The following is excerpted from a longer article about how eBook makers are starting to data-mine their devices and selling info to publishers, which in turn shapes what storylines and character types they focus on for future publications...
"It's absolutely true that there is practically no market research done in terms of readers," says the Carnegie medal-winning British children's author Melvin Burgess. "I'd be fascinated to see how people read my books, who's reading them, when they're reading them."
But there "is a danger", says Burgess, that "you just start responding all the time" to what readers want. "Storytelling isn't interactive, really – you are taking the lead. So I'd love to know [how people are reading my books], but I wouldn't necessarily take any account of it."
Award-winning author China Miéville feels similarly. "I hope it wouldn't change how I wrote, but conversely I do wonder if getting specifically worked up about this is simply a kind of neophobia, because if it did change how you wrote, wouldn't it just be a new variant of what authors have done for centuries, which is writing to a market?" he says. "In other words, that writing to algorithm, while I'm certainly no fan, is just writing to what one believes readers want – no more or less infra dig than writing in response to demands from the marketing department, or in response to one's analysis on perusing the bestseller list, or trying to second-guess what makes a best seller. A bit more micro-level in its analysis, but not qualitatively 'worse' or 'better'."
The "one very different thing" here, says Miéville, is reader privacy, which he calls "a real issue". Burgess agrees. "I'd love to know what my readers are up to but I don't like the way social media do it all behind your back," he says.
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/04/big-ereader-is-watching-you
So, how has audience feedback influenced your creativity, for good or bad?
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