Using e-book stats to shape your marketing

Book marketing is often something of an art, require a certain finesse and creativity to make an impact. However, we can’t deny that it is also a science, and having some facts and figures about the people we are trying to appeal to can be extremely useful when trying to decide how to shape our marketing.

In particular for independent publishers, e-book facts and figures can be very helpful as they form such an important part of our sales. This is why some recent figures from Random House are so interesting; they give us an insight into the kind of people who read e-books, which can be helpful when we’re trying to decide who to aim our books at.

For example, the stats show that while 59% of print readers are women, 63% of e-book readers are women. 60% of e-book readers are under 45. 66% have a degree. 44% of e-book readers are planning to read mystery, suspense or detective fiction within the next month compared with 36% of print readers. The only genre where more people were planning to read a print book rather than an e-book was history. More e-book readers than print readers agreed with the statement that reading is an important part of their lives.

Facts such as this help us to build up a more detailed picture of the kind of people who tend to read e-books and, even though we might not use all of the information when developing a marketing strategy, it is still useful to keep in mind.

You can read more about the Random House findings here.