Episode 4: Drs. Rachel Noorda and Kathi Inman Berens on Book Discovery

The BookSmarts Podcast, with Joshua Tallent

In this episode Joshua speaks with Dr. Rachel Noorda (@rachellynchase), Director of Book Publishing and Assistant Professor in English, and Dr. Kathi Inman Berens (@kathiiberens), Associate Professor of Book Publishing and Digital Humanities, at Portland State University. Rachel and Kathi are the lead researchers on Panorama Project's Immersive Media & Reading Consumer Survey, a survey-based consumer behavior study focused on how book discovery works and how libraries fit into the book discovery ecosystem. This cross-media study included representative samples from across U.S. population demographics and regions, and provides some important insights into how book consumers discover and purchase books.

Book discovery is context-agnostic. People might see a book in a bookstore and buy that book online, or find it in the library and then go buy it in a bookstore. Sales data only shows us part of the picture, and book discovery is much broader than just word of mouth. There is no one formula for discovery, either, because consumers engage many different touch points, including many different kinds of media, in the process of discovering new books. Joshua, Rachel, and Kathi also talked about some of the surprising results from the study around book pirates, who are some of the most prolific book buyers, and how publishers can engage with them.

Listeners of the podcast are encouraged to read the full report, and take advantage of its insights and data as you engage future acquisitions, marketing programs, and more.