How far into a book do people read--by genre.

[Byrdie]

Except for a couple of complete wallbangers I accidentally borrowed (tho' one was a freebie from either Amazon or ARe so it's in my purchase history) I read cover to cover. Not necessarily all at once, though, as I may have a couple of books open in different readers. I also read a lot of romances, sci-fi, fantasy and mysteries that are pure fanfic. I'm pretty sure Kobo doesn't keep track of that. ;-)

[Atunah]

I eventually read all books I purchase. Does it take me a while sometimes? Yes. I still have kindle books purchased going back to 2008. The largest chunks were purchased in 2011 and 2013 for some reason.

I'll get to them. They are there waiting for me. Although I don't really read a lot of best sellers. I do read a lot of romance and looking at the site, we romance readers seem to be on the top of the list of those reading the books they buy.

Anyway, I hated Gone Girl and gave up about 35-40% in on it. Its rare for me not to finish books so that tells you how much I disliked it.
I have a vetting system I use but occasionally I veer of it. Doesn't end well usually.

I have many books still unread I purchased because I buy on sale. I know the authors and publishers so I buy when the price drops. I have always had a lot more books around me than I have read, its just much easier now to do so with ebooks. No space issues.

And they can track me easy at Amazon if they want to. Although I back up my books in Calibre, I read the ones from the Amazon cloud and always sync up regularly.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Interesting data and what I'd expect more or less. Another way of looking at the data is that many of the books that reach readers are not that good.

It can also be looked at as a smashing success for sales and marketing, that they are getting people to buy who never really wanted it in the first place.

[Apache]

It has to be a very bad experience for me not to finish a book. My collection consists of the books I have read and those I have not yet read. I also like to read books more than once if I deem them worth it.
Apache

[pdurrant]

It's rare that I abandon a book. But it does happen a handful of times a year.

[HarryT]

I don't remember the last time I abandoned a book, but some I've really struggled through. Given the immense length of my TBR list I should probably abandon more books, but it just feels "wrong" to do so.

[DrNefario]

Well, normally I've either read 100% or 0% of a book, but there will almost always be at least one where I am somewhere in between for a few days or weeks: the one I am currently reading. It's quite rare for me to abandon a book, and not at all rare for me to buy something and then not read it for years.

Maybe all the casual readers who are brought in on something huge like Gone Girl read much more slowly and are all still in the middle of it.

[BearMountainBooks]

I abandon books with wild abandon and have ever since the freebie and borrowing became widely available. I don't even download a ton of freebies, but the ones I do, I at least sample most of them. I've stopped at just about every percentage there is: First page, middle, 10 percent from the end, you name it. Some books start pretty well and degrade as I go and I've learned to dump them early and often. Some books are real gems and I finish them and am thrilled to have found such a bargain.

Because of freebies, I will now happily abandon books I've purchased if I don't like them. It could also be some of the trends in fiction these days. Have a great plot going that degrades into a morass of love triangles or various ridiculous sex scenes in the middle of danger and I've learned to dump and dump fast. Too much exposition? Gone.
Something better comes along? Gone. Cozy mysteries are hit or miss with me, but if TSTL shows up in the first part of a book and I'm not likely to finish. Too much time spent swooning over a jerk of a guy...gone. Let's get to the dead body!

I do a mix of synched versus not, but I am quite certain Amazon gets plenty of information from my reading. Since many of the freebies come from Amazon, I don't do anything special with those other than sample and possibly buy the next in the series if the first is good. But I don't always buy the next in series from Amazon (I'd say it leans heavily towards buying with coupons from Kobo).

[DiapDealer]

I have no objection or revulsion to abandoning books. If I selected books to read in a more willy-nilly fashion, I'm fairly certain I'd abandon a lot more. But as it is, my book selection process is such that a book that I dislike enough to abandon rarely gets past my filters.

The occassional clinker finds its way onto my reader, but for the most, my selection process provides books I enjoy enough to finish.

I also usually only buy books that I'm ready to read soon. Usually very, very soon. Like now.

[Rizla]

Life is too short to read bad books. An author must grab me, and hold me long enough to finish the book. Ideally, they should leave me gasping for more.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by rkomar

It can also be looked at as a smashing success for sales and marketing, that they are getting people to buy who never really wanted it in the first place.

Only in the short-term. A disappointed reader may not come back.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Only in the short-term. A disappointed reader may not come back.

The problem is that the stats do not tell you WHY the person stopped reading and whether or not said reader went on to read another book (Kobo may know this internally on a per account basis). For example, surely, many of those buying Gone Girl did so because they "heard of it" or the movie. They might not be regular readers. So you don't gain a lot of info other than "lots didn't finish."

I've also learned from being in this business that there are chronic book buyers who rarely read. There are actually book buyers who buy six to ten books a month and perhaps read one. They are "sales hunters" whose actual hobby seems closer to shopping than reading. There are quite a few of these people and Amazon took advantage of that sales type when the Kindle was popular. Amazon encouraged and marketed 99 cent books like crazy, targeting (intentionally or otherwise) people who were scooping up bargains.

That's not to say your point is invalid. Plenty of readers who are disappointed in a marketing tactic (be it a book they don't like, a pricing strategy, etc) may not come back. I've seen readers complain they paid for a book only to have it go free two months later and deride the author/publisher. They might not come back.

I think that is why the industry talks so much about building a brand and loyal audience. There's casual buyers that might help a book just because the book is visible. But eventually, there are going to have to be readers--and lots of them--to keep enough buyers coming back for a second, third and so on. Otherwise that series/author is going to have a hard time.

These stats don't help so much with the longevity of a book, but even with errors can show what genres people are buying and reading. For me, wearing my marketing hat, it might mean I'm more likely to market my fantasy books in a particular country and my mystery books in a different country. Of course, my marketing is not that sophisticated, but there is some generally good info in the charts.

If I recall correctly, Kobo is also making some of their data available to authors. For authors who are interested in making salable books, it may help them improve their business or improve their craft. For example: a book with low sales and high completion rates probably points to bad marketing or target a different audience, while a book with low sales and a low completion rates may indicate that they need to improve the quality of the product.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

If I recall correctly, Kobo is also making some of their data available to authors. For authors who are interested in making salable books, it may help them improve their business or improve their craft. For example: a book with low sales and high completion rates probably points to bad marketing or target a different audience, while a book with low sales and a low completion rates may indicate that they need to improve the quality of the product.

I'm pretty involved with Kobo and I don't know of any direct offers. There is a program/newsletter/blog where they talk about these kinds of stats and provide info on covers and so on. Kobo has some good marketing programs and works closely with interested authors. Frankly, right now they are the best retailer out there to work with. They did a post not too long ago and actually talked about the benefits of not just being on Kobo, but of being on Google Play. Their newsletter often has marketing advice, some trend info and now and then they do giveaways/contests for free cover artwork or other publishing type packages.

Of course if you have more info on how to sign up for direct info...I'd love to know!!!!

[BearMountainBooks]

As a side note, SCRIBD also provides authors with some stats that we haven't had access to before. It's limited, but still useful so far as it goes.