At a panel this morning at the Digital Book World conference in New York, publishing CEOs discussed the future of publishing. Across the panel, the executives agreed that the digital world offers publishers better insights into the customer point of view.
Dominique Raccah, CEO/publisher of Sourcebooks, pointed out the benefits of having data and analytics in eBooks. Ellen Archer, president of Hyperion, spoke about the benefits of reader feedback in social networks and community driven storytelling. John Donatich, director of Yale University Press talked about the power of the blogosphere and online communities in responding to and affecting works.
While the new digital world offers publishers and authors a whole new world of interaction with readers than it had in the past, the publishers raise a delicate issue. How much influence should readers have on an author’s work?
Steve Jobs famously hated the concept of market research, because he didn’t think that consumers could imagine the kind of innovative products that Apple was able to dream up. Should authors be responding to market research when imagining stories and books?