Like many bibliophiles and writers, I follow various news outlets with an eye on stories relating to the arts, publishing and the business of being an author. This week, three stories stood out to me as those that should spark debate.

First, there was the announcement by Hachette Book Group that the estate of the late author Harper Lee will no longer permit publication of To Kill a Mockingbird in a mass-market paperback edition in the US.The mass-market edition is the cheaper one by far, and sales of this edition comprise two-thirds of the 30 million copies of the book that have been sold. In an email, the publisher stated: ‘The disappearance of the iconic mass-market edition is very disappointing to us, especially as we understand this could force a difficult situation for schools and teachers with tight budgets who cannot afford the larger, higher priced paperback edition that will remain in the market…’(source: Guardian)

It is interesting to see an author (in this case the estate) wielding such power in the publishing industry, and setting a baseline value for the work. But I do wonder about the narrowing readership for the book, which is a classic – and traditionally classics are cheaply available to the mass market for very good reason: they really ought to be read!

Another story hitting the headlines this week concerns the Book of Mormon and Amazon’s review system. Students of the Mormon faith at Brigham Young University were encouraged to post five-star reviews of the book, which instigated a review battle: no sooner does a five-star review appear than a one-star is posted by a reader either against the Mormon faith or angered by the use of the review system (some claim it is in fact an abuse). At the time of writing the result was a solid three-star aggregate review score for the book, though the reviews themselves are all polarised between five stars and one stars.

Amazon’s review system is often in the news, because reviews can make or break an author’s career. But in this case it is interesting to see the system being used essentially as a platform not for reviewing a book, in this case, but a faith.

Finally, a story in the New York Times on reader analytics caught my attention.Jellybooks, a reader analytics company based in London, aims to ‘use data about people’s reading habits to radically reshape how publishers acquire, edit and market books’. The company is tracking in detail how readers read an ebook, looking at aspects such as how quickly readers read, for how long at a time, and – crucially – whether they finish the book. The latter is providing fascinating information: in a sample, readers finished fewer than half the books.

How can publishers (and authors, assuming we may someday be able to access such information) benefit from such analytics? Well, there are certainly lessons to be learned on the writing side: if readers are giving up on a book, the writing isn’t delivering. But for now the knowledge is being funneled into the marketing campaign: if a book isn’t doing well, you can cut back; if a book is being read, you can spend more. Analytics may also aid with repositioning; perhaps a different market to the one you expected is favouring the book, so you can re-work the cover and launch it with the new market in mind.

The aim, ultimately, is to inform the creation of books that readers enjoy and finish – and then they reach for the next one by the author. It sounds fascinating to me. What do you think of this development, though? Do you have concerns about privacy when it comes to your reading habits being tracked? I would love to hear your thoughts.