Data Analytics Powers ‘Next Big Book’

A book publishing industry transformed by the entry of digital behemoths like Amazon.com is embarking on a new strategy that seeks to use data analytics perfected by the music industry as a way to fine tune the marketing of books in the big data era.

Macmillan Publishers announced a deal this week with the analytics company Next Big Sound to launch a business intelligence dashboard called Next Big Book. The data analytics tools behind the music industry dashboard will be applied to a publishing industry that is rapidly shifting to electronic books and multimedia content.

In announcing the deal, Next Big Book CEO and co-founder Alexander White said, “We have long recognized that the data sources we track and the fragmented way consumers interact with and purchase media is not unique to the music industry.”

The partners said the publishing tool would draw on sales, publicity (presumably including book reviews), events like book readings, social media, and Web trend data to compile a “holistic view of a book’s trajectory in the marketplace.”

Macmillan said it would make data generated by the Next Big Book tool available to all its authors and agents. Unlike most publishers that maintain a tight grip on sales figures, it appears that the partners will break with tradition and release data on daily and weekly physical and e-book sales from all major retailers.

The new dashboard will also include data on social media activity from sources including Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads. It will also provide data scoured from e-mail campaigns, web traffic and even Wikipedia.

Macmillian and Next Big Sound added that they plan to expand the publishing dashboard to include data sets covering marketing and publicity, geographical data on e-book sales and retailer information.

In a statement, Fritz Foy, Macmillan’s executive vice president of digital publishing and strategic technology, said: “Macmillan has struggled for years with a feast of available data but no thorough way of transforming it into actionable events for publishers and marketers.” The partnership with Next Big Sound “brings to us the ability to turn information into insights.”

Amazon has reportedly developed a similar dashboard that provides booksellers with detailed data on book sales through the giant online retailer. Next Big Sound seeks to extend this model by including sales data information via social media and other online sources.

Next Big Sound was launched in 2009 to measure daily consumption patterns and music purchasing decisions. The platform pulled together social and transactional data into a central clearinghouse. The company claims the music version of its platform is currently used by thousands of bands and managers as well as music labels and distributors.

As part of its effort to bring data analytics to the publishing industry, Next Big Sound said it has so far raised $7.5 million in venture capital funding.

White told the New York Times: “If we can accurately measure where people are spending their time and attention, we can better forecast where they will spend their money.

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