Ebooks can tell which novels you didn't finish

[Lin2412]

The Goldfinch may have won Donna Tartt the Pulitzer, praised by judges as a novel which “stimulates the mind and touches the heart”, but the acclaimed title’s 800-odd pages appear to have intimidated British readers, with less than half of those who downloaded it from e-bookseller Kobo making it to the end.

New data from Kobo shows that, although The Goldfinch was the 37th bestselling ebook of the year for the retailer, it was completed by just 44.4% of Kobo’s British readers. Kobo speculated that it “likely proved daunting for some due to the length of the novel”.

Kobo also revealed that the people of Britain were most likely to finish a romance novel, with 62% completion, followed by crime and thrillers (61%) and fantasy (60%). Italians were also most engaged by romance (74% completion), while the French preferred mysteries, with 70% completion.

44.4% completion for Goldfinch? I'd like to say challenge accepted but I haven't started reading it yet to actually (and gladly) say geronimo. Hahaha.

[NNolan]

Goldfinch? Been there, read that. It was a boring slog in a few parts, and a bit repetitive, so I'm not sure it really deserved that Pulitzer. The Secret History was better.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I wonder if you have to click to the very end with some of the extra crap at the end of books. I almost never do that, even if I finish the story about of a book.

[elemenoP]

Where's the article?

I'm a bit surprised that Kobo released these stats, and named names! I mean, named novels. I knew that that Amazon tracks how quickly people start each book from purchase and how far they get, and release this information per title to the publisher.

[rixte]

I read it! It was 4 stars for me but it definitely had issues.

Although I read it on my Kindle, not my Kobo, but I want to say - I almost NEVER get 'credit' for finishing a book on Kobo (they have that achievement/status tracker), because it wants you to get to the very end of the file.

Which if there is any 'about the author' or excerpts from other books or anything ... heck, most of the time it seems that's where the publisher stuck the ToC, cover, book description and other meta data.

[treadlightly]

Here's a link to Kobo's article directed towards Canadian audiences:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1456329/inaugural-kobo-book-report-reveals-top-ereading-trends-from-2014

[Mike L]

But how can they tell?

You can tell if a reader has not finished a book yet. But that doesn't mean they never will. You can't distinguish readers who have abandoned a book from those who are still reading it (perhaps very slowly).

Mike

[ShellShock]

Kobo can probably only count people who read Kobo's bastardized epub format (kepub), and not those, like me, who like to sideload. All the books I have bought from Kobo will probably show as unread on their system, but I have read them all.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

Kobo can probably only count people who read Kobo's bastardized epub format (kepub), and not those, like me, who like to sideload. All the books I have bought from Kobo will probably show as unread on their system, but I have read them all.

A lot of my books probably show as unfinished because part way through I get sick of all the repeated mistakes in the original book, delete it, and sideload a corrected version to finish.

[treadlightly]

They are completely missing stats on side-loaded books. And I'm guessing anyone who doesn't turn to the last page of the book.

[Lin2412]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Where's the article?

I'm a bit surprised that Kobo released these stats, and named names! I mean, named novels. I knew that that Amazon tracks how quickly people start each book from purchase and how far they get, and release this information per title to the publisher.

Oh sorry, I must've missed linking the original post. here's the link. I also don't get to click to the end of the book sometimes. So maybe it's also not counted as a completed book by user?

It makes me wonder if they also track rereads. I'm not sure if kindle also does this but I like to know the reading statistics of the books people read; I find these kinds of things interesting.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Lin2412

Oh sorry, I must've missed linking the original post. here's the link. I also don't get to click to the end of the book sometimes. So maybe it's also not counted as a completed book by user?

Personally, if I finish the story. I always go to the end to mark the book as finished. But, I'll probably read or at least glance at the end matter. If you don't want to do this, you can also mark the book as finished in the library.

It makes me wonder if they also track rereads. I'm not sure if kindle also does this but I like to know the reading statistics of the books people read; I find these kinds of things interesting.

Probably, but it depends on what they are looking at. The reading status for purchased kepubs is synced to the server. So, they can see if a book is finished and then later reopened. But, there is no way to tell if that is a reread, opening to check something or an accidental tap in the list. The database on the device does have a lot of stats. From it I could work out how many times you started and finished a book. And it's recorded for all books. But, I have no evidence that any details for sideloaded books are sent to the server.

[cromag]

My ereader don't tell nobody nothin'!

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

All the books I have bought from Kobo will probably show as unread on their system, but I have read them all.

On the Kobo app on my iPhone, I get statistics about sideloaded books.

I also noticed that it listed at least one book I haven't read, as completed, after I jumped to the back page, and then clicked the end.

I'll start an eBook in one app, and finish it on another app, though I've pretty much stabilized to two apps on the tablet, and one on the iPhone.

[rollei]

If the e-reader can remember the last page you read, then it should know which book you didn't finish.