In the past, publishers and authors had no way of knowing what happens when a reader sits down with a book. Does the reader quit after three pages, or finish it in a single sitting? Do most readers skip over the introduction, or read it closely, underlining passages and scrawling notes in the margins? Now, e-books are providing a glimpse into the story behind the sales figures, revealing not only how many people buy particular books, but how intensely they read them.
For centuries, reading has largely been a solitary and private act, an intimate exchange between the reader and the words on the page. But the rise of digital books has prompted a profound shift in the way we read, transforming the activity into something measurable and quasi-public.
And we all know how that worked out for the Web.
I literally just came back from a talk where this was mentioned; she told a story about how publishers are reacting to this info by saying stuff like, “Let’s put a cool video in the part where people got bored!” instead of saying stuff like, “Let’s make that part not suck so much.”
(Source: abbyjean)
