Your e-book is reading you

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Here's an interesting article about how publishers are learning a lot about customers who use e-books:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...051438304.html

[Susan Unger]

Not surprised.

[Gina Stevenson]

Guess if you DL more than one book, this will happen, huh? Supposing it's cookies, or similar, permanently imbedded in the first book (& subsequent ones) that pass this info on, once back online? Also guessing that if you try to mess with the book format to get rid of them, you will mess up the entire book? Sooo, the only way to get around it would be to DL, read entire book, delete it, then get your next book? Too costly, tho', to dump books you have paid for!

They rather "have us ...." with no recourse ....

Or, possibly they may eventually opt for a non-cookie-tracked version of books, alongside the "normal(?)" version, that one can buy for more $$, to counter the cost of making two versions, plus hindering their data collection?

[Bruce Nuffer]

It's interesting that the article says publishers are accessing this data. As a publisher, I have no access to any of this sort of material. Actually, what I can access of my own titles is extremely limited. I can't even tell at what price Amazon sells each of my books for. I get a report of a total number of titles moved and a lump sum payment. Best I can do is come up with an average sales price. But it seems to me that this sort of data mining could be really helpful in creating the types of books people want to read. If, for instance, I noticed one particular chapter in one of my books was obviously being read more than others, I could offer additional resources or even new titles that would give more detail on that particular subject. But as a reader, I am not sure I want anyone knowing that much about what I read.

[Mike Schutz]

It's interesting that the article says publishers are accessing this data. As a publisher, I have no access to any of this sort of material. Actually, what I can access of my own titles is extremely limited. I can't even tell at what price Amazon sells each of my books for. I get a report of a total number of titles moved and a lump sum payment. Best I can do is come up with an average sales price. But it seems to me that this sort of data mining could be really helpful in creating the types of books people want to read. If, for instance, I noticed one particular chapter in one of my books was obviously being read more than others, I could offer additional resources or even new titles that would give more detail on that particular subject. But as a reader, I am not sure I want anyone knowing that much about what I read.

Bruce - That is a really good point about interaction between publishers and readers. I wonder if there are other ways that you can get this kind of feedback.

[Bruce Nuffer]

After reading this post, I inquired to see if it was really true. I flat out told Amazon I know they have access to this data in my books, and wonder how I can access it. Their response was: "As it turns out, we do not have the feature where you can check the data. We’re committed to continuously improving our author and publisher experience and we’ll be sure to consider your feedback as we make future improvements."

[Mike Schutz]

A side comment: I just had a great conversation with Tim Thompson from NPH. Called me about some new materials they have that might interest us. The several times we have talked I have appreciated his knowledge, and his interest in finding things that might help our situation.