Article Note: Looking at the Immersive Media and Books 2020 Report

This article looks at and summarizes findings from the Immersive Media and Books 2020 report done by Panorama Project. You can find the full report here. At the link you can download the full report to read, and they also offer a webinar on it you can watch. The big takeaway from the report is that books are not in a vacuum; they exist within a connected media ecosystem that can include television, the Internet, games, etc. The report looks at consumer behavior related to books and that media ecosystem before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (the pandemic that as of this writing is still ongoing). I am writing down some of the key ideas from the article and adding a bit of my commentary here or there. 

• Definition of book engagement: "...buying, borrowing, subscribing to, reading or gifting a printed book, an ebook, or audiobook in part or in whole" (228). In the survey, participants were then asked how many books they engaged with rather than how many books they read (which is what other surveys such as Pew Research does). This can account for more than just people who read books or buy books. This can account for people who do things like check books out of the library that they may or not read. I am sure some readers out there who use libraries have done that, check out a book they returned unread. No shame in that. It also accounts for other behaviors such as buying books as gifts. 
• Survey sample size was 4,314. Data was collected from September to November 2020.
• Word of mouth discovery is a highlight of the report. This includes learning about books via family, friends, and social media. Not one form of discovery predominates; they are widely distributed. 
• Report found people may not be very aware of the role of algorithms in book discovery, for example in social media spaces (based on how people curate their social media) and in places like Amazon where the algorithm is used to target ads and sale suggestions (and this is something people cannot opt out). For me, a lot of my social media is curated in terms of books and reading, especially Twitter and my RSS reader where I follow authors, book publishers, and other reader's advisory resources.
  
• Author brand plays a role in book discovery and purchasing. People cite favorite authors and author events as ways of discovering new books. I'll say that may not be as much for me. While I have some favorite authors, I do not always try to read everything a favorite author puts out. I tend to like a bit more variety, so I wander around in seeking out new books to read. Personally, I don't really fit this because I mostly discover new things to read via social media, as I noted above. I also discover new books to read via tools and sites like NetGalley and Edelweiss Plus, plus I am a strong library user, both my local public library and the academic library I work at. Being a professional librarian means I also have access to things like publisher catalogs. So I am very aware that I am a bit different than the average survey participants. 
• Definition of avid book engagers from the report: "...respondents who 'engaged' with 4 or more books per month (in any format: ebook, audiobook, or print book)" (231).
• Why diversity matters and publishers need to pay more attention: "Young ethnically diverse respondents (especially Black and LatinX millennials) are avidly buying, borrowing, and subscribing to books. The book industry has long underestimated Black, LatinX and millennial book engagers as desirable target audiences. These are consumers to watch going forward" (232-233). I'd say the publishing industry still underestimates them. 
• Yes, libraries DO drive book sales (no matter what grouchy and greedy book publishers would have you believe): "35.9% of respondents bough a book online that they found in a library. 31.1% of respondents bought a book in a bookstore that they first found in a library" (234). 
• The concept of cross-media discovery: "Cross-media discovery (discovering books through video games or TV/movies and vice versa) is high amongst survey respondents, suggesting that audiences are already accustomed to traversing media to pursue stories and worlds they enjoy; there is likely more opportunity for cross-media collaboration" (235). I would say I do not discover much to read via video games, since I play so little video games if ever. I may discover something to read from television or movies, but that is pretty rare too. One way I discover books to read from television is via documentaries and similar programs. If the program on a topic I am interested in features an expert, and that expert has written a book, I am likely to search out the book and decide if I want to read it down the road or not. 
• Piracy may be a problem, but it is also a matter for publishers to demonstrate value of buying their products. "Musicians have adapted to the reality of piracy by putting more of a premium on things that are harder to pirate, such as fan merchandise and live concerts. The public's demand for printed books suggests that authors won't have to shift their revenue streams as extremely as did musicians. But publishers will have to make sure the value proposition of buying a printed book more evident to young people habituated to leasing access to entertainment" (236). 
• However, for all the griping certain segments make about online pirates, the issue is not black and white as those certain segments would have you believe: "book pirates are not only thieves but also customers, library patrons, fanfiction readers/writers, and more. Compared to the general survey population, a higher percentage of book pirates during COVID are buying more books (38.7%), audiobooks (27.1%) and print books (33.7%). . ." (236). 
• "The data show that book pirates are avid readers who will buy books when the value proposition is clear to them; for example, pirates are much more likely than the general survey population to buy books in multiple formats (41.5%)" (236). 
• "This disrupts the usual absolute perspective-- pirate or not pirate-- with a more nuanced understanding and spectrum of piracy behavior" (236). This is a bit of why I am not too critical of pirates as some other folks out there are. Also if you make things harder in terms of ability to purchase a book (or another item), from what I have seen, the more likely said items will be pirated. 
• Key finding about libraries: "The most important finding is that library borrowing encourages book sales. Immersive Media & Books 2020 finds that libraries, bookstores, and online channels mutually reinforce each other, leading to engagement and sales in other channels" (237, emphasis in original). We need to say this louder for the greedy asshat publisher moguls in the back who keep making things difficult for libraries to acquire books, especially ebooks, for their communities. 
• Furthermore, "the report found that library borrowing does not preclude or discourage respondents from buying books; on the contrary, a greater percentage of library card holders said they were buying more books during COVID than the general survey population, in every format" (237). 

 

Citation for the article: 

Rachel Noorda and Kathi Inman Berens, "Immersive Media and Books 2020: New Insights About Book Pirates, Libraries and Discovery, Millennials, and Cross-Media Engagement: Before and During COVID." Publishing Research Quarterly 37 (2021): 227-240.