The Future Of The Book Conference

Building a new world publishing business:
Lessons from Stanza
O’Reilly TOC Conference
The Future of the Book Conference
Neelan Choksi
CEO, Lexcycle
neelan@lexcycle.com
twitter: stanza_reader
24 June 2009

Who Am I?
CEO, Lexcycle
Former COO, SpringSource – open source
President and Co-Founder of SolarMetric (acquired by BEA Systems in 2005)
Previous Employers – Exxon, Andersen Consulting, TechTrader, MIT Blackjack Team
External Board Seats – SpringSource, Tasktop
BS from MIT, MS from Stevens Institute of Technology, MBA from Univ. of Chicago Booth

eBooks – Inflection Point
$68 million US Wholesale eBook sales last 4 quarters
* Source: IDPF US Trade Wholesale Electronic Book Sales

Small but Growing Fast…
2008: 0.467% of all books sales were eBooks per the AAP
2008: 0.6% of all books sales were eBooks per Bowker Pub-Track
Q109: 2.4% of all books sales were eBooks per Bowker Pub-Track

The Drivers of the Opportunity

Mainstreaming of e-books
Oprah Effect

Big Name Vendors

New Hardware
Netbooks
Lots of new eReaders

Improved Displays: E Ink

Improved Mobile Displays
Larger touch screens w/ crisp color
OTA, wireless
App Store

Last 6 Months in eBooks
Jan 26 – Classics featured in iPhone TV advertisement
Feb 5 – Google Book Search for iPhone
Feb 9 – Amazon Kindle 2 Launch
Feb 16 – Adobe Reader Mobile SDK 9
Feb 25 – Indigo Shortcovers launched
Feb 27 – Hearst announces plans for eBook reader
Mar 4 – Amazon Kindle for iPhone Launch
Mar 5 – B&N acquires Fictionwise
Mar 17 – Apple iPhone 3.0 O/S announced (eBook examples)
Mar 19 – Sony and Google – 500,000 books
Mar 23 – Borders UK ends iLiad for cheaper e-Book reader
Apr 3 – Lexcycle’s Stanza 1.8 available
Apr 8 – Lexcycle, Adobe, Internet Archive release catalog spec - OPDS
Apr 11 – B&N / Sprint ereader discussions announced
Apr 27 – Amazon acquires Lexcycle
Apr 28 – Rumors of Apple “Media Pad” reported by Business Week
May 6 – Amazon announces Kindle DX
May 13 – Sony announces 3rd party advertising in Sony Reader
May 27 – Interead COOL*ER debuted at BEA
June 1 – E-Ink acquired by Prime View
June 8 – ScrollMotion featured in WWDC keynote

Stanza Overview

iPhone Distinctions
As an eReader:
International reach
Color display
Multi-function device
Built-in wireless
No external light required
App Store – 55000 apps
15% of smart phone market; 50% of web hits

Stanza iPhone & iPod Touch
1.8 million users in 60 countries
Over 8 million books downloaded
100,000+ books available (half free)
Books in 35+ languages
Featured in:
NY Times, Boston Globe
Time “Top 11 iPhone Applications”
Forbes
Wired “10 Most Awesome Apps”
iTunes Top Applications of 2008

Stanza User Customizations
App available in 12 languages
21 fonts options
Wide range of font sizes
135+ font colors
135+ background colors + nearly 30 background textures; choose your own background image
Completely customize layout: alignment, hyphenation language, margins, line spacing, paragraph spacing, paragraph indentation
Adjust behavior: page turn effects, book rotation

Primary Usage
In bed – 31%
Commuting on bus / train – 28%
In waiting areas – 13%
At home – 12%
At work – 5%
At a bar or café or lunch or dinner – 5%
On an airplane – 5%
2 write-ins mentioned “In the bathroom”
Readers enjoy having access to their library at all times in their pocket or handbag

Stanza and Publishers, Retailers, and Distributors

Publisher Promotions
Pan Macmillan Excerpts – first to notice Stanza
Random House Free Titles
Back list of certain authors
Included excerpts for forthcoming books
Harlequin Free Titles
4 free “Minis” in December
16 free titles from each imprint in January
Bloomsbury 24 hour giveaway (UK only)
Circle of Seven Book Trailers

Sources of Free Content
Harlequin
Feedbooks
Project Gutenberg
Munseys
BookGlutton
Random House
Pan Macmillan (excerpts)

Partner with Existing Referral Retail Partners
DRM-enabled – currently only eReader format
Ingram Digital is exclusive distributor for Fictionwise for DRM-enabled eReader titles
DRM-free – EPUB and eReader format support
Books On Board
Fictionwise
Smashwords
All Romance eBooks
O’Reilly Media
Buying patterns representative of print sales

Stanza Bookbinder
Create standalone books applications for sale directly in iTunes App Store
Bookbinder
And more …

Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned - Readers
Its all about the people who are reading!

Lessons Learned - Readers(continued)
Holistic view of the entire experience for a reader:
Not enough to focus just on one piece. Readers expect more.
Search / browse content
Find book
Start Reading
Down-load book
Pur-chase book
Available via partners.

Lessons Learned - Readers(continued)
Moving users from established behaviors takes time and patience
Friction = bad
Immersive reading
The bar is constantly moving up on everything
Reading experience
Purchase experience
Discovery

Publisher Lessons
Calls to action need to be clear and contextual
KISS – make it simple for the user
 Hold your technology providers, conversion houses, and distributors to a higher standard
Keep experimenting – be bold
 Have a budget for marketing e-books
Think about multimedia and enhanced content

Publisher Lessons(continued)
Figure out ways to support your authors better in the electronic world
Websites
Blogs, Twitter, Social Networking, Book Trailers
Understand the technology
Don’t let this just turn into a blockbuster industry:
Find self-service methods and appropriate revenue splits for mid-tier authors
Don’t let “The Shack”s of the future slip away

Author Lessons
Make sure your publishers are making your books available electronically:
Minimum formats: PDF,AZW, EPUB
Don’t leave marketing just for the publishers:
Twitter, Blog, You Tube, Discussions
Be out there

Building a new world publishing business:
Lessons from Stanza
O’Reilly TOC Conference
The Future of the Book Conference
Neelan Choksi
CEO, Lexcycle
neelan@lexcycle.com
twitter: stanza_reader
24 June 2009

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