Andrew Savikas of Safari Books Online believes that it is time for more publishers to consider the online subscription model. Safari Books is one such online subscription service provided by O'Reilly Media. Over the last ten years the service has consistently showed strong growth. During Christmas 2011 the service saw a 157% increase in subscriptions. The bulk of this growth was from new tablet owners.
Savikas believes that online subscriptions are booming on Safari books because consumers are now more comfortable with reading online. In addition, they are using more online subscription services. He sees this as clear validation of the online subscription model.
Providing an online library gives Safari useful information for future projects, as usage data lets them know which pages are most popular with readers. Also, Safari has interesting data on how and when readers read, as well as what they read.
Safari analytics suggest that people are using mobile devices mainly for weekend reading. The is in sharp contrast to PCs where usage was almost entirely a weekday activity. A lot of people are spending weekends getting ahead on their technical reading and video training by streaming it to their tablets. Savikas outlines why and how online reading subscriptions are increasing, citing the array of O'Reilly partnerships as proof.
Andrew Savikas is the CEO at Safari Books Online. Prior to his appointment as CEO, he held the positions of VP of Digital Initiatives at O’Reilly Media, Program Chair for O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing conference. Andrew blogs at safaribooksonline.com/blog and toc.oreilly.com, and is a regular contributor to the O’Reilly Radar blog and to “Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto”, a collection of essays on the future of publishing, book.pressbooks.com. Andrew previously led the digital publishing and ebook program and strategy for O’Reilly Media, including both print and digital production of all O’Reilly books.
He sits on several boards, including the Book Industry Study Group and the International Digital Publishing Forum, and is on advisory boards for Bookshare the University of Michigan Press. He frequently speaks at technology and publishing conferences and is also the author of Word Hacks: Tips & Tools for Taming your Text.
Resources
This free podcast is from our Tools of Change Conference series.
For The Conversations Network:
Photo: O'Reilly Conferences