Keynote presentation by Otis Chandler, CEO and co-founder of Goodreads at the 2012 Audio Publishers Conference at BEA. Includes survey results of audiobook listeners on Goodreads, case studies of how books are discovered and key ways people discover books online.

1. Discovering Audiobooks and Books Online

2. What is Goodreads?
Goodreads is the largest site for readers and book
recommendations in the world.
9 million readers
Social Network
Recommendations
Reviews
Shelves
Book Clubs
A Comscore April US top ten social network.

3. Goodreads’ mission is
Discovery
To help people find books - and
audiobooks - they love and share
them with friends.

4. Deep Reading Data
200 million
315 million books shelved,
growing at 17 million a month
150 million
110 million
100 million
64 million
50 million
0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

5. Goodreads members review lots of audiobooks!
1.1 million audiobooks shelved*
450,000 audiobooks on to-read shelves
72,000 reviews of audiobook editions
* Most members on Goodreads don’t pay attention to the edition when shelving
books, so the true number is likely much larger.

6. Goodreads Has Higher Percentage of
Audiobook Listeners
Q: How many audiobooks have you listened to in the past 12 months?
30%
23% 24%
15% 17%
12%
US Market
Goodreads Members
8%
6%
0%
1-3 Audiobooks 4+ Audiobooks
Source of US data: 2010 Audio Publishers Association Consumer Study

7. photo by ShutterRunner
6,000,000
books marked as to-read each month
books in the Chicago Public Library’s collection

8. photo by o5com
Every second...

9. photo by o5com
Every second... 2 books are discovered
on Goodreads

10. We did a deep analysis of the books being
discovered each month.

11. The Long Tail of To-Read Books
16,000
16,000
Top 40 books: 5%
12,000
14,000
Added to to-read
12,000
8,000
Added to to-read
10,000
4,000
8,000
0
6,000 10 20 30 40
391,031 unique titles
4,000
Top 5,000 books: 56% (99% not shown)
2,000
0
1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5000

12. What we really want to know
How did they find those books?

13. 19% During Registration
The average engaged reader adds
over 30 books to their to-read
shelf during registration.

15. Registration flow is focused on popular books
0.2
Books added to to-read
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
Popularity of book

16. 19% from search
People searching for a book on
Goodreads, and adding it to to-read.

17. Hey, you have to read
Ready Player One!
Conversation, email, tweet, FB post, IM, blog post, pin, check-in, comment...

18. Search has the long tail
0.2
Books added to to-read
0.15
Search 0.1
0.05
0
100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
Popularity of book
0.2
Books added to to-read
0.15
Registration 0.1
Flow
0.05
0
100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
Popularity of book

19. 13% from recommendations
Launched in September 2011, our
recommendation engine analyzes 20 billion
data points to deliver personalized
recommendations to each reader.

20. If you liked these books, thousands of other readers
liked these similar books…

21. Goodreads Recommendations designed to hit
mid-list sweet spot
0.2
Books added to to-read
0.15
Goodreads 0.1
Recommendations
0.05
0
100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
Popularity of book
0.2
Books added to to-read
0.15
Registration 0.1
Flow
0.05
0
100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
Popularity of book

22. How it increases discovery of books
400
50% found this book via
350
Goodreads recommendations
300
Users who added the book
250
200 90-100 people added per day
150
Published in 2004
100
10-20 people added per day
50
0
2011-02-19 2011-04-10 2011-05-30 2011-07-19 2011-09-07 2011-10-27 2011-12-16 2012-02-04

23. Lists & Genre Browsing
• Account for combined 16% of discovery.
• Lists are focused on popular & mid-list titles.
• Power users will put your book on the right lists, driving
lots more discovery.
Popularity of Listopia books discovered
0.2
Books added to to-read
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
Popularity of book

24. 2% from giveaways*
In May 2012, we ran 1,658
giveaways and shipped 22,702
copies. 621,355 giveaway entries.
* Actual discovery from giveaways is not well tracked

25. Giveaways are all about new titles
0.35
0.3
0.25
Books added to to-read
0.2
Giveaways 0.15
0.1
0.05
0
100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
Popularity of book
0.2
Books added to to-read
0.15
Registration 0.1
Flow
0.05
0
100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
Popularity of book

26. How giveaways drive discovery for new audiobooks
Game of Thrones
Audio Giveaway
Case Study
More than 400 total audiobooks
40 added during the giveaway
30
20
10
0
March April May

27. Bringing Up Bébé
Audio Giveaway
Case Study
More than 1000 audiobooks
80 added since the giveaway began
60
40
20
0
March April May

28. People discover books in diverse ways
Giveaways
2%
Other
7%
Mobile Search
6% 19%
Lists
7%
Author & Series
8% Registration
19%
Genre
Browsing
9%
Friend Recommendation
Updates Engine
9% 13%

29. Goodreads Drives Book Discovery on Facebook
• Currently seeing 10 million books shared per month.
• Generating 220 million impressions per month!!!
Monthly Actives
have grown 440%
since January!

30. Anatomy of Book Discovery

31. Anatomy of Book Discovery

32. Anatomy of Book Discovery
450
400
350
People who added book to "to-read"
300
250
200
150
100 26 reviews
Giveaways
50
15 reviews
0
10/17/11 11/6/11 12/1/11 12/16/11 1/8/12 1/31/12 2/14/12 2/27/12 3/12/12 3/26/12 4/9/12 4/23/12

33. Anatomy of Book Discovery
450
400
350
People who added book to "to-read"
300
NPR Fresh Air
Ads + Sponsored Poll
Movers & Shakers
250
Rate Books Page
200
Published
150
Other
100
50
Friends
Search
0
3/1/12 3/8/12 3/15/12 3/22/12 3/29/12 4/5/12 4/12/12 4/19/12 4/26/12

34. 50000
Fifty Shades of Grey
The Origins of a
Publishing Phenomenon
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
Jul 2011 Nov 2011 Mar 2012

35. 50000
Fifty Shades of Grey
The Origins of a
Publishing Phenomenon
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
Jul 2011 Nov 2011 Mar 2012

36. 50000
Fifty Shades of Grey
The Origins of a
Publishing Phenomenon
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
Jul 2011 Nov 2011 Mar 2012

37. 50000
Fifty Shades of Grey
40000 The Origins of a
Publishing Phenomenon
30000
20000
“So how did an obscure BDSM novel, which Publisher's
Weekly confirmed began as "Twilight" fan fiction, become a
phenomenon? At least part of the explanation can be found
10000
in the social network for book worms, Goodreads.”
0
Jul 2011 Nov 2011 Mar 2012

38. 50000
Fifty Shades of Grey
40000 The Origins of a
Publishing Phenomenon
30000
20000
10000
0
Jul 2011 Nov 2011 Mar 2012

39. November 3: Fifty Shades
nominated for Goodreads
Choice Award in Romance,
2500+ people add the book
3000
2250
Books Added
More than 4500 members, More than 2400 members,
500+ add the book in one day
1500 500+ add the book in one day,
600 the next
July 3: Romance Readers
October 6: Erotic Enchants
June 20: Publication Reading Challenges starts
starts reading Fifty Shades
reading Fifty Shades
750
0 Arp 2011 July 2011 Oct 2011

40. 20,000 book clubs on Goodreads
4,853 members

41. Tips To Leverage Book Clubs on Goodreads
1. Follow groups in your genre
2. Author chats are popular in many groups
(E.L. James participated in a chat with a group in January)
3. Follow the group rules and don’t spam
4. Befriend the moderator

42. The Mini-Oprahs: Tastemakers of Fantasy & Sci-Fi
200
May 28: Vaginal Fantasy
150 Hangout (3500+ members)
Books Added
begins reading Kushiel’s Dart
100
50
Originally Published: 2003
0 Mar 1 Mar 15 Apr 1 Apr 15 May 1 May 15
200
150
Books Added
May 25: Sword & Laser (9300+
100 members) announces they’ll
read Tigana next
50
Originally Published: 1990 0 Mar 1 Mar 15 Apr 1 Apr 15 May 1 May 15

43. Goodreads Audiobook Listeners Survey
• Conducted online survey in May
2012
• Goodreads members only
• 2,563 respondents
–Of these, 1,041 (40%) had
listened to at least one
audiobook in the past 12
months

44. Goodreads Has Higher Percentage of
Audiobook Listeners
Q: How many audiobooks have you listened to in the past 12 months?
30%
23% 24%
15% 17%
12%
US Market
Goodreads Members
8%
6%
0%
1-3 Audiobooks 4+ Audiobooks
Source of US data: 2010 Audio Publishers Association Consumer Study

45. Goodreads Has Some Really Avid
Audiobook Listeners!
Frequent Audiobook Listeners (4 or more per year)
7.00%
5.25%
3.50%
Goodreads Members
1.75%
0%
4-6 7-8 9-12 13+

46. Different Listening Patterns Across
Age Groups on Goodreads
30% •55+ listen to the most audiobooks
•35 – 44 year olds also avid listeners
•25 – 34 year olds the largest casual
listener group
23%
1-3 Audiobooks
4-6 Audiobooks
7-8 Audiobooks
15% 9-12 Audiobooks
13+ Audiobooks
8%
0%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+

47. Favorite Audiobook Genres for
Goodreads Members
Q: Which of the following genres do you tend to listen to in audiobook format?

48. Do You Often Find Books/Audiobooks
from the Following Sources?
Goodreads Print & Ebook Readers Goodreads Audiobook Listeners

49. Do You Often Find Books/Audiobooks
from the Following Sources?
Goodreads Print & Ebook Readers Goodreads Audiobook Listeners

50. Do You Often Find Books/Audiobooks
from the Following Sources?
Goodreads Print & Ebook Readers Goodreads Audiobook Listeners

51. Do You Often Find Books/Audiobooks
from the Following Sources?
Goodreads Print & Ebook Readers Goodreads Audiobook Listeners

52. Do You Often Find Books/Audiobooks
from the Following Sources?
Goodreads Print & Ebook Readers Goodreads Audiobook Listeners

53. Narrators are important
Narrators have author status on Goodreads
Encourage your
narrators to join the
Author Program
40,000+ authors in
the Goodreads
Author Program

54. Encourage your narrators to reach out
to readers
Join audio-focused groups
to build a following
Host a chat between an
author & a narrator
Post videos of the narrator
in action
Jennifer Weiner & narrator Judith Light,
in conversation

55. Reviews Matter
70% Audiobook listeners say reviews are
somewhat to extremely important.
39% Write reviews of the audiobooks
they listen to.
Focus on marketing to them through
groups, giveaways, and targeted outreach.

56. Reviews Matter: Get Your Listeners to
Write Reviews!
Many members
choose a book first,
then a format.
47

57. What does “discovery” mean anyway?
Discovery means all the touchpoints in
the mind of the consumer it takes to
get them to decide to purchase and
read a book.

58. Marketing Adage
It takes about 6-12 touchpoints in
the mind of the consumer
to get to a purchase.
The stronger the touchpoint, the fewer you need.

59. photo by anja_johnson
“ Between us and our readership, there’s a brick wall
and we have little hammers, and if we keep hitting
”
the wall eventually we’ll punch through it.
- Marketing Manager at a large publishing house, quoted in Merchants of Culture by John Thompson

60. Discovery happens in lots of ways
- there is no magic bullet
But there are a few things to keep in mind.

61. Maximize touchpoints around launch!
Find your audience: existing fans,
comp fans, etc.
Start the process well before launch.
Use the tools at your disposal to
amplify any traction you get.

62. Otis Chandler, Founder & CEO
otis@goodreads.com
goodreads.com/otis
twitter: @otown