, if popular enough, bound together in volumes, soon we will see publishers and authors experimenting with
releasing biweekly chapters of a novel or a similar format.
Why? Well, lots of reasons.
Such a format works for readers because they get more choice about how to
consume their literature, they get a constant flow of it and don’t have to
suffer wait times in between (looking at you G.R.R.M.), and it gives them a story
they can actively interact with other people about, much like tv shows become
water cooler conversation or social media chatter the day after or during
release. The format benefits publishers or retailers because it allows them to
have a more captive audience base, see real time responses and interactions
on social media, and also make it easier to judge success of the work and make
changes—it would be great for testing new writers.
Comic book publishers have
been doing this for decades. One of the reasons this idea was never that
attractive to novel readers is due to the fetishism of the book as a complete
item, but with the rise of e-books and generations who are more comfortable
reading short online articles rather than books, such an idea seems more
probable.
'Netflix for books’
companies would be well-placed to start producing such content. Hopefully as
well they will also keep up Netflix’s attractive values as a company with lack of
advertisement, incredibly loose restrictions on how users use their account,
and low costs (and awesome customer service).
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| Source: http://www.metro.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/netflix.jpg |
And lastly, because I am a
library student and this is a library blog, I will input here my often repeated
plea that libraries should get in on all this. That we should start looking at
producing original content and helping local writers. If we keep sitting on the
sidelines, we will get passed by.
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| Source: http://bookable.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/libraries.jpg?w=385&h=376 |
