Whoa, lots of thoughts and ideas prompted by Martyn Daniels’ blog post Create Digital First.
Martyn Daniels
It’s the consumer perception that really counts; after all they pay at the end of the day. Do we know or understand their perceptions on digital pricing, or do we assume we know their views? The UK’s Book Marketing company, have stared to extend their highly respected services to cover digital consumer trends, but is it enough, and are we all contributing, listening and responding to any findings?
First thought is that if an Australian digital publishing taskforce is looking for project to take on this would be one of them. It was pretty clear from our first meeting that publishers are a competitive lot (as they should be) and keep their projects and intel under tight wraps until they’re ready to go public. But market research about consumer perceptions and expectations is data from which we can all benefit. It would be an expensive burden on any one company but might go better as a shared resource.
Kate Eltham is a writer and creative industries professional based in Brisbane, Australia. She is Chief Executive Officer of 
kate.eltham {at} gmail.com
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
3 Comments in Response to Kate Eltham #1
Hiya Kate
In my experience, given compelling evidence from market researchers, publishers still don’t act. Why? They simply aren’t receptive to change so no matter what you tell them about their customer they do nothing.
If publishers were receptive to consumer research surely they would have taken advantage of the heaps of data about consumer habits on the web. Most publishers’ websites still suck. And that data is out there for free…
But that is the past. i am optimistic publishers will become more attentive soon; however, the fact that the distribution business essentially adds no value to the publishers’ content and is not something consumers want to pay for is something publishers are still loathe to hear. “Your content is too expensive” won’t penetrate either from a paid research firm of from a guy on the street. Sad.
Hi Mark, I guess there has been little compelling publishers to change until the last decade or even half-decade because the supply chain had such a long period of relative stability (compared to other manufacturer-retail industries, such as consumer electronics or even groceries for example)
I do agree with you about most publisher websites, with the exceptions of those who have seen the advanages of deep niches like eharlequin.com or tor.com, although if I was a publisher today I’d be throwing more resources behind my authors’ sites and making my content respond well to search. My corporate website would be a lower priority.