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09.05.11 | Scott Pack
As we witness sales of e-books and the popularity of reading digital content rise faster than many of us would have predicted a couple of years ago it is perhaps inevitable that certain parts of our industry are, however unwittingly, holding it back. In one example, our own industry bestseller charts are doing e-books absolutely no favours whatsoever at the moment.
Currently, e-book sales do not register for the book charts. Up until quite recently that hasn't been a huge problem as e-books have only represented a small percentage of total sales. But that is changing, and changing fast, and we are now seeing e-books sell in the tens of thousands, and soon in the hundreds of thousands, without a single one of those sales registering for our industry chart.
This presents a whole host of problems.
It means that the charts do not accurately reflect the reading choices of the nation. When we open our newspaper and see the various Top 10s we cannot be sure that these are the actual bestsellers. There might be a book further down the chart that has been selling well enough as an e-book to break in to the Top 10, but we wouldn't know.
It also creates a dilemma for publishers of brand name authors. We all know how it works—that first week chart position is more important than almost anything else. Getting them to number one in the fiction chart is vital, especially if you have just poached them from a rival publisher. But if e-book sales don't count, then every sale on that format is a sale that won't help you get to number one. At the moment it would actually be in your best interests to suppress sales of the e-book to ensure a higher chart position.
It would be perfectly possible for a book to début at number three despite having sold more copies across all formats than the two books above it. Try explaining that to some über-agent over lunch at The Ivy. I am not sure it would wash.
And it doesn't help traditional retailers either. They make many of their buying decisions, especially when it comes to range, based on the sales performance of previous books or formats. If they cannot see that Book X sold 30,000 print copies and 25,000 e-books then they are not best placed to judge how and where to stock it. And I haven't had time to discuss the impact on retailer market share.
So what's the solution? We need all retailers to share their e-book sales data with the people who compile the charts. Until they do we are in danger of making some poor decisions. It is time for everyone to work together to harness the incredible success of e-books but we cannot do that blindfolded.
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Completely agree with you Scott, we need accurate charts for our books and e books are becoming an ever greater part of the mix. However, its a surprise change of heart for you given that you regularly "manipulated" the chart bays when you were at Waterstone's, accuracy of chart position didn't matter then so what's caused the change of heart now?
I agree, but here's the challenge: can you really see the likes of Amazon and Apple sharing their precise ebook sales data with, for example, Nielsen or Bowker? The obstacle here is for compilers of top ten lists to persuade the big retailers that any data will be kept anonymous, since the big 3 are (understandably) so cagey about giving away commercially sensitive information. We all harbour suspicions that iBookstore sales are but a tiny proportion compared to Kindle, and Apple will certainly be keen to keep any such data that might support that to themselves!
Hi DigiPub. I know what you mean about retailers reluctance to share data but they do share data on physical books, so why not ebooks?
Hello Leko. Not so much a change of heart, more a different context. The Waterstone's chart that my team used to manage would attempt to combine the national bestsellers with company bestsellers, something that actually involved very little tweaking at all in most weeks. Our two regular artificial tweaks were actually very practical. The shelf design meant that large format books could not fit on lower shelves (yes, yes, I know that is daft but I didn't put the shelves up!) so we had to make sure that cookery books or big illustrated hardbacks had a chart position that ensured a top shelf. The other common 'fix' was when two books by the same author made the Top 40, we would put them next to each other rather than have them shelves apart.
I think the answer to that is because the physical supply chain has been in place so long that there are very few unknowns -- it is an established supply chain, with a lot of competition (albeit rapidly diminishing). What we are facing with ebook sales is a new territory, with new rules of engagement, both between end-customers, resellers, and content owners. New models, new terms... like the Wild West. Although Kindle has 60% of the global ebook market, it is still early days and nothing can be taken for granted as far as they're concerned. Just look at how Amazon have been pushing the boundaries, first becoming agents, then publishers, and now lenders (edging into the library space). Tihs is not a supply chain set in stone (like the physical one), this is a nascent market, rapidly growing, where early-movers get a huge advantage and where other industries such as hardware development have an enormous impact on reseller success.
In such an environment, it pays to be cagey about publicising one's results.
My question is: to what extent do charts matter at all? Who looks at them? I don't, and I don't even know where I'd find them. The only times I see book charts are in bookshops, which are (a) typically the chain's own bestsellers and may be based on how many they've bought in rather than how many they've sold (I'm basing this assumption on how Tesco etc calibrate their music/DVD charts), and (b) not selling ebooks anyway. Do people reading the latest Jilly Cooper or Patricia Cornwell do so because it's in the charts? Or because it's been advertised or talked about or prominently on display in Tesco (all of which may be consequences of its being in the charts, but the reader may be blissfully unaware of the fact)?
Interesting post, Scott. As other commenters have said, because the ebook market is small in comparison (albeit growing), the players are reluctant to release their sales.
To response to another point raised, I do agree that charts are very important. My book is currently available as an ebook in the US and in the UK. Despite similar reviews, US sales are about 10% of UK sales, and I'm pretty sure that because my book is reasonably well placed in UK charts (because it was easier to get on them initially). These charts may not be so important for people who wish to buy physical books, but Kindle readers, for instance, seem to use them heavily. They often sort them by cheapest read, highest ratings, etc. - so you could argue that we're moving away from monolithic Waterstone's-style charts to 'smart charts' based on user preferences.
I'd be interested to see a chart that uses Amazon whispernet data to tell us which books were read the fastest, most likely to be read in one sitting, and so on.
Scott, the same happened with music, of course - remember The Crazy Frog (ringtone), Gnarls Barkley (download), and The Boxer Rebellion with iTunes charts. I believe downloads are already counted in the States (Victorine Lieske proudly sports her NYT bestsellers banner). There will be all kinds of teething problems, of course, not least to do with ISBNs, that will need to be shaken out in the wash.
What's most interesting is that actually the ebook charts aren't full of the latest releases. They bear very little relation to the paperback or hardback charts - they are driven by other factors like price. And whereas sales of physical books boom then tail-off, ebooks are tending to build steam.
One sure thing is that when integrated charts do come, the indie/self-pub vs traditional pub debates will kick off with some real figures to fight over - and publishers may have a little explaining to do to their writers why Saffina Desforges and Jake Barton are outselling their new releases.
You are aware that the NYT has had an e-books bestseller and a combined bestseller list since February, right?
Like most branches of society the publishing world is far behind the times. EBooks, electronic publishing, blogs or whatever you'd like to refer to them as offer a greater movement of thought that clearly reflects the moment we are living in.
I started writing a blog two months ago to record my last six months in business as a cheese seller in Sussex.
I have not approached a literary agent or publisher but from what I've seen recently in Waterstones my story would stand little chance of being read under the current paper book publishing system. In the same period my blog (the Cheese Seller's Blog) has been visited by about 2,000 people in two months. It's received extensive media coverage in the Sussex press and on BBC Radio.
If I'd sent off this idea to a literary agent I'd have probably never received a response and known any different. And I probably would have put the idea to one side and forgotten about it.
Electronic media offers a real solution to people who want to produce faster content. And of course if the content has any value people will still be reading it in 10 years time.
Anthony Hogan
The Cheese Seller's Blog
WWW.cheesesellersblog.co.uk
Yes, Anon, but that is not much use to us in the UK.
All the content of the interesting article doesn't imply a diminishing credit towards e-book pubblications. In fact, such devides are increasingly appreciated, because they meet diverse needs in terms of really updated instruments.
Completely agree with you Scott, we need accurate charts for our books and e books are becoming an ever greater part of the mix. However, its a surprise change of heart for you given that you regularly "manipulated" the chart bays when you were at Waterstone's, accuracy of chart position didn't matter then so what's caused the change of heart now?
I agree, but here's the challenge: can you really see the likes of Amazon and Apple sharing their precise ebook sales data with, for example, Nielsen or Bowker? The obstacle here is for compilers of top ten lists to persuade the big retailers that any data will be kept anonymous, since the big 3 are (understandably) so cagey about giving away commercially sensitive information. We all harbour suspicions that iBookstore sales are but a tiny proportion compared to Kindle, and Apple will certainly be keen to keep any such data that might support that to themselves!
Hi DigiPub. I know what you mean about retailers reluctance to share data but they do share data on physical books, so why not ebooks?
I think the answer to that is because the physical supply chain has been in place so long that there are very few unknowns -- it is an established supply chain, with a lot of competition (albeit rapidly diminishing). What we are facing with ebook sales is a new territory, with new rules of engagement, both between end-customers, resellers, and content owners. New models, new terms... like the Wild West. Although Kindle has 60% of the global ebook market, it is still early days and nothing can be taken for granted as far as they're concerned. Just look at how Amazon have been pushing the boundaries, first becoming agents, then publishers, and now lenders (edging into the library space). Tihs is not a supply chain set in stone (like the physical one), this is a nascent market, rapidly growing, where early-movers get a huge advantage and where other industries such as hardware development have an enormous impact on reseller success.
In such an environment, it pays to be cagey about publicising one's results.
Hello Leko. Not so much a change of heart, more a different context. The Waterstone's chart that my team used to manage would attempt to combine the national bestsellers with company bestsellers, something that actually involved very little tweaking at all in most weeks. Our two regular artificial tweaks were actually very practical. The shelf design meant that large format books could not fit on lower shelves (yes, yes, I know that is daft but I didn't put the shelves up!) so we had to make sure that cookery books or big illustrated hardbacks had a chart position that ensured a top shelf. The other common 'fix' was when two books by the same author made the Top 40, we would put them next to each other rather than have them shelves apart.
My question is: to what extent do charts matter at all? Who looks at them? I don't, and I don't even know where I'd find them. The only times I see book charts are in bookshops, which are (a) typically the chain's own bestsellers and may be based on how many they've bought in rather than how many they've sold (I'm basing this assumption on how Tesco etc calibrate their music/DVD charts), and (b) not selling ebooks anyway. Do people reading the latest Jilly Cooper or Patricia Cornwell do so because it's in the charts? Or because it's been advertised or talked about or prominently on display in Tesco (all of which may be consequences of its being in the charts, but the reader may be blissfully unaware of the fact)?
Interesting post, Scott. As other commenters have said, because the ebook market is small in comparison (albeit growing), the players are reluctant to release their sales.
To response to another point raised, I do agree that charts are very important. My book is currently available as an ebook in the US and in the UK. Despite similar reviews, US sales are about 10% of UK sales, and I'm pretty sure that because my book is reasonably well placed in UK charts (because it was easier to get on them initially). These charts may not be so important for people who wish to buy physical books, but Kindle readers, for instance, seem to use them heavily. They often sort them by cheapest read, highest ratings, etc. - so you could argue that we're moving away from monolithic Waterstone's-style charts to 'smart charts' based on user preferences.
I'd be interested to see a chart that uses Amazon whispernet data to tell us which books were read the fastest, most likely to be read in one sitting, and so on.
Scott, the same happened with music, of course - remember The Crazy Frog (ringtone), Gnarls Barkley (download), and The Boxer Rebellion with iTunes charts. I believe downloads are already counted in the States (Victorine Lieske proudly sports her NYT bestsellers banner). There will be all kinds of teething problems, of course, not least to do with ISBNs, that will need to be shaken out in the wash.
What's most interesting is that actually the ebook charts aren't full of the latest releases. They bear very little relation to the paperback or hardback charts - they are driven by other factors like price. And whereas sales of physical books boom then tail-off, ebooks are tending to build steam.
One sure thing is that when integrated charts do come, the indie/self-pub vs traditional pub debates will kick off with some real figures to fight over - and publishers may have a little explaining to do to their writers why Saffina Desforges and Jake Barton are outselling their new releases.
You are aware that the NYT has had an e-books bestseller and a combined bestseller list since February, right?
Yes, Anon, but that is not much use to us in the UK.
Like most branches of society the publishing world is far behind the times. EBooks, electronic publishing, blogs or whatever you'd like to refer to them as offer a greater movement of thought that clearly reflects the moment we are living in.
I started writing a blog two months ago to record my last six months in business as a cheese seller in Sussex.
I have not approached a literary agent or publisher but from what I've seen recently in Waterstones my story would stand little chance of being read under the current paper book publishing system. In the same period my blog (the Cheese Seller's Blog) has been visited by about 2,000 people in two months. It's received extensive media coverage in the Sussex press and on BBC Radio.
If I'd sent off this idea to a literary agent I'd have probably never received a response and known any different. And I probably would have put the idea to one side and forgotten about it.
Electronic media offers a real solution to people who want to produce faster content. And of course if the content has any value people will still be reading it in 10 years time.
Anthony Hogan
The Cheese Seller's Blog
WWW.cheesesellersblog.co.uk
All the content of the interesting article doesn't imply a diminishing credit towards e-book pubblications. In fact, such devides are increasingly appreciated, because they meet diverse needs in terms of really updated instruments.