By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I’m not sure what the grocery shopping is like internationally, but here your data gets tracked if you use loyalty cards. And loyalty cards get you special discounts with the grocer so many of us grudgingly use them.
After checking out, sometimes a small printer at the register prints out coupons that the computer inside thinks you will use. Maybe the coupons are for a similar, competing, item to something you’ve purchased. Maybe it’s for some of the same products you’ve just bought, as a thank-you or to hook you to purchase more the next time you’re there. And then there are puzzling coupons—like the one for an antacid that printed out for me on Saturday. We don’t purchase antacids there. So…was the computer making a judgment regarding the spicy contents of my grocery cart?
This ties into something I’ve been reading a good deal about lately—data collection. Although readers may be dismayed at the idea of any potential data collection by retailers or publishers, it’s definitely already happening. Amazon makes recommendations based on our purchasing histories, for example. If we haven’t unchecked various sharing mechanisms in our Kindles, whenever we highlight a passage, that is public, too.
There was a recent article on Digital Book World by Andrew Rhomberg, “Should Authors and Publishers Spy on Readers?” It mentioned a software application that can be implanted into digital books via EPUB3 to track reader behavior—if the reader reviewed the book, mentioned it on social media, etc. Rhomberg, who is the founder and CEO of startup Jellybooks, calls it “…akin to a Google Analytics for ebooks.”
My husband is in computer security and absolutely loathes the way consumers are being mined for data (obviously, valuable data to these companies and with no compensation to the consumers…and, in my husband’s opinion, at a tremendous cost to personal privacy.) I do see where he is coming from. But—in some ways, data would certainly help. The article mentioned knowing when a reader stopped reading a book. Sure—that could be useful to a writer, moving forward.
Could we get that data, though, just as well in an upfront way? From a reader review? From our beta readers before even publishing the book (surely a more useful, proactive approach)? And isn’t it extremely intrusive to get this information from an unknowing audience…although just as intrusive as data collection from Facebook and other sites? From the computer that decided that I needed an antacid to go with the food in my grocery cart? Although…I know about the data collection at the grocery store–if I choose to, I can avoid shopping there. I gave the store tacit consent to the process by applying for a loyalty card. This other type of data collection is invisible to readers and without their consent. Maybe we wouldn’t be so data-hungry if Amazon would just throw us a sop in regards to purchasing data. What do you think?
Other thoughts, odds and ends:
Wattpad: I’m still enjoying the community here. What’s more, I’ve had readers mention that they’re purchasing my other books (which is the only way I’d know this information). One big thing…it doesn’t pay to be shy on this site. Having our story featured is key to reads on the platform. We don’t have to wait to have Wattpad consider our stories for their featured section. Contact those content specialists if your story fits their requirements (strong plot, minimal spelling/grammatical errors, appealing cover, etc.) For more information on Wattpad’s requirements and for their contact info, visit their help center.
ACX: This audiobook platform for self-publishers remains an excellent, passive income producer for me. I use the royalty share feature so that I sustain no upfront costs. I think it does help get good-quality narrators if we can secure a stipend for the narrators from ACX. The stipends work like advances for the narrators. For this reason, I’ve learned to launch the audiobooks a bit later than the other formats in order to show sales history and reviews to ACX before contacting them about possible narrator stipends. For more information about stipends, visit this help page.
Print copies: Remember to keep some of our self-published books on hand. The author cost to me on CreateSpace is something like $3.50, which is hardly a huge investment. No need for closets-full of books, but maybe at least five of each title if we have a lot of titles. I was caught red-faced at a recent library event when I didn’t have any Myrtle Clover books with me. All I had were lots of Penguin books.
I think these are enough random musings from me this week. :) What are some of yours? Anything you find surprising or interesting that you’ve come across? Anything working for you, promo-wise, lately?
Image: Death to the Stock Photo
I think your fears are well-founded, and like the proverbial can of worms, I’m not sure it’s possible to go back.
Scariest for me so far: If I google search a product, that product shows up at the first ad on the right hand side of my Facebook feed within a couple of hours at most. Every time.
Michael–I hate that too. And I’ve got a similar, cringe-inspiring story. My friend and I were *emailing* about car shopping (on gmail) when my son was getting a car. I started immediately afterward getting banner ads on the top of the gmail page for car dealerships. Nice little computer spiders going through my emails!
Gmail->Google->Facebook
Talk about Big Brother!
Michael–Exactly!
Elizabeth, data collection and making our purchasing history public sounds scary though I don’t see how Amazon or anyone would benefit from my purchasing trends, be it books or other merchandise. In India, we use cash, debit or credit cards at retail stores and in supermarkets. We don’t have loyalty cards, though we do have membership cards that fetches us discounts on the accumulated points. But it’s not a threat in any way. Most times we pick up the phone and order our groceries from the grocery store down the road and pay cash on delivery, which is free. Likewise for the chemist, restaurants and junk food outlets, ice cream parlours, and sweetmeat shops.
Prashant–I would *love* my groceries to be delivered! I’d probably never leave my house. :)
I know a lot of people do wonder how these companies *could* profit from our purchasing histories. The problem could come if Amazon decided to sell our history (both page views for various products or actual purchases) to marketing companies or other businesses so that they could target our business. It’s a little creepy. Not that I have anything against coupons or free shipping deals or sales…but still.
Of course, that data helps us when Amazon recommends our books to those who’ve purchased them in the past or similar titles. But it is a bit unnerving to have all that data collected without our knowing.
Alex–It’s one of those things that has the capacity to be very useful for us…but at what cost?
Elizabeth – I get very concerned about data mining, particularly when the customer doesn’t know his or her data is being saved and used. Lots of companies do it, and in some cases, it’s benign in the sense that it’s used to sell you things, not to hack accounts, etc.. But that data is passed around. And I get worried about who gets it and what’s done with it. And yet I do think that finding out what readers think is important for an author. There are lots of survey tools out there that we could use, and other ways that we could develop that would give us useful data and still ensure the customer knows what we’re doing.
Margot–A good point that even if we don’t mind the company who originally mined the data having our information, we have no control over where that information might be sold farther on down the line.
The way Facebook collects data scares me. And shares it, especially where images are concerned. That’s why I’m very selective what images I post there.
Diane–I’m with you…Facebook has done *nothing* to earn my trust. You’re smart to be careful with those images…especially considering your professional photography.
I find the whole idea of data collection scary, but it’s the way of the world now and we can’t do much about it. It would be so cool, however, to know when a reader stopped reading a book!
Karen–I think that’s a healthy attitude…we can’t seem to do anything to stop it, so why worry with it? It would be nice to know the points in our books where readers hit a wall.
I take my cue from US photography laws. In general, if it’s happening in public, you can take a picture of it.
If a reader stops reading a book on page 123 and the device tells me so, how is the reader harmed when I start buffing up my saggy middles?
If Amazon shows me that mysteries with a thriller aspect sell better than cozies, and they collected that data from millions of readers, how are those readers harmed if more of us start writing more of what they want to read?
Data collection harms no one. Ever.
How it’s used is what matters, and unfortunately, we can only decide how we’ll use the data, we can’t control what anyone else does with it.
Joel–That’s really the trouble…we don’t know how it will be used and can’t consent to its use. That’s what ultimately makes the collection disturbing–it can be used for something useful to consumers at one point, then maybe passed on down the line for something else. Definitely a different world we’re navigating.
Privacy?
Sorry. I snorted a little there.
We kill submarines not by listening for them. We kill submarines by finding the hole in the water and killing that.
Blank Reg? He’s the guy I’m interested in. He’s the guy I want to eyeball.
Your cat food buying habits are not terribly interesting. It’s a hide in plain sight sort of thing.
Jack–Oh, my grocery habits are revoltingly boring. I rarely even stray off my list because I don’t shop hungry. But there was, for you and me and the other mystery writers out there, something interesting that happened not long ago in the news. An insurance company was trying not to pay a claim for an accident and apparently they were able to obtain the loyalty card info of the customer–showing regular and large purchases of alcohol. To them, the heavy drinking proved their point. So something maybe we could play around with in fiction.
Elizabeth–and very good random musings they are, thank you.
I no longer think anything action I might take will do much to improve or salvage my privacy. When I got my Kindle, I did take steps to keep it clear of ads. But I’m convinced Amazon knows what I buy, and uses it to send me email ads.
As for its being useful to know when readers stop reading, I don’t see that. I read several things at once, and my favorite ebook is bedside reading. I am saving it, reading only a few pages a night. Anyone interpreting this to mean I didn’t like Christopher Hitchens’ memoir, Hitch 22 would be all wrong.
Barry–I know what you mean. Amazon knows a good deal about what I buy since I’m a Prime customer and definitely am a heavy user of the site. And such a good point…you’re savoring the book, not disinterested in it. Which just goes to show that data frequently doesn’t reveal the entire picture.
Correction: make that “any action I might take.”
It’s a little scary when you start thinking how much of our activity is tracked and recorded. Glad we have a choice in some cases, but I prefer to know when I’m being used
Jemi–Me too. Would be even better if we could be paid for it. :)
I haven’t seen it pointed out yet that Jellybooks is testing this technology for advanced reader copies only to provide authors and publishers some advanced data. The readers opt in to the program and receive the free copy of the book and invites to future ARC’s for providing the data by clicking on a link at the end of the book. It is a very cool use of some features available in the epub 3 format but it is not supported by many vendor platforms yet and may never be.
Amazon and all other companies that have their own ebook reader application have this data already. Kobo has started sharing some insights from this data in special reports that received a lot of press recently. Scribd shares some of the data directly to authors. Personally I feel like getting more data in the hands of authors is a great idea.
Dan–That’s an important point. And I hope I’m not seeming to beat up on Jellybooks. Providing writers with more data is admirable. But, honestly, some of the data I don’t think I’d do much with…particularly the more intrusive data we’re talking about.
I’d rather test-market privately and with betas. Getting that info with an already published book and turned off readers means that I’ve not made a good decision about the book’s readiness for the market.
I’m wondering if the other collected reader data would really benefit me. I’d likely find it interesting…how many read during commuting hours, how many read late at night. How many read in short stretches, how many read in longer stretches. How fast they read. Do they skip to the end? But how can this directly impact my business and my writing? I already suspect that many people are squeezing reading into dead time–likely on phones. So I write shorter chapters. Lots of dialogue. Fewer long descriptions. That’s about as far as I can go with that data.
Some of the data I need is stuff that I *could* collect and analyze if I had more time. It would be nice to have it in a neat package for me. When I changed the price, how did that affect sales? And how quickly did readers respond to the price change? How long did the new price point help me and when should I change a sale price? This is info I could collect if I had more hours in my day. This would really help me out and wouldn’t be intrusive to readers.
I’d like to get a projected dollar figure on any sales period that I click on in terms of my sales dashboard. On the Amazon site, why must I go to three different web pages to see my audio, print, and ebook sales? This info would save me time.
As a commercial writer, knowing what the top selling genres were would help me if I had the interest in branching out to other genres. I’d like to know how many readers read on various e-reading devices. How many shop at bookstores or read my books at libraries. I know my own reader demographics because of personal contact over years…but it would be great to get reader demographics immediately for market targeting. And yes, mining that bit of data could be considered intrusive.
I think the real trick for any startup and anyone working with authors is turning information in to actionable data. My guess is that needs for this data are going to vary by person and by genre. I appreciate the discussion of privacy and I hope that all entities that are currently gathering data are open about it, so their customers can make that choice for themselves. I think those parties should share that data with authors to make use of as they see fit. I don’t think most people are that concerned about their data and give it away freely in exchange for free or convenient services.
Dan–You hit it…actionable data. Maybe we writers even *have* some of the data available that we want, but it needs to be scooped up and put in easily digestible bites for all of us English majors. :)
I agree that most people aren’t concerned in the least about their data. I hope they’ll soon realize it could mean a slippery slope in the future.
Great thoughts. I have a terrible habit of leaving all my books at home and then mention them to someone and hope they have a smart phone so they can look it up right there. Definitely not the best practice.
Audio books… My publisher has been toying with that one for a while and I need to get to it, but wow. The time and investment of branching into a new realm…
Crystal–Somehow, print is easy to forget about. :)
If you have the rights to audio (which I only have for my self-pubbed, not my trad-pubbed)…honestly, it’s so much less of a time investment than you’d think. Here is the first post I wrote about ACX, if that helps at all.
Thanks Elizabeth for the post. I’m going to check out these links today. Never heard of Wattpad and I’ve been thinking a lot of audio books for the Chase Manhattan series.
Stephen–Good luck with it! Thanks for coming by.
I really need to look into some of these other systems. The audiobooks and the other locations. it just all seems to overwhelming.
As for data… I am a data geek by day, so there is a side of me that loves this, but I am also enough of a nut that I try to do some contrary things so I keep them guessing…
Hart–The Wattpad would be especially easy for you because you already have a serial.
I like that you’re messing up the data coming from your direction. :)