Post by Ted on Apr 25, 2012 14:31:10 GMT -8
From Mark's blog:
Can Ebook Data Reveal New Viral Catalysts to Spur Reader Word-of-Mouth?
I analyzed a nine-month chunk of Smashwords sales data, aggregated across multiple Smashwords retailers, to determine if there were potential data-driven metrics that might reveal new viral catalysts that authors can put to work. The data encompassed millions of dollars in book sales for a collection of slightly more than 50,000 books. My study began with a series of questions that I thought could reveal potentially useful answers.
These questions included:
To learn the answers to these questions, I presented Henry House on our technical team with a massive wishlist for data dumps, and then I crunched his numbers in a spreadsheet. Some of the findings were eye-opening and useful, and others were simply fun.
Read the article and see the SlideShare presentation at this link: blog.smashwords.com/2012/04/can-ebook-data-reveal-new-viral.html
Can Ebook Data Reveal New Viral Catalysts to Spur Reader Word-of-Mouth?
I analyzed a nine-month chunk of Smashwords sales data, aggregated across multiple Smashwords retailers, to determine if there were potential data-driven metrics that might reveal new viral catalysts that authors can put to work. The data encompassed millions of dollars in book sales for a collection of slightly more than 50,000 books. My study began with a series of questions that I thought could reveal potentially useful answers.
These questions included:
- Do authors who change prices frequently sell more books?
- If ebooks are immortal, how do sales develop over time?
- How do individual titles develop at a retailer?
- What's the ideal word count for ebooks?
- What word count do romance readers prefer?
- What word count do erotica readers prefer?
- What impact does price have on unit sales?
- How are Smashwords authors pricing their books?
- What are the most common price points?
- What price range earns the author the most money?
- What does the indie ebook sales distribution curve look like?
- What's the optimal price per word?
To learn the answers to these questions, I presented Henry House on our technical team with a massive wishlist for data dumps, and then I crunched his numbers in a spreadsheet. Some of the findings were eye-opening and useful, and others were simply fun.
Read the article and see the SlideShare presentation at this link: blog.smashwords.com/2012/04/can-ebook-data-reveal-new-viral.html