What We Read: A Profile of Jellybooks, This Company Provides Ebook Reader, Reading Analytics to Publishers

From The NY Times:

“We still know almost nothing about readers, especially in trade publishing,” said Mr. Rhomberg, the founder of Jellybooks, a reader analytics company based in London.
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Mr. Rhomberg’s company is offering publishers the tantalizing prospect of peering over readers’ shoulders. Jellybooks tracks reading behavior the same way Netflix knows what shows you binge-watch and Spotify knows what songs you skip.

Here is how it works: the company gives free e-books to a group of readers, often before publication. Rather than asking readers to write a review, it tells them to click on a link embedded in the e-book that will upload all the information that the device has recorded. The information shows Jellybooks when people read and for how long, how far they get in a book and how quickly they read, among other details. It resembles how Amazon and Apple, by looking at data stored in e-reading devices and apps, can see how often books are opened and how far into a book readers get.

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Jellybooks users consent to having their data tracked in exchange for free books, and must click on a link to send that data to Jellybooks. “It’s absolutely critical to have the user in control, or we face a backlash,” Mr. Rhomberg said at the conference.

Read the Complete Article (about 1000 words)

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Data Files, News, Patrons and Users, Publishing