January 29, 2010
BTB #149: Bringing Data to the Debate on E-book ‘Piracy’
As e-readers and e-books gather momentum in the early days of 2010, some book publishers find themselves on the horns of a marketing dilemma. Do they join the new e-book club to capture sales, or do they stand back to keep their content safe from online “pirates”?
In a conversation with Chris Kenneally at the recent Digital Book World in New York, media industry consultant Brian O’Leary discussed his firm’s research on the effect on sales when a title finds its way into an unsanctioned online market. The findings – a significant jump in sales – have surprised many in the business.
“When people hear what we have to say, [they think] I might be saying … I don’t worry about piracy when in fact, what I’m saying is, I don’t worry about piracy that helps sell more books,” O’Leary stressed. “I just don’t know the difference between the piracy that hurts, and the piracy that helps,until we study it.”
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:01 am
[...] Book had a conversation with Brian O’Leary at Digital Book World about piracy. You can find a transcript of the conversation here. In a conversation with Chris Kenneally at the recent Digital Book World in New York, media [...]