Moneyball For Books? Next Big Sound And Macmillan To Try

Last spring, FORBES published a magazine piece called “Moneyball For Music,” positing that the recording industry was on the verge of a statistical revolution on par with baseball’s sabermetric sea change.

“Data has transformed industries before,” said Alex White, cofounder of the well-funded startup Next Big Sound that sits at the heart of the movement. “Music’s the next one.”

Now, Macmillan Publishers—one of the book industry’s Big Five—is betting that publishing is on deck. The company annou...