Panorama Project Meeting at ALA Annual Draws Another Large Crowd

We drew another large crowd at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Washington, DC on June 23 for our one-hour session “Update from The Panorama Project: Addressing the Challenges for Library Digital Book Lending.”

Steve Potash, founder and CEO of Rakuten OverDrive, welcomed the 65-plus attendees and provided some background on the ideas and concerns that led to the creation of the Panorama Project over a year ago.

Sari Feldman (Executive Director, Cuyahoga County Library and former ALA President) delivered an update on critical issues regarding digital library lending, including recent changes in terms for digital use from two publishers. Sari called for all librarians to join the effort to gather and share data to show that “libraries build readership.”

Alexis Petric-Black (Senior Manager, Publisher Relations, Rakuten OverDrive) introduced Panorama Picks—our recently launched program that uses library demand data to reveal opportunities for booksellers, publishers, authors and libraries.

Sharon Bruni (Associate Director of Public Services, Mt. Lebanon Public Library) then presented the initial findings from the Project’s recent survey of Readers’ Advisory activities (see the session slides for details). The survey findings demonstrate the variety, volume and impact of library Readers’ Advisory activities on book/author discovery, brand development and sales.

Becky Spratford (librarian and founder of RA for All) closed the session with tips on how libraries can address the online and social media promotion opportunities surfaced in the initial survey results. Click here to read Becky’s blog post summarizing her talk. The post also includes lots of helpful links.

Click here to view and download the session slides.

The Second Edition of Our Directory of Readers’ Advisory Activities is Now Available

We’re delighted to announce that the second edition of the Project’s Directory of Readers’ Advisory Activities is now available—online and as a downloadable PDF. This revised version of the Directory includes a new appendix on Listeners' Advisory as well as a significant update of the Librarian Networking and Training appendix.

The Directory is the work of the Project’s Readers’ Advisory Impact Committee (RAIC)—a group of over 40 librarians and industry professional convened in fall 2018 by the Panorama Project to research and document the wide variety of Readers’ Advisory services, activities, and title recommendations provided by public libraries and librarians. The committee invites readers to share their feedback on the Directory and submit additional activities, examples and useful links.

The committee is currently analyzing the 400-plus responses it received from its recent survey of public libraries on their Readers’ Advisory activities and will issue a report later this summer.

Learn more about the Panorama Project Reader’s Advisory Impact Committee.

Join Us at ALA Annual for an Update on Current Challenges for Library Digital Lending and a First Look at the Findings from our Readers Advisory Survey

The Panorama Project is hosting a session at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, June 23, from 1:00 - 2:00 PM (Room 152A at the Washington Conference Center). 

• Sari Feldman (Executive Director, Cuyahoga County Library and former ALA President) will provide an update on issues regarding digital library lending.

• Sharon Bruni (Associate Director of Public Services, Mt. Lebanon Public Library) will present the initial findings from the Project’s recent survey of Readers’ Advisory activities.

• Becky Spratford (librarian and founder of RA for All) will present tips on how libraries can address the online and social media promotion opportunities surfaced in the initial survey results.

• Alexis Petric-Black (Senior Manager, Publisher Relations, Rakuten OverDrive) will present Panorama Picks, our recently launched program that uses library demand data to reveal opportunities for booksellers, publishers, authors and libraries.

It’s a packed session that will engage, inform and delight. We hope to see you there!

Our Book Expo 2019 Session on Readers’ Advisory and Panorama Picks Drew a Crowd

Over 175 people joined us at Book Expo 2019 in New York for our session, Learn How Public Libraries Impact Title/Author Discovery and Book Sales: Data-Driven Insights from the Panorama Project. It was an engaged audience of booksellers, vendors, publishers and librarians and we received positive reviews afterward.

Bill Kelly (Adult Programming Manager, Cuyahoga County Public Library) provided an update on the breadth of U.S. public libraries and how CCPL drives sales at its author events. In 2018 over 11,000 books were sold at 93 events—by the library and its independent bookselling partner, Mac’s Backs.

Alexis Petric-Black (Senior Publisher Relations Manager, Rakuten OverDrive) introduced Panorama Picks, our new program that reveals unmet demand for books and sales opportunities for booksellers. The program provides a series of regional lists of titles compiled from the wait lists for ebooks at local libraries. The initial lists are available now. Updated lists will be published on a quarterly basis. Click here to learn more and sign-up to be notified when new lists are published.

Book Expo panel members Cliff Guren, Bill Kelly, Alexis Petric-Black and Skip Dye

Skip Dye (VP of Library Marketing and Digital Sales and VP of Sales Operations, Penguin Random House) closed the session with insights on how PRH works with libraries to launch new authors and titles. With the longhand belief that library patrons are key influencers, PRH actively markets to library readers, in the library, in the library’s online platforms, and on a variety of social media sites. Skip is also a big believer in the power of print promotion in libraries: he noted that he’s often surprised how long the posters they distribute to libraries stay on the walls!

Click here to view and download the session slides.

Panorama Picks is Live!

Today we are introducing a new program called Panorama Picks that reveals unmet demand for books and sales opportunities for booksellers. Panorama Picks is based on demand for books that readers are waiting to borrow from the nation’s public libraries. The program provides a series of regional lists of titles compiled from the wait lists for ebooks at local libraries. The lists will be updated on a quarterly basis.

The Panorama Picks lists also provide valuable insights to publishers and authors. We expect that the data will be used to uncover trends—demand data from the library can be a leading indicator of the next hot genre or subcategory that booksellers, publishers and authors can leverage. The lists can tell a story and we’re excited to make them available.

Visit the Panorama Picks webpage to learn more, sign-up to be notified when new lists are available, take our short survey on the program and share your feedback. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on Panorama Picks!

Learn How Public Libraries Impact Title/Author Discovery and Book Sales

The Panorama Project is hosting an educational session at Book Expo in New York on Wednesday, May 29, from 3:00 - 3:45 PM (Room 1E10 at the Javits Center). The session will provide valuable data and insights on the ways that public libraries impact title/author discovery and retail sales. Here’s the session description:

Learn How Public Libraries Impact Title/Author Discovery and Book Sales: Data-Driven Insights from the Panorama Project

The Panorama Project is the only cross-industry research project studying the impact of 17,000 U.S. public libraries on title/author discovery and retail sales. The project is using real world data and analytics to provide insights into how libraries affect retail sales. Learn the many ways that libraries promote new authors and connect readers with new titles—and how these activities translate to sales. Hear how Penguin Random House uses libraries to develop audiences for its authors and launch new titles. Publishers and booksellers will leave this session with actionable ideas on to use libraries to connect with book borrowers and buyers.

Speakers:

• Cliff Guren, Project Lead, Panorama Project

• William Kelly, Adult Programming Manager, Cuyahoga County Public Library

• Skip Dye, VP of Library Marketing and Digital Sales and VP of Sales Operations, Penguin Random House

We hope to see you at the session!

Our Readers’ Advisory Activities Survey is Live: Please Participate!

The Readers’ Advisory Impact Committee’s survey of Readers’ Advisory activities is live. The survey is open to all U.S. public libraries and public librarians. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete. The committee will be collecting responses through May 21.

The committee created this survey as part of its ongoing effort to catalog and measure the impact of public library Readers' Advisory activities—including activities that take place onsite and online. 

The committee is also updating its recently published Directory of Readers’ Advisory Activities with new activities, additional examples and more information on relevant Readers’ Advisory resources for practitioners.

We need your help:

• Please take the survey now

• Please help us promote the survey. Share this link with the public librarians in your network: http://bit.ly/ra_survey

Every response counts! Thank you…

The directory and survey are the first steps in the Panorama Project’s effort to document and measure the impact of public library readers’ advisory activities on title/author discovery and retail sales.

The project will publish its survey findings this summer.

For more information on the survey contact raic@panoramaproject.org

Community Reading Event Report Update

Last November we published our Community Reading Event Impact Report which presented our findings on the impact of the April 2018 Big Library Reads event on the sales of first-time author Jennifer McGaha’s Flat Broke with Two Goats (Sourcebooks, 2018). The report tracked sales of the book from its publication in January through May 2018. This post provides additional insight on the impact of the campaign over the remainder of 2018. The update is based on sales and marketing data generously provided by Sourcebooks.

While print and ebook sales declined following the community reading event in early April and Sourcebooks’ social media campaign in late April/early May, the publisher reported that the rate of decline was slower than usual for similar titles. Sales in June, July, and early August remained close to the pre-campaign sales levels the title established in March.

In addition, the strong sales that the title enjoyed during the community reading event generated enough sustained interest to warrant two special ebook promotions--one in July and one in November. These promotions clearly impacted ebook sales (as seen below), but also correspond to increases in print sales during the same time periods.

The July promotion drove sales volumes close to the peak volumes established during the community reading event. The November promotion drove another substantial lift. (Note that December ebook sales numbers were not available for this update.) Post-campaign ebook sales (May through November) stayed above pre-campaign levels.

We will be conducting additional community reading event studies throughout 2019.